There will be pictures within the next couple of days, I promise. This is the textual account of our move. :D
It's actually been a sort of on-and-off stressful week, but nothing that we can't or haven't handled.
Movers moved our stuff Monday. As I was coming up the stairs to let them in, a sweet older lady from downstairs came out and called to me, "I'm going to need you to come down here so I can see that baby." I guess she and her daughter (who is probably a bit younger than my parents, but not by much) had been watching us move in over the past month, and she wanted to meet Mal in person. I love her already, and now that we're all set up, plan to visit her after I bake some brownies or something. She is the person on whose patio I saw the cardinal who inspired me to get a bird feeder! She also puts out carrots, so she ends up with rabbits. Seems like an interesting lady.
Monday night, we realized that our water heater's pilot light wasn't on. Tuesday morning, I tried to turn it on, but to no avail. A maintenance person came to turn it on for us, and don't ask me how we didn't realize our hot water wasn't working until Friday afternoon, but we didn't. I know I took at least one more shower between Monday and Friday, but maybe the water was "un-cold" enough, I just didn't think much about it. Another maintenance guy came out Friday afternoon and said the pilot light was still lit, but the heater had to be turned up all the way or the water wouldn't get warm. Well, guess what? It's still not warm!
That is the one and only good thing about moving during the summer: It hasn't been too offensive, cold-wise. I've been taking Haiti showers, using a cup and bathing with Mal to kill two proverbial birds. Friday night, we boiled two pots of water to take the edge off. Tonight, it was again "not cold," even though it wasn't hot, either. It wasn't even lukewarm. It was just tolerable. So I'll have to call them again tomorrow. At least we know they respond quickly, as we've had a few issues.
The next thing is that Saturday week, we were supposed to get a Prime Pantry order from Amazon. We didn't, though they said it was delivered. I asked our neighbor if they'd taken it, but they hadn't. Monday, my dad checked the mailbox (where the USPS said they'd left it) and there were no keys. Using the Amazon app, I requested a replacement, which they sent, no questions asked. It was supposed to be here Thursday.
Another thing that was supposed to be here Thursday was a wi-fi signal booster for D's room. She hadn't been able to connect to the internet on her desktop since we moved in. This is a big deal for my gamer/social media girl. She had been hardwired at the house, so this was already a huge change.
Thursday night, I get the notification that the stuff has been delivered, so D and I drove down to the mailbox (it's more than 1/3 of a mile from the apartment, and we were expecting a big box) and guess what? Nothing. I called Amazon this time, and they said they'd replace both, and that the Pantry box would be here by Saturday and the wi-fi booster would be here by Monday. Ugh. No. I told them to cancel both orders and I'd just go to the store. He asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?" I told him that of course I didn't! But why was I to believe that they would be here this time? He said they were sending them UPS, which delivers to the door, but I canceled, anyway. Ugh.
That night, Daphne and I went to Best Buy to get a booster. Mal was not please, apparently crying the whole time I was gone, except for 30 second breaks here and there (poor James!). Also, the booster didn't work. James worked on that for a while, too, and said that her network adapter was the problem, so we ordered a USB network adapter antenna. Yes, from Amazon. I didn't have the heart to get back out.
The next day, Mal and I went to Target to get some cleaning supplies that were supposed to have come in the Amazon haul.
When we got home, both James and I received an email from our apartment office that three boxes had arrived for us (cue "I see what's coming"). James went over to pick it up, and, sure enough, it was TWO identical (except for padding) Prime Pantry boxes, and that booster.
First, we'd already given the booster up as a bad job. But the cleaning supplies! Good gravy. We have 4 Swiffer Wet Jet refills, 3 duster refills, 3 Swiffer dry refills, 2 boxes of trash bags, 2 boxes of recycling bags, about 10 hand soaps, 6 boxes of Pull-Ups, 2 boxes of night Pull-Ups, etc. So. Much. Stuff. Fortunately, I don't like going to the store, so storing them is actually preferable. Then there's the fact that except for what I bought at Target, it was all free. That's right, they'd already processed my refund before I received all of the stuff, but since the delivery person messed it up, we're all square. And I'm mostly happy with Amazon again, nasty vacuum cleaner notwithstanding. I just wish they'd always use UPS.
 |
| A beautiful picture to break up the monotony. This happened Tuesday afternoon. |
Actually, since we moved in, Daphne has hung out and chatted with me almost every day for an hour or so, and that's a huge change. We let her put her computer in her room with this move (I know; all child development experts say don't, but she stays up so late, we don't watch her online for several hours per day, anyway... and we can see what she's seen because, again, science; and she knows we can always change that permission), and I think she's being more sociable on purpose, so we don't decide she's too much of a hermit and pull the computer back out. Honestly, it works better for everyone. It was difficult for her to make Skype calls (which she does when she's gaming a lot) in our living room; either we had to be quiet, or she couldn't really have a conversation.
Anyway, I love talking to her. I love her perspective. I love that she has opinions she's actually researched. She's a pretty cool kid.
Mal has been probably dealing with this move, some teething, and tons of milestones this week, which has made him cranky, restless, and demanding... except when he's not. When he's happy, he's happy and darling. But he's deciding not to be a lot right now. I think he was also a bit sick for a while, and the whole thing has been blurgh. I'm hoping for a better week for him, and by extension, for me. I'm just grateful he was so terrific on moving day! A lot of that was because there were two other very enthusiastic adults watching and playing with him. He really connected with Nana and maybe especially Pappy this weekend, so I have high hopes when we go see family this winter that he'll warm up to them in no time!
Milestones: actually looking at/"talking" about pictures in a book; doing stuff he knows he's not supposed to by checking that we're looking first, grinning like the cat that ate the canary, and getting on with it; removing and putting back on a defective lid on one of his cups (he saved this one for James, who I'm glad got to see it first!). Probably more, but I'm running out of steam!
I've has asthma symptoms on and off all week, likely a combination of stress, having carpet (which I LOVE), and all of the crap we're stirring up in our unpacking. Earlier this week, I knocked it out by taking a bike ride. This morning, it was worse, and I was so tired, with Mal being so fussy, that when I tried to strap him into the baby carrier, I couldn't close the latch behind me because holding my arms up to do so smothered me; I could not breathe. So James spent the day trying to find an OTC asthma remedy I'd used before. My last albuterol inhaler ran out earlier this week, but the final couple of dozen doses did nothing for me, and even the first didn't help a whole lot. Back in the day, sucking on an inhaler felt like a miracle at that first puff. You could just feel your chest loosening, airways opening up. Not anymore. It's so so stupid. I'm pretty sure the CFCs in those inhalers did not have much of an environmental impact, Plus, some people's asthma is bad enough that they die, so making meds less effective seems counterproductive to me.
Anyway, James came back with ephidrine tablets, so I'm on those and loratadine until this clears up. Feeling much better tonight. AND I got another bike ride in.
Riding around here is going to be a challenge. It's all hills. Tuesday, I rode around the complex a couple of times, then up into a neighborhood behind us, and around a loop trail. Today, I was going to repeat it, only backwards, but where I should have turned into the loop, someone had a big dog I didn't feel like going around, so I stayed on the trail and ended up in the back of their neighborhood. I was able to ride around and get back home, and it was about the same length as my first ride, but with different scenery. Lots of gear-shifting, even using gears I practically never use. And Mal loves it.
At this point, we now know the mom/daughter who live caddy-corner under us, the family of what I believe to be a mom, young adult daughter, and young adult son who live next door, and a couple with a 7-year-old daughter who live directly beneath us. That's it for our end of the building. I also met a gentleman who lives on the other side of the building as he was out walking his dog last night and Mal and I were on the balcony. It's cool to know so many people already!
Off of the balcony, we have seen many birds, including cardinals (at least one couple and another few assorted males and females) and, yesterday, a woodpecker; rabbits; squirrels; and yesterday, a beautiful coyote! The cats have all gotten outside and enjoy it immensely. I hope they see the coyote sometime, lest the get the idea that they should go on a walkabout in the trees!
Then there was the rainbow the other afternoon, and there has been lightning pretty much every night since we moved in. Our view is beautiful, and I wonder if I'll ever get tired of watching birds, and clouds, and whatever else pops up out there.
On with the adventure...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving a comment! We love to hear from you!