Tag Archives: moving?

Of “Relo Cubes” and Moving

Posted on March 18, 2012 | 1 comment

Friday afternoon, without telling me, my husband got a U-Haul truck and cleared out our 5x5x5 “relo cube” from the ABF freight terminal near work. I wasn’t ready for this, 1.5 weeks into our brief sojourn into a teeny apartment with rented furniture to which I want to bring practically nothing until we find a permanent place to live. We don’t even know yet from work which city that may be, so are currently in limbo.

I was quite judicious in my selection of only one piece of furniture (a printer stand that doesn’t look like one) and 12 boxes. One for Jim, the PlayStation III, the rest for me. Mostly stuff to make the kitchen palatable. I’ve been dealing with the Cort Furniture “housewares package,” making Jim’s eggs with a cheap teflon plan and over-sized plastic spoon.

Today (it’s 4:00 a.m.) I will pack up most of Cort’s kitchen package above the frig to have room for my specialty utensils as I only have one drawer in the kitchen and right now it’s filled with useless things.

I’m taking only what I need from the boxes and we’ll return the rest to storage next door. Oldest commercial elevator in town. Wooden rails at each story, old wood floor and you must work the metal cables to pull yourself from floor to floor. Priceless! We got a larger unit than we thought so we can cherry-pick what we need, from the printer to my summer clothes. We have two piles on either side with an aisle down the middle (6×8 total) with eight all-weather tires up front. Though we were told not to change out our snow tires until the end of May as there’s “always a storm” in May.

Yesterday was St. Paddy’s Day but we spent it relo’ing and I unpacked all but two of the boxes. One is bathroom stuff (consolidating from three baths to one) so I used the printer stand drawers, one for Jim’s shaving kit and my makeup bag, and the other for Zoe’s brushes and shower hose. The open area is for toilet paper (handily holds 12 rolls) then I put an existing basket on top and decoratively rolled four new matching dog towels so it actually looks pretty.

Jim was convinced we didn’t need the printer stand but if it moves his shaving kit up two feet (he’s very tall) he’s all for it now.

Now I need an office. My 24″ monitor is in a box we took in the car, along with my trackball mouse. I’ll get a table that fits along the wall or in a corner window going out to the balcony. Add a new toothbrush stand, toilet brush, and paper towel holder and I’m ready to go do our taxes this coming week! I’ve already run Fed and State but need to clarify some deduction information before filing.

Two issues we had here with the furniture is that the place is too small for a dining area so we got three barstools and they were too high. They were replaced Friday, and we also had to switch out the queen bed for a king so that Princess Zoe would be happy. Yes, our dog has spent eight years on our bed, since Cousin Val took out her hips and I had to watch for her biting her stitches. Thanks to you, Val, Zoe will NOT sleep on her bed on the carpet, even with the travel pillow we bought her a year ago that she loves!

My aches and pains are lessening from lifting boxes, and I have my food processor, spices, electric tea kettle and essential utensils (pictured on this blog). And while we got ingredients for burgers yesterday, I was too beat to cook so we got tri-tip on root veggie mash from The Eatery for dinner. Aside from “Wobbly,” (family cow) it’s the tenderest beef I’ve ever eaten. Yum! It’s nice to have even a partial paycheck after ten weeks and a move across the checkerboard states! Cheers and have a great weekend! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Cooking Utensils, Editorial, Home Improvement, Pet

Tagged kitchen stuff, moving?, storage, utensils, Zoe pillow

I Have a New Home

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 2 comments

I’ve never seen it. But I found it and my husband arrived there tonight. He’s never seen it either and is scant on details. This weekend he’ll fly back and we’ll drive both cars and the dog to live in our new temporary home.

We must get things together quickly, as three days after we arrive, we’ll have guests. My dear brother-in-law and his son, our nine year-old nephew, want a train adventure and we’re on the other end.

In my mind, houses/condos/apartments are only homes if they have families in them. While Jim said no, I said yes. Even though we’ve only got a few days under our belt, we can always find them a reasonably priced hotel and we can see our new town.

It’s OK going to a fully-furnished place for a month or few, especially in a foreign country as you only bring a suitcase and laptop. Living in one in-country for three years leads to a very strange sense that you’ve packed nearly everything but are not yet done, because you still have dishes, towels, furniture et al.

That said, I’m turning the corner emotionally as my husband left this morning for the week and I’m here alone to finish up. Luckily I’ve the dog for company.

We’d love to see some neighbors the night before we leave so in addition to moving, storage, and paperwork ending things here and beginning them elsewhere, I’ll take that on next.

We love the mountains, but I hear we have a lovely city view from the 17th floor. Thanks to everyone, we had the work gang over last night. So many people have made these three years special.

We will certainly miss our mountains and our birds. We have the ability to move anywhere in the short-term or long-term because we don’t have kids. And we and employers take advantage of that. Yes, our dog puts on the brakes, which is a good thing, though she’s been effectively under quarantine since 2005 so she can go to the UK and EU countries easily.

I don’t take many things on faith, on you I do, dear husband. We complement each other with different strengths and capabilities. I’ll tell you I love you many times a day every day of my life, but we fill each others’ gaps. You’re the geek, I’m the nurturer but with us it’s a lot more interesting and complicated. I love that about you, dear, and that I found us a home and you’re living there for a week without me.

Then you’ll fly in and we’ll drive off together to a new adventure.

We will miss the West but now know where we want to retire. Retiring for Jim will be having an incredible computer setup and shop, an adult version of what he made from a scrap room off the milk barn at age twelve. He’ll never stop working and inventing software or hardware, as he did things as a kid to make his dad’s job easier on the dairy.

Another storm is coming in, it’s very windy. We miss you, Dee and Zoe

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged getting home without seeing it, moving?, retirement, storm. new home

Follow Me

Posted on February 12, 2012 | 3 comments

An old John Denver song, probably before you were born. He never asked. We just made job decisions together and went to the next town. My mother always hated that about me, probably because she did it herself.

It’s time for another change and it hurts our hearts to leave where we live and where we will retire.

But as we enter into our tenth year of marriage I actually prefer Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of the aforementioned song as well as this one by John Denver. It starts with “I’ll walk in the rain by your side.”

And the wind will whisper your name to me
Little birds will sing along in time
Leaves will bow down when you walk by
And morning bells will chime

I love my husband, he’s incredibly smart, honest and hard-working. Spending 24/7 with him for a few weeks we talk, discuss, argue then coalesce and make a better environment for change. The change we want is not to be together 24/7 and have money coming in the door rather than out. I want him to be happy with his work, because it means so much to him to be challenged and have a loose leash, so to speak.

Much as I hate to say it, these brief periods are good for us as a couple and family (with dog Zoe). We all get to know each other again. While our state’s unemployment office has denied coverage for all the time Jim was working instead of taking vacations, we’re OK.

This is gonna be a good week. I can feel it already. We even have snow! Cheers! Dee

3 Comments

Posted in Editorial, Music

Tagged changing, moving?

From when we first moved here… newly found

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

When I started as an insurance analyst for the state at the ripe old age of 22, a few months went by and my car insurance was cancelled. It was due on the first of the month. I sent it early so it would get there on time but it arrived on the first day of the month and they took it across the street to the bank on the 2nd so they cancelled my insurance.

The state had a mandatory 15-day grace period. Of course they cashed my check. I called and they said there was no way to reinstate my policy, back home a seven-hour drive away. I called the insurance broker several times and his secretary always told me he was unavailable.

Wouldn’t you know there was a reception that night and the state insurance commissioner was there. I’d known him since he was a lobbyist. He asked “What’s up?” and I told him. He asked me to call him directly the next morning with the broker’s name and number, stating that he wanted to deal with this issue personally.

Before noon he called and said “I love my job! I love doing this stuff!” A few moments later a shaken insurance broker called me, apologized profusely and said my policy was never cancelled. Whatever gave me that idea in the first place? Of course he knew he cashed my check and cancelled my policy in the same heartbeat.

So, like AIG (this wasn’t AIG) insurance is an ephemeral thing. It’s something you never want to have to use. No one wants to have a car accident or get cancer. The slimiest ones are those who go door-to-door and sell single-illness coverage to poor folks. Dante has a special place for those people.

Today I spent three hours on the phone with our car insurance company changing our address and getting rental coverage that doesn’t just cover us but the 99% of our lives we have in storage. It took three companies and two calls to our temporary state’s insurance office to get things straightened out. Then I took on the phone company. Remember when the Supreme Court told Ma Bell to break up? It’s back in business and called ATT. No, you can’t call this line they directed you to because you no longer have a combined bill. You only have three cell phones (sounds combined to me) and not a land line or a modem as well. Gimme a break.

Over forty years ago my great uncle told my father he was taking him off the will as executor as he moved too much. In this economy people need to move to get jobs, even temporary jobs. We’re lucky, in a way, as we don’t have to rip kids out of school to move halfway across the country. Taking the dog out of Urban Tails and Doggie Daycare isn’t a biggie.

I want to make it easy for corporate execs like Jim to move short-term with a minimum of effort. Right now it takes me a couple of weeks to enter a place and at least that much time to leave. There must be an easier way and I aim to find it. In the meantime, I spent too much time on the phone today with these blood-suckers, walking Zoe to get her nails cut and trying to find a summer gig for one of my fav musicians.

Jim’s out with Zoe looking at the cranes. Cool birds. Keep cooking. Not cranes, of course. It’s the next day and the cable/modem guys were here for a couple hours today as I was unable to get online yesterday to send this. Thursday, when the expanded cable and modem were installed, the guy reported a problem that is not only affecting us but everyone up here in this part of the world, homes and businesses alike so they had crews out making repairs to the main line to give us more power. Cheers, Dee
Cheers! Dee

Making Do

Posted on October 26, 2009 | Leave a comment

It’s tough moving to a new town with no idea where you’re going to live for a short period of time. Fully furnished place, all of our dear belongings in storage 1,500 miles away. When I need a kitchen item it’s a thought process that makes me ask myself: do I really need this?; is this a complement to what I have in storage or merely a duplicate?’ and when am I getting my stuff back.

The peeler was easy. It was a cheap grocery store metal peeler that cannot be used by a leftie like me. I couldn’t find the OXO I have in storage so got a Kitchenaid instead. I have a great meat pounder from Sur La Table that makes my chicken saltimbocca a breeze, but it’s in storage. We had to pick up another a couple of weeks ago because I really wanted to make that dish. The mixer. I bought it to whip cream for trifle that I made and need to make more (also the additional trifle bowl for $10). I justified the $40 mixer because my 5 qt. Kitchenaid stand mixer is in storage, and there are times when I weigh the option of whether I want to wash all that stuff by hand. Two blades are nothing.

So, we go along and get along in the cooking arena, not as well office-wise but I’m trying to minimize paperwork and all our bills are done electronically. Camera, now a couple of years old (I lent my other to my sister, never to be seen again) is digital so I’m working on this.

We would like this size or slightly larger place but with a two-car garage. Jim got a ding on his windshield last week and it’ll be repaired tomorrow at no cost to us and no deductible but it has to stay in the one-car garage overnight and my car has to go elsewhere and it’s going to snow.

So, we’re making do with what we’ve got. We brought very little with us seven months ago and have had to get a few shirts and socks and basics for both of us. Aside from my kitchen and office, I really miss our quilts, one Civil war-era and the other hand-made by Margie, Jim’s mom. They always helped make our house a home, and since she’s guarding them for us, will do so once again. Cheers, Dee

Pizza, Pizza

Posted on March 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

I know what happened to my crust last night – I didn’t use 1/3 wheat flour! I used it all up and did what my brother did – instead of checking the cupboard I bought another five lbs. so by December (pre-end-of-contract) I probably had 30# flour.

Whole wheat flour makes the dough crustier and more resilient in rolling out. And it’s healthier, too, how about that. We ate leftovers, reheated for lunch and have one measly slice left that I may eat cold for breakfast. I used to love cold pizza for breakfast!

Sorry I’ve not been in touch for the past few days. Things have been busy here and the job market seems to be heating up. More info when I have something concrete to report.

It’s the same-old saving money thing. I made meat loaf tonight because I got a great deal on the meat. With it I served boiled red potatoes with butter, salt and pepper, and my grandmother’s Cuke Salad (on this site).

For tomorrow I ran into the butcher and he had a cart full of meat I got first dibs from. I chose two relatively thin lamb arm chops. I was advised to braise them but found a recipe that would have me marinate them in lemon and herbs et al then quickly grill them. I’ll think more about that in the morning. Today was a busy day.

Yesterday I stopped up the garbage disposal with 1.5 cups of cooked rice. The first half went down OK. Turns out our drain from the disposal was made too small (to save $$$) so I was advised to only place liquids in the garbage disposal. Why do we need a disposal if we can’t use it? Granted, I put no fat down it, or citrus peels. But two eggshells should go down in a few seconds with a little cold water and a pulse. We pay too much to live here for them to have put in 3/4 HP disposals with a pipe that can’t handle any use whatsoever!

And tomorrow is Friday. I haven’t yet checked out the movies coming out this weekend. We haven’t seen one in weeks and it may be time to go to a matinee, but only if something good is out. I wouldn’t mind going to one of our two favorite theaters and playing Jurassic Park with Jim for 15 minutes for five dollars. Forget lunch or a movie! It’s the only two-person arcade game I’ll play with him. Gave up on air hockey because he won every time and gloated about it.

Now I get to start on the freezer. I’m sure there are some treasures buried there to thaw and try. I know that frozen raw dog food used to take up a lot of it, 12# at a time, but she’s now on dry food with extras to save and give me some space.

I’ll let you know how it’s going! Hope all’s well and that you’ve planned a pleasant weekend. Cheers! Dee