The Great Merger

As you might know, Chris and I just moved in together. I have had a lot of time off work recently, which was needed in and of itself, but it's also helped to make the move go smoother. We still have to finish up cleaning out the old place to get the deposit back (hopefully) and we have until tomorrow. I should be over there right now but I'm too excited to a) have had the cable guy install internet here this morning, & b) actually have some internet TIME while not at work or on a schedule. :)

It's so interesting to merge two houses full of furniture and belongings together. I feel like I suddenly have a huge DVD library. Chris found several old photo albums of his that I got to look through and relive this little piece of him and his family that I had never seen. I showed Chris the first lock of Chelsea's hair that I cut off in her first hair cut and the red plastic welfare card I had 17 years ago when I first applied for AFDC with a new baby and no job or insurance on her. There are so many fractions of our lives held within the things in our closets and garages under that which we use more frequently

Part of me (the part who's mother is a pack rat of the worst kind - sorry mom but you know it's true) wants to purge everything! Simplify, simplify, simplify! That part wants to rid the house of all that is unnecessary. If it doesn't fall within the two categories of Form or Function then why keep it around?

I think on some level it's clinging to the past. Some of it is obligation. Maybe to foster a sense of personal history or to look back and remember. When I was cleaning out my closet there against the wall was a little white dress with long sashes and beaded smocking on the chest. It wouldn't fit anyone I know but it's not only a dress that was hand made by my aunt Becky for her daughter, it's the dress Chelsea received her first communion in. Do I toss it in the goodwill pile to satisfy my sense of order and simplicity? What am I keeping it for anyway? Why do I have a 12 year old lock of my daughter's hair, or and unfinished quilt that my grandmother was making for me before she died, or a heavy box full of crystals my family and I "mined" at the crystal mine in Hot Springs Arkansas during the family reunion in 2003. What would I run into a fire to save if the place was burning down? Nothing. It's all just stuff that I box up and move with me every time I move. And every once in a while I can show these things to someone who doesn't know their history or their value and get a little fraction of my past back for a second, just to share that part of myself, my belongings.

So our walls will be covered in pictures of our family to tell our stories. That and James Bond movie poster prints (which I secretly kinda love the idea of.) We'll have two tv's that we don't know what to do with, two cork screws and cutting boards and sets of dishes and tea kettles and spice racks and dresser drawers and desks and couches and old photos and dogs. (Fortunately Honey and Stretch love each other and get along well.) We'll have to sift through the stuff, the belongings, to decide what belongs and what does not. We have to determine the value of our things and explain the value to each other hopeful that they'll see the value too.

There will be a lot we can sell. Our beautiful empty new garage where we parked for about a day is already starting to fill up and only one car can park there now. And we have only scratched the surface of Chris's house. We've given ourselves the summer to have his house empty, decide on a house plan and have a builder hired for the project. That's really not that much time sitting here on May 30th. I'm really not one for keeping a whole lot but I do have things I can and will get rid of. I just had to be out of my apartment and theres some stuff I would like to see if I can sell or if my family might want.

As I sit here with boxes piled up around me and the knowledge that more boxes will be arriving daily until the Wildwood house is empty I have to admit a sense of satisfaction. It takes a huge amount of effort to hoist all your belongings onto your back and move them to a new location. In the unpacking will come more of decisions about what to keep, surprises about what's actually there that had been long forgotten, and memories of our lives-past to share with each other.
So on that note I make my promise not to question or judge any of the belongings to cross the threshold of the merged house and to keep myself open to learning what has value to Chris and add that to the combined value of us as a couple.

LOVE

checking in

This is just a post because I happen to have a few moments in front of a computer with internet access! I won't have long so this post will be short. Chris and I are officially moving in together this weekend and we've been packing like crazy. We have one day left before the movers get here - that's tomorrow. I'm thinking of calling for help on that one. Chris has been amazing. He single-handedly disassembled and loaded up his & Colin's beds from his house yesterday. This morning he packed Colin's legos and his massive - 6 boxes - DVD collection; plus cleaned out his fridge of everything - it's ready to go. While he did that I packed my whole desk except for the computer, plus all the towels & linens, completed the majority of the laundry, finished packing my bathroom, threw out two more bags of trash, and a few more boxes of stuff from the bedroom. My living room is now more boxes than anything else and we'll probably clear out this dining area next for piling boxes tomorrow. Then Tuesday the movers come but Chris has to work. I also have to get an appointment to switch our internet/cable service to the new place so once we move, unless I'm at work, we won't have the internet at home.

The new place it so great though! Since we had the beds there we spent last night at the new place and it was great to wake up this morning in the new rent house with Chris. Also, in the middle of the day we took a break and went to our new neighborhood pool. It was very cool! Lots of kids. Chelsea and Colin will love it there. In fact, I had the thought today that once we have the new house built we might actually miss the neighborhoody feel of the rent house. Our street ends at a trail along a green space and you walk 3 blocks to the park and pool. We've walked that trail every day since Friday when we got the key after the gas man showed up (not till 3:30! tho). So it's exciting and exhausting all at the same time.

I'll post up some pictures soon. Chelsea's spent the last two weekends away - last weekend was her twin friends' birthday party for the weekend and this weekend is her annual get-a-way with the Williams'. She comes home tomorrow and she's going to help pack! It sure would have been nice to have her this weekend just for her babysitting skills because Chris and I have had to have Colin with us the whole time and save room for him in loading our cars with stuff every trip. Yes, we're getting movers but there's some stuff we've taken already. Also, the movers are mostly for clearing out my place because my lease ends and the only things they are getting from Chris's are the washer, dryer, & fridge - unless we have more stuff ready. But we plan to use my living room stuff, Chris's bedroom stuff, obviously we'll need both Chelsea's stuff from here and Colin's stuff from Chris's. Anyway, we've taken several loads over to the new house already. Okay I realize I'm babbling at this point. And we need to leave. It's after 11 and we're sleeping at the new place so we have to go there. I'll be back here tomorrow morning.

Take care all
LOVE

Tidbits since the Weekend

It's been a sleepy week and busier at work than I've ever been there. I've worked overtime (read comp time) every day in the pay period that ended today. Which is okay because I need the last week of May off for the move so I can use up a fraction of my accrued comp time. I think I have 70 hours last time I looked. And I've even stopped counting the times I work through lunch. I'm now accruing comp time on top of working through lunch and it's still not all getting done. Also, just yesterday, my new boss told me that he's not going to approve hiring a new secretary even though the department already approved it and we can easily justify the need based on the volume of people my staff supports. Everyone is overwhelmed and we're not going to get any support from this administration. I'm sad about my job because I used to like it so much. I liked driving to the island and I liked the people I worked with. Now, there's a new hierarchy being established with an unprofessional woman who holds a personal grudge against me and one of my employees. The politics that ensue are driving me to reconsider my place of employment yet again and I feel like I just got there. Some of this is driven by the massive number of deadlines that have all hit at once and I'm hoping things calm down as we move into June. So, this week at work, sucked.

However, this week NON-work was a fabulous contrast to that. Except for the fact that we've gone out 4 times this week - including tonight. On Wednesday night we were up til about 2:30 AM and up past midnight every other day.

We are just starting to pack some stuff. I keep freaking out that we're not nearly ready enough and that we're not gonna be packed in time. To which Chris continually replies, Yes we are! I can pack like a packing fiend. I'm only cautiously optimistic that this will be an eventuality. Tomorrow we're going to get boxes in the morning after getting the cars cleaned out and an oil change.

Dawn called yesterday and she and Jim were chosen by a birthmother who is having a little girl in August. The birthmother is 22 and a red-head. She chose them because of James' red hair. Also, she is apparently adopted and thought that Dawn looked like pictures of her own birthmother. Dawn said she and Jim are very excited. That Jim can't keep the grin off his face that he's going to be the daddy of a little girl. That it's all been totally worth the wait. That it's like all her dreams came true and her prayers were answered.
I'm sure.

On Tuesday night, Chelsea had a date with David. He took her to his band banquet at the Hilton on Clear Lake. You know, the one where that crazy lady ran over her cheatin' husband after catching him with the other woman, and then backed back over his body after running him down the first time with their daughter in the SUV. That one.
Anyways, she looked absolutely beautiful as you can tell from the picture. I'm attaching two. One is of Chelsea and Colin - he thought she should stand under this flower bush but then stood in the shot with her which is cool.

The second one is Chelsea with her boyfriend David, who seems like a nice enough kid. He's smart and good conversation. He seems to like Chelsea well enough so that's cool.



This was our appetizer at Sushi Coast tonight. And I regret not snapping a photo of the actual entrees we ordered because they arrived with such presentation it was tantalizing but at that point I had chop sticks in hand and no time for cameras. What a delight a night out for sushi is for me and Chris. I'm so deliciously full. This appetizer is called Sushi Coast Nachos and included "magic spinach" in the middle. Each piece had some magic spinach inside as well. They were tunas wrapped around spinach and encrusted with crunchy goodness and topped with spicy goodness so that in the end each one was full of goodness.
So that's it for now. I'm going to be in packing and moving mode for the next two weeks. Please forgive any one-track-mindedness this blog may take on. That or my absence.

LOVE