Well, the "hard" part of the move is over (if by "hard" you mean: "the part where you move the boxes," and not "the part where you make endless car trips carrying more crap, and oh, let's not forget about cleaning, cleaning, and unpacking").

So, just a few random observations to wrap things up...

Thursday 4/20/06

9:00 am

We awake in our new place after our first night here! Oh boy!

Except that everything we own is in boxes. We are surrounded by boxes. Since this apartment is half the size of our old one, the boxes take up four times as much room (we're pretty sure the Law of Squares applies to this situation).

And the only boxes we can get to are the useless ones. The paper shredder we can get to. We have access to cat toys galore. But no Shredded Wheat for breakfast (although if we could find some wheat...).

Even if we could find the cereal, we don't have anything to eat it with, as all the bowls and silverware are carefully packed away in a box somewhere.

10:20 am

A bowl! We found a bowl! Now we can have soup or cereal or nachos! If we had any idea in the world where the soup, cereal, or corn chips were.

11:50 am

The PT Cruiser is all ready to go, and for a mere $400 (ouch!). It turns out it was "just" the turn signal thingy on the steering wheel. Of course, these days, it's not only a turn signal, it also controls the lights, the flashers, and the relative humidity of the back seat. So, it gets a little spendy to replace.

Still, we've had to troubleshoot electrical problems in cars before, so we're grateful it was easy to find and easy to fix.

1:00 pm

We're heading back to the old place to pack up more stuff that didn't make it into boxes before the movers arrived.

One of the fun things about moving is that you never know what you'll find in your pockets. Robert reaches in and pulls out an Allen wrench set. Laura has a tape measure and a computer mouse in her purse, and several small mystery parts that have fallen off one or more of our possessions. And there are perfectly reasonable explanations for why we have these things on our persons.

Moving: the ultimate reality-bending experience.

6:30 pm

We attend a clown alley meeting, in the hope of getting rid of some of our belongings.

Really. We can't make this stuff up.

We manage to unload a few things for about $35. Even better, we get to leave all the costumes, magic tricks, supplies, etc. there for future sales.

Friday 4/21/06

We finally get back on the internet! Hooray!

There are 613 spam messages in our in-boxes. :-(

Today we take some furniture over to a shelter for formerly homeless folks. And then it's back to the old hacienda for even more packing.

Sunday 4/23/06

A notice appears on Freecycle that Phil the philodendron is no longer available, which means somebody has taken him.

Still, everybody should keep an eye out for an eight-foot wide, six foot tall philodendron that answers to the name of "Phil." You should approach with caution as he'll take over your home before you know it.

Tuesday 4/25/06

Back in Redmond for still more exciting cleaning and packing. Laura gets to load Big Blue, the family truck, with stuff that no one will ever want again and schlep it to the dump. It's fun to throw these items into the big pile at the transfer station, but she can't help wondering, "What's the opposite of biodegradable?"

You want some perspective on how much fun moving is?

Robert is eagerly looking forward to the afternoon, when he gets to go to the dentist and spend two hours having one of his molars drilled down to have a crown put on it.

"I get to lie down. For two hours!" he says with a smile on his face.

Our advice: Pack a suitcase and abandon everything else you own. Never move.

Friday 4/28/06

The cats seem to be getting used to the new place. In addition to racing around the living room at high speed (well, Indy does anyway), they've both barfed up hairballs! Home Sweet Home.

Laura goes back to Redmond for the very last load and a little more vacuuming and to turn in the apartment keys.

Whew!

What's next?

Okay, now we've more (or less) finished the moving part of the plan, aside from now living in a forest of boxes.

We plan to start looking at AmeriCorps jobs and applying for them. Of course, this means actually putting together resumes (Robert's last resume is about 22 years old, and he's done a few things since then; Laura's is only 10 years old).

We don't expect anything to happen for a month or two, but if it does, we'll let you know.

More news when we have some,

Robert & Laura
Mid-Life Crisis Trip Log