Moving Day - Day 5

Today was finally the last day of my move, and I couldn't be more grateful. As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday I took a break from all the lifting and carrying and moving and instead spent time trying to unpack and organize everything. And because today was my last day off from work, I considered today to be my last opportunity to actually move things. The last thing I'd want to do after a long day at work was to move. Fortunately I had only about ten loads left to carry down, so I was able to make quick work of it. And after these past five days, I'm happy that I never have to climb those stairs again!

Now I just have to continue to unpack and organize things, and thankfully there is no rush to get this done. I only wish I had another week off from work so that I could take time to recover and get resettled. Oh well.

Moving Day - Day 4

A thunderstorm woke me up this morning at about 6:00. I listened to it and enjoyed it for a while, but then fell asleep and continued to sleep until about 10:00. I slept in much later than I wanted, but obviously I needed it.

I didn't do much in terms of actual moving today. I started to get tired of stepping over boxes and piles of stuff, so instead of moving more stuff down, I decided to just unpack and organize what I already moved. So far my kitchen, bathroom, and closets are mostly organized. And I've unpacked several boxes books and put them back on my bookcases. There is still a lot of organizing I need to do, but I'm still making good progress.

Moving Day - Day 3

So the moving continues. Today I decided to sleep in a bit, because, well, I thought I deserved it. After walking up and down the stairs so many times and carrying so much stuff, I thought that by now my thighs and back would be sore. But when I first got out of bed, I immediately felt that my calves and shins were tight and sore. I also noticed that my deltoids were sore. Apparently I walk on my toes when I'm going up stairs and I do most of the lifting and carrying with my arms without straining my back. Anyway, after a shower and breakfast, I watched the World Cup while trying to unpack and organize my new apartment. I still have a long way to go. Then, later in the afternoon, I moved more stuff downstairs and I'm still making good progress. There are only a few more boxes left and all of my pictures still hanging on the walls. I think that by tomorrow I should have everything completely cleared out. Hopefully.

Even though all of this sounds like extremely slow going, I think I'm doing pretty well considering I'm moving everything by myself. With the exception of the movers who helped a few days ago, I've been all on my own. Good thing I'm a tough little girl!

Moving Day - Day 2

Today I continued my move. As I mentioned in my last post, I still have quite a few things in my old apartment, so my move is going to continue over the next few days. Because I was tired from yesterday, I decided to sleep in this morning. Then I spent the rest of the morning relaxing, having breakfast, and watching the World Cup. Hup Holland! After breakfast and the soccer game, I had to go grocery shopping. Because I knew that I was going to move and didn't want to carry all the contents of my refrigerator downstairs, I haven't been grocery shopping in a week or two. That, however, meant that I had nothing in my fridge except for a pitcher of water, an almost empty carton of milk, butter, cheese, and bread. Needless to say, I had a lot of shopping to do. And after all that I bought, I'm grateful that I didn't have to carry it up three flights of stairs!

After my grocery shopping, I started to move more of my stuff. Today I was just trying to clear out the kitchen, bathroom, and closets. I never realized how much clothes and shoes I had until I started to move everything. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, most of it are things that I almost never wear. I even have a few skirts and dresses that I never wear, but you never know if there is that once in a lifetime moment when I might actually need it. But, other than that, there are a lot of donatable items that I should really get rid of. (I'm not sure if donatable is a real word, but I'm using it anyway.) Unfortunately my closets are are also full of a lot of other junk, so I think it might take another day to clear everything out.

For the most part I'm making good progress of clearing out my old place. My new place, however, is overrun with piles of stuff that needs to be sorted, organized, and put away. Who knows how long that will take, but fortunately there isn't a deadline for that.

P.S. Happy birthday to my lovely friend, Anna!

Home Sweet Home

Well, I am finally moved into my new apartment...for the most part. I took the day off from work yesterday to finish some packing and to get a few things organized. I was very productive and jamming and dancing to a radio station from Hesperia, California. Then suddenly the music went silent. I was listening to the station online, but Comcast disconnected my cable and internet service yesterday afternoon. It wasn't exactly a surprise, though. I originally scheduled to have my service disconnected and reconnected yesterday, but that was before I found out that I couldn't move into my new place for another few days. So I was without TV for the rest of the day—perish the thought!—and I had to rely on my cell phone if I needed to get online or check e-mail. And thank God for iTunes so I wouldn't have to spend the entire afternoon in silence. (My internet and cable service was reconnected today.)

Today was the day of the big move. The movers came at about 9:15 and they were out the door by 10:45. I basically had them move all of the big and/or heavy items, and I moved the smaller, lighter boxes and furniture. After the movers left, I continued to move what was left. There is still a lot upstairs that I need to bring down, but fortunately I have a week to clear everything out. And all I have to say is that running up and down three flights of stairs all day is extremely exhausting. I already have a feeling that my legs are going to be really sore tomorrow.

My new apartment is very nice. It's the exact same floor plan, but it's flipped in the opposite direction, if that makes sense. So, where in my old place I'd have to turn right to walk into the kitchen, in my new place I have to turn left. In my old place, the bedroom was on the right, now it's on the left, and several wrong turns into the bathroom leads me to believe that it might take a while for me to get used to it. Light switches are also on the wrong walls!

My new apartment has brand new carpet, not hardwood, which, I think, will be nicer in the winter when it gets cold. The kitchen has brand new appliances, new cherry wood–style cabinets, and new counter tops. The walls are taupe (I think) and there is white crown molding. Everything in the bathroom is also brand new. The shower fixtures are different from what I had in my old apartment. When I used it for the first time this afternoon, I felt like I was in a hotel room and trying to figure out how to turn on a new shower. And I have a shower rod!! In my previous unit I had an awful shower door, so I'm grateful to have a shower rod again. Plus, I have a cool Greek-themed shower curtain that I can use again!

Being on the first floor is nice because I don't have to walk up the stairs. My apartment also feels about 20 degrees cooler than my third-floor apartment. But, as to be expected, first-floor apartments also come with a few negatives. Now that my apartment faces other apartments and not a greenbelt, I have to be more conscious of privacy. I can't just walk around naked because people might actually see me, so I have to at least make sure that the blinds are closed. And, being on the first floor, you're naturally going to hear everything above you, and I just happen to have a woman above me with her two children, a toddler and an infant. The toddler sounds like the hyperactive, running around type.

All in all, the new place is very nice and I think I made a very wise decision.

Wrenches and Wrinkles

Well, I was supposed to already have my keys to my new apartment, but unfortunately the remodel on the new unit isn't quite finished yet. I got a call earlier this week (or was it late last week) from the office telling me that they needed more time to finish their work. That definitely threw a wrench into my plans. They said that I could probably get my keys on Wednesday, June 30, and I really hope that I can because I have movers coming on the morning of July 1 to move everything down. And in the afternoon on July 1 the cable/internet people are coming to set up my new place. So, needless to say, I'm really hoping I will get my keys on the 30th, otherwise there will be a few problems.

I was hoping that I could start moving the smaller stuff over this weekend, with the intention that the more I can move myself the less the movers will have to move, and therefore the less time it will take them and therefore the less it will cost me. But unfortunately that is not happening according to plan. So, instead, I just have to continue packing. Fortunately I don't have to be completely out of my current place until July 11. So, in theory, I can switch my plan—just have the movers move all of the furniture and heavy boxes, and I can do some of the smaller things later. (I'm also starting to run out of boxes, so I might have to move more things later so that I can reuse the boxes I already packed.)

And as I'm writing this, I'm thinking about all of the other odds and ends that I need to move—things like all the food from my fridge and cabinets and all the alcohol in my liquor cabinet. Yep, I'm definitely going to need an extra week...

Quick Break and Deep Breaths

I'm taking a short break in between cleaning, purging, and packing. This has been a busy weekend for me so far, and the next two weeks ahead are going to get even more busy. I'm trying to do as much organizing and packing as I can this weekend, because I don't think I'll have much time to do it during the week. This happens to be my busiest time at work and I have a lot of deadlines and a lot books going to press this month. I have so much to do that I brought home a lot of work that I'd like to do before Monday. At times like this I envy people who work at jobs that aren't controlled by deadlines. Those people have the luxury of leaving their work at the office and it's easier for them to take time off whenever they want. Whenever I want to take time off, I have to constantly plan around my schedules and deadlines. Everyone always tells me that I need to take more time off and I need to take more vacations. While I agree with them and wouldn't argue, sometimes it's just hard to actually fit everything in. Although I love what I do, this is one of the biggest frustrations I have.

So with all the work I need to do—both professional and personal—I'm starting to panic and starting to feel stressed. I'm trying to figure out how I can make it all happen without sacrificing the basic needs in life, like eating and sleeping. Oh well. I'm sure it will all happen somehow.

Purge

Packing and moving can be a huge hassle, but one of the benefits of moving is that it gives you an opportunity to reevaluate everything you own. I mentioned in several posts that I own a lot of books and books happen to be things that I collect and have a difficult time getting rid of. But there are other things I've grown less attached to. It's only now that I'm forced to go through these things that I realize, one, that I actually still own them, and, two, that I don't really need them.

For whatever reason I still have a lot of clothes that I know don't fit me very well. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a lot of clothes just don't fit in the shoulders and the back. Yet, I still have these clothes hanging in my closet and naturally I haven't worn them in years. What's the point of keeping them if I could at any minute rip through them like the Incredible Hulk? (Yes, I realize that many of you will laugh at that statement considering I'm 5'2" and 100 pounds, but still.) So those will go into a donation bag and maybe someone else can wear them.

I've also held on to a lot of things from my student days. I still have a hard time getting rid of papers and notes from class. Basically, anything that shows my actual hard work is something that I tend to keep. But over the years I've also collected copies and printouts of journal articles or chapters from books that I've used for research. These books and journals will always be around somewhere in some library, so there probably isn't a need for me to keep them. It's just a lot of wasted paper, wasted space, and added weight that I don't need right now. So I've gotten rid of all of these and dumped them into the recycling bin.

Even though I occasionally have a tendency to hold on to things that I think I might need someday or things I might have a sentimental attachment to, it feels really nice to get rid of things. It might be a cliche to say, but it's nice to get rid of the past when you're about to do something different or start something new. Even though I'm just moving downstairs, I might as well use it as an opportunity to clean out and start over, so to speak.

Books, Books, Books

Even though I don't officially move for another two weeks, I've decided to start packing. For now I've started to pack my books, because it's likely I won't need these at any time over the next few weeks. As I might have mentioned before, I have a lot of books. So far I've packed nine boxes just with books, and I still have more to go. Looking at the stacks of books placed randomly across my living room, I think I'll need about three or four more boxes to pack everything I have left.

I know that I'm just moving downstairs and could probably just carry these books down in smaller and somewhat lighter boxes. But if I'm going to have movers handle the big furniture anyway, I might as well let them handle the bigger and heavier boxes. Yes, I am strong enough to carry my 30- or 40-pound desk up three flights of stairs—the desk was still in a box and disassembled—but I'm just not in the mood to do that again. I'll stick with the lighter and easier stuff this time around.

Packing

Now that I've started to narrow down when I'm going to move, I've decided to start packing. People might wonder why it would take me two weeks to pack a one-bedroom apartment, but if you looked at the amount of books I own, you'd know why. Over the years I've collected a large amount of books. When you're in school, you have to buy books for your classes. Then you buy more books when you have to do research. And when you're a nerd and just love to read and own books, you buy even more books because they look interesting. And to top things off, I work for a book publisher and can bring home books for free. Needless to say, I have a lot of books. I tried counting them a few days ago, but lost count when the phone rang. When I lost count, I was somewhere in the 300 range with probably another 100 or 200 to go. Even I would admit that this is a lot. Is it really too much? I don't know. The bookish part of me thinks that you can never have too many books. But it always feels like too many when you have to move them—books in boxes can get really heavy.

Well, after I get resettled into my new apartment, I suppose I can reevaluate my library. I bet I could make some money if I sold a few of them at a used bookstore or something. We'll see.