We're back!

Ahhh, sweet internet... How I love thee... 

Seriously, we've been totally out of the loop in every which way for the last 5 days or so, and while I haven't missed the television at all, I have SO missed being online. But all that is over--we're all up and running. I'm pleased. 

And I'm pleased to be here. It's been a totally rough week. And I was being serious as I can be about never moving ourselves again. That was one of the more unpleasant activities I've ever done. Between renting the truck, gas, and hotel, it was probably more expensive than just hiring someone to do it anyway. Feh. Thankfully we were able to get a couple of our workers to help us unload the truck. What took us more than 3 hours to do ourselves took these guys (and us) less than 45 minutes. Of course, most of our crap is still sitting in boxes in the foyer (along with the fridge... more on that later...). 

Thus far, our experience has been dominated by several things:

• Manual Labor 
• Dust
  
• Being Hot
  
• Not being able to find anything
  
• Sleeping Poorly
  

and

• Being really REALLY glad we're here
  

Manual Labor

I just want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to our drywallers, who treated our 108-year old hardwood floors with such care. You are masters of your craft.

NOT!  UGH!!!!! I've never been so pissed (okay, yes I have, many times, but I was really wicked angry). We got here the day after the drywallers left. Our original contractor had run out of time (we only told him three dozen times that we were arriving on the 15th--of course, he thought we were coming on the 29th... Yet again confirming that he doesn't listen to a word I say...). Anyway, since he couldn't finish in time and he knew we would be pardon-my-french ripshit if it wasn't done by the time we got here, he hired another crew to finish. They did a fantastic job on the walls, but neglected to PUT DOWN A DROPCLOTH.  Anywhere. We got new drywall in at least 1/3 of the House. That is a lot of floor to be covered with plaster. Anyway, yes. This situation has required me to get down and scrub away like crazy. It's vexing.  I'm smiling in the picture to the left, but I wasn't happy. 

Dust

Aforementioned drywall work has created more dust than I ever anticipated. You can lay something down and pick it up 5 minutes later, and there's a layer of dust on it. I keep wondering why everything looks so hazy. Um, it's because my glasses are covered in drywall dust. Eric has gone all Shop-Vac crazy. 

Being Hot

For some reason, my memories of Indianapolis don't include the times I must've spent sweating my butt off just sitting around. I know they had to have happened, but they're blocked. Seriously, it's crazy hot here. It's a more pleasant hot than in Boston, simply because there are no piles of garbage or dumpsters nearby, but I have a feeling we're in for a rough summer. My plans of bringing walking-everywhere back to Indy have just flown out the window. 

Not Being Able to Find Anything

We have a Brita Water jug that I would really like to use, and I know it's somewhere within 20 feet of where I sit right now, but I have no IDEA which box it's in. Note to self: next time you move, label the boxes. I kept thinking to myself, as I was packing, "Oh, that box has a green marker on it. You'll remember that it has all of your silverware in it. After all, you'll unpack that box in 4 days...." HAHAHA! The silverware, of course, was one of the first things we needed, and I opened all of our boxes looking for it--did I remember the green mark? Of course not. And of course, it was in the last box I had to open. Sigh. 

Sleeping Poorly

There are a lot of birds here. And they are early risers. 

Being Really Glad We're Here

Here's a picture of our street, and one of Eric sitting on the front porch. We've been taking all our meals out there (mainly because it's cleaner than inside, and because everywher

e else in here is just chaos), and people wave as they walk by. So pleasant. My aunt and uncle 

dropped by a nice table and chairs set, and some herbs--SO nice. Despite the fact that we've been living on sandwiches and cereal since we got

 here, I've enjoyed fresh basil daily. Which is nice. 

Tonight, I do believe we're going to buy a new washer/dryer (thanks, Mom and Dad!), as well as some paint. We've got some relatives, aka slave labor, over for some painting tomorrow. More to come...

Haley