How Rich Spent His Vacation and Jane Spent Her Birthday

So I told you that Rich was taking a week's vacation and then we ended up getting a housing change. His relaxing time went out the window! To make it worse, I was working extra hours because my boss and two coworkers were all out of town, which meant I was not home during the day to offer any help. I packed box after box at night and Rich hauled them over every day. We think we had at least 120 boxes. Now how in the world have we accumulated that much stuff?! I think the two largest categories were books and kitchen items. You probably could have guessed.

A friend helped Rich carry the large pieces but we did the rest ourselves. The new house is up some steps on the side of a hill so it wasn't the easiest thing to get everything up here. Luckily, the company provides basic furniture so we didn't have to take much with us. We have a few things--a bookcase, a computer desk, some lamps, a cabinet, etc. but thank goodness we did not have a whole houseful of furniture to move. We had many offers of help but figured we could get it done slowly but surely without bothering people who already have very busy lives. If we'd had a bunch of furniture, though, I think I would have taken them up on it!

We can see Bunker Hill from our living room window. Can you spot the bunker?

Our cats have been so skittish. We planned to keep them inside for a couple of days till they got used to the new environment but we have been surprised at just how jittery they are. We started staying here on Friday night and they hid behind the washer and dryer for hours. Saturday, they eventually ventured out and explored the house a little bit, but ran at the slightest movement or noise. Back to the laundry room or under our bed they went. I thought they would be crying to go outside, but no. We have wide windowsills where they sit and observe but have made no effort to convince us to let them out. Here's Kali lying on the couch, though, finally warming up to her new home.

My big plan was to have everything out of the old house by Friday and to spend Saturday cleaning it so we could relax on Sunday (or start unpacking). I always underestimate how long it will take to do just about anything so it was disappointing but not shocking to find that we were still cleaning the old house on Sunday night. I was a little pouty because it was my birthday and I did not want to spend it scrubbing a refrigerator or wiping down baseboards! Then I would remind myself that Rich didn't get to enjoy his vacation at all and was not whining about it. :) It was all worthwhile, though, if exhausting. haha Above is our new, much bigger kitchen! Nice! Rich has been unpacking and putting things away all night. And it's still not done! The walls are really not yellow--it's my camera. If Rich were posting photos, I am sure he would fix the white balance! But he's sleeping and I am too tired to worry about it.

Our new, bigger living room. We can have people over! Yay!

Lest you think it was all drudgery, Rich spent several hours at an arts and crafts fair on Saturday and sold a nice number of his photos (Hawaii money! Yes!) Saturday night, I took a break to attend a little birthday gathering at my friend Tammy's. Andrea (above) and I discovered that our bdays are one day apart and even weirder, her family was the first to live in our house (when it was a brand new full sized house and not a duplex) when she was a kid! We have some mutual friends who got a party together for us.....a delicious dinner, ice cream and cake, and a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Wild and crazy, I know!

Sonia

Melanie
Tammy and Haleigh, who's home from college and got roped into spending part of her Saturday night with a bunch of moms. She was sweet to join us and even brought along some excellent brownies.

Yes, that's Bruce Springsteen's 30th Anniversary edition of Born to Run that Tammy is holding. Among other things, we've bonded over our mutual love for The Boss. :) Thanks, gals--it was a fabulous evening. Next time, my new house!