Our stuff arrived…sort of. We received our belongings last week Friday, which although sooner than the original estimated arrival of July 9-13…was still later than Monday June 28th. The delivery drivers in their infinite wisdom packed the truck wrong and had to go to Minnesota first…ugh. Oh well, I’m sleeping in my own bed again and not an air mattress/guest bed/hotel bed, so all is right in the world again.
We do have a small list of items in the damaged/missing category...desk chair—missing a wheel; dresser—a wood strip broke off en route; pint glass—chipped; tall bookcase—missing (though the shelves made it…go figure); and last but not least, the dining room chair—a leg is broken off (but don’t worry, they tried to glue it and failed…double ugh).
We’re doing a great job of putting everything away…by “we” I mean Al because I have started my new job already and am in training from 7:30am to 4:30pm each day minus one hour for lunch/frantic shopping for stuff we need at home. Al has been mostly amazing and each day impresses me more and more. He is the best house-husband EVER! (Seriously--what am I going to do in September when he starts grad school??...Wanted: house-husband/maid/organizer/reader of my every thought…pay=0…benefits=me yelling at them…any applicants?...no??)
On the bright side, I scored a great piece of furniture for the apartment this week. It was discontinued from World Market…so we got it for 1/2 price thanks to Al. Here’s a picture of it…
1 – the new buffet table/table linens storage/”quick…stuff
all of our crap in here before the company arrives device”
2 – pretty things from Grammy
3 – Avenue Q autographed poster!!!...no big deal
4 – Guinness…”is there a picture going on??...I must be
involved”
5 – vase of wine corks…don’t worry there are more in a zip
lock bag…didn’t want you thinking I was getting behind from all of the
unpacking :)
We’re soooo getting used to the relaxed, Midwest lifestyle,
seeing old friends, and spending time with family. We miss our DC family so much…but don’t miss
the heat/traffic/insanity…so all of you need to move to
WISCONSIN!!
So we made it to Wisconsin mostly in one piece. We left Virginia on Thursday a little after
noon. We had reserved a room at a Super8
in Ohio since they allow our little monsters to stay there. All was fine and good: checked into the
hotel, had a gourmet dinner at Applebee’s (10% off with room key—score!), and we
tucked ourselves into bed. 2:15am—I woke
up to the dogs sleeping on the floor and panting. Apparently the “AC low” setting is secretly
the “AC off” setting. So I got up, put
it on high, checked out Facebook for a while, and went back to bed. 4:15am—I woke up to both dogs glued to my
side under the covers and me freezing because apparently “AC high” is secretly “let’s
see if they really want to move back to Wisconsin temperatures.” Ugh.
So needless to say, nobody slept well.
Off to breakfast we went.
Coffee (I thought) would be my savior.
After we were done, I was going to fill up the coffee and put a lid on
it for the car. I wanted to get the lid
on tight so that it wouldn’t spill in the car…because that would really suck. When
I pushed down, the Styrofoam gave way, and the freshly hot coffee exploded all
over me. So there I was sleepless,
tired, startled, and burned crying at the hotel breakfast. Al brought me some ice that slowly melted
into my sundress, and I held an ice pack from the cooler on my tummy for the
next two hours in the car…while stinking of coffee. What’s worse than coffee spilling all over
the car??—coffee exploding all over you.
I have a lovely burn to show for it.
Luckily it didn’t blister.
Wisconsin is great, our apartment is massive, and we are
really happy to be home. I don’t think
it has set in yet that we don’t have to drive back.
So the moving company came this past weekend…I know what
you’re thinking, “…but you’re not moving until the end of the week??” Yes, I realize this, but the FREE moving
service provided by my new company only had two days available in June…the 18th
and the 29th. Since we are
both done with work on the 23rd, we didn’t want to hang out much more
in the land of non-stop traffic…plus the sooner we move our stuff from DC, the
sooner it will arrive in Madison...in theory…but then they changed the date from
the 18th to the 19th without really letting me
know…ugh.
They also keep telling me different dates for when our stuff
will arrive at our apartment in Madison.
Basically we need to be ready for it anytime between June 28th
and July 13th…ummm. Don’t get
me wrong, I am very thankful that we don’t have to pay for or physically move
our stuff, but scheduling a last minute move has been a bit hairy.
So we are currently living on an air mattress with
suitcases. We both forgot to leave
behind any lamps…but I found a flashlight last night. So we are basically camping in our apartment…without
s’mores…lamest camping EVER!
There are worse things to be in the world than
stuff-less…like home-less or food-less…but it is inconvenient
none-the-less. I will be happy when we
are reunited with our (hopefully undamaged) belongings.
Al and I are officially moving back to Wisconsin. I have accepted a job offer, and we will
return to the dairy state in two weeks. We are both thrilled to be moving to Madison
for the career opportunities, close proximity to family, and LESS
TRAFFIC!!!...and really…the most important reason…THE CHEESE!!!
We will miss the DC area, the museums, the events, and
mostly our many friends that became our DC family. When you live so far away from your
biological family, you form a close bond with your friends. We’ve celebrated holidays together, been pet
sitters for each other, cheered each other on at ½ and full marathons, thrown
each other graduation parties, and even taken care of each other when we were
sick or hospitalized. We couldn’t have
made it out here without our DC family, and we will miss you tremendously. We hope you can visit us in Wisconsin, and we
look forward to visiting DC (like in January when it is negative 3,000 degrees
outside in Wisconsin and the snow is higher than the trees…expect a knock at
your door).
We also want to thank our Wisconsin friends who have kept in
touch with us through phone calls, emails, FB messages, and even visits out
east. It is very easy to get home sick
being 1,000 miles away from home, but your words and laughter would always
bring our spirits up! The friends that
stick with you even with half a country in between you are friends for life.
Finally we have to thank our families. Thank you for supporting our decision to move
so far away, supporting us while we were here, and supporting us through the
move back. We are so thankful for your
patience and understanding. We look
forward to spending more time with you now that we will be living in Wisconsin.
So I told y’all about my totally lame purse and its
reputation for hiding things in the DOOM. Well, I didn’t even know the half of it. All of last week, without my knowledge, my
purse was harboring a little “treat” leftover from Al’s birthday the weekend
before. All week, going in and out of
federal buildings no less, was me, my purse, and a flask of whiskey. I am now officially a card carrying member
of white trash. O. M. G.
A whole flask!!!...for a week!!!...without me noticing?!?! Ugh.
People say that you shouldn’t hate…it consumes you…it makes
you a bad person…yada, yada, yada, but I hate.
I HATE----my purse. HATE
IT!!!!
When the trends started going towards a bigger and bigger
purse, I was elated…I need lots of stuff to make this look good. I mean, how
can you go about your day without five different kinds of lip gloss at your
disposal??…you can’t. Anyway, I bought
myself one of those big ole purses stuffing every last thing I owned into
it…stop fighting Guinness; get in there!! What I did not realize when I bought the
purse was that it is a vacuumous black hole of doom…yes, DOOM!!! I can never find ANYTHING in that thing when
I need it. I even bought one of those
organizers that Oprah recommends…well Oprah was wrong, so now I hate her
too…eat it Oprah!!
Luckily my wallet is the size of the Hoover Dam, so I can
usually find that, but definitely not my cell phone, gum, one of the many
pharmaceuticals that I keep handy, or the exact lip gloss I am looking for. I have had several public outbursts of, “I
HATE MY PURSE” while rummaging through it.
I hate my purse so much that Al hates it too. And do you know the worst part??? It is cute and I got it on sale…both give me
intrinsic reasons to hold onto the damn thing.
Nine West, 50% off of the sale price!!!!!...and I get compliments on it
all of the time…how can I give that up?!?!
I am looking, though, for a replacement, but unfortunately
all of the purses out there have no pockets, no organization, and look like
they would also be a vacuumous hole of doom.
The purses in the stores look at me and say, “hey lady, buy me so you
can never find your stuff ever again!”
They taunt me…which leads me to more hate…ugh.
The other day I found three packs of gum in it…THREE!!! I kept putting gum in there thinking I was
out…nope, not out…just lost in the DOOM.
Let’s take a look at this monstrocity…
Looks pretty cute from the outside…tame even. Let’s get a better look inside…watch your
hands people, lest the doom get you!!!
All right people, now we see the DOOM that is the inside of
my purse. I can honestly tell you that I
did not arrange anything, just set it down, took a pic, and prayed there wasn’t
a feminine hygiene product showing.
Anyway…here’s what’s inside…
1)Pen and pencil…the student/waitress in me always
has several spares. I guarantee there
are 5 more in there…SOMEWHERE.
2)Drugs…CVS ain’t got nothing on me.
3)Lip gloss…though I think one is a concealer.
4)Gum…who knows how many more packs are in there….3?...5?...7??
5)BIG WALLET…told ya it was big.
6)Kleenex…not that I cry. As I told Ashley and Jen in the days before I
got married, “crying is NOT productive!”
7)Compact…for helping to apply one of the 70 lip
glosses.
8)More drugs.
9)Keys…KEYS?!?!
Now the purse is just showing off, I can never find these guys.
10)Hand sanitizer…helllooo homeless guy on the
metro.
11)Contact rewetting drops…the key to working full
time and going to school at night.
12)Mini emery boards…heaven forbid I break a nail!!
There’s probably more in there than that…like: my badge for
work (***insert “we don’t need no stinkin’ badges” joke here***), lotion,
Zicam, more keys (in case I can’t find the first set--seriously), roughly 8,000
coupons (all expired), Jimmy Hoffa, the complete Mozart Requiem, and a first
aid kit. This thing really should be
checkout by the FBI and NASA.
To end on a light/mostly adorable note. The instant I pulled out my camera, Guinness
came over for the photo shoot. (He
thinks it is all about him…must have learned that from his mama.)
