Moving can be stressful. There are a million things to unpack, and on top of all that there are a bunch of things you have to do such as setting up your water and sewer service, calling for trash pickup, getting internet service, etc. I called Consumer's Energy to get our energy service set up, and that turned out to be a disaster.
In order for Consumer's to set up gas and electric in my name, I had to get a reading from our current meter. Luckily I knew right where that was because of the electrical inspection I had done a few weeks ago. It's on the side of our house by the chimney. The person on the phone asked me to go read it, and I said sure. I opened the door to run outside, and at the last second I grabbed my thin fall coat. It is December, after all, and I didn't want to go outside in just my t-shirt even if it was only for a minute. I was in my slippers and sweatpants, but I didn't care. I was only going to be outside for a quick minute...or so I thought.
I read the meter numbers to the Consumer's lady, and after I finished that call I walked back up to my front door to let myself inside. Well...it wouldn't open. I was shocked that an older house had automatically locking doors - I definitely hadn't locked the door behind me when I went outside. I walked over to our breezeway door, and that was locked too. So was the back door. Rex was at work and wasn't scheduled to be home for another seven hours. I walked around the house trying to find a way to get in, but it was fruitless. Also, we didn't know any of the neighbors yet, so I was definitely worried about one of them calling the police if they saw me trying to break into the house. I had a vision of myself calling Rex from jail to please come prove to these officers that I do, in fact, own the house into which I was breaking and entering. That didn't sound very fun, even if it would have made a fantastic blog post.
The wind was blustery and harsh, and my fall coat (which has holes in it, by the way) was not cut out for that type of cold. I sat down on my front stoop, folded my arms into my chest, and started shivering. My toes were cold too, as my slippers were getting all wet from the sidewalk. I pulled out my phone and called Rex, but he was with a patient and wouldn't have a break to come let me in for a few hours. I tried calling everyone in my family to perhaps go get the key from Rex and bring it to me, but none of them answered. I sighed, put my phone back in my pocket, and kept shivering and feeling sorry for myself. I looked warily in my window at the Yankee Candle Company jar candle burning on my table. I mentally ordered my cat not to get up on the table and knock it over. I'd be in real trouble if she did.
I looked around at the other houses in the neighborhood and considered walking up to one of them and asking if I could wait in there for someone to rescue me. I tried to decide which house might have the nicest people inside, but you obviously can't tell that from looking at the outside of houses. I eventually nixed that plan, because even if the people were nice enough to let me come inside (which was not a sure thing), I didn't want word to spread around the neighborhood that "the new neighbor in the blue house is a complete moron." After all, I locked myself out of my own house, and I was standing outside in slippers. It wasn't exactly my finest hour.
Finally I decided to get up and go for a walk, both because walking would warm me up and because feeling sorry for myself was getting boring. I walked out to West Main St, and I decided to explore my new surroundings. After all, if I couldn't work on unpacking my house, then at least I could find an adventure, right? I began by going to the Marathon station about a block down the main road. I went inside and walked around, but I didn't have money to buy anything. I was relieved to be in the warmth, but the sinister looking Indian man at the counter was watching me suspiciously. I tried to look enthralled by a pack of beef jerky and then truly perplexed by which variety of Laffy Taffy I might choose, but there's only so much convenience store food you can look at before you're officially loitering. I eventually gave up and went back outside into the biting December wind.
Another block down there was a cute restaurant called Nina's Cafe. I really wanted to go inside and order some hot chocolate, but once again I didn't have any money. I pictured myself sitting inside the cafe, sipping hot chocolate and people watching in the warmth until someone from my family would come help me. It sounded great. Without money, though, it was only a dream. I considered going inside, describing my plight, and promising that Rex would pay for my cocoa when he came to get me. I doubted that they would believe me, seeing as I had unbrushed hair, slippered feet, and a ratty old coat. I didn't look like an upstanding, home-owning citizen. I looked like a homeless lady. I was scared that I would be rejected and sent back out into the street like a societal outcast.
I was about to take my chances with Nina's Cafe when I saw a small sign up on a hill off of the main road next to a small building. It said "Kazoo Books." I literally gasped aloud when I saw this. A bookshop? A bookshop within walking distance of my house? I had driven this road dozens of times and never noticed this bookshop before. I wanted to cry for joy - I knew I could wait in a bookshop until rescue came. I could spend hours in a bookshop. I ran up the hill towards the shop, mentally willing it to be open. It was. I did a little jump of happiness - it was as if I'd been traveling in a foreign country and finally found a group of people who spoke English. These were my people. Book people. I was going to be okay.
I pushed open the door and heard the tinkle of the bell announcing my arrival. The bookshop was exactly how all bookshops should be: rooms upon rooms of floor to ceiling books. They even had the ladders to help you reach books on the top shelves. Antique looking overstuffed chairs and couches were stowed in every available space, allowing book lovers like myself to curl up and read. A giant cat tree sat in the front window, which allowed the two shop cats to sit and watch the world go by (when they weren't curled up on some reader's lap). I took a deep breath and inhaled the musty scent of old books. New books are my number one favorite smell in the world, but old books are definitely in my top five. I ran my fingertips lovingly along the spines of the books on one of the dozens of shelves - I couldn't believe I had found this oasis. Now I really didn't care if Rex came to rescue me until the end of his shift. I would be fine for the whole day.
Of course, as soon as I found a place to settle down, my sister called me back. She agreed to go get the key from Rex and bring it to me. While I waited, I chose a book about the history of the English language and settled into a particularly fluffy looking couch to read. The coffee table in front of the couch was shaped like a giant stack of books. When I pulled the bookmark of one of the books, a drawer pulled out. It was the most magnificent coffee table I have ever seen.
By the time my sister arrived, I was completely calm - quite the opposite of the panic I felt when I realized I was locked out of my house She took me home, I finally blew out that pesky candle that had been worrying me, and all was well. I'm actually a little bit glad that I got locked out, because now I know about Kazoo Books. I'm sure I will clock a lot of hours there over the next few years.
Now that I'm finished telling you about my adventure, I have to get back to unpacking. Step 1 on errands I need to run today: go make a spare key.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Home for the Holidays
It's Christmas Eve, and I have approximately 986,234,726 things to do before tomorrow. In all the hurry, I have to take a second to pause to tell you some really exciting news: Rex and I bought a house.
I'm sitting in my new living room watching the dog chase the cat and staring at my absolutely beautiful wall of bookshelves.
I am so thankful for the blessing of this house. I'm blown away by the fact that all of this is mine, and that God saw fit to provide Rex and I with great jobs AND a beautiful house in the town that we love. I know we don't deserve it, and I am incredibly thankful.
What I am more thankful for, however, is the fact that we have been blessed by such amazing friends. There's nothing like moving to show you how many real friends you have. Let's be honest: moving isn't fun. It's just not. So the fact that people were willing to give up their valuable time, especially this close to Christmas, completely blows me away. And I'm not just talking about one or two friends who showed up and carried a box or two. We had a veritable army of people helping us. I am so humbled and grateful for their generosity. If we didn't have them, I'd still be moving in the cold instead of sitting here watching Elvis give up on chasing Elsie because he wants to settle down to chew a bone by the Christmas tree.
At the risk of sounding like an Oscar acceptance speech, I need to give some shout outs to the people who made this move so amazingly easy:
1. My mom and dad. My mom probably put in more hours than anyone else, She came over two evenings last week to help me pack, and then she came over for a good chunk of the day on Saturday to help us move stuff. I realize you're probably thinking, "Yeah, well that's your mom - she had to help." Actually, she didn't. She and my dad just moved into a new house themselves, so they had plenty of stuff they had to do. Instead, they helped me. Whoa. My dad has a bad back, and he still came for a few hours and helped as much as he could. He kept joking that he needed "girly" jobs. He ended up doing a lot of work!
2. Sarah and Will - My friend Sarah is one of those friends who will be there for you no matter what. You can just count on her, you know? So even though she blew out her knee a few hours before she was supposed to come help move, she came anyway. She carried light stuff, and she commissioned her ex-military husband Will to carry the heavy stuff. (By the way, I hardly know Will...he just showed up because he's a really good guy). She also gave up an evening last week to help me pack, even though she's been working mandatory overtime at work for the past two weeks straight. So, in her few precious hours of relaxation time, she decided to help me. What? Who does that?! Sarah, that's who.
3. My school friends - Two teachers from my school, Beth and Katie, gave up their first morning of Christmas break to help us move. Their first morning to sleep in, their first morning without whiny kids, and they used it to help ME. What a gift! Also, my friend Lauren came at the same time as Beth and Katie. She's working in retail right now, which is super busy during Christmas, and she gave up one of her few mornings off to come help.
4. Siblings - My sister and Rex's brothers both gave some time to help. Rex's brother Jake was especially helpful - he stayed until 1 AM helping us get everything over! His girlfriend Stephanie stayed until 11 PM helping me unpack my new (and awesome) kitchen. I mean, she didn't have any obligation to be there. She's not related to me, I hardly ever get to hang out with her, and yet she gave up an entire evening of her Christmas break to help. What a generous person! Jake should probably marry her.
5. Jake - Rex's brother is named Jake, but he also has a friend named Jake (that got a bit confusing, ha ha). Friend Jake helped us move to Nevada and then back from Nevada on two of the most epic road trips of all time, so I told Rex we probably shouldn't ask him to help us this time. After all, he's done his friend duty in helping us move more than once. Rex agreed. Imagine my surprise, then, when there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to see this:
Jake had driven an HOUR to come help us! He even stayed the night and helped us the next day too! Apparently he and Rex had concocted a plan where Jake was going to stand by the side of the road with that sign pretending to be a homeless person, then Rex was going to drive by with me and "find" him. Jake got bored, though, so he came over early. He was super helpful (as always), and I couldn't believe that he came over to help us move a third time. His first order of business in the new house was to put this sign on the guest room door:
It's still there, ha ha. It makes me smile whenever I see it, so I haven't taken it down.
6. Katie and Chris - Katie and Chris live in Ohio, and they too have already helped us move before (we've moved five times in the four years we've been married...hence why I'm so excited to actually own a house now). They showed up and spent an entire afternoon of their time off to help us. Katie works in journalism and gets basically no time off - not even Christmas! - so it was pretty crazy that she was willing to drive up to Michigan to help on her time off.
7. Kyle - When Rex and I lived in Lansing, we lived across from a couple named Kyle and Karl Kyle was an interior design major in college, and she is fabulous at designing things. She's a complete natural at it. She somehow made their one bedroom apartment look like it should be on the Parade of Homes. Now they have a beautiful house, and it actually should be on the Parade of Homes. Anyway, she drove down FROM LANSING on the day after we moved specifically to help me set up my new place. She told me where to put my furniture (I had it a certain way, but when she changed it around it looked a thousand times better). Kyle and I went shopping for some decorative items, and I have gotten so many compliments on the things she picked. She's an absolute genius, and I am so grateful that she helped me.
Can you even believe all of the friends who helped us? Our bosses even helped - Rex's boss let us use his trailer, and my boss offered to come help move furniture (we ended up not needing him, but I was so grateful for the offer). We basically have the best bosses ever. Again - we're very blessed. I'm completely blown away.
So now we're getting settled in our new house and getting ready for Christmas, and I'm feeling so loved by all of the people who gave their valuable time to come help. I don't know how to thank them all! I hope Santa is extra good to them this year - they definitely deserve it.
As I was leaving the old house yesterday after cleaning it, the sunset over it looked gorgeous. Almost like beautiful closure to that chapter in our lives (I realize that's too symbolic and mushy, but hey - I'm an English teacher. Give me a break). I'm posting the picture here for you to see. We don't live there any more, but it's still beautiful. Goodbye, old adventures, hello to the new ones!
I'm sitting in my new living room watching the dog chase the cat and staring at my absolutely beautiful wall of bookshelves.
What I am more thankful for, however, is the fact that we have been blessed by such amazing friends. There's nothing like moving to show you how many real friends you have. Let's be honest: moving isn't fun. It's just not. So the fact that people were willing to give up their valuable time, especially this close to Christmas, completely blows me away. And I'm not just talking about one or two friends who showed up and carried a box or two. We had a veritable army of people helping us. I am so humbled and grateful for their generosity. If we didn't have them, I'd still be moving in the cold instead of sitting here watching Elvis give up on chasing Elsie because he wants to settle down to chew a bone by the Christmas tree.
At the risk of sounding like an Oscar acceptance speech, I need to give some shout outs to the people who made this move so amazingly easy:
1. My mom and dad. My mom probably put in more hours than anyone else, She came over two evenings last week to help me pack, and then she came over for a good chunk of the day on Saturday to help us move stuff. I realize you're probably thinking, "Yeah, well that's your mom - she had to help." Actually, she didn't. She and my dad just moved into a new house themselves, so they had plenty of stuff they had to do. Instead, they helped me. Whoa. My dad has a bad back, and he still came for a few hours and helped as much as he could. He kept joking that he needed "girly" jobs. He ended up doing a lot of work!
2. Sarah and Will - My friend Sarah is one of those friends who will be there for you no matter what. You can just count on her, you know? So even though she blew out her knee a few hours before she was supposed to come help move, she came anyway. She carried light stuff, and she commissioned her ex-military husband Will to carry the heavy stuff. (By the way, I hardly know Will...he just showed up because he's a really good guy). She also gave up an evening last week to help me pack, even though she's been working mandatory overtime at work for the past two weeks straight. So, in her few precious hours of relaxation time, she decided to help me. What? Who does that?! Sarah, that's who.
3. My school friends - Two teachers from my school, Beth and Katie, gave up their first morning of Christmas break to help us move. Their first morning to sleep in, their first morning without whiny kids, and they used it to help ME. What a gift! Also, my friend Lauren came at the same time as Beth and Katie. She's working in retail right now, which is super busy during Christmas, and she gave up one of her few mornings off to come help.
4. Siblings - My sister and Rex's brothers both gave some time to help. Rex's brother Jake was especially helpful - he stayed until 1 AM helping us get everything over! His girlfriend Stephanie stayed until 11 PM helping me unpack my new (and awesome) kitchen. I mean, she didn't have any obligation to be there. She's not related to me, I hardly ever get to hang out with her, and yet she gave up an entire evening of her Christmas break to help. What a generous person! Jake should probably marry her.
5. Jake - Rex's brother is named Jake, but he also has a friend named Jake (that got a bit confusing, ha ha). Friend Jake helped us move to Nevada and then back from Nevada on two of the most epic road trips of all time, so I told Rex we probably shouldn't ask him to help us this time. After all, he's done his friend duty in helping us move more than once. Rex agreed. Imagine my surprise, then, when there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to see this:
Jake had driven an HOUR to come help us! He even stayed the night and helped us the next day too! Apparently he and Rex had concocted a plan where Jake was going to stand by the side of the road with that sign pretending to be a homeless person, then Rex was going to drive by with me and "find" him. Jake got bored, though, so he came over early. He was super helpful (as always), and I couldn't believe that he came over to help us move a third time. His first order of business in the new house was to put this sign on the guest room door:
It's still there, ha ha. It makes me smile whenever I see it, so I haven't taken it down.
6. Katie and Chris - Katie and Chris live in Ohio, and they too have already helped us move before (we've moved five times in the four years we've been married...hence why I'm so excited to actually own a house now). They showed up and spent an entire afternoon of their time off to help us. Katie works in journalism and gets basically no time off - not even Christmas! - so it was pretty crazy that she was willing to drive up to Michigan to help on her time off.
7. Kyle - When Rex and I lived in Lansing, we lived across from a couple named Kyle and Karl Kyle was an interior design major in college, and she is fabulous at designing things. She's a complete natural at it. She somehow made their one bedroom apartment look like it should be on the Parade of Homes. Now they have a beautiful house, and it actually should be on the Parade of Homes. Anyway, she drove down FROM LANSING on the day after we moved specifically to help me set up my new place. She told me where to put my furniture (I had it a certain way, but when she changed it around it looked a thousand times better). Kyle and I went shopping for some decorative items, and I have gotten so many compliments on the things she picked. She's an absolute genius, and I am so grateful that she helped me.
Can you even believe all of the friends who helped us? Our bosses even helped - Rex's boss let us use his trailer, and my boss offered to come help move furniture (we ended up not needing him, but I was so grateful for the offer). We basically have the best bosses ever. Again - we're very blessed. I'm completely blown away.
So now we're getting settled in our new house and getting ready for Christmas, and I'm feeling so loved by all of the people who gave their valuable time to come help. I don't know how to thank them all! I hope Santa is extra good to them this year - they definitely deserve it.
As I was leaving the old house yesterday after cleaning it, the sunset over it looked gorgeous. Almost like beautiful closure to that chapter in our lives (I realize that's too symbolic and mushy, but hey - I'm an English teacher. Give me a break). I'm posting the picture here for you to see. We don't live there any more, but it's still beautiful. Goodbye, old adventures, hello to the new ones!
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