The Bone Bed (book review)

The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
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John Adams (book review)

John Adams by David McCullough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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ETA for settling in: Years

The initial part of the adventure is over, complete with the fun while exhausting experience of becoming a trucker, even for just two days! The guffawing laughter that ensued when I asked a trucker at the truck stop to help me make sure I didn't screw up the process of re-fueling helped me realise that the fur coat and high heeled boots was probably not the best wardrobe selection for this task. However, he was very nice and I could not help but notice the kind nods from truckers on the road after that, which did not exist at all before that incident; I assume the story of the crazy fur lady who knows nothing about large vehicles hit the circuits :)

Arriving safely and completely wiped out from the mountains (why oh why did that have to be the last part of the 11 hour journey????), I was excited to get everything into the house, unpacked, and start living life rambling around the large home with my tea.

Hrm.

I understand that things rarely go that smoothly, but it turns out that moving into a 4000 sq ft home that is 76 years old has more implications than slapping a couch in the living room and calling it home! I swear the house fights you and is possibly alive. As I lay in bed at 430a woken up by little sounds, it is essential to remove paranoia that somebody is in the house. Otherwise you'll be doing checks every hour. Worse, sound bounces like radio waves in here! So if you indulge in a 3a walkabout  you'll just drive yourself nuts trying to locate the original sound. It's really best just to insure every dot and tittle so you can roll over for more sleep. Seriously.

Electrics. Wow. It would seem that this place was at one point three different flats. You can't tell by the structure as it really flows well, but the bottom line is that we have three different electric bills, three different rubbish bills, three different recycling bills....you get the picture. I'm fine with getting dinged three different line items in my banking account because they add up to what one bill would be anyway, but when lights suddenly go out in three different rooms that don't seem obviously related............let's just say about six hours of Eric's time with help from the lovely neighbor and electric gear from another neighbor finally resolved it, while I quietly thank the stars that both Eric and the neighbor are engineers. Really these are small issues and have no complaints; it's more of just a reality check with my massive lack of experience moving into 76 year old houses! Just as the electrics was fixed, the shower started leaking. I thought it was at least a kindness to have things break one at a time, while I don't think Eric's muttering this afternoon is entirely kosher.

Eric and I have made a deal this morning, as we drag through the last week completely wiped out and sore. Based on the enlightenment that this house will suck our souls out in what we have more realistically estimated for the next 45 days if we tackle everything concurrently with no financial constraint/budgeting, it is very clear that we have to take this house one step at a time! This is no quick weekend move into a flat - it is a new member of the family, demanding as much attention as each other.

The good side that makes all of this worth it? I have my library with my fireplace! Eric has his office with his toys and old maps! Ellie has real space and two rooms! Eric and I have a lounge space attached to our bedroom for true relaxing and hiding when needed! We have room for guests! We have a speakeasy bar that we love! All of the things we've talked about over the years is here, and that's just the inside of the house...not mentioning the great yard, creek, bridge, and downtown just two miles away. So yes, it's well worth it; just an adjustment as we figure out the fourth member of the family :)

Moving Day...Week.

This is the dreaded day when real moving occurs! You would think four major moves across the country (Denvers, Scottsdale, Indianapolis, Asheville) in the past three years would make moving easy, and it certainly improves the process. However, I've never worried about the big ticket items since we were just going to flats. Gigantic home (in my mind) purchased.... and the real move commences. This involves the large bedroom set items and upright piano, among other larger pieces in the Indianapolis storage facility as well as the baby grand, pinball machine, and such from the Indianapolis condo. This is only the start of the journey, with a trip in the largest truck I've ever sat in, let alone driven, over to Ohio to my in-laws for some lovely family heirloom furniture, and then dropping down into Asheville after eight hours of driving, braving the Smokies. I now understand why Eric wanted to go through New Mexico instead of across the Rockies through to Utah when we moved to Scottsdale!

Let's discuss the truck. This thing is huge with a 26 foot box. The hydraulic brakes makes me feel like I'm a train conductor, and so far, I have managed to dampen my vast intimidation with the idea that I'm driving a locomotive. There's nothing I love more than starting the engine and releasing the parking brake (all those funny hydraulic sounds), and then of course setting the brake. I was initially truly terrorised at the idea of driving it and for several hours I toyed with a friend's offer to take his holiday time and drive it for me. However, now experienced in the art of large sweeping turns after a whole four miles, I feel better about it...and secretly...I really love the funny sounds. Shhhhhhh. Don't tell.

The biggest stress of the whole move is done with the most valuable (to me) object I own. If I had to give up every object that I owned except for one, I would be sitting on the street with my baby grand....and be perfectly fine. The prospect of moving it from the condo basement with one inch clearance into the truck was enough to make three professional piano movers very grumpy, and send me into jitters. However, it's done, and while I have a tonne of work ahead of me, I feel this huge relief knowing that it's safely packaged and tucked in the moving equipment case.

Normal breathing has resumed; everything else is simply task ticking :)