UNPACKING…

Unpacking is even more unpleasant than packing. As tedious as packing is, you know exactly how much space you are working with (box) and you know you’ll be able to stack it conveniently out of your way. Finding places to put all my stuff has been tedious. Granted, I have a lot of room, but still, the stuff has to go IN something.

To think of all the stuff I threw away and to see all I have yet to put away makes me wonder how I lived with all that stuff.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Luby’s because all of our dishes were in boxes. That was great fun, actually. Every race and creed was represented in the dining room and it reminded me of how much I appreciate Houston’s cultural diversity (which is what our new apt complex is).

So we’ve moved into our new place and it wasn’t without our usual dose of unusual ordeals. Friday night, I had what we thought was food poisioning. As a result, Saturday, I was lethargic, dehydrated and at times, disoriented. I had a crew of two join me with a van and we moved many light boxes and odd shaped furniture and lamps.

Sunday morning, however, we realized I did not have food poisioning. I had some sort of nasty bug that comes with a high, intense fever and diarrhea. I know it was a bug, because my roommate woke up with it and one of the men who was supposed to help us move also came down with it. We ended up with two men and two women who came to help us (and then our sick friend came to drive the truck for us). It was just enough (always is) but I had been worried because usually the Roommie is the organized, take charge one.

Fortunately, J, loaned to me through BAHP (Borrow a Husband Program), totally took charge and took some of the pressure off the Roommie, who was delirious most of the day. All told, we loaded, moved and unloaded the truck in less than 3 1/2 hours.

The following Thursday, we were supposed to go back and finish cleaning our old apartment and turn in our keys. Again, something came up that took us off guard. One of Roommie’s friends was ill, and she went to take care of the friend. The friend’s boss sent a professional cleaning crew to clean our old place in gratitude for Roommie helping out. If we don’t get the deposit back, there’s something seriously wrong.

Unfortunately, Roommie’s friend did not make it through the night and she spent most of the weekend dealing with that.

I took three days off to unpack and got a great deal finished. I can actually walk around my bed in this new room, and my closet is bigger than my first bedroom in my family’s farmhouse when I was seven. I am very pleased with the service here (same day service) and the commute isn’t bad. It’s fairly quiet most of the time, and the neighbors are very nice. So far, so good.

I will not miss the following from the old place:

Thumping car stereos in the middle of the night.

Second-hand cigarette smoke from the neighbors next door that floated up into my bedroom window.

Bathroom tiles cracked and ready to fall into the tub.

Requests for repairs that were ignored, sometimes for YEARS.

Our kitchen floor flooding everytime there was a significant downpour.

Hearing these words when asking about a service request six months after it was placed, “we’re waiting on bids.”

Yeah, I’m grateful for the new place more and more each day.