I have been quite remiss...
May. 29th, 2007 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acdntlpoetI have failed you all. For that I apologize. As I am sure you can all imagine the past few weeks have been a bit “hectic”.
Jean (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siobhan_genie) did a good job of summarizing the majority of life up to this point; once we turned everything off Thursday May 18th things started moving at a blinding pace. That Friday morning is mostly a blur as it was spent topping off boxes and taking care of all the small things which are required before vacating a house. My parents ended up stopping by for a while as the movers packed up their 75 foot rig with nearly all of our worldly belongings, which looking back seemed to bring an oddly freeing feeling. We got both cars up to J&Ms later that day, and of course the new motorcycle which is staying with John until June 8th when we ride up to Oregon together.
After a quick shower, we dressed and headed out for a nice dinner. I was lucky enough to weasel my way into a last minute reservation (I called it in on Tuesday night) for a table for 4 at The Hobbit in Orange. This was a HUGE treat for me since I had desperately wanted to do something nice for J&M in appreciation for taking care of our girls for so long. Had I imagined selling our house would have taken so long I don’t think I could have let the cats stay away for such an extended time. Luckily we have some great friends who put up with all the mischief to help us. And for that I am unbelievably grateful. So, in our own way, we toasted the night and the friendship with wine and a meal to remember.
Friday night was spent sleeping very soundly, with a rude awakening at 6am to the alarm telling us it was time to get ready and go. After a quick shower and some minor cat-wrangling, Jean and I said our good-byes and headed down the hill to fill up on gas before we began the long drive up. I’ll tell you, that short drive to the gas station was the hardest I have ever done. Less than a mile, but I nearly had to pull over because I could barely see. I cry very rarely in life, but that morning got me. I wept for all the friends we were leaving behind. Even knowing this was not the last time we would see each other; I was still overcome with a sense of loss that had pushed me to tears. Luckily, I was able to quell it to control as we had a good long drive ahead of us.
The drive its self went smoothly. We actually made fairly good time and expected mileage in terms of gas. Lenore did beautifully on the straight-aways, and managed to keep a respectable 55mph up the 6% grades known as the Grape-Vine, Mount Shasta, and the California-Oregon border. I’ll tell you, I was a bit more than concerned a few times over the fact that I was driving a 1984 Cadillac with a V-8 368 engine that wasn’t used to this type of driving. I could just see a blown head gasket stranding us in the middle of nowhere… Luckily, those fears never materialized and we made it all the way to Roseburg, Or. on the first night. Yes, that translates to a good 12.5 hours of driving; the longest Jean has ever done! A good night’s sleep later, and we were back on the road with a measly 250 miles to go.
We made it to Lake Oswego by 1:30pm and got our room settled before going to lunch near our new home. After lunch we made a quick pass-by of the new digs and were a bit bemused to see that we had landed in quite the up-scale part of town. Sadly, I think the Murray Hill neighborhood of Beaverton are a bit too much like Orange County for either Jean or I to really settle down here, but it will do for the time being.
Monday morning started with a kick to the balls when I got a call from our moving company indicating that they tried to run the card I had given them to pay for the move, but it was being declined. With two phones to my ears, the bank on one and the movers on the other, I got it squared and the charge went through (it was a daily limit thing on my debit card… a nice feature if it is ever stolen, not so nice when you are living out of a suitcase and had only just woken up on the day you are moving into your new home). We decided to head over to the property management company a bit earlier than or 10am appointment time since our movers were going to be at the house around 10/10:30am and we needed the keys before then… Again, everything went quite smoothly and the rest of the day had very few hiccups that couldn’t be readily dealt with.
Tuesday was spent getting my office into shape. A quick phone call to my boss told me that I would need to be working on Wednesday instead of Thursday as I was originally intending…. So after some fierce unpacking, I was up and at work at 7:30am Wednesday morning.
By Friday, I was wiped out. But, good fortune was once again to be mine, as I received a text message form my good friendthejamez who noted he was in Portland for a friend’s wedding and wanted to get together for a drink or dinner. Thank gods for friends! Because of James, Jean and I got out into SE Portland and saw some of the town on Friday night. Mind you that is something which wouldn’t have happened without James since the rest of the weekend we spent on our asses in front of the tv. I truly appreciate the time we were able to spend with James, and for Jean to finally actually meet the boy, but damn it was nice to do NOTHING for the rest of the weekend. Oh, except for a bit of wine tasting and mattress shopping we did on Saturday.
I realized at some point Sunday that I had been going non-stop with no breaks or other down time for my brain since we opened escrow. There was always something that HAD to be done within a particular time frame…. But now, there is NOTHING which can’t wait. And that was a nice realization. So I stayed on the couch and just turned my brain off. Because of that, I am finally beginning to feel like my old self again, and am regaining some of the clarity I had lost over the weeks preceding and during the move. My brain had been so muddled I couldn’t even formulate a coherent post here, let alone find the energy to even think about posting….
So, things here are settling down a bit and we’re slowly unpacking and organizing. Soon, I promise, we will post pictures of the new place. We just want to get some of the boxes out of the way, and some of the rooms de-cluttered so you all can actually SEE what the place looks like. Of course, you all WILL be seeing it in person at some point, so pictures are just going to have to hold you over until then!
Of course I do also still need to finish off my Whiskies of the World Day 2 posting and get to work on more of the 3DC site… but that’s for another day when I am even more coherent and energized.
Jean (
siobhan_genie) did a good job of summarizing the majority of life up to this point; once we turned everything off Thursday May 18th things started moving at a blinding pace. That Friday morning is mostly a blur as it was spent topping off boxes and taking care of all the small things which are required before vacating a house. My parents ended up stopping by for a while as the movers packed up their 75 foot rig with nearly all of our worldly belongings, which looking back seemed to bring an oddly freeing feeling. We got both cars up to J&Ms later that day, and of course the new motorcycle which is staying with John until June 8th when we ride up to Oregon together. After a quick shower, we dressed and headed out for a nice dinner. I was lucky enough to weasel my way into a last minute reservation (I called it in on Tuesday night) for a table for 4 at The Hobbit in Orange. This was a HUGE treat for me since I had desperately wanted to do something nice for J&M in appreciation for taking care of our girls for so long. Had I imagined selling our house would have taken so long I don’t think I could have let the cats stay away for such an extended time. Luckily we have some great friends who put up with all the mischief to help us. And for that I am unbelievably grateful. So, in our own way, we toasted the night and the friendship with wine and a meal to remember.
Friday night was spent sleeping very soundly, with a rude awakening at 6am to the alarm telling us it was time to get ready and go. After a quick shower and some minor cat-wrangling, Jean and I said our good-byes and headed down the hill to fill up on gas before we began the long drive up. I’ll tell you, that short drive to the gas station was the hardest I have ever done. Less than a mile, but I nearly had to pull over because I could barely see. I cry very rarely in life, but that morning got me. I wept for all the friends we were leaving behind. Even knowing this was not the last time we would see each other; I was still overcome with a sense of loss that had pushed me to tears. Luckily, I was able to quell it to control as we had a good long drive ahead of us.
The drive its self went smoothly. We actually made fairly good time and expected mileage in terms of gas. Lenore did beautifully on the straight-aways, and managed to keep a respectable 55mph up the 6% grades known as the Grape-Vine, Mount Shasta, and the California-Oregon border. I’ll tell you, I was a bit more than concerned a few times over the fact that I was driving a 1984 Cadillac with a V-8 368 engine that wasn’t used to this type of driving. I could just see a blown head gasket stranding us in the middle of nowhere… Luckily, those fears never materialized and we made it all the way to Roseburg, Or. on the first night. Yes, that translates to a good 12.5 hours of driving; the longest Jean has ever done! A good night’s sleep later, and we were back on the road with a measly 250 miles to go.
We made it to Lake Oswego by 1:30pm and got our room settled before going to lunch near our new home. After lunch we made a quick pass-by of the new digs and were a bit bemused to see that we had landed in quite the up-scale part of town. Sadly, I think the Murray Hill neighborhood of Beaverton are a bit too much like Orange County for either Jean or I to really settle down here, but it will do for the time being.
Monday morning started with a kick to the balls when I got a call from our moving company indicating that they tried to run the card I had given them to pay for the move, but it was being declined. With two phones to my ears, the bank on one and the movers on the other, I got it squared and the charge went through (it was a daily limit thing on my debit card… a nice feature if it is ever stolen, not so nice when you are living out of a suitcase and had only just woken up on the day you are moving into your new home). We decided to head over to the property management company a bit earlier than or 10am appointment time since our movers were going to be at the house around 10/10:30am and we needed the keys before then… Again, everything went quite smoothly and the rest of the day had very few hiccups that couldn’t be readily dealt with.
Tuesday was spent getting my office into shape. A quick phone call to my boss told me that I would need to be working on Wednesday instead of Thursday as I was originally intending…. So after some fierce unpacking, I was up and at work at 7:30am Wednesday morning.
By Friday, I was wiped out. But, good fortune was once again to be mine, as I received a text message form my good friend
thejamez who noted he was in Portland for a friend’s wedding and wanted to get together for a drink or dinner. Thank gods for friends! Because of James, Jean and I got out into SE Portland and saw some of the town on Friday night. Mind you that is something which wouldn’t have happened without James since the rest of the weekend we spent on our asses in front of the tv. I truly appreciate the time we were able to spend with James, and for Jean to finally actually meet the boy, but damn it was nice to do NOTHING for the rest of the weekend. Oh, except for a bit of wine tasting and mattress shopping we did on Saturday. I realized at some point Sunday that I had been going non-stop with no breaks or other down time for my brain since we opened escrow. There was always something that HAD to be done within a particular time frame…. But now, there is NOTHING which can’t wait. And that was a nice realization. So I stayed on the couch and just turned my brain off. Because of that, I am finally beginning to feel like my old self again, and am regaining some of the clarity I had lost over the weeks preceding and during the move. My brain had been so muddled I couldn’t even formulate a coherent post here, let alone find the energy to even think about posting….
So, things here are settling down a bit and we’re slowly unpacking and organizing. Soon, I promise, we will post pictures of the new place. We just want to get some of the boxes out of the way, and some of the rooms de-cluttered so you all can actually SEE what the place looks like. Of course, you all WILL be seeing it in person at some point, so pictures are just going to have to hold you over until then!
Of course I do also still need to finish off my Whiskies of the World Day 2 posting and get to work on more of the 3DC site… but that’s for another day when I am even more coherent and energized.