Settling In

Today, the gods smiled upon me, for today, I was blessed with internet capability at home. As soon as I opened my eyes this morning, I got my modem/router from AT&T and bounded into the living room, plugged in my gear, and got two green lights and a red blinking light. I checked the directions; hmmm....red blinking light isn't something I should see. So I called AT&T and asked what was up. They told me I wasn't supposed to have service until tomorrow, but I had the packing slip right in front of me, and they agreed I was right and they were wrong. Finally, a guy who looked like he rode Harleys for a living showed up at my door and said he was there to connect my service. I practically mowed him down because I was so excited that my internet was almost ready. Half an hour later, it's smooth sailing for me. I don't want to shut it down for fear that it may not work again!

Tonight has been productive, but I suppose I should backtrack a bit. It took us 10 hours to move the bulk of my belongings to Indiana. I retrieved two of my cats, who were not one bit happy to see one another, so I had to separate them in the car. At hour 8, Dixie's constant meows hit a fevered pitch, and then I smelled the shyt. I pulled over about 10 minutes later, when I saw the first exit, and surveyed the damage. The poor thing had a massive poop that exploded everywhere, even on her. I'm sure it was quite a sight, me trying to clean up her cloth carrier while holding onto her at the same time so she didn't track poop everywhere in the car. I tried to put her in the carrier with Rewind, but he had an absolute fit, so she ended up staying in the carrier and he ended up sleeping on my lap the last two hours of the trip. So the first thing I did when I got to the house was give her a bath, which made both of us wet and neither of us happy. She objected very loudly to the point where I was sure the neighbor was going to call the cops on me for animal cruelty. After her bath, she sulked in the bedroom for awhile, but got even with me all night long, walking on me, over my head, and keeping me from sleeping straight through the night.

Wiley's friends came over and helped unload the large dresser and mirror from the trailer, and then we loaded up Wiley's things. Boy, what a lot of stuff. You never think you have a lot until you move it all. His friends joked and asked me where he was going to live when he returned, then they suggested he move into the other half of the duplex. Yes, it's small, maybe not even 900 square feet. I don't have a basement; I don't have an attic. After this ordeal, I realized I'm a very bad judger of space. But in less than four hours, everything was out of the trailer and into the house. The washer/dryer combo is a real pain to move, but Wiley's friends made it look pretty easy, except for the one whose head was actually in the dryer as she helped take the weight of the beast Here's a hint: don't get a combo unit.

Unfortunately, with everything out of the trailer and into the house, I had no living room, just a sea of blue and bronze Rubbermaid storage totes. We were able to get most of them into the office, and I've unloaded about 10 or so so far. I've also loaded up three to go to Goodwill. That's the joy of merging stuff.

Wiley's parents are amazing when it comes to gadgets and fixing things up. My bathroom is the size of a small closet. The toilet is so close to the sink that putting one of those over-the-toilet organizers isn't an option. But Wiley's mom told me about the shelves she and hubby made for her scrapbooking stuff. We went to Lowe's and looked around and didn't find them. But of course, when you're moving, you need things many different times, so on the fourth trip to Lowe's, we found what she was talking about, and they put them up in the bathroom. I was so happy that when my landlord came over today to give me a new screen door, I drug him into the house to see. Apparently he isn't as impressed with such things as I am.

One very unpleasant surprise I woke up to on Sunday were these little brown things that looked like mini chocolate chips on my counter. Upon further inspection, I realized it was mouse poop. Then I went all through the rooms and found more and more mouse poop. Wiley's mom tried to tell me that this happens and I can deal with it, but I was practically non-responsive. How could I have missed mice when I inspected the place? Mice! I haven't had to deal with mice in my own home since I was a kid and they were living in my closet (grandma had mice a few years back and that was also unpleasant, but I could leave). I remember my parents getting the glue traps, and one got stuck and woke me up with his squeaking. I felt sorry for him, but no way in hell was I touching that thing. I complained to my new friends, who tipped me off that Lowe's sells a mouse trap that electrocutes the mouse. Just one little zap and they're dead! Of course, I have to dispose of the body, but at least it's intact and looks like it's sleeping. And for everyone who thinks about it, yes, my cats should do the job, but no, they don't. And I'm ok with that. So this morning, I opened the closet where we thought the mice were probably coming in, and sure enough, there was a little tail sticking out the back, and the light was orange. So I put on my gloves, went outside and dumped the body in the trash. At first, it got stuck, which freaked me out, but I shook a little harder and it rolled right in. I don't look forward to this task, but I want these suckers gone. I told the landlord today about it, and he said he'd put poison in the crawlspace so hopefully that will take care of them. Not to be outdone, I got some steel wool, and I've been putting it in all the nooks and crannies I think a mouse would use...mostly in the floor, as the laminate was put on but no cording to go on top and cover up the little holes. It's a bit unsightly in some places, but it's too late to move now. And I put all the spices in plastic containers that would be harder to chew through, as Wiley's parents said they could climb into my cabinets. Steel wool is kinda painful to handle without gloves.

I also put up some pictures, which if you've seen the pictures Wiley has, you would appreciate this little feat. He's got two pictures that are probably four feet wide and 18 or so inches tall...pretty heavy things, and he said he thought they'd look nice on the wall. I thought they would be perfect in the dining area, so tonight, I measured, and put up picture hangers, and remeasured, and screwed up a few times so I have extra holes that can't be seen because they're behind said pictures, and after a half-hour or so, I now have two very nice pictures on the wall, and they're straight, and even at the same height. Yeah, I'm patting myself on the back. You can too.

Now it's off to bed for me to be up in time for the donations truck to stop by and take a few things off my hands.