Taking 5

The house is cluttered (of course...) but it's an organized clutter. There are boxes everywhere, but the boxes are where they need to be (for the most part - I haven't had to courage to venture down into the basement, that's Gerry & the Kids' domain)

As a special gift to us, St. Paul has arranged to have springlike weather this week so we can unpack and settle in without frostbite. It's a lovely respite from the drive here (when my hands got SO frozen during the Nor'easter in NJ while packing the cartop storage that they stayed red for hours - I was becoming seriously concerned on the drive out.) I don't know if we'll be seeing any crocuses in the next day or so, but this weekend it's supposed to get messy with rain and snow again. C'est la vie! We're parking both cars in the street this week so we can use the garage as a staging area for our Relo Cube (which sits in front of the garage even as I write - waiting for the nice guys who unpacked our PODS to return and unpack it while I'm gone. Yeehaa!)

We went out and had group breakfast yesterday - can't beat Perkins with a stick - then off to register the kids for their schools. All went VERY smoothly, and I was able to stop by each school and reacquaint myself with the principals and teachers and introduce Max & Hannah. Be afraid, be very afraid. We tried out our routine this morning, walking Han to her school at 8:00, then returning to the same corner to drop off Maxie for his bus at 8:45. I'm not sure why their schedules are so different, bit it may just work out nicely that I have an extra half hour in the morning with Max.

I was wondering if it was a good idea to split the kids, but Max was much chattier, more independent than he usually is as we walked to his bus stop. I think he will really DIG being an "only child" at school. Hannah, on the other hand, will miss having Max in school with her.

Yesterday I bought a router so we could use our internets all over the house wifi, and I also bought & paid for a washer to be delivered on Friday (Na na na na naaa naaa, I won't be hee-eer!)

There's just so much to do. Today we chose a clinic (based on our insurance, input from my bloggers, AND proximity.) Gerry has an appt for Monday for his back, I'll wait until I get back on Sat to make my appt for my legs, etc. My legs are sore - I feel like it's mostly just muscle aches from all of the walking and carrying stuff up and down stairs. Fascinating, I know...

But the biggest accomplishment is that I have about 80% of our books unpacked - and ALL of our china (not that we have so much) so today is a good day - and I am happy to announce that so far every piece of china that's been unpacked has been chip & crack free. Thank goodness I had all of that extra yarn and fabric to use as packing material.

Speaking of packing material, I'm amassing a nice stack of folded boxes and I'm willing to offer them to anyone who wants to come by and get them. Email me if you're interested - they're good moving boxes (many are U-Haul boxes - I know, they were killer expensive but I was wooed by the free shipping and the promise of return of all unused boxes...) I won't bring them to you, but you can come and get them if you'd like (and save a bunch of money if you're moving soon!)