Sunday, January 27, 2008

working hard

We have been sleeping in the 'new' house for week and a half. I can't believe how hard I've worked trying to 'settle in" yet it still looks like our first day here. My sister-in-law stopped by today and was amazed to learn that we had been here for a week and a half and still were in such disarray. I try to blame it on our contractor who has not finished his part of the work. But it seems to be more than that. I was slow getting ready for the move because I was trying to be very organized about my packing: eliminate every thing that we don't need to keep and have everything clearly marked so I know exactly where it goes. Yet it did not go like that. There is a pile of boxes in the living room with designations of every sort. Each room is filled to capacity with furniture and boxes in great disarray. I don't understand why. We tell ourselves that it is because the contractor has not finished his projects so we can't finish ours. We had hoped that he could be finished with the floors before we had to move but that did not work out. So there are areas we can not use for sorting out and unloading into. On the other hand, each day I think...today I can sort out one room or another...but as soon as I start there I am led into another room that needs the same attention. In the end none of them are checked off my list. If I could just clone myself into 5 parts and each part could attack one area we would get there. As it is I am not sure we will ever get settled in.

Our contractor is great. He is working as fast as he can and is so responsive to our needs. For example, the refrigerator did not fit in the space designed for a refrigerator so it was sitting in front of the window looking out to the street. Jim's solution was to take out a small, dumpy desk area and put the refrigerator there. He asked our contractor about that and immediately the desk area was gone and refrigerator was put in place and leveled! In the space designed for the refrigerator we will build shelves to overcome the inadequate cabinet space. We keep telling ourselves that it will bel great--but it is an act in process--and in the meantime we live in chaos.

The studio looks great on the outside. But on the inside it is a pile of studio paraphernalia next to lots of equipment belonging to the contractor. I tried to sort it out today but made no headway. I did clean the windows of dirt, grim and paint residue. Seems insignificant in view of all that must be done. But you gotta start somewhere! And today was a great day to do outside work--75 degrees and sunny. Starting tomorrow it will be cold and rainy and I will be happy to be inside sorting boxes. Maybe..

2 comments:

potterboy said...

It's just reminded me of when my parents moved from their home in to a smaller house. They also discarded a lot of furniture and possessions (something I wish they hadn't, sometimes) but when we got their things to the house it was clear they'd still kept too much and their tiny shed was full of boxes for months and months.

But I know how it feels and it's pretty unpleasant living out of boxes. I have no where to put the boxes, let alone unpack them. I hope you get it sorted soon - it will great, I assure you. It might just take a bit longer than you think.

Sister Creek Potter said...

Andrew, You are right: it is taking a lot longer than I thought! I was counting on getting a lot done this weekend with Jim's help. However, I had committed to baby-sit my grandson this weekend and could not bring him here so I was at his house all weekend. On top of that, Jim came home Thursday with the flu! So, no help from him! And, Kenny moves in Monday...
I recall reading how healthy it is for one to change ones accustomed patterns of living--helps to wake one up from sleep-walking through life. Well, we are in the midst of a BIG life shake up! Seeing that it is a positive state of affairs may help my attitude about it all!

Gay