Moving Weekend...

For almost everyone in Boston but us. About 90% of all apartment renters have a September 1 start date to a lease. It is well known that if you need a Uhaul truck to move you have to reserve it in January. This weekend wreaks havoc on the city and they even schedule extra city workers for the weekend. Mainly it is because of traffic and trash - everyone piles garbage up on the sidewalk of furniture no longer needed/wanted.

I am keeping a low profile this weekend. One moving truck already left the street and the neighbors next door are piling up things to move on their porch.

Shred! Shred! Shred!

Remember way back when I showed you my recycling bin full of bills dating back to 1998 (if you want to see it again click here)? Well I have a surprise for you! Really it is not that good but after hours (literally) of shredding, overheating the shredder, jamming it and all that fun stuff. I shredded all my past bills. It was FIVE garbage bags full of shredded paper. Crazy. Here are the before and after photos.

Before:

After:

Personal Update

I have been coming down with a cold and coupled with the moving mess in my apartment, it has left me with no energy to post. And for this I am truly sorry to all my adoring fans.

But there is good news, we have sold some things and things are shaping up. I think after next weekend, the apartment will be situated. I hope.

Current state of things

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words - here is 2,000 words.

Moving time

This weekend we spent a lot of time moving stuff from Dot to Meffa (or Dorchester to Medford to be grammatically correct).

The current state of my apartment is not good but it will be. We are moving things around, hopefully selling some things, and definitely donating A LOT of things.

I will update soon with pictures....

B is still maintaining a separate residence which is good. I like "me" time.

Moving on up...

As of right now, almost all of B's stuff is in my apartment (minus his bed, bookshelf, and dining room table but the table is not coming for awhile and the other stuff will be in my place on Saturday) and things are not as bad as we thought. Yes, things are all over the place but we are not drowning quite as much as we thought we would be. We also have discussed some furniture movings to make more room and better utilize the space and overall I am fine with the change.

We even folded the weeks (possibly months) worth of clean laundry that had accumulated and that has lessened some of B's stress.

The only problem is that I do not have a dresser yet for B's clothes. I found one on craigslist that I really liked but someone beat me out. There is a small chance that I could still get it but I am not holding my breath.

The good news is that B sold some of his things via craigslist and it gave me hope that people will buy the things I will be putting up for sale (coffee table, side table, full bed, old stereo). I hope I don't get caught up in all the money and sell more than I should. That is a distinct possibility. Once we are all settled I want a housecleaner to come in and wash the crap out of the apartment - like the window sills, corners, and all the other stuff I gloss over. We will see.

What are they doing there?

Here is the current state of my foyer area in my apartment.

Seriously, why did he just leave the golf clubs in a high traffic zone. To his credit he has mentioned that he needs to move the air conditioner down to the basement.

The bowling pin is mine. I like it there.

ACK! Moment

A while back I posted about how I was going to slowly make room for B's life in my apartment. Said apartment has been solely mine for almost two years now and I have spread my life into every corner. However, I had time (months) and I was going to do things slowly and it would be a painless process. B and his roommate recently met with the realtor who originally sold them their condo and she told them the best time to put the condo on the market is early March (um, that is next month). And while B doesn't have to be fully moved out by then - a ton of his stuff needs to be. The less stuff the bigger the condo appears.

So it is now February 7 and my apartment is about to be overrun. B's plan is to bring over a box/bin/pile of stuff everytime he visits. It is not going to be pretty. It is not going to be fun.

Collectively we have 2 dining room tables, 3 beds, 4 tvs, 4 air conditioners, 1 dresser, tons of books/cds/dvds, 2 desks. We do not have enough room so we are going to be selling some stuff and I have to get another dresser pretty soon.

We do not know when he will begin to live in the apartment. So it may just me and his things for awhile and that may be a nice, easy way to ease into things.

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Not holiday shopping but home shopping. When B is over, sometimes he will make a comment such as "If I am going to live here we need to [change something about my apartment]". So as I start to buy things for my apartment, I take his comments into consideration. Also, it gives me an excuse to buy things. Recently I have purchased a new garbage can (because of his complaints about how the garbage bags don't stay in place with the old one) and utensil dividers for the make shift utensil drawer. However, the biggest purchase is about to happen.

Drumroll, please...

A portable dishwasher. B hates doing the dishes and hates that I let the glasses pile up in the sink. So we have decided and by we I mean me, to look on Craigslist and find one. And I believe this weekend, we will bring home the newest addition to our family. The added bonus is additional counterspace for my oddly shaped, yet quite large kitchen. Since this is not a small purchase (not really a large one), this may be our christmas gift to each other. Tres romantic!

What to do with all the books?

So I have had started some fall cleaning partly to get rid of a lot of crap I have and partly to create room for B's stuff (I hate cleaning and if I tackle a few sqaure feet of space at a time I won't seem overwhelmed). So now I am faced with the question of what to do with all this stuff.

Some of my nephews are about to get cameras that work most of the time (and if they break them by seeing how far they can throw no one will care). But that tactic is not going to work for my books and random knick-knacks. Do I try to sell them via this hing called the Internet, donate, chuck them (I could in good conscience chuck knick knacks but I don't think I could throw books out).

As of right now I have two paper shopping bags worth of books and I have only gone thorugh one room (books can be found in almost every room though this first room does have the most books). I figure there is at least another shopping bag worht of books left to find in the house. I also have started filling a rubbermaid bin with the knick-knacky kind of stuff and may need another one soon.

If you want any books, kitchen utensils, random decorating items, stuffed animals, etc. let me know, I probably have it in a bin or box. Just let me know! :)

The Bright Side

So most of my posts about us moving in together have been my fears and neurosis but I am looking forward to it overall. It is just easier for me to look at the negatives and then prepare for them rather go in blindly thinking it will be all rainbows and roses. So here are some of the good things about merging our lives:

1) I won't be alone. Sometimes it is lonely to go home to an empty apartment and sometimes I don't think I talk to anyone once I leave work until I get back in the office. So that will be nice.

2) It will be easier to cook. Most times I don't cook because it is just me and either I eat too much for dinner because the amount of food I cooked is for a few people or I get sick of eating the same leftovers all week.

3) I won't have to fold the laundry alone. I tend to have a backlog of laundry that needs to be folded so it will be great to have an extra set of hands.

4) Making plans will be easier. Right now there is always a discussion of where should we meet, how we will get there, and nothing seems to be easy. This will get easier.

5) Conversations will be easier. Cell reception in my apartment stinks so us having a conversation will no longer involve one of us repeating "Hello. Can you hear me?"

6) Save on heat. I figure with a body in my bed I won't need to turn the heat on until Christmas at the earliest. (side note - have not turned on the heat but this was a tough weekend. I had to upgrade my sheets to flannel and that has helped a lot. Also, one of B's friends has the same rule about no heat until Thanksgiving. I think I love him.)

7) More music. B has an extensive music collection on his computer which will be mine as well. Music makes my weekend cleaning go by faster though I don't know if my landlady likes me blasting it at 9:00 on a Sunday.

What time is dinner?

Another moving in issue that has come to light is dinnertime.

We first realized that we had a difference of dinner expectations when we made our first thanksgiving dinner (I am good at preparing thanksgiving dinner imho). I said dinner would be at around 1:30 and he was expecting it to be around 4:30. My family always had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner early in the day. And it is nice because you get it done with and then have all day to relax. Plus when you get hungry around 7:00, you have all the leftovers at your disposal. Also, while I would have to get up early, I would still be able to watch the football games on. B wanted to eat later because that is when his family ate - but I was doing all the cooking so I didn't think he really could be choosy. In the end, I think we ended up doing somewhere inbetween.

So this brings us to the new revelation that I like to prepare dinner when I get home around 6:15 but B tends to come home late, do stuff and then he ends up eating at 8:00.
This came about from our anniversary dinner when I wanted to go out at 6:30 and even stayed late at work so when I got home I didn't have to wait long for him to get there. But at 6:15 while I was walking up the Bike Path he called to say he was just leaving work. So that means he will be at my house at 6:45 (the earliest). But he didn't get there until 7:00 (empty handed by the way but then he picked up the check which saved him). So now we don't end up eating until 7:30.

That is way too late for me. And too dependent on outside factors. I like routine. I don't know what the end result will be for this one.

New realization about making room

So I have been thinking about how I am going to fit B into my apartment and then this morning I received an email which sent me into a bit of a conundrum.


An item on my registry (thanks K & C you rock) was purchased but placed on backorder. (I hope I don't get emails all the time, I like surprises). But then I realized that we will be receiving gifts and we will have to make room for them. The easiest solution is that we just open the boxes and put the gifts away in cabinets, closets, kitchens, etc. However, we are not taking gifts out of the boxes until after the wedding. Just to make sure, we are not using any gifts until the papers are signed. You never know when one of us will flake out. And then returning gifts will be easier since nothing has been used.


But the problems is that we will have boxes waiting to opened. And I don't know where they will go. The guest bedroom (no boxes yet and dying for some visitors if you want to use it) is our go-to-place but who knows what it will look like after the merger.


I guess there are worse problems to have. But still, the apartment can not handle much more clutter and disorganization.

I also have resigned myself to the fact that B is the neater of the two.

Compromise??

Another issue with the merging of our lives is not the number of computers he has or or the Xbox, but this innocuous golden orb:

I refuse to turn the heat on before Thanksgiving and choose to wear a hat and hooded sweatshirt around the apartment. In fact I am just starting to insulate the windows in my apartment with plastic as my bathroom is getting chilly in the morning.

I try each year to see how long I can make it without turning on the heat and I do it for two reasons:

1) I don't want to pay the high gas prices

2) It is much more efficient to regulate your personal temperature rather than force your environment to appealing temperatures.

B on the other hand is a delicate flower who does not like the cold (welcome to Boston my friend). He and J turn on the heat way too early and often in my opinion but they don't ask for it.

The thing is, this problem also goes the other way. I hate air conditioning. Again, it costs more money and I feel bad about the damage it does to the environment. (Side note: I have had these viewpoints long before Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truths - I am just saying). In fact, this is only the second year in my adult life that I have had an air conditioner. A fan on high works well for me though sometimes I do lie there with a cold, damp washcloth on my head in order to fall asleep but I am tough. B claims he can't sleep in the heat.

I think this is a debate that cannot be settled just yet. And I am not sure what the compromise is.

Making Room again

So after surveying my apartment even further, I realize that it is going to take a major effort to organize and get rid of not only the clutter, but the junk. And it is going to be harder than I thought. I admit that I watch Clean House on Style and make fun of the people who can't let go shoes that they never wore and don't actually fit them. I can laugh at them no longer. As I look at the stack of VHS tapes in the living room, some with no labels, I realize that I am one of them. I can't let go of the tapes. Nevermind the fact that it is an outdated technology and I don't have a VCR (though B does so maybe I should hold on to them just in case we want to watch them). Also it seems like a waste to just throw out Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables the Sequel. The tapes are perfect and who will appreciate the story like I do.

Another area that I realize that is not going to be easy are closets. And it is not the emotional kind of tough but physically difficult. I realize that my closets are deep and tall. There is a lot of stuff crammed in these dark spaces. I may not be brave enough to go in and take prisoners.

However, I do realize that I have to do these things and not just in order to make room. I cannot keep accumulating stuff at this rate. I may suffocate myself or become the crazy lady down the street with years worth of newspapers and many, many cats.

Making Room For B Part I

In blending two apartments, I have to make room for B in my apartment. And a problem is my pack rat-ness. I don't throw anything out. As the youngest of many, I take home furnishings/accessories hand me downs from everyone. Unfortunately, I do not store or display them in an efficient or neat manner like some (specifically Kathleen and Maureen).

The piece-de-resistance that highlights my inability to throw anything out is this picture:


This overflowing recycling bin is full of bills/bank statements dating back to 1999. The scary part is that I moved to Boston in 2002. So I moved a box of bills from New York to Boston. Why - incase I got audited. Honestly, I don't know. I thought you were supposed to save these things. This bin needs to be emptied before B moves in and I am trying to shred a little each week. It is not going well.

2 Become 1

Apartments that is. For a variety of reasons, B is moving into my current apartment which is a great two-bedroom near Ball Square. It is very neighborhoody, close to the Red Line, and affordable. My one complaint is the stove from 1970 but I have a washer/dryer, basement storage and a backyard.

The problem is that I have been living by myself for just over a year and by the time he moves in, it will be two years. I like things my way. I like answering to no one and if I want to eat Kraft singles in bed, I can. I also do things a certain way and do not like change.

The best example is locking the door. I lock my door with a key, even though I can just turn the knob thing and lock the door before I close it. I do that when I close the door at B's but at my place I have to lock it with a key from the outside. However, there is a reason for my rule. I forget my keys a lot. I misplace them often. I lose my keys several times. So if I am outside my apartment there is a good chance that my keys are inside. So if I only lock the door with a key, I always know that as long as the door is locked, I have my keys somewhere. It is a simple system and it works for me.

Now if B is over and we go out, he tries to lock the door his way not with a key. I don't like it. It puts a crimp in my system and could cause me to get locked out. Then I have to get my landlady to let me in and I feel stupid even though she says "that's what I am here for" when she lets me in.