Zatera Ul

We were on vacation last week. We drove across Wisconsin, and vowed together to never buy a home that is under a HOA. Especially not a HOA that will let you paint your house “any color, as long as it’s beige.” We took the car ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, which was nice, except for the part about OLC throwing up all over MFH. The secret to not getting seasick is to stay out on the deck at the rear and center of the boat where the rolling is minimized and you can see the horizon well and you’re away from the galley’s smell of fried food.

Then we spent a few days with each of our families. OLC got to learn about beaches and lakes. She also got to see “wild kitty” kittens playing and to learn a new phrase: “gramma crackers” (graham crackers).

When we were at my parents’, we made a side trip down to meet Sallie of A Quiet Simple Life and her family. We had a nice visit (their home is beautiful!) and it was fun to see her daughter and my daughter, almost the same age, playing together like old pals.

I got to go through what was left of my grandma’s things; she died last winter. Everyone else had been there ahead of me, but I still found some treasures to take back with me, like her old carving knife that should be in a museum, and useful craft supplies.

The main blip on this trip was that money was a little tight to start with, and I kept miscalculating how much we had to spend on what. It was like my math brain was totally awol. But it all worked out in the end.

Also, towards the end, OLC got sick. She went with MFH to crash an old acquaintance’s wedding and was so sad that she wouldn’t even eat olives. Then they came back to the motel and she threw up all over me. After that, she was just listless and tired and feverish. In the morning we had to start back to Minnesota, and what we did was drive back in one day, instead of two. It worked out well; she rested most of the day, and started to perk up again after about twelve hours on the road, but by then we were almost home. Then we had a day to just hang out and rest.

Watching the home decorating shows on cable at the motel gave me some ideas about what to do with our furniture in the apartment. After we got back, I spent some time rearranging the living room, and actually got it looking like a living room rather than a warehouse. I also moved some bookshelves out of the dining room; our old-door-for-a-top table takes up almost the whole space.

….by moving to a better zip code. No kidding.

Economic pessimism continues, at least for me.

It’s sad when the best economic analysis is coming from The Onion: Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In, which ends with

“America needs another bubble,” said Chicago investor Bob Taiken. “At this point, bubbles are the only thing keeping us afloat.”

The next time I see MFH’s grandmother, our only surviving grandparent, I’m going to be asking her lots of questions about living through the Great Depression.

One week of moving fragile and awkward items, MFH taking a load over and unloading after work every day.

One week of me packing up a room a day, while MFH worked late every night and continued to take a load a day.

One U-Haul loaded to the top, constrained by time, but by then I had enough packed up to more than fill it. Our poor friends discover just how many boxes of books we have. OLC fell asleep in her car seat when I dropped MFH off to pick up the truck, and slept almost all the way through loading. Note to self: don’t have furniture that you can’t bear to get scratched until you move into your forever house. Our furniture got some new scratches and gouges during this move, but nothing for me to cry over because everything was all scratched up already.

One more week of packing and moving by car all the things that we didn’t get to before. I survive mostly on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I had baked before the big move. The car has been working hard, and needs a couple of trips to the shop, but these turn out to be nothing major.

One ten-hour day of me cleaning the house from top to bottom, while MFH and some friends moved a few more loads.

Another half day’s work of little mop-up tasks.

Now we’re done moving, just have finish unpacking and arrange everything. Altogether it was over twenty carloads, plus the one load with the U-Haul. Probably a good thing that we didn’t try to move everything at once. I didn’t throw away much while I was packing, mostly excess scrap lumber. I put a cabinet that we had in the garage out by the curb with a Free sign, and someone took it. But then we made up for that by taking in a discarded bookcase at the new place–never can have too many bookshelves. Now that we’re moved, I’m seeing more things that can be thrown out or given away.

OLC is doing well with the move; the new place has swings and a slide right outside. She has always liked to slide, but her love of swinging is something new. She skipped the baby swings and went straight to the big kid swings. Only a couple of falls so far.

Last night when we finished up the last few things at the house, we said “Bye-bye house” with her. She was born there.

I was curious and did some googling today (yes, that is a verb in our household) and found that one of my scientific papers from my graduate student career has been cited in Wikipedia. It makes me feel good to know that my years of toil in the basement of the physics building produced something useful.

Another thing I’m looking forward to with the move is not having to keep up with the gardening any more. This house has flower beds all around it , more all the way down the slope out front, on the boulevard, in front of and behind the garage, and there’s also a small vegetable garden. For a while I was going out for an hour or so every morning just to pull weeds. It’s very difficult to do anything out front when I have to watch OLC like a hawk to keep her out of the semi-busy street. Now, I’ve almost given up on it and just do a little weeding here and there as I follow OLC around the yard to make sure she doesn’t get into the street or the alley.

This is the sign that I thought of putting out front:

Wilsons’ U-Pick Weed Farm
$5 a bushel

I’ve been feeling pessimistic about the general direction of the economy lately. It didn’t help that the newspaper had a long article about affordable housing in the Twin Cities suburbs, and how people with incomes very near MFH’s were qualifying for subsidized housing. If we had another child, and I kept staying at home, we would definitely qualify. As I told him, not seriously, “Dude, where’s our handout?”

The apartment that we are moving to is affordable within MFH’s income. Heat is included in the rent, and it is three miles from his work. Essentially, we’ve maximized square footage per dollar while minimizing cost and commute distance. The house we are moving from is more than we can comfortably afford on his income, particularly with high heating and commuting costs. The apartment is actually a little bigger than the house, but will cost several hundred dollars a month less.

We got our keys today, and moved in the first carload. We’ve made it up the big, long hill of the roller coaster, and now we’re easing over the top. I am out of practice for moving; we’ve been in the house for three years, which is the longest I’ve stayed in any one place since I left home for college. Anyway, it’s going to be a big change, going back to living in an apartment and having to rattle around more quietly. Also, dealing with a much more restricted lifestyle: can’t set up my plywood soaking tub in the bathtub (won’t fit), can’t let the cat out, can’t play with my MAPP gas torch, can’t have a live Christmas tree. Can’t even have an extra freezer. Blah, blah, blah. On the other hand, I get a whole bedroom for personal space, instead of an oversize closet. And the apartment has certain modern conveniences that the house doesn’t: dishwasher, air conditioning (not that I will ever use it unless I’m pregnant), and 300% more closets. And linoleum and toilet seats that are much less than 20 years old. Each place has its pluses and minuses.

I was disposing of some old medication in the downstairs bathroom, and the low-flow toilet there took two flushes just to get pills down.

We’ll be beginning our big move to Eden Prairie next week (we have some overlap with our leases). I’m starting to start to pack.

This Mother’s Day column by Vox Day is one that I keep going back to re-read, when I get too worn out by the constant battle to maintain a level of civilized life in my home. He’s got it right that motherhood is not all cupcakes and cherubs.