Before we moved in, I had called a couple of electricians for estimates — I want to run data wiring (and phone and cable) to many of the rooms. Said electricians came by the house, eventually, one called me back and gave me a price and a schedule. It seemed pretty reasonable, though later than I wanted. I’d assumed they could have it done before we moved in. Oh well. So, an electrician showed up on Monday. Tuesday, he came by to say he couldn’t come by — emergency calls elsewhere. Today, he’s here, but he has other calls he also has to go on today. The house is in shambles (though mostly just in the basement.)
Bush quotes that got under my skin today:
“Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world.”
This, from a man who suppresses liberty at home and spreads terror across the world!
NPR: “Bush criticized the electoral process [in Iran] saying it is designed to keep power in the hands of the few.” AC wonders who was the last US president that wasn’t a millionaire. (I think Michael Moore told us in Fahrenheit 9/11, but I’m sorry to say, I forgot already.)
We’re in out new house! First major shout-outs to our moving crew. Thanks so much Laura & Doug, Rebecca, Todd, “Upper Body” Bill, Beth, Mike, Megan & Ian, and of course, mom & Tom. You guys made what has always been (for me) a long and irritating process, significantly shorter and less irritating. Carolyn and I genuinely appreciate your help.
My mom and her man, Tom, spent yesterday cleaning our old place. They got it almost, almost done. We’ve got just a teeny, little more to do. What an amazing relief. I’m looking forward to being entirely out of there — not because I hated it (I didn’t) just for a sense of closure.
Carolyn and I are moving tomorrow to our new home. I’m taking apart my office now. I’ll be (relatively) out of touch the next few days at least. (DSL is not scheduled to be installed in the new place until the 13th!) If you want to reach me, best to call me. News of the painting and moving when I’m settled anew.
Today I painted Cider Toddy, Midnight Bonfire and primer. Yesterday, I painted Midnight Bonfire and primer. Monday, I painted primer. Today marks the last day of Chocolate Milk. Chocolate Milk is what had been on the walls in the entry-way, living room and dining room in our new house. I think I described it as Salmon in an earlier post. It still seems a little too pink to be Chocolate Milk, but it is probably a little too brown to be Salmon. Whatever it is, it’s gone now. Except for in the interior of the coat closet in the entry way. I left it there to remind us of what has gone before us (and because it would be a pain to change.)
As I think I mentioned in the Life More Extraordinary post, we declined to (try) to learn the gender of our upcoming offspring. I’m also pretty sure that Carolyn read that generally, men prefer to have boys. 
Not me. I hope she’s a girl. That said, if she decides she wants to be a boy, that’s fine too. I’ll do my best to teach my child cross-gender skills. She will learn to fix toilets and ride motorcycles. He’ll learn to cook and sew/knit. Well the sewing if he’s interested. But who wouldn’t be? 😉
Well, one it, at least. We’ve closed. We have the house. It was, all things considered really easy. We met the realtor at her office and she drove us down to the title company where the closing was. We had quite a crowd there at the beginning. The seller, her daughter, and her realtor. The bank representative, the two of us with our realtor and the closing agent. After the first few batches of papers were signed, it thinned out a bit as the seller left. She was emotional about giving up her home from the past 33 years. But, for the most part, we were jocular and having a good time as we signed papers committing us to payments for the next 30 years! We then went straight to the house and wandered around, touched things, opened windows, etc. We’re looking forward now to being done with the move!
It’s not that I’ve meant not to blog. For about the first week or so of my blog absence, we were traveling. First to Philadelphia. There we met up with Ca’s parents and went up to NYC to celebrate the engagement of Carolyn’s brother John to his girlfriend Rika. Then out to Champaign, IL where we got a brief driving tour of the campus by my uncle Cam who’s undergrad and law degrees both came from there. Mainly, we were there to visit with my grandmother. I think we hadn’t seen her since our wedding, and our lives are about to get more complicated. And while she’s healthy and fairly lucid, she is 92, and that’s getting on up there.
On our way out the door this morning to get an ultrasound and have a prenatal appointment we got a phone call. The call was the OB/GYN canceling our prenatal appointment. Some other woman had the audacity to go into labor and take our midwife away during OUR appointment time. The nerve of some people, I tell you!
We did, however, still have the ultrasound appointment. It’s a little bit early (19 weeks instead of ~21-22 weeks) because we declined the triple screen, and because of our impending travel. We haven’t had a professional review of the ultrasound pics yet, but what we saw looked good. We got to watch the ultrasound technician take various measurements. We got to see spine, hands and feet, bladder and stomach, heart (with all 4 chambers!), hear the heartbeat, etc. In response to something the tech said about what she was doing, Carolyn said, “You must have the best job in the hospital, huh?” to which she replied, “Yes, but sometimes everything’s not right and then I have the worst job in the hospital.” I used that to infer that everything is all right with us.
I received an email recently from a “long lost” almost-relative, Rob. He had proposed marriage to my aunt Donna. She only declined because she was dying of Cystic Fibrosis and didn’t want to saddle him with that. My aunt is now long dead, as is Rob’s second (well, OK, FIRST) wife (also of CF). He’s recently remarried and he and his new wife bought a house. He mentioned in his email that they had 9 particular things that they’d wanted in a house, and this house had them all and then some.
