moving

Apartment Hunting Made Safe

/ Quilly / 20 Comments

When Amoeba and I moved here to our fabulous home in Friday Harbor, we found the house online, asked for photos, then sent a friend to check the place out. As you know, we were thrilled with the results and love where we live. Our house is a joy to me everyday.

In 1997 when I moved to Vegas, I rented my apartment online, saw photos, and felt secure in my decision because I’d chosen a gated community. Then I arrived to discover that my gated community was in a highly industrialized area and the streets around it were deserted at night. Scary since I had to walk a couple of blocks to and from the bus stop at least twice a day.

Now folks who are relocating can rely on Apartment Grade to provide them with accurate apartment ratings and up-to-date rental information. That has to be a relief to parents who are sending their kids off to college and settling them in housing units so far away from home.

It has got to be a relief for people relocating because of their jobs, too. Not everyone is lucky enough to have someone they know and trust already at their destination. Apartment Grade can fill that gap and provide the assurance that the rental property is indeed what it claims to be.

Light Up My Life

/ Quilly / 15 Comments

Lamps.  I have been thinking about lamps a lot lately.  We don’t have any and we have just moved into a home with very high ceilings and recessed lighting. The ambiance of the recessed lighting is nice, but when I am reading or sewing or doing other close work, I actually like to see what I am looking at.

We have absolutely great exterior light fixtures. I guess I could go sit on the front porch to do me reading, but even though Spring has arrived, it is still a bit chilly out there in the evening! Both of the back decks have brilliant lighting, too, but once again, they are outside. I want great lighting inside. Has anybody priced lamps lately? Yeow!

I suppose I could do all my work in the kitchen. I have under-the-cupboard lighting all the way around and can make it bright as day in there. plus I have acres of counter space — but it is all for standing. I much prefer sitting when I do my bead work and embroidery. As for reading, the bathroom lights are quite bright. I will just read in the sauna tub.

Progress?

/ Quilly / 57 Comments

We’ve unpacked an amazing amount of boxes and still have a ton more to go, however, we are sleeping on our own bed in our own house tonight! Yay! The bedroom and the bathrooms are all set up. I managed frozen pizza and green salad for dinner tonight and have juice and cinnamon loaf to toast for breakfast tomorrow. I have also located the tea.

Amoeba’s office is almost together. Mine is a mess but since I ordered a new desk, I don’t see any point in trying to set up until it comes. Tomorrow I will finish packing and clean the apartment, then we will once again, officially, have only one residence.

While I worked in the house today, Amoeba mowed our new yard for the first time. The grass was long and a bit wet so it was a pretty hard task. It looks good though — that bright, fresh green that comes with Spring. Amoeba was also excited to see his bicycle again. He immediately plumped up the tires and took the thing for a spin around the neighborhood. He says he is riding his bike to work tomorrow even though I am driving over with the car.

The Quirks That Make Me, Me

/ Quilly / 20 Comments

I was contemplating unpacking. The mover just called and confirmed that he’ll be in Friday Harbor sometime before noon tomorrow. (I love decisive meeting times.) I immediately started mentally arranging my new home … for at least the 37th time. One of the things I keep coming back to is the new habits that I will have to form.

If it weren’t for deliberately conditioned habits, I would never be able to find anything. For instance, in Hawaii I kept the car keys on top of the microwave. Amoeba preferred to keep them in his pocket. Since we only have the one set of keys you can see how this was a problem.

There will be other problems as well. After I shower the first several times I will finally figure out the best place to leave my glasses so I can find them later. I am blind as a bat and if I don’t have the darn things on, I cannot see to find them!  And I can’t just leave them anywhere.  I need a place safe from flapping towels and such.

Unlike Hawaii, where our room was barely wide enough for just the bed, here I know exactly where I’ll put my glasses when I go to sleep at night since we just ordered cool new night stands.  Actually, we decided to be a bit non-traditional and ordered end tables with magazine/book racks to sit on either side of the bed.  They are roomier and should hold all of our possessions.

We will also have to find our comfort zones and make our own personal sweet spots in the new furniture.  I have already scoped out the end of the love seat closest to the fireplace for myself, but I keep ending up in the dining room.  I love siting at the table.  It is brightly lit with natural sunlight since it has windows on three sides.

I am happy and excited and can’t wait to put our new home together — and in the midst of all that I am already worried about misplacing car keys, glasses and other such things.  After spending this many years with myself — and moving as many times as I have — I know that planning deliberate routines from day one is the best way to keep me sane.