200

I'm not unpacked. There are random papers on every flat surface of my apartment. I still am not sure where the rest of my checks are once this pack runs out. But today I crossed a milestone that makes none of that matter. I am officially at over 200 books in my online catalog.

Home?

Last night when I went to bed, I turned off all my lights and shut the door. This might not seem very out of the ordinary for most people, but for me it was the first time since June 2006 that I had more than one light to turn off and a door to actually shut. I am officially moved into my new one bedroom apartment. It has 3 closets, 4 doors, 5 rooms, and 11 windows. It's fantastic. It's also messy, completely disorienting and utterly too quiet, but all those things will either get fixed or I will get used to. I've already hit up my new favorite grocery store and taken down an 8 oz. container of their wonderful guacamole. Unpacking is taking a little longer than I thought, I did manage to get (in the following order) enough bathroom stuff to shower and brush my teeth, my movies and most of my books out and shelved. The next few weeks will be consumed with unpacking, sorting and filling in the holes left by studio living. I think I might be quite happy in this new space...but only time will tell.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

As the temperature falls, and the leaves change color, the fall/winter season is settling down amongst us. Everywhere around me people are picking out pumpkins and filling baskets with apples, stocking up on wood for winter fires, and basically drifting down into hibernation season. Unfortunately for me it means moving season. Luckily the lease I am signing is going to run to the end of August 2008 so I can get off the winter moving cycle but for now, I am currently in a third floor walk up and am moving to another third floor walk up just a bit down the road.

I got really energized about 3 weeks ago and started packing up all the easy things to pack like books and movies. Once those were done I hit a brick wall and have spent the past week just staring around at my apartment wondering how I accumulated this much junk. As of Tuesday however, I could put if off no longer. The lease was officially signed, the keys handed over and my new life in a one bedroom apartment began. With this new life beckoning I again got energized and decided to start my move. With a rented car and a few hours to kill before a friend got off work to help I started the laborious process of moving the books. Impressively, I got 9 boxes out of my apartment and into the car. The reverse was not as impressive, after 7 boxes I decided that quitting and eating was a whole lot smarter than trying to continue and possibly killing myself. So quit I did, and went to get food and reinforcements in the form of a friend who was silly enough to offer to help with this process.

Once I was fed and had the friend in tow, we headed back to Apartment #1 and reloaded the rental car (a prius by the way, which is just fun to drive). Another half dozen trips or so down the stairs and we were ready to head to the new place. With his help, I got everything out of the car this time and was feeling pretty accomplished as I dropped him off, ready to go right back at it the next day. This is the point where the fantasy crumbled.

I got back to my apartment only to realize that it looked as though I had done nothing. All those trips (with some rough math I think I did about 120 flights of stairs Tuesday night - 60 up and 60 down) and I still had a studio apartment full of crap. Dejected, but still ready to try again, I crawled into bed and went to sleep. Then Wednesday morning came and with it came the leg cramps from hell. I am about as far away from "in-shape" as Bush is from being a good President. I didn't stretch (who stretches for moving?), I didn't plan (Jeans are what I always wear post 5 o'clock) and I didn't take a hot bath when I was done (but the bed was so warm and comfy).

Wednesday was supposed to include two more helpers - a good friend and her boyfriend - with the move so that some of the bigger furniture could go. Turns out there was some miscommunication (they thought I would be closer to done than I was), a lack of sleep on the part of the new movers, and a shortened visiting schedule (it's a long distance relationship), so I insisted they skip out and stay home. This left me with dependable friend from last night and another chance to clear out some stuff. So I rented a car and headed over to pick him up again (another prius, this one with a camera for when you reverse!) .

However, by 6:30 Wednesday evening, I knew it was worthless. Though he assured me that once I got some of the bigger pieces moved it would look like I was making progress, I was too dejected to try again. So instead, I offered him the options of A) moving more crap or B) going to Target (Hey, I had the car already rented). Like a good friend, he chose Target.

So now it's Thursday. I haven't moved anything since Tuesday, but I got in an epsom salt bath last night and have 3 bags of Halloween candy to keep my energy up tonight! And though my legs are still killing, I know that I have to try again or this is never going to get done. And tonight is the only night I know for sure I will have a second set of hands to help. So, like the little engine that could, I will just keep on keeping on. The plan is to rent the SUV that is near my house, and get the wicker hutch thingy and at least one bookshelf over to the new place (and with any luck the rest of the boxes that are packed will go to). Cross your fingers and wish me luck (or just send over boys in their 20's who are bored and looking to do a good deed :)