We have pretty much moved. I started out on Saturday taking 5 gallons of yellow paint over to "the new house" to paint the kitchen. Not that the kitchen needs five gallons of paint - not by any means. The thing is, this is left over paint that we had from a job, and I did like the color very much. The problem is/was that it was inexpensive "industrial grade" paint, and I am no where near as strong as I used to be back when I worked at the tile shop. So it took me almost two hours to move the paint and get the stupid container open. But, ever determined, I did it.

I did a "test area" without primer. It looked fine, so I went ahead and kept painting....then the sun came out. What a mess! It REALLY needs another coat, but part of the kitchen didn't get painted at all on account of that I was not strong enough to move the refrigerator by myself....

The Hub was working at The Depot. I was waiting to hear from Friend Will who said he and Jenne would stop by later in the day. Meanwhile, Theresa called me, and she and Rob decided to come up and see the new place, and hang out for New Years Eve. So, I had two couples as guests in my new house before I even moved in! It's great to have friends you can entertain even when you don't have any furniture! (though, I have to say that I think the bright red carpet in the room that used to be my brother's provided a level of entertainment in and of itself!) We went out and got some Chinese food, cranked up the woodstove, and ate by candle light on the living room floor. Like most really good times, it came when I least expected it. Jenne gave me a really wonderful Christmas present - a pin in the shape of a robin and earrings shaped like frogs. "It's Birda! and The Frogs!" I cried out happily. Thanks to the kindness of my friends, the things I loved most about my old house can always be close to me symbolically

On Sunday, we started moving. We did drive up to Ikea to see if we could find something to set the television on - not that we have any reason for it now, since we still can't afford cable (and it wouldn't bother me any if we never could again) But it does play DVD's and we do watch movies on it. We decided to sell the entertainment center. Ikea had a very functional t.v. stand for $15.00 so we bought it. It's still in it's flat packed box.

We went up to my brother's to beg for his help in moving the heavy furniture and beg my dad for the use of his pick up truck. Of course, our family was willing to help us out, but, unluckily it really began to rain on Monday, which was the legal holiday. I had the good fortune to be off from work. My brother was a tremendous help moving all the junk that he and The Hub moved. As for me, I tried to be really careful and not throw my back out, so I only did unloading and furniture placement once it got in the house. I felt terrible about it, but probably we got more done together as a group the way we did it. If I had gone on the "runs" to the old house I would not have been very much help yet taken up space in the vehicles.

As it was, my back was very cranky with me and I had to sleep on the floor in order to set it to rights.

I put up a pair of green and white curtains in the kitchen - these were ones I still had from the first house that The Hub and I lived in together. They don't really go with the yellow walls, but they are OUR curtains, and, for now, I'm leaving them there. We brought the pair-a-tweeters over and set their cage under the canopy of house plants that Mom left. Being under the plants really seemed to lift their spirits, and soon they were filling the house with their cheerful chirps.

Having the birds there seemed to calm Goober down - he was way unsure about the huge change in his routine. No food bowls! No dog bed! No spot! New yard! And everywhere he tried to lay down he was in the way. Well, he's literally as big as a piano, so it isn't any wonder ( Mom and Dad have not had a chance to move the piano out yet - that's how we know!)

We have way too much furniture. It's good that we're selling a lot of it because the scale of it is way too big for that house, which was designed for very casual living. We didn't move the computer yet, since we don't have phone service yet. We still have stuff to move, which The Hub was going to do today - at least as much as he could - and it's still raining. When I went to the store this morning I bought him a bottle of aspirin, two bottles of Tums, and a tube of Flexaril.

These are things that say "I love you" when you're middle aged!! How romantic.