We survived the move but are still sans internet at the new place. Seems like it's always a 50/50 proposition getting things installed properly - either it goes flawlessly and we have internet the night we move in, or it's a total botch and we go for a week with no connection. We should have something by tonight, or possibly tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't have to spend time on the phone not-quite-yelling at anyone tomorrow.

Thank all the powers above and below for my friends. We got everything out of the old place and into the new in about 4 hours (and that was with two trips!) and the old place has been cleaned and tidied and is ready for the landlord to inspect tomorrow.

The new place (which I am thinking of as Babylon - since it has a fabulous garden and we all know I'd be kicked out of Eden - and which Poeso wants to call the Sin Bin) is a disaster area of boxes and displaced furniture and other stuff, but it's starting to shape up. The kitchen is fully unpacked and restocked. I'll be taking a run at making dinner there tomorrow night. And thanks to Shar, the bookcases are unpacked and the front room is less cluttered than it was.

Of course, I'm 4 days behind on LJ and FB and every other internet sort of thing out there, and will probably not get caught up - so if I missed anything important...well why didn't you call me? ;P

And now, back to digging out my work in-box and enjoying that I'm not expected to lift and/or carry anything heavier than a notepad today.

- I can always rely on the "family" to have good ideas for how to solve vexing problems. (Thank you Killian and SeaWeasel - between the tool advice and the Dremel advice, I managed to make progress!)

- "Work smarter, not harder" will speed up a project tremendously

- Removing long, heavy boards from a high ceiling is significantly easier and faster with two people, especially when one of those two people isn't freaked by heights. (And another thank you here to Killian for that, and LadyJ for keeping an eye on the munchkin)

- Do not leave hammers on top of ladders and then move the ladder (rubs knot on head)

- No project will ever be as easy as it looks (and 4" long nails are a bitch to extract - but remarkably easy to bend)

- There's a remarkable amount of cargo capacity in a Prius, and an equally remarkable amount of cargo to be extracted from one garage and put into another

- My husband is a strong contributing factor to my sanity. He knows exactly when to tell me to back away from the calendar.

- I have to stop trying to have a life this month. It's just not going to happen.

- Never underestimate the value of "elbow grease" and proper leverage (it's all a matter of leverage)

I am officially totally impressed by the main maintenance guy in our office building. He found a Bluetooth headset in the elevator (mine - it fell off where I hooked it on my purse), remembered that I was one of the two people he'd seen get into that elevator just before he found it and has worked on our AC units (including the thermostat in my office) enough to remember where I work and brought it to my office! Talk about service. =)

Now I need to find a better spot for my headset...

I'd just like to add to the birthday wishes for redminx.

Happy birthday bella. Hope you're having a wonderful day!! *hugs*

That totally don't fall on birthdays...and some are late (and others are early).

Since I haven't been getting much time on LJ, and there are a bazillion people born in late November or December it seems, I give you in no particular order:

Happy Birthday rosered32, stride, admiralorko, gwenrose, redminx, fishknifeseller, flame_of_kali, black_reaver and anyone else I might have missed!!!

Hugs and cake and birthday wishes all round. Hope you had/will have fabulous birthdays and I'm sorry I'm not managing proper public appreciation on the proper days. I just don't trust myself to remember/have time.

Happy Birthday nitehunter!

Just a quick update -- made my annual visit to the Pittsburg renaissance faire this weekend with Poeso and Killian. Thank you as always to the Guild of Santa Maria in general for letting me hang out with them and to several folks specifically for their good company. Special thanks to Snoopy (and by extension Enrico and Arabella) for letting us stash our gear in the pill. It was, in all, a good weekend. I got a good fix of sunshine and friends, got to enjoy the cannon fire and got to see folks I don't see often. And I'm pretty sure that after two days with him, Poe & Killian's little one has me solidly wrapped around his finger (even WITH the screaming). =D

And now back to trying to get something accomplish in (or perhaps in spite of) the mess of my desk.

For the record, fallen42 gets ALL the "cool points" for this week.

All of them.

Not only did he show up to climb with me tonight as expected, he greeted me with a bar of Ghiradelli 72% dark chocolate!

Seriously, can he get any better than that? =D

And climbing provided exactly the mood lift I was hoping it would. I feel significantly better at this point.

My calendar tells me that there's this really wonderful, amazing, talented brunette having a birthday today...

Happy Birthday leiland!!!

Other than to note that UGH...My LJ is PINK!! Blech...

Not really feeling much of a rant one way or the other. I like candy (a little too much), I tend to forget that V-Day is happening most years since I'm usually a bit busy with other stuff (like work), and I'm pretty sure the appropriate individuals know that I like them.

However, just in case anyone missed the memo -- I like you.

Yeah you.

And you too.

Loads. =D

(If you doubt that, c'mere and I'll kiss some sense into you...)

Doughnuts for the Moving Crew - $6
26' truck rental from U-Haul - $100
Pizza and soda for the Moving Crew - $75

Having friends who will show up to help us move three times in twelve months and put up with all of our stuff and my bad temper...more priceless than any commercial parody can convey.

Thank you to everyone who came to help, no matter how long you were with us or how much weight you could lift. Believe me, your presence alone was helpful.

And thank you also to adnate, who called to offer a hand, snoopyh42 for trying to come help (work just happens sometimes) and everyone who's been moral support over the last month or two.

General Moving Crew thank yous go to Thumper (and Lady J for loaning him to us), rosered32, keshian, ladyofdragons, Gryphon, ziptie_bandit, blaze613, mshathvri, Killian, poeso, fallen42, jeebachu, Sam B. and deviant. (Hopefully I didn't miss anyone.)

Particular thank yous go to:

- poeso for agreeing to drive my car for a week so I could use her Jeep. (Yes, I'm sure she suffered greatly...she didn't seem to be enjoying that _at all_. *grin*)
- deviant for making the first unload go so quickly and smoothly
- fallen42 for putting up with the second load crew losing him and to keshian for driving about to try to find Fallen and to Sam B. for bringing him back to us. (That one's going in the moving story archives!)
- ladyofdragons, Gryphon, Poeso and Killian for joining us for dinner and hanging out for a while in the evening - the place feels much more like home.

And a sort of general thank you to everyone who was there for the afternoon for not killing me...God knows it wouldn't have been unprovoked. =(

I have a couple other more personal thank yous to deliver, but seeing as the person I should be thanking isn't on LJ, I'll save those for when I have a personal opportunity.

( More moving related stuff below the cut )

And this is the last move for a while. I like this place. I think I'll stay here. =)

On a different note -- chelleann77, I hope you had the most amazing 30th birthday party EVER! I sent kisses and hugs and good wishes through a couple people, which hopefully reached their target, and I'm sure it was a blast. If I'd been able to walk without whining, I'd've made more of an effort... =)

Oh...and:

Happy Birthday poeso!!!

We liked the one last night...applications are to be emailed to me today. I'm hoping that being happy with the place even during the work they're doing, willing to take a two year lease and being generally sociable won us points.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

And thank you to RoseRed and Keshian for the tip on the place near you...I'll call them today at lunch and find out what the place is like.

1) The best cure for stress is slaughtering innocent villagers in the name of the Elder Gods while in the company of many good friends and getting smooches from most of my favorite boys.

2) redminx is amazingly cool. In exchange for the piece that she'll be receiving from me from my LJ project list, she created a pair of fingerless hand and wrist warmers; black so they won't stand out and be gaudy at work. I'm giving them a test run right now and they're keeping my hands delightfully cozy and not impeding my typing in the least. =D

From my in-laws and deviant respectively.

Or, more accurately (but less interestingly), a book on chain maille jewelry that includes a lovely gallery of work by other people including a piece entitled "Slave Collar" (which really lives up to the title...chain and everything...very sturdy looking) and a couple of books of naughty origami instructions.

And me without a notebook to write down ideas. =)

I actually wound up with three books on jewelry design, and they all induced a certain amount of "oooo...I could...and...with the...oh that would be perfect for...!" reactions. And the inevitable strange comments of things like "hmm...I might need a crochet hook" and "I'd need gloves for that...casting stiched on knitting needles would hurt otherwise"...things that make perfect sense until you realize I'm talking about wire. (And the moment of wondering what gauge sheet metal would make metal origami possible...I know it can be done...)

And there was dinner and family and cinnamon rolls and Fraggle's "whole family on speaker phone" experience (which I'm sure was appropriately traumatic) and leftovers and cookies and ... and ... and...

In all, a very good holiday - and even though I'm back at work today, the office is quiet, I'm adapting to being back, and I have "Christmas Round 2" to look forward to tonight, since I have goodies for the gamers who'll be over, including the recalcitrant jewelry piece for Leiland which came out ok in the end. =)

For those of you who know him, Kyle passed the Bar Exam and is officially an attorney! =D *cheers*

(I'm not the only geek attorney I know anymore!!!)

I forgot to mention, in my crankitude earlier, that poeso brought me pretties from her Hawaii trip. A pendant and matching earrings of mother of pearl carved as a lovely 5-petaled flower (something I've seen often in Hawaiian jewelry). *squee*

I think I'm going to replace the leather cord for the pendant with a chain, since that will hold up to regular wear better, and I may have to add some freshwater pearls to one of my orders to use as accents in the chain. *plots* =)

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who provided advice, input, information and comments yesterday regarding my LL's indecent proposal. Thanks to all of you, I've taken a second, and third, look at the way things could play out if I buy the place I'm in, and NO ... not going there. It doesn't make financial sense, I can do MUCH better if I wait a year and use my raise productively and frankly, no, I don't love this place enough for the stress it would cause.

I'd pretty much made up my mind after talking to redminx a bit and realizing just how pressured and obligated I was feeling because of the offer, and realizing that his "generosity" doesn't obligate me to do anything and that I don't like being bullied. The rest of you put the nails in the coffin after that. chellean77 brought up a number of things I wouldn't have thought of or known to ponder, and the rest provided excellent reminders that unless I love the place, buying is a bad idea.

So again...thank you. It means a lot to me that I have friends who can provide informed, objective advice and really help me keep my head on straight. You all rock, hardcore. =D

Now I just have to call the LL - which is probably not going to be as pleasant as the last conversation, but oh well...there had to be a rough conversation at some point. He's obviously desperate. (And I'm starting to wonder how selling now could screw his soon to be ex...because I can't help agreeing with my cousin that he's probably got that as a motivating factor.)

And today I'm off to visit the parentals - haven't been down since August so it's about time. (Besides, I need to fill them in on all this drama and news and such.) And it occurs to me that I should have asked Jef-with-one-F if he wanted to come along. He hasn't seen them in years and I'm sure my mom would be thrilled to have him down. Oh well...next time.

*Shar tosses an envelope at me*
*check return address, and register "Hopkins" and "MA"*
"Oh! God...I _so_ owe her an email..."
*open envelope*
*find earrings*
"oh...OH! Oh oh oh...not the Hopkins I thought! Bedford not North Andover!"
*proceed to squee mightily over pretty shinies*

( Thank you MDYesowitch! )

I don't have time to write even a fraction of what I'd like to...so I'll have to sum things up:

I had a really good time this weekend. (Yeah, that about covers it.)

Kyle takes the bar exam this week...everyone think happy thoughts for him and cross your fingers he doesn't suffer any power blackouts (rolling or otherwise).