In the home stretch … literally?

You may have noticed that postings here have been somewhat sparser than usual lately. Of course, as I mentioned earlier this month, we are buying our first home and that has consumed much of my non-work time, attention, and energy. We are finally in the home stretch (pun intended) as our closing is set for this Wednesday and our move date is Saturday.

As you can imagine our apartment is now full of boxes. Melanie’s dad flew into town on Friday to help us move and by the end of Saturday he had nearly everything boxed that could be boxed. He’s so enthusiastic, we’ve actually had to unpack some things, including the book that was on my nightstand that I’m currently reading!

We’ve also been able to get rid of some unnecessary items. Even after our purge last year when we moved into this apartment, we were able to whittle down our closets even more. Well, I was. I managed to get rid of a bunch of clothes are after about 15 minutes of shuffling, but I left Melanie reminiscing over every blouse and skirt that she used to wear before having kids, where she bought them, how much she paid, and where she wore them. But I’m the weird one for remembering football stats and the complete product lineup of Apple Computer. Oh well, vive la difference.

I was also able to pawn off give away our three window air conditioners to my sister and a co-worker. Our new place has central air and odd-shaped windows so these would do us no good. I think this week we’ll get rid of our old broken-down couch on Craigslist to some college kids. I was also able to give away an old Power Mac 4400 on Freecycle. (Unfortunately the woman sent a cranky email because she’s unhappy it’s old and doesn’t have USB ports. If she’d asked I would have told her that. I think it was up to her to do some research before leaping at the thing. We did have three other interested emails so she isn’t stuck with it.)

So for the rest of the week, on Wednesday we pass papers; on Thursday, I get to wait in the new house for the delivery of our new refrigerator and washing machine (the dryer comes on Monday); the plumber to give an estimate on a few odds and ends; the cable guy to install TV and Internet (especially Internet!); and whatever else I can manage to squeeze in. Then Saturday, we move! After that, is unpacking and a number of improvements: insulation in attic, work on the furnace, installing shelves, etc. I’m going to become very familiar with Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Ikea, I think.

Anyway I can’t wait, especially for my 1-1/2 to 2-hour each-way daily commute to shorten to 15 minutes. That’s an extra 3 to 4 hours per day I can spend with my family!

On a final note, our landlord—who is really a great guy; I’d recommend our apartment to anyone looking for a place in Peabody—is having the old house insulated today. They’re blowing insulation in through the walls. Would have been nice to have that last winter because these old buildings are expensive to heat, especially when the furnace is so old too. Oh well, so much the better for the next tenant.

Photo credit: Flickr.com user TheMuuj. Used under a Creative Commons license.