Moving Pains

So, no, we have not dropped off the face of the earth. We have been moving. While we loved Costa Mesa, our apartment complex was becoming sketchy. I think the final straw was when our not too sober upstairs neighbor fell asleep with the bathtub running and flooded our extra bedroom and bathroom. So we gave up the “city life” of CM and moved to the very Stepford-like city of Irvine (I swear the children outnumber the adults!). We love our new place, but I have to ask, who in the world makes narrow stairs and doorways that do not fit an average size desk or entertainment center? And aren’t you supposed to accumulate furniture after college? While we acknowledged from the start our computer desk had no hope for reaching the second story, we had high hopes for our standard sized entertainment center. Little did we know…

We hired movers knowing we could not lift that insanely heavy chunk of wood over our heads (which was the only way we figured any human could move the thing). I will give the movers credit – they pushed, they pulled, they angled. But the entertainment center just did not fit and a large corner of it was ripped off. We finally conceded and let the movers put it in the garage. I figured Chris could take it apart and bring it up in two pieces. After a couple of hours trying to putty, glue, and drill it back together, John and Chris decided it wasn’t going to work. We had a moment of silence for the poor thing – it survived two Lubbock moves and the move to Cali. As a gift from Chris’ parents (I hope he has told them about it by now), I felt really bad about having to put it in the dumpster. **sniff, sniff**

The movers made us realize that we need to “downsize” our belongings. We budgeted three hours for the move. When the two movers walked into our two bedroom apartment and said “um, I think we are going to need more people or we will be doing this until dark”, I knew we were in trouble. It took six movers FIVE!!!! hours!!!! In our defense, several years ago we lived in a three bedroom townhome; we are now squeezing into a one bedroom with loft. It’s just not right.

I realized that we were both desperately hanging on to items that are just not necessary in SoCal. We each have at least four heavy coats that we only use when traveling out of state. I have seven scarves. And I really do think a pair of galoshes are inappropriate on the West Coast. I admit I do have a dirty little secret – I own over 100 pairs of shoes (it’s hereditary, blame my mom!). Chris collects khaki pants for some reason, and we have enough towels to cover all of Newport Beach. Needless to say, a few shoes, towels, and coats are on their way to Goodwill.


I would like to add special thanks to the people who made this move possible: Mehgan, thank you for kicking our rears in gear and forcing us to pack (to all those who don’t know, we didn’t start packing until the Tuesday before our Saturday move. Procrastination, schmacrastination). Danielle, thank you for taking our two stuffed-to-the-gills walk-in closets and somehow consolidating them into one small walk-in closet. John, not only do I thank you for helping convince us that going to the bar Friday night was a better idea than packing, but thank you for patiently laughing at Chris’ piecing the entertainment center together. If it wasn’t for the three of you, we would still be in our old place!