I remember in my youth when after a move I could put the house together within 48 hours. Of course, I owned less and was more practiced at moving. Yeah, well, those days long gone.
Nowadays, I find myself staring at walls and boxes. I’m still trying to unpack those boxes, 6 weeks or so after the move. Why you ask? Well, because. Because this wall has to be painted before the bookcase can rest there. Because the books that belong on this other bookcase are down at the bottom of a stack of boxes. Because this bookshelf has to be put together before I can start unpacking the 1000 or so science fiction books that have to be alphabetized on the shelf. Because if I paint this floor before I paint the ceiling, I will regret it….
Today I’ve been working on this hall where so many of the books will reside. But unpacking boxes of books that are presently sitting in the same 8-foot wide hall while trying to paint that hall…
So I move on to the bedroom. Well, I can’t hang those large pictures in the corner yet because the living room isn’t fully painted, so I can’t paint the bedroom. I can’t paint the living room because I don’t want to finish the walls and floor in there before I finish making messes in the hall that might get tracked onto the hardwood in the living room.
So what do I do? I am trying to finish each room before moving on to the next. My office has reached a certain level of completion. Now I just have to figure out where everything goes in here. Nope, I can’t cope with that, so I move back into the hall again and find myself looking out the storm door at the lovely weather.
So I take out the boxes that I have unpacked. I relish the budding trees and the warmth of the sun. Then I sniffle and remember my allergies and slowly return to the house. The house isn’t good for my allergies either, for it has enough dirt, sheet rock dust and dog hair to justify a haz mat team intervention, but I can’t clean very well until I finish unpacking those boxes and painting those walls…
Even sitting down at my computer is fraught with logistical problems. Yes, this one works, but the pieces to the new computer are lying about underfoot waiting for my decisions. (I dream of the day this new faster machine will allow me to surf and design my way to heaven!) See it’s even intruding on my work—I’m writing about all this!
Someone recently told me that she had tried to do this, too. She finally moved back out and paid a contractor to finish it up. Let’s see, now who do I know who would let me move in with 3 dogs, husband, both computer systems, etc?
The better solution today—on to my part-time work at Greater Georgia Printers and then the Maxeys City Council meeting. Maybe I’ll come home again after that. Maybe.