Accomplishments, albeit dubious

I packed two additional boxes of food (no, I’m not done). I created my WTF H$lidays mix. I also ripped 3 mix CDs for my cross-country drive. Luckily my CR-V has a tape player and I’m armed with mix tapes from college. Fie on thee, bad radio reception!

Crippling my packing effort has been the usa network. Yesterday it was Bring it On and today, Stick It. I love those movies with most of my heart and, yes, I’m easily distracted.

Today Cheryl is coming over to pick up a spare bedroom set. In retrospect it was possibly a bad idea to get rid of it, what with (yanno) the spare bedrooms. On the other hand, we don’t have to move it and it’s not like we get that many overnight visitors anyhow.

I’m in the laundry proces, will pack the last of all clothing materials except what I need for the next four days, pack the food and bathroom necessities. I’ll tape up the remaining boxes and I think Shane is coming over to help me do a trial run on packing the car. With any luck, I’ll get to a yoga class tonight.

Speaking of yoga, I was doing side plank in a class the other night and noticed that my shoulders and arms are looking pretty ripped. Nice. I don’t generally notice my body from an aethetic standpoint (I’m more of a ‘function’ kind of girl) so it usually takes a pretty dramatic change/visual to grab my attention, but it was kind of cool. I don’t think my arms have gotten dramatically bigger/stronger, I just haven’t had occasion to look at myself in side plank for a while.

Weekend roundup – packing, Real Housewives, Psych, snow, et cetera

The vast majority of our work is done. The office is almost finished, and the kitchen is done. We have no dishes that are not paper or plastic. Fast food, here I come!

It is currently dumping a metric asston of snow on my area. Unlike Colorado, we do not get powder. The snow is wet, heavy, and in the process of freezing. I think everyone’s hoping for a snow day. I wouldn’t complain, but I think it’s unlikely.

I really enjoyed the yoga class I attended tonight. It was just the right amount of work and mindlessness. I worked up a really nice sweat and got really loose. Possibly I’ll work up another yoga post tomorrow.

On to the TV!

Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion. Oh. My. God. It was CRAZY. The very best part was when Dwight came out and called them all “Très, très, très de classe.” I almost fell off my couch. It was brilliant. From NeNe calling Kim a hooker and a racist, to Kim claiming she had cancer and then saying she didn’t have cancer and then claming she never claimed she had cancer, it was sixteen kinds of reality TV trainwreck (if the train was carrying cars full of gunpowder). It was wild and I’m really hoping they do something with this show for another season.

Psych had another holiday episode! I love this show. It’s the funny version of The Mentalist, although it was around before the mentalist. The chemistry in the cast is fantastic, Dule Hill is a comic genius, and the storyline did not disappoint. The show is consistently funny and sweet. Love it.

Criminal Minds was fantastic this week. I generally think it’s fantastic, but it was a very cool exploration of first impressions, dating, and breaking out of your own awkward shell. That, plus serial killers! It’s another cast with great chemistry and solid crime plotting.

Bones was delightful, as ever. Love the Brennan/Dad interaction (with a side of Booth).

The Mentalist continues to be fantastic. I think the part I like most is Simon Baker. The character he plays has suffered an awful tragedy but they show him as a regular guy. He’s not swallowed up by his tragedy, he still enjoys life and has a sense of humor. His history is his history and influences his actions, but he’s not some morose lump. He gets along, as people do.

Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not sure WTF is going on there, but this whole Denny/Izzy thing is just creepy and icky. It’s too bad, because her storyline with Alex was starting to be interesting and now she’s a whacko and he’s going to get the shaft again. Also, sex with dead dudes = creepy. On top of that, her dead dude is a stalker. Worst kind of dead dude, ever.

Black Friday: survived

Mom and I were packing last night so I didn’t get to bed until about 12:30 this morning. I did most of my necessary shopping on Amazon.com yesterday, but mom had a few things she wanted to check out today. We left around 7 and were done by 10:30. We got decent parking places, didn’t wait in long lines, and found more than a few deals. All in all, successful – and uneventful – outing.

After breakfast (post-shopping) I needed a nap. I fell asleep around 12:30 pm and then resurfaced at about 3:00. We spent the afternoon packing and the entire upstairs of the house is complete (including all the beds dismantled). The entire basement of the house is complete. The living room is 99.99% complete (the movers have to move the furniture), the kitchen is 98% complete (all that remains are a few dishes and the food), the living room is 95% complete (it’s relocation central), and the office is about 50% complete. The back of my car is chock full of more things to be donated to Goodwill tomorrow.

My brother- and father-in-law are coming over tomorrow on an errand of mercy for Spouse.

Next week I’ve got a lab exam and a paper due. In my spare time, I might start reading Proust was a Neuroscientist. One of my students (who lives near Boston but comes to my classes during the holidays and vacations) recommended it and I’m pretty excited about it.

I’ve got a couple more tables to clean off tonight, so I’m going to go do that.

Progress, at last! (Plus a PSA)

The master bedroom and basement are completely packed up. As in, I don’t have to go in those rooms ever again packed up.

Tomorrow we will finish the guest bedroom. That leaves only the office. We will SO be done by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. I am completely and utterly relieved. Unfortunately there will be almost no room in my car for people.

In unrelated news, this blog has gotten over 5,000 hits. A large number of them (possibly a disturbingly large number) are searching for ‘naked family.’ A lot of Ariel Tweto fans have stopped by (as well as Ariel!) and True Blood fans. I’m pretty consistently surprised how many people are looking for yoga playlists. My playlist page gets a regular number of hits, so I’m hoping people like the mixes.

Once I get moved all the way out west, I’m sure there will be more yoga blogging because I’ll have more time for it (yoga and blogging). There will also be lots and lots of pictures.

For those of you with RSS feeds, you may have noticed a domain change. I’m actually at yoga-grrl.com now (though the wordpress link will obviously still work).

I’m having a hard time finding my motivation today.

My solution is to drag Shane to an afternoon showing of Twilight.

Speaking of movies, I overheard the weirdest conversation yesterday. I was sitting in one of the cafe areas on campus and heard two college guys talking about HOW EXCITED they were to see MADAGASCAR 2. That’s right, Madagascar 2. “The first one was hilarious and I heard this is way funnier!” I was kind of gobsmacked. I mean, if they’d been talking about being excited for Quantum of Solace, I wouldn’t have even blinked. So. Strange.

At any rate, the timeline for our move is highly dependent on how much stuff we get done this weekend so after my little movie motivator I’m going to crank it out.

So I missed my own deadline.

Did not get the podcast made. On the other hand, my mom learned about female ejaculation.

Yeah, you read that right. Shane made a hilarious and inadvertent comment about his recent google search and there you have it. At least ONE unexpected outcome to the weekend. All is forgiven, though, because he and Carly helped pack up the garage.

Me: *grumbling*

Shane: “You’re going to be bringing this up to Spouse for the next 10 years, aren’t you?”

Me: “Hells yeah! ‘Hey, remember that time when I PACKED ALL OF OUR HOUSE?  Shut it.’ ”

Shane: *cracks up*

Packing is clicking along. There is room to walk in the living room all the way around the coffee table, and that’s an improvement. Rooms are steadily becoming more empty and more and more things are making their way to charitable organizations. With every box that goes away, I feel a little lighter. Unfortunately there are a fair number of boxes that yet remain, which makes me think there might be another wardrobe culling when we get to Colorado.

We officially own two homes, which is terrifying. We can’t sell this one quickly enough, but at least we’re not paying rent in Colorado – it’s a mortgage now. I don’t want to think about what happens if we don’t move this house with some speed. Our budget is pretty tight to the bone. The bed arrived in CO and Spouse is quite happy with it. I’m thrilled that we’ll both be able to sleep again!

I’m really trying to stave off the panic about leaving at this point. I keep thinking that we will NEVER get everything packed, never get things moved, furniture to be given away will never get moved out of the house. Luckily I only have a couple of things left to do for school – two finals, a lab exam, and a paper. Probably I should take advantage of the extra credit options I have. If only I could get three more hours into each day, I’d be GOLDEN.

As it is, I only get to watch TV when I’m packing boxes. It kills a little bit of my heart, really. 

I *am* looking forward to the True Blood finale. I’m loving Life, despite its new time slot. Supernatural is continuing to kick some ass and Grey’s Anatomy has only been improved by the appearance of Kevin McKidd. Chuck has ramped up its game (hilarious and still cute! but with action!) and I’m stoked about the new season of Top Chef. After a terribly blasé Project Runway, I’m looking forward to some vicious cooking.

It is Tuesday and I am freaking EXHAUSTED.

I’m meeting with a realtor today. I also have to make a donation at the local shelter, sort and pack some more clothes, and find a seamstress to alter a few things before I leave town.

I’ve also got to sort out our ‘leaving town’ arrangements. Previously it was Dana and I driving out west. Now it’s possibly Dave and Dana and I, which means it might make more sense for Spouse to just fly home and drive out with me. It’s all very brain-tangling and I’ve got a microbiology exam on Thursday. I do not have the brainspace for logistics right now.

Last but not least, I’ve got to coordinate help to get the remainder of the garage packed. Ugh. I hate today.

FINALLY

I return to regular posting and it’s on the weekend, right? But that’s not what my finally is all about. I finally got Zune 3.0 loaded onto my computer. I’ve got NO IDEA what the problem was, just that it was immensely frustrating. But last night when I tried the secondary download (first one still failed) it WORKED. Let me say to you now, games on Zune are LOVE.

I had a second gen iPod once upon a time, as well as a shuffle. The iPod treated me well but I ran out of space. Around the same time, Spouse ran out of being able to use iTunes. I was constantly having to tweak the settings for him and then, memorably, iTunes stopped playing the songs he had purchased. He went from frustrated to fury in pretty much no time flat and at that point swore off of DRM music. And when the time came to upgrade, it was 2nd gen Zune time.

I love the Zune. I know a lot of people bitch and say it’s not as sleek or userfriendly as the iPod, but I’m calling bullshit. Having used (and liked) both, I much prefer the Zune software to iTunes. It takes less time to load and is easier to manouever. It accomplishes the same goals (playlists, etc.). And my Zune is the whip. It’s got an enormous screen. It’s super easy to load video and pictures on to (perfect for trips to the hair salon without magazine clippings). The sound is great, the scroll button is slick, and I don’t have a single complaint.

As I stood in line to vote on Tuesday, I got to watch my Yes We Can video. I buy my mp3s from Amazon (who has everything from current music to the karaoke versions of current music – as evidenced by having to buy some for the recent nuptials) and I don’t have to worry about it not playing on my software. It works in Media Player, Zune, and (if I chose) iTunes. When I finally uninstalled iTunes I felt a huge relief (and my laptop sped up considerably). I also completely heart that I can sync my Zune wirelessly and now (should I choose) I can purchase music from the Zune store over that wireless connection right from my Zune. Love it.

I’ve also crafted a few of my yoga playlists using the quicklist function (adds current song to a temp playlist) on the Zune and that works out pretty great for me.

Packing is skipping along. Today I donated around 300 books to the local public library. I’ve got about another 75 to take to the V.A. hospital. We’ve also sorted out the clothes to be donated to the local battered women’s shelter and have something along the line of 50 t-shirts, 10 pairs of pants, 10 pairs of shoes, several pairs of jeans, several sweatshirts, and some dress clothes for women. We’ve got about one more closet to raid and then I just have to parcel out which things I’m keeping and which other things I’ll donate.

Being able to drop things off has been a relief. Every pound of stuff we give away makes me feel that much lighter. I’m also very happy to be able to support the local library and women’s shelter. The shelter takes first dibs on the clothes and then sells things they aren’t using and the proceeds support the shelter. The library has a donated-book sale each year and uses the proceeds accordingly. The V.A. hospital will make the books available to their patients (including hospice patients who live-in long term) as well as the vets that they travel to treat.

Still to be done: finish boxing the last of the books we’re keeping. Finish washing clothes, sort and pack. Pack bedding. Pack CDs and cases that are remaining. Ideally we’ll get a fair chunk of that done tomorrow and then Thanksgiving weekend will simply be wrapping up loose ends.

Right now though – to couch.

Humongous photo

This view is available EVERYWHERE in town.

Not much yoga

I teach a class tonight before the holiday weekend and then not again until NEXT Wednesday. The gym is having an issue with sorting out their fall schedule which means I get a longer than usual accidental vacation.

My 1990 mix has been pretty popular in class but, unless there are a couple of specific students there who haven’t heard it, we’re going to be doing Hip Hop Yoga tonight.

Microbiology is pretty much exactly what I expected it would be – not fun. I’m also taking The American Presidency, which should be pretty interesting.

With regards to the move, we are having lots and lots and LOTS of conversations about what in hell we’re going to do with our house. I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around how a $100,000 house in Michigan costs $200,000 in Colorado. It’s mildly horrifying to me. Okay, it’s more than mildly horrifying. We’re giving serious consideration to buying land and building but there are ALSO no apartments to rent (to speak of). So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

Packing has not yet commenced. There are a lot of decisions hinging on this weekend’s trip and I don’t want to get so far ahead of ourselves that we end up backpedaling.

Currently I’m on hold with the U’s financial aid department. I think University financial aid offices, when they aren’t run properly, are like the third circle of hell. No one really knows how to answer your question, but they THINK they do and then you end up getting transferred three times, disconnected, and then finally some old lady in the back room just tells you to come to the office and she’ll get you straightened out. It’s kind of shocking to me that this shit isn’t all online yet.

For example, I came in on Monday and filled out necessary paperwork. They can’t locate the paperwork now. But if it was online, I guaran-fucking-tee that the shit would be processed already. Unfortunately, everyone at THIS university likes to NOT apply logic to their processes. They’d rather do it backwards and then be able to whine and complain about OMG we had to see EIGHT BAJILLION students and handle OMGSOMANY problems, but we did it, even though we were understaffed and undereducated and just generally SWAMPED.

I’m like, DUDE. The students are PAYING YOUR CHECK. You should be making this stuff as easy on EVERYONE as possible. WTF? It’s as though they all lack basic reasoning skills.

It’s just one more thing in an INCREDIBLY LONG list that makes me glad to leave this godsforsaken place.

And thanks to that annoying bit of runaround, I have to do EXACTLY what I THOUGHT I’d have to do on Monday (which no one could tell me) so I’m going to get myself French Toast Sticks as a reward. Because I deserve it.