More than just photos

Today I got my Colorado phone number. This makes me inexplicably happy, possibly because we are officially Coloradans now. Got the license, the plates, the number – nothing left to do for paperwork!

We’re having a guest over on Friday and all I have to do is finish unpacking, stash full boxes, hang all the photos and artwork, and finalize (and cook) the menu. No problem, right?

Tomorrow I’m running a couple more errands: picking up a special bottle of scotch, mailing our old Dish Network receiver back to the company, and getting my hair cut/colored. It’s been several weeks and there’s about an inch of natural hair color showing. My plan is to get the rest of my hair to look more like the natural color, but we’ll see how that works out. I also have been feeling like I’m rocking some ‘mom’ hair lately and ideally we’ll get something done about that as well. I’m sorely tempted (especially given the clime) to cut my hair very short again. I predict by this time next year that’ll be a done deal. For the time being, I’m willing to humor my spouse and try to grow it out again.

Of course, if anything like the last hair debacle (which required cutting it from below the shoulders to my chin) happens again all bets are off.

I’ve settled into my temp gig, which I like a great deal. It’s also a nice jumping off point looking for other work.

More importantly, WE’VE GOT A DVR AGAIN!! If I sound redonkulously excited about THAT, then you’ve never had a DVR. Not only do Spouse and I have separate (and concurrent) viewing habits on Thursday nights, this Mountain time change thing is killing me. Did you know that out here, prime time starts at 7pm? WTF?

Progress is being made, slowly but surely, and I hope to be completely done with the moving in by next Friday. I also made my plane reservations (yay frequent flyer miles!) to get back to Detroit for Mom’s surgery. Anyone intrested in coffee/tea/beer in the Detroit area should email me (or comment here).

I’m going to put together some shelving and then go to bed. The Battle Mountain pass is mine to conquer tomorrow – something that brings new heights to hair-pin turns (12,000 feet) and stunning (if somewhat terror-inducing) scenery.

I love this town.

There are only two pizza shops but they both deliver. We bought locally today (groceries, hardware) and tonight I’m going with Pizza Hut. Lame, I know, but I love their breadsticks.

Our TV finally showed up today and it’s pretty spectacular. We also changed out the very ugly 80s style light fixtures on the hallway and bedroom ceilings. All of the guest rooms have been made up (as of Sunday they will both be occupied) and I’m slowly figuring out where I’m going to hang our pictures and artwork.

All bedrooms have a lamp. We have sufficient rugs to get through the house without ruining the floors. I have worked up a makeshift pantry. I even baked some cookies today.

A majority of the big things have been crossed off of our to-do list and it’s just a matter of unpacking boxes further and determining if I need a chest of drawers.

It was snowing to beat the band this morning.

Piper and I went for a walk.

Right near the house

We’re waiting for the TV to arrive, so I have been doing odds and ends around the house. I posted some pictures of the basement areas and will probably get back to unpacking some boxes real soon. That or looking for a good samosa recipe. Or baking gingerbread. O, the options!

Watched The Mentalist this week and felt like the episode was sort of meh. I mean, the flashback thing was a weird addition – at least with the superfuzzy light – and I didn’t really think that Sophie and Patrick had any sort of chemistry. The part at the end, though, when Lisbon realized she had maybe made the wrong kind of joke was phenomenal. The two of them are just fantastic together, nonverbally. I still heart the show but it was definitely not the strongest ep.

Mountain time is totally jacking up my TV schedule – that and a lack of DVR. Hopefully I’ll get all that figured out – or be able to watch on the internet when I get a spare minute that doesn’t involve boxes or snow.

I’m here!

I have finally arrived in Leadville. Well, I arrived in Leadville yesterday. It took approximately 24 hours of driving but was largely uneventful.

My awesome friends in Saginaw gave me a gift of meaningful road snacks and a great mix CD. What are meaningful road snacks? The Dark Chocolate Raisinets that a guy at the movie theater told me were “the best thing I have ever put in my mouth.” The Ho Hos that Spouse asked me to buy for Carly, because Carly really wanted them, but when I got home it turned out they were just for Spouse. The Mint Milano cookies that are my favorite. You get the picture.

The mix CD had memorable songs from memorable events in the last three years, which was fantastic. I pretty much jammed out all the way across country. And the first thing I did (once I was functional) was hook up the wireless connection. Because I’m a geek like that (not internet obsessed or anything).

Today we’re taking our guests out and around the local area, hopefully eating some great food, and picking up odds and ends. And then spending the next three weeks unpacking boxes.

Nearing the end

I taught my last class at the gym yesterday and my last class in Michigan tonight. It’s a little sad and totally strange. My life has kind of been dicatated by my teaching schedule for the last three years and I’m going to be a little lost without it. I also had really, really great students here and I’m going to miss them. On days when I didn’t feel motivated to teach (yes, it happens) they motivated me. Watching them grow and get stronger was awesome.

I’m getting ready to close up the house – little last minute things to get it in order. Paint the bathroom, empty the cupboards and fridge, take out the trash, get the canoe down and load it up, get the chimes off the effing tree (I keep forgetting). Possibly the most challenging will be packing the car.

Given my list, I won’t be doing much blogging today and then tomorrow I’m on the road. I’ll be giving road updates on twitter because I love the text to tweet function.

All of my belongings are arriving at my house in Leadville RIGHT THIS SECOND.

Nobody cares

That I’m officially done with school for the semester, but I am. My joke of a paper (more like a 5 page book report) is finished and now I just have to turn it in.

I also have to get the oil changed in my car, pick up some paint supplies, prime the bathroom, paint the bathroom, (hopefully) get the online billpay for our new bank set up, wire money to the new bank, close the old bank account, cancel satellite and internet services, throw away/donate food items, sweep the house, bag up and put out the trash, collect the windchimes, sort and pack all the things that have to be packed in my car, and lower and tie on the canoe.

Probably there are some things I’m forgetting. Like teach yoga tomorrow.

I woke up this morning a little sleep-drunk, so I’m headed to bed now. You don’t ever really catch up on sleep so I’m going to try and stave off the deprivation, at least. I also uploaded some (but not all) of the holiday music.

WTF H$liday Mix update

It is completed. It is excellent. It is not uploaded to imeem because I have been doing mover stuff all day and now have to cram for a Micro final tomorrow morning, right after I teach yoga tonight.

I have not had a nap; I have not cried. I cannot promise that one or both of these things will not happen later.

Okay, that’s melodramatic. I’m not going to cry unless Carly wants to watch P.S. I Love You.

Maybe when I start procrastinating later, I’ll upload.

The yoga of moving

I’m only half-kidding with the post title. Yogagrrl’s yoga of relocation consists mainly of neck stretches and deep breathing. Well, not TOO deep because of the dust and the dog hair. Even as I write, a very nice group of men is gathering up all the boxes I have packed, furniture I have dismantled, and things we previously agreed they’d pack and/or dismantle and moving it out into an enormous truck. But a Yogagrrl story is not complete without complications.

Last night, Shane came over to help motivate finish the last of my packing. If I’d thought kitchen packing was tedious, clearly I hadn’t given much thought to bathroom necessities. Ugh. WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH LIPSTICK? At any rate, he used my computer, which meant I couldn’t access the internet, which meant that I packed (at least, right after yoga class). I packed, he wrote a paper. We both finished up at about 12:30 this morning. The movers are scheduled to arrive at 8:30.

My car was very low on gas and, due to rearranging things for the movers, I couldn’t park in the garage. I went out to fill up and buy a gallon of milk. I locked the doors and drove to the store. I am going to have cereal and a good night’s sleep and never look at cardboard again. When I got home, I opened the garage door (the way I always do) and walked in to open the back door of the house (the way I always do) and discovered that – contrary to what I always do – I’d locked the back door.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except that last week I signed with a realtor and gave her the key off of my keychain. And the spare keys were in the house. And Carly was in Ann Arbor. So at 1am, I’m in my garage, desperately searching for some wire to pick the lock with (as though I could? I’m watching TOO MUCH crime drama) but of course I have been wildly efficient and packed the ENTIRE EFFING GARAGE. There is no wire to be found.

There is no locksmith to be found.

I call Shane and ask if I can bunk at his place on campus. Because I am old and lame. He asked if I could stop and get him a 2 liter of Diet Coke. I did. And my milk, because I didn’t want it to explode in my car. And I slept on his air mattress. Did I mention the movers were supposed to show up at 8:30? I got up at 5:30. At 6 am I called the realtor and asked if there was any chance she could come let me into my house with the key in the lock box. Luckily she has kids, was getting ready to take them to school, and I was kind of on the way.

I bought some light timers, stopped at McD’s for breakfast, called Carly to share what a colossal idiot I am, and then headed back to the house. At about 7:45 she arrived (my savior!) and I was able to brush my teeth and look mostly human by the time the movers showed up. Except that I hadn’t disconnected the tank from our gas grill and then had to hunt up the keys to the myriad toolboxes so that I could detach it. Then I had to scrape snow off of the patio furniture that we’re taking with us.

Then my modem stopped working when I moved the shelving it was sitting on.

It has not been a restful day. I am supposed to teach yoga at 7:30 tonight and am despairing of not getting a nap. The yoga of relocation is to curl up and die in a sleeping bag on the floor of my empty house.

To add insult to injury, I really really REALLY want Taco Bell and they do not deliver. CURSES!

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).

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.

Nothing to see here

The thing about getting rid of stuff is that it makes you realize how much more stuff you have.

This morning, I loaded up my car with the three cases of Bible books from Mom, two old computer monitors, a printer, a carpet cleaner, a miscellaneous basket o’crap, and I noticed that I still have a TON OF STUFF to pack. I’m going to go ahead and settle for taking this out of here. 

Tomorrow I’ll make my first (of many) trips to either the women’s shelter or Goodwill in order to get rid of some other stuff.