Still waiting...

I can't wait to move into our new house! Our apartment is so full of boxes that we can hardly walk, and our house is so close to being finished it is making me crazy. We even got mail at our new address.

Derek and I experienced a conflict over packing, though. I am the compulsive, organized, get-everything-done-way-in-advance kind of person. Derek is the relaxed, last minute, that-looks-good-enough kind of person. This means that, so far, I have done most of the packing (75% maybe?) I will come out of the office, covered in dust, lugging a heavy box, and he will be sitting on the couch watching tv. Now, I realize that I am probably over-planning and over-preparing, but he just keeps saying "There's not that much left to do, we'll just throw it together at the last minute." I discovered today that he meant that to be a comforting statement, and he discovered that this phrase was making me homicidal.

Now, he is probably going a bit too far in letting things slide, and I am probably going too far in doing everything in advance. He decided to escape the packing frenzy this afternoon by leaving for a few hours. At least he did it by going to the laundry room to do three loads of wash. I sorted through old shoes and socks to see what could go to Goodwill, what could go in the trash, and what needed to be packed. Yep, we're both crazy in our own way.

On Monday, we are going to have our "New Home Orientation," which I think is when they tell us how everything works and how not to void our warranty on stuff like the carpet. It will also be when we check to make sure they fixed everything they were supposed to fix. Just little things, except for the two windows. Tuesday is Election Day in the US, but we voted today. In our state, you can vote in advance at the county clerk's office for any reason. Our reasons were to avoid missing a chance to vote because we were doing last-minute house stuff, and to get a paper ballot instead of an electronic one. The electronic ones here don't give you a paper receipt or anything. They seem reasonably secure against hacking, but there is little provision for malfunctions. If the power goes out, votes are lost, and so forth. I mean, come on people, these are COMPUTERS! How often does your computer malfunction? I don't believe there is no provision for a backup system. Like paper. So we voted today.

Wednesday, we go up to Indianapolis to close on our house. This is when we hand them a really big check. It is odd, it was okay to sign up to buy the house and have them start building in the office here in Bloomington, but for the closing we have to go up to Indianapolis. We also need to pester them to find out exactly how big that check is going to be. It seems like they ought to be eager to tell us that part. We have to bring a cashier's check from our bank, so we need to know in advance how much money there needs to be. Our bank balance looks healthy right now, but it is all about to go away. Sigh.

On Friday, the movers come. Derek is taking off on Friday and I don't teach on Fridays. I can't really take off any work, but I only teach 9 hours a week. It is finishing the other stuff, outside the classroom, that worries me. My students pretty much expect instant gratification in getting their papers back, as in all other areas of their lives. Two days after the midterm (with essays), they said "Aren't you done yet?" Yeah, right.

Our moving company is called Soft Touch Movers. I love the name. It was kind of funny. When we mentioned we were moving, people we didn't even know had to tell us to use this company because it was so great--a waiter, a clerk at the hardware store, and one of my co-workers who happened to be walking by and overheard my conversation. So, apparently, they're the ones to use. They were also willing to do just what we wanted: we pack, they load and drive and unload. Some long-distance companies drive, but they expect you to load. Ha! I think not. Since they will be moving all the furniture, including our beds, we plan to sleep in our new house on Friday night. that is the 9th. We have to be out of our old apartment, with it all clean and inspected, by the 19th. I am kind of dreading the cleaning part, even though the carpet needs to be replaced and the walls just need to be repainted. We have lived here for almost ten years, and the carpet and walls were obviously of the one-to-two years quality.

After we move, we hope to get a dog. A miniature dachshund. That's the kind of dog my parents had and have now. This is Holly:


They are small and need only a reasonable amount of exercise (they have short little legs, a small walk is a lot of exercise for them.) They are light enough for me to pick up or hold on my lap. They don't shed, drool, smell, or cause allergies. They don't need to be groomed, just bathed maybe once a month and brushed a little. Admittedly, there are also long-haired:


and wirehaired:


These varieties need more grooming, but that's not the kind I am looking for. They look like short-legged collies and scotch terriers to me: cute, but not as dachshund-like.

I don't want to buy a dog from a mall-type pet store. They take all sorts of dogs, from all sorts of places. I think that can encourage excessive and irresponsible breeding. Dachshunds can have back problems and other health problems from inbreeding. And the local pet store has a lot of dogs without "papers." I'm not concerned with buying a show dog with famous bloodlines, but I would like to know that the parents were healthy and had a decent personality. We might try to buy from someone who shows dogs and breeds them for show. Even their litters sometimes have a dog that just isn't "show quality." Sometimes for silly reasons: a red dog with any white markings, for example, cannot be shown. Yeah, whatever. A short-haired dog with some longer hairs cannot be shown, because it doesn't fit into any one category. Obviously not a problem for someone who just wants a dog to spoil the heck out of. Bring on the puppy treats!