Day 26 of 40 Waterworks

Dutchies are renown for water management. No wonder because there is a lot of water here. The Delta Works protect us with various ingenious constructions like dams and sluices. Women resemble waterworks in a way, I think. In times when they build up pressure they retain water (in their bellies and in their joints for example). As soon as the water reaches a certain level the sluices open, noticeable as they have to pee a lot more than usual. When the pressure keeps exceeding more levels, more sluices need to open (visible from tears streaming from their eyes).

Just kidding. Except for the streaming tears part. Can’t help it but the sluices seem to be stuck. I’ll let it go for now. At least it seems to help to remove the liquid of my swollen fingers. Moving houses within a time limit, even though 40 days seemed long enough, sucks. 

Day 25 of 40 Two Houses make Half a Home

This morning Mr. S rapidly transformed my present bedroom into a space where any sound echoes against concrete.  But then, in the new house, he magically turned ‘just a room’ into the basis of a comfortable bedroom with my black fluffy carpet looking like new and fitting perfectly. Meanwhile my brother and my son worked on the central heating system and my daughters removed more wallpaper (more than 10 very big plastic bags full already and still some pieces to do).

In the afternoon they picked up another load of things that needed to be moved. My son and his sister carried a big carpet to the attic and placed it there and put another part of old carpet in the van to protect the more vulnerable and delicate furniture that needs to be transported.

Part of my wardrobe is already there as well, which required careful consideration of what clothes I still need here, since the real moving is more than a week away. So far the things we moved were things we don’t need so often and other things like a broom, the vacuum cleaner and the stepladder for example are going to and fro the old and new house because we need them sometimes here and other times there. Nothing is missing yet and that feels good. I wouldn’t like it to have to go in my car for 15 minutes to match my clothes but I would feel very annoyed when I don’t even know in which house I have to search for it.

Anyway, ‘Home is where the Heart is’ and now I grow fonder of the new house, my hearts travels between both houses and so is my mind. 

Day 24 of 40 Plastered

After a very long day and working like a dog we went to the Italian at 8:30 PM where Marloes had booked a table for seven. I could barely lift my fork as a result of all the carrying and plastering we did but it was very nice to be there together. Both my bedrooms are ready for Mr. S tomorrow morning to remove my carpet and replace it in the new house. I will wait here and watch him work while the kids will sand the walls there one more time before we’ll arrive there an hour or so later.

We’ve decided to do it that way because I am too criticizing to stop sanding in time. I think that the walls could become smoother but realize that I don’t have time to be a perfectionist on that. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to lift my arm anymore when I would continue.

Anyway, it was good to have a break with all the kids in the restaurant. And to have them helping me. Did I tell you already how wonderful they are? I love them to bits. Am I sentimental? And no, I’m not drunk from the Italian wine, although exhaustion can have the same kind of effect on me. And with my hair still tangled from the sanding powder I can say that I am plastered though. 

Day 23 of 40 Size does Matter

I have two railings from the vertical blinds that need to be transported from the new house to someone who likes vertical blinds more than I do. I thought I could do that with the van but one of the railings was more than 3 meters long and we couldn’t fit it in. I have to find another way but in the meantime I am very happy with the borrowed van for all the other stuff I can transport with it.

This afternoon I was in the lab in the university, testing people. My fingers were still swollen from the heavy work yesterday and I decided to give my body some rest. I also rescheduled the appointment with the estate agent one week further so I could buy myself a bit more time to level the backyard and doing the other things. When I got home my dear friend had a big surprise for me. He waited for me and showed me that he did a lot of work in the backyard. It is almost leveled! And more, he did find someone who brings some more dirt tomorrow so that job will almost certainly be ticked off my list tomorrow.  When I hugged my friend to thank him I realized that men are better equipped for such heavy work than women.

This night I went only to the new house to measure the windows to see which blinds can be reused. And it turned out that everything I want to take with me will fit, although with some minor alterations.  

Day 22 of 40 Introspection

Next to many practicalities there are other aspects of moving houses. I wouldn’t be a psychologist when I won’t elaborate a bit on the psychological effects of this project on me. Moving houses is a job. Doing it next to other things makes it a rather stressful event, even when you want to do it. When you don’t want to but have to, it makes you reluctant (at least for a while). I didn’t want it at first because I felt comfortable in my old house. The house I found now is cheaper and slightly bigger.

Now I’ll save as much as the monthly college admission fee and that comes in handy this time.

After seeing and rejecting many houses, this house (the twelfth I was seeing) gave me the feeling that it would be worth all the work. I had my own silly reasons to take many things with me which I probably wouldn’t have done when I was loathed with money at the moment. Things I bought because I liked them and still like. However, it is easier said than done to move some things.

Another important thing to me about where to live depends on the neighborhood. The one I chose now feels good and the old one is slightly deteriorating lately. But it is possible that I used the latter as an argument to convince myself that I made the right choice.

Moving houses is a good exercise in going with the flow for me. And apparently the flow has some more challenging things in stall for me as I’ve got one new client this week and a parttime job in the lab of the university. 

Day 21 of 40 Meet me Halfway

Does halfway in time mean that the progress of work that needs to be done is 50%? Let’s check that with some facts.

Old House
Still needs to be done	Ready
Removing laminate flooring from:	Removed laminate flooring from:
-          Room in the attic	-          Study
-          Living room, kitchen +hallway downstairs	-          Hallway from the attic floor
Packing paraphernalia from:	Packed paraphernalia from:
-          Bathroom	-          Study
-          Hallway attic floor	-          Stairway walls
-          Hallway downstairs	-          Hallway first floor
-          Living room	-          Master bedroom
-          Kitchen	-          Upper attic (storage space)
Backyard:	Backyard:
-          Leveling the crater with the terraces	-          Removed and transported the trampoline
-          Dig up the roses	-          Moved the Aster, the Hydrangeas and various plants in pots
Various things that need to be repaired or replaced:
-          Big screw from banisters
-          Washing stand bathroom
New House
Wallpaper removal:	Wallpaper removed:
-          Two smallest bedrooms	-          Living room
-          Bigger bedroom (almost done)	-          Kitchen
-          Master bedroom (almost done)
-          Hallway downstairs	Removed:
-          Hallway upstairs	-          Vertical blinds downstairs
Plastering walls from:	-          Curtains and horizontal blinds upstairs
-          4 bedrooms	-          Moved 3 closets from first floor to attic (first disassemble and then after carrying them upstairs assemble them again)
-          Living room/kitchen
-          Stairway plus hallways	Moved:
Laying floors: -          Laminate in 3 bedrooms plus hallway upstairs -          Carpet in my bedroom	-          Winter clothes from old to new house -          Half the stuff from the upper attic from old to new house -          Pebbles from backyard old house to new house -          Moved terrace tiles from new house backyard to old house (to replace the pebblestone path in backyard)
Painting walls in the whole house but not necessarily all before moving the furniture
Hanging lamps, pictures and shelves

Almost 50-50. Probably I forgot something here but then I’ll remember it before falling asleep. Last night I dreamt that there has a huge pile of sand been delivered in the street here. My neighbors had ordered that. I remembered feeling confused about it because I already made a lot of effort to fill the crater.

Day 20 of 40 Side Effects

Do you remember when I wrote that I was so happy about the trailer I’d borrowed? That was the first weekend of this moving project. A trailer has a plug and my car has a socket to connect the lights to each other. Such a socket is underneath the car at the back end and I was happy that a big strong man helped me connecting the trailer. The trailer itself was easy peasy for him but he had some difficulty plugging in the plug. Apparently there was something wrong with the socket. I should have known that from the last time I’ve rented a trailer but I forgot it. Anyhow, he managed to do it at least although with some forcing. When I brought the thing back that Sunday night another man helped me to disconnect it. This man was pretty strong too, although not so Hulk shaped like the first but he had far more trouble to unplug the electrical part and eventually after some sweating and swearing his plug fell apart. But it was disconnected. I felt a little sorry for him and offered to pay for a new one but he didn’t want that.

A week after that the indicator and emergency lights of my car stopped working for a while. A short while later they did it again. Every now and then that happened, on and off, not convenient but neither a big problem I thought. Yesterday however, the car wouldn’t start. I asked the girls to give it a push because sometimes that helps to bring it back to life, with a hand-gear car. Not this time but after trying the ignition a couple more times it worked. Seeing as I don’t want to tempt fate I called the garage this morning and left my car home today. I can bring it in tomorrow. 
So, tonight we’re doing it with a borrowed minivan again. Me and the guy who was giving me advice of how to plaster the walls. It was a bumpy ride, I accidentally ignored a red light and when turning a corner I hit the curb. But we came home safe after we've stopped at the DIY market where he carried the big bags of plaster powder into the van for me.