stupid butt

I know I've been stalling on the blog since late May but I have good excuses. Today is no different. My head is killing me! Actually not killing me right now but was last night all night and is starting to ache again. I hate. I shouldn't complain... just laugh, right? Reminds me of a story my friend Alex tells about overhearing a miniature human (aka child) in the restroom lamenting some physical difficulties with the sentiment, "stupid butt!" So I say, "stupid head."

On the non-stupid front, I get to go to New York again in July for work and spend the weekend with Lila, Lauri and Reid! Shortly after Lila's second birthday. She leaves me voicemail now, it's very sweet if unintelligible for the most part. She said "moisturizer" to Lauri the other day. Here's a picture of her from "big truck day."

And need to book flights to the Midwest to see Mom and eat sweetcorn. I can eat a lot of sweetcorn.

unpacking the wood burner and puppy

We've been spending our weekends unpacking and painting. I can actually say now that everything that's going to get unpacked, IS. Last Saturday I spent several hours putting my beautiful pre-war China (my Great Aunt Fern's originally - my Grandmother's sister) in my beautiful built-in cabinet that Jesse found out from the previous homeowner came from the old Governor's mansion. No pics yet. There's one thing we can't find: the cast iron pan that my brother gave me that we needed for camping this weekend. I think it's at the old place in Denver - stupid. I called the property manager and asked if I could come check the garage but haven't heard back.

We painted the master bathroom and are in the process of finalizing colors for two walls of the living room wall and our bedroom. Yesterday we got a wood-burning stove (fireplace insert) installed and it looks awesome! Again, no pics yet. Difficult to get it in there straight because of the natural stone fireplace. We probably won't even use it until October at the earliest but there's a federal rebate on it that we want to include with our first-time homebuyers rebate tax re-file. Remind me I need to do that ASAP.

I didn't even mention yet that last Thursday WE GOT A DOG. She's an 8-month old border collie from a rescue agency - we named her Luna. We took her camping at Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend and she was a real trooper. She's just over 30 lbs and probably won't be more than 40 lbs when full grown. She's pretty skinny right now, her feet are too big and she needs a bath (not until Thursday because she has dissolving stitches from her spay).

No accidents in the house yet, she sleeps in her crate, and she knows the word "no." She's persistent - when she knows something is "no" she tries again and again and again... She knows her name most of the time and is actually VERY good about sticking close by you even without her leash. She's interested in the cats but they're not ready to make friends just yet.

closing and moving

The weekend before Memorial Day, Jana came to visit. We had a great time! Ate good food, good wine, movie on-demand, did some packing, went out to see the house… Jana even got a run in to train for her half marathon (June 6). Jesse got home Sunday afternoon and then Tuesday we closed on the house. It was much easier and less nerve-wracking than I thought it would be. Just sign a bunch of papers and off you go! We met the listing agent who lives next door to us – seems like a nice normal guy.

Tuesday and Wednesday evening we packed. And packed. Thursday we packed until lunch (delivered sandwiches) and then the moving truck showed up. We shoved the cats in their kennels and put the kennels in the bathroom and let the movers in. Three guys, all from the other side of the tracks but very nice. And FAST! Holy moving batman, they had all our stuff in the truck in less than an hour! They followed me (and two cranky cats) up to the new house with Jesse tailing behind. It took a couple of hours to unload, but not long. And we were in!

We closed all the doors and opened all the screened windows and let the cats out of their kennels. Olive was terrified of course. Casey explored, complaining about the stairs and eventually panting… then he slept for hours. Olive found a spot in the corner at the top of the stairs and stayed there for three days – a spot where she could feel safe and have a good vantage point.

We unpacked… some. And spent the whole holiday weekend settling in.

flarf

I know, I know, I moved and I owe you two weeks of blog updates and photos. The thought of posting such a delayed massive update was overwhelming but I've decided to break it in to small short posts and maybe post them once a day for the next week or so. Also I am quasi-annoyed with my blog background because it's too soothing so I might just have to find something different.

IN THE MEANTIME, the managing editor of our magazine is a flarfer... according to the Wall Street Journal. I am excited about flarf, both the word and the concept. Mostly because it seems silly but can also mean something. Stay tuned.