Moving Along

The hardwood floors on the second floor have been refinished and we can start moving things up this weekend! I cannot even describe how good it will be to have accessible living space somewhere other than the first floor. The first floor is spacious, but realistically we are tripping over each other down here and trying to get kids to sleep while we're still awake ten feet away has been a challenge.

Next items up on the Big Things To Do list are windows and furnace. The existing forced hot air furnace works seemingly fine, but is powered with oil and is older than 60 years; we're nervous that in the midst of a deep freeze this winter we'll be left without heat, so we're taking advantage of the rebates and tax credits to install a new, high efficiency furnace that will be powered by gas. No more having to call up the oil company for delivery, no more chance of sooty walls. Anything we can install that increases the energy efficiency of our Old Lady is a good idea.

Windows...can I just say that there are 29 windows that we wish to replace, and that is leaving off all 3rd floor and basement windows, plus most of the kitchen windows? All of that lovely natural light comes at a price! We had an estimate for all 29 windows which came in at over $15,000 so we decided to start with the second floor where the bedrooms are. The new windows will be installed in mid-November, just before the really cold weather hits. The house might look a little funny until we can get all of the windows done, but we will gladly trade funny-looking for being warm. I like to be warm.

As the various workers and estimators have been in and around the house I find myself wanting to over-explain, to tell them that we do not normally sleep in our dining room, that our kitchen is not always overloaded with boxes and packing paper and the constant sea of papers and projects that trickle home from preschool. For a long time now I have had this feeling of slight panic at not knowing where things are...having no idea where to find a pen, no less a sweater now that the mornings are chilly. Slowly we are unpacking this second PODS container, slowly we are regaining both our belongings and our sense of belonging. The pieces in this giant puzzle that we began last spring are finally starting to fit together, one funny shaped bit at a time. And I refrain, for the most part, from explaining to the workers that we do not sleep in the dining room all of the time. I just tell them we've only lived here for a couple of weeks and then their faces light up with a sympathetic, knowing gleam: we have all moved at one point or another, and I guess we all know how crazy it can be.