I Survived the Move

I am still alive.  I just haven’t had much computer time since my last day of work, which was also the day I moved for real.  (I moved my stuff on Saturday, a week ago, but I didn’t actually move into my new house to stay until Tuesday night).

So far, I’ve been busy with unpacking/organizing and running errands (like dealing with Peter’s school registration).  Unpacking is going slowly, but we are making progress.  We can do the most important daily functions (cook, wash dishes, wash clothes, go on the internet, watch tv, sleep, get dressed), but I’m still getting tired of digging through boxes trying to find things.  Today I finished the bathroom (except for hanging up a picture); it’s the only room that is completely done.  The living room is the next closest.  The kitchen still has numerous boxes in the middle of the floor, even though we’ve unpacked quite a few.  I think they’re multiplying when I’m not looking.  I’m not even going to think about dealing with the basement until the first and second floors are done.

We’ve bought a number of things to make our lives more comfortable in our new place, some more necessary than others.  They include a new garbage can, a rack that hangs from the shower head, a dish rack (the only major drawback to our new place is the lack of a dishwasher), and ceiling fans (no air conditioning either).  We also bought a used Trail-A-Bike.  It hooks up to an adult bike so a kid can ride along.  One of the nice things about our new place is that it is within biking distance of the university, the river, parks, schools, a mall, and various other commerical establishments.  However, Peter doesn’t have a 2-wheel bike yet, and he wouldn’t be able to keep up on a long ride with his tricycle.  So this way, we can go for longer bike rides as a family, and he can get an idea of what it feels like to ride a bicycle.  We’ve only used it once so far because the weather has been mostly gray, drizzly, and/or rainy, but it was a successful trip (to a riverside park with a playground) and we’re looking forward to getting more use out of it this summer.  Peter is thrilled with the Trail-A-Bike and he likes his new bike helmet, too–he even wore it when he rode his tricycle.

Yesterday evening, we went to a St-Jean-Baptiste celebration at a different riverside park.  It was a celebration of French-Canadian/franco-Ontarian culture.  Some clowns did a skit and there were a variety of toys, balls, and sidewalk chalk to entertain the kids.  There was a gelatto stand in the park, so we had a treat while we listened to a live band.

While I’m a bit grumpy about the unpacking, I am enjoying the advantages of urban living.  There are several playgrounds and a ton of kids in our housing complex.  Just about every place we want to go is nearby, unlike where we lived before, where everything was at least a 20-minute drive away.  Don has been commuting to campus by bicycle–we haven’t missed our second car at all.  When I get frustrated with the state of the house, I have to remind myself that I haven’t even been here a week yet.  It will take some time to settle in, but it will happen.