We Are IN

I have entirely too many books. We each went through all of our books prior to the move and got rid of a lot of them, but during the actual move I discovered that we still have an awful lot of them. As in, we had more books than anything else. As in, every single box had books on the bottom and clothes on top, or books on the bottom and bathroom stuff on top...not to mention the boxes that only had books in them. When Jacquie and I were unpacking the books and putting them on my shelf yesterday, I was all like, "Hi, my name is Kori, and I am a book addict." I wonder if there is a 12-Step program for something like that? Because I am really out of control. I have read all of the books on my shelf more than once, but I can't bear to part with them. Treasured friends, all of them.

We got moved, obviously, and slept in the new house for the first time on Saturday night. God, I had forgotten really how hard it is to move! But all things considered, it went quite smoothly. Only a couple of things got broken, none of them of any real importance, and nobody got into a fight over anything. All of the kids, plus Jacquie's, were huge help, and it felt really good to have most everything loaded and into the house the first night. Owen and Sam were more than thrilled to sleep in their new bunk beds, and in fact all of us were thrilled about our own rooms-a given. So sweet to snuggle into a warm bed with fresh, clean sheets and know that it is all yours. I had worried a little bit about both Owen and Hannah, Owen because he is two and change is often hard, Hannah because her room is in the basement and therefore a little bit more isolated than she is used to, but both of them fell right to sleep and loved it. Me, well, you all know how I feel about having my own room, so I certainly don't need to wax poetic about it.

It has not been without it's problems, though. The phone was supposed to be hooked up Friday, and that has not happened; the phone company is supposed to be calling me back this morning to set up a time for them to come in and work on it, but I have to be there-not cool. The dogs, Eli's especially, had a really hard time adjusting, and the first thing she did was shit all over the floor out of nervousness. She was afraid of the stairs, too, and had to be dragged up and down them on Saturday and Sunday both to be taken outside. Once she got out there, she wouldn't come back in, poor thing. However, sometime in the middle of the night last night she got comfortable enough to come upstairs on her own and ransack the garbage, and then come wake me up to let her out, so she has finally decided that the place is okay. My dog will go to the top of the stairs and sigh, her arthritic old bones not quite sure they will carry her down, so that makes me feel sad for her. Also, neither of them is allowed on my bed any longer; Janet gave me a down comforter set for it, and even though it is chocolate brown so won't show spots, it does have to be dry cleaned, so no more dogs. My baby Harley is a little bit bent out of shape about that as well, and refuses to sleep on the blanket I put down next to the bed for her; instead, she paces until the clicking of her toenails on the wood floors annoys me to the point of yelling at her, then she goes and sleeps with the boys. I think she does it just to piss me off.

It has been really fun, though, the work of packing and unpacking made less tedious simply because we are all so glad to be there. Each of us has taken pleasure in setting our things just so, even Owen and Sam. Last night when the sun was setting, I stood in the living room for a really long time just watching the way the lovely light danced across the room. Even that first load of laundry fresh from the dryer being folded and, yes, put away was a pleasure; we have places to put it! All of this happened at just the right time, when we needed it the most; I feel immeasurably blessed.