by Judy Handley | May 1, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 121—Happy May
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 54, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I didn’t dance around a May Pole on this first day of May. Instead, I did the unpacking dance. Somehow it doesn’t look like I worked on unpacking all day, but I did, except for one trip into town to get something I forgot at The Studio and to go to Walmart to get all sorts of things. I also went to Job Lot and found carpet runners for the entryway and hallway. I didn’t buy them, but I will get them when I go into town to go to the gym. I start my morning by going to Heather’s to take Jonah and Ollie to school. Jed has to leave for Boston early and Heather has to be on the air at 9 am. So I will drop the boys at school, go to my Wednesday class at the gym, and then come home to continue the work. Then at 3:30 pm I will pick up Ollie. Jonah is going home with Kadyn and Kadyn’s parents will take them both to soccer practice. Ollie and I will go home, check in with Sam, and figure out what we will do until Heather gets home.
I got a little side-tracked with my unpacking today when I went to the basement to take some things. I had not been down there since the move, and I was a bit surprised at just how much stuff is down there. I just had to keep reminding myself that I can take as much time as needed to get things done. But I’m sure you understand the drive to get it done NOW!
by Judy Handley | Apr 30, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 120—Done
Date: Monday, April 30, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy, Light Rain; High 49, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The move is done, complete, over, consummated, all over. Can you tell I am happy about that?!!! I spent my entire day making three trips to The Studio to get the last odds and ends and clean the apartment and meeting at the cottage with Comcast for two full hours. But at the end of the day, the move is done. Now I just have to find the ‘just right’ places for all of the things. That is going to take a while, but despite the mess, the cottage is functional and life will continue as usual.
Mark and I rented the apartment at The Studio beginning in mid-June of 2016. It was the absolutely perfect place for Mark to spend his last three months of life. I will always have a special place in my heart for that place, but the opportunity to move arose and I decided it was time for me to move on. I will be saving a ton of money by renting here versus there. And that is a very good thing. And I have tired of the constant strong winds that blow in the harbor. During my first year at The Studio, I don’t have any memory of the strong winds, but last summer and all winter, the wind has been incessant. Today was a perfect example. It was so windy at The Studio today that I had batten things down that I was transporting to my car in the parking lot so they wouldn’t blow away. But when I got here to the cottage, I hardly noticed the wind. This happened on all three trips back and forth, so I don’t think I was imagining it. Of course there will be wind here. The Cape is a windy place. But Falmouth Harbor seems to have more than its fair share of strong winds.
Tomorrow I think I can spend the entire day here in my new little home and start unpacking and figuring out what goes where. That won’t be completed in one day, but I think I can make a lot of progress. Wish me luck!
by Judy Handley | Apr 29, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 119—One More Day
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Periods of Rain; High Temp 57, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I am spending the first night in my new home under the light of a full moon. How cool is that? The movers arrived at 9 am and although it took longer than I thought or they thought, all of the furniture and boxes are here in the cottage despite my gross miscalculation on how long the job would take. The movers were fantastic. Another positive. The bummer is that I have to return to the apartment on the harbor tomorrow to finish packing the last bits of odds and ends and do a little cleaning. It is a bummer because I had hoped to be done, but one more day will do it. But I would never have made it without Heather’s help. I was so confident last night that I would be able to finish up the job by myself that I declined her offer of help last night and this morning. But at 1 am, I sent a text pleading for early morning help. She and Sam arrived early his morning and helped me pack my car with things that I didn’t want to send in the moving van. Then the movers arrived and I again sent Heather and Sam home as there was not much they could do here. As the movers started packing the moving van, I frantically continued packing up the odds and ends. Again, there was more to pack than I thought, but 4 hours later, the van was ready to head to the cottage. I had called in the reinforcements once again and sent Sam and Heather to the cottage in my car to unload the things we packed in the early morning. They returned just as the moving van was preparing to head out, so we all arrived at the cottage at the same time. Then the decision making began about what would fit in the house versus what would need to go to the basement. When we were done, the basement was full as well as the house. Heather was indispensable in making the decisions about furniture placement. The only disappointment was that the entertainment center that I have been using as a pantry just wouldn’t fit in the cottage anywhere and was too big to get into the basement. So it is sitting in the driveway with a tarp over it until I can find it a home. But I am sitting in my new bedroom on my own bed. I love it.
While Heather and I worked in the cottage this afternoon, Sam and Ollie took nets and played down on the dock. We didn’t hear a peep out of them which allowed us to focus on the issues at hand. I think the boys are going to live visiting here. Even after the movers left, Heather and I worked frantically to try and get the living room arranged. Karen Baranowski had invited me over for dinner tonight, so we had to stop rearranging for today. Slowly I will get things just right. Dinner was fantastic and Karen had also invited Bruce and Jane Woodin. Thank you, Karen and Peter.
by Judy Handley | Apr 28, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 118—Not There Yet
Date: Saturday, April 28, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Some Rain; High Temp 56, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Okay. It is 1 am in the morning and the movers arrive in 8 hours. And I am not there yet. So to bed, rise early, and get the job done. But I do want to take time to thank Heather for her help today and a great big thank you to Terry and Olivia White for delivering dinner. Olivia made a delicious Indian Khicheri, enough to share with the Goldstones, so we had an Indian feast for dinner. And, thankfully, it gave me enough energy to continue on until the wee hours of the morning. The having of wonderful friends and family is a wonderful thing.
by Judy Handley | Apr 27, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 117—Working Hard, But Not There Yet
Date: Friday, April 27, 2018
Weather: Overcast AM, Rainy PM; High Temp 55, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I am working as hard and as fast as possible, but I’m not sure I will have everything done by Sunday morning when the movers come. I still have a full day, so here’s hoping. And if I don’t, the movers can still move the furniture and boxes that are packed and I can finish up on Monday. But let’s hope I get it done tomorrow.
I started today my going to the cottage early to wax the floors in two of the bedrooms. Then I headed back to get boxes packed. A friend that I originally met at the gym, but who is also in Newcomers, came to help late morning. We got all the hanging clothes in the closets moved and a few kitchen boxes that I was able to unpack and bring back to use again. We also packed up a few more books. Progress was made, but there is just so much more to do. But thank you, Lynda Onthank! Lynda is also an interior designer and she gave me a little free advice about where to place furniture which was very helpful.
After Lynda left, I put some of the kitchen things away and then headed back to town to buy more wax. The bedroom floors needed a second coat and luckily I found the right floor wax at Walmart. I say ‘luckily’ because if I hadn’t found it in town I was going to have to drive to Lowe’s which is off Cape. That would have taken more than I had. After purchasing the wax, I went home to do more packing and to wait for Jed to arrive. He said yesterday he would come and help me get a pine book shelf that Mark built off the wall in the guest bedroom. Mark nailed it to the studs and I was fearful that I would destroy the wall in getting it removed. But Jed and Ollie and I worked together with a small crowbar and we were successful. When they left, I headed to the cottage to do that second coat of floor wax. Tonight I have continued to pack in between catching up on political news on TV. I needed some diversion so the watch and work routine was the right combination to get me through the evening. I hope to make a quick run in the morning to take kitchen cabinet contents and then Heather comes to help pack. Hopefully we can get the job done.
by Judy Handley | Apr 26, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 116—Making the Move Official
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018
Weather: Back to Beautiful; High Temp 56, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
This log will be short. The move is coming along, but I have to keep the energy level going. Still lots to do. Today I met with the owner of the cottage and signed a year’s lease, so now the move is official. All I have to do is make it happen by Sunday!
A big thank you to Heather for inviting me to dinner this evening. The one thing that has gone by the wayside is cooking, so a dinner invite was perfect.
