From (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Bulletin Board, July 12 & 20, 2003

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

Writes Poet X of PDX: "I've been anxious to record (and share) some memories of moving into our first house, but there are just too many other things to do!

"The laws of physics have been warped, I'm sure. We have more than 10 times as much room here, with two sheds out back and an upstairs, than we did at the small two-bedroom place we vacated. But it's already half-filled. How does that work?

"An unexpected pleasure of moving is seeing familiar objects find new places to occupy.

"My largest bookcase is too tall to fit upstairs where my new 'library' is. It remains in the living room, as it's always been, but is now home to the CD player. The shelves are adjustable, so with what were evenly arranged shelves, I've now made four very compact shelves, and the CDs look great there in alphabetical order. That leaves the rest of the bookcase with large display areas.

"At the old place, we kept a statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the bedroom. My partner got it from his grandmother a few years ago. It's now on the former bookcase — St. Francis of the CDs!

"The shelves have become a sort of shrine to our grandparents; many objects associated with them gravitated to those newly emptied shelves, including a fancy Deco, red-silver-and-white plate that I got from my Grandma's attic. It was, I think, a wedding present — and something I never saw her use or display. Everything about it is the antithesis of my grandmother's simple, homespun things. So the plate is a wonderful keepsake.

"I'm sure I'll have plenty more moving-in insights to relate, but 50-some interrupted projects are calling me away from the keyboard. To longtime homeowners, I suppose, there's not much novelty to the adventures of a first house, but it's all new to me. We're having our first yard sale in a month or so. That should be an adventure in itself!

"Most pleasant part of the move? No TV for a week! The cable is going to be hooked up tomorrow. Back to the Prozac of the Masses for us. We're big 'Big Brother' fans, so that return to TV Habit Land begins tonight."


LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (CONT.)

Notes and comments from Poet X of PDX: 

"Subject: Moving Memories.

"I'm still thanking the Fates that I was wearing my oldest pair of tennis shoes the first day we had access to the new house. That's the day I painted my first room ever, the living room. My oldest pair of tennis shoes shows the color well on the front half of the right shoe where I stepped into the paint pan 10 minutes into the project. (Finished the room with one shoe off and one shoe on.)

"Phrase which may indicate you're in the process of moving and cleaning: 'I'll be with you in a minute, after I wash these cobwebs from my face.'

"Only after moving into one's first house can this be a likely scenario: We went out Saturday to check out neighborhood yard sales. Filled the back of the Jeep with a lawnmower and two metal shelves for the shop out back. Brought those items home, picked up money and went out to more yard sales, filling the back of the Jeep this time with three more metal shelves from two more different yard sales, and a big, round, covered back-yard barbecue. Guess which object got used first.

"Less than a week later, and I've already learned that having a washer and dryer handy and requiring only the suggested quarter per load at the ceramic dish on the shelf above the appliances does not make me enjoy the task of laundry or make me more likely to do it. The Other Half is a laundry-oholic, I'm learning, but pointedly won't throw my clothes in with his. I guess I'll stop washing his forks and spoons!

"The new-house feeling is slowly fading; I walked through both upstairs and downstairs with the lights off last night. Didn't stub my toe on the very dangerous fireplace tray or boxes of un-unpacked lumber from our pasts.

"We not only loaded the Jeep twice from yard sales on Saturday, but did the same thing on Sunday with a wheelbarrow and house ladder (first load) and bookshelves (second load) — very needed for my library, which is not even half put together.

"Simple pleasure: not putting 'Apt. #' on return addresses anymore."




Band Name of the Day: One Shoe Off