O Joy, O Rapture Unforeseen
So, today I was supposed to be all productive and stuff. Packing, mostly. As I am leaving New Hampshire
for Brooklyn
at some point next weekend.
And have finally decided to get storage up here and maybe rent a truck Wednesday or so, and had pretty much figured out what to take with me for the tiny temporary Park Slope digs and all... so was going to buy boxes and bubble wrap and all that good stuff this morning. You know... get serious about it all...
I am pretty good at packing and moving, having done it all my life. Which doesn't mean I like it, but as my pal Candace's mom used to say, "three moves is as good as a fire."
All the sentimental tchotchkes are already in storage in California. Someday my crap might all live together again, but not this year. On the bright side, this means less to pack in New Hampshire, as everything I have here is pretty much craigslist and IKEA boodle that I scored since the move east, except for my grandmother's sideboard and a couple of pictures and stuff. So I figured I'd be making pretty rapid progress.
But, guess what happened instead? A lovely summer stomach bug this morning. Yea.
It is of course a tossup as to which is more hateful, packing or puking, but those are DEFINITELY not two great things that go great together.
So I blew off buying boxes and bubble wrap and booking a truck at U-Haul, and have instead been lying in bed moaning and watching the entire fourth season of Californication while sipping Theraflu
(since I watched all of The Big C last night on my computer, and there's nary a new episode of Weeds, Nurse Jackie, or United States of Tara to be had. Not to mention no True Blood until Sunday night. Vey ist mir.)
Oh, and cramps. Did I mention the cramps?
So let's just add a million milligrams of ibuprofen and some Tylenol to the mix. With the Theraflu.
And if I were actually LIVING in NY already, I could pick up a telephone and ask someone to please bring me matzoh-ball soup. But they don't exactly deliver that this far above 96th street, so I'm pretty much SOL unless I want to get up and cook myself a batch.
(Okay, admittedly not from scratch, because, hey, I'm an Episcopalian and stuff, so I am not exactly talented with the schmaltz and the dill, especially while running a fever...)
Which I have done (making myself a pot of not-from-scratch matzoh ball soup, while sick in New Hampshire), often, but I'm not really up to it today.
I don't know, other than the not-really-handy-with-schmaltz thing, I kind of like being an Episcopalian...
Wow... total tangent. Sorry. I'm a little feverish.
Where was I? Oh yes, moaning in bed. And not in a fun way.
I am running out of steam, here. And don't have much of a point. Except David Duchovny is fun to watch when you're sick. Because in this series he is such an idiot it just generally makes me feel better about my life. And also very happy not to be married, may I just say.
TANGENT... ooo... shiny! Over there!!
I think I'd better wrap this up. So, dearest Tarts, any tips for moving? Or making yourself feel better when you're sickly? I'm all ears... and I hope everyone else is having a WAY better day today!!!!
Moving sucks.
Getting sick sucks.
Both at the same time, suckage squared.
Get better quick.
Posted by: gaylin in Vancouver | August 20, 2011 at 01:46 AM
You poor, poor darling! I'm catching the next flight east!
Actually, I have four words of packing wisdom for you: Nancie The Gun Tart. She showed up on my doorstep, which is quite a long way from her doorstep, using her vacation time in order to get me, the kids, the dogs, the rabbit, the fish all packed up and moved. She was a superhero of a friend. And that was nearly three years ago, so I'm sure she's all recovered by now and has some more vacation time saved up and will be happy to come help out.
Posted by: Harley | August 20, 2011 at 02:12 AM
Oooooh CeeeeWoman . . . do feel better soon.
My packing advice is to have a good stiff double and get someone else to do it. And do not watch. No matter what you hear just do not peek.
Oh - um - and leave the duckie boots behind. Manhatten does not have Mud Week. I know. I know. But duckies make make your bare feet all stinky. Oh wait. Do not tell me you wear socks. Oh god C.
XXXXXXXXXX
Posted by: Reine | August 20, 2011 at 04:11 AM
I hate packing and moving with a passion that I usually reserve for...
Liver
Organized Religion
Daytime Network Television
...but I've done it many times. But after my wife and I moved to this house 11 years ago...and it took THREE trips with the biggest U Haul truck available...plus 4 carloads of stuff...I swore that my new plan for moving was...
"Sell all the shit we can replace later and hire somebody to pack and move the rest"
However, thanks to the real estate market tanking along with the economy, I doubt we'll move.
Hope you feel better soon, Cornelia.
Posted by: Doc In CA | August 20, 2011 at 04:39 AM
Um . . . Manhatt-a-n? I'm lost without spell check.
Posted by: Reine | August 20, 2011 at 05:43 AM
gaylin, THANK YOU for commiserating!
Harley, that is such friendship on Nancie's part that I am in deep, deep, speechless awe. WOW!
Reine, I think I'm keeping the boots. Because in Brooklyn, they will be ironic. Heh.
Doc, I pain your feel. And I once filled a thirty-yard dumpster before moving from Cambridge to Berkeley. And yet I STILL have detritus to haul around. How does this happen?
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 08:26 AM
I hate moving. I also hate the GI flu. I feel for you.
May I recommend re-watching M*A*S*H from the beginning? Frank Burns never fails to amuse.
I was an Episcopalian after my first husband got an annulment from the RC Church. Love the motto: " All the Ritual and Half the Guilt". Now I don't belong to any church. Frankly, it's a relief.
Posted by: Kathy Reschini Sweeney | August 20, 2011 at 08:27 AM
Kathy, I'm with you. I'm not a big church person. But my roots seem to pop up whenever I'm faced with a culinary challenge. There's always that odd impulse to throw a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup into a recipe... I blame the Book of Common Prayer. Really.
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 08:43 AM
The easiest move we ever made was in Brooklyn from a one-bedroom apt. to a 3-bedroom directly across the street. We just jaywalked our stuff across. Piece of cake. Worst was moving from my 8 x 8 office to my new 12 x 15 office on the other side of the house. Went to bed for 3 days after that one and I didn't even have the flu. Never again. The only way I'm leaving this house is in a pine box. My sympathies, Cornelia.
Posted by: Margaret Maron | August 20, 2011 at 08:51 AM
Ah, Margaret, thank you! And I hope you never, EVER have to move again!!!
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 08:58 AM
After half a lifetime of never living anywhere more than five years (and that was once I was an adult, I swore they would take me out of the house we live in now feet first. That was 26 years ago next week, so, so far, so good.
The first time I ever packed for a household move, I was 13 and in eighth grade. My parents went away for the weekend, leaving the four of us kids with a girl my own age (the shame). She and I took the two little kids with us, after dark, to raid the grocery store box pile, hauling home boxes, on foot. Then we put the little ones to bed, and she and I wrapped glassware and stuff in newspaper for half the night. My mom didn't know whether to be furious or thrilled.
Feel better. Peppermint tea helps the tum. It's our family go-to remedy. And liquor stores are the most likely place to find cardboard boxes, and the produce section at the grocery. Look for banana boxes; they have lids.
Posted by: Karen in Ohio | August 20, 2011 at 09:02 AM
Karen, you are wonderful! And I admit to having an expensive weakness--boxes from U-Haul. They're more expensive than raiding the liquor store, but they're all the same size (within their particular box sub-genres) and they STACK! That and a good tape gun, and I'm a (relatively) happy woman. For someone who's, ahem, packing.
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 09:32 AM
In case of confusion over my ability to count, there were only three of us kids home alone with a so-called babysitter. My youngest brother was with an aunt.
Cornelia, I just helped my oldest daughter pack and move in April. They spent a small fortune on boxes, tape, bubble wrap, and other stuff. But the liquor boxes were stronger than the flat ones you buy.
Good luck with the move, and with feeling better, my dear.
Posted by: Karen in Ohio | August 20, 2011 at 09:38 AM
Oh, dear. Stomach problems are about the worst. If you have any powdered ginger on hand, that's supposed to be excellent for digestive problems of any kind.
Posted by: Undine | August 20, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Cornelia, it would be so much easier if you could take my stuff in storage in Vermont and I take your stuff in California, but life doesn't work that way.
I hope you will feel better soon.
Posted by: Holly Gault | August 20, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Your picture story made me laugh, Cornelia. Hope you'll be feeling as good very soon.
Posted by: Elaine Viets | August 20, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Fresh Direct! The grocery delivery service is by far the best reason to move to NY. (My sister is in Park Slope, but I'm not giving you her address since both she and her husband are on crazy deadline madness at the moment, but later, yes.) Fresh Direct would bring you soup or cantaloupes or anything your heart or intestinal tract desires.
I spent the week of 9/11 packing up a 5 bedroom on-the-golf-course house in preparation for moving into a tiny city house with no office, so I kept calling the local humane society to bring their pickup and haul my stuff to their flea market. A good way to get rid of worldly goods you have no room for. Just saying.
Posted by: Nancy Martin | August 20, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Brooklyn, yes of course. By all means bring the boots. Love you, Cornelia, and do hope you feel better. I get sick every time I move. Step is sure I do it on purpose. I am sure it is just the strain. You must be happy though, to be heading back home.
Posted by: Reine | August 20, 2011 at 11:53 AM
Karen, you are terrific to help your kid move! AND not bitch about expensive boxes that are weak, too. I just love them for their stackability, having done so many moves over the last twenty years where half the crap had to sit in a garage/storage space/some poor relative's basement while the other half had to go into the back of a truck ASAP... Oy... maybe I should just have a bonfire?
Undine, I have ginger tea. Godsend!
Nancy, wow! I had a four bedroom on-the-golf-course house in Cambridge--which I packed myself (that was the one where I rented the thirty-yard dumpster. SO FUN throwing stuff into out the second story window!!) And YEA for Fresh Direct--can't wait! I am also going to be on crazy deadline for all of September. Maybe I can invite them over for lunch when we're all finished? I'm going to have a little garden, at least until the end of October...
And Reine, I am VERY HAPPY to be moving back there. It is so much fun to get to hang out with so many old pals...
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 12:26 PM
Military Wife Moving Advice: Pack/unpack bathroom & kitchen stuff first, along with toilet paper. They're the first things you'll want to put up. A sheet to cover any window you might want to walk in front of buck naked so you don't scar any college kid for life.
Carry about 3 sets of clothes for unpacking (you're gonna smell anyway, why do it in clean clothes?) and a couple of nice outfits to wear for the times you absolutely have to leave the house (to drink, or for matza ball soup)
And a phone to call me, you Bitch. I haven't heard from you since God equipped obnoxious college kids with skateboards. Love you, and miss you so much.
Posted by: Ann | August 20, 2011 at 12:32 PM
If I could help you dear one I would. The unreal world is all I have now. The unseen world of electronic friends, a sick puppy and hub.
Posted by: Reine | August 20, 2011 at 12:44 PM
Ann, I am THE MOST EVIL FRIEND WHO EVER LIVED!!! I will call you as soon as the barfing stops. Promise. And thank you for that moving advice.
And Reine, you are magnificent... so sorry the puppy is sick!!
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 01:00 PM
I'm a lifelong Episcopalian too and had a stomach flu last Sunday. Wonder if they're related? Episcopalian, Sunday, stomach flu, supposed-to-have-a-party-that-day for my husband's birthday...is it a conspiracy?
Anyhoo, it took about a full day and a half to get over my stomach bug, and I slept most of two days. I wasn't really sure it was flu, because I went to the Oriole's game the night before and had pork BBQ. You would think the heat and the smoke traveling from wildfires in VA would keep the pork okay. I disagree. In the future I'm taking my own food to the ballpark...just in case it really wasn't a flu bug.
I truly understand your pain, for both moving and having the flu. Luckily, these too shall pass.
Posted by: Becky Hutchison | August 20, 2011 at 01:02 PM
Oh, Becky... Pork BBQ is just so GOOD. I hope it wasn't that! And I'm glad you're better. I still want to do nothing but sleep today. Not as much barfing as yesterday, though. a-a-a-a-lei-ee-lu-u-jah.
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 01:07 PM
Cornelia, feel better soon.
In the midst of making my home baby proof ready.
Not leaving knitting needles, books, etc. within reach of baby hands. After many years of living the devil may care way my life is on alert. What's a grandma to do?
Posted by: marie | August 20, 2011 at 01:09 PM
Cornelia. get better soon!
The only advice i have about moving is "DON'T!" Others have already expressed how I feel about it: when I leave here , it will be in a box. The last time I moved was just about twenty two years ago,and my roots have sunk in deep. I'm staying put! This does not leave me in a position to give advice.
I make a really good chicken noodle soup; if you lived near me,I would run over to your place with enough to get you back to good health. Drink that ginger tea that you have. Watch as much mindless TV as you can take.
Know that we all wish you well!
Posted by: Deb | August 20, 2011 at 01:14 PM
marie, magnetic locks on the cupboards--saved me over and over again with my daughter Lila pulling everything out of everywhere. HUGE lifesaver!
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 01:16 PM
Oh, poor sick funny baby! Here's my moving rule: if you haven't even pulled it out and looked at it for three years, don 't take it with you. Exceptions for photos and children's grade school art projects.
Posted by: NancyP | August 20, 2011 at 01:32 PM
Aw, Deb... your virtual chicken soup is doing wonders. And I'm loving the mindless TV. Thank you!
NancyP, I'm with you on the "if you haven't pulled it out in three years" rule. Sadly, I've only been in this place for two years, so I guess I don't get to throw anything out sight unseen. Feh.
Posted by: Cornelia Read | August 20, 2011 at 02:04 PM
Ginger for the tummy -- I love candied ginger when traveling and always have ginger beer in the fridge for emergencies . .
My last move almost did me in -- my P.T. sent her nephew over to help with the last of it, as she didn't want to have to put me back together again. Good friends helped, too -- thank goodness! I think if I ever do it again, I will hire people to pack . . . and get rid of more stuff beforehand.
Good luck, darlin' -- if I were closer, I would help.
Posted by: Storyteller Mary | August 20, 2011 at 02:46 PM
Just writing this post must have improved your disposition, it's so funny. Good health and good move.
Posted by: Skipper Hammond | August 20, 2011 at 06:28 PM
OKAY I HELP WITH THE TV THING
hulu+ has MISFITS. It's london punk teenage criminal superhero porn. You will LOVE it.
Posted by: Joshilyn Jackson | August 20, 2011 at 09:26 PM
Cornelia, your story made me laugh.Love your writing. Yes, even though I don't have an epidermis (ha ha) , I still hate moving. Hey, even though I am jewish, that Streit's Soup is pretty good in a crunch. The boots are a must! Ginger is the best.
I, too, am the queen of procrastination, so, actually when the flu bug hits, at least you then have an excuse........................xo feel better. Miss you.
Posted by: Robyn Gothelf-Fishman | August 20, 2011 at 09:56 PM