We had a deja vu thing with our final move out of the hotel and into our new house.
Just before we first moved into the hotel two months ago, it was really late at night and we stopped at Casey’s to get a pizza. We were exhausted.
Today, we finally moved out of the hotel and into our new house. It was late in the afternoon, and we had been flattening boxes and enduring other tortures of moving. We took the boxes to the recycling center (that will not be the last time by any means). And on our way back, can you guess what we did?
Yep. We stopped at Casey’s and got a pizza. Spooky. Have a great Labor Day weekend!
And today we sort of move out of the hotel! Our movers get our stuff out of storage and over to the new house. We’ll hang out for another couple of nights in the hotel.
In a few days we’ll be moving from the hotel to our new home. It’ll be another big move and we probably won’t have internet right away. So I’ll be probably be off my regular posting routine for a while.
Ok, the other day, we were out to U-Haul, not to get more boxes, thank goodness, but so I could use the bathroom.
There was this new sign on the door laying down the law about how construction workers should keep it clean-or else.
You should know that the Iowa City U-Haul is building a huge new facility with tons of self-storage. I can’t tell you how much money we’ve spent on boxes, packing wrap, and tape and more. We kept going back for more punishment.
After the moving was done, I couldn’t bring myself to even look at the U-Hall sign whenever we passed it. It just reminded me of the pain. I can’t even avoid it when I look out the hotel window. Yes, there are two U-Haul centers, one in Coralville and the big one going up in Iowa City. I can see the Huge U-Haul sign rising above the Long Horn Steakhouse. I can’t unsee it.
I remember detasseling corn when I was a kid, and some of you may remember that if you grew up in the midwest where people grow corn just to torture kids who need a summer job. At the end of the day of detassling, when I collapsed on my bed, my hands curled into claws from grabbing tassels, I would close my eyes-and not be able to sleep because I would hallucinate with closed eyes miles and miles of corn fields.
The same kind of thing happened after all the packing was done. I closed my eyes and saw nothing but corrugated cardboard boxes. I can’t unsee it.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, the U-Haul lavatory law. How do you ban the construction guys from using the bathroom? They’re the ones building the new U-Haul complex, complete with a zillion self-storage units.
More important, what did the construction guys do to get the book thrown at them like that? Did they try to flush boxes down the toilet? Did they stick packing wrap all over the mirror? Did they tape the flush lever down? It’s impossible to tell now; the bathroom is spotless.
I’m tempted to ask the U-Haul clerks about it. But that means I would have to return to U-Haul. Not that. Can’t do it; won’t do it. You can’t make me. I’ll use another bathroom.
We’re camping out in a hotel while our new house is being built. We tried out the exercise equipment. It has been tough to exercise what with all the chores of showing and selling the house, moving all our stuff into storage, and now adjusting to living in a hotel (which will be for a couple of months).
The hotel has a Peloton bicycle. We tried it. One of the foot straps was missing, and we didn’t try the free workout offer.
As some of you know, I wrote a blog post about the Peloton machine a while back, comparing it to my anti-Peloton bike. The title is “The Anti-Peloton Exercise Bicycle.” As part of the moving process, we donated the old bike to charity.
We’re not planning to invest in a Peloton any time soon.
Well, we’re in the next stage of relocation, which is the Hotel California-excuse me, I mean the Hotel Iowa, so to speak. We’re camping out a hotel while our house is under construction.
We were up well after midnight moving before we got to the hotel. We had a Casey’s pizza for dinner.
The movers got all our stuff into storage-right up to the door. They’re magicians.
The hotel has a really nice complimentary breakfast.
As if you haven’t already guessed long before now, we’re moving. I don’t need to tell any of you what a happy, thrilling, fulfilling experience this is. Right.
The added wrinkle this time is that we’re camping out in a hotel while our house is being built. The only reason you’ve seen any blog posts from me lately is that I’ve been posting ahead of my usual schedule until I figure out if the hotel wifi works.
I sometimes wonder about whether I’m a mover and a shaker or
just shaky. I think it’s the latter. I’ve known plenty of movers and shakers
and they tend to be great planners. On the other hand, I tend to take the path
of least resistance. Often, I don’t consider enough options and just settle for
what’s expedient. That has not always turned out for the best. My wife, Sena,
is more likely to shop around for things which cost the least and reward the
most—although that process can seem very long to me.
Take the time I decided I wanted to try private practice. There
were actually two times and neither worked out in the way I intended. I learned
valuable lessons, one of which was that I was a better teacher than I gave
myself credit for.
I guess if I had thought things through more back when I thought
the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, I might have qualified
for the early retirement benefit from the place I left—twice.
On the other hand, I’ve made what seemed like hasty decisions other times in my life and made out all right. One of them was marrying Sena.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 