Almost a Week...

We have now been in our apartment for 6 days.  The first three involved no power, no gas and no appliances.  With boxes in every corner of the place and paper covering everything else, we slowly sorted through the mess and have tried to piece back together what once was an orderly home. 


The first challenge involved trying to figure out what would go where.  Tom seems to think that I have an "eye" for design when really I have an eye for what I don't like.  He'd shove couches, the coffee table and our tv into different parts of our living room and I'd turn my nose up and say "No.... that's not it."  Talk about helpful!  The fact that I know these couches have an expiration date certainly doesn't help.  But, alas. 


Finally, on Tuesday morning, our appliances arrived.  The Navy provides European spec appliances free of charge and delivers them for free too!  Our fridgerator arrived and is 23" wide!  It's so skinny!  The washer fit snuggly into our little laundry room and then the Italian movers started yelling at one another on the porch.  It turned out that the dryer was too wide to fit in the laundry room but the guys were running late for their next appointment and claimed that they didn't have anything smaller.  At that moment, Nathan arrived and saved the day!  I cannot say enough wonderful things about Nathan and all of the help that he has been.  Working my own husband to death is normally something that I do without significant remorse, as I feel that my affections should be enough to entice him to do the massive "honey-do" lists that I leave for him.  Have I mentioned that he's a wonderful man as well???  But poor Nathan did all of this out of the goodness of his heart!  And perhaps a desire to use his power tools.  Tom and Nathan began by taking apart the dryer and the door frame to our laundry room and concluded by taking apart and then putting back together a double wide wardrobe that was in the guest bedroom and is now in our master bedroom. 


On Wednesday, post Tom/Nathan demo/reconstruction-athon, Tom came home a bit early from work when I called his office to ask him to help me unload the car.  I am not ashamed to say that I can spend money like a real champ.  And that moving into a new house requires a lot of touches to make it feel like home.  That, and the movers threw away all of my candles before we left San Diego and I have a very close attachment to candle light.  So!  With baskets to hide things, a mountain of candles and new pillows, along with the entire trunk-full of groceries, I called me beloved hubby to help me move it the half block from the Agip gas station (our parking lot) to our 6th floor apartment.  Tom later reported that the guys in his office openly mocked both him and I for this, but I don't really care.  The bags were heavy and I needed help!  10 trips later, we got everything inside and Tom openly mocked me for the things that I had deemed "important."  What?  I told him that we needed a rosemary plant!  And I told him that I wanted adorable candles that looked like the ones in the PotteryBarn catalog!  He's been warned!!


Last night, I made the first homecooked meal in our place: stuffed peppers.  Sure, it was a weird choice and oddly 50's housewife of me, but I didn't really plan my grocery trip to include a meal for that evening and I had most of the things to make them.  We ate our 50's meal on our balcony, my favorite room in the house and after the sun went down, we drank a bottle of Soave wine and watched the city light up.  The moon was so bright that it lit up the water in the Bay and made Sorrento and Capri visible on the horizon.  Sitting out there, with my wonderful husband and best friend, I couldn't help but sigh and think, "This is the life.  I am so blessed."


Love and hugs to all of our friends and family!
Lynne and Tom
xoxo