And Then There Were None: The Countdown Ends

Ever since quarantine began, I've had multiple "countdowns" going on. How many days of homeschool left to go. How many days since we'd made an offer on a new house. How many days until we signed the P&S. How many days until the close. How many days until the move. How many, how many, how many?

As of today, the answer to the question, "How many?" is, "None." Today was the day that we finally moved into our beautiful new house. First thing in the morning, the piano movers came, and while they disassembled our piano and packed it onto their truck, I packed the kids into my car (along with umpteen boxes of stuff) and raced to beat them to the new house to let them in, where they reassembled it in all its glory.

Once they were done, I packed the kids BACK into the car and we drove to Dunkin Donuts to grab some breakfast. When we got back to the new house with tummies full and eyes open, the kids got down to really exploring the house. They ran downstairs to say hello to the hamster (who was the first one to spend the night here), then they ran upstairs to check out the little room over the garage with the funny slanted ceilings. Then they each checked out their own room, plotting out where their beds and dressers and everything else would go in their new domains. They even peeped in the attic, which is even bigger than the large attic in our old house, although somewhat more unfinished (pink insulation abounds between the strips of thin plywood that form the floor). 

But what got them most excited was the pool. Although technically it's a heated pool, the pool heater does not seem to be working, and the pool doesn't currently have a solar cover, so it's open to the elements. Even so, it was surprisingly...well, not exactly warm, but it certainly wasn't cold. The kids both went in pretty quickly, and spent over an hour checking out the slide and enjoying some of the pool toys that some friends and the gracious previous owners had given us as a housewarming gift. 

While they were drying off, I was doing my usual over-organizing and had made and posted signs all over the house to let the movers know where each of the rooms was. 

I even hung post-it notes to indicate where the various pieces of furniture had to go, so they wouldn't need to wait for me or my husband to direct every single item.

By the time I'd finished, Dad was on his was with lunch and the movers were on their way with our furniture. The moving trucks arrived first, so I walked the crew of 5 through the house, explaining where everything should go. They seemed surprised and quite appreciate of my labeling system - in fact, my husband told me later than they were grateful for how organized we were, both in having the vast majority of items neatly packed and labeled before they arrived, and by not only having thought through where things would go, but literally marking the spots. The movers seemed to be in their late teens and early twenties, with one guy clearly the muscle (he hefted our grandfather clock like it was a yardstick) and once girl clearly the organizer (although she more than carried her weight - literally). They were all incredibly polite and pleasant, double-checking the placement of everything and offering to move anything we wanted, even if we had told them where to put it but changed our minds. They worked quickly and efficiently, and were careful to wrap and cover banisters and walls so nothing would be scratched or damaged. They clearly knew what they were doing and did it well, individually and as a team. I was impressed at how hard they worked, especially on such a hot day. They earned every penny of their pay and a generous tip besides. Due to their hustle, the final bill was less than the original estimate, even though we had added a number of items to our first list. (Shout out to Gentle Giant Movers in Acton MA!!)

In the midst of all the moving, the Verizon technician came to install the new router, the guy came by to clean the dryer vent, and the POD was delivered. I haven't had that many people in my house since quarantine started! (Don't worry, we wore masks and social distanced.) Throughout the whole process, I was doggedly emptying boxes, figuring out where everything belonged in the new house (so many cabinets! so much storage space!), and trying to keep the kids busy and out from underfoot. Once everyone had left, we all agreed we needed a break and we were ready for dinner, so my husband went to pick up a couple of pizzas. We sat out by the pool and enjoyed the breeze. I soaked my feet in the refreshing water of the pool, and after dinner my husband went in for a dip himself. 

After dinner, we all pretty much just flopped down wherever we could until it was time for the kids to head for bed. When we were staging our old house to put it on the market, we put my son's queen sized bed in the POD and unbunked my daughter's bunk bed, putting a single twin bed in each bedroom, so the rooms would look more spacious. The queen bed was a little too buried in the POD to pull it out tonight, so my son is sleeping in the guest room tonight, rather than his own room, but we've promised to get his "real" bed ready for tomorrow night. 

It's a steamy evening, but both kids' bedrooms have ceiling fans and multiple windows, so they shouldn't be too uncomfortable. Unfortunately, among the things that were inadvertently left behind at the old house were our toothbrushes and toothpaste, so bedtime prep was a bit altered. I had packed their backup toothbrushes, so they were able to brush without toothpaste, and I even remembered the mouthwash, so it wasn't too gross. We also didn't pack up the fridge and freezer, so a run back to the old house is in order tomorrow anyway. Which means that we get to have breakfast out again tomorrow, so that made the kids happy. They both went to bed with a few comments about it not quite feeling like home, but I reassured them that once we get settled in and their stuff is in their rooms and we get used to everything, it will feel like home very quickly. This is probably the biggest change they've ever gone through in their whole entire lives, so I wouldn't expect them to sail through without blinking. But they're both putting a good face on things, and a good night's sleep and a cooler day tomorrow should help the situation. 

As for me, I poured myself a glass of ice-cold pinot grigio (in a water goblet, because I haven't found the wine glasses yet), and I am sitting on the couch, looking at my window at a bunny, listening to the crickets and the quiet hum of the ceiling fan, wondering what delights are in store for tomorrow. 

It may still be new and unfamiliar, but it's my own little nest. I feel cozy. I feel safe. I am, truly, home.

Home. 

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 48

Do you remember, back when you were in elementary school, especially when it got close to the end of the year, sometimes you'd have a day when you really wouldn't do anything at all? Like, the teacher would tell you to spend the whole morning cleaning out your desks and doing independent reading when you were done, and then after lunch the whole class (or sometimes the whole grade, or even the whole school) would watch a movie until it was time to go home? I have fond memories of both Johnny Tremaine and Oliver!, both of which we must have watched a dozen times over the years. Well, that was the kind of day we had today.

Today was the day that the photographer/videographer came to take pictures for the 3-D virtual tour of our house. So I was up at 6am (oh, who am I kidding: I was awake at 4:30am doing all of it mentally) putting the finishing touches on the staging: removing bathmats and trashcans, rinsing out sinks, re-sweeping the floors, vacuuming everything one last time, fluffing and arranging pillows, making beds so they looked like they came out of a home decorating magazine. When we finished, my husband looked at me and said, with great satisfaction, "Well, I'd buy this house!" And at 8:15am, we packed the kids into the car and hit the road to let the realtor and the photog do their thing.

We started with breakfast at McDonald's, as an apology for not feeding the kids until 8:30. We ordered at the drive-thru and then sat at one of their outside picnic tables to eat, since it was an absolutely glorious morning. I'm not exactly a fan of McDonald's food, but I have to admit that those were just about the most delicious hotcakes I've ever eaten.

After we finished, we headed over towards our new house. We weren't able to go in, but since the kids hadn't even seen the outside in person, we wanted them to get a first-hand look. We parked at the park across the street and went for a walk around the pond, looking for turtles and frogs and fish.

Can you spot all 4 turtles in this photo?

We heard a lot of galumphing grandfather bullfrogs and spied a few. We saw lots of sunfish of all different sizes. We saw turtles swimming and sunning themselves. We saw water lilies ready to burst into glorious bloom. We explored the cool grassy amphitheater and peeked over the fence at the playground and tried to find all the different places where you could see our house through the trees.

After our hike, we drove around town checking out some of the places we were likely to go often: grocery stores, several different elementary schools, various restaurants, other parks and recreation areas, gyms and dance schools, and three or four shopping centers. I have a terrible sense of direction so it will take me a while to figure out how to get to any of those places, but at least now I kind of have an idea of what's grouped together and how long it's likely to get somewhere. I am relieved that our new street dead-ends not too far past our house, so at least I don't have to worry about which way to turn when I pull out of the driveway, no matter where I'm going.

We ended our adventures by ordering ice cream from a fabulous farm not far from the house. Ice cream for lunch helped to ease the disappointment the kids had from not being able to actually go inside the house. Plus, ICE CREAM! Ice cream is always a good thing.

We got back home at about 12:30pm, and my husband had to dive right back into work. At 1pm, both kids had a call with their teachers. Normally my son's classroom meets are Monday and Thursday, but I think they're doing Tuesday this week because yesterday was a holiday. He's supposed to have a band rehearsal at 1:15pm, so I asked him to stay in his class meet until 1:20 and then switch over. But it's nearly 1:30 now and I don't hear the sound of the trombone coming from upstairs, so he may have decided to stay, which is fine with me. (He came down at 1:30 and I asked him if he had switched over to band, and he blurted out, "Oh, shoot!" and then raced back upstairs.)

I've spent the past hour wandering around the house trying to find all the things that we tucked out of sight for the photo shoot: trash cans, soap dishes, toilet plungers, Alexa devices, extension cords, power cords, THE COFFEEMAKER, the hamster. I'm trying to only bring out the items that we really need for the next few weeks, in case we get some short notice on someone wanting to come and look at the house. I don't look forward to the quick "clean up and get out" events that I'm sure will happen, but I know the more we have the better the chance that we'll sell the house quickly and for a good price. It's a great house and I hope it finds a new owner who will love it and enjoy it the way we have.

There's a little-known musical called "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" which tells the story of the first century of the White House and the various families who lived in it during that time. Written by Alan Jay Lerner and Leonard Bernstein, with a Broadway cast starring Ken Howard (whom you may recognize as The White Shadow) as "The President" and Patricia Routledge (whom you may recognize at Hyacinth Bucket in the British sitcom "Keeping Up Appearances") as "The President's Wife," it seems like it should have been a huge success. But instead, it was a complete flop, running for only 7 performances before it closed. But one of the more successful numbers was "Take Care of This House," performed on Broadway by Patricia Routledge, and recorded since by such luminaries as Julie Andrews, Barbara Streisand, Frederica von Stade (who sang it at Jimmy Carter's inauguration), Judy Kaye, Marilyn Horne, Joanna Gleason, Cynthia Erivo, and Kelli O'Hara. The First Lady sings it as she prepares to hand it over to the next first lady, with these lyrics:

Here in the shell of a house
This house that is struggling to be
A beacon of light shinning all through the night
So bright that the whole world could see

But now there's a chill in the room
Windows are starting to leak
Floorboards are starting to creak

And hope, hope may arrive
The house will survive
If only these walls could speak

Take care of this house
Keep it from harm
If bandits break in sound the alarm

Care for this house
Shine it by hand
And keep it so clean
The glow can be seen all over the land

Be careful at night, check all the doors
If someone makes off with our dream
The dream will be yours

Take care of this house
Be always on call
For this house is the hope of us all

Beware of full smiles that lead you astray
When someone is telling you lies
Let truth lead the way

Take of this house
Be always on call
Care for this house
It's the hope of us all.

And so I say, to my home's next occupant, whomever that may be: Take care of this house. It may not be as important as the White House, but it's a pretty special place. Take care of this house.

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 45

Today's Challenge of the Day: Our wonderful housecleaners, who have been not been able to come clean for us for several months, have agreed to come and do a deep-clean of the house prior to putting it on the market. So today, we'll be working around them. I think we can manage hanging out in the basement while they clean the rest of the house, and then when they're ready to work down here, we can either move outside (it's an absolutely glorious day at the moment) or the kids can go up to their bedrooms.

As for me, I'm not sure what I'm going to work on today. Most of the tasks remaining on my to-do list will be difficult or impossible to do without getting in the way of the cleaners, so I'll put them on hold. I'm having a huge attack of allergies - I woke up my poor husband in the middle of the night with a combination of repeated throat-clearing, approximately 23 sneezes in a row, and blowing my nose what felt like a hundred times - so I have a feeling I'm going to be somewhat useless today anyway, so I may treat it as a rest and recovery day and give myself permission to be useless.

The kids, however, are slowly learning to manage their time and get some assignments done. Here's the schedule we ended up with today.

7-8:30am: Get up, have a quick breakfast. I gave them a 5-minute warning before I cleared all the bread and the microwave from the counter but no-one took advantage of it so breakfast turned out to be a premade frozen breakfast sandwich for one child and chicken nuggets for the other. Who says you have to have breakfast food for breakfast? Judging by the state of their hair, no-one made it to the "brush hair and teeth" stage, but they're both dressed, so not the hill I'm dying on this morning.

8:30-9am: My daughter read me some of her journal up to this point (it's mostly descriptions of her friends and classmates), then went on to write more in it. I encouraged her to write more about what it's like doing homeschool, including what she likes and dislikes about it. My son is doing a project on ReadWorks. I am drinking coffee and blowing my nose. I suspect I'll be doing this a lot today.

9-9;30am: My daughter has moved on to read a book on Epic. This one happens to be on harp seals and has a lot of photographs, so there is much squealing. She continued on with one about pandas and there was even more squealing. She'd love to read a real paper book, but unfortunately most of those are packed at this point. I do appreciate that as much as both children enjoy reading, they generally prefer a physical book to an e-book when they read to themselves. especially my daughter. I love my Kindle books, but there's nothing like physically turning the pages of a paper book. I may have thrown away a lot of CDs and DVDs in favor of "cloud" media, but like Captains Kirk and Picard, I will never lose my love for actual books.

My son is now reading a book on Epic as well, this one being assigned by one of his teachers.

9:30-10am: My daughter hemmed and hawed for a while trying to decide what she wanted to work on next. She decided to work on Typing Club, which I am learning is one of her favorite assignments. My son is doing his daily 20 minutes of Zearn. He is also sitting in a rolling desk chair, which he is rolling around the room while he works so...P.E. credits, too?

10-10:45am: Both kids are watching their Facebook Live programs; my daughter with Miss Tracey's Circle Time, and my son with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Since my daughter borrows my laptop to watch, I'm going outside to soak up some sunshine and look for hummingbirds. I hear that vitamin D is good for COVID-19 prevention.

10:45-11:30am: My son worked on some more math and a few other assignments. My daughter goofed around for a while and eventually worked on some assignment. I don't know. I was catching up on to-do lists and trying to stay out of the cleaners' way.

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. My husband had to bring the carpet cleaner back to Home Depot (and return a set of attic stairs that were the wrong size), so he stopped by D'Angelo's and brought us all subs for lunch. I had no idea how much I was craving their Thanksgiving sub until I was licking gravy off my chin.

1-2pm: I fell asleep in my daughter's room. I have no idea what they did. Possibly schoolwork.

My husband and I spent the rest of the evening and well into the night doing a virtual staging walkthrough with our realty team and packing up the POD for pickup tomorrow.

We ended the day with much-deserved champagne.

So how was YOUR day today??