Unpacking

Tomorrow, it will be 3 weeks since we closed on our house. We (and our stuff) have been here 2 1/2 weeks. I am still unpacking. I don't know what is "usual" or "normal" re: getting settled in a home, but I believe it will be April before I can say that (almost) everything is in its place. My biggest problem being paper . . . bills, important stuff, stuff I need to look at/read before throwing away, stuff that must be organized and filed away, PAPER! Paper takes so much time to sort through, so I need to get a system going pronto, before I have a mountainous pile going (it's getting close--maybe still a molehill right now, but just wait).

So, my days mostly consist of unpacking days or maintaining days. When I am home most (or all) of the day, my goal is to unpack 2 boxes, as well as keep up on dishes and clutter. On the days I go to ABQ to clean/do laundry (our washer/dryer won't be delivered until April) at our old house, my goal is to simply maintain. Dishes, laundry, meals. That about covers it. The goals may not seem lofty, but they're doable, and that's very important to me, an easily discouraged person when it comes to getting behind.

One unforseen blessing about being in a 2-story home is that it just makes sense to me to get everything done upstairs before even setting foot downstairs. (I haven't gone totally FlyLady, as we don't wear shoes on the carpet, but I'm finally doing a good morning routine!) So, I'll get ready, get the girls dressed, we all make our beds, and then it's off to breakfast! When I come upstairs again to put the girls down for a nap, everything is in its place and it feels so great to not be overwhelmed with the things that must be attended to, both upstairs and down. At our old one-level home, I'd often get the girls breakfast hours before dressing us, and most days none of our beds got made. I feel really good about establishing morning routines for the girls, since it is such a good life skill (one which I have yet to learn well) and will benefit them for decades.

Our refrigerator is on the fritz. The one we asked the owners to leave w/the house. The freezer stopped freezing. I discovered things thawing in it yesterday. I don't know when/what happened, but by this morning, whatever I'd left in it is completely thawed. Thank God we have our big freezer in the garage, but I have to check on it every few hours, because it's on a GFI outlet (not a good idea for a deep freeze, let me tell you) and because of that, has already thawed things on its own. Two freezers don't do much good when neither one is reliable. Casey will switch out the GFI for a regular outlet when he has time and a screwdriver. Both things are in short supply while he's working on our old house to get it ready to rent. As for the fancy-shmancy fridge with french doors and the freezer drawer on the bottom, we'll probably get someone out to fix whatever's wrong in the next day or so.

As much as stainless steel and black appliances are all the rage, I'd prefer regular ol' ones that do their job. I dust our range top at least once a day. It shows every speck of dust. I'm really careful not to spill on it, but what's the point, if I'm wiping it down anyway? I ought to just go crazy w/the spaghetti sauce. But it is very nice to finally have a gas range. I love that when I turn it on, it's on, and when I turn it off, it's off. For the absent-minded cook I tend to be, this is very good, since I'm often doing a lot of off/on action around dinnertime ("Oh, I guess I should turn that off for a few minutes while I do this other thing.")

Okay, now to deal with the paper situation . . .