If This Moving Van’s a Rockin’…

I haven’t updated the blog in ages because I’ve spent the past several weeks packing things up in LA and moving to Austin. The packing itself went fine, although some members of the family enjoyed it more than others…

In fact, some members of the family didn’t do any packing work at all.

Loki, I wouldn’t get used to that Barneys bag. We just bought a house, kitty. Our days of shopping at Barneys are done for a while.

After a rather irritating start to the moving day (which I don’t need to get into), our stuff finally made it onto a truck. (Our total moving weight, for the curious: 9060 pounds. WTF?! We have 4.5 tons of stuff? Seriously?

The drive was fine, but a little long. We left LA around 9pm on Thursday, July 24, and we only made it a few hours on that first day. We took Interstate 40 most of the way. It’s a lot prettier than Interstate 10, as demonstrated by this photo in New Mexico, showing a thunderstorm in the near distance.

We arrived at our new house around 4pm on Sunday the 27th. The next afternoon, this little guy spent most of the afternoon hanging out just outside the family room door.

The deer are great — and there are a zillion of them. We’re fans of the deer. The spiders — not as much. (Is this one poisonous?  ‘Cause he’s just outside the front door…)

On that Monday, we learned that our stuff was all still in LA, and probably wouldn’t leave LA before Wednesday. At that point, our furnishings in Austin consisted of an Aero bed — and that’s it. So we went to Target and bought two $20 child-size beanbag chairs and a small television. It all felt very collegiate — but with nicer flooring than I ever had in the dorm.

Here’s another shot of how we lived for a week until the movers arrived. Actually, for comparison, first, here’s what this room looked like when we bought the house…

… and here it is currently, or at least the way it was before any furniture arrived.

And here it was on the day the movers arrived. My TV! It made it safely! I gotta say — spending a week with a 19″ screen made me appreciate my big screen anew.

Here’s the “before” shot of the dining room…

… and here it is right before the movers arrived. New paint, new floors, louvered doors to the kitchen removed, new baseboards. What you can’t tell here is that all of the walls and ceilings were originally textured (like with a sharp sandy material) , and now they’re perfectly smooth. Our contractor rules.

Now we’re waiting on installation of lighting (there’s a bad-ass black crystal chandelier coming for the family room), and delivery of the new sofa (made of recycled plastic bottles!), and other general decorating. More soon…

Comments

Connie Miller says

In your photos, I don't see the ubiquitous ceiling fan that we're so used to seeing in tall ceilings like your livingroom; something you might appreciate when you get your first electric bill. Nothing like moving on the hottest day of the year! Congratulations and welcome to Awesome, Texas!

Steve from Austin says

Connie is right... It is a tad on the warm side. Glad to see the update and glad that you guys (and the TV) made to Austin safely. See you around!

Andrew Hackard says

Congratulations and welcome to Austin. You're getting a good taste of summer; way too freaking hot, interspersed with tropical storms for variety. But you'll learn to like it after a while -- and there's no better way to cool off than margaritas. (Except possibly snowcones.)

Robyn says

The spider in the photo is a black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia). This gorgeous orb weaver is not venemous and is VERY beneficial in your garden. Way more beneficial than that cute little deer, as you'll come to learn as soon as you try to plant anything.

By the way, welcome to Austin. I play under Dick Floyd in the Austin Symphonic Band. I've enjoyed lurking on your blog since you posted about the challenges of composing for middle school band while you were working on Undertow for Cheryl. Great piece, by the way. We played it last week at TBA in San Antonio. FUN!

Cathy says

Welcome to Austin, John & Abby. Hope the rest of the move went well.
~C

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