The long weekend

In two words, relaxing and exhausting.

Wednesday night
The realization of having four days ahead of not having to work was amazing. Sara Burke was home for thanksgiving weekend and we met her for drinks downtown. Awesome happy hour specials separated into 1, 2, 3 and $4 snacks (i.e. edamame was $1, sweet potato potstickers was $2, pad thai was $4, etc). I love how this town works for happy hour... Some have drink specials, some not, but they all seem to have food items from their regular dinner menu in smaller portions for a fraction of the price. It's a great way to taste a restaurant's food without shelling out the big bucks. Case in point from another restaurant: dungeness crab topped deviled eggs. I can't justify spending 7 bucks on these. However, I can spend the $1.50 for the happy hour special. Incidentally, they were incredible.

Thursday
After being in the hotel for the past few nights, Thursday was the day we got to move into our house. The new floors were now dry and ready to go. I worked in the morning and got back around noon. It was so quiet and peaceful downtown. We packed up Hughes and headed home. Felt so nice. Didn't do much in terms of moving in -- pretty much just set up our bed before we went to the Burke's for Thanksgiving. Note: getting the boxsprings up the stairs was a nightmare. Had an awesome dinner. Those Burkes can cook. Talked gardening with one of Sara's uncles who is a landscaper (read: how can Lisa trim the begeezus out of those front bushes). Came home and crashed.

Friday
You need to take a written test to get an Oregon driver's license. Ken picked up the books for us earlier this week and we went to the coffee shop down the street while we studied them prior to going to the DMV. After all these years, still hearing the word 'test' puts me in a panic. I started studying like crazy. I was nervous. Studied at stoplights on the way there. What's wrong with me? The test-panic mode has gotten me this far, but come on. This panic is unnecessary, but I can't stop. Needless to say, we each got 97% and are officially Oregon drivers. New license plates too... three numbers followed by BMW. I wonder we'll get more tickets or get singled out more. Subconciously, I wonder if people will associate our randomly generated license plate with affluence and not let us merge, be more apt to giving us a ticket, etc. Ken doesn't agree, but we'll see.

Went home and set up the rugs. Moved in some of the furniture downstairs. Worked on unpacking the kitchen. All day. Went to Sara's brother's party late that night. We came home and realized we weren't that tired yet and needed to decompress before sleeping, so we went to Holman's (the place with the 'spin the wheel' breakfast) for a drink and grilled cheese. FYI, they're open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday nights -- serving food the whole time. Wow. This is going to be wonderful and a disaster all in one. Also, Lent's birthday.

Saturday
Ah, the furniture still left to move in downstairs was the armoire. We didn't want to do it ourselves since last time it almost fell off the dolly and Ken had to throw his body under it. ouch. Sara's brother was too hungover, so Mr. Burke kindly helped Sara, Ken and I move it in. Together, we moved in the armoire, the mexican bookcase that jana helped me get and our free desk from a downtown office. Success. I spent the rest of the day unpacking the kitchen. I think it's 95% finished now. Ken went to get cables to set up the TV, stereo, etc. and then started setting up that beast.

Sunday
I went to the lab in the morning to take care of my cells (which need attention every three days or so) while Ken went to a bar to watch the Vikings. Came home and started moving clothes upstairs. As Lent can attest, we've been going to the basement to change clothes since that's where they all were while the floors were being refinished. We have a ton of laundry. However, it's dirty down there. When we moved in, none of the fixtures had lightbulbs in them and it was dusty and filled with cobwebs. Now we have lots of light and we cleaned everything out (including the 'icon wall' of taped-on magazine cutouts that a 12 year old girl created 3 years ago -- no more Aaron Carter, sniff sniff). We moved the washer and dryer and Ken installed a laundry cabinet, countertop and clothesrod for sorting and hanging clothes. Did five loads of laundry. Felt so good. Ken continued with setting up the armoire while I continued to move boxes, pull out the over-toilet-storage-shelf, ripped out the weird wood that was nailed to the wall and respackled the whole bathroom. It is now ready for priming and painting so we can install even the basics... like a toilet paper holder. Seriously. Actually, this is true for most rooms... can't finish any room until they're painted. Hopefully this weekend while Ken levels the floor in the front room by sistering 1x6's to the old joists and then installs the subfloor. The wood floors for that room arrive the first to second week in December.

I love this process, but get antsy to finish it all. I can hear my mom say 'Rome wasn't built in a day', but those of you who know me won't be surprised that I'm still going to go full steam until it's finished. My OCD tendencies from my dad are in full force. Poor Ken.