A move, a mess, an Internet-starved wife

by Elisa on September 15, 2009

in ch-ch-changes,ramblings,The Moving Diaries,The X-pat Files

It’s only been a little over a week. it feels like it’s been much, much longer. A long time, filled with boxes, lots and lots of boxes. Aaaargh!

The house has been a complete mess all week.

Last Monday we moved into our apartment from the temp flat we had been living in, and the place was already full of boxes. The movers had unloaded everything on Friday and then left, ready to do the rest on Monday. They did a bunch of stuff, but also made more of a mess in some cases. One of them kept taking stuff out of boxes and just putting it wherever – what sense does it make to take stuff out unless you know where to put it???
So I found myself repeating: “don’t take out the clothes, we have no closets to put them in” over and over.

Result:

- half the content of my wardrobe in a pile on the living room sofa

- all of my toiletries, makeup and bathroom stuff on the drawer chest in the master bedroom

- piles of books pretty much everywhere in the house

To be fair, they did do a good job on a lot of things though, like assembling the furniture we had bought before leaving the states: the girl’s bunk bed and our dining room table and chairs (I’m going to miss Pottery Barn!). Which left me with this image to end off last Monday:

The table cloth is wrinkled, because I don’t have a 220 voltage iron yet. Oh, who am I kidding, I never iron table cloths. The flowers are in the blender’s pitcher, because I haven’t found my vases yet. But at least there’s a table. And chairs. It’s starting to look more  like home.

The whole week we have been running around getting the missing pieces of furniture, lamps and so on. And I have tried to organize the bookshelves and not go nuts having to put together outfits for the girls based on what boxes I could access. Fun! Not.

On top of it, I have had no internet access until today, save for my iPhone. And while I could joke about it the first two days, then I started getting really quite annoyed.

Until on Saturday my husband called the phone company and the electrician trying to get it handled over the weekend, probably fearing for his life, because apparently no internet changes me into the Elisa version of Mr. Hyde, and since I’m not exactly all flowers and pixie dust to start with, he probably feared for his life. Which he should. Since he decided to set up the TV long before he even looked into setting up our DSL. I was starting to think it was a subtle hint to move out, damn it. Turns out it was just clulessness on his part of just how bitchy I can get when I have no access to my e-mail, my blog or my Twitter account. Be afraid, darling. Be very afraid.

Anyway, I managed to organize the kitchen. And now one room is done.

The rest are mostly half-done or almost done, or not even there, more on the lines of OMG I put away 5 giant boxes of stuff but it still looks pretty much the same kind of thing. Which is almost as annoying as having no internet connection. So the kitchen being done gives me hope that I will, in fact, be able to actually get my stuff organized and put away and actually get settled.

And then my life here can actually begin.

Until that happens, I still feel in limbo, and that only makes me miss NY more. And the fact that NYFW and all the sales and NY Fashion’s Night Out all happened and I wasn’t there…. Man, I’m missing out on all the fun!

Damn it. I need to get to a big city. My husband wants to go to the Engadin on the Fall holidays – he missed Switzerland, my mountain boy. I, on the other hand, feel like I have had just as much bucolic as I can tolerate right now, and I need some crowds and some decent shopping. “But it’s so pretty there!”  he said, when I proposed that we maybe go to London or something instead. Pretty won’t cut it for me right now, love. Not unless it refers to something I see in a shopping window in a street filled with people.

I know, I sound like a spoiled, bitchy, shallow Princess and the Pea kind of woman, never happy, possibly only content when spending large amounts of money on mostly useless purchases.

But the truth is, I don’t even need to shop. I just need to feel like I’m not in the middle of nowhere and totally out of the loop. Like I’m not  alone, not isolated, not lost somewhere where I don’t matter and I don’t fit in. I need to not feel like this, because this is going to be home for a while and it just needs to work. It needs to not feel like it’s stealing my soul and crashing my personality by whispering in my ear that I’m strange and just like a piece of another puzzle, that cannot be included in the picture because, well, the shape is all wrong and stuff.

I don’t know if a trip to London will handle that, but it can’t hurt. As an alternative… anyone want to come visit? We have a really comfortable futon.

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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 CrankySarah September 17, 2009 at 3:39 PM

OK, if this doesn’t earn you a serious Elisa approved trip, I don’t know what does! I’m sure you’ll feel better about where you are once everything is unpacked and you feel like the space is yours then you can go on to feel like the city is yours, BUT a trip in the meantime will probably do a world of good. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you.
.-= CrankySarah´s last blog ..Why I rarely talk politics =-.

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2 Swoozie September 17, 2009 at 6:03 PM

Glad you’re settling in and REALLY glad you have the internet hooked up!
Now get thee self to London~~~~STAT!
.-= Swoozie´s last blog ..Top Ten Thursday~Sick Toddlers =-.

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3 tracey September 17, 2009 at 7:39 PM

Oh sweetie! I’d totally come visit if I could. A futon in Switzerland sounds pretty damn good to me…

I was beginning to wonder where you were!!

How’s the house, besides a crazy mess? Like it?
.-= tracey´s last blog ..In Which My Naive Heart Meets Reality =-.

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4 Jen L. September 17, 2009 at 7:57 PM

Oh! hug hug hug hug loooove! I feel ya. I think we are officially allowed to start our countdown to BlogHer10 now! Hey, do you have skype? If so, we should chat sometime! Hang in there, lady.
.-= Jen L.´s last blog ..JOY =-.

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5 Nap Warden September 17, 2009 at 11:39 PM

London…I wish. That town is SO fun:)
.-= Nap Warden´s last blog ..Cat Fight er Fish Fight! =-.

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6 Lady Mama September 18, 2009 at 1:01 AM

Aw sweetie I totally understand – you do need everything to work so that you can feel at home and not isolated. Getting a trip to a large city sounds like a good idea. I wish I could hope over there and accompany you for a spot of shopping in London!
.-= Lady Mama´s last blog ..It was Lady Mama, in the Library, with the Candlestick. =-.

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7 marianna September 18, 2009 at 9:59 AM

I could sign that, how perfectly I understand you.
We moved in a big house, in the middle of nowhere and what do we have to do on the w-e…laundry and emptying boxes and stuff!!!
I need a smaller place in a larger city – why oh why, just to know that I might di something, even if I don’t actually feel like doing it.
That I am not buried in or bond to my four walls, even if it’ s comfortable.

mhhh…

I need to find a solution to this frustration I guess!
hugs
.-= marianna´s last blog ..Life in a house =-.

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8 Marinka September 18, 2009 at 7:54 PM

Moving and unpacking is just outrageously stressful. I love the tablecloth, wrinkled and all. And no internet access? That’s just unnecessary.
.-= Marinka´s last blog ..Bubble, Bubble, Toilet and Trouble =-.

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9 Mwa September 18, 2009 at 4:38 PM

No internet is cruel and unusual punishment. I think the European court of human rights would grant you your choice of holiday as retribution.

The not-being in the middle of things feeling is horrible! I still want to move back to a decent city after a few years… However, I have started to appreciate the benefits of my current situation.

How FULL your reader must have been.

Hugs! Courage! Love! (All being sent your way electronically.)
.-= Mwa´s last blog ..What’s love got to do with it? =-.

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10 Jessica @ This is Worthwhile September 18, 2009 at 10:07 PM

So glad you’re back!! And I love seeing pictures of your family room. Maybe I’m just a voyeur, I dunno, but it’s just sort of mind-bending to think, “Hey, she’s in Switzerland and has the same Ikea table as me!” or whatever. You get my drift.

Keep on keepin’ on! I’m rooting for a speedy organization and settling in!

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11 LZ September 19, 2009 at 10:01 PM

Yay! You’re back! Just think, when you’re done settling in, you’re done. then you can move on to something fun. A new pair of shoes perhaps? Take that trip…you so deserve it.
.-= LZ´s last blog ..When Daddy wishes she would NOT use her words… =-.

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12 Jonathan September 20, 2009 at 1:36 PM

Hi Elisa I like your style you describe what you feel.

I hope you continue writing, thanks

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13 Loukia September 20, 2009 at 10:55 PM

Hi you… stranger! ;) Aww, I’m sorry you’re still missing NYC… it is such a big change, I’m sure, and all the work you have to do… my goodness… it sounds like it’s really non-stop for you right now… good luck with everything! And having no Internet for one week – I don’t know how I’d deal, Elisa! I’m glad you’re back online now, though!
.-= Loukia´s last blog ..The story of the alleged missing craft =-.

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14 Gwen September 21, 2009 at 3:57 PM

I will be there in less than 4 months and then we can feel like square pegs together? Maybe? And I will totally go shopping with you.

(Eek, Elisa, you are not making me feel better about my impending move! :-) )
.-= Gwen´s last blog ..Fugue in a Minor Key =-.

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15 the mama bird diaries September 22, 2009 at 12:06 PM

I hate the chaos of moving and having stuff all over the place. Hang in there!
.-= the mama bird diaries´s last blog ..ok summer, it’s your turn =-.

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