Still Waiting

Opening a birthday gift from Grandma Cramer, which included her very own cell phone and lei from Hawaii where she's been.
This week we've been anxiously waiting for our belongings from Maine to show up at our doorstep. Our storage unit was successfully cleared out on Monday, and ended up costing us a shockingly hefty amount more because of extra "packing" required on their part. It's sickening the amount that companies charge for a single mattress cover (times four in our case), and when I told the mover I didn't care much about that, to go ahead and proceed sans cover, he explained that he had to. I understand it's his job and certain things have to be done according to company protocol, but still. We had not packed our unit in anticipation of a moving company having anything do do with it; had we known this we would've done things a little differently. At the end of the day, though, it will have been well worth it to not make that awful trip. Worth it, I should add, whenever our things finally arrive. I was first told by a company rep that we could expect the delivery on Tuesday. Tuesday came and went, and I gave a call to check the status. "Call back tomorrow or the next day," they told me. The next two days passed and I called as instructed, and wouldn't you know? They gave me the exact same spiel! I told them I'd already played that game once before, then they countered with an "It can take up to 14 business days" line. Typical. They're probably in cahoots with the yahoos at Aetna, my former insurance provider, experts at giving clients the runaround. It's not as if we're in dire need of the things we've been without for the past nine months but, having shelled out enough money to support a village in Cambodia for twelve years so one can see why we've got the itch to be reunited with our stuff sooner than later.

The bright side of this is that it's given me more time to paint our moderately (as opposed to overly) furnished apartment. The living room will still need a second coat of paint, but the kitchen is complete, our bedroom nearly so, and painting Olive's room will mean another trip to the Home Depot for a can of a blue hue. Speaking of Olive, we've got a real walker on our hands. She's becoming more and more sure of herself with each step, maneuvering about like an old pro and transitioning to a sitting position with grace and skill. She derives immense joy out of hissing; she'll sit and commence hissing then explode into a fit of contagious laughter at the funny sound she's produced. What a fun game.