Month: May 2021

And Now I Need To Move Mom!

Another day off work spent on packing my Mom/s stuff. I left my house at 7-40, Got to mom’s house at 10 AM, and found that a) she didn’t turn her air conditioning on and was wondering why it is so hot inside b) her shower faucet broke the night before, and she didn’t email me (her landlord accepts service requests through their website only).

So the first thing I had to do was to open my laptop and send a service request. And then I started packing, which mostly involved taking her stuff out of the bags and the small boxes and putting it into moving boxes while she was whaling that I am breaking her order of things.

hen we sat down to eat, and simultaneously, my real estate agent called, and the maintenance worker knocked on the door. I managed to sort it out :), and then I took mom to her doctor’s appointment, and while we were there, her shower was fixed.

Then, I did more packing, and very son the everything which was on the surface was packed 🙂 Next, mom said she does not remember where her mailbox key was…. I stopped at the ACE Hardware to make extra mailbox keys and then drove back to the train station. And then I had to meet with Igor to check on mom’s new apartment.

And then I had to go to the grocery store.
And the air conditioner is not fixed.

Well, life will be better!

And Did I Mention The Lake :)?

Making It My Place – Work In Progress

This week, I somewhat “returned to work,” and it turned out that there is a lot of work. As a result, I feel completely exhausted by the end of the day every day. Also, I continued to unpack and make small improvements, like hanging things on the walls. Also, things keep falling apart:)

I scheduled faucets replacement for Saturday, and fingers crossed, that will be fixed.

I finally installed a new toilet seat instead of the one with the paint partially off:).

I unpacked all of the boxes! Dylon took some of the boxes to my mom. My neighbor from downstairs, who is moving in a month, took almost all the rest. 

I managed to catch when two kinds of KALLAX units were available at IKEA and ordered both. The bigger ones were delivered on Friday, and I assembled one of them, which is a great achievement. The others are scheduled for delivery on Monday.

Another IKEA purchase, a sleeper unit, was delivered, but they left it downstairs!!! Fortunately, Dylon was a hero, and he came and brought it up. 

I learned to operate my new washer/dryer; it works much better than the machines I had in Palatine. 

And just when I thought that things are getting better, it turned out that the air conditioner is not working after all of the repairs!

I won’t have mental resources until Monday to call for repairs 🙂

And also, none of the ceiling light fixtures work.

And since several people asked me for more pictures – here are some

Kitchen
Continue reading “Making It My Place – Work In Progress” →

Unpacked

I unpacked almost everything; the only box which is still waiting to be unpacked is the box with winter boots. Granted, many things are not in their right places yet, but the rearranging can be done later.
I am still waiting for several deliveries, and I am still trying to catch the blinds of the correct size; and I need to figure out the cabinets for the dining room, but my new home already feels like home. I love it.

And I have the nicest neighbors. And a new cleaning lady is great. I never had the hardwood floors everywhere, and I was really impressed with how she mopped them!

And the lake! I biked in the morning, and I took a walk after work (the work is crazy, BTW), and I can’t even tell how much i love it being by the water!

Biking

My new house has a bike room, and there are more bikes than people :). Biking was something I greatly anticipated as a part of my new life.

However, I have no sense of direction, and it always takes me a while to learn my routes.
The Lakefront Trail breaks about 2.5 miles from my house, and the first thing I wanted to figure out was how to reach the starting point.

On Thursday, Boris and I decided to give it a try. I checked Google maps, and there was a safe route, all using the bike paths. Unfortunately, about 1/3 into it, I didn’t trust Google and turned earlier than I should have. When I tried to get back on track, the route planner started to direct us to Sheridan. We even got there by accident, but we quickly realized our mistake. Then, it was all trial and error, and the whole trip took us 80 min instead of 35!


Boris left on Friday, but I still had to figure out how to do it right. I went out on Sunday morning, this time following the instructions, and got there and back in 40 min (I only lost my way once on the way back, but was quick to get back on track).

I am so glad I can bike here! And the surrounding is so beautiful!

Did I Mention There Is A Gym?

Right there, on the ground level! Since I already knew about that I gave Anna most of my home gym equipment. However, I also knew that there are some things missing, so I brought them in – the TRX, my weighted yoga ball and the yoga ball pumps (and I pumped all of them). Also, an ab wheel. And a couple of rollers.

I also brought my wall mirror, and and talked to the association about the installation.

I can even describe how nice is it to have such a nice gym in your house!

This Place Starts To Look LIke Me:)

As I already mentioned, the first night in the new place was without the heat, which we all survived. In the morning, Anna went to the Charmer’s Cafe across the street and picked up all the breakfast options she found there :). We all had breakfast around the partially folded dining room table.

Then, John and Kira went back to Milwaukee, and Anna and Nadia stayed to help us with more unpacking and move stuff around. One of the bookshelves had to be delivered to Igor, and empty boxes went to my mom – her move is on May 23. We also asked her to pick up a couple of things from my old house, which we left behind. That ended up being a bad idea, but at that time, I thought we need them.
Then the girls left, and Boris and I continued unpacking and finding places for things.

All my new neighbors are exceptionally friendly and helpful. Funny story: it turned out that this lady who “sold” the unit to me by describing the community and how she would never move – she liked me as well! And after our short conversation, she told the other neighbors that she hopes “this nice lady” will buy the place.

We tried to prioritize things that had to be done together before Boris’s departure. That included the things I could not do without him, like assembling a sleeper sofa and agreeing on our “design guidelines.” The only thing we should have done while he was here and we didn’t was hanging one more mirror.
With books, we decided that we will just put them on the shelves randomly and will figure out the specific order later.

Most importantly, we agreed on how the living room should look like. I made a point not to insist on something I have in mind but to make sure that that’s what Boris likes as well. For the sunroom, we are still missing the side blinds (this size is out of stock in IKEA for months) and the KALLAX small units (I am almost ready to pay a double price on Amazon, especially now when I realized I do not need three of them, but two at max, or maybe even just one). Anyway – that’s how it looks now:

The yoga mat was there temporarily, I forgot to remove it 🙂
This sofa can be converted into a full bed
There is enough space to display everything I want!
Boris’s desk and bookshelves
My New breakfast place

Organizing My New Place

Boris went back to Finland today, and until the very last minute of his stay, we were trying to do as much as possible of unpacking, organizing things, hanging them up, etc.

Some parts of my house finally start to look like mine :). I will try to post more pictures tomorrow. Now I am tied. I sat down on an armchair by the window of our bedroom and fall asleep. I think now it will be a good idea to go to bed for real 🙂

Move In Progress

I moved on Monday, but there is still so much to do that I can’t tell I moved.

The total number of boxes (not counting luggage, bags, etc.) was 155. I am not kidding. One hundred fifty-five. And that’s after tons of things thrown away.

The time window for the movers was from 8-30 to 10, but they came at 11 AM. and loaded the truck till 3-30 PM. When we arrived at my new home, the furnace was not working, and it took me a while to realize that it’s not the ecobee, but the furnace itself. And then, one of our heaters was shutting down the circuit breaker, and then all the outlets in the bedrooms would go off.

Then, the shower in the smaller bathroom stopped working.

But – I moved!!! A million thanks to my family – I don’t know what I would do without them!

Packing int Palatine

Unpacking on Rogers Park

What Was Going On In The Past Three Days?

I was packing, and also I was sick. So a couple of weeks ago, I thought how ironic it would be to get sick just for the time of move! And I did. And yes, I tested for COVID, and the result was negative. But there are other sicknesses except for COVID :). And I couldn’t just stop packing and sleep it through – I had to pack!
The absolute worst day was Saturday when Boris came. I wore a mask inside because I didn’t want to make him sick, COVID or not. We didn’t see each other since mid-February, and Boris hasn’t been to the US since November 2019. And here I am, having the worst cold ever!

Other move updates since the last post: the painting is finished. I haven’t been there yet, but Vlad says it looks fantastic :). I texted the person who fixed our dishwasher, and he said that there is a switch under the sink. I think a person who fixed the disposer accidentally pressed it. So, the dishwasher works, and the fridge works.

The cleaning ladies came today and scrubbed the place for four and a half hours, and now all is ready for the move. The internet was installed today. The sofa was delivered yesterday, although it was quite an adventure, so I will tell you about it separately. And looks like we are packed :). On