Category: everyday life

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

Moving Progress And What’s Not

On Tuesday, the painting of the new place has started. Also, my new appliances: a washer/dryer combination, and microwave, were delivered and installed.

Also, my new cleaning lady came for the first time, and we agreed on the schedule and the fees. I also asked her to do the pre-move cleaning on Sunday. 

That was great progress. On Wednesday, the painting continued, and the internet installation was scheduled for today.

I took a super-early train to get there to open the gated to the painters, ANd when they came in, they told me that the rooms with the cable are not accessible because there s wet paint, and nobody should stay there, even them. It was 20 minutes before my appointment slot, and I rushed to reschedule. They told me that the next available slot is going to be next Wednesday, and I was devastated. But just five minutes later, they called me and told me that there is a slot on Sunday afternoon, which I gladly grabbed, although I still have no idea who will be available at that time :).

Other damages of today:

  • the light in the fridge is out (hopefully, just the light)
  • I could not start the dishwasher
  • A zipper on my irreplaceable backpack broke.

Yes, I know, I have to survive:)

First Night At The New Place

On Monday, I spent my first night at my new home. It was an instantaneous decision. I knew I had to be there very early in the morning on Tuesday, and Anna was here with a truck and was going to drop some stuff there on her way home. So I decided that she can also drop off me 🙂

I started to pack for the night. Boris always jokes about the number of “tubes with liquids” I need for my morning routine, so I will not even say how many of them I had to take with me. I’ll just say, there were more than one bag :).

I was surprised by how well this apartment holds the warmth. The weekend was very warm, but on Monday, it started to cool down, and even more during the night. However, I had to open the window, and it was still warm in the morning, and the heat didn’t turn on.

The first thing I did in the morning was going down to the gym. There, I met a neighbor who is also exercising at 5 AM :). The gym is great; there is everything I could need.


Then, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I came close to the lake (I did it twice, at my street and another).

Continue reading “First Night At The New Place” →

Anna Is My Hero!

The past two days were extremely eventful. On Sunday, when Vlad came to clean up the garage, I realized how busy he was with school work and that I shouldn’t have asked him to come, although I had to ask him. I was thinking about asking Anna whether she could come but then decided that she had way too many things on her plate to ask her to do more. But Anna was a hero and figured out our situation, and without me asking her, she announced that she is coming. She also forbade Vlad to do anything for my move until he is done with his school assignment, and she made arrangements with Igor to cover the days when the painters will be in. 

Then she came and cooked lunch to last for three days and took care of dozens of things on my list. 

I can’t even describe what a relief it was. That was the first time in weeks when I could focus on work during the work hours. I was able to complete a week worth of tickets in one day 🙂

Another thing I didn’t do with Vlad was one more IKEA trip – at least I needed binds for the new house. So I asked Anna to go, and a small miracle happened. I already gave up on a smaller sleeping unit, but we chatted with Anna about it, and since I could not find the right one to show her, she suggested we ask the store associate.

This unit was unavailable for weeks and not on display, and when we first asked, the associate told us it was discontinued. But then she clicked and clicked and said that they have one, and what is color covering we want? 

We ordered the color I wanted from the very beginning, and it will be delivered on May 19! I still can’t believe we did it!

We picked several other items which I needed for the new house, including some blinds to try (we were still not sure about the sizes, they are a little bit tricky.

And then we had dinner at IKEA – that was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic!

For The Last Time…

There were lots of “for the last time” this weekend.

Last time to Palatine Farmer’s Market:

Continue reading “For The Last Time…” →

Fixing Everything – Work Progress

I can’t believe how much we’ve done in my new home already! Granted, if not for Vlad, I won’t be anywhere close. Vlad has been my savior (as always!)

On Friday, I had several contractors scheduled, and I planned to take a 6-28 AM train from Palatine to go to the city and then to Rogers Park. Also, I planned to work on the train. But at 6 AM, a traffic accident happened on the tracks, and the movement of the trains was halted, which meant Uber, minus $50 and minus 50 min of work time.

But after that, things were great. The appliance person came and fixed the dishwasher and the ice maker in the fridge. But, unfortunately, he could not service a whirlpool, which remained an open question.

A plumber came and estimated all the plumbing-related work, and then the people who service the heater and the air conditioner came. It turned out that everything is fine with the furnace, but the air conditioning unit was not operating. Fortunately, they were able to identify the problem, got the parts, and had it fixed. It looked a little bit like a space mission because the air conditioning units are on the roof, and the service people were coordinating what they were doing over the cell phones. 

Also, Vlad brought his checkbook (because I forgot that not everybody accepts credit cards) and saved me. And also brought me pastries and then asked what else I needed, went home, and brought me some salad and salad dressing and milk for coffee. And then he came back in the evening to give money to the painter. 

And on Saturday, he came to my new house on very short notice, because the plumber had a window when he could do the work. Meanwhile, I called the home inspector about the whirlpool, and he said that we can still use it as a shower; there are no leaks. 

One thing I’ve overlooked was the internet. I thought we do not need it until the actual move-in date because we all have 5G on our phones. What I forgot entirely was the fact that I need WiFi to set up the ecobee:).

I did some minimal research on the providers and ordered a new service, which will be installed on Thursday.

Now, the next week looks like this:

  • Washer/dryer/microwave installation on Tuesday
  • New cleaning lady on Tuesday
  • The painting starts on Wednesday
  • Internet on Thursday
  • Sofa delivery on Saturday

Way more manageable than in looked Friday morning!

Health Benefits Of The Move

I hopped on the Red Line train to go to my new house and just remembered one more thing that I noticed last week. When I first started to go to Rogers Park, I was pretty upset to find out that my motion sickness returned. I’ve experienced motion sickness to some degree through most of my life. As a child, I hated taking a bus because it would make me sick, and I absolutely could not stand a taxi. So my mom had to rely on trams when we had to go somewhere. It was better or worse in subsequent years, but recently (that is before the pandemic), it was more or less fine.

The most important thing for me is to do work while on public transport, and I could do it perfectly fine on Metra and during the past several years on the CTA, too. However, my new work commute will be about 35 min, and I was hoping to work on CTA. When I found I can’t, it was bad news.

And then, all of a sudden, about two weeks ago, I noticed that I could ride CTA and work, and nothing is bothering me. So I hope that this will last, especially considering that the train cars are not full these days, and I sit comfortably and work.

Some other great health-related news is that walling does not bother me at all these days, so I hope that my lifestyle change will benefit me in this aspect as well. And finally, completely unexpected, on the second or third week of packing, it stopped affecting my back. Either I got myself trained enough, or I got into the habit of always lifting stuff the right way. Or a combination of both:)