Alison and I are now back in Chicago, and the academic quarter started today, 5 January 2008. That means anxiety and exhaustion all around, but we are happy to have finished moving out of the cottage. The actual moving process was kind of wacky for me, as my main task was to help move the big items, like furniture and the canoe. The main mover of big items was our neighbor, who has a pickup truck and is a great handyman, and so we hired him to help. His truck, though, has defrost problems, which he solves by putting lit candles on the floor of the cab. Usually, we would blow these candles out when we were in it, but the build-up of wax in the cab is rather impressive. Schlepping the furniture, though, was more fun than doing the organizing, which was one of Alison's tasks.

For me, the best part of the move is that finally I can see what Alison has been planning for the last year. It's not clear to me why doing the moving cleared things up, but somehow it did. Maybe it's that, without the furniture, I could see that our cottage is not really adequate. For example, there was a big blob of mold on one of the walls in the living room, which had been hidden by the couch. And without the curtains, it is easier to feel the wind whipping through the cracks next to the windows. Now I can finally see that replacing the whole cottage is a great idea, especially given the lovely plan that Alison and Eric have come up with. I'm psyched!