My favorite holiday! Finished carving tonight and will bring them to the house party. And then at midnight, the major Halloween party at Sugarfactory! Hope you end up with more treats than tricks… And as for me, I will take the tricks 😉

This morning I had to make the last run by the old house and do the walkthrough and give up all the keys. In the meantime, the people were there unloading their sanders and other equipment and getting ready to make it ready for the next renters. It was a little bittersweet walking through one last time. I was remembering the day we came there for the first time to get the keys and Lawyerella and I each with a dog. We took a picture outside the front door and it was a good one. Anyway, that part of my life is another lifetime ago almost.

Yesterday, I learned a valuable cultural lesson about front doors. I was running out the door to the office and as I was closing it, something didn’t feel right. I thought I would try locking it with my key but the lock wouldn’t budge. You guessed it, I was effectively locked out. I thought it might be my key so i went to working figuring maybe Kate’s key would work when she came to pick up the boys for their daily woods adventure. Nope, her’s didn’t either. I ended up calling a locksmith to meet me at the house. He said to me “Madame, are you sure you do not have a key in the lock on the inside?” I looked at him very puzzled and said “Of course, I do! How else would I lock the door when I am inside?” Kind of like Duh…. and he says “Well, that’s your problem. If you have a key in the lock, you can’t put another key in it from the other side.”

Anyway, he took some useful locksmith device and ran it through the mailbox and unlocked the door. Literally 15 seconds of work for 55 euro. I am in the wrong line of work 😉 Apparently, every Dutch person seems to know this about the locks. And now I do too.

As for the unpacking, it is definitely taking a lot longer this time. The kitchen is accessible. Tonight my goal will be to set up my office so I can work properly instead of from the couch 😉 I will get there eventually.

The movers came today and tonight we will sleep in the new house. I have no idea how long it will take me to unpack this time. All I know is that when Cedric arrives in two weeks, he will definitely need to move between the boxes.
In true Dutch fashion, there are no closets. They will have to be built. However I did find the silverware drawer tonight, it is hidden under the stove. That makes me happy since I couldn’t imagine a kitchen without a silverware drawer!
It is a beautiful little house. The pets are a little shell-shocked but they are loving the entire glass wall back of the house and skylights. I think we will be more than okay once we get settled.
Still some things to do at the old house, like dismantling the veggie garden. I have to turn the keys in Friday so I have a few more days. Back to work tomorrow since you get two moving days.
Wishing I had Martha Stewart’s army of minions….

I was prompted by Joni’s comment that it had been a while since I’ve even visited the blog site. It seems that all of the writing I have been doing over the past month consists of writing things down since my short term memory is overloaded and things tend to get forgotten!

Last night, I helped teach 80 kids to begin coding their first computer game. Tomorrow through Saturday, I’m helping teach 35 women how to begin coding and prepare themselves for making the transition to looking for and finding an IT job. Sunday I will be finishing sorting the current house, Monday the packers come and Tuesday the movers. Then on Wednesday our current house needs to be cleaned and the garden returned to rights and the handyperson chores need to be completed. I have given myself two days to get that done. Friday I do the walkthrough and turn in the keys for our soon to be old house.

Oh right, and Monday the washing machine gets delivered to the new house. I decided that to save space, I would get a washer/dryer in the same machine. They have those here. They cost more than a washer but less than a washer and dryer together. Exciting, I know…

Lots of juggling going on, work is a state of high friction and I am experiencing being micromanaged which I find demoralizing and frustrating. One of the things I like most about the Netherlands is the lack of hierarchy. Right now, I am experiencing the complete opposite of collaboration among equals. My whole team is struggling with it and it is really impacting how we work with each other and what we deliver. We are all hoping that it is a temporary thing but the longer it stretches out, the worse it gets.

The boys are still very cute and the cats are still running away when I try to round them up for their daily medicine. Moortje is a little more agitated lately, it seems like he gets lost in his head. I was doing some reading about dementia in cats and decided I didn’t need to know any more detail. Instead, as long as he is eating, sleeping, playing and searching for affection, we will take the Slightly Lost in the Living Room episodes in stride.

Maybe more next week 🙂