Well, according to my real estate agent, who called her office and canvassed other agents…the proper rule is NOT to tip. The reason being that they’re professional movers, this is their job. So I didn’t tip them. I guess she might have been leading me down the wrong path, but…

Or maybe the movers got back at me. Part of the moving package was “unpack but do not put away.” I told them to unpack the kitchen, the kids’ room, and our room.

Well, maybe this was the right thing to do (according to one friend, I should have absolutely had them unpack), but…we’ve been swimming hip deep in stuff ever since. We couldn’t circumnavigate the kitchen island for a day and a half. (Seriously. We should have taken pictures.) We’re getting the house more under control, but what I really need to do is hire a few babysitters to watch the kids while I dig in at the biggest trouble spots.

We also bought a stainless steel front refrigerator, which does mark up with fingerprints just as much as everyone says. And we’re returning it, though not because of the fingerprints. It’s because stainless steel doesn’t hold magnets. WTF? It’s metal, isn’t it? Anyhow, we need magnets to hold priceless works of art that will come flooding our way soon, so the stainless steel fridge goes back to Sears and a shiny new black one—that holds magnets—will be here on Friday.

We got the keys to the house Friday evening. We spent Saturday shopping for a refrigerator and a TV—Sophia had enough of shopping early on and wanted to go play. No, sorry, hon: shopping day.

Sunday was spent doing fun things far away from the apartment of irritation: Darin took Sophia to see Finding Nemo—Her first movie in a movie theater! Might as well just cut her a set of car keys right now—and Simon and I visited our new neighborhood. I took a walk into town and bought some new running shoes. (Hey: you celebrate your new house anyway you choose. Me, I’m going to start running again, because I have moved to the running mecca of the western world and can’t wait to get started.)

When we came back to the house, Simon fell asleep. Darin was there with Sophia, who’d fallen asleep as soon as they left the movie. So we put the two of them to nap on the picnic blanket in our dining room:

Now, if you didn’t just say, “Awwwww” I’d get your DNA checked, frankly, because you’re lacking key homo sapiens sapiens sentimentalis sequences.

§

We camped out at the house Sunday night so that we would be sure to be here when the movers got here. They said they’d be here around 8 to 8:30. I assured Darin I could get the kids into the car and to the house by 8 from the apartment, but he said we should rough it and be here.

Of course, Darin and I both slept very badly—despite the fact that Aero beds are better than most other kinds of temporary beds, they’re not great. And we’re both wound up with excitement about the move. And he had a few things on his mind about work. I figure we’ll make up for the bad sleep when we finally get to sleep in our own beds again. Finally.

And it’s a good thing we camped out here, uncomfortable Aero beds or no, because about 30 seconds after Darin left for work this morning the moving truck arrived, about 30-45 minutes before they said they’d be here. All morning I’ve had the joy of discovering my carefully laid plans of what furniture goes where were for naught: there’s one room big furniture can’t fit into, because the angles of entry are all wrong. It’s frustrating. All of boxes of books have gone into my office, simply as a central storage zone, but there are so many boxes they had to start storing them on the back porch. And that’s before my desk goes in there. Heh.

I also don’t have any cash on hand to tip these guys when they’re done. Anyone have any rules of thumb on hand for how much to tip moving guys? (Please leave suggestions in the comments box.)

§

Something I discovered Sunday as I waited for Simon to take his pre-walk nap was that I think I’m going to like this house. It’s smaller than our LA house by only 100 square feet but it felt a lot smaller on my initial viewings because it didn’t have the soaring open spaces of the LA house.

What it does have that the LA house didn’t is a much more efficient use of space. Lots of closets. Lots of storage space. The kitchen is great—much better than I originally thought. (Although the fluorescents overhead have got to go.) I don’t even know what’s going to go into all the kitchen closets…because there’s a walk-in pantry! The family room right next to the kitchen! All of our bedrooms upstairs! In LA our bedroom was on a different floor than the kids’, which was tough.

But the absolute best thing, bar none, is…the location. (Yes, I know the cliché.) We can walk to town, which I did yesterday no sweat. Well, actually, quite a lot of sweat because it was hot yesterday, but you know what I mean. And there are neighbors…with small kids…who play in their front yards. Yesterday I met some of our neighbors, who were letting their boys play with the hose.

You don’t see too many kids playing in the front yard in LA.

In fact, not too many front yards in our old neighborhood.

So despite the unending torture of this move…I’m really really excited about the house and the neighborhood and our new life.

If only all of these boxes would unpack and put away themselves.