Near Catastrophes

We have lived in the house less than one month. I have to keep reminding myself of that because it definitely seems much longer.

I've decided that this semester is worth recording (not that others haven't been – this one just seems right). I was originally going to start this recording back at day one. That would have been the logical thing to do. However, I have since discovered that the logical thing is not always the thing that happens, nor is it where things always start. So, I'm going to start where I would like to, and today that is with catastrophes.

Furniture

I'm starting with this one because this was our first area of near disaster.

• The first lesson we learned was that not all furniture is meant to be moved. Michelle and I live in the room normally occupied by the two girls, while Sarah has the room that the boys normally shared, and we needed some more drawer space. So, Charlotte and I got the brilliant idea of moving one shelving unit over in my room and then moving one of the dressers over from Sarah's room. Shelving unit? A piece of cake to move. Dresser on the other hand, not so easy. Sometimes they almost fall apart. Thankfully this one didn't completely, but the moving process did take over an hour, and we were only moving all of twenty feet...
• Couches are wonderful things to have. They are nice to study on. They are lovely to drink tea while reading on. They are much more comfortable than the floor to watch movies on. However, according to Michelle, they are not so nice when you have an indoor dog. Which leads me to...

Zazie

One day I'll devote an entire post to this little dog. But at the moment, I am just going to share a few of our more momentous occasions.

• First thing to know about an indoor dog is that her water intake is directly related to the amount of water you give her, which is also correlated, oddly enough, to the amount of times one will have to take her outside to go to the bathroom. This makes for lots of cleaning up the couches until you figure out the correct ratio.
• Also, you should know that she is a rather smart dog. Screen doors are not a challenge for her. We have since made a rule that unless in the same room, glass doors must remain closed.
• Behind glass windows, she is one of the bravest souls ever. In the real world, though, she gets rather frightened, say when a dog three or four times her size runs at her. Note to self, not all dog-owners like leashes. Point taken.
• Looking at her, one would never guess that she could make her way all the way onto the table and eat the chocolates left there, but let me tell you, this girl has hops. She teaches manners as well. For any chair that is not pushed in at the kitchen table is a recipe for just getting whatever you left there eaten. Thankfully, Reeces apparently don't stay in a dog's system for more than a week...

Keys

I have learned, having a house is one thing. Having keys to said house is something different entirely.

• Before arriving, I had the only key to the house. I gave said key to Charlotte since she would be arriving before me. We assumed that the rest of the keys would be at the house. This was a correct assumption, but things are not always where you expect them to be – such as on the table with the rest of the notes.
• Ace Hardware may not be the place you want to go to get your keys cut. I'm just letting you know that sometimes they don't work. However, when this happens, just call them and complain and they'll fix it with a smile (well, I'm presuming they fixed it with a smile, Sarah took them, so I don't actually know).
• Forgetting your keys is one thing when you live in a dorm. Typically there's an RA somewhere, especially if you forget them at night. Forgettting your keys when you live in a house is a less pleasant experience. The result? Sometimes you tramp around the house, potentially looking like a burglar to those inside or your professor who lives next door in an attempt to get in. And, just in case you were wondering, those new post-fire windows are pretty break-in proof.

The Oven

This is an interesting one. Having a kitchen for the first time during school has been a rather wonderful experience, and by rather, I mean tremendous. Being able to cook whatever, whenever I want makes for spectacular days. However, sometimes having a kitchen and being responsible has its downfalls:

• like when the face plate on the oven door falls off and it takes an hour and two people to fix it.
• or when you forget that “light” and “high” are not the same thing (don't worry, gas was only emitted into the air for like two minutes).
• Or, my personal favorite, when you allow things to bake for longer than their allotted time – just a note, pies that have been baked for hours make the entire house smell a little funny. We now have a rule about setting the timer.

The Washer

• Electronics are finicky things. I'm not sure that I understand the electronics we have in our garage. Sometimes they work beautifully and others, even though you push the same exact buttons, forty minutes later, and your clothes are still wet. However, even this can be put in perspective (beyond that of being grateful to have them at all – which we are most definitely) when you walk into the garage expecting to remove dry towels and sheets and emerge over an hour and a half later, leaving freshly dirty towels soaking in the sink. Apparently putting laundry detergent on top of the washer while doing a load of laundry is not the wisest idea. Sometimes it causes you to lose 90% of the detergent you have (say goodbye to those 120 loads). On the plus side, one-fourth of the garage floor is now much cleaner, oddly enough the portion directly in front of the machines...

Harold

• This one is a sad one. And not a near catastrophe. A real catastrophe. In addition to a home to live in, we were also given three animals to look after: Zazie, Jake (a cat, more on him later), and Harold. Well, we're down to two. We think poor Harold's heart just couldn't take all the excitement.