The Great Unpacking: Phase Two

Normal bloggy service will resume soon, in time to build up to Nanowrimo and my writing group! For now, though, am still embroiled.

I have escaped the war zone that is our apartment to catch up on work and emails in the local (and blessedly free of boxes) Borders. Mum and I have been unpacking all day, and some sort of mother-daughter murder-suicide situation was about to develop, so it was clearly time for a coffee break. Mum has been fantastic - she has worked so hard for us on what is meant to be a holiday for her, and I'm very grateful. She is patient as a saint, but I am no good at dealing with mess and turn into an irritable thing-that-is-irritable without regular breaks. We are making good progress. Most of the boxes have now been emptied and demolished. A couple of the rooms are finished. So it is all going well. Nice to get away from it, all the same, before I start thinking I'm a box-cutter and try to rip duct tape with my teeth.

Unpacking seems to have impaired my ability to remember nouns.
"Can you pass the ... thingy?"
"Put the ... whatsit ... in the cupboard."
"Have you seen the ... doo-dad?"

Weird things that the removal men packed*

A sugar bowl full of sugar. I thought I had emptied all the salt and pepper grinders, spice jars etc but this one clearly escaped. Luckily, it didn't spill any on the journey!
A soap dish WITH THE SOAP STILL ON IT. A wee bar of soap, taped to a soap dish.
A bag of rubbish from a rubbish bin. Without the bin. Just the bag full of used tissues and cotton-wool balls.
A used-up tube of lip balm. This in itself is a little odd, but it was also lovingly wrapped in about three layers of padding.

Things they did not pack for some reason

The screws and Allen key necessary for putting our bed together.

Awesome things about unpacking

Books!
Clothes!
Furniture!
Photos!
Excuse to take regular snack breaks!
Etc

* We employed a service that did all the packing and shipping for us.

P.S. Mink LOVES this process. He loves the piles of boxes and packing materials that he can play in. He loves the suddenly endless number of hiding places and ankle-ambushing sites. And we have unpacked all his toys, as well. He is pretty much in kitty heaven.