Smells like chicken wings!

We are finally completely moved into the new house! The move day actually went quite smoothly--despite it being the most humid day of the summer (Thanks Tropical Storm Fay!) and taking twice as long as was estimated, thus costing twice as much. (Worth every penny!) There were a couple of minor hiccups, of course. The first was the massive traffic jam on the highway between our old apartment and the new house. A tractor trailer overturned, taking up three lanes of traffic in the middle of the afternoon and turned what is normally a 25 minute drive into an hour and a half drive. This is particularly ironic because I asked the salesman at the moving company about this exact scenario when he was explaining the by-the-hour pricing structure to me:

"Well, what if there's a huge traffic jam? Will I have to pay the movers to sit in traffic?"

"Well, yes. But you're moving in the middle of the afternoon, so you won't have to worry about that."

Huh.

The day's other ridiculous event involved Jason's deep fryer. (Yes, I know, everything to do with a deep fryer is ridiculous. And delicious.) Apparently, the mover who packed up our kitchen did not check the deep fryer before loading it in the dish barrel. If he had, he would have noticed that it was full of oil.

At this point, I would like to mention that I asked Jason more than once to empty the deep fryer. Just mentioning it.

Naturally, when they heaved the box around the truck and tipped it back on the dolly all of the oil gushed out of the sides and all over the box. And everything in the box. And all over the walkway leading up to our house and the front steps just outside the front door. Fortunately, the movers noticed the horrified look on my face as I watched the oil pouring out of the corners of the box and stopped just short of taking it into the house.

We had to unpack the entire box in the middle of the front yard and try to clean everything with paper towels. (Oil repels water!) The front walk is still streaked with oil and the approach to the house smelled very much like chicken wings for two days.

The mover that packed the box felt really badly about the whole thing, so he didn't charge us for four of the boxes that he packed ($40 each!). So, I guess it turned out to be a good thing. At least that's how Jason is spinning it.

Other fun things from the weekend:

• The refrigerator was finally successfully installed and it is glorious! I could turn it into a spare bedroom the thing is so big!
• The new dishwasher was also installed and it is not so glorious. It has a dent on the front panel. Many calls to Sears thus far have not yielded a new dishwasher. But I will persevere!
• We tried to have satellite tv installed (Jason has been lobbying for the Direct Ticket for years now), but the only place they could install the dish was smack in the middle of the backyard, so it was a no-go. Jason is crushed. We went to Lowes as consolation.
• We met some of our new neighbors. Everyone seems super friendly and, best of all, the family that lives next door has the most amazing finished basement I have ever seen anywhere, ever. It looks like the coolest, most super-secret dive bar in town--real wood paneling, built in bar, fireplace, pool table, giant tv, vintage beer signs and neon lights, and a stage with a karaoke machine. I sang "Paradise City." Welcome to the neighborhood!