Carry on

It's the end of the week.  I had optimistically stupidly hoped that we would be done unpacking and settling by this point.  I know.  Say it with me, "Oh, you poor, darling fool."  Yes.  Yes, I am.

At the moment the kitchen has me completely defeated.  I have have a cabinet and  half let of space in it, and no idea what I'm going to do, as I have about three, perhaps four, cabinets worth of stuff left.  Of course, it's just a matter of packing up things we don't use as often.  The question is placement.  Because that will depend on what stays and goes.  Only certain things will fit in certain places, and the biggest question is what to do with my spices.  Did you know that you should definitely not store your spices and things above the stove as the heat from your cooking will destroy their quality?  Did you also know that the easiest access for me for my spices is right above my stove, as to the right is the fridge and to the left is a cabinet with one large door that opens towards the other side?  Yes, not convenient for cooking.  So what to do?  I have no idea, and so my kitchen and dining room are a wretched mess.

I'm no child psychologist but so far I have identified three stages of adjustment in Eliza for this move.  Fist, fascination.  She slept late our first morning here (wonderful!).  She crawled from room to room, jabbered, and played with anything within reach.  Then, confusion.  She began to crawl from room to room and seemed to be looking for something not quite there.  (It didn't help that the window guys were here and kept talking to hr and she felt extremely shy).  Now, we have moved on to hyper-clingyness.  Yes, folks, she is a permanent fixture on my hip when other people are around.  She will only let me hold her, if she can help it.  She isn't sleeping well.  Her first decent nap of the week took place on my lap this afternoon.  I hope the next phase is adjustment and things can begin to return to normal as far as she is concerned.

Due to this recent phase of clinginess (which has been the last three days), I've gotten little in the kitchen done.  And little elsewhere done, because it is the kitchen that has me stumped/stressed/crying three days in a row.  I feel like I can't move on until it's done.  I may need to move past that feeling and just see to other things.  But my kitchen certainly won't be functional until everything is put away.  There just isn't space for a mess in there.

So, plan of attack.  1) DON"T let the kitchen get me down.  Even if I only put a few things away at a time, it will get done! 2) Carry on with life, even though Eliza and the kitchen can make it difficult at times.  After all, gotta set that example for hr after all, don't I?  3) Get as much of the rest of the apartment squared away that I can so that when I have to escape the kitchen, there's a safe place to escape to.  I think that's the plan for tomorrow.