Today Liz and Rob and their daughter Jessica helped me move all my stuff out of storage in Mountain View and into my apartment in Santa Cruz (about 40 miles away). Thanks, guys! Rob also drove the moving truck for me (big thank you for that!). We got everything into the truck in about an hour! And I don't think it took much more than that to unload the truck and get it all into my second story apartment, either. So it was a very successful and efficient morning. Jed and Kam showed up to help load the truck about ten minutes before we were done, so they didn't get to do much helping, but it was very nice of them to try! And Stewart rode his bike down the hill to the apartment complex and helped bring stuff in. Thank you, Stewart! Especially for helping Rob carry the 42" TV up the stairs, and also the heavy Danish dining room table. Yay for all these wonderful people who helped me move!

And Kam has also offered to help me move the stuff from my sister's house (including the unwieldy queen-sized mattress!) on Tuesday... hopefully my sister and her van will be available that day, too. Or at least her van!

I'm going to spend a fair amount of time tomorrow continuing to sort and pack up the stuff I have here at Jessie & Stewart's house, so that by Tuesday it'll be ready to move. I'll probably take over a few odds and ends in between now and then, but some of it just has to go at the same time as my bed. 'Cause, for example, I don't really want to wake up at my sister's house and take my morning shower, then have to drive over to the apartment to put on some clothes. :)

Speaking of clothes, my cousin is sending me some beautiful pasties for my birthday! You can see her whole TwirlyGirl product line by clicking the link and then going to "products"! I'm not sure which ones exactly I'm getting -- I requested red with black trim, so it might be the Baroque Reds or the Opulence ones. In any case, I hope they arrive in time for the party, because pasties are optional, and I want to opt in!

Wow, it's only 10:00, and I'm all of a sudden totally exhausted. I suppose it just might possibly could be 'cause I got up at 6:45 in order to load a storage unit full of stuff into a truck and then unloaded it again, and then walked downtown for lunch and walked back again, and then unpacked my whole kitchen...

Y'know, I have 17 champagne glasses, two fancy long-stemmed liqueur glasses, and 10 "rocks" glasses. No other glassware (I do have some mugs). What does that say about my past, that I have (do the math, Lola) 29 glasses for serving alcohol, and none for oh, say, water, milk, juice... sigh. Although the champagne glasses were all gifts: one set was given as a wedding or maybe end-of-year gift from one of the families at my school, and the other set was hand-etched with calla lilies and given to me by my mom for a birthday. And once upon a time I had real drinking glasses too, but I think maybe Cynthia has those now. Or something. I don't know. And of course, my ex had lots of glasses, so I didn't need to go buy any when I moved in with him.

But glassware is on my list of things I need to buy. Silverware too. I have measuring cups and spatulas and a pastry cutter (and a few other things, too), but no silverware. What I do have, though, is the remnants of my grandma's china. Nothing fancy, by any means (although I think I have stored up at my dad's house her fancier china, too), but the blue and white floral pattern just reminds me of her. There're only a few pieces left -- the others broke over the years, while my grandparents were still using them -- but what I have is dear to me. So many meals were eaten on those plates! So many pictures were taken of meals being eaten on those plates!

I miss you, Grandma... I'm glad to have something of yours around.