Cool Motivation

In the past 3 or 4 days here in Portland we have had record breaking heat. I'm talking triple digits, people. The kind of heat that makes you want to crawl right into your big chest freezer and NEVER COME OUT. We don't have a chest freezer, or that's probably where you would have found me when our temps got up to 107.

This is the Pacific Northwest, known for it's rain, moderate climate, being green and, did I mention, RAIN? Sure, we bitch about the rain from time to time, usually around March-May, when we're ready for a little bit of sun and the chance to get outside and explore this gorgeous part of the country. But generally we've come to tolerate, if not accept, natures little showers.

Due to this incredibly hot, and I mean HOT weather, we have done very little unpacking in our new house. OUR NEW HOUSE!!! I still can't get over the fact that we're home owners. Anyway, back to unpacking, or the lack thereof. There are boxes EVERYwhere. You can't look at any one wall in our house without seeing stacks of boxes, some unopened, others ransacked looking for one thing or another.

"Where are the nail clippers?!"
"Have you seen the poop bags?"
"I need SOCKS!"

And my favorite so far...

"Did you pack the toilet paper?!"

This heat has been doing us no favors in the unpacking process. For a few days it was almost as hot IN our house as it was outside. Can I get a group groan? All together now...

"Ugh!"

If you know me at all, you'll know that living in the land of boxes is driving me bonkers. I'm the type of person who likes to get things done NOW, not tomorrow. The fact that I didn't have the house unpacked and settled on the day we moved in is something that I've had to try to accept. This weekend is supposed to be a tad bit cooler, so we're hopeful that we'll make some headway and empty out some boxes.

Something else that will help in this task is the fact that we bought an air conditioner. Normally that would not have been something to brag about, but allow me to toot my own horn here for a second. Because of this heat wave that hit us, every store was sold out and is "probably not" re-stocking them, since they typically only get one shipment a year. The Hubster and I went out on a search for an AC on Tuesday night, and came home empty handed.

Now, we could have handled the heat if we had to, but the dogs were another story. I'd been hearing stories about how some peoples animals had died due to heatstroke during this heat wave, and we didn't want our dogs to succumb to the heat. So Wednesday morning rolls around and we decide that the dogs should spend the day at the apartment, which also doesn't have air conditioning, but was much cooler than the house. The Hubster brought them down when he was on his way to work, and it worked out perfectly. I say it worked out perfectly because it was on Wednesday that I FOUND AN AIR CONDITIONER!

All morning I had been pouring through the ads on Craigslist looking for an AC in our price range. I had emailed 4 different people, only to receive a response from one of them that said "Sorry, already sold." I got NO response from the others. So all morning I'm sitting on Craigslist hitting "refresh", over and over again. All of a sudden, this ad for a NIB (new in box) AC pops up. They bought the AC for their neighbor, who bought themselves one at the same time. So instead of taking it back to the store, they were selling it for $10 less than what they bought it for. I emailed right away, leaving my phone number just like they'd asked (scary!). Not even 10 minutes had gone by and my phone rings with this number I don't know. It was the seller, and I was the first person to respond! The AC is mine if I want it. YES, I WANT IT!!! Oh, and could you come and pick it up today sometime between noon and 4pm? SURE! I'll take an early lunch, drive down to Clackamas in 100+ degree weather, for a killer deal on an AC!

So now, we have no excuse for the boxes just sitting there. Our house is incredibly cool, the dogs are happy, and we're about to get unpacked.

I love summer! (says the girl with AC)