Who Moved My House?

Hi Coffee-O,

Like i mentioned earlier, I moved house last weekend and boy oh boy, I NEVER EVER want to move again. I am going to live and die in that house. Let me tell you why. I have always prided myself with being a minimalist - meaning, not much furniture, a bare minimum of cooking utensils, a few pieces of make-up, just 2 cupboards full of clothes and 3-4 pairs of shoes. By my standards, that's a minimalist compared to the amount of stuff my sisters have stashed away in their cupboards that resemble a labryinth of clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags and only God knows what else.

When moving day came, I crawled out of bed half recovered from my fever and flu to greet the movers at the door. Then i realised that I had not packed much of anything, so I told the movers to only take the big stuff like the furniture, washer and fridge, which they did. Then it dawned on me how much "other stuff" i owned. My cupboards were still full, my kitchen cabinets still bore my utensils and my store room still held my wedding gifts from seven years ago, christmas tree and decorations. Hereafter, it was 25 trips back and forth from my old house to the new carting away piece by piece of the whole mountain of "leftovers". By nightfall, I was too tired to move a muscle and a hill the size of Bukit Tinggi still stood at the old house. So i decided to call it a night and continue the next day.

By the way i forgot to mention, I was moving from 1 unit to another unit within the same condominium complex. By now, everyone in the complex knew I was shifting, even the cleaners, security guards, visitors and residents. Talk about embarrassing. My hubby, maid and I continued chipping away at the mountain the next day, with my kids tucked away at my mother's place and finally "voila" the mountain was gone. You should have seen my new house....there were things falling out the windows. I have no inkling where all these came out from and furthermore, in the home of a self-declared minimalist.

As my hubby and I stood and looked at our kitchen utensils, we realised they were stolen stuff....my hubby stole some pots and pans from his mother and I stole some from my mother. So that's where they came from. Then we eyed our kids' clothes, I thought I should keep some for memories, then I realised that I had kept ALL of them and they filled 2 large cartons. Then I looked at my books, glaring at me from the pile of junk were my varsity books and notes I had taken on my first day at work on my first job.

So it all had to go and we thought of calling Alam Flora to cart them away but we soon realised that it was not necessary. My maid suggested that we give them away to her Indonesian compadres who worked at the condo complex...I mean the cleaners and gardeners. I learnt 1 thing about networking and how strong that can be. Within seconds, a line-up of Indonesians came to my house and carted the junk away, whilst thanking us profusely. Hubby and I just stood there with our jaws open. My maid didn't even have to go out of the house to gather her compadres, just a call over the balcony to one person and the network just swung into action. I now know how Al-Qaeda was so successful. By the way, she is also the one who arranged for the lorry, again with a few deft messages here and there. Thank God for good maids, although I know some people have horror stories to tell. She worked like a machine and proved to be as strong as a man. My hubby and the security guard couldn't manage the 29" tv well but it only took her a little effort to help my hubby with the tv into the car....putting the two men to shame. Then off she went to salvage more of my stuff....i couldn't have done it without her. Then she asked us, "Any plans to shift to a bigger house?" and my hubby retorted "Only if we have 2 more people like you". As we scurried about the house looking for stuff, my "wonder maid" kept pulling out the very stuff we were looking for ....like magic....she had everything under control and we didn't.

Anyway, the drama is now over and we are pretty much settled in and discovering our new house. Like i always tell you....my life is a drama. I can identify so much now what Shakespear said when he wrote,"The world is a stage and we are all the actors in it."

For now....i am recovering from the stage play entitled "Who Moved My House?"

Missy Red