Movin' On In!

We finally have internet again, so I can sit down between unpacking boxes and finishing Christmas gifts, and jot down an update!

Moving day went really smoothly thanks to several handy-if-not-happy-to-be-lifting-heavy-boxes helpers. We got the biggest truck Uhaul had available and loaded it to the very top. Plus several van loads of miscellaneous stuff that had to stay at the apartment as we cleaned it, or pictures, or curtains... all that last minute junk. The loading took about 2 hours, and unloading about the same. Things were organized enough that by the time Mark got back from returning the truck, my sister-in-law and I had put together ALL the beds, including bedding! As well as moved around furniture so there was a place to sit and rest.

In the mornings we tried putting the house together, which for the first few days involved trips to the hardware store to find dryer vents, dryer cords, well filter replacements, prices on fridges, and boxes of Magic Erasers. Boxes were rapidly emptied and broken down flat to be taken to the grocery store's box crusher at some point.

In the afternoons we headed over to the old apartment to clean and scrub and wipe and sneeze and vacuum and patch holes. We had been told not to shampoo because they'd do the carpets anyway when we left. Then there was a new manager who did the walk through, and told us that if we had cleaned them ourselves she would have called it good! Ugh! That would have saved us a good $75 of our deposit! But by that time we were just ready to be done and agreed to have them shampooed by professionals. If we ever rent again, there are certain things I will have in writing before signing a lease. Period. Other than the shampooing, paint, and a few sets of blinds, everything looked good.

While unloading the truck, I set aside all the Christmas decor, so we pulled out the tree and decorated it as a family Sunday evening. Very simply done so Daniel would have less to break, and suprisingly he's leaving it alone! Stockings have been hung by the wood-burning stove with care on the nails that the old owners kindly left there. :-)

Soot, by the way, sticks to everything and has to be scrubbed off of skin with soap and a loofah. But it hadn't been cleaned since last winter and was very dusty, ash all over inside, and soot clinging to the glass on the doors. We couldn't get a fire to stay lit in there until I cleaned it out thoroughly the other day, and now a decent fire will heat most of the house for an entire evening. Mark even has an axe so he can cut the wood down to size from the local lumber yard. They sell leftovers from the huge logs they use to make log cabins, and you can load your car and pay by the cubic foot. Walking into the house to the smell of a fire going is wonderful and toasty warm! Mark grew up with a stove, so he's in heaven...

And.... we've been picking out paint! One of the bedrooms is bright pink. And although William actually likes it, we'd rather have a room with a more masculine feel to it. Samples have been purchased and painted on the wall, and the colors chosen for wall and trim. Now, before I decide it's too much work, we just have to borrow a ladder and prime the walls!

Ah, for a garage!

It dawned on Mark and I the other day, that moves I remember as a child, the military packed everything up. Except moving to Oklahoma, but I don't remember much about that as far as boxes are concerned. Our move from Rexburg to Rigby as newlyweds didn't involve much packing as we didn't have much yet.

Even moving from off base in England to on base, we had the movers who came and boxed everything, drove it to the base, and dropped it off at the new house. Spoiled? Maybe a little.

For the first time, I am attempting a major move without any outside mover help. Collecting boxes that were luckily saved from our move here, my sister-in-law's move here, and the local grocery store and discovering Mark was smart enough to save a huge bunch of packing paper. I've got flat boxes stored in several nooks and crannies, and packed ones stacked in the living room, bedrooms, and closets. We've been through several rolls of tape and still have more to go.

The hard part, other than all the crazy over getting the loan which is a complete blog post in and of itself that will not get written for a while because I'm still suffering residual stress, is living with the boxes everywhere! If we took Mark's mom's offer to store them in her garage, then the elder's quorum would have to help with the furniture here, and then go to her house and load boxes there too. With only 9 days to go it's just easier to leave them here. But our life is now stepping around box piles! I plan on taking a picture the day before moving day, because we'll be packing things like clothes and last minute stuff we'll be using until it goes into the box, and the house will be full. All the chaos will be worth it to unpack in our own place, but for now, I sure wish we had our own garage to stick all these dratted boxes!