This morning I decided that I will keep sane during this move.
I know I won't have very much time, but I want to be able to look back at this.
Last week, we came home from our family reunion realizing that the next project on the list is THE MOVE. My brothers in law came by and helped us move a mammoth couch from upstairs, and a couple of tables. We unloaded some food storage, snowshoes (so sad to say goodbye to those babies), coats, boots, sleds, all sorts of stuff on our family members as they headed out of town.
And then I got sort of side tracked. We started pulling stuff out, and found the pile that we started last summer of things we wanted to sale at a garage sale.
We decided (I being the operative part of we) to have a garage sale.
I began boxing up my recipe books, and Thursday morning I got a call from someone wanting to see our house to potentially rent it. I sped cleaned (cleaned probably isn't a correct adjective, but you get the idea) and was then completely exhausted and overwhelmed afterwards. A painter also showed up at the same time to give me a bid for painting some of our rooms. After feeling overwhelmed, I spent the afternoon, and part of the morning on Friday searching for housing in Florida.
We headed down to Lowes Thursday evening and picked up new blinds for the front room.
They cut them too short. We got home and put them up, and they were 1/2 inch too short. Bummer.
On Friday I got the girls to work with me and we boxed up 4.5 of the bookshelves downstairs. We still have 2+ to go, but we got a lot done. 14 boxes down. That's something to feel good about.
On Friday night we pulled out lots and lots of stuff from the attic. The stuff we've been saving for 7-9 years...and not exactly sure why. I had a tough time sleeping Friday night - especially knowing that I had to get up early.
Up at 5:45 Saturday to start pulling everything for the yard/garage sale out.
My girlfriend showed up at 6:20, and by 7:30 we were rocking and rolling.
It was a total blessing that I speak spanish, and I know how to barter. :)
At 10:00 the girls opened a lemonade stand.
We had a very steady stream from 7:30 - 11:30. So steady I didn't have a chance to get breakfast (kids had to forage), go to the bathroom, or put sunscreen on. I got FRIED.
By 11:30 the cars stopped lining up, and we were left with a lot less than we started with, and my pants kept slipping down due to the weight of quarters in my pockets.
Meanwhile, my husband was prepping and painting the upstairs loft. My girlfriend's husband is a painter, and he was drawn by the smell of paint, and helped my husband out a little bit.
We still had all of the big furniture (mammoth couch), chairs, desks, dressers, and some sundry books, clothes etc. We loaded it into our friend's van, and 5 trips later, the driveway was free except for the mammoth couch. My husband made his famous tuna sandwiches and we all sat out on the couch at the end of the driveway resting and chatting. We weren't sure what to do with the couch.
Our friends left, and I began cleaning the kitchen and front room while my husband finished up the second coat of paint. We then decided to head back to Lowes to resolve the blind issue. There we met my cousin who had come to the area for a hike with his family. We had dinner together, and then we headed back home to collapse.
Only Sunday morning did we realize that we were out of milk, bread, produce, and most everything else! Our fridge is almost bare, and pretty quick here, we will begin eating the condiments. I'm joking of course, but sure don't want to buy food that I'm going to turn around and throw away.
Sunday morning - the couch was still there. Sunday after church - the couch was still there. How do you unload a sofa sleeper couch? It was huge, and heavy, and second hand when we received it. We don't have a van or truck. So we left the sign on it, and said a prayer that someone who needed it could get it.
Sunday afternoon our friend Placido came by. He is so sad to see us move - we've known him for 11+ years, and he just lives down the road. He joined us for dinner, and we visited, and he asked if he could help us with anything. Jokingly, I said yes - we have to get rid of the couch. I'm our HOA president, and I KNOW that people in the neighborhood have been having a coronary every time they drove by and saw my couch with the free sign sitting at the end of my driveway.
Well, just like that, Placido called a guy, and 2 hours later (when his wife got home with their van) Alex showed up and drove away with our couch. He was SO grateful for it. We were SO grateful that he took it.
I think I forget how often the Lord blesses me and answers my prayers. That was a relief.
Moving forward, today - I am tackling my laundry. I'll be able to cull through the winter clothing, and get rid of a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets. It is a daunting task, but I've got to get started, and we've got someone else wanting to look at our place tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow I've got some friends helping me, and will dedicate myself (and my slaves for the day) to loading up our 1 year supply of food. Wednesday, we've got the moving company surveyor coming out, and we can finally get an idea of when our move date will really be! So much to do, and so little time!
While I know everyone moves, and this is nothing original, it has been a long time for us, and 2000 miles is a long ways to carry all this stuff.
I'm off to start my day.
