A quick update on the move!

I have barely had two minutes to sit down at the computer, let alone write a full update of our move…so here’s the somewhat shorter version!

The professional packers came for two days and packed up the entire house. What a job! Yes, they did 96% of it, but Tom and I were still running around moving things and answering questions and directing traffic—it was way more work than either of us remembered, and it was exhausting (especially for me). As a sidenote, the cats didn’t appreciate being locked in carriers, but they were cute:

Then the movers came on Day 3 and loaded up the semi—it was scary enough just to see that HUGE truck pull up to the house:

And even scarier to see just how much of the semi our household contents filled (here they are almost done loading—our stuff came right to that last open door):

Of course, the work still wasn’t done—as there are LOTS of things they can’t pack like batteries, light bulbs, liquids (everything from cleaners to shampoo to cooking oils to detergent) so we spent each night boxing up that stuff for us to carry in the U-Haul. And then there was the cleaning. And patching. And touching up paint.

And then we got the call Saturday afternoon that our stuff would be arriving in Michigan Monday morning between 8-10am. HUH? What? Egads. Tom and I had been planning on driving up together Monday morning after he checked out—and planned on getting our stuff delivered Wednesday or Thursday—but things change, and we weren’t giving up the chance to get our stuff early so I left bright and early Sunday morning and drove the entire 14 hours in one day (well, it’s about 12.5 hours, but with stops…). It was a long day, but I made it.

The cats were funny on the way up (I got the cats, Tom got Maggie): they were each in a separate crate next to each other. I had covered them with a towel in the hopes it would make them calmer if they couldn’t see what was going on (I’m not sure if it helped or not). But what was funny is that they would cry and whine and meow, then they would be quiet, but as soon as the GPS announced a turn, they heard the voice and started meowing. Then they’d be quiet. Or one would cry, which would make the other cry, then quiet. Then the GPS would ding and they’d cry some more. Then quiet. Music didn’t disturb them, but if I sang along to the music? Crying and meowing. It was hilarious.

Anyway, I had called my mom before I left, and she was waiting at the house for me—so that was really nice to pull up to lights on and the heat going! And poor Tom was left packing up and cleaning the rest of the house!

The movers were there at 8:30 the next morning and quickly unloaded everything. I was very glad mom was there, as she was able to run and get drinks and lunch (you can’t leave the house, otherwise the workers can’t be there). They were done in about seven hours (just about the amount of time it took to load the truck) which sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you consider all the crap we had.

I started to do some unpacking, but it’s really overwhelming and lots of things just have no home and my brain wasn’t up to thinking where I wanted things (i.e. the kitchen has more cabinets, but no pantry, so all the food has to go in cabinets—but then where does all the bakeware go because there is no room in the cabinets OR for the standalone pantry we had at the old house).

Needless to say, after a week of unpacking, there is still lots of organizing to do. Most of the household boxes are unpacked—or at least unwrapped so we can see what is in them…but the garage boxes are going to be the biggest nightmare. Why? This garage is WAY smaller than our last one. It’s a two-car garage, but it’s a TINY two-car garage with NO storage space. (At this point we are guessing that neither of us will be parking in the garage—and eventually, maybe ONE of us will be able to.)

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