I hurt. A lot.
Yesterday, with the exceptional help of good friends, we moved into our “new” house. This after a major screw-up with U-Haul (they neglected to tell us when the truck was actually available) and a couple of weeks where we were away (vacations are a wonderful thing).
I dropped Asia off at the new house with some food and her litter box, then went off to get the truck. Teak and Rose were already waiting at the old house when I got back, and Doug arrived a few minutes later. Rose had to take off again (prior commitments), so it was just Teak, Doug, and myself for most of the morning.
Yes, that means the three of us moved three couches (two were the section; two of the three couches had pull-out beds), a couple of cabinets, numerous boxes, the bed, and the infamous big screen TV that took five guys and a hernia to get downstairs the first time. This time, three of us in a couple of minutes. Way easier.
Rose came back and helped us organize the truck. She does space arrangement for a living — she’s the Queen of Tetris. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’ve obviously never moved a house or apartment before. Or played Tetris.)
Mike appeared as we neared completion of filling the truck for the first load (it would take us two), and we filled his car with boxes while finishing up the truck.
I ordered pizza as we headed over to the new house, where Colette would meet us during our pizza break. Loading took three hours. Unloading took only 90 minutes, including some simple sorting to put things in the appropriate rooms.
When we returned to the old house, the For Sale sign on our lawn had a new “sold” sticker splashed on the front — something that had been only a “C/S” sticker earlier in the morning. Conditions are met. The house is finally out of our hands … well, once we get a surveyor to revalidate (sans the backyard deck from hell). And we see a lawyer again. And clean it up. Sigh.
Second load tackled cabinets, the china hutch, some small tables, dressers, and gardening stuff from the garage. Much faster loading, and faster unloading. The truck was back at the depot by 16:00 (only two hours behind my projected schedule!), and I went back for Alex’s clothes, our toiletries, towels, and some miscellaneous stuff I could cram in the Mini.
So we’re in the new house now. It’s messy, and everything we have is on the first floor. The basement is due for a serious renovation shortly (mostly for a new heating system — the half-century old furnace does not cut any mustard and is seemingly always on), so we want to keep it mostly empty.
