Move in time

Where do I begin?  I guess I'll start with last Friday.  It's all kind of sketchy now, but if I remember right, Jeff, JJ, my dad and Eddie were working on finishing up putting up the pine boards on the walls and plumbing stuff.  Then once that was done, Jeff was going to paint the walls and ceiling Friday night.  Notice I said was. 

I spent most of the day packing and around 5:30 pm the kids and I headed out to the land to take Jeff his paint sprayer.  I taped off everything we didn't want painted while Jeff and JJ hustled around, working quickly to get things ready.  By 1 am Saturday, we were ready to spray but Jeff discovered we were missing part of the sprayer so we decided to drive back home, (one hour drive) get the part then head back and  paint it.  We were rushing because we were loading up and moving at 10 am.  Period.

We got home and couldn't find the part anywhere so we went to bed with the plan that Jeff would get up early to get the missing part from Lowe's then go back out to paint.  After three hours of sleep he was off again and left me behind to coordinate the moving process.  My parents, Erin, Rick and Jeff B. showed up at ten to move us and they really barrelled their way through the house.  You know how you have all those last minute things to pack, like the junk hiding under the furniture, curtains, computer...well, I had to work insanely fast to keep up with them.  Then after lunch, my Jeff, JJ and Eddie showed up to help us finish up.  That's when it really felt like it turned into a whirlwind.  (Sometimes I feel like I married a tornado.)

No time for gloves or glasses!

We got to the new house to unload and the guys all started transforming into Heman and the Hulk!  They unloaded that truck so fast my head was spinning!  Once it was unloaded, they began putting things upstairs, minus the stairs, just up.  They just started tossing up 300 pound boxes and hefting large pieces of furniture straight up over there heads into the second floor opening to the guys on the second floor who were catching and pulling the stuff right up!  They even commented that they were glad we didn't have stairs because it would have taken a lot longer to get stuff up there.  All I could do was sit in the corner in my little rocking chair and stare...and occasionally gasp.  And when they were done, none of them were even hobbling or holding their backs! I wish you all could have been there to watch so you could share in my amazement.  Can you imagine women doing that?  Me either.  Manly men are amazing!  I'm so glad to be married to one!

We went to bed that night in our new house, totally exhausted, and then it started to snow.  Jeff and I laid in bed watching the huge flakes drift through the dark sky to the ground through our big bedroom window.  It was beautiful. Then came Sunday.  Oh, Sunday.  Terrible, awful Sunday.

We woke up to four or five inches of snow, which was a wonderful looking sight, but we still had moving to do.  We had to go back and load up Jeff's garage.  We planned on meeting everyone again at our old house at 10 am but had to push it back to eleven because the roads were so bad.  Once we got to the house, Jeff went to start up the moving truck and realized he must have left the keys for it at the new house because they were no where to be found.  So, once again, he headed out to the land and let the others work on the garage.  Jeff's a gear head and was a builder for several years so this was no small task.  Clever, isn't he.

It continued to snow all day as well as never get above 22 degrees.  Once we were finally loaded up and ready to go, it was 6pm and dark.  Did I mention the snow?  What about the road conditions?  Have I told you they were bad?   The moving truck was from yellow line to white line wide and we live off a couple gravel roads.  Our gravel driveway is kind of long, narrow and on an incline and the eight million, tightly packed trees that run right along to the driveway are all wildly overgrown.  It's like we live out in the boonies.  Now imagine what happens when this caravan we were in, including a huge moving van finally make it to the driveway.  Yep.  We get stuck.  It wasn't too bad, though, for anyone except Jeff and the moving truck.  I can't give you details on the whole ordeal because I had to keep my eyes closed until it was all over, forty minutes later, but I hear it was a little scary at times.  Especially for Rick and his pickup, who almost got plowed over by Jeff who was driving the huge, 26 foot van like he was being chased by Satan.  It was necessary, I hear, to make it up that hill and around the corner at all cost.  Sorry, Ricky.  I would have stopped for you.  Madison and Grace were in the truck with Jeff, and when they finally were freed, the two jabberwockies were speechless and their eyes were the size of silver dollars.

Even though the floor of the moving truck had turned to a sheet of ice and everyone was slipping and sliding with each step, the truck got unloaded pretty quickly.  Then, after another moving truck stuck in the snow incident, we were on the road again to return the truck which was due back before 11pm.  We made it with one hour to spare.  Then we had a victory dinner at the only place open besides the Waffle House, Arby's.

Here we are now.  Finally!  The worst is over, but there is still so much work to do.  I have some exciting things I want to show you and I'll update you on our adventures in pioneering as soon as I can finish digging my way through this mess or need another break, which ever comes first.

One last thing.  Yesterday was my sweet little boy's 5th birthday.  Because it was our first day in the house and we were exhausted, we didn't have a party.  I did however, make him a microwave mug cake and snow ice cream for a little celebration.  Don't worry though, we won't deprive him of a party.  My mom is making him a rocket cake, at Isaiah's request, and having us over for a little birthday party one night this week.

Happy Birthday Isaiah!