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The past three days have been a flurry of activity. Twelve to sixteen hours each day of packing, loading a truck or the van, driving a half hour, only to unload and come back to do some more. (I totally am going to rock the Awesome Activity hours for this week and next, because dude, I have over 30 hours of moving activity this week!)
I got some furniture movers from Home Depot and I will say that it was forty dollars well spent. We were able to move the armoires out of the house with a minimum of smooshed fingers and bruised body parts-unlike moving them into the house.
In retrospect, we probably should have skipped renting the van on Tuesday in favor of doing more packing. It sucked a chunk of time in the middle of the day and not one thing went into the van until around 9am on Wednesday. We loaded some of the biggest things into the van: the two armoires, some odds and ends and the piano.
Yes, the two of us moved the piano into the van ourselves. It didn’t arrive here unscathed though. One of the legs is partially shredded and Ed broke off the sustain pedal when he was trying to get the furniture mover out from underneath the piano once it was in the truck.
We continued to load up the truck and as soon as Chef Jr got home, he and Ed drove over to the new house. I waited at the old place, packing and waiting for Gameboy’s school bus. As soon as it arrived, we were off to the new house.
On the way over to the new house , one of the armoires fell over and dented the lid of the old upright. Some of what we saved by moving it ourselves will end up going to replacing the sustain pedal-can’t have a piano without it.
I expected to find the small things unpacked and Ed waiting for me to help him get that big stuff out. Instead, I found our next door neighbor there chatting happily with Ed and the van half unloaded! No sooner had Ed backed that van into the drive that the guy was over at Ed’s door asking what he could do to help.
He’s a very nice guy and has the brute strength that was sorely needed. Heck, I think he could have moved the piano on his own! I prepared for the three of us to get the upright out and he turned to me and said “We’ve got this-keep unloading the VW.” I offered him a bottle of wine, but he says he’s not much on it. After all was said and done, he agreed to us cooking him a meal as repayment, but only after we’re settled in.
I am blown away, as was Ed. The neighbor on the other side ran out to introduce herself Thursday morning. In our last neighborhood, we knew people, but didn’t have any friendships a la Karen and Pat in Frederick. We nodded and said hello, but nothing beyond pleasantries were ever exchanged. Heck, even the cows in the pasture behind us come up to greet us.
After unloading Wednesday night, we went back to the old house, got the kids into bed and packed some more, finally throwing in the towel at around midnight. I thought we’d be fine, Ed was worried that we wouldn’t get out in time! The liason from the realtor handling the foreclosure had said we had until midnight on the 13th.
Thursday morning, the kids went off to school and we continued to pack the moving truck and Jane’s van. Our bed, living room furniture, refrigerator and assorted big pieces went in for this trip. I was thankful for the furniture movers, because my wrists announced their displeasure quite loudly. (Hey lady, don’t think you can cut us up five times and expect us to do things without complaint!) Even with the vicodin, I was in bad shape-but we had a job to do. Ed’s arthritis behaved in similar fashion and he was coming to the family drugstore (me) for his naproxen at regular intervals.
I had emptied the fridge into a few coolers and thus had a deadline for my departure. Ed and I
