memorable moving moments

we're all moved in! well, mostly moved in. we still have a few things at the old house and we need to go clean, leave keys, etc. but other than that, we're in!

it has been a very memorable week and a half for us! most moves are memorable, but this move will be particularly memorable for us because nothing went quite as planned. but maybe that's how moves go when you have too much stuff and too little time! this move was a comedy of errors! mason and i tried to anticipate how long things would take and we tried to overestimate just to be sure we had enough time, but even then, things still took remarkably longer than we anticipated. we tried to laugh about it as we went along but sometimes we felt the overwhelming stress of it all and wondered how it was all going to work. it did all work out, eventually, but much differently than we thought. :) here's a look at how our move went:

• we taped and masked all day on thursday and friday in preparation to spray paint on saturday. friday evening found us far behind so we ditched the idea of getting our washer and dryer picked up on saturday and decided that we needed to devote the entire day on saturday to painting. good thing too as we taped and masked all morning on saturday and didn't start painting until about 12:00 or so. we had given up on getting the entire house painted on saturday but surprizingly we were able to (minus two bathrooms). at 11 p.m. that night, we were done!
  
• we returned to the house on monday afternoon and found an inch of water all over the kitchen floor. we realized that the dishwasher had a leak so i ordered a part and mason fixed it. thank goodness for a handy husband! the part wasn't cheap but it would have been much more if we would have had to hire someone to come fix it.
• we took down all the taping and masking on monday and found only a few boo-boos. the frustrating part for me was the blue painters tape. we had such a time trying to get it to stick - we'd get it up on the wall and then the next day it was down. but then trying to get the stuff off after the painting was done was far more difficult than it should have been. and there are places where the paint bleed through the tape (which isn't supposed to happen). it's not that big of a deal since we'll be painting the trim in a few months anyway but it was frustrating to me. i'm done with the painters tape! next time we'll just go slow and eye-ball it.
• tuesday morning i got a call from the carpet cleaners saying that they were coming a day early to clean the carpets. so i got andrew all ready and loaded as much stuff as i could into the car and headed up to the new house. i got there, opened the garage door, pulled the car in and went to open the door into the house and... it was locked. we changed all the outside locks but hadn't changed that lock so we didn't have a key to it. to add insult to injury, i didn't have my house key with me either. so we were locked out of the house. i called mason and he left work to come and let me in. i cried tears of frustration as we waited for him to come. andrew of course didn't want to just sit and wait. he wanted to be outside where the wind was blowing and it was freezing. finally mason came and let us in. i hurriedly vacuumed all the carpets while mason kept andrew entertained and unloaded the cars. the carpet guys were supposed to come at 11:30. we waited, and waited, and waited. finally at 1:30 the guy showed up. if i had known that, i wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get up to the house and get the carpets vacuumed. anyway, the carpets looked great after he left so i guess it was all worth it.
  
• wednesday was 'normal' with no surprizes!!
• mason took most of thursday and friday off of work again so on thursday we'd planned to borrow a truck to get our washer and dryer as well as take up two or three loads with the cars. that all changed when we realized that we were going to have a blizzard instead! we did manage to take up two loads to the new house before it got too bad and it was exciting to see all the new snow! we got about a foot at the new house and it seemed like less than that at the old house when we got there the next morning. i would have wanted it to continue but since we were getting a moving truck the next day at all, it was nice that it cleared when it did.
  
• friday was a whirlwind! we got the truck early and got to the old house to finish the last of the packing and start packing the truck. i wasn't feeling very well because i had not eaten well the day before. andrew was fussy because he didn't know what the heck was going on and mason was stressed to get it all done in time. so we were quite the team! i left mason and jake benfield (thank you jake!) to load the truck so i could meet the internet guy at the new house. others were supposed to show up and help mason load the truck but we forgot to call and remind them so we're assuming they forgot too. we're thankful that jake was there because he and mason were able to get the heaviest stuff and then mason finished the rest by himself! i felt so bad for him but he managed. i called my cousin lindsey at the last minute and asked if she would help him finish up, which she gratefully did. mason managed to get the truck up here only 2 and a half hours late and then much needed help arrived to unload. lindsey kept andrew entertained while i directed traffic and carried in light loads. mason and all our help (since i know only the wives read the blog... please thank your husbands for us!! we really appreciate all their help!) unloaded the truck in record time. then we went out to dinner and relaxed!!
• saturday we set about putting the house in order. we didn't plan on getting much done since we were all so tired but we made a dent!
  
• the funniest thing to me since being in the new house is that i feel like we're roughing it even though we're in this big, new house. mason and i are still camping out on the floor in sleeping bags (our bedroom set gets delivered today!). andrew is still in his pack 'n play because we left the hardware to his crib at the old house. we have two bathrooms up stairs but we only have one toilet and one shower that work and they aren't in the same bathroom (that will hopefully get solved soon)!
• yesterday for church, mason had to borrow a pair of my black socks (which didn't fit) and one of andrew's ties (which obviously didn't fit) because we can't find his sock container and the ties are still at the old house. oops! :) don't worry, mason wore a sweater so you really couldn't tell that it was andrew's tie that he was wearing. although you could kind-of tell that it was a clip-on which i thought was funny. mason was a good sport about the whole thing though.

i have pics that i want to post but we haven't unearthed the downloader thingy yet. it's a work in progress. i am thankful to be in our new home though. it's starting to feel like home and i'm thankful for that. i'm SO thankful for all those that helped us out. we really appreicate your willingness to help and the sacrifice of your time. the bright side is that we don't plan on moving again anytime soon, if ever!!