Well, it's been quite a 24-hours. I woke up yesterday about 5:45 a.m., and it's now 6:30 a.m. the following morning. Or, this morning. Sunday morning - it's getting hard to keep track. I've only had a few hours sleep because despite exhaustion and going to bed late, I woke up at 5:45 again, unable to go back to sleep - partly from excitement, and partly from panic.
We had a bunch of people show up to help us move, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you Matt, Rhys, Allison, and John! I honestly don't know what we'd have done without you all. I, for one, would probably have sat down some place and cried a lot.
Everyone worked their tails off, but for all that, we didn't get anywhere near all the stuff. It was discouraging. It wasn't anyone's fault but ours (mine and Greg's) - we just had too damned much stuff, and not enough of it packed up ready to move.
Well, that's only half true. In some cases we simply couldn't do any more in the house, because of it's frequently mentioned tiny size. After we'd packed up a bunch of boxes and filled the living room and the only free space upstairs, there quite literally wasn't anyplace else to put any boxes had we packed them, or to move things around to get to other things we could have dealt with early.
Consequently, exhausted and on no sleep, Greg and I have to go back to the house today while we still have the truck (today's the last day, has to go back by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow) and try to get as much of the rest of the stuff as we can. Once we turn in the truck, we can still move smaller items in our own trucks, but it will go much more slowly, so I want to make sure we get everything we can today. Fortunately our moving crew did get all the large, heavy stuff that we needed help moving. All that's left is stuff he and I can get by ourselves.
We had several adventures, of course. The first was the Big Ass Truck. Greg told them we wanted the 'biggest truck they had' - always a slightly dangerous thing to say. We ended up with this ...
... which may not look that huge in this picture, but it was. We couldn't back it into the driveway at the old house because the street's so narrow, he'd of ended up driving the front end through the yard across the street. So we decided to park it on the street and load it that way. Then it occurred to me - at the new house we're not allowed to park on the street, and I didn't believe that truck would fit in the new house driveway - the cab would be sticking out in the street. So I talked Greg into going back and trading it for a smaller, more manageable model.
In the good news department, I can get my truck in the garage!
We had a bunch of people show up to help us move, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you Matt, Rhys, Allison, and John! I honestly don't know what we'd have done without you all. I, for one, would probably have sat down some place and cried a lot.
Everyone worked their tails off, but for all that, we didn't get anywhere near all the stuff. It was discouraging. It wasn't anyone's fault but ours (mine and Greg's) - we just had too damned much stuff, and not enough of it packed up ready to move.
Well, that's only half true. In some cases we simply couldn't do any more in the house, because of it's frequently mentioned tiny size. After we'd packed up a bunch of boxes and filled the living room and the only free space upstairs, there quite literally wasn't anyplace else to put any boxes had we packed them, or to move things around to get to other things we could have dealt with early.
Consequently, exhausted and on no sleep, Greg and I have to go back to the house today while we still have the truck (today's the last day, has to go back by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow) and try to get as much of the rest of the stuff as we can. Once we turn in the truck, we can still move smaller items in our own trucks, but it will go much more slowly, so I want to make sure we get everything we can today. Fortunately our moving crew did get all the large, heavy stuff that we needed help moving. All that's left is stuff he and I can get by ourselves.
We had several adventures, of course. The first was the Big Ass Truck. Greg told them we wanted the 'biggest truck they had' - always a slightly dangerous thing to say. We ended up with this ...
... which may not look that huge in this picture, but it was. We couldn't back it into the driveway at the old house because the street's so narrow, he'd of ended up driving the front end through the yard across the street. So we decided to park it on the street and load it that way. Then it occurred to me - at the new house we're not allowed to park on the street, and I didn't believe that truck would fit in the new house driveway - the cab would be sticking out in the street. So I talked Greg into going back and trading it for a smaller, more manageable model.
In the good news department, I can get my truck in the garage!
And we pulled up the carpet in our bedroom to reveal a beautiful hardwood floor. Of course, the crew had to spend some time pulling up staples (in the padding) and Rhys single-handedly took out all the tacking strips along the walls.
Since we forgot to bring garbage bags, I didn't get this completely cleaned up yet, but it's going to look pretty great when I do.
So after we've moved everything we had the energy for this day, it was time for another adventure. Our plan was to have a fire in the fireplace in the pub while the band had band practice. Here's Greg lighting our first fire in the new home ...
And here's the fire ...
... and immediately thereafter the entire basement filled up with smoke. At first we thought it was just because the fireplace hadn't been used in a long time (yes, we made sure flue was open). But it kept getting worse and worse, and finally we checked outside and realized not a wisp of smoke was coming out of the chimney. Ooopsy.
So they hurriedly put the fire out (by pouring water on it - what a mess; but it had to go out), we ran fans and opened doors and windows, and in a little while had the smoke cleared out. None too soon, I think we were about to asphyxiate ourselves.
I guess I'd better get that chimney inspection I thought I could skip.
So I'm off to make some coffee (I do know where that stuff is, if little else) and get geared up for another day of moving. Oh, joy. I know - it'll be great once it's all here and put away - five years from now. (smile)
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