The Big Move

It's been awhile since my last post. I still haven't recovered from the trauma of the move. It has been anything but smooth. Our last two moves (to and from Baton Rouge) were left up to professional movers (paid for by Neal's company), and it really spoiled me. So I decided it was worth the money to hire someone to pack and move us. I'm thinking now that it was not worth it. Let's begin with Monday, May 14, "packing day." Talk about unorganized! I assume their lack of experience caused them to take so long, and when they left I discovered so many things that they neglected to pack. Maybe they ran out of boxes??? Tuesday, May 15, last minute details to make the "new" house liveable. Appliances were installed, propane checked, flooring finally installed in game room, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Tuesday evening, the parents arrived! Yeah! More help! Wednesday, May 16, 7:45 a.m.-- load and deliver. I was promised two trucks so that everything could be delivered in one trip. But alas, only one truck was available. Apparently someone more important than I took precedence. Again, the movers seemed somewhat unorganized and it took them FOREVER to pack up what had been neglected on Monday and load up the truck. Unloading at the farm house was chaos. So much stuff, so little space. Who needs all this STUFF???? The game room quickly became the dumping ground for all of the overflow. My head was spinning, I had several anxiety attacks, and periodically I would wonder, "is it too late to change my mind?". I remember having those same thoughts the first time I went into labor! My lovely mother-in-law brought us a crock pot of beans and some cornbread for supper. When I returned from Bible Class--yes, I know, you're so proud I still went to church, but if I wasn't teaching a class, I wouldn't have gone--Mom insisted that I eat something. Got a styrofoam bowl full of beans, grabbed my iced tea and headed for the table. You guessed it, the bowl cracked and hot bean juice ran down between my fingers and I'm sure it was 3rd degree burns. The blisters are just now healing. At 10:30 Wednesday evening, the call came--"is it okay if we deliver this 2nd load tomorrow morning at 8:00?". Sure, no problem....I'm a people pleaser, remember? But it was a big problem. First of all, the beds were on the truck. Okay, we have 2 couches, 1 love seat, a piece of foam and sleeping bag. We're all set. Oh yeah, pillows and blankets. Now which box would they be in? Which leads me to my second problem with the movers. Their method of labeling boxes. For instance, we found the blender, a bag of flour and various other important kitchen items in a box marked "Refrigerator Magnets and Flashlight". You know, just in case we were frantically searching for refrigerator magnets!!!! Sorry, back to sleeping arrangments. Neal and I slept in the game room on the couch and love seat, Dad slept on the couch in the living room, and Mom slept velcroed to the foam on the floor. Well, at least she could take a hot bath before hitting the sack...not. The hot water heater was on low, so how 'bout a cool bath? Thursday, May 17, 6:45 a.m. Finally, hot water. The shower felt great, but where's my clean underwear? Oh yeah, it's in my dresser, on the truck! Hmmm. Neal's chest of drawers was delivered on Wednesday. Yep, this pair of shorts looks just fine! Actually, quite comfy. After the THIRD truckload was delivered around noon, the four of us went for a nice meal at Western Sizzlin', hoping to heaven that we wouldn't see anyone we knew, then on to the "old" house, to clean. Good thing we did, because I have a notebook page filled with items that were "left behind." Things like....a cd player, a telephone, an 18" tall singing, dancing Christmas snowman, hardware, power strip, Neal's world series ring, just to name a few. Now, a week and a half later there are still things I'm looking for, things that don't have a "home" and the house still looks like we moved in yesterday. It wouldn't be so depressing if I hadn't gone to the "old" house last Sunday night to collect rent, only to find the house in perfect order, pictures already hanging on the wall, and not a box in sight!!!! Jessica, are you kidding me????

Packing Day

The movers are here packing all my VALUABLE belongings. Which gives me time to catch up on reading blogs, planning my lesson for Wednesday night, playing online Scrabble with my mom and working on Sudoku puzzles. In our last two moves, there has only been one item broken on each move. Last night, as I was emptying the oil from my antique oil lamps, I broke the globe on my favorite one. So I told the movers today that my one item has already been broken so they can't break anything! The farm house is not complete, but will hopefully be at least functional for the move-in on Wednesday. I think I've done everything I need to do and am at the mercy of all my helpers at this point. This has been the most stressful move I've made and will be glad when it's over!

For Terry

I'm blogging tonight for my faithful friend and only reader. The farm house is taking way too much of my time and energy and I vow to never attempt this again. Building a new house was much simpler--maybe because someone else was doing all the work. Today was another stressful day of nothing going as planned. I spend a great deal of time at Home Depot, returning things and buying more things. The service desk personnel try to avoid me. The pool is still green, after 45 pounds of chlorine. Every morning when I arrive at the farm, the first item on the agenda is the most dreaded...checking the skimmer to see what creature has made it's way into the basket. Yesterday was a box turtle, two toads today, and ALWAYS June Bugs. If the water in the basket was clear, at least I wouldn't be reaching into the unknown. I have developed a hatred for light fixtures. What should be simple never is. Tomorrow I'm returning three fixtures and two ceiling fans. And how am I supposed to know what a 3-way switch is? A light switch is a light switch, right? And who ever heard of a kitchen sink that doesn't include strainer baskets????? The one bright spot in this dark, dismal, rainy week is the fact that there were no hidden cameras to capture my floor buffing escapade on Monday. Let's just say we're lucky to still have four walls in each room.