Alrighty then, time for a quick rundown of the BIG MOVE. After all of the packing and painting and signings of last week, the day for us to get all of the furniture and actually start living in our new home came. Saturday morning, Lisa and I got up bright and early to get as much ready for the hectic day ahead. Unfortunately we wouldn’t be getting the U-Haul until the middle of the afternoon, as my options were 9 AM – 2 PM or 3 PM all the way to Sunday morning. The choice was pretty obvious – nobody was getting to us that early on a Saturday to help.
The first order of business (after making biscuits and coffee) was to go pickup a free stove. Yup, we’re already upgrading appliances. Some guy on craigslist was getting rid of a nice (albeit lowend) gas oven that will replace the frightful unit we currently have. Now I just need to get PSE&G to install it, as working with gas is just asking for trouble (even if I am doing a lot of electrical work). We also have to figure out how much it will cost to get a gas hookup for the dryer done since we didn’t realize until after getting a cheap used one from a co-worker that our current model is electric! (Boogie woogie, woogie!)
So anyway, after moving as much as we could with just the minivan and car, we got back to the apartment to start preparing the furniture. I realized too late that I should have told everybody to get there at 2 – instead, everybody showed up around 3, just as I had to head to U-Haul. So my brother-in-law Carlos and I headed over to the pickup center, and left Laura in charge of handling the incoming masses. Unfortunately, I had conflicting messages as to where I should pick up the truck and, of course, ended up picking the wrong one. That little set back caused an hour delay just as the rain started. Once I got back, we decided to get people moving stuff over to the house while Jeff, Sara and I headed out to the new location for the truck.
Yay, deisel engine! Holy crap, just upgrading 3 feet on the truck to get a 17-footer made the experience far more harrowing. That thing handled like a block of metal on a tray of gravel – going up hill (don’t ask for an explanation of that analogy, please). Sara and I spent 10 minutes just trying to turn the lights on! And, of course, the rain really started pouring at that point. Oh yeah, and the guys delivering our bed showed up while everybody was still back at the apartment!
In other words, absolutely nothing (except for the morning) went according to plan. Nevertheless, I had outstanding help from family and friends. It was a shame that Jeff and Sara couldn’t stick around to see the new place and enjoy the fantastic Chinese dinner afterward, but there’s time for that later.
Moving the furniture wasn’t that big of a problem, and we got stuff between the two places with minimal soaking from the rain. Now, the apartment is cluttered with little things that haven’t been packed completely, and the house is filled with everything that can’t be put away yet. Life is a total mess right now – and it is well worth it. I jsut hope I still feel that way next month when the mortgage comes due!