Moving Day...Again...Part 2

I love my family.  I love Blake's family.

I do not love moving.

You know how they say "Man plans, God laughs"?  Well, God was roaring all day Saturday.  I had the whole move planned.  I knew what furniture I wanted moved and where I wanted it moved to.  I knew what I wanted packed, and where I wanted those boxes.  I knew what order we should hit our apartments in, and I knew what I wanted unloaded and where.

What I didn't plan on was 4 very opinionated, very enthusiastic men steamrolling over my pretty little plan with their dollies and packing tape.  One little girl, even a very loud, very stubborn, very frustrated, and foot-stamping little girl, could hardly be noticed by the all-mighty quadrangle of alpha males that found themselves bonding in my living room and garage.

It mattered not that I mentioned (yelled, even) that I only wanted my furniture moved out of my apartment since I didn't have to be out for another week.  Blake, Albert (his brother-in-law), Pat (Blake's dad), and my dad swept in like a tornado and grabbed whatever was within reach to toss in the truck.

Once at the house I managed to get the majority of the boxes and furniture in the rooms I meant to, and the guys (seeing my red face and sensing a breakdown of Mount Vesuvius proportions) actually listened to me.  There was the small incident where they tried to hook up my washer and found the hoses had corroded onto the taps (and leaked to boot).  My dad may have gotten a bit vigorous with his wrench and slightly bent the pipe out of the wall (plumber fixed it in about an hour yesterday).  There was also the hour spent putting together the new bed frame-no headboard or footboard, just a frame-a project I started that was quickly taken over by-I mean assisted by-Pat and dad.  There was a lot of measuring and hammering and debating and Corona (for me) involved.

My mother says it was fun for the two families, a real bonding experience.  I think they all bonded over my exploding head.

In any case, we're moved in (mostly) and beginning to unpack (a collaborative process that may take another year to complete).  My temper has mostly subdued (due to the fact that I got Blake to agree to hiring movers the next time no matter what-as much as I love volunteers, I'd rather save our relationship and spend money on people I can force to listen to me).  Now if I could just find a clear bit of couch to sit on, it might actually start to feel like home.

Moving Day...Again

Here we go again!  Once more I'm moving...leaving my tiny apartment and moving in with Blake into our own home.  It really is becoming a home already, even if we aren't living in it yet.  The main rooms are painted, repairs have been made, some old features stripped down, and some new things installed.  I, of course, have grand plans to continue renovating (a kitchen/wet bar backsplash is on the horizon...), but this week the majority of the work has stopped so we could clean up.  Here's a rundown of what we've accomplished in the last month and half:

• repaired the back fence (due to a "privacy issue" with our neighbor, this was high priority)
• painted the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, laundry room, and living room, including the 20+ foot wall (which I painted because Blake is afraid of heights-actually he's afraid of falling, and he could have done it but it would have taken a week to get the first coat of paint on because he can't look down when he's on the ladder...)
• stripped the large mirror doors off the master closet (I may not have informed Blake before doing this...)
• removed the tacky shower doors from the master bath (I DEFINITELY did not inform Blake before starting this project, but got the point of no return and then asked for help.  I was determined to get rid of those things.)
• painted almost all the ceilings
• installed a double curved shower rod in the master bath (it's AWESOME)
• installed shelves in the garage
• BUILT shelves in the garage (my father bought me a saw and let me use it.  I can't wait to start another project with it!!!)
• tiled our kitchen floor (I can't take any credit for this other than I asked Blake to do it.  It took the better part of a month of weekends, but he ripped up the old linoleum, cleaned the cement, cut and laid and grouted the tiles.  It looks amazing, and he still wants to live with me, so I guess it wasn't that atrocious of a request...although I probably won't be asking any favors any time soon...)

When I say we built shelves in the garage, I mean my father heard me say we were looking at hanging shelves for a portion of the garage and he returned from Home Depot with wood, nails, screws, braces, and a saw and decided that right then and there I would have garage shelves.  Were shelves on my to do list that day?  Nope.  But my daddy took the day off to help his little girl in her new house, and who was I to argue with whatever he wanted to do?  Besides, they would have been on the "to do" list at some point.  And, I might add, we did not argue once while building them.  It may have had something to do with the saw I was wielding...but I think I'd rather chalk it up to our healthy father-daughter relationship.

I have taken numerous "before" photos, but wouldn't you know I haven't had a moment at home to upload them to the computer?  Plus, I have to start taking the "after" photos tonight before we move in all our furniture...which will drastically change the way the place looks too.  I'm so excited about having a place that's ours, and I'm determined to make it everything I/we want (within reason.  I'm still nixing the Superman mural in the "gameroom" I promised Blake he could have.)

I also have some wonderful "what I've learned in my first month as a homeowner" stories, like how our postal delivery man is actually afraid of the dog next door (I had to distract the poor blind dog while the postman snuck behind him to deliver the mail), but those definitely deserve their own blog post.  In the meantime, keep me, Blake, and our families in your thoughts and prayers this weekend as we once again move mountains...I mean apartments...