After closing on the house, it felt like things couldn’t get any more exciting…that is until yesterday morning hit. It was the day that the movers came to grab all of our furniture and that means the day that we got to officially sleep and live in our new house! Moving day! As with every other day we spent moving…it was raining the duration of loading and unloading, and that wasn’t even the worst part of it…
The movers arrived nice and early. We did the best we could by blocking the dogs off in the kitchen area so they could still see us and what was going on, but were also out of the way. They went absolutely nuts for a bit but the movers were great and would stop to pet them every so often to show they were friendly and eventually the puppers calmed down a bit. On the list of furniture to be moved was my 75 gallon aquarium which only had one little lonesome blue damsel. I checked on him this morning and found him swimming around happily so I told him that there were some scary times ahead but everything would be okay because it was moving day for him too (yes, I talk to my fish, so sue me…). I had begun draining the aquarium before the movers arrived and was trying to get one bucket full of water prepped for the fish to stay in during the move. While the bucket was being filled, I also began taking out one rock at a time, taking care to check it for the fish and ensure he wasn’t hiding inside. Strangely enough though, this didn’t seem to work. As I got down to the last few rocks, I couldn’t find my fish anywhere! I frantically pulled each rock back out of the buckets and checked them again, moving them to a new bucket and I still couldn’t find him. I guess he was a magician fish because he just up and vanished!
As strange as this circumstance was, it allowed me to just toss out all of the water rather than having to fill all the buckets with it and transporting it to the house. So in the end, I guess it was for the best, though I feel absolutely horrible for the poor fishy…I finally got the aquarium drained just in time, thanks to the help of Garrett and Frank, and the movers got it loaded onto the truck. I must say, they were fast! They managed to get almost everything loaded in just an hour! Simply blew my mind. Down to the last 4 pieces of furniture and with the rain picking up outside, Garrett and I waited in the apartment for them to come back in and finish loading up. Finally, one of the movers came back into the apartment and informed us that the lift was no longer lifting…And they still had the very heavy gun-turned-to-linen cabinet! These poor men stood out in the rain as the mechanics tried to walk them through how to fix it before finally stating “Man, I ain’t no mechanic, I’m a mover!” They were then told that someone was dispatched to our location and would be there within the hour. Somehow they managed to get the rest of the furniture onto the truck and I’m thankful I didn’t witness it because I would have been a nervous wreck watching them hand lift that cabinet onto the truck…
With a now empty apartment, I was met with a horrifying sight of an abundance of dog fur, so I promptly began vacuuming and was overcome with gratefulness that the new house doesn’t have a lick of carpet in it. It’s maddening how much carpet just attracts and clings to fur, especially under furniture! After finishing this task, I ran out in the pouring rain to offer the movers solace inside the apartment rather than crammed in the front of that truck, but they declined. So the wait for the mechanic was on as the skies continued to pour down. Finally, a knock on the door informed us that the truck had been fixed and we were on our way again! Moving day was back in progress once again.
The process of unloading the truck began quickly and after watching them get everything up those steep stairs, I was incredibly thankful that I hired them instead of having us move everything ourselves. We managed to get through the process with just one casualty; the cover on our mattress. Better that than the actual mattress! Having them move that mattress up those stairs rather than us was alone worth the cost. As it is a king size, you can imagine the difficulty! It took all three of them plus Garrett to get it to go. Things started out well enough and it fit through the door just fine. One mover went up the stairs to the front of the mattress to pull while the other two stayed behind to push, but that only worked for the first half-ish of the stairs. Not only did they have the low part of the ceiling at the bottom of the stairs to contend with, but they also had to be careful not to hit our light fixture on the wall. The mattress ended up having to be folded in half on the stairs and took quite a lot of pushing, pulling, re-folding, contorting, and a few trips up and down the stairs through the tunnel made by the folding of the mattress for one of the movers. I regret not recording the crazy scenario playing out before me! But it finally gave in and they made their way to the master with it. Everything else went pretty smoothly and the entire process only took about 4 hours, including that hour wait for the mechanic. Everyone was in agreement that the movers deserved a nice cold beer (or two!) after everything was said and done and the rain continued to pour. I got up, signed the paperwork, wrote out the check for them, and the movers headed back to the truck. Satisfied with how everything went, I let out a big sigh of relief, turned to head inside, only to notice that the guy had left the check on the table! Thankfully I managed to catch him before he started the truck and they were one their way. I suppose they were just happy to be done with this move and wanted to get out of here! We finished our night by ordering out some delicious Mexican food and popping open the bubbly gifted to us by my lovely parents!
With moving day behind us, all that’s left now is unpacking boxes and turning our new house into our new home. Having the day off of work and no one scheduled to come to the house today, this was our chance to get some unpacking and organizing done before starting the new work week. Though the plan was to stay home and focus on emptying some boxes, our plans altered a bit and we ran a couple of errands while we could. Yet another successful shopping excursion! We managed to obtain some pillows for the game room couch (back pad is currently being delivered), curtain rods, trash cans for the office, and more.
The house is really coming together and truly is starting to feel like a home! I can’t help but beam every time I pull into the driveway or look out a window. There isn’t a single window in the house that doesn’t overlook trees or a garden! Even the kitchen sink overlooks a beautiful Mimosa tree that I was told attracts hummingbirds like crazy.
It’s impressive how secluded this house feels yet it is located less than 5 miles from everything. After a long day, Garrett fired up the grill to cook up the delicious steaks that were also gifted to us from my parents. I must say, for his first attempt at using a grill, he sure did an amazing job!
With our bellies full, a new security system all set up, and most of the purchases done, we called it a night. I plan to spend this week really diving into the boxes and getting the rest of our items unpacked. Photos of the inside of the house coming soon!
P.S. In setting up the security system, I came across a very cute little surprise that the previous owners appear to have left behind on top of the door down to the basement! It definitely brought a smile to my face and I think we might just keep it there! Only time will tell…
P.P.S. Some people keep skeletons in their closets, but the previous owners kept them in their basement! Upon taking the dogs through the basement out to potty, we came across two Halloween skeletons hanging on the staircase. So what did I do? I positioned them in the closet of Frank’s room of course! What good are roomies if you don’t prank ’em every once in a while?!
