Back from Ohio and back to unpacking…

So, to recap…we moved a week ago this past Sunday. I unpacked for four days and then had to fly out to Ohio for a wedding I was in.

All the boxes that had not been unpacked, got shoved back into the trailer, that is sitting in the back yard. I got home this past Sunday (Mother’s Day {Hope you all had a wonderful day!}), exhausted.

After brunch with my in-laws I went home and HAD to take a nap. A l-o-n-g nap.

Monday it was back to normal and I had to hit the ground running. I decided to try and set the children rooms up like they were at our home. So I got to moving everything around. I feel it was a success! Then I hung curtains in their rooms, so I could say that those two were COMPLETE!

Today, I’m working on cleaning blinds. I hate this job. I want to take them outside and hose them off, but those damn cicada’s are everywhere. And although my children are handling them very well, I am not. I don’t mind bugs or spiders as a general rule, but swarms of anything, no thanks. And today I noticed they’ve started their buzzing. Yuck!

I’ve got reinforcement coming tonight. My mom is going to help me get the rest of my curtains hung and maybe even some pictures. That will definitely help make it feel like Home. Although, I still have that trailer lurking in the background. I’m thinking, what if I threw everything in it away. Would I miss it??? Probably not. Will I do that??? Probably not. And I also have an office out back that you can’t even get into. I haven’t unpacked my sewing machines or my computer. But that room is on my “to do” list for Thursday. We’ll see how that goes. It may take some reinforcement from my neighbors. *Hint*Hint*

Have I mentioned how much I hate moving?

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Love, Play, Joy

~Amy

The Move

So, today marks day two or unpacking. But I’m exhausted and it’s raining (that never helps with productivity). So I’m not getting a whole lot done.

We moved out of our home Thursday. Meredith’s family came out and helped us finish up the “last-minute” packing and then helped us load all the trucks. We loaded a 26′ U-Haul truck, a 12′ enclosed trailer, a 20′ open trailer, my mother-in-laws 12 passenger van, my SUV, my husband’s truck and filled his brother’s truck with a load of trash. We couldn’t move-in to our new home until late Saturday, so all our stuff just sat in the vehicles and in the trailers. Saturday night, after dinner, my husband decided he wanted to unload most of the boxes out of the truck (we had the suspension weighted d-o-w-n) and he wanted to get some of the weight off the truck. So a couple of friends and his brother unloaded quite a bit of stuff.

But when I arrive Sunday morning, with my parents, we could hardly get in the back door. They had filled my kitchen with boxes, literally. I didn’t know where to start. I just felt so overwhelmed. So my husband wanted to go ahead and finish unloading the truck so he could get it returned and he needed me to point/direct. After he had the truck emptied and all the beds put together, we got in the kitchen and moved out all the boxes that didn’t belong. Then we started unpacking the kitchen; which still isn’t done. I lost so much cabinet space, I’m still not sure where all my stuff is going to go (and I purged like a mad woman). So while my father-in-law and I were focused on the kitchen, my sister and mother-in-law were in the bedrooms making up all the beds. And my wonderful parents were making a lunch run!! They’ve been our babysitters while all this moving has been going on.

So when we finally called it a day, Sunday had proven to be a very productive day. My parents, a friend, my sister/nephew, my parent -in-laws and my brother-in-law were all here to help. We managed to get all the beds made, find the bathroom and get the living room put together. The living room didn’t really matter, because we have no cable. We just wanted to take a shower and sleep in our own beds. We have been staying at my parent’s house since Thursday night. We are so grateful and appreciative of their hospitality, but there’s just something about sleeping in your own bed, especially after working all day. We were exhausted. And the hardest part for me was that all my medicine got boxed up and put in the moving truck. My sweet husband climbed in Saturday night to find it. It was in the very front of the truck, in the very first piece of furniture that they loaded. Bless his heart. I was in so much pain. Had he not found it, I would have been totally useless Sunday. I could hardly walk/move.

So here I am, sitting in my chair with my feet up blogging, while I should be in the kitchen working. But like I said…it’s raining & I’m just exhausted. But I have to get it done. I fly out to Ohio Thursday morning for a wedding and won’t be back until Sunday. I can’t go off and leave my home a wreck. I won’t be able to relax and enjoy my weekend if I do. So, I guess my break is over. Back to the grind boxes.

I know you want to see what a disaster my home is in…so I’ll post a few pix later.

Love, Play, Joy

~Amy

What I Learned This Week (Inspired By Our Up Coming Move)

 A fellow blogger Nucking Futs Mama does a “things I’ve learned this week” over on her blog. So I thought after the week I’ve had, I’d do one as well. So here it is…

So…here is what I’ve learned this week…

*I (and by that, I mean WE) have to much S&*^!

*No matter how many times I “purge” our clothes/closets/cabinets, etc…I always find more things that need to be thrown out.

*I have a hard time just throwing things away. I want to either sell them or donate them. Mostly sell them.

*That I have zero time for a “moving sale”, so most likely all the stuff I’ve “purged” will end up being donated.

*It takes skill to purge/pack with two little ones running around asking “why are you throwing that away?”

*That trying to schedule a moving truck, carpet cleaning & house cleaning, all on one day is TOUGH & pretty much impossible.

*That you should always check with your cable provider before you just assume they aren’t in the area where you are moving.

*And, no matter how stressed I feel, I know God never gives me more than I can handle. <3

Hope you had a great week and learned something new along the way!
Happy Good Friday!

April and May are proving to be very busy…

So, lets me recap, just my last 15 days…

My husband and I have listed our home for lease, shown our home to prospective leases, the Lord found us a super nice family that wants to rent our home and we got the lease signed today!!
It didn’t take long at all! And we are so blessed that it didn’t! 

Now, we have just over a week to get our home purged, packed up and get out. Then we have to get it “move-in” ready (i.e. walls repaired (i do have two young children, after all), painted, cleaned and the carpets shampooed). Our original move out date was going to be the 29th. But the family that leased our home is relocating here from WV and they have to be in May 1st. So that pushed us up a week. And our new place won’t be ready until May 2nd and before we can move in there, I have to get it “move-in” ready (i.e cleaned and carpets shampooed). I will paint it as well, but decided for the time being it will have to wait. I can always paint after we get moved in. Why would you do do that you might ask…because it’s so much easier to paint with no furniture? True, but we will be staying with my parents while we are in transition and I leave the 5th, headed to Ohio, for a wedding. So time is not on my side at this moment. So the painting of the new house will have to wait. *sigh*

And not to mention that while we are in limbo (5+ days), all of our belongings will be sitting in a rented U-Haul truck. That’s a good way to spend waste some money, don’t you think?

But we are so excited to get back to Franklin, where we are close to our families. And by close, I mean, literally, right next door to my in-laws and less than 5 minutes from my parents. You have to agree…that’s close! I know…20 minutes isn’t far away, but with gas at $3.55 a gallon and diesel at $4.++ a gallon, 20 miles is A LOT. Seeing that I drive back and forth to Franklin two days a week and then every weekend. And my husband makes the drive everyday of the week. His shop is in Franklin. So my being 5 minutes from my parents and next door to his, we are saving a BUTT load of money on just gas alone! 

So, while I do a little lot of stressing, I hope you guys are enjoying the Spring weather (if it’s warm where you are)! However not today because it’s raining cats and dogs (at least it is here in TN).

Oh, did I mention that I also have to get our taxes filed amidst all of this?

*your prayers are greatly appreciated*

If you have any “time-saving” moving tips, those are greatly appreciated as well.