Finally taking a breath...

I hardly know where to begin to try and catch up since I last wrote - it's been a wild ride this last week.  The first part of the week, Jim spent getting all the loose ends tied up with the house work and we just kept plugging away at boxing up our world.  The clock was gonging loudly...we had to be out on Saturday.  Jim also had to finish dismantling things like the pool table, the treadmill, and then all of our furniture.

We got to the point where dresses were gone and we just had the drawers on the floor, box spring was gone so we slept on the mattress on the floor, and  things really started getting bare.

Bryan was a big help...he came over a lot in the afternoons to help Jim carry things from the house to the truck, from the truck to storage, and repeat.

Loading up a big box of pictures!

Taking out the pool table pieces

A sad dining room...guess we'll have to eat Japanese style!

Very scary loading up the big tv for a long truck ride

Jim is the master packer

The shop has never been this empty

Of course there had to be a minor glitch...as Jim was taking off the articulating arm that held up the tv, it took off some paint and made a mess.  So like he didn't have enough to do, he had to tell the buyer and then plaster the areas.

Oops!

On Thursday, Bryan and Cindy hosted a family get-together at their house.  It was a well-needed break from all the chaos and good to see everyone before we left.  Bittersweet of course - hopefully it won't be too long before we see everyone again!

We also made time on Friday morning to run up to the doctor's office and get our chest xrays to see if we had any damage from the years of radon exposure.  We celebrated when we got the results late in the afternoon that both of our xrays showed that our lungs were normal in size and appearance - no issues detected.  Thank God!

Friday began to be panicky....one more day.  Lots of last minute administrative stuff like taking cable boxes back to the cable company, which involved two trips because we forget we had the phone modem on the garage attic.  But we knew everything had to be done and we had to be on the road the next day.

One of Friday's biggest challenges was getting the mattress onto the truck.  Jim and I barely managed to get it outside (I definitely need to do some weight training!) but it had to go up and on top of things in the truck.  We tried to enlist a man neighbor, but none were to be found.  So Jim was stuck with me and it wasn't pretty.  But we did it! 

Bryan and Cindy came over for a last time to help and say goodbye to the house too.  Bryan helped Jim do some final storage unit trips and Cindy mowed the grass!  Thanks so much, guys!  We went out to Outback for dinner with them afterwards.

But then the hard part came...Saturday morning and we had to finish all the last day boxes I had, pack up the food, and get ready to leave!  I was pretty much a blubbering mess all morning - me, who never cries.  We had no more room for anything and the food coolers became an issue to fit in.  But Jim got everything tucked away and then it was just one last walk through our house.

Finally ready to go!

It's hard to even put into words the feelings - of course we are excited about our new adventures, but at that moment it was hard to breathe with all that we were leaving behind.  I told Jim that I loved every room, every memory, every bit of this house and leaving it was crushing.  I felt bad for him because he was sad that I was so sad!

But we had to leave before it got too late, so with one last goodbye we hit the road.

I was really sad for the first part of the trip.  Then it started raining - kind of fitting for the mood.  It rained on and off - sometimes coming down pretty hard - for most of the trip.  We didn't get into Corinth until after midnight.  Then we had to do some unpacking - mostly trying to fit all the food into this little refrigerator.  I was happy that all the frozen food remained frozen throughout the long ride!

Waking up on our first official day here came early after such a late night.  We went to church and then to Molly's Mason Jar for breakfast.  We couldn't do a lot of unpacking because that darn mattress was on top of everything and I wasn't about to try to get it upstairs!  So it had to wait for reinforcements - in the form of Kyle and Julia.  They came in on the MegaBus to help us out.  I picked them up at the casino again.  It was good to see them - had been way too long since we had seen Julia!

Kyle and Julia

Then it was unpacking time.  Lots of trips up and down the rickety stairs to our second floor apartment.  It was a little overwhelming trying to think of what to do with all the stuff coming in!  Most of this load was furniture, with of course boxes thrown in for good measure! 

What to take first?

The tv survived the move!



Bringing in the heavy dining room table

Always time for a little reminiscing.  Kyle found the water jug that was used during construction of our house and remembered it fondly - said it just reminded him of workdays!  It's going in storage now but not for long - it will soon be time for new workday memories!



Kyle with the old red cooler

I guess the apartment is taking shape - even if it's a chaotic shape!

 

That's a lot of furniture in a little space

The hallway of boxes

Not quite a relaxing bedroom

After we left the apartment, we headed to the Corinth storage unit to drop off some tools that Jim had brought.  We were kind of stressed about the whole storage unit quandary.  When Jim rented the barn from our realtor's husband, he got a big area for the whole summer for a really good price.  Mike told him that the price would go up in the winter because he used the area for people to store their cars in that they didn't drive in the winter months.  He basically said we could have the area, it would just cost more.  Then last week when Jim was firming things up, he started saying that the areas were already committed and he wasn't sure if we could have any space.  Kyle and Jim had spent the last trip rearranging things in the barn and getting them all situated - in fact, we were hoping to put the Z in there too.  So the thought of not having that space, having to find somewhere else, and then move it all again was extremely stressful.  But we had to press on and unload the truck.

Where are we going to put all this stuff?

Moving the pool table again

Pretty packed!

After we got things all unloaded, we drove the truck to the lot to drop off the truck and pick up the 4Runner we parked up there last trip.  Then we discovered that the utility company had cut down trees in front of the lot in anticipation of the utility poles going up.  While it was exciting to see progress, that brought a whole new dimension of stress.  Our plan was to leave on Wednesday to go back and pack up the rest of the furniture from the storage unit in OH, go to my work retirement party, go see my mom the next day, then Bryan was going to follow us back in the other 4Runner and help Jim unload back here.  Which would then require Jim to drive him home again - so all in all, we would be traveling for a week.  So if the utility company was going to put up the poles, Jim was going to have to get the trenching and culvert work done.

Cleared area for utility pole work

But all stresses aside, this is why we made this incredibly hard move...it's really gorgeous here and puts things into perspective.

Gorgeous - this is why we moved!

After a little spirit refreshment, we headed to get something to eat before Kyle and Julia had to take off.  They were going to drive back to NYC - we had given them my old purple Honda.  They'll have to figure out parking but it will make trips up here easier for them than relying on the bus or train schedules.  We ended up at Village Pizza - kind of full circle from where it started so it was pretty appropriate.  Plus they have yummy pizza - Jim & Kyle of course got Hawaiian but Julia and I were much braver and tried their Greek pizza - highly recommended!  Then off they went, following the GPS into the big city.  Another long day but certainly a good one.

Today started off better - Jim and I both got a good night's sleep, probably one of the best in awhile.  We worked this morning getting a few things situated - Jim worked on getting desks and computers brought back to life and I worked on starting to get some areas to feel put together.  After lunch, Jim headed off to the barn to put some things away there and then went to the lot.  He got the oil changed in the truck and jumped the excavator (a new battery is in its future) and practiced with it a bit.  It's a different machine than he's used to with the Bobcat so it will take some getting used to.  I stayed here and continued working but also ventured out into Corinth to take care of a few things.  I went to the Laundromat - we used so many of our towels as wrapping, plus we had showered before we left, that I just had to get some washing done.  It had been awhile since I went to a Laundromat (pink house memories!) - it was really expensive!  $3.50 per load and $.75 for 10 minutes of drying time!  But I also checked out our new PO box and we actually had forwarded mail and then it was onto figuring out the bottle/can redemption system.  Here in NY, you have to pay a deposit for each can of pop or bottle of water when you buy it - then you can turn them in and get your nickel back.  So I had a couple of bags to empty.  I went to the Tops store that's right around the corner from the apartment - you have to feed each can in one at a time (yikes - I drink WAY too much Diet Coke!).  It kind of scans them and keeps a running total of your returned deposit.  At the end, it prints out a receipt that you can take into Tops and they take it off your bill.  So with my Diet Coke habit, I'll definitely be spending quite a bit of time in front of that machine.

When Jim got home, we ventured out to the mall area - I wanted to get a cheapo bookshelf to use as storage in the kitchen (make-do pantry).  Jim wanted to drop off the truck's used oil so our first stop was Wal-Mart.  Then it was off to check out a washer-dryer stack.  We figure that we'd pay for it with a year of trips to the Laundromat and we'll eventually need one in the carriage house anyway.  The apartment has a hook-up in the kitchen so it will be doable.  But nothing's cheap - we got different prices and we'll check things out online and make a decision.  We definitely want it delivered - they'll love bringing it up these stairs but we're sick of moving!

Then we actually got to eat dinner here - nothing fancy since it was after 8:30 by the time we got here, but it felt like normal and right now, normal is good.