Packing up yet again

After a not so restful night at the Econo Lodge because of the fact that it just felt so dirty, it was time to start the day.  A quick breakfast at McDonald's and then we picked up the 4Runner at the neighbors.  I followed Jim to the storage unit so we could throw a few things in the back of the 4Runner.  The plan was for Bryan to meet us at the storage unit to help Jim unload it into the back of the truck.  We had been so blessed with good weather for all of our moves, but we had just started figuring out what could go in the 4Runner when the heavens opened up and it just poured.  We got a few things in and then I left to switch hotels and run a couple errands.  Thankfully, the rain didn't last long and was gone by the time Bryan got there for the major moving.

I brought Subway to the hard workers and since the patio set was the next thing to be loaded, it was the perfect spot to eat lunch!

 

Jim & Bryan picnicking at the storage unit!

They had been working hard...the things that were left were mostly heavy furniture that required gentle packing.  All was looking good!

Great progress...truck filling up and storage unit emptying!

 

I was able to get into the hotel early and it was such a lovely room and facility - it just screamed clean!  The afternoon went by quickly - I had to be at work at 2:00 for a reception they were having for me and the other secretary who was retiring.  It was very sweet...all of the classes came through and signed a big poster, they had flowers, cake, balloons...parents and students came to say good bye.  Very touching - it was a great place to work and I will miss them all!  I will be watching from afar and praying that the levy passes so that Heritage can stay strong!  Thanks to all of my Heritage friends for a wonderful afternoon!

 

I stayed too long at the festivities and had to race back to the hotel to change and pick up Jim for the staff party at a golf club.  It was such a pretty location and a wonderful, memorable night.  Almost all of the staff was there - after a fabulous meal, a few different people stood up and said too-kind things and shared funny moments.  The staff got us wonderful gifts - they were extra thoughtful and got me gift certificates to a home store and restaurant in Saratoga Springs!  Jim & I were so touched and can't wait to use them both.  It was again very bittersweet - we are excited about the new adventures awaiting us but along with that goes leaving friends and family behind.  Hopefully everyone will keep in touch and share the journey with us.  Thanks to everyone for a wonderful night!

Back to Ohio again

We got up this morning and had to climb back into the truck for yet another trip.  We were only in the apartment for a couple days and both Jim and I actually hated to leave - we wished we had a couple more days to get things a little more organized before we have to come back with yet another truckload of stuff that we don't know what to do with!

But back on the road we were - with a stop at the land to drop off the car and pick up the truck.  I got to see Jim's beginning trenching work.  He was just playing with the machine seeing how it was going to go.  It's a start - just another 700 feet to go!

The beginning of a trench!

Thankfully, the trip was uneventful.  There were severe thunderstorm warnings out but we only had hot, humid and windy conditions - no rain.

One of the service plazas we usually stop is near the Finger Lakes wine region and has this fun wine guy.  He always makes me smile.

 Fun wine guy!

Tonight we are at a cheapo Econo Lodge trying not to touch anything - ha!  We're moving to the Marriott across the street tomorrow because I have a free night coupon.

Tomorrow will be busy.  The plan is to unload the storage unit and then I have the party at work in the afternoon and evening.  Friday we are going to see my mom, which will be nice.

Progress

Today felt like we made some real progress on getting the apartment organized and comfortable.  Yesterday, Jim got my computer all set up and then worked on his when I went to bed.  So now we both have access to our computers and are able to do what we need to.

When we were at WalMart yesterday, we bought a cheapo bookshelf to put in the kitchen just so I could have some extra space to put things.  Jim spent awhile putting it together this morning - for such a cheap piece, you should have seen all the parts and hardware!

Jim had to do some errands like taking care of some insurance business, so he left after lunch and I got busy tackling the house.  One of my big issues was that Bryan was going to be coming back with us on this next trip and we had nowhere for him to sleep.  I know he won't be expecting fine accommodations, but I wanted him to feel comfortable.  That first required opening up all the boxes in my office and getting things organized in that room.  Jim set up the steel shelves we had in the basement in that room for me so that certainly helped.  I worked enough that I finally cleared enough floor space that we could put the double bed mattress in there and then put down the queen in our room.

When Jim got back from his errands, he changed and headed to the land.  He had to finish changing the oil in the truck and wanted to do a little minor tweaking on it before our trip back.  Then he did some digging with the excavator to see how that project is going to go.  But one thing very interesting happened - as he was leaving the land, the son of the people that we bought the land from drove by and stopped.  He introduced himself to Jim and they talked about how much his dad loved the piece of property.  Of course, Jim told him how we fell in love with it before they did some timbering.  This guy said - yeah, we got rid of some of the pines but we left the good trees.  Yikes!  We miss those giant pine trees they cut down even though it's still gorgeous.  But he's in the excavation business and told Jim to let him know if he needed anything done.  Jim mentioned that he needed sand and he said he could get him plenty of sand - and the price was much cheaper than we could get back in Ohio so that was great news! 

Jim actually ran 3 miles when he got back from working at the land while I continued unpacking boxes.  Tomorrow is trash day here and you should see the boxes of torn down boxes we have for them to pick up!  It felt good to get them all out of here.

Here's some pictures of progress at the apartment...

Kitchen shelves

Bathroom organization

 

My office area - complete with guest bed!

 

Our bedroom is looking a little more relaxing

 

Tomorrow will be a long day of driving - well, for Jim at least!  I just get to be a passenger this trip.  But lots to do to get organized before we leave, so I'd better close off and get to bed!

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.

Busy work day

Morning came and things weren't quite as bleak as the night before...however, the buyers put some of their stuff in the shop...that's a sad sight!

Not our toys!

We are SO grateful that Kyle was able to come back and help out.  He and Jim stayed up late last night working on taking apart the pool table.  Then they spent most of the day working in the shop.  They got tons done.  The fact that Kyle was here and took over some of the cleanout duties enabled Jim to do a little of the woodworking he still needs to finish up in the house. 

Shop is emptying out

Kyle up in the loft vacuuming! 

They loaded up the truck and took some things over to the neighbor's and started putting other things on the truck that will go to the tool storage unit here. 

Getting the truck ready for another load

 

Meanwhile, I worked inside and got lots more packing done.  Even got all the kitchen cabinets totally empty and cleaned.  So now everything that we may need for these last few days is sitting in boxes all over the house.  Oh well, this too shall pass...right?

 

We took Kyle to the bus station in Cleveland - hated to see him go but we were just so grateful for his help - both physically and emotionally!  It would be the last time he would see the house, which is a concept really hard to get my brain around.

Back to Ohio

The morning dawned early and after a long day yesterday, probably a little too early.  We went to church and then for pancakes before heading back to the apartment to pack up.  We stopped at the lot to drop off the car and check everything out.  It always reinvigorates us to see all the beauty.  It's a very strange feeling knowing that we will be back next week for good!

The trip was mostly uneventful - except a few periods of heavy rain - until we got near Buffalo.  We were coming to a toll booth and Jim had slowed down.  We crossed over a bridge and all of a sudden, we heard an incredibly loud bang - scared us all to death!  Jim and Kyle thought they glimpsed a black rock, fist sized, coming from the right side.  There was no one right in front of us and just a car beyond that so it wasn't like something from a construction truck.  As soon as we were able to pull over, we got out and discovered this huge dent in the truck!

Truck damage - could have been SO much worse!

We were so grateful and thankful that the rock hit exactly where it did - it was practically the only place that it could hit there and not cause major damage to the truck or the passengers!  A little higher and it would have broken the windshield, which makes me shudder to think about what could have happened.  A little to the right and it could have taken out the radiator and made the truck undriveable.  Kyle had gotten Jim and me St. Christopher medals for our vehicles and Jim has his in the truck - we said prayers of thanks when we got back on the road!

 

We got back here about 10:30 or so in the evening.  And then walking in the house was one of the hardest times yet.  Once we were in NY, you were focused on unpacking the truck and boxes, trying to figure out where to put things - but basically making life happen there.  When we came back here, the reality that we were leaving this gorgeous home to live in the apartment was pretty crushing for me.  Besides putting a couple things away, I just retreated to bed.

Why, oh, why?

So once were up and ate breakfast, I started looking around the apartment. It has baseboard heating around the edges of each room - precisely where Jim said we needed to put books so it wouldn't be too much weight in the middle of the rooms.  I told Jim that as much as I hated it, I thought we needed to get a unit just for books.  Horrible thought - I hate putting my books where they are going to get ruined plus this would make our 5th storage unit. Our house check will slowly disappear with each month's rent. But I don't see any other option.

We called the same place where we have the other unit. They had a 5x10 available for $50/month. We set off to check it out.

First we had to stop at the post office.  I needed to cancel the change of address and sign up for a PO box for the fire school and us while we're in the apartment. The apartment has the mail box unlocked in the common area that's used by the dentist and other people in the building. 

Then off to the storage place.  It was a good enough size but not a great unit. The ones next to it had rubber seals...this one didn't. Jim went to see about another one - it was even worse. It was an end unit with visible holes - and we had no time to shop around. We took the first one.

After having lost well over an hour, we came back to the apartment and started unloading the truck.  It was extremely humid and warm so all of that faced with the task of changing strategy at the last minute - both Jim and I were on edge and wondering what the heck we were doing and why.  We were also trying to clear up some apartment room by taking things from the box room that could be moved to storage.  One of those times, I grabbed a biz. The lid popped off - it was my Christmas ornaments so bulbs and hooks went everywhere.  Ugh!!

I'm writing this waiting to pick Kyle up from the bus station at the casino. SO happy he's able to come up and help us. The plan is to work today unloading and rearranging - then he'll come back with us Sunday to say goodbye to the house and help Jim on Monday before heading back to the city Monday evening.

Once I got back with Kyle, Jim and I had had a chance to breathe and things seemed a little brighter.   Jim had gotten most of the apartment stuff off the truck.  We ate a quick lunch and then headed over to the storage units to unload books and other miscellaneous stuff.  That actually went pretty quick. I still hate leaving my books there but we figured we'd do it for the month and explore other options meanwhile. 

Then Jim and Kyle headed to the barn. We are going to rent three spaces there this winter so they had to compile everything to fit in those spaces as well as add all the new things we brought. That required a lot of moving heavy equipment and tools around yet again - including Jim's steel table!

Meanwhile, I stayed at the apartment and started unpacking things here. I had another Why moment - I miss my big, beautiful kitchen so much already!  Everything had a spot and I could be all organized. I think I'm going to have to get a shelving unit for in there - there's just not enough room. I'll see how it goes when we bring the dining room furniture back next week. 

The boys returned and were beat but happy - mission accomplished at the barn!  Unfortunately, they still had a few things to bring in plus they had to take out all the boxes I had unpacked in here. We all got our exercise today with 100 trips up and down this staircase!

We had just gotten done when the skies opened up and it started raining.  I said a prayer of thanks for the wonderful timing!

We showered and decided to head to Pope's for a pizza and beer to celebrate. We walked outside to see this glorious rainbow! Kind of a sign that all will be fine.

On the way to eat, we drive by the lot - our first chance today. It had stopped raining but there was a misty fog over the sunset that made the lot glow!

Quite the day!  Tomorrow is early church, Molly's Mason Jar for pancakes and then the trip back home.