Whew! Moving is almost complete... just the cleanup and a last car load of stuff....and then of course all the unpacking stuff.

Today I am feeling exhausted and sore - mostly from the weekend - I could barely move on Saturday! The computer printer at home decided to stop working (not because it was moved (at least I hope not) but because none of the ink cartridges seem to be working correctly) so I showed up at school almost six hours ago to print out a huge pile of things I needed. I still have another three hours here to put in here with student conferences and then unpacking to do at home. Ugh!

Yesterday was nice though - we took the day off of moving/packing/unpacking things because it was our anniversary and spent the day together exploring more of our new environment - yes, it still feels new and sometimes still a bit strange - topped off with a relaxing meal together...and then went home to find that the printer didn't work! Oh well... it was nice anyway.

The actual day that we set for moving was unbelievably ill-timed and plagued with bad luck. The plan was to pick up the truck late morning, drive out to the warehouse where the piano was stored, pick it up, meet friends at the house to unload that piano (2 and 1/2 hours), meet other friends at the old house to load up all the rest of the furniture, unload at the new house. Sounds simple doesn't it? And I thought we had it fairly well timed....

The problems started on Thursday when we found out we would have to go down to Dwayne's school to sign some papers Friday morning. We allowed an hour and a half for the travel to conduct this ten minute business. We barely made it out in time. We were still on schedule though and actually arrived at the truck rental ten minutes early. Unfortunately for us, there was only one staff member present and a simple pre-booked pick up took forty minutes. I hopped in the truck to drive out to the warehouse only to find that the quarter tank of gas that was supposedly in the truck was something closer to just above empty, and it was a diesel truck so I wasted time trying to find a station with diesel before I ran out of fuel.

Then when I got to the warehouse, there was one guy who was going to load the piano into the truck...which shouldn't have been a problem. But, the truck I was given didn't have an emergency brake, so it would roll away from the platform just enough that the ramp barely extended into the truck and the process now required two guys...and the first guy to go and find another one to offer help. So the loading took longer than expected as well.

And then the piano didn't quite fit through the door - it was a bit too long to take the corner (we're talking an inch or two at the most!).

As we were standing (in the pouring rain - only rain we've had for a week before or since then) with the piano impossibly wedged in the door, the guys who were supposed to deliver the fridge four hours later pulled up. And the laws of physics on this planet just do not allow a piano and a refrigerator through the same door at the same time....'specially when one is wedged in tight. Meanwhile, the second set of friends are waiting at the other house....

I need to be very, very nice to my moving friends for the next little while!

Good karma to the one refrigerator delivery guy (the young one, not the grouchy old guy who just sat in the truck and glared) who actually helped us lift the piano over the stair rail so that we could get it into the house and out of their way - wherever you are, you're a saint!

I even had enough energy left for a game of 21 with two of my mover friends (though my score was PATHETIC! they were both very nice about it).

The hassles were mostly from a businesses I had to deal with - the friends who helped us move made it one of the nicest moving days I have ever had - I think when it comes to moving, as long as you have a few cold ones around for the lull times, it's always a case of the more the merrier and not too many cooks spoiling the soup! Here's to our new home!