Yay! Our orders came through! That was the hard part, right???
WRONG.
We were notified of our actual moving date a mere 4.5 days in advance -- and 3 of those days we'd be out of town for the Costa-Algeri Family Reunion. So, we started what would be a grueling 10 days of late nights, little sleep, and a massive reduction in our personal belongings. Hubby's Hot Wheels collection (all 16 Rubbermaid bins' worth) and Turkish carpets finally got inventoried. We practically needed a revolving door on the house for all the responders to our craigslist postings. We said goodbye to our guestroom furniture, kitchen set, dining set, and office furniture as we sent them off with either friends or the consignment shop.
It took 3.5 days for the movers to pack all of our things. Seriously, this process can truly make you consider renouncing all worldly possessions and joining a monastery. The kids were at daycare for 3 of those days; the 4th (part packing, part loading) was probably the longest day of my life. Confining them to one room worked for maybe an hour or two. LB was fascinated with the moving truck and wanted to climb inside; now that he can walk and even run a little, he refused to be confined, which kept Mommy hopping all day.
Finally, the 45-foot shipping container arrived (after they had to call Steve for directions twice; wonder if it will really ever get to Alaska?), and was loaded. Everything fit except 4 items. Really. These will be shipped separately in a wooden crate. Hopefully we'll see them again someday!
Once the movers left, there was still plenty to do. The house had to be cleaned out and the massive pile of stuff we had set aside from the packing process had to be organized -- some to go in the van, some to be shipped ahead to Alaska. (Our very understanding Alaska realtor will be receiving 5 sizeable moving boxes for us in the near future.)
No matter how late we worked, or how much help we had, we just couldn't seem to get out of the house. After 3 nights on air mattresses in the empty house, our goal was to be essentially out of the house by Monday night, sleep in a hotel, and leave Tuesday morning after Hubby signed out of the base. Well, one thing after another happened, and by Monday night at 8 pm, not only were we not ready to leave, but we were all exhausted. We took the kids to Red Robin for dinner and then collapsed into bed at a local hotel -- in our clothes!
We were up the next day, our supposed morning of departure, at 6:45 am and went BACK to the house to breakdown all our trash and start to load the van. We only took a short break for lunch, but we were still loading the van at 4 pm -- as the renters arrived to take possession of the house! (So much for leaving Ohio by lunchtime.)
Our dear realtor Connie (who is also a sister in Christ) helped empty the house and even took the kids on a walk in the neighborhood and read them stories until we were ready to go!
WRONG.
We were notified of our actual moving date a mere 4.5 days in advance -- and 3 of those days we'd be out of town for the Costa-Algeri Family Reunion. So, we started what would be a grueling 10 days of late nights, little sleep, and a massive reduction in our personal belongings. Hubby's Hot Wheels collection (all 16 Rubbermaid bins' worth) and Turkish carpets finally got inventoried. We practically needed a revolving door on the house for all the responders to our craigslist postings. We said goodbye to our guestroom furniture, kitchen set, dining set, and office furniture as we sent them off with either friends or the consignment shop.
It took 3.5 days for the movers to pack all of our things. Seriously, this process can truly make you consider renouncing all worldly possessions and joining a monastery. The kids were at daycare for 3 of those days; the 4th (part packing, part loading) was probably the longest day of my life. Confining them to one room worked for maybe an hour or two. LB was fascinated with the moving truck and wanted to climb inside; now that he can walk and even run a little, he refused to be confined, which kept Mommy hopping all day.
Finally, the 45-foot shipping container arrived (after they had to call Steve for directions twice; wonder if it will really ever get to Alaska?), and was loaded. Everything fit except 4 items. Really. These will be shipped separately in a wooden crate. Hopefully we'll see them again someday!
Once the movers left, there was still plenty to do. The house had to be cleaned out and the massive pile of stuff we had set aside from the packing process had to be organized -- some to go in the van, some to be shipped ahead to Alaska. (Our very understanding Alaska realtor will be receiving 5 sizeable moving boxes for us in the near future.)
No matter how late we worked, or how much help we had, we just couldn't seem to get out of the house. After 3 nights on air mattresses in the empty house, our goal was to be essentially out of the house by Monday night, sleep in a hotel, and leave Tuesday morning after Hubby signed out of the base. Well, one thing after another happened, and by Monday night at 8 pm, not only were we not ready to leave, but we were all exhausted. We took the kids to Red Robin for dinner and then collapsed into bed at a local hotel -- in our clothes!
We were up the next day, our supposed morning of departure, at 6:45 am and went BACK to the house to breakdown all our trash and start to load the van. We only took a short break for lunch, but we were still loading the van at 4 pm -- as the renters arrived to take possession of the house! (So much for leaving Ohio by lunchtime.)
Our dear realtor Connie (who is also a sister in Christ) helped empty the house and even took the kids on a walk in the neighborhood and read them stories until we were ready to go!
Our final hurdle before leaving town was to go to the DMV for a title memorandum & registration info for Hubby's new car, which had to be done before it was loaded at the port for shipping. We called ahead, told them exactly what we needed, and were assured they were open until 5 pm. We arrived there at 4:40 -- only to be told that the person we really needed left at 4:30! Without this paperwork, we couldn't leave after all -- and our next opportunity to get what we needed would not be until 8:30 am the next day.We certainly had not planned to spend another night in our own town, but in retrospect it was probably for the best. We were totally exhausted, and if we left at that point we wouldn't have made it to St Louis until after 10 pm anyway. So we got a room at the same hotel we stayed in the night we moved here, which happened to have free dinner, free breakfast, and a pool, which we headed to immediately to unwind. BS even swam by herself (with floaties) for the first time! We all had a good night's rest and were ready to hit the road the next day...
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