Box by Box

The big moving weekend is over, and boy are we tired!

First, we spent Thursday night unloading the portable storage units that have held my things since August. When I first opened the doors, I did a little dance of joy. My things, my things! I had forgotten many of them in the last 7 months. Then there was about an hour of terror, where I kept hearing a squeaking noise that I was sure belonged to a family of mice, holed up in my boxspring. As we took out one box at a time, I waited for them to all scurry out together, ready to attack. I wasn't totally crazy - Chris and Becca (a friend from work who was super nice and came to help unload) heard it too. Turns out, some pine tree branches were rubbing against the side of the cube. My stuff was totally safe - no infestations of any kind. Phew.

Both Chris and I took Friday off, to unpack and organize the items that were already at the apartment, get the internet set up, and get our first load of groceries and other supplies from Target. When we walked in the store and I asked how many carts Chris thought we would need, he said "One. Why would we need more than that?" Yeah. Then this happened.

Silly boyfriend.

Saturday was the big moving day. I started off the morning by running five miles (no walking, thank you very much), before we drove into Milwaukee to pick up our UHaul. Yes, they sent us 30 minutes out of the way, just to drive the truck back to Waukesha to load it. Boo.

Is it to early for tacos?

Then came the fun part of maneuvering a couch out of my mom's dining room. "Pivot" was yelled at least a few times, a la Ross and Rachel on Friends. Then came the unloading at the new place, where my sister Rachel was kind enough to jump in and help. My lack of upper-body strength was also demonstrated throughout the weekend. I'm already saving for movers for next time. Which won't be for at least 10 years.

On Sunday, we went back to get the cats from my mom's house. They had been quite anxious all week, and definitely knew something was up when we got out their carriers. After giving them a few final hours on the screen porch, we packed them up and loaded them in the cars with a bunch of miscellaneous junk that we had left behind. (There may or may not still be some of that at Mom's - sorry Mom!) I wish I could say that they are totally adjusting well, but Bucky seems to be experiencing a lot of anxiety, which is translating to him growling and hissing at inanimate objects, and being really aggressive towards poor Stella, who has taken to hiding under the beds. I think this morning he was yelling at me because he couldn't find the door that goes out to his screen porch. Sigh. I hope this will pass soon.

So are you curious what the place is looking like? Disaster zone is probably the best description. Although we spent hours unpacking, it doesn't look like a whole lot of progress yet based on my pictures from Saturday night. Here we go...

Master bedroom. We made sure to put our bed together first. Priorities, right? What this photo does not show is the large piles of my t-shirts in the other corner of the room. What does one do with 100+ tees?

Guest bedroom. We have actually made some progress since then. The bed is put together, and the dresser and tv are in place. Priorities, right?

And here is the bathroom storage closet. I think this eventually may need some curtains that we can close when guests are over. Because it is likely to get packed with lots of junk.

Kitchen. It's totally normal to put all of your magnets on the fridge first, right?

As we continue to unpack, we are getting everything to the okay for right now stage, then we will worry about the decorating and making it feel like home. Don't worry, I have a To Do list started. More pictures to come after we have made more progress.

Box by box.