The Great Move of '09

Chapter 1: Preparation

With the walls painted, this last week was split between preparing the house(s) for our arrival and preparing our stuff for the move. This included:

* Cleaning up the slightly sticky tape-and-tarp landscape still covering the floors of the house,
* Getting as much of our current stuff packed into boxes as possible, and
* Having a fridge delivered to the front unit.

Surprisingly, packing turned out to be the most straightforward of the three. Because of the whole one-lot-two-addresses thing, turning on the power only applied to the front unit. The back unit has been powerless for about a week now, which made cleaning it up in the evenings rather difficult, even with flashlights. The fridge got here on Thursday, but it wouldn't fit through the doorway without its own doors being removed. In the process, something got knocked out, coolant started leaking, and the delivery guys had to come back the next night for about an hour to fix it. By Friday night though, there was at least one working fridge on the property, and that was all we needed for now.

Packing happened in small spurts throughout the week. Despite my inherent cheapskatery, I have to admit that buying a bunch of boxes and a taping-gadget was the best way to go on this. They pile easier, and that makes the loading of the truck much less of a puzzle. Speaking of which...

Chapter 2: The Move

Once again, we're greatly indebted to everybody who helped haul, lift, tape, secure, direct, and disassemble all of our earthly possessions this weekend. Time was of the essence because a.) we only rented the UHaul for one day, and b.) there was still no power in the back unit, so we really wanted to get everything in there before our daylight ran out.

The truck got packed pretty tight, but in the end, 2 trips were still required, primarily because of the fridge. This was the fridge we had bought from another roomate who moved out previously, so it was going into the truck for our back unit, but before we moved it, the people still living at the old house had to secure another fridge to replace ours and minimize the time that food would be left out. Sort of a weird game of "musical perishables." Nate can probably tell you more about this, since my involvement in the fridge moving process amounted to "staying out of the way." But long story short, we again had doorway-width issues that required the fridge doors to be removed.

Pro-tip: if you are ever moving a fridge, just take the doors off ahead of time and save yourself a headache. Chances are, you'll need to anyway.

It was already getting dark, but thanks to the magic of extension cords, we were able to run some electricity into the house. Enough to navigate a fridge and its doors by, anyway. And with everything out of the truck, we were able to return the sucker after a nice dinner and bidding our fearless movers a good night. The bed hadn't been assembled yet, so we dug out some sheets and crashed on the mattress.

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

One tricky thing that required moving was our inherited cat, Chloe. We'd heard stories of cats in new houses darting into cupboards and not coming out for 3 days, so we were prepared for the worst. But after a willful resistance to the cat carrier and some inital hiding behind the new washer, Chloe actually took to the new place pretty well. Within a few hours, she was poking her head out of the mud room, where we put her and her stuff initally, and starting to explore. By that night, she was sleeping at our feet again, and by the next day, I'd chaperoned a few excursions into the front yard. There's been no puking, no trying to run away, and minimal hiding under beds and couches; I am pleasantly surprised.

Sunday was mostly taken up with furniture/housewares and the unpacking, building, and buying thereof. We've got the living room and bedroom basically set up, holding off on the office until we get power, which should be sometime today (fingers crossed). There was an excursion to Ikea for a coffee table, TV stand (for our as-of-yet-non-existant TV a.k.a. extra computer monitor), and loads of rugs and mats. I'm quite satisfied with the amount of awesome color.

The evening required one more trip over to the old address to pick up some left-behinds and sweep out the old rooms, and the unpacking will continue throughout this week, I'm sure. We were dead tired last night though, and I konked out around 10pm.

Nate, if I missed anything, feel free to fill in the spaces here. :)


-AKC