#59 - The beginning of the beginning - July 31, 2012

This is a hard entry to write. I think it’s because it was such an odd day for me.  Our lives here kind of officially start today.


Today, I spent the morning walking around the house putting things away. I was able to get the garage, basement, sun porch, hallways and stairways clear and ready for moving. Katrina took off about 7 to pick up snacks and drinks for the moving crew. She came back at 8:30, I expected the movers about 9, and the kitchen, dining area, and our bedroom were not ready yet. I picked up the kids’ registration paperwork from the district office, and got back home about 9. The place was pretty much ready to go at that point. I doddered around until they came, but we were finally ready.

We were going to sleep in our own beds, cook in our own kitchen tonight. This house was going to become home. The crew called when they were at the driveway. I walked out to meet them. The lead was Rob and his partner was Steve. Rocky and Dennis were the other pair. They arrived with a loaded semi trailer and a delivery truck. I had warned the moving company ahead of time that the truck wouldn’t make it to our front door, and they’d have to ferry things down the driveway. So these guys had to pick up everything twice before they could set it down in our house.

The team was nice. I never heard an unkind or vulgar word from any of them, they were very polite, and worked hard. Watching the team carry our grand piano into the house was poetry in motion. They did an outstanding job.   That's Rocky on the left, Dennis on the right in the foreground, and Rob in the background.

At the end of the day, we had every mattress, including the pump and controller for ours, in our house and where it belonged. The crew left just after 3. Our living room , dining room, workshop, and craft room, as well as Libby’s and Christian’s room, were all packed with boxes.

I worked setting up our TV which also arrived via a separate shipment, and then took the kids down to swim. We finished about 6, and then I got to work going through boxes. My main goal was to clear the dining area and organize the living room so that when the next half of our stuff comes tomorrow, there is a place to put it. I made good progress. Katrina worked on the kids’ rooms, putting mattresses where they belonged, moving pieces around to make the areas livable, putting together Jacob’s table for his room. Each of our lists is endless.

I finally threw in the towel, headed up stairs and prepared our bed for sleeping. A Franken-bed arrangement. Katrina’s ortho pillow had arrived, our headboard had arrived but no other pieces of the frame. We used the seller’s blanket as a sheet since we didn’t have any, and our comforter. It took about 20 minutes to blow up the chambers, put the foam between them, zip it back together, and then make the bed workable for us.

And then, long after it was time to sleep, we slept.