moving: the highlights

Once again, I wish I’d taken more pictures.  Of course, my hands were tied up hauling boxes to-and-fro, so I suppose I have a valid excuse.

In 25-words-or-less (as my dad would say): We moved last weekend, in a whirlwind of trucks and SUVs, immediately following Carolyn’s wedding.  I was totally unprepared.

I’m thrilled to report that everything we own is in the house (or the garage), which is awesome, but I’ve never felt so disorganized in my life.  I had all these grandiose plans to be completely organized, sorted, packed and cleaned before we started hauling things over…  Not sure HOW I thought I was going to get all those things done with a big wedding around here…a girl can dream.  Sigh.  Long story short: Mom Layer and grandma showed up to help me pack a few things, Andrew and his dad arrived and started loading the trucks and before I knew it–stuff was flying out the door left and right.

I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get a post up; the truth is that even more debilitating than moving is a LIMIT ON ONE’S BLOG “space.”  Well, in true Murphy’s Law fashion, I exceeded my upload space while working on Carolyn’s wedding photo blog (forthcoming!), and thus could not post anything more until I purchased a space upgrade.  Of course.  Because, you know, I have loads of free time in which to do THAT.

I bit the bullet this morning and clicked “purchase” so I could get these photos out to you!  And, once I have a minute or so, I’ll post some of Carolyn’s wedding photos, as well as links to better ones on Facebook.

And here is the move:

Dishwasher!  For the first time in a year–ran all the dishes in a few loads yesterday.  Welcome back to the world of technology 🙂

Organizing the kitchen…

I still have a bunch of boxes in the dining room since we anticipate getting a buffet soon (did you hear that Andrew?  SOON, as in, can we order it within the week??) and I have loads of serving/entertaining/misc stuff that would be stored there.  As well as my pride and joy–the cookbook collection.

The bedroom…

The closet–hey, at least my shoes are organized!

The ‘extra’ room: crafts, ironing, storage.

The office, sort of.  It’s really just random furniture now (none of which actually belongs in here!), but I’m hoping to get the actual stuff upstairs today.

Built-in linen closet–LOVE IT.  This is one half–for toiletries and meds.  The other side will probably be more for sheets and towels.

A view of what will be the ‘formal’ sitting room…once we figure out the furniture situation.  Speaking of furniture…I’m missing the coffee table.  Has anyone seen it?  (Seriously, though, how does one lose an actual piece of furniture??)

And my gold star from yesterday: the spice cabinet!

Points for it NOT being directly next to the stove/oven (close, but not next-to, although I had to put the oils and vinegars above–where else do people put those??) despite knowing heat isn’t the best for them.  I have one of those corner upper cabinets that has all this wasted space, so I went with two spinners (top) and an additional stair-step organizer (below).  Salts, peppercorns and cinnamon (ground and stick) are above on the left, seasonings are on the right above, and below all the spices are organized alphabetically, with all the peppers (ancho chile, chipotle chili, chili powder, etc…) grouped together as well. The back corner is for sesame seeds, paprika (oddly shaped and used often), and misc spices in bags, like miso, herbs de’ provence and cardamom pods.  Whew!  THAT was a big job.

Speaking of BIG jobs: Andrew, his dad and some of his buddies from work (all engineers, I mean, could you be in better hands??) moved both our extra fridge and freezer down into the basement yesterday over lunch.  Let’s just say it was a minor miracle the freezer made it down there, let alone the larger fridge!  They had to take all the hardware off everything on the way down, disconnect a light, remove the basement door and doorframe (!) AND both appliance doors.  If that isn’t hubby love (or outright stubbornness), I don’t know what is!  I fed them Pasquale’s pizza and pepsi (and shared my Edible Arrangements from Emily and Dan!) in gratitude.

Today’s to-do: more postcard stamps (moving announcements are out!), more changing addresses, more unpacking and ONE LAST TRIP to the rental to retrieve a bunch of empty boxes…except that I have no idea what to do with them…

Andrew was a lifesaver last night and disposed of all the empty, rain-soaked boxes I’d piled up on the back porch, AND he moved both dressers up to the bedroom himself.  ALONE.  Props for his big muscles, but I wish he’d let me help–I felt terrible when he announced he’d done it already.

Also: must get to Lowe’s to buy a trash can!  (In addition to all the other things less pressing…)