Moving update

Hooray! All our stuff is here - it feels like home!

The moving company called on Monday morning and "our" van had arrived late Sunday night. Hedgehog Guy and I drove down to the border that afternoon and got the shipment cleared through customs. We learned in this process that as temporary workers, we didn't need the big long, itemized inventory that we had labored over. It took a lot of restraint not to slap my hand to my forehead and only mutter "oh, really..." when we heard that. But the van was cleared, and our stuff only 30 miles or so from the house.

Tuesday was nerve-wracking as we tried to hire some semi-professional moving help because we knew we couldn't get the couch and dressers in without assistance. Our dilemma was that we only knew that the truck was coming in a 2 hour window on Wednesday morning. But we didn't want to either pay people to sit and wait for the truck or have the truck arrive without anyone to help us (because we would only have an hour to unload everything). Hedgehog Guy finally arranged for 2 paid helpers and 3 of my lady labmates to come at about 10:30am in hopes that the truck wouldn't come before then, but very soon afterwards. Neither of us slept Tuesday night as we were constantly worried that the noises we were hearing were the moving van arriving early!

Wednesday came and our help arrived promptly at 10:30 as did the truck! We got it all unloaded in about 45 minutes, to the delight of the truck driver and my friends. None of the stuff was broken, only a few dents in the kitchen island/butcher block, and one scoff on the front of my dresser (nothing a another layer of varnish later in life won't fix). We lost a fair bit of finish off the top of the good ole' IKEA entertainment center, but nothing a nice runner doesn't cover. No broken pictures or glasses (yet), and only a couple small tears in the boxspring and on one piece of the couch. No missing boxes, nothing appears to have really moved much on the trip, just "settled". I feel like all our stuff is really ours now, it isn't new and can't claim to look unused anymore!

The computers work, as does the microwave and coffee maker. I even made bread right away in the bread maker. What a great way to christen a home - with fresh bread. The house feels really different with stuff in all the space now. I'm actually looking forward to going home and relaxing tonight.