Unpacking!

The blog has been a little quiet this week. That's because we have been a LITTLE busy. Our household goods were delivered on Monday! They didn't come until 3PM, so we thought they would be here all night putting furniture together, but by 7PM they were done! For the most part, it was a very smooth move! I have heard so many horror stories about what can happen to your things between point A and point B, and it seems our only casualties were a desk made of pressed wood (which once I realized they were going to take apart every piece, I predicted it would not survive) and a cheap metal dvd rack, which was smashed. We will file a claim for the desk, but thankfully that will be our only resulting paperwork. I was actually very impressed by the speed and efficiency of our movers. They had never seen any of our furniture before, yet with a pile of parts and a bag of hardware, they could put things together in less that half an hour! It takes me that long when looking at directions with pictures! I was pleased that I was able to communicate with them pretty well. My Rosetta Stone lessons had covered names of rooms in the house, basic furniture, high/low, big/small, etc. So even though I am sure I used a lot of bad grammar, they all seemed pleased with my efforts and told me my Spanish was good. I was also extremely grateful that our new friend and neighbor Rachel was able to watch Sophie and Danny while the unloading occurred. I held Alex most of the time and directed boxes to rooms, while Dan stood by the truck with a clipboard to mark off the number of each item. So, a hectic, but good day.

Once the movers left, the kids went to bed, and the unpacking began! Dan's mission was to set up the TV, Playstation, and living room as soon as possible. But he had 20 boxes of books to unpack!

I of course wanted to unpack the kitchen as soon as possible. I missed having enough dishes to get through the whole day! There were fewer boxes in the kitchen... but they were big. And every single item was tightly wrapped. I quickly came to the conclusion that moving kills trees! This is the wrapping paper from one box!

But after a late night, we made some serious progress in the kitchen and living rooms, and it was starting to feel more like our home! Later in the week, we got to unpack DVD's, books, and photo albums, so now these shelves are filled and we are a fully operational home.

Dan was very excited to have an entire half of the living room dedicated to being his man cave/ gaming center. He has 4 book cases, a reading chair, a corner desk, and 2 large tables that are perfect for his large wargames, card games, etc. We are both happy that he won't be taking over the dining room table anymore, and that the tables are high enough to keep his toys out of reach of the children.

 So, the moving process is almost complete, after exactly 2 months. We still have a few more boxes to open, and we still have lots of random piles of things to find a home for. But for the most part, we have found all the major items, put things away in closets and dressers, and we don't have to live out of suitcases anymore. :-) There will be more "after" pictures coming when things are a little more orderly.