A place for everything and everything in it's place...

...at least until I find a better place for it.  The hardest thing about moving is finding just the right spot for all the little things.  Sure, a sofa or bed is easy....just put it up against the biggest wall.  But cutlery, office supplies, plug adapters, the vacuum?  Those get moved pretty much every day.  Which prompts the question by Steve of "Where did the (insert random object here) go?  It was just here yesterday."

All these things, that force me to make the rounds of the house everyday and move piles from one drawer/shelf to another, arrived last Tuesday.  I was so excited to see everything.  It was like Christmas.  And figuring that our last one was lacking a bit because we were in mid-move, it made for opening all the boxes very exciting.  And emotional....I actually cried when I opened the first box that made it's way into the house and discovered that it contained all my cookbooks.  The smell of our old fabric softener on my clothes, the chip on one of our wine glasses from our old dishwasher, the red Georgia clay on my old pair of running shoes.  Even the last minute box, whose contents were haphazardly thrown together (ice pack, pair of socks, lid to our milk carafe because I found it after the actual carafe was packed away in another box) as the movers yelled out in our old house, "Anything else?!  The truck is leaving!"  Every box, bittersweet.
 
The morning began with the container showing up.  The actual container that was on the ship!  For some reason I thought it would be trucked to the house like it was trucked from our old one.  But what do I know?  When I only saw one mover, I began to wonder...they only sent one guy?  Sure he looked strong, and sure we didn't have that much stuff, but really?  Only one...this I gotta see.  But he sensed my worry and said he was only delivering the container and the movers would be arriving in a few minutes separately.

At the same time, as if all the planets aligned, the rental company showed up to pack up the house of our temporary furnishings.  Good bye rock hard mattress, crappy kitchen knives, tiny sofa, itchy sheets, vacuum that sucked (and not in a good way) and bath towels that just kind of moved the water around your body and didn't actually absorb it.  The incoming moving crew helped the outgoing moving crew to get the house emptied as soon as possible.

And then the moment of truth; the opening of the container.  Would water come gushing out once the doors were opened?  Would it contain only one box which passed customs when everything else had been confiscated?  Would it even be our stuff?

The doors opened...no water.  I see many boxes!  And they all say Grover!  Relief!!

Steve stayed outside and as each box was unload the movers called out the inventory number which he then checked against the the master list.  I stayed inside and started unpacking as they said they would take whatever boxes and packing material was ready once the container was emptied.  I began feverishly emptying boxes and just putting stuff wherever there was empty counter space and floor space.  I could not get over how much packing material they used.  I can see going overboard on dishes and glassware.  But wrapping a flashlight in four sheets of paper that put together would be about the size of the footprint of our car was funny.   There's "safe", then there's "overkill".  But nothing was broken so I guess they knew what they were doing.  Good thing I don't run a relocation company.

So for now, the kitchen and family room are 98% set up.  The bedrooms are a work in progress.  We have wardrobes to put together before they can be done.  Bedrooms don't come with built in closets so we still have clothing in boxes.  Mostly summer stuff, which I laugh at even sending.  Even if I change outfits three times a day I think I'll only get about a months use out of them here.  But I venture to say that I'd rather have that, than change outfits three times a day that I've sweat through because it's so hot and humid!

People have asked for pictures and I've given a couple of Skype video tours on the laptop.  But as I said, I like to have a place for everything and everything in it's place.... so y'all will have to wait!