The Big Move - Part 1!

So the journey begins...The day(s) we've been waiting for! Pack in VA. Drive. Unpack in VT. We're about halfway there.

The packing phase began when this pulled up in front of our house.



I mentioned that we hired movers. Well, our movers weren't quite what I expected. We opened the door Friday to a woman named Lulu. Lulu? Are you here to help us move, you're sure? Turns out Lulu was an excellent director. She spent most of the morning "bossing" the 2 men she brought with her from her perch on a chair in the moving van. I was doubtful things would proceed quickly, but they packed our entire house in 3 hours. I loved her for it. I think she was happy with the result as well. She not only left an hour early, but also made out with 2 plastic Adirondack chairs and a bottle of vodka I was planning to throw away.

We spent the rest of the day cleaning and were finally ready to head out. Willow spent more of the day wondering where all the furniture went and worrying that she might get left behind.



Saturday morning the road trip began. We pulled out of town in a long caravan.

Matt drove the big guy.



My mom drove Matt's truck.



Willow and I brought up the rear.



We spent the majority of the day in this state.



Poor Willow, she's just so confused and anxious. She spent her first night in a hotel where we ordered pizza and watched NCAA. This is how she passed the time.



We're excited to finish the drive and pull up to our new house! More to come...

Our house and the challenge of packing it

This is our house. I love it. I wish I could pick it up, put it on a truck and take it with us to Vermont. I know that's not possible. When we decided to move, I settled on the next best thing - sell it to someone that will love it as much as I have. I thought it'd be easy. Put it on the market, show it a few times, accept an offer for slightly less than our asking price, pack up and move out a day before the new owners take residence. Well that's not quite the way things have happened.

Our progress so far: put the house on the market, show it approximately 35 times (each time leaving for about an hour WITH the dog rain or shine), have 4 open houses, spend more hours and money than I thought would be necessary cleaning/painting/buying flowers/working in the yard, drop the asking price twice, and it looks like we'll move out of the house without selling it first. I'm sure it will sell at some point but I sure do wish it would have gone a little more like the way it went in my head. Now we have one of those "extra" signs on top of our regular For Sale sign in the front yard. You know the ones, "I'm gorgeous inside. Priced to sell. Large Master Suite." Ours says "Price Reduced." I wish it said "Under Contract." Here it is.



One big challenge for me has been trying to pack while keeping the house in prime showing condition. I've tried to pack all the "behind the scenes" stuff (closets, wedding gifts, mixing bowls, not often used clothes, etc). To an outside observer, the house looks exactly as it has for the past two years. Open the cabinets and closets though and you'll see what I've been up to. One problem. Where does all the "stuff" go once I've boxed it up? The answer - our SHED. It's full. See below. It WAS clean and organized.



Another challenge. I'm not an expert packer. Plus I'm cheap. We are renting a Penske moving truck and doing the move ourselves (with the help of my mom, thanks mom!). Matt insisted on hiring movers on both ends so we don't have to do all the heavy lifting. It still means I have to do all the packing myself. In the past, I've packed my things in old ADIDAS bags, thrown them in the backseat of the car, or tied them to the roof. That's not going to cut it this time. I need boxes, lots of them and I don't want to pay for them. Our movers did give us a few used ones. I also waited patiently for recycling day in our neighborhood. We went on a run and I scoped out all the good boxes lined up on the street and then drove around in my car picking up the best ones. I have to admit it was embarrassing. Matt refused to accompany me but now we do have a pile of boxes waiting to be packed. Even with the proper supplies, I still have nightmares that we will arrive in VT and everything will be bent, broken, and scratched. I mean, how are you supposed to pack lampshades and ensure that they make it on the moving truck 700 miles away without getting squashed? I'll let you know how things turn out in about 7 days from now.