Moving in a Blizzard

A word to the wise: If at all possible, avoid moving in a blizzard.

The tale begins on Friday night. I had to wait around to meet the realtor to get the keys, which took forever with the weather and traffic (left the city 4 hours later than planned). That was the day I got STUCK. I was stuck for a solid half hour in the middle of an intersection. Hundreds of people were watching me. They went around me, parked around me, got stuck around me, and kept me from moving. By the time I had been there for 20 minutes, I was nothing but a ball of RAGE. I was screaming, shrieking, bawling, and generally making no sense. Finally, a wonderful woman walked up past thirty or so cars and asked me if I wanted help. She then loudly called everyone around us something I won't repeat now that I am calm and guilted some people in to helping, and then hugged me while I tried to pull myself together and while the other people got me unstuck in short order. The good news is that all the FURY warmed me up quite nicely- my feet had gotten wet first thing in the morning and had been cold all day, but after that, even my toes were toasty.

Then I went to the farm and we defrosted the freezer and found 17 chickens under the beef we didn't realize we had. :) They were left over from butchering, so we don't need to buy a chicken for Christmas anymore.

Saturday. Our house was not bad, but several of our helpers spent hours shovelling out of their driveways/crescents and couldn't make it. However, we still had lots of help. We got the U-Haul loaded super fast and headed for the city, slowly and carefully. We had time for a liesurely lunch, got all our vehichles unstuck from the parking lot, headed for the condo, got all our vehichles unstuck and parked, and started unloading. We had even more help arrive their. We had one group moving stuff from the truck to the lobby and into the elevator. One person operated the elevator. Several people carted everything down the hall to the condo. Mom held open the door and directed where things went inside the condo. It was a smooth operation, and went really quickly. we then returned the U-Haul, visited my dad, and got some groceries. All told throughout the day, the U-Haul got stuck 3 times and I got stuck 6 times. Other people got stuck a bunch too. Turning corners was so much fun, cuz you could just swing the back end around on the snow- driving was pretty much controlling your skidding. I then helped my mom unpack for a few hours before going home. We discovered the dishwasher was remarkably loud and no longer mocked rules about the hours in which you could run your dishwasher.

Sunday. This was the day the cold arrived. We all went to church. Laura and I went and bought cat carriers and new kitty litter containers and stuff. We had lunch at the church, dropped Laura off at work, and showed my dad the new place. He still thinks it's too much money. He seemed to like it, though I think he was mainly sad about leaving the farm. He enjoyed watching my mom and I unpack. We took him back to the nursing home in time for supper. We had supper. We unpacked for a few more hours. Things are really falling into place.

Monday (Today). Mom went out to the farm and got the cats and took them to the vet for their checkup. These cats don't like each other, but their claws have been trimmed, and they are going to share the condo. We are hoping that they will eventually get used to each other. Mom will likely keep unpacking tonight- it is fun.

Tuesday. Furniture delivery! Laura be at the condo all day to help unpack and accept the furniture if it doesn't come in the morning. New TV, TV stand, reclining loveseat and chair, coffee table, 3 bookshelves, several lamps, futon....

Wednesday. Mom's gonna buy herself a computer.

Thursday. Normal day. Likely unpacking.

Friday. Shaw arrives! Cable, Internet, Telephone all hooked up! Buzzer to front door working!

And that is the week of moving and settling in.