Adventures In Remodeling: "Miss" Meadowlawn Dr.: The Big Push!

All my art!

Yesterday was officially "truck loading day". The driver dropped the trailer off before 8:00. I figured they'd take longer so I was in the bath when it arrived. I got out without even conditioning my hair. Then we went to Panera for coffee. Eduardo still hadn't cleaned out his truck, or unloaded his tools. So he worked on cleaning his truck while I started loading boxes. Then he went to get Pillo, his friend, and a dolly, and I kept loading. I had most of the boxes on the truck before Eduardo got back. I don't know what took so long. Anyway, his friend Juan surprised us both and came over to help too, in fact he got here before Eduardo even got back! We were not planning on any help, and we ended it with two extra guys! How lucky is that? It was really nice of them to spend their day off helping us carry couches and barbecue grills and stuff, and I'm sure we will be forever grateful.So the three of them were able to load all the big stuff, which was awesome!

We paid for 7 feet of space on the truck, and we really don't want to go over it, because every foot was $100, and it went by 2 foot intervals. It took some serious finessing, but I think we were able to fit everything in! I did most of the organizing, and I think it works best that way, with only one person taking charge. I had a whole strategy mapped out though, including stacking boxes of like kind. (I dreamed last night we were loading the truck and we had to try it several different ways before I figured it out, which was very useful today!) We kept working all afternoon.

Around four Eduardo's mom had an unexpected emergency, so he took off again, to go take care of her. Thankfully she was OK. I stayed home and continued to pack up boxes and clean. I didn't stop, I figured I'd quit when Eduardo got backWhen Eduardo still wasn't home by 7:00 I changed my mine. I decided to take a bath. My feet were killing me, and I was tired of working all by myself. I was beat!

When Eduardo did get home we went straight to Mom's to jump start her car, and load the pick up with a few things she was planning on bringing over here. We unloaded it when we got home. By that time it was almost 10:00 and I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I pretty much went straight to bed, which happens to be on our bedroom floor because the mattress has already been loaded onto the truck.

I don't know if all of our stuff will survive the journey in one piece. I'd like to think so, but when the guys started piling more stuff on top (to fill in all the empty spaces) I worry that they might have exceeded the weight limit of some of the boxes I'd placed below, or scratch some of the furniture. I tried to explain that several times, but they kept doing it. Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it now. And if things hadn't been piled, then we'd have to pay for more space in the truck which we didn't want to do anyway.

We aren't quite done yet with the packing, but we are getting close. All of my art work still needs to be loaded into either my or Eduardo's vehicle. Maybe both. I have a lot of art! I kind of thought I did, but when I see it all piled in the living room it's really obvious.

I didn't sleep well, but only because I am not used to sleeping on the floor I imagine. It feels so much harder than I remember it being as a kid! I was up early because of it, but I do feel rested, mentally anyway. My body on the other hand is pretty sore from lifting boxes. My legs and forearms and even my fingers are all a little achy this morning. Oof, my biceps too apparently. They will have plenty of time to rest on the drive back east.

We are supposed to leave tomorrow morning, but now Eduardo is sounding like he wants to wait until Saturday. I guess it really doesn't matter to me except I just don't want this to be a long dragged out departure. I'd prefer it to be quick and over as soon as possible. That way we can focus on what's ahead. But we'll see.

*It's now...8:30. Eduardo got done with my car and brought it home before taking off again. I ran a bunch of errands including picking up my watch from the jeweler, getting a couple beer kits to start us off in Michigan, getting gas, and walkie-talkies....Except for Vic Sauce I think I got everything on my list, and I'm done and ready to go!!!!

Eduardo came home and brought his mom and we all went up to see Tere, his sister and the kids before we go. We had a nice dinner, and showed them pictures from when we were in Alaska. When we said our goodbyes I felt like they thought they would never see us again. Tere even took a picture of us! I think a long time ago that would make sense. But in this day and age, and with air travel what it is, we'll see them in a couple months probably. I am hoping maybe all the kids can come out this summer to visit, and so while I must admit that it made me sad to say goodbye, I don't really believe it will be that long until we are all together again. And that makes me happy.

We decided on the drive home, since Eduardo has that meeting at 11:00 tomorrow, and it's Valentine's Day, that we will stay the extra night and take both our Mom's out for Valentine's dinner at the Cheesecake Factory before we leave. It will be a nice fun evening, and hopefully it won't be too sad or emotional on anyone’s part.

So that's it. One more day, and then we are out of here!