So I guess I should write a post about the actual move. I sure had planned to be better organized this time but with 2 small children, one of which liked to come behind me and go through/unpack things made it pretty difficult to get any packing done in a timely fashion. I started out better organized. Since we still had several boxes from previous moves that were in good condition, I decided we would used various colored sticky notes for the labels. One color for room/person that we could write on. This would also help with the unloading of the truck. Each room had a color. It was good in theory and worked well until we just started getting stuff in boxes and several ended up with no sticky note.
I had a garage sale earlier in the spring and got rid of a lot of stuff. However, I still had a LOT of stuff left. We went from a 1900+ square foot house with garage to a 1300 square foot apartment. The plus side is the apartment has a "sunroom" with built in desk area and Taryne and Hayden's rooms are actually bigger than in our house. They have tons of room to play. Pictures to come soon once I get things unpacked properly.
We also decided there were many things we could not take with us so we moved a trailer load to Llano for the next year (at least, depending on if we stay in an apartment or rent a house). So a few days before we left for Knoxville, my dad came to CS with a trailer and we loaded it up with almost all of our garage stuff (we won't need to mow for a while!), some furniture and several boxes. However, I have discovered several boxes that SHOULD have gone to Llano. We are not allowed to have a grill at our apartment so we had to leave that. I was pretty sad, but the apartment layout we decided on actually does not have a patio/porch.
Our trip to Llano was fast. We got there, unloaded, spent the night and drove back to CS the next morning. Then we started loading the moving truck. It took FOREVER! Thankfully we had Kyle's parents and sister to help us finish packing and load. We would have never finished and left without their help. And we were lucky to have them ride/drive with us to Knoxville.
We left later than we had anticipated and didn't arrive in Alabama until around midnight. I honestly don't remember exactly how late it was, but it was late. The next day we made it to Knoxville and settled into a hotel for two nights. That was very interesting with two children and a dog.
On Monday, we stopped by our apartment to see if it would be ready early. No, of course not. And we discovered that my checkbook accidentally made it to Tennessee in a box...not my purse. Luckily that was an easy fix with a money order! On Tuesday, we were able to sign our lease and get moved in.
Before we left CS, we visited the Uhaul store to buy some specialized boxes and I noticed a brochure for moving help. It was a network for moving resources. It was great! We were able to find a mover to unload our moving truck. Those poor guys. They were awesome. I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw all of my crap and started having trouble looking for spots for the boxes.
We managed to get the basics found and unpacked the first day. It was nice to sleep in my own bed again! Taryne's room was the first room to get unpacked. Mainly because it keeps her occupied and she has all her toys to play with. She has a little nook area that is perfect for her rug, table & chairs and kitchen set. The lighting isn't great in her room, so we will get more lamps/lights, but we haven't found what we want yet.
Now that we have been here about a week and a half, we have a good bit unpacked, but there are still a ton of boxes. We rented a storage unit for our "other stuff" like holiday decorations, boxes we want/need to keep and other random stuff.
Overall the trip and move went pretty well. Better than I would have thought with two children and a dog on an out of state move. While we are here for only 3 years, I know the next "big" move should be a little easier since Hayden will be 3 and Taryne will be 5 1/2.
Sorry for the long post...more on the move, settling in and experiences/challenges coming soon!
Until next time...Gig'em!
