Moving day!

Ow, ow, ow, owowowowowwww!

That's basically been our bodies' response since last night, when we pulled ourselves off the couches and dragged ourselves up the stairs. This is when I doubted the whole "two-story" concept. Mike spent the climb mocking me in a falsetto "Oh, I just loooooove two stories! I must have one! They're the beeeest!"

I think it's more a sign of how unfit we've become than we shouldn't have bought a two-story. We still love this house, which is good, because I don't think the bank would accept a "we changed our minds."

Anyway, we couldn't really have asked for a better move, even with the wind gusts. The news this morning reported 55 mph wind gusts, but I think that might have been after we returned the U-Haul, though it was windy enough! Our moving crew (friends and family we bribed with coffee and donuts and puppy dog eyes) arrived throughout the morning, so we had the U-Haul, a pick-up, SUV, and a couple of cars filled up and unloaded BY NOON.

Granted, many of the small things had already been transferred to the house, but we like to credit an awesome team. Go team!

There was some peril, of course. Mike wanted his massive, heavy workbench to go in the basement, where he wants to set up a workshop. The boys got the bench into the house and had to take a pause in the basement doorway and reassess ... then it was a careful, sweaty descent.

I was supposed to order pizza at this point, but considered calling 911 in advanced.

No holes in the wall. No injuries. They did have to pop off the workroom's door to squeeze the bench through, but it's there! I'm impressed.

While we had willing arms, we also took the boats off the trailer and docked them in the sunroom. They aren't properly supported right now, so we still need to remove the bunks from the trailer and set them under the boats. One thing at a time!

This ain't the lake!

By afternoon, our kitchen was a disaster area.

It's a bit better this morning, though we still have a box or two somewhere around here to unload and random detritus are scattered around.

The living room became the debate as we plopped down on couches and snarfed down pizza. Mike and I are determined not to block a window or shorten the TV's already established life by hanging it above the fireplace. The consensus among the men (and one enabler woman) was that, obviously, we needed a bigger TV. I think this is the man cure for most of the world's problems. 

Eventually we settled on basically our original plan, though things are shifted a few inches here and there. After the house cleared out, we spent probably a good 20 minutes shifting furniture a few inches one way or another until we found an arrangement we like for now. There are still two shelving sets that will probably go elsewhere, because they crowd up the space, but one thing at a time.

What amazed us, aside from this is our house omg!, was how quickly the spaces fill up/cozy up. The living room always felt big, even though we knew it was a bit awkward for furniture arrangement, and now it feels about the same size as our old house (just less open).

A look into the living room with a rough placement of furniture.

The exception to shrinking space is the master. Last night we set up the sliding white shelves we've used as beside storage and made up the mattress, because we were too darn tired to put together the Ikea frame. We put our heads on our pillows and started giggling. From the vantage point of the ground and the far wall, you truly feel just how ridiculously big is - this is a room that won't be filling up anytime soon. We're so glad we went with Cozy Corner, because it does bring the room in. A little. 

Anyway, now that the furniture was placed, it was time to hook up the Internet and cable. We had intended to just bunny ear it like we always have, but we wound up with a promo deal for faster Internet and select cable channels (like HBO!) which is only slightly more expensive than straight up SLOW Internet that we've lived with for years and keeps getting more and more expensive.

So, we were pretty excited for HBO, Starz, etc. and fast Internet for a year (we've got the contract end date locked into Google Calendar). Of course, in exchange for this, we had to deal with the big, ugly cable box:

So. One big, ugly box that doesn't fit into our TV shelf. Then we discovered that the cable hookup for the room is exactly where we didn't want the TV to be but it explains why the Previous Owners placed the TV where they did. The cable pops up from the carpet just past the step down between the kitchen and living room.

So, we have to run a cord from the northeast corner of the room, past the fireplace, and then to the west wall.

McKayla Maroney is not impressed.

We wound up finding a cable line in the library, which we think we can subtly run under the library cabinets and around the wall edge. It'll be a bit less obvious and in the main sight lines, anyway. BUT THEN the Internet was working. 

Mike tramped all over the house testing the modem on the different cable hookups. Basically, all the bedrooms have cable hookup, but only one - the one in the kitchen/living room entryway - worked for Internet. Oh, you quirky house. So, our cable now runs from the library, the Internet from the line popping out of the carpet. We figure we'll find a cute little planter table at Garden Ridge or Home Goods to set a plant on the top and tuck the modem in a basket on the lower shelf.

So, our to-do list today:

• Enjoy the morning in our new house
• Put the laundry room door back on, so we can start doing laundry (it's blocking the washer)
• Go for a walk around the lake (it might get to 60 today)
• Work on the library
• Put more crap away
• Take garbage to a dumpster (and get white trash bags, as per city orders)
• Get a trash can, since the city won't pick up trash not in cans