The Big Move-the Sequel

Sometimes it seems like hubs and I have made a career out of moving. This time we promised each other that we'd at least see an entire holiday season through before moving again. Phewf!


However, this weekend was indeed packed with moving. But now we're in and I'm so happy we are.


The actual moving began Tuesday night, when hubs picked up the moving truck we'd arranged. Unfortunately (kink alert!) it was way too big for our street and never would have fit on our driveway without blocking the whole roundabout. So...we had to downsize which meant more trips.


So we (I use 'we' very loosely since both hubs and my dad kept yelling at me that I shouldn't be helping. I'm pregnant...not decrepit! So I carried a couple light boxes and moved some stuff around aimlessly so he could load the real boxes) packed up all the boxes we had packed-about 45 large boxes and 20 smaller ones and drove them over to my parents house. Their house is about 3 blocks from our new house, so it seemed the most efficient destination.


Then Wednesday's snow storm hit, and that was a treat. But my older sis and her husband came over that evening and helped with some bins and a bunch of the larger furniture. They were a HUGE help and played a mean game of tetris getting so much stuff onto the truck.


Thursday we had FIL come over with his work van to load up all the garage stuff (work bench, tools, etc) and it was PACKED! Also that night, a friend come by and help with even more big stuff (a move really makes you realize how much crap you have) like the piano, cube freezer and other similar things.


After that, we realized that there's still WAY too much stuff, so MIL was going to pick up yet another cube van Friday morning for whatever's left over. (Other than what hubs and I could jam into our own cars). Had some alcohol-free champagne, which is SO not the same and conked out.

Then Friday we were up at the crack of dawn for our lawyer's meeting, brekkie and some more loading & cleaning with the help of my dad and MIL (standard moving day help).


Loaded up and went to hang out at my parents so I could let Max & Layla out of their cages, because, well--don't they just look miserable? They sure sounded miserable with the crying and hissing.

So killed a couple hours and then got the keys around 4:00.

With LOADS of help from friends and family, we managed to unload everything except FIL's van that was getting dropped off Saturday. I can't believe how much help we had (and how much I was shooed).

And now we're IN!!! There's SO much work to do, but we're both so excited about it.

T-1 day!

So moving day is tomorrow...and I can't wait!

I'm so excited for this move and the potential it brings (I feel like I've said this before...perhaps about a year ago?)

It's a well known fact that I'm a bit anal-retentive and love to have thins organized and free from my mind. Is this EVER true with something like moving home!

I've had lists of packing schedules, address changes, supplies needed, renovation schedules, and so much more. Heck-I've even had lists of lists! (And no, I'm not even being facetious).

But...it's all paying off. With 1 day to go, we're all set with the truck having been picked up on Tuesday, several items already loaded and a bunch of help scheduled for tonight. And...I can finally say with some degree of comfort that we're pretty much all packed! Yahoo!

Believe it or not, all of these sweemingly chaotic rooms are actually quite organized.

There are the 'base camp' rooms, which is basically the dining room:


And part of the family room:

Which both look quite similar to 10 months ago when I wrote about moving day.

Then there are the clothes and bedroom stuff:

Some more organized chaos in the family room:

front entrance:

and garage:

And some barren land in the basement:

But not all of it,

And all this packing makes for some very pooped family-here's me with my donkeys wiped out late Saturday afternoon.

I have such a love/hate relationship with moving.

Laundry Room

I'm so excited about this post it's embarassing!

You may recall our bare bones laundry room from a past post about Layla's fascination with it:


Or from when we first moved in (Pic from day 2 in our house, right after appliance delivery):

There wasn't much to it, which really is fine-it's a laundry room afterall. But it definitely had its share of pains in the behind.

• The washing machine was always 'walking' so I had to keep pushing it back against the wall over and over again.
• Because of the amount of shaking from the washer, things were always falling off-detergent, clothes, etc. So I'd have to contort myself between everything to pick stuff up. Not to mention getting the bejeezus scared out of you when a bottle of detergent came crashing down and you were downstairs or in bed.
• There was very little surface area for putting clothes when they came out of the dryer, folding them and stacking them until you were done folding. Everything was always falling between and behind the machines.
• Zero storage
• Litter box was in the right side corner (not shown) and took up a good amount of space, and was very obvious when you walked in there.
• It was just down right boring being in there. I don't need a tv or anything, just a bit of visual interest to break up the monotony of loading, unloading, folding, hanging, ironing, etc would be nice.

So...last week while washing all of our camping clothes 2-3 times each (campfire does NOT smell good when it's embedded in your clothes!) I was getting increasingly frustrated and talked with hubs about how our weekend project (or at least one of them) needed to be figuring out some solution for this room.

And I love it! SO much surface area to put, fold, and keep stuff, plus shelves for storage, and even a little nook for the litter box!

I even printed out a couple laundry-esque pictures and tips for around the room:

Even Max likes it now, as he spent a good 20 minutes sniffing around and seeing what was up with his business room.

We were going to use this as a temporary solution until we could foot the bill for an actual countertop and some cupboards, but I think this will do us just fine.

And all with about an hour and a bit of work and a few bucks. How many bucks, you ask?

Melamine White top $27.47
(just a couple bucks more than a plain MDF version of the same thing and already painted and no splinters to catch clothes on)

2 Melamine White shelves $19.22 ($9.61 each)

2x2 for bracing counter (not seen) $5.17

2x4 for counter leg $4.67

White Melamine 2x4 for bracing shelves $5.96 ($2.98 each)

Plank of MDF for the brackets $7.57

3 8x10 frames for pics $6.00 ($2.00 each)

2 4x6 frames for other pics $2.50 ($1.25 each)

Metal hooks for belts and hangers $1.00 for 4-pack

Plastic blue bowl for coins, etc hubs forgets in his clothes $1.00

Everything else we had on hand

So for a total of $80.56 and about 2 hours combined work, we have a totally functional laundry room that's kinda cute to boot!

Thanks hun!

Introductions

OK, so technically this isn't a post anything to do with our setting up home. But then again, technically it's my blog and I can do what I want.

Here's the connection: My brother and his girlfriend are currentlly in the exciting process of setting up their very own first home, which closed on March 15, 2009. Both animal lovers, and now with the opportunity of making their home that much homier, they adopted 2 bebe kittens yesterday! So CUTE! (note: kittens is pronounced khai-tins. Trust me).

They're from the Smiths Falls rescue network, the very same network my husband adopted our very own Layla from about 5 years ago. If there's a relation, it's not evident.

Without further ado, and in the absence of names chosen, I give you....Boy Cat and Girl Cat:

Girl Cat:

Boy Cat:

The 2 main things to mention, are that 1-they're almost identical. The only difference is that boy cat it slightly more puffy. I think he's a medium hair where girl cat is a short hair. Otherwise---the same. And 2-they're so flippin' energetic it's crazy. I forgot what it was like to have a kitten, and I've never had 2 at the same time. So most of the photos are blurry because they don't pose like sweet little cats, and if they're not blurry-it's luck.

Here they are sniffing & playing with some toys Max & Layla sent over:




And playing with a standard stick with tassles. What is it with cats and sticks?

And boy cat taking a break after that crazy flying leap he just took:
And here's a shot of them with my bro, mainly for our older sister, who's living abroad to meet the fam: (boy cat in arms, girl cat balancing precariously on shoulders) And this one because it's funny. Boy cat was finding his voice and I accidentally left the flash on, giving the pic a distinctly insane feline feeling to it.

They're super sweet and finally when I was leaving, they were getting tuckered out so were a bit more cuddly. They're about 3 months old and each weigh about 3 lbs (Although poor girl cat had a bit of that weight coming out both ends, so she could very possibly have lost a third of her body weight).

Congrats guys--and good luck with that ivory carpet ;)

Uncharted Territory

Perhaps you know that we have 2 children cats.

Perhaps you know that they are beautiful little sissies who are afraid of things even a mouse wouldn't blink at.

Perhaps what you don't know is that Layla turned 5 on Saturday. Five! Yowza...I can't imagine how fast the time flies for parents of human children!

In that spirit, I thought I'd share some pictures of the cats being more than typically adventurous on our (paved, fenced,protected) front porch. They ventured out there a few weeks ago while hubs and I were enjoying a mild spring day.

Here's the little 5 year old up on the pillar:

Ain't she perty?

And here she is rubbing it in her brothers face that she's hands down the Jack be Nimble of the family.

And when all that discovering got tiring, here she is chillaxing in the toasty lap of hubs. While her brother did some exploring of his own

Ho ho, and this one because it's just way too funny

They're not quite as scared of the (paved, fenced,protected) front porch now and venture out there every once in a while if we're out there and leave the door open a crack for them. Until a car drives past, a dog barks, hubs or I stand up or move our chair, or pretty much anything happens. Lawd, they're cute.

Entrance Trial

Only after my post the other day about the monogram we hung at the front entrance did I realize just how bare the front entrance was (and is). My rational side is (very) slowly taking control of my frivolous side and I'm realizing that we don't have to do everything right away. We don't have the time and we certainly don't have the money to do it all right now. We've got forever, I know that logically and it's better to live in the space for a while and sort out what you need and what you want.

Yah, yah---I still want to go shopping.

But...I'm trying to be good, so I've made some changes in the front entrance using stuff we already had. So I moved a console table and a flower arrangement (fake flowers, thanks Pier 1) to fill that space a little bit and make the picture seem a little less random:

And, since apparently it's cat day on Setting up Home, and because this little guy turns 3 today, here's our other cat, Max modelling the new set up.

I think it's a definite improvement and it'll do for now. What do you think?

PS-Happy birthday Maxers! I can't believe you're 3 already.

Whirlpool has a fan

This is our laundry room (pardon the clutter):

In it, the Whirlpool duet sport washer and dryer. I like them enough-they fit a lot, look pretty and do a good job. However, Layla, one of our cats...she loooves them.

The first time I did laundry with these machines, I couldn't stop laughing. Both cats are very affectionate and follow us around the house no matter where we go. Layla especially. So when I went to do the laundry, I had a couple spectators. Watching from the doorway, they watched me load the washer. Max lost interest and walked away. I turned the washer on and Layla went all Pointer Dog on me. Her eyes practically popped out of her little head and she stood, motionless like that for a good 20 minutes.

It was hilarious. And it was adorable.

So I left and let her get used to it. It was a new environment and a new sound and sight, so I figured she'd need to get comfortable with it.

I've done roughly 20 loads of laundry with these machines and she's still captivated by them.

This was last night:

She's not as shocked by them anymore, so doesn't stand at red alert, but she does sit there and watch it go. It's like laundry television. Or feline television.

Whichever it is, it's pretty cute and it makes laundry a bit less of a chore.

(Edited to switch Maytag to Whirlpool. Whatever-it's all the same stuff!)