Transitioned

.....clearing out the cobwebs from my blog......

Hello ladies! We have the almighty internet again! I was literally starting to get the shakes from my computer detox. Not a good thing. I even had 74 posts to catch up on Google Reader so thank god for stolen internet in five minute bursts. Internet dude showed up at 12:30 and acted like nothing was wrong. Like I WASN'T foaming at the mouth for my internet. Then I had to pound and curse at my laptop as I configured our wireless. Coming from a person who doesn't understand the difference between a modem and a router, this was a huge accomplishment. All in the name of blogging, my friends!

Anyway, we survived the move. We moved all day on Friday then we both had to work Saturday and Sunday and Monday, and now for my 'weekend' as I'm off today and tomorrow. I never knew tired like this, you guys. And of course Mother Nature brought her A-game over the weekend with a swift kick to Milwaukee's butt---a wintery cocktail landed on our doorstep, full of ice, rain, snow, and sleet. Mmmmm, fun times! At least we don't live a few hours north where they got over a foot of snow last weekend. Been there, done that:)

Okay, so you want pictures, right? Let's start at the beginning: Thursday night, which was Valentines day. Not full of love in our house because I was near nervous breakdown that night. Too much to pack and not enough time, the anticipation was the worst part for me. Nate and Henry couldn't take it anymore:

As a control freak I labeled every single box in hopes that we could find things easier upon arrival. I'll be damned if I can't figure out a proper label for EVERY box, and this one is my fave:


Friday morning: I absentmindedly flushed one of our disposable toilet scrubbers down the toilet. Only problem was it was suppose to go in the trash and not the toilet. So of course it clogged and we didn't have a plunger. Sweet.

The movers arrived on time and I hung around the apartment while they packed. Check out their extra strength wrap job to our couch! Nothing is penetrating this baby:
It took them 1.5 hours to load up our apartment full of furniture, 30 minutes to drive to the duplex, and another 1.5 hours to unload. That's 4 hours of work and $500 [including a hefty tip] out the window. Now normally I'd freak out at a purchase of this magnitude but in all honesty, it was worth it. Those guys busted their butts and moved our stuff with care. Highly recommended:
After they unloaded our lives we had to make the final trip back to the apartment for cleaning, nail hole filling, and the dreaded "Final Load of Doom." Did you guys know that the last load is always the worst in the history of moving? Look at this chaos in the back of my SUV. NIGHTMARE!!! A hodge podge of disaster as we were out of boxes and none of this crap would fit anywhere else. But we drove off and left the keys to our first apartment behind. I was entirely too fatigued to feel sentimental at this point.

And our new journey laid in front of us, like a tornado of junk. Slightly overwhelming, no?

But at least I kept my camera handy for a few "moving day from hell" shots:
Dear God we need some sun! This picture defines 'pasty white' and exhaustion.
Poor Henry had about 80 panic attacks over the weekend. "Mom and Dad, what the hell is going on here?"

And then, Nate discovered his long lost love: his Spanish sword purchased when he studied abroad. This thing is real and ridiculously heavy. He's always said we will proudly display the sword over our fireplace someday and I've always laughed him off because the sword was buried in his parent's house. But now that it's been uncovered I'm afraid for our lives [and design sense]. Just look at how happy he is!

And now for the biggest news: WE HAVE RUNNING WATER! Not a refrigerator, not a microwave, not finished cabinets or a floor. But we have a sink and it feels so good. Now we can brew up some coffee even if we can't eat in our kitchen just yet.
Our partially finished kitchen comes complete with two white fluffy man killers, so watch out!

So there it is. We are transitioned into our new place which of course has it's pros and cons.

Things I LOVE about our new place:

• The big fat bank account we are soon to have without rent payments.
• The beautifully tall shower head in our shower. Our apartment's shower head was made for the vertically challenged and it forced us to bend our necks in ways not suitable for humans.
• FREE LAUNDRY! Goodbye stupid rolls of quarters.
• Laundry chute to the washer and dryer: Goodbye gigantic exploding laundry hamper. Now we can just toss our clothes down the magic tunnel of happiness and ignore the clothes for a longer period of time:)
• My mother-in-law's cooking. Since we don't have a working kitchen Lois has been showing off her fabulous cooking skills and feeding us like royalty. I told Nate not to get too spoiled because I could never follow in her shoes.
• My new shorter drive to work.
  

Things that we will miss:

• Our refrigerator [coming in about a week!]
• A working kitchen [hopefully in a few weeks!]
• Our storage locker to hold the useless crap that has no place. For now the attic in this duplex is stuffed to capacity, but we'll figure out how to make it all work.
• A dishwasher.
• DVR
• Our parking spaces. Now we have to fit 4 cars in a detached 2 car garage with a long driveway. That means playing musical cars each night to get ready for work the next day. Not fun in 0 degree weather.
• The luxury of walking directly outside to take Henry out. Now we have to go down a flight of stairs, which I know isn't a big deal, but it takes a lot more effort.

All in all, the place is really starting to feel like home. Of course it's a work in progress but I'm just glad we have internet and room to walk without tripping over boxes. And as always, we swear that we won't move again for a very long time. But isn't that what everyone says? Thanks for thinking of me ladies. I'll try to work my way back into posting in between unpacking and sleeping:)