We're In!!!

FINALLY!!!!  We have moved into the new house, and the itty bitty rent house is a distant memory.  We booked the movers the instant we learned that we had passed our final inspection (for the very next day).  I listed, in detail the items we had to move, along with the large storage unit full of our forgotten belongings (really, who even KNOWS what lurks in there!).  I warned them that our move from Lafayette took their largest truck and the help of another crew for a few hours.  8:00 AM rolls around the next morning, I anxiously swing open the broken front door of the itty bitty rent house with its dangling door knob, and I see 2 smiling movers and their itty bitty moving van parked on the road.  I can only imagine I must have looked like a puppy dog when they turn their head to the side in confusion.  "That's not going to work,"  I said.  This was their SmAlLeSt moving van.  The kind I imagine would have been used if Tom and Jerry were moving little Jerry's family out of the home.  NOT my family of FIVE!  "Well, we use this truck for local moves because it's quicker.  We use the big truck for out-of-town moves."  Again, head turns sideways. "That doesn't make sense to me."  After speaking to the manager on the phone, much confusion, and the realization that we will have to just throw our hands up get another crew to move us as well, we tread on.  This moving crew, whose name I will not mention, except that it rhymes with "2 Fajuns and a Muck" charge by the hour.  So, our budgeted $125 per hour has just doubled to $250 per hour, putting us at $1000 after 4 short hours.  {{{Insert angry, violent screams here}}}  The cheapskate in me was twitching.  So, after 4.75 hours, we moved the rent house ONLY!  They never touched the storage unit.  Keep in mind, we moved here from 80ish miles away from a 2600+ square foot house with a large shop, got stuck on the interstate for half an hour longer than needed, dropped half off at the storage unit, moved the other half into the itty-bitty rent house, and set up all beds.  That move costed only a little more than this 4-hour circus.  So, we still have an entire storage unit to move (on our own...the "Fajuns" are not invited to this party)

Regardless of how we got here, today marks 2 weeks in our new house, which just yesterday started to really feel like a home.  It's an odd thing, moving into a new house, even if you have been working on it for 11 months.  For a short time, it still feels like THAT house that you've visited with wires hanging here and there, sheetrock dust everywhere, nails scattered around, and the general feel of construction.  Then, a moment comes that gives the feeling of being "home".  For me, the feeling was last night, and it was tremendous.  I was cooking dinner (hamburgers, a family fave), Catie needed juice, Zac was getting out the plates and napkins...and it happened.  I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling of being home.  It was wonderful.  I felt like it was MY kitchen, in the middle of MY home.  My kids were all behaving beautifully in this moment and all the world was working just as it should.  I haven't had the feeling...ever.

Our home is beautiful, in a beautiful neighborhood, with beautiful views.  It will take some time to get all of our crap belongings where they need to be, but it will happen.  Patience, patience, patience.  It's a hard thing to remember when you can't wait to throw some pictures on the wall and make it official.  The time will come.

Now, I must get back to unpacking {{I'd rather slide down razor-blades}} and mop my floor yet again (sheetrock dust lurks still).  Another chapter begins......

Lesson:  Patience is a virtue......which I often lack.

~ACZ

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