"Moving In" Day!

Hey everyone.  Before I share a few pics of moving in day, I just want to thank each and everyone who has made such sweet comments on my last few posts.  Sorry, I'm too busy to respond to each of you individually, but I truly appreciate ya'll.  Hopefully I'll get my head above water here soon & get back to visiting each of you.  I MISS ya'll!

I can't say enough about the professionalism of this moving company, Always Professional in Moving.  The owner, Ray, was right on-time, arriving at our new home at 7 a.m.  The very first thing he did was put down  long blue cloths that stretched from well outside each entry & then into the house.  This was to clean the hand-truck wheels before they ever went onto our carpet.  They unloaded the flatbed first.

Several of the crew had been with us during the "Move Out" day, but there were a few newbies, too.  After unloading most of the garage (The Man's stuff.....lol!) & lots of boxes, Ray herded the crew into our laundry room to wash up before they started handling our furniture.  I was sooooo impressed!

They used large sheets of plywood to section the truck & keep things from shifting.

The Boss Man kept shouting orders of caution & instruction.  I heard lots of  "rack 'em, stack 'em."  They would sort and stack the boxes according to the room locations (I had marked those rooms clearly on each box) & as soon as there were 4 boxes for a particular room, one of the crew would slip them onto an awaiting hand-truck.  They were definitely "worker bees" that day.

Prior to the movers' arrival, I put directional sheets all around the house so they would know where things should be located.  I had also made little marks on the walls where things needed to be centered.  They always made sure that any electrical cords were easily accessible for us.

I have unpacked about 75 boxes so far, and there has been no damage or breakage.  The kitchen is all unpacked, & my FiestaWare dishes are all safe & sound.....WHEW!  

It feels so truly wonderful to be in our new home.  The Man is retiring at the end of the month, so he can be here full-time, too.  Even-though it felt like this whole "buying-selling-moving" process had taken a long time, it really has only been 9 months since we made the decision that we wanted to move to this area.  That's a lot of juggling in a short period of time, well, at least it is for us "older folks!"  We feel truly blessed that everything has fallen into place.

Again, thank you for hanging in there with me & for stopping by.  Please come again soon.

I'm happily linking to: 

WOW Us Wednesday

Help Me, I'm Drowning in a Sea of Boxes!

Hey everyone.  I'm just kidding about the "drowning bit," well, sort of kidding......teehee!  Unpacking is a whole lot more fun than packing, but it is a ton of work.  I'm not ready to show you any rooms yet, but thought I'd share some of what went on just before and during "Moving Day."

Well, ya'll know I've been packing for a loooong time, so we were truly ready the day before the "Big Move."  I was even able to get a "hair fix" from my wonderful hairdresser who I will truly miss.  I had packed almost 200 boxes.

The mover "Always Professional in Moving" had a 4 hour drive just to get to us, but arrived promptly at 8:30, first with a pickup and flatbed trailer.........

and then with the big truck.  Please forgive the strange fuzzy cast on some of the pics.  It was so humid that day, my camera lens fogged up each time I went out to take a photo.

I couldn't believe how quickly these guys worked, even with the heat.

That's the "Boss Man" on the truck directing his crew.  He stayed in the back of the truck most of the time, making certain the items were packed just right.  It was rather interesting to watch.

They brought plenty of wardrobe boxes -- thank you, thank you, thank you!  We used 5 or 6, I think.

I was kind of getting nervous because the truck was filling up and there was still so much yet to go on.

That's our mattress getting lashed on right there.

Here's a closeup.  There was just enough room to completely fill the remaining space with the small-size boxes -- just barely.  They told me it was so much easier to pack our things because we had used regular packing boxes, & they could all fit together like a puzzle.  We got them at Lowes, and used 3 different sizes but more smalls than anything.

All of The Man's tools went on the flatbed trailer, plus a few other things.   

This made me nervous until........

I saw how well they strapped everything down.

These guys worked so hard, and had everything loaded & were driving away in 3 1/2 hours!

I took one last spin through the house.  The Man will be returning to Yuma & staying in the house for a couple of weeks.  He has a few loose ends to tie up at work before he officially retires.  During that time, he will do the touch-up painting, etc.

The very bare studio.

I hope you enjoyed the "moving experience" with me.  My next post will be shorter, but will cover the "Moving In" part of the experience.  It seemed too much to do all in one post.  I love ya & didn't want to bore you to death.  Anyway, I hope you'll return for the next installment of this "journey."  As always, thanks so much for stopping by & please come again soon.

CAS

I'm happily linking to:
WOW Us Wednesday

So Excited to Show You Our New Home!

Hey everyone!  I wasn't sure if I'd have the opportunity to share photos of our new home while it was still empty, but it worked out.  We were over just for the weekend to do a u-haul run & do a few other  things.  We had twin beds delivered that will be for the guest room, but we used them this weekend so we could stay in our new home.  So are you ready for a tour?  Make yourself comfy, there are a ton of photos!

This is the entrance to the front door.

Who Moves in Late July in Arizona?

Hey everyone!  The answer to my post header question is ......... The Man and I!  We were so anxious to see our new home again, and it just made sense to rent a u-haul to take a lot of items the professional won't move -- paints, gardening chemicals, plus an odd assortment of things that are too difficult to pack.  It also seemed logical to rent the size truck that could pull an auto-transport, which turned out to be a 14'er.

We picked it up late last Thursday and started loading after the sun was down a bit.  Still, it was 109* or so and quite humid for here.

I had been staging things all day and putting pink stickies on everything that we could

 possibly load ourselves.

The Man was drenched in perspiration - he was working so hard.  So was I, but no way will you see a pic of that!  My car got loaded with all my houseplants, bedding, & suitcases.  We got most of the loading finished that night, finished up early Friday morn, & left for our new home. 

 This is how we made our "grand entrance" into our new neighborhood!

What was really awesome was that we had only been there for 5 minutes, when the neighbor next door came over and welcomed us to the neighborhood.   Talk about a "warm fuzzie!"

Okay, tomorrow is the big "tour" of our new home that I've been anxiously waiting to share with ya'll.  You had best rest up because we are talking "photo overload!"  Just so you  know!  Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me.  I hope to see ya' tomorrow.

CAS

YAY, We've Sold, Bought, & Move In 3 Weeks!

Just in case you missed my last post, we have SOLD. OUR. HOUSE!!!!  That is the best feeling.  The second best feeling, well actually running neck-in-neck, is that we've closed on our new home in Gilbert.  Our BIG move is scheduled for 3 weeks from today.  We will be doing a "mid-move" Uhaul move in a week, and I plan to take tons of pictures to share (hopefully not bore) with all my bloggy friends.  To say we are excited just doesn't come to close - JUBILANT, ECSTATIC, OVER-JOYED - maybe come closer!  This will probably be my last post until I get those pics, so don't go anywhere, okay?

Happiness is this sign in our front yard!

XOXO, CAS!!!

Welcome to the Chaos!

Hey everyone!  Sorry I've been away for so long, but, as I said in one of my last "real" posts, there were too many "irons in the fire" and little time for blogging.  Well, things are still very chaotic and busy, and I still don't have much time for blogging.  I did, however want to "catch" you up on some of what's going on.

This is what went up in front of our home in late January.

In February, we made several trips to the Phoenix area, and after "kissing a few too many frogs," we found this.......

I'll be happily sharing lots of photos of the new house later.  

It felt like a perfect fit for The Man and I, as well as a wonderful gathering place for our rather large family.  Everything went along very smoothly until the very end of "closing" and then a few "snafoos" emerged.  It was hard on these "old nerves" at the time, but we just knew it would all work out.

In the meantime, I started doing a lot of this........

Keeping a good record of each box's contents as I packed away things that I felt we could do without for a few months.

Have used a lot of this.......

Attempted to store the packed boxes where they would be out of the way & not be offensive to any potential buyer of our home.

I actually felt pretty good about just getting my "decor" closet packed up, but then I downloaded a "whole house photo inventory" that I took just before I began the packing process.  Looking at all that "stuff" that would have to get packed was very overwhelming.  I decided to go ahead and pack as much as I could contain in an area of our garage, again trying to keep it from looking messy.  Here is what that looks like.....

In the meantime, we have finally "closed" on our new home in Gilbert.  Our realtor was sweet enough to take this photo of The Man & I putting our "John Hancocks" on the dotted lines!

And now, almost five months since we signed our "listing" contract, we finally have a BUYER for the Yuma house!  Woohoo!!!!  

 I would throw out some confetti, except then I would have to clean it up!  I did open one of my favorite wines.........Cheers, everyone!

Now my packing efforts have moved into full-swing, and I can put boxes wherever I need.  My dining room is almost completely finished, and now I am working on our bedroom & my studio.  What's really nice is that lots of things that are in drawers, can stay there.  We just have some of this "shrink-wrap" stuff to keep them from coming open.

My sunroom is pretty much packed away now, except for my plants.  It's a good holding spot for packed boxes & I'm using the counter in the sunroom closet to contain a lot of my packing needs.

I've gotten most things off the walls, & now The Man can fill/patch holes and do some touchup painting.

I've left a lot of my kitchen to do at the last, but have gotten a good start packing things that I know I can do without for a little bit of time.  I may be resorting to using a lot these...........

so I can get my dishes packed.  Dishes & all things "glass" take the longest to pack, & I need to be very thorough.  I DO NOT WANT BREAKAGE!

We are going to be renting one of these.........

to take some things over to the new house - only ours will be hauling The Man's little Mustang.   We've hired a mover, but there are things they cannot move - like paints, garden chemicals, household cleaners, etc. - so we will be taking those things, along with as many things as we can handle ourselves.  Professional movers also require that all boxes be sealed, & I have several boxes that are holding things that are too big to go into a closed box.

Abby climbs into any unsealed box that she finds.  I guess she wants to be certain that she doesn't get left behind.  Fat chance of that happening!

We move in 3 weeks - YIKES - back to the packing boxes!  I hope you didn't mind my little "getting you caught up" session.  I've really missed blogging, but just know I will soon be back on a regular basis with lots of new things to post about.  I'm planning to take lots of pics of our new home during our "U-haul run" in another week or so.  I'll be so excited to share those with all of you.  Thanks for stopping by and for hanging in there with me.  Ya'll are the best!

CAS

I'm happily linking to:

WOW Us Wednesday 

(Seriously, if this post isn't a WOW, I don't know what is!)

Inspiration Friday

A Lot of Irons in the Fire!

Hey everyone!  I'm on hiatus from doing much blogging for awhile.  There are so many things going on right now with our new home and selling this one.  I have very limited blogging time, but just wanted to thank everyone who has left me a comment recently and those who've just become a follower.  I am trying to keep up with "Thank you's," but if I miss you, please forgive me.  I am also trying to sneak in quick peeks at your blogs, but may not have time to leave comments.  Just know I am thinking about ya'll and really miss those special connections that I have with so many of you.  I hope you'll hang in there with me, and I'll try to make it up to you when I can.

Hope ya'll have a wonderful week and Memorial Day!
xoxo...,CAS

Knee-deep in packing boxes & paper!

Hey everyone.  Hope your Tuesday is going well.  I did start the packing process yesterday & thought I would have time to post about it, but that didn't happen.  Apparently my body doesn't move as quickly through this process as mind thinks it should.  I know a bunch of you are noddin' your heads right now & chucklin'.  Me, too!  Part of what took some time was looking for some kind of template that I could download to keep a log of box contents.  Well, I didn't find anything like that, so I had to create my own.

The very first thing I did, & should have done a long time ago, was go room-by-room & take digital photos of everything -- furniture, art, accessories, contents of drawers, cupboards & closets.  I then burned this to a CD, labeled along with the date.  I feel so good that I finally took care of that.

Next, you know me, I have to have things organized, so I made up this sheet for recording the contents of each box.  I just made a bunch of copies, punched holes & put them in a narrow 3-ring binder that I already had.  I also put the CD Home Inventory in the front inside pocket of this binder.  This shall be my "Moving Bible" for lack of a better name.

You'll see a close-up a bit later, but there is a place to record what room in the new house each box will go, along with a place for the box #, a list of content categories (you'll see some of those later) & plenty of space to record the actual contents.  Over-kill, maybe, I don't know.  This is just how my "pea-picker" works.

These are my supplies.  This is my wrapping station in the sunroom closet & it is a great place to work!  

Of course you have to have one of these beasties & plenty of refills.  Don't get the refills at Sam's Club; they are $6 more there than at Lowes'.  Can you believe that?

A supply of these comes in handy for holding batteries & small light bulbs that need to be removed from items before packing.  Plus they are great for any small parts that need to be packed with but separate from certain things.  I also had a Black Perma Marker.

We are watching Craig's List for boxes, but for now, Home Depot & Lowes' are great for boxes & they are cheaper than the moving companies.  Beside, we have a Lowes' about 1 mile away, so we can get them as we need them.  The paper is from our local newspaper -- the end rolls of unprinted newsprint.  Super-cheap & The Man fixed up a contraption in the garage & cut them all into manageable pieces.

This is where I had determined I would start, since this is probably one of the more daunting spaces.  There is so much glass, pottery & oddball sizes.

I wrapped candles in plastic grocery bags before packing into boxes just so there is no color transfer if they get warm on the truck.  Also in case there is any melting -- this is AZ you know!

This is a close-up of the top of one of my sheets.  Right now the Room # is blank until I have a chance to get back over to the new house.  When we make the move, I will label each room with a 

corresponding # -- probably a large sheet taped to each door.

Each box has its corresponding #.  I'm also going to make some stickers that say "FRAGILE" & put them on probably every box.  I'm hoping that will make the movers more careful.  Whata' think?  The boxes will also get a Room #.

Well, this was the plan in my mind & it actually worked well.  All of the contents of this closet were packed into boxes & the boxes went back on the shelves.  I love when a plan comes together!

I'm so glad I have this closet with the built-in counter.  It is proving to be the best place & most comfortable for wrappin' & packin'!  I promise not to bore you with every single box I pack, but thought this might just be helpful to someone in my similar situation who hasn't had to do this in awhile.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by & please come again soon.  I'll try to have something a bit more interesting next time.  Okay?

CAS

I'm linking to the following:

Organizing Mission Monday

Wickedly Awesome Wednesday

Whassup Wednesday!

Feature Yourself Friday

It's A Hodge Podge Friday

Friday's Unfolded