The Big Move - It's OVER!!!

Tuomo writes: I can't emphasise how happy I am now that the bulk of the Big Move is over. We focused on moving our furniture, boxes, and other bulky stuff so that we we able to sleep in our new home this past Saturday.

Saturday was the furniture day. Dave went to pick up the U-Haul at 9:30 while I cleared the ways for the furniture to move. Unfortunately, Jay's mom/Angies grandmother had fallen ill the night before, and Joy had to take her to the hospital. Consequently Tuukka, who was supposed to come over around 10 to help us move, had to stay home and keep an eye on Mika, who wasn't feeling that well either... At the same time, somebody had to be over at the new house to let the furniture delivery guys in as well as the phone line inspector, i.e. Angie, who in her true troopeer fashion ended spending almost the whole day all by herself playing Sudoku and eating leftover pizza.

Until Tuukka could come give us a hand, Dave and I started moving things to the van. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it wasn't fun. Our bed, yet another IKEA purchase, fit down the staircase but didn't fit through the opening at the end, and then it wouldn't fit back upstairs. As a result we had to unassemble it upside down! Tuukka was able to join us right about at the right time when we wanted to move the couch, the futon (we had moved the matress earlier), and the Estonian armoire. Despite my fears of not being able to move the armoire in particular, it wasn't as problematic getting it down as it had been getting it upstairs. Still, a plethora of appropriate expletives, both in Finnish and English, were used...

Needless to say, moving the things out into the new house went in inverse proportion of time. Most of the furniture went downstairs anyway, so we had gravity working for us! Later on while re-assembling our bed, I managed to drop one of the sides on my right big toe, which turned almost instantaneously flourescent (!) green and hurt like hell...

Tuukka was gracious enough to invite us over later that night for a sauna and some beer. Man were we physically exhausted by the time it was time to go to bed!

On Sunday morning, i.e. after our first night in our new home, it was time for the boxes and other bulky stuff that would be easier to move in a van than in a car. My boxes of books, which had been a bitch to move in July, were just as much a bitch to move - except now it was cold and raining... Once again, the amount of time it took to load the truck was in inverse proportion to what it took to unload!

Later on, once the van had been returned, the Official Release of the Felines took place. Yes, Teddy and Ellie were put in their cages and taken over to their new home where Tuukka videotaped how they explored their new living quarters; hopefully I can post this soon on our blog! This event was also the first time that Mika saw live cats; he was so cute when, all excited and scared at the same time, he clung onto his mommy's leg. As predicted, Ellie was more adventurous and under no time whatsoever had explored all three floors whereas once Teddy had discovered a safe space (in this case a mattress leaning against a wall in a bedroom) settled down and wouldn't budge until much later. I guess the presence of "strangers" in a strange place in conjunction with a child ("Do they come in that size too?!") made him feel particularly insecure.

So come Sunday night, we were like "Never more!" The kitties are happy and so are mommy and daddy... :-)