Now, my folks moved into the house I grew up in when I was 5 or so. And they lived in it for over 30 years. (Now you know I'm over 35. That's good enough...)
In those 30+ years, my mom didn't throw a whole lot away. My dad did. Repeatedly. When I was growing up, and didn't take my shoes up to my room, my dad would threaten to throw them away. And he did. More than once. He was usually good about not putting them in the kitchen trash can, so they were salvageable. But he'd also go on periodic cleaning sprees where he'd throw all kinds of things away, much to my moms horror.
Fast forward to this move. They had months and months to plan, and my mom did a pretty good job of throwing things away. But they still had a LOT of stuff to move. They were smart, and hired movers. Even still, I spent all day Saturday at the new house.
I showed up at the old house, to pack up the fridge and freezer into coolers, to take straight to the new house. I threw half of the old fridge away. There were dressings from 2004, limes wrapped in cellophane that I'm pretty sure was from when I was in high school, and unidentifiable objects that I don't think I want to know what they started out as. Freezer was slightly better, but not much. Got it all put away in the new house, and it looked like I threw out 90% of what they had, only because the new fridge was BIGGER.
I thought I'd tackle the kitchen (since I already had experience with the fridge), and try to get it a bit settled. When the truck got there, they started bringing boxes in. I backed my self into a corner, and just told them to pile them up, I'd work my way out. BIG MISTAKE! After half-a-dozen LARGE boxes, I know that had to be it, but noooooo. There were more. I lost count. I managed to get it ALL put away (9 hours later) with room leftover. Of course, I had to go through the spices and the food, and throw some more stuff away. BUT I made mom make a list of things that needed to be replaced.
I also managed to hang the electric can opener (which meant emptying the bottom shelf of one of the cabinets I had worked so hard on), and hanging a light over the built in desk.
Having not moved in 30+ years, my mom was getting frustrated as to why it wasn't all coming together by Saturday night. And why there were still so many boxes everywhere. BUT she did get connected. By Saturday night, she had all of the TV's in the house hooked up, and her internet up and working. For her, that's heaven!
I'm hoping most of my friends and family are pretty settled for now, and that I don't have to do this again any time soon!
AMW
2 comments:
Where did they move? How are they?
They're fine, although getting older, weaker, and dare I say more ornery. They bought a brick ranch in the Kempsville section. Very close to the Kempsville Rec Center. Nice, quiet neighborhood. Big house. Big yard. ONE STORY!
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