Bye, House

     We moved!  I can't remember who, but somebody said to me this weekend "man, you guys move more than anybody I know."  I guess they were right.  Depending on how you count, I've lived in 9 different places since moving out of my parents house at age 18. . . 5 years ago.  Holy cow, what's my problem?  I really like change and being in a new place is just fun and different, so I've always liked moving--until now.  This move was terrible.  The reason is because of my insane underestimation of the time and energy that moving requires.  For some reason, in my brain, moving is a one afternoon activity.  Even as a freshman, sophomore, and then a junior in college, this mindset was a problem.  My roommates and I all seemed to think that we could just not even start packing until the night before we had to be out of our apartment and that we would have plenty of time to pack, load, and clean every inch of the apartment by the next morning.  This idea of ours has led to some great memories that were actually quite miserable at the time.  Freshman year, moving out morning was the 1st time my roommates had seen me cry.  Sophomore year, I distinctly remember sitting in the corner of Lyndi, Alissa, and Marissa's room eating a bowl of fruit loops at 4 in the morning while all of us cursed ourselves for not packing sooner.  And later that day the insane mad dash of ten different people cleaning our kitchen floor at once because it was the one last thing before the cleaning checker came over in 60 seconds.  I once had a roommate that when moving,  literally put everything she owned on her bed, then picked up the 4 corners of the bedspread and hauled it straight to her new apartment.   I could go on, but I wont.
    The point is, I never realize how much stuff I have until I have to pack every little last item into a box and haul it out to a car.  One wedding and one baby later I have so much more stuff than I used to!  Most of you have heard the wannabe minimalist in me long for the day that everything I owned fit into my 4 door Suzuki Forenza.  But now, the days when I loved moving are gone,  and pretty much I never want to move again.  Here are some lessons I learned this time around. 

1) Trust Tanner.  I like to hum and ha over every apartment decision.  Make pros and cons lists, sleep on it, etc.  Several times, this attitude has lost Tanner and I really great apartments because one of the 8 other couples looking at the place swoop in and sign for it within minutes of walking in the door.  That's what we did this time.  I've learned that Tanner spends hours and hours surfing ksl and that by the time he actually wants to show me a place,  he's done his research and it's the best we're going to find. 

2) Call the power company before the day that you need power.  Especially if that day is a Friday.  Because they will want to charge you $75 for a same-day turn on.  You are cheap, will think this is ridiculous, and will instead live in your apartment until Monday without power.  Which will actually turn out to be kind of a fun, candlelit memory. 

3) Go through boxes of junk before you move 9 times and haul those boxes every. single. time.  Boxes you may think are full of important things may actually be full of 1000 stupid photos you took as a snap happy 12 yr old with her first camera (every ride at Disneyland, every boy at EFY who you thought you wanted to remember forever,  etc. . .) dead batteries, stale playdough (?), several chargers that you don't even know what they charge. . .

4)  Pack methodically.  As in, don't pack each box with one item from each room in the house.  Don't even ask me how this happened, but it made for a lot of walking on unpacking day.

5)  Don't move the same week you and your husband both start work and that you and your baby are both sick.  It won't be fun, you will  be very tired, and it might just take you 2 full weeks until you are (almost) completely unpacked!

This is the house we've been living in since September.  We've loved it, but it was a lot more space than we really needed and too expensive :(  So, bye, house.  Bye cool downstairs neighbors, washer and dryer, plentiful kitchen counter space, and garden potential.  We will miss you dearly.

 

In case you were wondering though, we love our new apartment!  (Minus the fact that we can hear our neighbors through the walls now.  Oh, and the windchimes hanging next door.  Who thinks windchimes are a good idea?!?  We are considering stealing them in the night and disposing of them.  Please feel free to share your thoughts on whether or not you think this is morally acceptable)