I have taken a moratorium on knitting for now and most definitely not by choice. It just so happens that I’m very happily moving to Park Slope (that’s right, goodbye Manhattan, HELLO BROOKLYN!) this Friday (yikes! that soon???) and as such spent all day yesterday building furniture for our brand spankin’ new amazingly awesome private roof deck – that’s right, I said PRIVATE – with views of the city. What more could you ask for? Well, how about NOT having cut my poor thumb and NOT having that poor thumb be on my much used right hand and NOT having to do 10,000,000 things using said hand during the weekend? Would that have worked for me? Yes, it would have, but it didn’t work that way. So now not only is my actual hand hurting, my thumb is throbbing. All of that = no knitting for me. I tried to knit this morning but gave up after I found that the right needle is gripped by my right thumb right over that damn cut. SO this means that instead of actually being able to knit with my lovely yarn, I have time to fondle my stash and dream about all the wonderful things I will be knitting up with it. Staring at this lovely pyramid of Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted bought at the wonderful store The Fiber Fix (yes, this is a shameless plug – Vanessa is awesome I tell you!) really helped cheer me up a tiny little bit:
That’s Norway Spruce, Oxblood Light and the ever so gorgeous Ginger if you want to know:
But wait, you say, you’re showing us all this lovely yarn and what about this Giveaway? Ah, you caught that did you? Sadly, the giveaway will not feature any of the Madelinetosh as I am too too in love with it (but if you want some, you can always go visit Vanessa at The Fiber Fix!) but I DO have something to giveaway and I think (I hope?) that you will also be excited about it! So without further ado:
The Oh To Knit Again Giveaway
This Giveaway is happening for the following reasons:
1. I have just yesterday reached 3,000 views on this blog! And this only since January 22, 2009 (not sure about the previous blog’s numbers). Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!
2. I have gotten 300 comments on the blog thus far… although this is very exciting, it also means that only about 10% (I know this is probably incorrect but give me a break, I just had to use the awesomeness of 300/3,000!) of you are actually commenting. Seriously.
3. I can’t knit. Please, all of you shed a tear for me. 🙁
4. I’m moving and as such this is the best time ever to destash.
5. I just felt like it! 😛
So here’s the deal. I need you blog readers to leave me a comment telling me your funniest, saddest, strangest, most amazing, most horrible move-in day of your life. I know you must have one. I’m pretty sure everyone has moved once or twice. If not (and seriously LUCKY YOU) then tell me how in the world you’ve managed never to have to go through the horrors of moving in your whole life – are you ecstatic about not having to move or do you wish you could experience it for yourself?
Before I list the prizes, I need to add that I’m very sorry but I can only accommodate residents of the US and Canada or the shipping is just too expensive for me – sorry!!!
Comment by Sunday, June 21st at 3pm EST and you’ll have a chance to win one of these lovelies:
First up, a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Fusion (I realize there are two pictured, but one of them is mine all mine *insert evil laugh here*):
A skein of Pagewood Farms Yukon in Fabulous Fall:
A skein of Fiberphile 2-ply sock in Saffron (seriously amazingly gorgeous stuff):
A skein of Min the Weaver’s Rocking Stockings in A Rose By Any Other Name:
And last, but most certainly not least, a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Solis:
Honestly, could the prizes get any better? Could they? I think not!
Oh and by the way I’m certainly NOT destashing these because I don’t like these yarns (far from it!) but because I either have multiples of them or I have similar colors in other yarns or I’m just being particularly nice to you, dear blog reader, so be thankful! haha!
Oh yeah and if you REALLY want a second chance, you can always link back to this post from your own blog and then let me know you did so by commenting here again. Winners (there will 5 lucky ones!!!) will be picked by an ever-handy random number picker. The first person will get to pick their yarn, then the second person does so and so on and so forth. If I don’t hear back from one of the winners within 24 hours of e-mailing them their prize will be forfeited and passed on to the next randomly-picked person on the list. Oh and I realize I tend to ramble on and on but since this is my blog and you’re getting free stuff I don’t think you have a right to complain… I’m just mean that way. 😉
Good luck to all of you!!!
I have moved lots over the years. In fact, I will be moving again next month. I am moving into a home that my husband and I first bought when we were first married. 900 square feet in which we raised 2 kids for the first 5 years of our marriage. A fire caused us to move out. We built a bigger home at 2200 square feet and raised our children there on another end of our ranch. I lost my husband 2 years ago and have had a difficult time living in the current home without him and the 2 kids that are in college. After getting the home liveable, we had been renting it out. Now, I am fixing it up. The cool part is that the move is 2 miles away. The bad part is that I now have reduced living space. We have been here for a total of 20 years. Now I have to figure out how to downsize. What to do, what to do? 🙂
Wow. What an amazingly generous giveaway!
My most trying moving experience was probably when I was helping a friend move into an apartment on the third floor of the building. The building had a reasonably wide stairway that changed directions every half-flight, and the outside door was at the bottom, and off to the side of the stairs up. My friend also has a large, heavy, long, and awkward couch. If we were going straight through, this couch would barely fit the door as it is, but since we were angling it and trying to head up the stairs, you can guess that we got stuck. Between the wall on one side, the railing in the middle of the stairs, and the door, that thing just didn’t want to move. My friends and I were nearly about ready to give up in frustration, and then the pizza guy came for someone else. He couldn’t really get in the door we were blocking with the monstrosity of a couch, so he was roped into helping us. With his help, we were eventually able to get it unstuck and get it upstairs, but after that, I swore I would never move that couch again.
what a great giveaway!
My most difficult moving experience was when I was moving from a roommate situation to my first (owned) home. I knew everyone was busy, and I was too nice to ask for help, so I moved everything myself…in my little truck. The house was about 12 miles across town from where I had been living. And it must have taken at least 20 trips (I stopped counting after 15). Each trip, from loading to unloading, took at least an hour. And moving everything took days. I’ll never do that again – I will always rent a large enough truck and move in one fell swoop!
Oh I’m so sorry about your thumb, it always seems that you cut keep bumping the cuts on your fingers. My worst move was when our closing was delayed because of the town’s building inspector claiming he had no permits for an addition we had put on the house, when he really did and we had them, too. As a result, we lost our moving company and couldn’t get another. We had to rent a truck and move ourselves. We had all our friends and family helping us for two days. It also delayed closings on other houses all across the country to California, which was really embarassing.
I’ve had so many bad moving experiences, from the couch that didn’t fit through the doorway to the boyfriend who showed up three hours late. And of course the cable guy who came wicked early and the mattress delivery who came a whole day early. Moving in general is not fun, but it’s even worse here in Boston, where it seems the entire city moves every September 1st. We like to call it the UHaul Parade. Come see it sometime, really fun stuff. By far the worst move was the time that the apartment building next to mine caught on fire the night before I was moving. Luckily it was next to the apartment I was leaving and not the one I was moving into. Noone was hurt, but everything smelled awful and was water damaged, plus I spent the entire night out on the sidewalk with all of my neighbors, then began moving stuff at 6am. Yeah, good times I tell you!
Good luck with your move and thanks for the giveaway!
Amazing giveaway!
We only moved once, when I was about four, so I can’t really remember much of it. All I remember is the morning we left, my dad brought McDonalds breakfast for us, which was an extremely awesome treat then. As we were leaving in our big van (there’s eleven of us :), our mom told us all to wave good-bye and that’s when it officially clicked in my head I probably wasn’t going to see our house again, so I was kinda sad. But upon reaching our new home, all my sadness vanished, but only because my young mind had already forgotten about our old house!
Sorry to hear about your thumb! That would drive me crazy! Our worst move was from Laurel, MD to Phoenix, AZ. First of all, it was snowing. This was in 2003 when remember Maryland got like 2 feet, yes 2 FEET of snow. We didn’t move then but soon after so there was snow. Then the power was off in our apartment, still don’t know why. Then the movers were like 8 hours late. Hubby was going to drive our cat and stuff to AZ while I & my little daughter (under 5) were going to take a plane to Phoenix. You could image my stress at this point! Well, the movers finally arrived at like 8PM and had everything packed by about midnight. But wait, the drama didn’t end there. We had our stuff in storage because we didn’t have work in AZ. So along the way, they demanded more money for the storage. Three months later when we finally bought a house, they again wanted a money order to release our stuff. The local guy that was helping out the movers was so awesome helping us find stuff and trying to make sure we got all of our goods. This is why I never want to move again!
This is so nice of you to do!
As for my moving day story… It’s kind of a horrible/funny one. This past April I moved and everything was looking ok weather wise. Thankfully, they got my things into the truck before the rain started. Unfortunately, the rain hadn’t stopped by the time we got to the new place. Of course, I also didn’t have have an umbrella with me so I had to run out to my car, in the rain, when I was going to the new place. Then when I got to the new place I couldn’t figure out the parking situation (aka – answering the age old question. . .do i need to pay the parking meters or not?). So, I walked up and down the street, in the rain, trying to figure out if I had to pay the meters. Finally, I went inside and asked someone in my new building. Turns out I did. The rain stopped just in time for the movers to move my stuff into the new place. However, it started raining again just in time for me to go back to the old place to get some stuff left behind. It was raining off and on for the remainder of the day. By the end the rain didn’t phase me at all and I even started to enjoy it. It was this way for the remainder of the days I went back to the old place to pick more stuff up. In the end, what started out as a horrible moved ended up to be funny.
Worst move, moving out of my first apartment. This was the 1st combine move, and on the last trip, i fed the meter 2 minutes early and we both got parking tickets for being 30 seconds over the time we had, 40 dollars later 🙁
2 years later, 3 moves later, we closed on a house and the previous owner did not empty the house like they should have, we still haven’t been able to get all the items left cleaned or thown out. I’m hoping we never move again, but you never know 🙁
I had a nine year old and a two week old baby. An opportunity to move came up, but it had to be done quickly. We decided to move Tuesday night and were out of our old apartment by Saturday. I never want to do that agaih.
Wow — I’m jealous you are moving to Park Slope! Enjoy it! I highly recommend you join the Food Co-op — it’s amazing. I’m about to head off on my second move away from Park Slope (the first got me to Ohio, and the second to the west coast!), but I really miss it.
I’ve had LOTS of moves, most of them good. The best was when I first moved to NYC, to Brooklyn Heights, right after college. The evening I moved in there were fireworks over pier area in lower Manhattan, which I could even see from my new bedroom window! It was like a movie welcome to New York!
My goodness! That is quite a move in story, and I’m so sorry about your thumb.
My worst move in was not so much the move in part (although it seemed like the runs to and from the old house never ended – how did we end up with so much stuff?!!), but the part after we moved it. Turns out our house was falling apart. First, the shower was dripping. DH, a plumber, had to open the wall to fix it. And promptly broke a part from too much torquing to get it off. So he had to fix that.
Our sink was leaking, and would require a brand new (and expensive) sink to replace it. That was resolved with a good old fashioned bucket under the sink. Cheapest plumbing trick ever.
The next day was Christmas Eve, and we had the whole family over. I decided to cook spaghetti, since I didn’t trust the appliances much. Sauce in the crock pot, check. Boiled the water for the pasta, check (thank goodness), check. Turned on the oven for the garlic bread, no go. We had just tested in that morning. So BIL ran to get some regular bread.
At the exact same moment, the (one) toilet clogged. DH’s poor 90 year old Grandma needed to go! So while we were all at the table with dinner ready to go, DH is outside snaking the main line for the house.
Luckily over the past few months we’ve been able to slowly take care of the issues in this house. I think they give the house “character”. Right….
Oh that’s awful about your thumb! Right before I moved to MA, I sliced my hand open while cleaning up the OR house! Really deep, really painful – and I was about to get in the car to drive across the country!
My other moving horror story involves that move as well – we arrived in MA a week or so before our furniture. It was Oct and MA was in the middle of a 90+ degree heatwave. We had to buy a new bed and the morning it was getting delivered, I was so ready to have a bed to sleep on after sleeping on the floor for over a week. Anyway, the idiots at Sears (where I will never purchase anything from again) did not order 2 box springs for our queen sized bed – even though they said they did. So they delivered a queen mattress & 1 twin box spring. And it would be another week to get another. At this point, I was so exhausted & hot, I just cried. Oh well, at least I got to sleep on a mattress!
Good luck on your move!
Yikes! Careful with those knittin’ hands of yours— hope you will be quickly on the mend. And your giveaway is much too generous. What a way to mark 3000 and the move to your fab new digs! 😉
My funniest move was from California to Seattle where we’ve been now for the past 14 years. I was pregs with Morgan and completely overwhelmed by the task of moving. Mike was working crazy hours at his job in L.A. and the thought of leaving where I grew up completely paralyzed me.
I had planned to start by packing all the little things that sat on top of our bedroom dresser and then continue to do a little each day. I knew I’d be leaving a lot of stuff for Mike to do when he finished work if I didn’t get it done—but I was hormonal and exhausted and overwhelmed and I just couldn’t do it.
So with just a couple of days left before we had to be out of the apartment and practically no packing done, Mike’s sis flew down from Seattle to help. And you know what she did with all the little nic-nacs, photo frames and perfume bottles on top of that dresser? She knocked everything off the dresser and into a cardboard box with one sweep of her arm! “Done.” she said. “What’s next?”
That girl facilitated the fasted pack-up and move-out of my life. I still marvel (and chuckle) when I think about it.
Good luck with the rest of your move—Can’t wait to see the views from your new roof deck! 😉
Sweet giveaway (way to one up my stickers ;p).
The last time we moved it went pretty smoothly but I have a story about a really awkward moving day. I knew these two people and they were kind of lazy and lame to get together on their own, so I hooked them up. Then they decided they were too awesome to grace other people with their presence and they sort of rolled into each other to form one giant mecha-douche bag couple.
Well, the guy in the couple was roommates with John (formerly boyfriend, current husband) (lol, way to describe people, right?)… They lived together in a sort of death trap apartment. But I was always hanging around and so was his girlfriend. Well they went around pretending like there weren’t other people there. He was (self proclaimed) “OCD” but never cleaned anything (?!) and I swear he must have been part Sasquatch because he shed everywhere. Anyways, we ended up saying, get the hell out, you guys suck as roommates. Plus since you suck and ignored us, you’re not getting any help moving out.
It was one awkward moving day. Although it was awesome when it was over.
Now I look at all of the stuff we’ve accumulated at this place and I start hyperventilating when I think about moving. Good luck! Way to upgrade in life 😀
my saddest move happened when I was just finishing elementary school; the day we left was literally my last day of school. We had our little ‘graduation’ and then I was greeted at home by tons of boxes getting ready to be packed on a van. I hated having to say bye to everyone because I knew I wouldn’t see them the next school year.
We moved a few years ago and it was a nightmare. We had planned to move to one apartment, but changed our minds at the last minute – and I mean the very last minute! We got out of the lease without a problem, but all of our stuff was packed and we had nowhere to move. It was a frantic search for a new place while we lived in a house full of our packed belongings. Finally we found a house that was better than the apartment and we moved – the bad thing was, it was now the middle of July and it was pushing 100 degrees everyday. We moved in stages so for about a week, we shuffled back and forth with loads of stuff in the searing heat, vowing to get rid of a bunch of junk before we ever decided to move again!
I don’t really have a move horror story, but I do have loads of experience. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 8 years and I’ve moved 10 times. And if you can believe this, I did live in one of those places for just over three years. I hate to waste so I always save my boxes and still have about twenty that are from the original cross country move from New York. After the first five moves I wised up and started hiring professional to move the stuff, though I still do the packing myself… That way I can save my hands for the knitting! 🙂 I don’t like to move, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m hoping that the next move will be into a house I own and I can stay there a while. That would be heaven!!
Best of luck to you with your moving adventure!!! Can’t wait to see pics from the roof deck!
What a sweet, great giveaway! My worst moving day was four years ago, when I first moved to San Diego…Coincidentally, the day I had to haul all my stuff up three flights (NO ELEVATOR), it was the hottest day they had on record. It had to be about 100 degrees….that was pure hell!
Thank you for the giveaway! It’s not only nice, but it’s inspirational for me! I’m not sure I could give away my yarn, but I have large and bizarre collection of bath sets that I have been buying over the years for “emergency gifts”. But now they are taking over space where I could be putting yarn! Grrrr…
So my story? It’s kind of sad, but here it is…
I moved my Mother in with me a few years back due to my Father “running away” (still don’t know where he is really). She ended up having a stroke a year or so later and eventually ended up in a nursing home. I was all sad and began staying at my ex boyfriend’s house all the time. One day while checking on our townhouse and resetting the light timers, I got this “hit” that I should collect up Mom’s jewelry… I did and then next evening the townhouse was broken into and robbed! They broke a bunch of stuff and stole DvD’s, video games, alcohol and condoms. (gee, wonder how old they were?) ANYway… the exboyfriend invited me to live with him and within two weeks, I was OUTTA THERE! My then HighSchool aged son brought his HALO team and we cleared that place out and got most of it in a storage unit. My daughter had an army of her friends swarm the place like locusts- packing and cleaning. I have to say, I honestly don’t remember much nor do I know where half of my stuff was packed…to this day! LOL Between taking care of my Mom in the nursing home, dealing with the townhouse management who wanted me to pay for the broken front door and losing my job right before the robbery… I was a little overwhelmed.
Mom passed a few months later and the ex boyfriend became my husband a month ago..but I still don’t know where half my stuff is packed… I will get to see it when we move out of this place into a new house ….yeah… another move!
I hope your move isn’t quite as stressful and I hope your new place has a nice well lit corner for you to sit and knit when your thumb is all healed! 🙂
Cheers! And thanks again for the giveaway!
Can I only pick one?
My DH and I were living in an apartment in Chicago on the 2nd floor, and were moving to a house in a southern suburb – only about 30 miles, but about an hour away by car. The bldg had 3 stories of zig-zag deck stairs up the back that were supposed to be used for loading/unloading (as opposed to the 2 story straight stairs in the front).
We decided to rent a moving truck for a day and got a few day-movers to help us load the heavy stuff into the truck, figuring we could finish up the light stuff on our own at the end of the day and drive down our car & the truck together when my hubby got off work.
Since my hubby was working, I was left with the responsibility of picking up the truck, org. the movers until he got home, (at an indeterminate time – 5 or 6ish maybe??) and finishing up any last minute packing of small things.
1st problem – Half of the stuff left to pack was his work or art things which.. I really didn’t know what to do with, and some very heavy things that probably should’ve gone into the truck first.
2nd problem – we rented a truck that was TOO SMALL – this was discovered only when I went to pick it up – and they had nothing larger available. grrrr! Why can’t they put comparison vehicles or something on those stupid truck websites!! The amount I keep in 2 bedrooms is much different than what others keep in a 2 bedroom place!
3rd problem – the movers insisted on unloading out the front… that is until they broke the light fixture/sconce in the hallway stars while carrying out our couch! And then didn’t want to pay for it/take care of it! So I spent an hour or more of my time going back and forth with the moving company, AND they didn’t move much while this was going on
4th problem – They weren’t loading the truck up to the top – so not only was it too small, they weren’t filling it to its’ capacity, so I had them start loading the cars too – imagine my frustration when I checked one of the boxes in my car and IT WAS EMPTY!! They had carried a HUGE EMPTY Box and loaded it into my car Arrrggghhg!
5th problem – Not enough was done by the time their time was up and we had to load up the truck twice and make 2 trips down and back to the house, and back and the people we had lined up to help us unload weren’t really available by the time we were done because it was so late – so we had to unload everything ourselves and had no food, nothing prepared and no where to sleep once we were done unloading in the new house and had to sleep on the floor
6th issue – the truck was due back at some ridiculous hour of the morning as we had only thought we’d need it for a 24hr rental, so we didn’t even get to sleep in!
Silly kids – moving is for professionals only!!
Congrats on your new place and try some of the liquid band-aid on your cut so the knitting doesn’t rub! thanks for the give-away and letting me know there are others who had to learn the hard way 🙂
I was moving from Atlanta to Orlando and half way I needed to get gas. The U haul truck took diesel gas. I put in 21 gallons of regular gas. I was in a town where it wasn’t very populated, so you can see my distress. My 2 persian cats were hot because it was July. After about two hours we found some one to suck the fuel out. Ugggh I don’t wish that on anyone. Have fun moving!!!!! Don’t do what I did. Of course now the nozzle is a different size so you won’t have that problem. Your yarn is beautiful. I hope I win.
So sorry you can’t knit.
I once lived in a magnificent but run down building- so bad all the tenants were suing the landlord. We had a legal set back and were told we would have to be out of the building in 10 days. I, was at the time, 8 months pregnant. I found a new apt, lined up people to help, and scheduled a day off to coincide with payday so I could sign the lease, pay the deposit etc, pack up and get moved in that evening when my friends finished work.
The morning the move was to take place, I was busy washing dishes so I could pack them and waiting for my new landlord’s office to open so I could run over to sign the lease and get the key when there was a knock at the door. It was a county sheriff and 3 burly guys with an eviction notice. Turns out I only had 7 days to leave and today was it.
I called the theatre I worked for in a panic. 10 minutes later, a friend from the costume shop arrived and began finishing the dishes while I ran- as fast as a very pregnant woman can run to my new landlord’s office. When I got back my friend was bossing the burly guys around- refusing to let them take anything breakable until she packed it properly and giving them what for if they mishandled anything. There were a lot of “Yes, Ma’m”s and “No, Ma’m”s as they carried things out to the curb. Just as they were finishing the theatre truck with some guys from the scene shop shop showed up and moved every thing left on the curb into my new apt.
I spent the first night in my new place trying to find sheets and underwear because everything soft had been shoved into garbage bags which littered the floor of my new place and were everywhere. Some of them even had garbage in them. I was sure I was going to go into labor before I could get everything cleaned up and sorted and even worse my uber tidy mother was due to arrive in a couple of days. There was no way I was going to let her see this mess. I couldn’t sleep. I spent all night unpacking.
I posted it here: http://asianbuzz.blogspot.com/2009/06/yarn-giveaway.html
Worst move? For me it was when we bought this place and moved in nearly 5 years ago. I totally had my rose-tinted specs on, and when we did the pre-sale check the real-estate agent was horrified at the state of the house. She insisted they got the carpets commercially cleaned. And thank goodness she did – they and the stove top were the only two clean things in the place! I assumed that the cleaning products she had in the house would be used, but no – the walls were furry with dust, the laundry doors were actually light brown under the thick coating of mould that made them look dark brown, the bath needed scrubbing with a wire pot scrub before we could even think about using it. Hellish!
So we had to do all that cleaning before we could move any of our stuff in, thank goodness we had two weeks holiday to settle in and clean, it was tragic.
Awesome giveaway thanks, I live overseas but can provide a US postal address if one of those bundles of yarny goodness comes my way.
I’ve moved soooooo many times, it’s hard to pick the worst moving day… for the most recent, both my dad and I had bronchitis; my mom did all the unpacking. (Thanks, mom!) For one in the middle, the paid moving crew had an 80-year-old guy on it, and it was 85* in October. It took all day to move my stuff out of my third floor apartment. I think the funniest (now) is one of the earliest… my parents and sister helped me, and we got to the apartment late… but had to move in, as they had to leave the next day. I had a huge sleeper sofa at the time, and we didn’t know to tie the sleeper part to keep it from opening randomly. (You can see where this is going, right?) We were so tired, and it was so hot and humid… and it took all four of us to carry this horrible sofa around the building. When we got to the door, we had to turn it to fit it through… and we turned it the wrong way. The sleeper opened, and wedged the stupid thing in the doorway. Since it weighed a ton, it was a treat to figure out how to close the thing and who was strong enough to do it while the rest of us tried not to drop the blessed thing. Not funny at the time, but pretty funny now.
I actually just got done moving last weekend. It wasn’t too terribly bad, as I really didn’t have a lot of things, what with this being my first place. We parked the truck, unloaded everything into the living room in an hour, then spent the rest of the day organizing. It was very efficient and not too terribly stressful. Though to be sad, my camera did break in the move which was quite sad for my blog for about 2 weeks before I could get it fixed.
Good luck on your finger healing so you can knit more!
My worst moving day was probably moving into the dorm my freshman year of college. First of all, it was about a gazillion degrees, and I lived up several flights of stairs (flights of stairs that other people were trying to climb up, too)- I ended up soaked.
Additionally, my father is a control freak, and has to have everything over-planned. He also always has an idea of exactly where the best place is to put everything, and insisted on arranging it his way, despite the fact that it was my room. By that point, I hadn’t yet learned to just let him put things where he wanted, then do a massive reorganization as soon as he left.
The combination of heat and family drama made it a very unpleasant day.
I’ve moved countless times, but I think my most trying move was the last one, when we left New Orleans (a month pre-Katrina, talk about timing!) to move to Maryland. Or at least *I* did the moving; my husband, as he’s managed for every single move in the 13 years of our marriage (which is too many), was off working at his new job, leaving me to do *all* the work. (In the process, I also destroyed my knee, which subsequently required a total joint replacement.) And we had to do a self-move because my husband had gotten laid off in New Orleans but managed to get an old job back in Maryland, so we had to do it ALL ourselves.
So I had to clean out, fix up, and sell our house in New Orleans. (Which survived Katrina, fortunately.) My husband managed to come down for the three days we actually had the truck loaded (by sons of a former coworker of my husband’s) with most of our belongings — including the 47 bags of Mardi Gras beads that we’d been planning to give away via Freecycle, which the guys buried in the truck before we realized what they’d done. (Anybody want some Mardi Gras beads? It’s four years later and we *still* have 30+ bags of the silly things — and when I say “bag,” I mean a sturdy grocery-sized bag containing 30 lbs/several dozen gross strands of beads of all shapes and sizes!) But anyway, then my dear husband left again to go back to work, leaving me to once again get the house cleaned out for the buyers.
And then I had to load myself, our yellow lab, our golden retriever, and our *seriously* pissed-off cat into the car and drive 1200 miles to our new home. I arrived, after only 3 hours sleep en route, to find the truck being unloaded into our new, *much* smaller house. We had an assortment of friends/coworkers/sons of friends and coworkers/anybody we could scrounge up helping unload. After a couple of hours, one of the sons of a coworker managed to break his hand when he got it pinched in a piece of furniture, so I was tasked with taking him to the hospital, which neither he nor I had any idea where it was (and barely got back home afterwards!) He, of course, is a carpenter and had no insurance. (!!) I assured him our insurance would cover it. Did you know that insurance companies simply *will not* pay on things like this any more? And that you can appeal it all the way up to the vice president of claims at a *very* large insurance company with absolutely no luck whatsoever?
Then, of course, after I fell into bed and got about 6 hours of sleep….a mixed-up coworker showed up bright and early the *next* morning, thinking it was moving day. And my husband insisted that since he’d showed up, we should spend the day unpacking! There are times I wonder why I let that man live. That was definitely one of them.
I think after that I went to bed for a month. And I have assured my husband that I am never, ever, EVER going to do a self-move again. I don’t care HOW much it costs, I am paying professionals to do the job!
The most fun I had for a move was Labor Day weekend 2005. By happenstance, 2 friends and I were all moving to new homes that summer. Coincidentally, we were all moving south of downtown Seattle into Columbia City. The plan was to bring the huge moving van to Greenwood to pick up my stuff, then on to Phinney Ridge to pick up Marilyn’s stuff and then to Capitol Hill to get Rona’s. The first incident or mishap, was the truck was too big to fit in the alley behind my house. We had to walk my totes and tubs from the backyard shed threw the backyard, through the house, down the drive way into the truck. My friends asked why I had so many tubs? To fit all my yarn! The second mishap, was the truck was to big to navigate through the narrow streets of Capitol Hill, we had to hand truck and walk all of Rona’s stuff down the block (hill) and around the corner. The two mishaps, tacked on an additional 2 hours to our outlined agenda. Anyways, we finally moved me into Dakota Street and then moved Marilyn & Rona into the Ferdinand House. We were lucky and grateful for the help of about 5 friends. Pizza and beer were showered as gifts of gratitude.
I have a fun one. It’s both a horror story about moving in and also the joy of moving out. I lived in Helsinki almost ten years ago. I was living in student housing way way way out on the edge of the city almost to the burbs. It took me almost an hour to get downtown. I had three roommates at this place. No one ever talked to one another and kept to their own rooms. I had one bowl and a fork to make food. I had to share the bathroom with a rather odd Chinese guy named of all things- Ma. No only did he leave the toilet seat up but I don’t think he ever got the hang of flushing it. I had no heat. This is Finland. Then they had this weird laundry sign up thing and the washing machines never worked. So I’d had it, but could only be put on a waiting list. Then this German guy moves in and I guess he like to burn things. He started burning the bathroom doors since they were made of some odd plastic. I told a friend of a friend about all this and a few days later she sent me an email about an apartment for rent. The apartment was in a really really nice area of helsinki. I could walk to the university and go out at night without having to worry about paying $60 for a taxi. So I got the apartment. I had to move without a car. Sure I came over with two suitcases, but I’d bought a computer and a stereo and a bed mattress… and a lot of other things. I had one day to move everything. Now imagine having to move oh a computer without a car? Going walking the monitor in it’s box (back when monitors were about 100lbs) a mile to the subway then down the stairs. then take the subway and have to walk another mile to get above ground… along with all the insane escalators… then somehow get on a tram with the thing… and then walk it to the new apartmen which is a maze of doors and corridors. I made this trip with all my stuff eight times in one day. I also had to return my key to the totally opposite side of town or face having to pay a pretty hefty fine. So turn in my key and all my stuff is in this little shack outside the new apartment. The girl I am renting from is supposed to meet me at 10pm with the keys. I waited until 6am the next morning when she FINALLY showed up. So I had no where to go…all of my stuff outside… she didn’t call because her phone is shut off since she was moving to Paris. But I finally did get the keys and got to move in. The apartment and location were dreamy….for a whole six weeks. That’s when I was told there was going to be ‘a little’ work done on the kitchen. The next day they came in and took my entire kitchen out. Okay fine… I still have the little fridge I can deal with this if they dont’ take too long. The next week they remove the sink in the bathroom. I’m getting worried. I have no water except the shower. So… this goes on and I’m told that the government has deemed the apartment uninhabitable so I am going to have to find a new place. Finding a new place in a day in helsinki is impossible. So I got on a plane and came back to the states. I was in need of a break. What was supposed to be a two week vacation while they fixed everything turned into a month. I missed all my exams- so I didn’t get any credits for the semester so that’s 18K just wasted. Cha-ching. I get back and open the door and the place smells of olive oil and plaster. Turns out they decided to knock down part of a wall while I was gone. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING was ruined. However there is a bathroom sink and a kitchen sink so I am able to live there legally…but with all the plaster and olive oil.. not that night. So I checked into a hotel since my mom was coming the next day to visit. Soooo a few months go by and I’ve cleaned up the place. I’ve begged my professors to let me turn in my work and none will agree. I have very little money at this point. When I first got the apartment since I don’t have a credit history in Finland they (the girl i was subletting from and the owner of the apartment) wanted three months extra rent as a deposit. I paid them that plus the seven months I was to stay there. The owner decided after all of this insanity that the girl I was subletting from should give me ALL my money back. I got an email from the girl that said ‘Sorry but I spent it all in Paris. I’ll try to find some of it as quickly as I can’. We’re talking five grand here that someone says ‘ooops I spent it all’ ??? So because of this I was stuck in Helsinki in that semi=habitable apartment just sort of existing…not having any money to get back to the states or do anything with the time I had in europe. So after a month of waiting for even $20 from this girl- I end up taking a cash advance out to pay for a plane ticket back to the states. I have another two months to sit there and wait to get this plane. The two months go by and I don’t get anything. I leave… I get home. She is still in Paris spending my money. I get an email from her..not apologizing about not giving me any of the money she owed… oh no. She wants me to wire the money for the electricity bill and sauna fees!!!!! That was the last I heard from her. So all in all that move cost me something like $40K! Not only that but it cost me the chance to have a lot of the experiences I’d planned on. Doing more travel in Europe, being able to visit friends in other cities in Finland, and just be happy since I just spent about seven months of what was supposed to be this great year abroad in this mess. So the ending of this long story is that when I got back to the states I moved to Milwaukee, got an apartment, and I’ve been here ever since. In August it will be nine years.
Ah and sorry to hear about your thumb!! I once had a weird granuloma on my thumb that I still say was the most painful thing ever. You’ll never take you thumbs for granted again! 🙂
one of the worst move-associated thing was when I moved to an apartment in Munich….I broke out in hives. I was absolutely itchy-ly miserable. No idea what set that off, and I lived there quite content for about a year or so after that.
How sweet of you! And such yummy goodies too! 😀
I can’t remember having any really bad experiences moving (must have blocked them out), but I do remember some funny things happening. Like college graduation, my parents came for the ceremony and to help me move and my then boyfriend (now husband) and best friend and her now husband were helping. It was the first time anyone had met him and as he’s loading my brass music stand into the car, he smacks me in the mouth with it…while everyone was watching. LOL
Or when we moved into our second apartment together, we had everything unloaded and in the apartment and I went for food for everyone. When I came back, rugs were hanging on the railings and a bunch of other stuff was set outside drying…hubby and my brother had decided to wash a load of towels or something from the move, but they had forgotten to hook up the hose to the washing machine. LOL
Good times…good times! 😀
You take beautiful photos. Hope the move went smoothly.
sorry to hear about your thumb. This yarn is gorgeous. I am also having a yarn giveaway for our 2nd blogiversary. I will be moving this month too, hope it goes smoothly. I haven’t had any bad experiences yet, and hope to keep it that way. I think I must have some Madelinetosh your photos are gorgeous♥
I’m in Australia, so don’t include me in the draw – but wanted to thank you for your kind wishes re. my carpal tunnel. I also thought I’d join in and tell you about a move I did when I was still at Uni. Well the move itself wasn’t so bad – I didn’t own very much so my boyfriend and I just shoved things in the car. But getting the bond back was hell. The landlady wanted to keep the bond because we had apparently damaged the stairs as they now creaked when you walked on them. Was this a new house? No! It was an old terrance that had been built sometime in the early 1900’s and had never been revamped. We still had to light a gas pilot light in order to heat water for the shower and the toilet was an outhouse up the back. I think the stairs had “creaked” for quite a while before we got there!