The Move-In
One thing I don't think I've shared about our experience here is the day we moved in. It was quite the day.
That was the day I realized just how much work it is getting set up in a house, especially with two little ones that need a lot of time and no relatives to dump them off to while we got set up.
The move in day was insane - we had signed up for the "We Unpack You" service, which in retrospect I question the worth of.
Tan stayed back at the apartment with the kids, busily trying to get that sorted out (we were surprised at how "moved in" we got there in one month). I went to the new pad to sort out the move.
Essentially it involved three guys barrelling stuff off the truck as fast as they could, then asking you where you want the box/item [which I didn't have a real clue on because (a) I didn't pack it myself, (b) it's had been two months since I even saw the boxes, and (c) I'm in a new house with a different layout!].
Next, once the boxes were brought in and placed kinda-sorta in the region their contents would go, they started to go at "unpacking". In the meantime, I ran around like a maniac trying to get kids' cribs and beds rebuilt (which had been conveniently completely disassembled, requiring me to rapidly remember everything I had forgotten about putting together IKEA gear).
I used quotation marks with unpacking, because it really is more like box emptying on speed. They started on the kitchen - I asked them to do that while I worked at Lucy's crib. My thinking was that the kitchen is a key area to have functional, so they could get that sorted out. I'm partway through Lucy's crib (and calling down every manner of curse on anyone who ever has been or will be associated with IKEA) when one of the dudes pokes his head in and informs me that they've run out of room on the counter, table top, etc. so they're going to start putting things on the floor (note - they can't put stuff AWAY for insurance purposes). A half-hour later, I come out of the room where I've been fighting with Lucy's crib and there is kitchen stuff ALL OVER the place. About 99% of it is breakable, and Tan, Lucy, and Joely are due to arrive from the apartment in an hour or so.
At about that point, my vision of me swinging the door open for them to show a completely assembled house went up in a puff of smoke. I was a beaten, broken man - easily my lowest point since getting here. I was thinking - what the hell have I done, and what the hell have I asked of my family?
The days after got things sorted and livable. We've still got boxes lying about, but that's going to be life for the next while anyway. In retrospect, getting "unpacked" did sound too good to be true, perhaps. Next time around, I'll be a little older, a little wiser. That's kind of life, isn't it?
That was the day I realized just how much work it is getting set up in a house, especially with two little ones that need a lot of time and no relatives to dump them off to while we got set up.
The move in day was insane - we had signed up for the "We Unpack You" service, which in retrospect I question the worth of.
Tan stayed back at the apartment with the kids, busily trying to get that sorted out (we were surprised at how "moved in" we got there in one month). I went to the new pad to sort out the move.
Essentially it involved three guys barrelling stuff off the truck as fast as they could, then asking you where you want the box/item [which I didn't have a real clue on because (a) I didn't pack it myself, (b) it's had been two months since I even saw the boxes, and (c) I'm in a new house with a different layout!].
Next, once the boxes were brought in and placed kinda-sorta in the region their contents would go, they started to go at "unpacking". In the meantime, I ran around like a maniac trying to get kids' cribs and beds rebuilt (which had been conveniently completely disassembled, requiring me to rapidly remember everything I had forgotten about putting together IKEA gear).
I used quotation marks with unpacking, because it really is more like box emptying on speed. They started on the kitchen - I asked them to do that while I worked at Lucy's crib. My thinking was that the kitchen is a key area to have functional, so they could get that sorted out. I'm partway through Lucy's crib (and calling down every manner of curse on anyone who ever has been or will be associated with IKEA) when one of the dudes pokes his head in and informs me that they've run out of room on the counter, table top, etc. so they're going to start putting things on the floor (note - they can't put stuff AWAY for insurance purposes). A half-hour later, I come out of the room where I've been fighting with Lucy's crib and there is kitchen stuff ALL OVER the place. About 99% of it is breakable, and Tan, Lucy, and Joely are due to arrive from the apartment in an hour or so.
At about that point, my vision of me swinging the door open for them to show a completely assembled house went up in a puff of smoke. I was a beaten, broken man - easily my lowest point since getting here. I was thinking - what the hell have I done, and what the hell have I asked of my family?
The days after got things sorted and livable. We've still got boxes lying about, but that's going to be life for the next while anyway. In retrospect, getting "unpacked" did sound too good to be true, perhaps. Next time around, I'll be a little older, a little wiser. That's kind of life, isn't it?
posted by chrismarkbye @ 23.1.07
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