Although I am posting this on the weekend. I wrote this on Day five in my new home. It’s been a brutal five days, especially moving day, last Saturday. We spent the better part of the previous week carting over boxes and small items as I packed them, in order to lessen the load for the movers.
We gave away a lot of our furniture and belongings to family, as we were downsizing once again. These factors apparently didn’t help the move take less than thirteen hours! The weather held up thankfully, through last week as we went back and forth with car loads of items to move. It was not too freezing and no snow was on the ground as we crossed our fingers it would stay like that just until Saturday’s move.
Just as the moving truck was getting ready to pull away from our home, the temps dropped drastically and the blowing snow and sleet had begun. It took the movers an hour to get to our new place which normally would have taken a half an hour. Seven hours later they finished unloading after schlepping our things from the loading dock to the elevators and down a long corridor to our apartment. Some of my furniture came up with actual snow on it, which didn’t leave me a happy camper. I mean, bad enough they left some things uncovered, but common sense . . . WIPE THE DAMN SNOW OFF before ruining my stuff!
Our fair sized condo was laden with boxes. I cleared a narrow path for us to try and walk around as I wondered where to begin unpacking. I spent time being meticulous when packing, so that I would clearly label which room every box belonged in so I wouldn’t have to spend time searching for things. Boxes aren’t cheap, and I had well over a hundred of them! We were lucky enough to get a ton of boxes donated to us by family members from a move in their own family. That was the beginning of some unforeseen mix-ups.
Some boxes had so many labels and scratch outs after being reused that the movers didn’t bother to figure out which room they really belonged in, so the hunt was on for misplaced boxes. My body obtained approximately fourteen bruises from banging into scattered boxes and furniture. I somehow sprained the top of my left foot, or so it felt like it after one day of standing fourteen hours in non-supportive shoes, but I finally found some solace in a pair of crocs I managed to pluck out of one of my too many shoe boxes. My tail bone feels as though it was sawed in half from continuous bending, and my legs and neck and shoulders feel like what I’m sure the Tin Man felt like in the Wizard of Oz.
The first two nights, I don’t think I even slept four hours a night, despite my sheer exhaustion. I woke up many times, as if my body knew it was in a strange environment. You know, that weird ‘where am I?’ feeling you sometimes get when you are on vacation and wake up a bit disoriented? I have moved five times in my fifteen years of marriage. Three of those moves were in the last four and a half years!
One may think I’d be quite used to it by now, but the older I get and the more shit I accumulate really adds up to a toll on the body. For some strange reason, this move felt like the most difficult of all moves. I don’t get it as we have downsized along the way, gave so much away and moved from a house to a condo. Perhaps it was the long and many treks of lugging stuff for days through undergrounds and elevators and corridors just to get inside the condo, but it felt like moving went on forever, and my body has the war wounds to prove it.
It was also difficult for me not to be in touch with my writing world. So many ideas whirled around my head, just wanting to land on paper at most inopportune moments, when I had to stay focused on the task at hand. On this Day five after moving in, I still have two rooms to unpack and my body is slowly adjusting to the long days it has put in doing physical labour- other than my taped up hips that couldn’t take the punishment of eternal bending, I’m getting used to being stiff. I’m still trying to get used to my new surroundings and glad the bulk of the move is over and done with.
Only now am I looking forward to my winter vacation which I will be leaving for in less than three weeks! Heading down to the Caribbean and out of the minus thirty temps is just what the doctor ordered! A new year, a new life has begun.
In spring, we will be heading off to Arizona for a few weeks, in search of a place to rent for next winter and all winters after. This big move has afforded us for the extended winter stays away, which was the initial plan. Who knows what other great possibilities await me in my new life!
For now, I am still unpacking and stealing more computer time after not being connected for a few days. I know I have missed reading and commenting on so many of your wonderful blogs and hope to catch up in the next few weeks. And oh . . . despite cuts on every one of my knuckles, I managed to not break a single nail!!
DGKaye©2015
DGKayewriter.com 
I can’t imagine . . . !
Soak in epsom salts and get some rest. Pretty soon you’ll get your mojo back – and feel acclimated!
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Thanks Marian, great advice. Going to my Osteopath mid-week. 🙂
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It’s not such a big deal if you miss a few blogs…Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. 🙂 Hope week 2 will be a lot calmer for you.
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Thanks for the reminder Carol. We tend to put so much pressure on ourselves, as if we don’t have enough going on. I shall breathe! ❤ 🙂
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OMG! I am dreading this move more so now that I’ve read your blog. Each week we throw more and more stuff out, give it away and I still don’t know how on earth we are going to pack all of this stuff. So I hear you loud and clear.
When u finally get on that plane and land that warm weather is going to feel like heaven. Soak some of it up for me Deb. I have so much to tell you. Will send E-mail. Enjoy your new home. So glad you didn’t break any nails, lol.. loved that! Hugs!!!
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Lol Annie! Thanks for visiting and your two cents. You always make me smile, and of course I responded to your email! ❤ ❤
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Glad you made it through the worst of the move Debby 😀 ❤
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Thanks Ralph, now I have only to get my broken hips repaired, lol, or not. ❤
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I’ve got some super glue which may help Debby 😉 ❤
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LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL you nut! ❤
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Been there done that, too many times to want to remember! My condolences and best wishes for a good recovery from the moving stress and a happy landing in your new digs. We are hoping to maybe move from relative balmy British Columbia to extremely hot in summer and cold in winter Manitoba next summer so your posting gave me pause. What we won’t do to be near family in our old age! ah, well, to each his or her own. We send you our best wishes.
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Thanks for visiting and reading. It sounds like you’ve been around the moving circuit and moving to another province doesn’t sound like a fun move. My advice: Leave it all behind and start fresh, sell everything, lol. That is my vow if I ever have to do this again. 🙂
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Ahh Debby, my heart goes out to you. It will all settle and you can recoup in the gentle balmy breeze of the Carib….hugs ❤
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Hi Jane. Thanks for reading and the kudos! 🙂
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Nice to have you back, even if you are worse for wear!
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Lol, thanks Deb! I’m working to get caught up with my blogs, writing and reading, and even managed to write a chapter in my latest almost finished book this week! Life is almost good again, save for my crippled hips! 🙂
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Oh my gosh, Debby! You’ve come out of this worse off than I imagined. And I tried not to imagine since we are now “cleaning out” in hopes of putting the house on the market and downsizing. But oh how I hate the flashbacks triggered by this post, lol! I actually joked, can’t we just burn the place down and start over? Of course I’d have to get my *good* stuff out first, haha! At least you’ll be basking in the sun and soaking the lingering aches out of your broken hips soon! A vaca well-deserved! ♥
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Lol, Mandy, yes, I didn’t expect this move to be so drastic. And yes, funny you say, I told my hub, after purging half a house and downsizing for the 4th time, how on earth do we still have so much stuff which I will still be purging intermittently now that it’s blatantly in my face everywhere, lol. As for the hips, they are seized up terribly and sending shock waves up my spine, off to the Osteopath in one hour! 🙂
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I totally understand wondering where it all comes from. I found out 8 years ago, when we decided to sell it ALL and “live simply.” That was an expensive endeavor, because we found out our “stuff” simply worked it’s way back. (I even discovered I was buying back some of the books I’d sold for pennies to the used-book store! (They didn’t sell them back for pennies…) Hey girl–we should collaborate on a book, lol! We might even get our own sit-com out of the deal 🙂
I hope you osteopath brings much relief today! ♥
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Omg, we are a lot alike! LOL I never considered myself a packrat, but looking around here, I may have to take that back! A book you say? Hmm, excellenttttttttt food for thought, perhaps in 2017. This year I plan on getting my next 2 books out and leaving 2017 open to new possibilities! 🙂
And thanks for the well wishes, I can’t wait to alleviate this pain! 🙂
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Thanks for sharing your updates dear D.G…. By the way the ending is marvelous (and so are your nails~). Hugs & best wishes, Aquileana 😀
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Lol, thanks for the smiles my friend! ❤
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I remember reducing my father’s house full of stuff down to a suitcase. That’s when you realize how little you really need.
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Wow! I know I still have purging to do, but a suitcase? That could never happen to me. Sheesh, I need two suitcases just for a vacation, lol. 🙂
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Well, hopefully, things have settled down. In the end, I’m sure, it’ll all be worth it. Good luck Debbie!
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Thanks Adam. I think I’m on the mend! And back to the pen, yay! 🙂
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You did it. And now we know why moving is on the list of life’s most stressful events. I’ve lived in my house since 1973. I’m not a packrat, but there’s lots of stuff in this old farmhouse. I dread the moving time and don’t have a plan. But it will come–with bruises and disorientation. You did a lot in just a few days. Have a glass of wine and light a celebration candle.
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Thanks Elaine. After putting my hips out and a visit to the Osteopath, I think I am on the mend. Yes, I tend to think I’m superwoman and 30 years old, lol. My body reminds me that I am neither of those things. Wow, 1973, I don’t envy you the day you decide to move. You will find out just how much of a packrat you sneakily became. 🙂
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Hope you managed a good soak with some aspirin before you went to bed to soften the blow to your muscles.
I last moved six plus years ago and I feel your pain. I carried over a hundred boxes of books up and down stairs till I thought I’d die. I don’t begrudge you all the hard work for an instant. Take care of yourself so you can enjoy your winter in hot, dry weather in three weeks. 😀 😀 😀
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Thanks again Tess! You would definitely know what it felt like carrying boxes of books. Books galore! Certainly the heaviest boxes, no matter how small I made them. I’m all taped up, starting to feel a lot less pain after visiting my Osteopath Wednesday, who helped put Humpty back together. 🙂 ❤
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A bad back sure puts a dark cloud into your day.
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You made it, Deb! I am so glad you got through the move. That must be a huge relief. Take care of those bruises though! After all, you want to be pain-free for your much-deserved vacation coming up! I miss the blog world too when I’m not here so I totally related with you when you said that. HUGS and great to have read this update from you. xo
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Thanks sweet Christy! It’s good to be back and I am on the mend! #positivity ❤ Happy weekend my friend! 🙂
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My sister and I are moving to NC hopefully this year. I am dreading the whole process but it will be great to be in warmer weather. Hugs, Barbara
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I wish you much luck and strength Barb! It’s not fun moving and the older we get, the worse it takes its toll on us. 🙂
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