A New Place

On Sunday, we helped K move from a tiny studio apartment to a 2 bedroom condo she is renting! Yahoo!!  A nice step-up, closer to work, and actually for less money.    🙂

We had our truck FULL!!  Dresser, ironing board, bookcase, small end table, small drawer unit, wicker chair, a cooler with meat, and stuff including empty boxes flattened to revive to finish off the old place.

We all arrived at the new place within a minute of each other just after 10 a.m.  K found an easy parking place and we were in the alley next to her back door for unloading.   We each took 2 trips up the 2 flights of round & round stairs with loads.   I wish I had a picture or video of when the dresser came out the back and the sheet covering it came off.  She LOVES it!!  🙂

I had already had the idea of spraying the handles with black (or ?) so that is another project for this week. She would have to drive out of the city to buy spray paint.  Hassle!

for now, in the living room and after the picture, holding the TV. 🙂

Just as we had our things unloaded the moving company called at 10:30 — 2 1/2 hrs early and they were ready to come!  Ack!!  So we hustled back…

I want to shop here!!

…to her old place midst Sunday traffic (25 mins)…

passed Wrigley Field!

and got there just behind them.   11:15 a.m.  Not the plan as there were still some things to go into boxes (and lunch to be eaten!!) but not when the movers are there at the same time!

Phil and I hurriedly put the boxes together, filled them, and sealed them shut.  By then, there was at least room to stand.  Phil moved boxes from the closet/storage area to the main room and the workers kept working.  It was nice!  We figured at the end there were 5 of them doing an assembly line move.   Two moved from the apt to the elevator, the others were down at the bottom of the elevator and moving out to the truck.  Of course, she didn’t even fill half their truck!  One piece of furniture (her futon – bed) and boxes.  Boxes.  Boxes.  And 2 sewing tables.    😉

hot, exhausted, exasperated, stressed, excited, exhausted

At that we all headed back to the new place.  We arrived just a few minutes before the moving truck.  Barely enough time to catch our breath.  Phil & K had just gone to the alley to watch for them and let them up.

To stay out of the way, I put polish on her stainless steel appliances and then sat on the counter as they walked passed.  Phil helped with the screen door back & forth for them as it opens backwards for moving ease.   K was near the door directing them to either the bedroom, the sewing room, or the living room.

I'm in the living room looking into the kitchen from the opening above some counter top.

They were finished and left at 1 p.m.  – her original appointment time.   🙂

We were STARVED by now!!  We went back to her old parking garage, had lunch at Five Guys on the corner, and then returned to the old place to clean.  Always such fun… NOT!  But with 3 of us, it was fine.

I'm at the door... this was IT! plus a bathroom to the side

Finally the old was clean and it was time to tell it good-bye.  It was 3:00.  (We continued to be thankful for the moving company.  Phil thought at this point he would have lost his friends if we had brought them along instead of the moving company!)

Goodbye Apt 205....

Finally arriving "home".

Back up to the new apartment.  Yeah!!  Moved in!  Now for unpacking.

First, K & I stopped to have snacks and revive.  Phil sorted boxes.  The sewing room has a nice closet so winter clothes and fabric boxes got PACKED in the closet.  Nearly to the ceiling.  Phil likes the puzzle of fitting as much as possible into ____ (insert your space: closet, storage room, trunk, etc.).

bedroom

I worked at cycling laundry through HER OWN washer & dryer IN HER APT so that I could make the bed with clean bedding.  I washed off silverware and helped arrange kitchen cupboards.

Finally after 5:30,  I suggested clean clothes and dinner out!   Phil & K decided on a Italian family restaurant nearby that has a parking lot so no fighting for a place on the busy street.  Yummy!!  K & I shared a small pizza (pepperoni, spinach, & artichokes!) and Phil had a fish dinner that included a cupcake!!    🙂    We sat & cooled off.  We were  t i r e d.

Back at the new apartment, K got in a quick shower, I made the bed (my usual job for her moves as I know where it all goes and makes me feel motherly 😉  ), and Phil made sure there were plenty of TV channels.   😉    We had drain cleaner to pour down the tub and kitchen sink.  K made her lunch for Monday and found clothes to wear to work in the morning.   It was time. We headed home.  8:20 p.m.

Traffic is not an issue that late on a Sunday night and neither did we have troubles early on Sunday morning.  Just what we like!   We got home at 10:40 p.m.

K is happy & sleeping well! Her new place is so quiet and nice.   Lovely neighborhood and on one trip out a young couple with a toddler were coming in the building.  Across the street are single family homes.   Nice cars line the streets.   Her commute to work is now cut in half!   No parking garage to pay for every month.

A wonderful step-up and change!!  Congratulations on the new place!!   ♥

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THE Weekend Cometh

I’m working on a few finishing touches and a bit more packing/gathering of things for Miss K & her new apartment.  Both K & I felt like colds last night.  😦   Of course, all her remedies are already packed but I’m hoping a good night of sleep helped her.

Part of my work today is cutting soap.  I made 8 batches in a bit less than a week that encompassed last weekend.   With all the humdity, they aren’t even setting up very quickly.  I usually cut my big block within a day or 2 of pouring and today struggled to cut the batch I poured on 8/20.   Frustrating to me!

I am really low on inventory so they need made so they can get curing but summer soaping is tough.

In this marathon of soaping, I’ve made:

• Red Clover Tea
• Evening Mocha
• Almond, Milk, & Honey
• Beach Boys
• Black Raspberry Vanilla
• Cherry Blossom
• Fairy Flowers
• Blackberry Vanilla Musk

Four batches still need cut.    There are 4 more on the replacing inventory list of regulars to be made yet and I have a list of 5 new ones I’d like to get done.  At least not much is planned for next week!   🙂

Most of these fragrances are totally sold out.  Hence the need to soap even tho it  has been humid!  These will be ready the end of September. I move to my show in town on Monday.

There are tomatoes to pick for K and I grilled extra meat to share with her since her gas (oven & stove) won’t be turned on until Friday.    She has been able to go most nights this past week to clean.   She’ll be so happy to be moved!

Gpa came over with a few things for K.  Including a put-together small set of 3 drawers.  I could have painted it — had I had it sooner!! haha!  Phil seems to delight in the challenge of packing the truck so I’m sure we’ll get in all we plan on taking.   🙂

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Another Moving Day

Sunday was K’s day to move to her first apartment! Yeah!!  We were slightly clouded over by remembering her last moving day the end of May.  You may remember (or this will jog your memory) that there is no place to load or unload at the Madison building.

So preceeding the moving day, my prayer was that God would provide a parking place for the truck & UHaul for Sunday, 8/16.   Then I thought, why not ask for more pray-ers.

I posted on Facebook that Friday and had many people give a thumbs up to indicate they were praying and several comments of support & prayers.  Then I posted to the Sonlight (curriculum) forums that I frequent.  And finally, I sent an email to our siblings & my parents.   I formed my “team”.

Now, the play by play:

Phil & I got up just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning.  I had awakened at 4 and he a bit later.  Phil headed for chores in the dark and I sleepily walked to the shower in hopes of awakening.

We finished the final packing of the truck (truck bed & back seat were full to the gills!) and headed to Chicago at 6 a.m.   (JP drummed for both services so was then home for dog care & chores in the afternoon. )

We arrived at the new apartment at 8:29 and K arrived just a few mins later (she had taken the subway to her new place).   So first, we unloaded the truck of stuff from home including her new bed/couch and microwave she had bought a few weeks ago.  🙂

We then went to the UHaul place just a few blocks up the street.  Once inside, K & I waited in a slow-moving line and 2 employees were helping people.   I questioned how much it helped to that K had reserved a trailer!  One man then entered and BUTTED-IN line in front of everyone!  I said we were waiting too and he shrugged me off.  Boy did that make my blood boil.   😦

A worker took him next and we could tell by the conversation he had been in already and his little car couldn’t pull a trailer so he needed a re-do.  So do you think that meant he could butt in line?

Finally, it was K’s turn and we actually got out of the office before the cutinlinedude.   :p   The trailer was quickly hooked to the truck, lights worked!, and we were off.  (about 9:50)  Off to drive through major traffic clogs as there was an air show nearby that day!  ugh!!

However, as we neared downtown and her old place, the traffic wasn’t bad and Phil was getting happy pulling a trailer through the mess.  ha!  K commented that it was doubtful we’d have a parking place.  I reminded her I had a team on that and she had seen the FB posts.

We rounded the corner onto Madison and her section of the street had 1 open parking place.  In the middle, so there was no way even just the truck without the trailer would fit.  We double-parked near that opening so at least we had access to the sidewalk.

K ran in to get the pre-loaded carts coming down with the help of Kyle, another RA who delights in helping anyone move.  🙂  (His pay is food which we took care of later.)

Phil & I got out and he started to open the back of the UHaul. I looked across the alley (same side of street) and there were TWO (2!) open parking places, on the end of the section, next to a fire hydrant (more open space), and next to the alley which is next to her building!!  Ha!

Amazing!

(K remembers seeing a van in that spot when we pulled up and let her out.  However, it wasn’t even a minute later that we were out of the truck and I saw the places were empty!)

I shouted to Phil to MOVE THE TRUCK, I ran to STAND IN THE PLACES!!, and he jumped in the truck and pulled down the 200′ to the places. He got out of the truck and with tears in my eyes I said, “He did it!”  Phil said “Yep.”   Wow!!

However, in my excitment, I didn’t text K that we got a parking place so when she came out of the building we were gone from where we had left her.  Oops!  Sorry!!  However, she could see us just a bit down the street.

She & Kyle hauled out 6 carts in 2 trips.  I helped to sort while Phil went to work packing the UHaul trailer. As K & Kyle were returning for more carts, I asked if there were 2 more.  K said no which I assumed meant less than 2.  Oh.how.wrong.I.was!!  🙂

(In this picture, you can see the end of the trailer is at the parking sign and then we had all this space to work!)

We wondered about the boxes sloshing around in the trailer.

Phil said, “Thank your team for me.”  🙂

Another 6 carts came down.  LOL!

BUT… Phil packed it all in, we packed the truck bed full, and packed the truck full…. leaving just enough space for 3 in the front and 1 in the back.  I had Mr. Fishy and a plant between my feet.

We were glad there was a space for Kyle to ride to the new place with us as his help was wonderful!!   I think we left about 11.

Back to her neighborho0d, it was mayhem with traffic but the traffic cops were at the intersections so gave Phil a good left turn area.  🙂

(alley to basement entrance view)

At the new apartment, while on alley duty, I got things to the back of the trailer and to the tailgate so it was easier for Phil to pick up.

(oopsie! – don’t tell but that plastic bin that tipped has hats in it!)

Phil took it down the steps to the basement and down the hallway to the freight elevator that K could use for move-in.   There Phil & Kyle loaded the elevator.  (It wasn’t that big.)   Kyle then took up the load and K met him on her floor.  Kyle & K then moved everything down the rest of the hallway to her apartment.  During that time, Phil continued to haul to just outside the elevator so after the first load, everyone kept going on the assembly line.  It worked quite slick!  …says the one not carrying boxes.  🙂

(selfish self-portrait but my mom reads this!  I’m trying not to look as hot & as tired as I really am at this point.)

And now I see that I don’t have a pix of the full trailer.  The one photo Phil asked about.  Just imagine every space full, OK?

By 12:05 we were headed back to the UHaul place to return the trailer!  Yahoo!!

We returned to K’s place and had permission to leave the truck in the alley the rest of the day.  🙂  We walked a bit to a burger joint for really good cheeseburgers & fries for the others.

Kyle took off to head back to the original haunts and refused my subway money.  

We returned to K’s apartment and found the floor covered in boxes! So we knew we had out work cut out for us!  I worked in the kitchen, Phil assembled and hung a shoe rack & smashed boxes that were empty, K fed us more boxes and worked in her closet/storage area which is actually quite large!

Finally we had enough floor space for Phil to assemble her bed.   It started in that rectangular box I labeled too small in the picture above.

K likes it as a couch!

However, she needs to sleep tonight and I always make the bed when we move her.  🙂

We took another break and walked the other direction up the main street to look for a supper place.  It wasn’t a long walk or a hard look as there are a lot of restuarants right there.  We chose one in an old home and enjoyed the woodwork and rooms inside.

After supper and the time in the air conditioning, we walked around for a few more blocks then headed back to the apartment.

This time we went in the front door!  😉

Here is the front yard:

We arranged a few more things but really needed to start the trip back home.   A new version out of the city with her new locale landed us in this jam but a great new view of the skyline:

Thankfully this only lasted a few miles and then we had open roads!

About an hour from home, we enjoyed this beautiful sunset as a storm was brewing for later:

Home just after 9 p.m.  Exhausted!

So…. at this point the nest feels half empty with her in her new digs.  🙂  She needs more work hours so if you feel led, please pray on her behalf.

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Moving Nightmare

I guess we need to sit in the memories of having had uneventful moves in downtown Chicago with Miss K.   Because this week’s move was

a

nightmare!!!

😦

And so I’m posting all these details about it before getting up the pretty pictures and stories from the kids’ graduations.  😉  (It is my blog, you know.  Venting allowed.)

Phil & I left home Thursday about 3 and delivered a leftover pie and 2 bags of sandwiches to the nearby homeschool neighbor with hungrier boys than my one.  🙂  We arrived downtown just before 6 p.m.  

As usual, we parked in the alley and Phil & K put 4 cart loads into the truck.  We 3 rode (in the front seat) the 2 blocks to her summer home building (CB).  

You’ll remember I have alley duty on these excursions while P & K make the runs with the loads back & forth from truck to room. Well it was after the usual 5:00 office hours and they hadn’t switched K to this building (& her keys) yet so she wasn’t able to get carts here to unload.  

P & K decided to walk back up the 2 blocks to her old building (162) and bring 2 carts from there to use.  I continued to wait in the alley, casually reading a quilt magazine. 

After a bit, one of Chicago’s

“finest”

motioned me to move along.  

Ut-oh.  He was on one of those little glider/scooter things.  I put down the window and said we were moving our daughter into this building.  He didn’t care… said I was blocking traffic (?) and had to move.  I said I’d move and he thought that a great idea.  

I quickly dialed Phil and put the phone on speaker phone while it laid on my lap.  I backed out of the alley – into the 3 lanes of one-way traffic with no helpers and most of my back view blocked – and went back to the 162 alley where P & K were waiting for me.   Now what?

P & K got 2 more carts partially loaded and walked them down to the new building.  Once unloaded there, they called and summoned me.  I arrived and stopped in a tow away zone at the end of the line of parked cars while they quickly unloaded part of the truck into 2 carts.  

While they took the carts upstairs, I drove around the blocks.  (with the one-ways, it was down 2, over 1, up 2, over 1) Three times!  Again they were waiting on the sidewalk with their 2 carts and again  from the tow away zone, we quickly unloaded to the carts and I hopped back in the driver’s seat.   Now with an empty truck, I went to the 162 alley and waited. 

P & K unloaded at CB and then walked 2 blocks to meet me at 162 and devise our next plan.   I was starving, K was starving, none of us had food and we only had moved one truck load.  😦

Once again, they loaded up my truck.  This time giving me back mirror vision but filling the front seat as well.  I continued to sit.  (I actually considered going to talk to the Karl Rove protestors outside of the Chicago theater and ask what they were actually saying.  I’m sorry they showed their intelligence level by speaking into a megaphone which totally distorted anything that came out of their mouths.  Not much point would be made if no one could understand your position.)

P & K took 2 more cart loads to the CB via walking down the sidewalks.   When those carts were empty they once again called me to come.  This time they were waiting for me at the tow away zone with *4* carts!  🙂  We quickly unloaded the whole truck at one time!  K would run the carts into the CB lobby and return for another one.  And no, pushing a full post office type cart down a sidewalk, across an alley, down more sidewalk, and through 2 sets of doors is NOT easy!  And then throw in some pedestrians!  

So with my empty truck, I started making laps around the blocks.  It was 8 p.m. and the streets were not very busy.  Not many walkers to wait for in the cross walks.  Not many red lights to wait at.   I looped.  Again and again and again.  I lost count but think I did 6 laps.  Finally, they had called and were at the sidewalk!  🙂  

(They talked with security and there was a city ordinance issue with SAIC people using the alley so it is a new problem.  We have no idea how the next moving event will pan out at this point.)

They jumped in my back seat since my overnight suitcase was in the front seat by this point.  I drove around the block again but this time stopped at The Palmer House where we had a room reserved.  🙂  

K took our suitcase in to wait in the lobby while Phil & I drove to the parking garage we like to use.   K was so done walking but I was fine to walk back to the hotel 3 blocks.  Whew!

We checked in and requested a room with 2 beds.   K had forgotten her bedding until the last load and at that point it was just wadded and thrown in my truck.  Both her rooms have been loft beds and no one was interested in going back to make her a bed!  She stayed with us.  🙂

We went around the corner to Miller’s for supper at 9 p.m.  

 

Finally food!  🙂  

 

And if it matters, I really like the room re-dos that The Palmer House has done.  Sheets & beds are still wonderful but the furniture and wall paper are super!!  

In the a.m. we enjoyed the breakfast buffet downstairs.  K had received a $25 coupon and our discounted room rate from various dinners she was able to attend with the school this past year.  🙂  

 

So this was Friday, May 29th,

our 26th anniversary.  

🙂 

After a visit for me at Blick’s (*sigh*) and dropping off our suitcase at K’s room, we headed to Chinatown.  Have you gone there via the Red Line?  I hate heights and it was SO windy when we got off the El.  Ugh!!  

I wasn’t too thrilled with the various Chinese gift shops but was QUITE happy at the handbag knock-off store.  Yes, K could make me one.  *I* could make me one.  But these were already made.  🙂  

At the newer section to the north, we enjoyed 2 of those fruit freezes and got 2 bags of fortune cookies for he who was home working with Grandpa.  😉  

We headed back to K’s room for a break and then hopped on a bus for Old Town to the north.

(I said it was windy!)

 We walked the whole block around Moody Church but none of the doors were really the “front” door.  They had one door marked for counseling use during the week.  K knew of a restaurant down the block so we stopped there for a late lunch.  After waiting a long time, we each had $6 burgers and enjoyed watching the activity outside as we were across from The Second City.  

This is a cute area of town and we stopped at an outdoor plant store for a pink geranium for K’s room.  🙂 Then we got a bus to head back to K’s area.  At rush hour.  On a very busy bus route.  But we did pass MBI and that was cool for us to see.  🙂  

Back at K’s room, we all sorted and worked at finding some sense to her moving piles.  Phil put together bookcases and shoe racks, K unpacked clothes, and I got the bedding ready for the washer.  

Just before 6, K headed to the 162 building while Phil and I went to get the car. We arrived once again in the 162 alley and this time loaded 2 carts worth in the truck to come home.  However, a truck was parked there.  😦  Phil had to back out the whole alley after we had loaded up. 

We arrived home about 9 p.m. and K had gotten 2 smaller loads to her new room and the old room cleaned and finished and was doing laundry.  *sigh*

I’m hoping to put up the wonderful graduation stories and photos soon.  And then… I think life goes back to more summer normal.  🙂

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