Today my youngest daughter and her roommates moved from their apartment in Mesa to a townhouse in Tempe. They have 
been planning (not necessarily preparing and packing for) this move for quite a while now and they were very excited. All the members of our family were recruited to help with the move. Lucky us!
The roommate/girlfriend fell down the stairs to their apartment on Sunday and is on crutches and wearing a knee brace so she was out of commission and couldn't offer much assistance. Her family was going to help but her dad stepped on a bristle from a metal cleaning brush, got a very bad infection, had surgery and spent a couple of days in the hospital this week and is only allowed to travel by scooter. Her teenage brother had a kidney stone he finally passed yesterday and her mom is busy taking care of all the invalids. The other roommate's dad and brothers did help her move some stuff when they were in town a couple of weeks ago, but they had a father/son fishing trip to Lee's ferry scheduled for this weekend and since it had to be cancelled once (for Grandpa's funeral) they didn't want to cancel it again. This background is just to help you understand why the girls were willing to put up with our kind of moving help. Apparently we were the best that was available.
I am not a fan of moving. Never have been, Probably never will be. I am especially not a fan of moving when:
1. It is HOT outside.
2. Any of my children are involved.
3. The people being moved aren't the most organized.
1. It is HOT outside.
2. Any of my children are involved.
3. The people being moved aren't the most organized.
4. There is not a designated "leader of the move".
5. Stairs are a part of the moving equation.
I pretty much knew from the 5:30 AM beginning of the day that I wasn't going to enjoy this experience and although I would tell my children that having a good attitude makes a difference, I'm not sure in this situation that it really would have. It hasn't been that long ago that we moved the 2 daughters into this apartment, at the same time of the year, and I unfortunately remembered it too well. You've heard the saying, "Too many chiefs and not enough Indians." Well, in our family we have the opposite problem. "Too many Indians, and no one wants to be chief." We spend a lot of time trying to decide the best way to accomplish the task, or as I perceive it, trying to get out of accomplishing the task at all, while the day just gets hotter and hotter and hotter and so do I.
We started out loading boxes into the oldest son's truck. I became the designated director by default and organized an assembly line.
I told the son to stay in his truck to organize the boxes, the other son was responsible for carrying boxes from the apartment to the bottom of the stairs (he was definitely the youngest and the fittest of the group), the hubby loaded the boxes on the dolly and I pushed the dolly through the apartment complex to the truck and back. The moving help recipients were responsible for packing boxes and keeping Poky from getting stepped on (at least that's what they said they were doing). By the time 
the truck was close to full, we were beginning to realize how many truck trips we
were going to have to take to get all the belongings moved. Way too many! The son-in-law presented the girls with the idea of renting a U-haul and they weren't opposed, especially after realizing that their couch was a lot longer than the son's truck bed. While the newlyweds went to pick up a moving van, the sons, one roommate and I took the truck to the townhouse and emptied it.
We got back about the same time the van arrived and the "men" started loading the big stuff. There were a few scary moments when the couch was balancing precariously on the apartment balcony but it eventually arrived safely on the ground and we'll just pretend that those aren't really holes you can see in the back of it.
Despite some movers who did more entertaining than moving, 
(which my mom would definitely say I deserve after all the entertaining rather than working I did as a child),
a few trips to pick up necessary items such as tools and more boxes,
and more than a few rest and water breaks,
we were able to get the van loaded and unloaded before the hottest part of the day. After a couple of hours apart we were once again able to speak civilly to each other and the newly located daughter treated all of the hired help to a delicious dinner at Mi Amigos. I can't quite say that it made all the work worth it, but it did help me feel a little better about the whole experience.
Today I am thankful that
this moving day is over.
my daughter married a boy who knows how to carry boxes, rent U-Hauls, and balance heavy furniture while holding his tongue.
Frys had lots of fruit boxes just waiting for me to come and steal.
For my birthmonth present to myself today I purchased a Diet Pepsi from Pete's Fish and Chips. This wouldn't have qualified as a gift, since I buy soda way too often to be considered special, but today I splurged and went for the 44oz. size. I felt I deserved it after all the fluids I had lost.
I told the son to stay in his truck to organize the boxes, the other son was responsible for carrying boxes from the apartment to the bottom of the stairs (he was definitely the youngest and the fittest of the group), the hubby loaded the boxes on the dolly and I pushed the dolly through the apartment complex to the truck and back. The moving help recipients were responsible for packing boxes and keeping Poky from getting stepped on (at least that's what they said they were doing). By the time 
the truck was close to full, we were beginning to realize how many truck trips wewere going to have to take to get all the belongings moved. Way too many! The son-in-law presented the girls with the idea of renting a U-haul and they weren't opposed, especially after realizing that their couch was a lot longer than the son's truck bed. While the newlyweds went to pick up a moving van, the sons, one roommate and I took the truck to the townhouse and emptied it.
We got back about the same time the van arrived and the "men" started loading the big stuff. There were a few scary moments when the couch was balancing precariously on the apartment balcony but it eventually arrived safely on the ground and we'll just pretend that those aren't really holes you can see in the back of it.
Despite some movers who did more entertaining than moving, 
(which my mom would definitely say I deserve after all the entertaining rather than working I did as a child),
a few trips to pick up necessary items such as tools and more boxes,and more than a few rest and water breaks,
we were able to get the van loaded and unloaded before the hottest part of the day. After a couple of hours apart we were once again able to speak civilly to each other and the newly located daughter treated all of the hired help to a delicious dinner at Mi Amigos. I can't quite say that it made all the work worth it, but it did help me feel a little better about the whole experience.Today I am thankful that
this moving day is over.
my daughter married a boy who knows how to carry boxes, rent U-Hauls, and balance heavy furniture while holding his tongue.
Frys had lots of fruit boxes just waiting for me to come and steal.
For my birthmonth present to myself today I purchased a Diet Pepsi from Pete's Fish and Chips. This wouldn't have qualified as a gift, since I buy soda way too often to be considered special, but today I splurged and went for the 44oz. size. I felt I deserved it after all the fluids I had lost.
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