Oy! Every time I do this I think, “I don’t remember it being this much work last time!”

In our last post, I was feeling chipper and ready and confident. But, oh, there were so many boxes to pack and so little time….

(This is just the kitchen)

I packed…and packed…and packed…. Watched the clock hit 10 pm…midnight…three am…and then realized I was just going to have to put on a stiff pot of coffee and take a shower and pretend I’d slept.

(Reminded me of when I had babies – oh, I am too old for this!)

The movers arrived promptly at 8:50 and they were amazeballs. Five guys, four and a half hours, and they worked like fiends. Super strategic fiends, because they were Tetrising my entire household into this:

(See the piano on the left-hand side tied to the wall?)

My plan after they left had been to clean and button up the house, but I still had a bunch of closets to go through and a final Goodwill run to make. And  a nap to take because oh my.

So cleaning began in earnest on Sunday morning. Fortunately, I had a clean-up crew:

I’m so proud of these two. They dismantled beds, cleaned bathrooms, wiped cupboards, hauled garbage bags to the curb, vacuumed stairs, collapsed boxes, and swept/mopped all the floors.

Seven hours of hardcore cleaning later, we were done! The Boy said a quick prayer of thanks for the house and a blessing on the new owners, we gave the neighbors one last hug, loaded up the car, and then headed off for Canadaland.

Stay tuned for part 2 (in which Peitricia Mae realizes that she accidentally packed the passports and green cards in the moving truck….).