Moving and Shaking!

The Friday after boards, Allen's mom and dad came through town.  They were sweet enough to realize that I was very stressed and that maybe they shouldn't invade our one bedroom apartment during the most gigantic test taking task known to my life.  They called to say that they would be staying in Indy overnight and invited us to eat at a restaurant with them.  If this had been two days before boards I might have just been extremely grateful for their sense of respect for my stress, but this was TWO days AFTER boards!!  I was ready to PARTY!! So we insisted they come and stay with us...and even though this meant they might actually have less room than in a hotel...they didn't have to worry about roaches, bedbugs, or not spending as much quality as possible with their son and of course, daughter in law.

So, the date was set for them coming Friday evening, March 23rd.  Then the gears started spinning.

So, what if we take some stuff to Arkansas for you?
You mean like drive your truck?
We could pull a trailer...

You see, sometime during the month of April we had to get most of our belongings back to Arkansas.  We will be moving to Nebraska the first of May and then back to Indy in August, so it would be silly to drag our belongings all over the midwest.  It is better for them to safely sit in my mom's spare room in Arkansas and wait for us to end our gallavanting.

So, the two days after boards, along with working in the clinic, I packed.

We sent our couch, recliner, table, 2 dressers, all knick knacks, a lot of kitchen stuff, coats, dvds, our bed frame, several end tables, all our art...and I don't even know what else.  Half our stuff is there, half our stuff is here...and our bed is laying on the floor in the middle of the living room now.  Fun times, fun times.  No seriously.  It really was fun times!

The night that we got the trailer there was an impending tornado, but no damage, just crazy hail.

I wish I had documented our actual moving.  Don't you just ever want to kick yourself for not taking pictures?  Anyway, it went well.  Caitlin and Darrel came over to help us and we ate deli sandwiches, chips, and pop then settled into the work of moving everything down the stairs.  One of Allen's buddies from work had come earlier in the day and they had already moved the really heavy stuff so it was down to boxes of books and all the odds and ends.  Its amazing when you start moving things around and away from their proper place how much stuff you have.  And the sad part?  I've now lived a week and a half without all that stuff, and I haven't missed a thing....kind of makes me wonder what's actually worth keeping...

So, the move went well.  We jammed everything into the little 6x12 rented Uhaul and said goodbye to Terry, Laura, and Jenae the next morning.  We wanted them to stay longer, but they were tired from their week's vacation and had another 10 hours to drive home.

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Allen and I both had the day off so we headed over to the McDonald homestead where another move was getting started.

This one I did document.  Sally and Brandon moved to Pennsylvania and unlike us were taking all their stuff with them.  It was a big move and we helped more for the companionship and enjoyment of being with friends than anything else.

We all pushed and shoved and heaved and ho-ed and carefully calculated lengths and heights.  Caitlin and I were quite worried that the king sized mattress was not going to fit...

But somehow, miraculously, and I think with a couple of prayers, it did.  

Then, after about 4 hours of packing, we turned on the truck...and a warning light said there was something wrong with the transmission.....

Emergency repair truck

They called an emergency repair truck and the guy assured Sally and Brandon that the problem was only with the truck's computer...they would not be breaking down on the highway, somewhere 4 hours from Indiana and 4 hours from Pennsylvania.  

Whew!!!

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Sally and Brandon left the next day.  They are already missed by many.  But, Allen and I are very glad to call them our friends and we are praying that they do well and have fun with their Pennsylvania adventure.  We definitely have a lot of fun any time we are together...even packing the truck was a blast.

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So, the next week.  What were Allen and I to do?  Boards were over, there was no more packing for a while...school is not extremely demanding at the moment...

But oh, we've thought of things.

Monday and Tuesday Allen and Darrel built new stairs in the McDonald homestead basement.

Caitlin and I were quite proud of our guys.  They built some nice strong, straight, stairs.  

GOOD JOB GUYS!!!

It was a great weekend, leading into a fun week.  Life is never boring and that's good.  I like it busy.  We'll see what's next around the corner.

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I'm afraid we will sorely miss our Bloomington friends who have become more like family when the real moving time comes...but like the saying goes:

THE ROAD TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE IS NEVER LONG.