No U-Haul for once

In the five years we've been married, Matt and I have moved from the capital to the beach to the ghetto back to the capital to here (house No. 1) to across town (house No. 2). Before that, each of us moved about once a year during college, not counting summer housing. Through all of that we've never hired professional movers, relying instead on very generous family and friends.

We're finally feeling guilty about asking so much of these people, who seem to move much less often, giving us few chances to reciprocate. Not only have we called on them too often, but we seem to have accumulated a lot of (heavy) stuff while in this house.

Everyone who's helped us out, particularly Jacob, Stephen, Ron and Dan, will be happy to hear that we've gotten estimates from two moving companies for this round. Unfortunately, they do not accept pizza and beer as payment. But we're going to do all of the packing ourselves, and we think we can move most of the smaller stuff before the actual moving day, so we hope it won't take as long as the moving companies estimate. (Of course we think we know better than the professionals.)

Right now the plan is to get the certificate of occupancy late next week, start moving stuff in early the next week and have the movers handle the heaviest stuff on the 19th. The staggered schedule means our belongings will be scattered at opposite ends of town for a few days, but I think it will make unpacking and organizing a lot easier.

The house is looking so good and I'm starting to get really excited! The wood floors are absolutely gorgeous -- that's probably my favorite part so far. This is our first experience with site-finished, rather than pre-finished, wood floors, and even though the installation process takes a lot longer I think the end result is well worth it.

FINALLY we're down to the very end of the decisions that have to be made. Last week we ordered all the bathroom mirrors and the tile backsplash for the kitchen, and next week we have to pick out our mailbox, towel bars and house number. Then we'll be pretty much done. Yay! I'll post pictures in a few days.