We're up and running....

Hello all-

Missed me?? I've missed you!

Wondering where I have been?

You can find me surrounded by boxes. Boxes and paper. Paper and boxes. No matter how you say it, it consumes me and the house. Oh, you know you wanted to see just how bad it is to move cross country. Well, here you have it folks....and that is only a small, teeny tiny, itsy, bitsy pile of boxes and paper. We had a floor to ceiling pile, but the kids thought it was fall time and ran through it like piles of leaves.

I am proud to say that the kitchen and kid's rooms are done. For the most part. Notice my "Home Sweet Home" cross stitch? It adorns my breakfast nook. It has hung above my mantle for 7 years, through our first apartment and 2 houses. However, since I have a two story living room.....my "Home Sweet Home" looks lost on the two story wall. So, it looks over us as we eat...as a family....at our home. Fitting, I think.

No, I didn't cross stitch it. My mom did. It looked over my family, as I was growing up, from over our mantle. I can't part with it. Don't care if it matches my "decor" or not.....where I go, it goes.

Oh, the stories I could tell about the move. The good, the bad, the ugly, the funny and the tearful. However, my time is limited...I can hear those boxes calling out to me. So I will leave you with only one story....

Those of you who know me, know that "Big Bertha" is the way I travel with kids. And no, "Big Bertha" isn't my minivan....she's my double stroller. If you have more than one kid, you know how important a stroller that can accommodate more than one kid at a time is. I have discovered, recently, that not only is "Big Bertha" great for carrying kids, she is can carry a TON of clothes, etc when moving.

Simply load up Bertha till you can barely push her, stroll down the hallway, down the elevator and out to the van. Simple? Seems so.

Until....

I had a HUGE load on ol' Bertha. Complete with extra wide under bed storage box full of clothes, Pyrex cookware, clothes on hangers, an air mattress, and dirty clothes. Yep all that on ol' Bertha.

I made it out the apartment door, with some finagling. The under bed storage was almost too wide to fit, but I made it. Slow and steady down the hall I went. On the elevator. Down the elevator. Next hurdle was going out the basement door to the parking garage.

Upon first look....I wasn't sure Bertha would fit. So, I held the elevator door with my foot while opening the basement door to see how wide it would actually go.

Can you see where this is going? I can hear you now shouting, "No, don't let your foot slip!" Because you are smart enough and not sleep deprived....you know that if my foot slipped, the elevator door would close....and goodbye Bertha.

Well, it slipped.

I heard the little ding of the elevator door closing, as I turned around.

And, goodbye Bertha. Goodbye HUGE load of stuff....including dirty clothes.

Sigh.

I pushed the elevator button to call it back and waited.

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding...

Yep, it went all the way up to the fifth floor.

Ding, Ding...

Yep, went back down two more floors.

Ding, Ding, Ding....

I could only imagine who was on the elevator and what they were thinking as they rode...alone...with Bertha.

Open elevator door.

There stood two HUGE men and Bertha.

"So, glad you found my stroller" was the lame comment I made. Really, what could I have said??

Out, came the two NOT impressed men. In, I went to reclaim Bertha and her load. Out, came both Bertha and I. I didn't think it was worth exploring the width of the door without her. And you know what? Bertha and her load fit through the door just fine. All that for nothing. Oh well, yet another lesson learned in apartment life....make sure you only have clean clothes on your double stroller before you abandon it in the elevator shaft.