thetadpoles.com

I’ve always been the one to go the steeper route, the harder way, the road less traveled. Usually it was not by choice I just seem to navigate that way. Prime examples:

• Everyone would get strep throat as a kid, I got scarlet fever.

• I had a hemoglobin of 5 (for you non-medical folks norms are 12-15) from being severely anemic. Sure I looked white as a ghost and would almost pass out from going up a flight of stairs but that wasn’t going to stop me from going to school or work. Until Dee said I wasn’t allowed to come back to work until a doctor cleared me. Sheesh, a blood transfusion and I would be as good as new!

• 5 kids to the water slides by myself? Piece of cake!

• Why have one baby when you can be pregnant with 2 at the same time!

Seeing my background you can understand why we decided to move this last weekend (I bet you wondered why we haven’t posted huh? Lack of internet, lack of energy…..). The moving wasn’t the really bad part, it was the timing. Before I met Tadd I thought April 15th was the only big tax day, who knew about extensions and business tax deadlines. Well a big one is looming for October 15th and Tadd has been swamped, working late nights, weekends, etc. Anyways this is what the last week has looked like for us, noticed that when I was off Tadd worked and vice versa:

• Monday: Tadd and I both worked 13 hours. No one thought about packing
• Tuesday: Again a 13 hour day. Stuffed kicked into corner in preparation of packing.
• Wednesday:

  I signed lease papers for the new place. They were nice enough to give me the keys and said if we wanted to move some things in early to go ahead. I walked through the condo again trying to get a sense of where things would go. Tadd brought home some boxes and I went to work on packing up all of our books.

• Thursday:

  Brought over a load of clothes and winter coats. Boxed up some pictures and toiletries and brought them over. That took me like 4 HOURS. Michelle came over and helped box up some of the dishes.

• Friday:

  Brought the rest of our clothes and shoes over. Tadd’s dad Jim helped by loading the cars with the boxes I had packed and took them over to the new place. It is amazing how much easier it is when someone else is loading and unloading. Movers came and picked up our heavy furniture. We have a new bedroom set that weighs like 4000 pounds so we opted to pay to have someone else move them. Tadd and I both agreed it was worth the money while we watched 3 guys huff and puff and try to move the dresser up the stairs. One guys is muttering “This thing is a beast. BEAST” Later he said when we had called they thought it would be an easy job. Really how hard can a dresser, bed frame and a bookcase be? Ha ha we forgot to mention the dresser feels like it was made of cement.

• Saturday:

  I worked a 13 hour shift. Tadd, Brent and Jim packed (*) up the rest of the old apartment and rented a U-Haul. They worked really hard and got it all done by 3:30. I was so tired when I got home and seeing boxes everywhere I looked made me want to cry. Tadd brought home chow mein, I was appeased.

• Sunday:

  I worked a 13 hour shift. Tadd and Jim went through and cleaned the old apartment and Tadd went to work by noon. Talk about exhausting.

I’m starting to recover. I really pushed myself and felt like a zombie by Sunday. I’ve been taking it easy and slowly trying to unpack important things. Like food, dishes and toothbrushes. I figure we (I) wont be done with unpacking for the next few weeks. Whatever.

(*) Men Packing vs Women Packing

There is a difference between how men pack and how women pack. Were you aware of that? I tried my best to pack as much as I could on my days off. Things were carefully wrapped and boxes were marked. I wrote what was in them and what room they were to go in. The twins got a little pissy so I had to stop. This is where the men come in. I have found it is like Christmas when opening the boxes the guys packed. Labeling? Men don’t need no stinking labeling! I have come across boxes with toilet paper, candles and a skillet…in the spare bedroom. Set of glass nesting bowls, why should that be wrapped? I’ll toss a towel over it and it will be fine. There is no rhyme or reason; it is just stuff in a box. I would post pictures but I have no clue as to where the camera is. It is probably in the unmarked box of under ware/knifes/thank you cards.