Setting Up Home!

We left our home for the last time in Connecticut last Friday evening, June 6th. My Hubby and I had to work that day. I managed to make the last run to the dump on my lunch break. In addition to a large amount of items to take there, I also had our bed mattress and grill. Our mattess was older and in need for replacement. We sent the bed frame itself with the movers earlier in the week to the house in New Hampshire and kept the mattress on the floor to sleep on until we left on Friday. Since we planned to leave Friday, it was time to dump it.

I had to move the mattress from upstairs to my truck! It was a bear to move all by myself! I was thrilled when I got it out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door. I was even more thrilled when I got it down to the truck! I almost couldn’t get it up into the truck bed! It was so heavy! I was cussing and swearing at it so badly! LOL! But I was determined to get it to the dump before they closed for the day at 2:30! Otherwise, we would have had to stay another night and take it there on Saturday when Hubby would be available to help me with it. I wanted to be able to be in New Hampshire that night! I also had to get the grill off the deck out back and to the truck out front. Not as bad as the mattress but it was a struggle to get it into the truck bed AND up higher, on top of the mattress! I felt so accomplished!

When I was done working for the day, I started gathering our remaining belongings. Hubby got home shortly after this to assist. We had to keep many belongings with us to get us through the week after the movers took most everything to New Hampshire. Also, the policy of the moving company was that they would not take any liquids, flammable items or plants. So we still had these items to take with us in addition to other items such as bedding, towels, bathroom supplies, a few kitchen supplies, my vacuum cleaner (needed this to clean up before we left), etc.

With two large dogs, this limited space in the vehicles! We just could not fit everything between the two vehicles! So I texted one of my neighbors to ask if we could store our overflow at their house for a few days. They’re great neighbors! Since Hubby still works in Connecticut, he will stop by to pick everything up this week. It will fit in his vehicle, a Ford Explorer, with no problem!

By the time we were done with all of this, it was rather late. We did not arrive in New Hampshire until close to midnight! So we decided to sleep at our son’s house that night. We had an air mattress to use but by the time we set it up and dug out the bedding, it would have been really late! At that point it was easier to sleep at our son’s house.

Early Saturday morning, we headed over to the house and unloaded our vehicles. We went shopping for a number of supplies, as well as a new mattress. We arranged to pick it up the next day, when our son would be available to transport it with his larger truck as my truck is too small. We spent our first night at our new home on Saturday night and used the air mattress and were able to sleep in our new mattress on Sunday night!

A number of things were done over the course of the weekend. We put the bed frame together to prepare for the new mattress, installed our range top microwave, set up the TV in the master bedroom, put up a shade in the master bedroom window that faces the street to ensure privacy, I set up my office in the smaller downstairs bedroom, etc. We purchased a shade for the other window in the master bedroom too but it was late on Sunday night and couldn’t get the second one done. That other window faces the side of the house, which is not visible to the street, or any neighbors, anyway. It will be installed this weekend. We also started unpacking but we weren’t able to get very far.

Hubby left for work in Connecticut Monday morning. He will be home late Thursday night. Between work and spending time with my son, wife and two young grandchildren, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to work on the house! But, despite this, I still got quite a bit done! I stayed up until 2 AM Monday-Friday night and until a little after midnight Tuesday-Wednesday night! Hubby will be surprised when he gets home!

Most of the kitchen items have been placed! My cabinets are almost full (dishes, silverware, pots and pans, food items like canned and boxed goods, etc) are now organized and usable! I saved space for my glass cups that I haven’t been able to locate yet. I rearranged the furniture in the living room area, set up lamps between the great room and master bedroom, etc. Last night I set up the large TV and stand in the great room and cleaned up the house a bit, and got through some more boxes. So far, since Monday night, I have gotten through about 25 boxes; all put away! Most were kitchen boxes.

On Monday our contractor was at the house working on finish work. I worked from home at my son’s house because it would have been a hassle to manage to keep two large dogs out of his way, and the noise from the work he was doing would have been difficult during meetings. Nobody was at the house to do work on Tuesday so I worked from home for the first time at my new home! Today, our contractor has 6 or 7 people working with him to finish up all work: Railings on deck and farmers porch, to finish log siding around basement area, to finish up trim both indoors and outdoors, add railings to basement stairs, finish the soffit on the roof, etc. As a result, I am working at my son’s house again as it would be very noisy and also difficult to manage the dogs.

Here are the latest updates from my security cameras! First photos are when they first showed up this morning and the next photos are what it looks like right now!

Photos from around 7 AM today; we had no rails around the farmers porch and deck, and the new posts on the deck section weren’t mounted permanently yet.

Photos from around 4 PM today; almost done! Can’t wait to get my deck furniture and gas fire pit up there! So exciting!

And some photos from last night of the inside of the house. Making good progress getting settled in!

The recliner on the side will be going to the dump as this thing is HUGE and way too big for the area! Plus, it is old and it was damaged during the move. Our plan was to replace it and the loveseat with new living room furniture; likely two love seats. New doggie beds too!