Part 2

So the reason our things were off the truck but not entirely in the house is this:

Our truck driver was delightful. He told Charles many amusing stories about moves he's worked, including a story about a woman who packed only tiny boxes. She said she was old, and that boxes sized about 8 inches on each side suited her - not too heavy, not too hard to move around. So she packed more than 250 of them.

When the truck arrived at her new home, she wanted all the boxes in her garage. All 280 or so. The crew worked until midnight, fitting and re-fitting until every box was in. Every box save one. She demanded that they unpack the garage and re-pack it to fit that one box. They said no.

Hmm....we have a 2-car garage. We have a lot of boxes. Hmm...

So we asked our driver to put all the boxes in the garage. Furniture went into the house, boxes in careful rows (with hallways between), in the garage. The result: our furniture was easier to place and we can go out, select a box, unpack it in the house, then return for more. No tripping over boxes. No piles of boxes in the way of the bed. Nothing unpacked first instead of last because I just had to get that box out of there.

Meanwhile, we're moving furniture around, carefully placing what we want where we want it. And when we are ready, we unpack boxes, 4 or 5 at a time. It's no slower than the usual method, and much less icky.

But for now, I have to take this headache and sore throat to bed. Tomorrow: photographs.