Wonderful Summer

This has been a summer for the books. I have accomplished much, including finally moving back to Indiana for my summer home!

I just reread my last two postings and I'm sorry for not having posted more about all of this. The move went very smoothly. We had contracted with Morse Moving out of Mt Pleasant and Indianapolis. Sarah went with us from room to room and evaluated our stuff, offered an estimate, and gave us tips on packing and the move. August 5 was the date upon which we decided.

The time between the offers being accepted and the closing dates were comfortably long, permitting us time for leisurely packing, time with friends in Michigan, and other fun.

Closing for the condo was on July 29. We took all the vehicles down at that point, stopping at Keyboard World in Grand Rapids along the way. I had made arrangements to trade in my large digital grand piano on a tidier spinet model which fit nicely into the back of Jack's van. The Rv and car were loaded with the other musical instruments, cleaning supplies, lp tanks, and some art which I didn't want to try to have moved. And off we went!

Because we'd left at 1 on that Saturday, and the KW stop was not as brief as we'd hoped, we planned an overnight in Niles. This worked out well and we even found a nice church there for Sunday morning.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, the 28th of July, at Indy Lakes campground which was our overnight resting place for the next few nights.

My mortgage company gave us a long delay on closing day. While we were all set to close at 10 am, after making us wait 45 days, they still could not get it together to close on time. At all. It was 7pm before we left the title office with the keys.

We got some kfc and went to our new home for a picnic, to discover that the people to whom we'd paid all this money had had the gas and electric turned OFF. Sooo ...we had a fine little picnic in the fading daylight and headed back to Indy Lakes.

Tuesday morning I made the calls, securing my electric, gas, water, and sewer accounts. We used our cleaning supplies and began cleaning in the condo. No, the people had not cleaned up for us.

We also shopped, arranging for a mattress to be delivered the following day. (The people who'd bought the MI house had also bought much of the furniture, including the guest bed, so we needed a mattress.) This was enough for us to move what we had in the rv into the condo so we could stay there for the next few days.

We'd made arrangements, meanwhile, to store the rv at a facility close-by. And that week went by blissfully slowly, with us cleaning, shopping for furnishings, stocking the house with food, and getting to know our new neighborhood.

Then, on August 3, we got back into the rv with Eddie the cat and drove back up to Big Rapids. We got to say good-bye once again at the United Church, and we finished our last bit of packing.

Monday morning, right on schedule, Morse Moving arrived. The gentlemen packed and loaded our things, assuring us that they were going to be delivering them...not in a week or two, as we'd been told, but the very next morning! Yikes!

After they left, we scurried around the house doing last minute cleaning before heading out to close on that house. This went swimmingly, and I stopped at the bank on our way out of town!

Arriving in Avon at midnight, we camped in Annette's driveway till morning. And we made it back to the condo, reparked the rv in storage, and were waiting when the men arrived with our things, promptly at 9am!

As they were bringing things in, I unpacked boxes, because they offered to recycle for us any packing materials. So, by the time they were gone, we'd unpacked all but maybe 20 boxes.

I should say something about our moving company. During this process, we got probably 6-8 calls, wanting to know if all was well, or if we had any questions or problems. The men were polite and gentle with our things...and with me, during what could have been a difficult time. Nothing was damaged in the slightest--not a scratch. And the bill was almost $1000 LESS than we were quoted! Morse Moving and Storage. I could not be happier with them!

In the weeks since, we've been settling in here, getting deliveries, putting up lighting, picking out paint, and building a wall unit.

I bought some fabulous pots at the Fourth Street Art Fair in Bloomington, and I found some neat wall things at Godby's. Almost everything is up on the walls now.

We had met many of our neighbours before our furniture even came, and we like them! We are enjoying the White Lick Presbyterian Church, which we attended back in 2010 when we built Annette's deck here.

And we had our first houseguest! Jack's brother Ken came and stayed two weekends before and after he visited Michigan last week.

I will be posting photos soon. I've been waiting till things are "perfect." ...Silly me!