I am so glad to be back at work today, so I can quit working. I have always had a great deal of respect for people who do work I don't like to do, such as moving, but boy the crew we had on Saturday gets my humblest of thanks. We worked side-by-side, but they really put the pedal to the metal and got it all done (including the garage) by about 4:30. I thought that was pretty good. All that was left was to move the plants and clean the inside of the old house on Sunday. All. HA! I am so freakin' exhausted and every square inch of my bod hates me. I have the sort of tennis elbow that comes from lifting boxes, bags and furniture for two straight weeks (and intensively the last two days) and then deciding, "I MUST be finished with this house and have it behind me. I don't care if we have another week!", so I rip out the plants and shove them back in the ground at the new house.

Saturday, as soon as I hit the floor, I unmade the bed, shoved the sheets in a bag (you can tell I've moved loads of times Di ;) took the bed down, picked up what was left, put it in bags (we put a lot of it bags because it's easier to carry and gets done faster), and then got dressed. By then, the guys were up asking why breakfast wasn't on their plates (dunno, your arms broken?) and I made a hearty meal to last us through the day. The crew arrived about 30 minutes after we'd finished eating. We began toting (that's southern for carrying) boxes, furniture and bags into the waiting truck. All day long. I'd bought 6 six-packs of cold drinks, a flat of water bottles and a case of beer. It was all gone at the end of the day. We took the movers out to eat and went to bed. Although, I have to admit, I broke my cardinal rule of moving, I slept in a bed that hadn't been put together and made up. We just didn't have the energy.

We woke up yesterday and ate breakfast out because our food was still at the old house. I planned to garden and he went to pick up the cleaning crew. Right before he left, I decided I wanted to buy the new shrubs, soil amdenment, and two arbors right now, so we did that too. And had an ugly fight in the parking lot of Lowe's. Two tired people with no patience left. He went his way and I began digging up the shrubs which were moving and made places for the plants I was bringing. Shortly after, he stopped by and only had one person to clean. I quit what I was doing and came to help there. We had it cleaned by 2 and went to "lunch" (dunch? linner?). Mom called in the midst of eating to tell me she was sitting in my driveway. She's been dying to help, but I didn't want her to, she should just sit and me wait on her; she's the mommy! I asked her to help me clean out the fridge at the old house. She did. And then proceeded to put all of the remaining items in her car. Boxes, brooms, mops, cleaning supplies, houseplants and my Japanese doll which is over a score of years, everything. She left and I headed back to gardening at 5:30. It took me 10 minutes to rip and toss plants into my car. It took me another hour to plant all of the plants. My hands hurt. My back hurts. My elbow really hurts. As I watched the setting sun backlight the gorgeously full-bloomed 'Fireworks' goldenrod, and looked at my filthy dirty hands I thought, "Any day your fingernails are clean, is just another day above ground". And I remembered why I wanted a home for my green babies. Gardening makes moving worth it.