Busy, Busy!

Whew! It has been a busy and exhausting (almost) two weeks since I last posted. We've been running around like nuts trying to get everything together for our move.

Ryan's taken charge of the insurance and finalizing the actual house stuff. I've been searching angieslist.com for cleaning people and other workers to help us fix it up before the big move, posting some of our stuff on craigslist to get rid of it, and making sure we can be available for people to come and take it!

We spent over 14 hours last weekend, at about 20 different stores, debating on furniture we want to purchase...fun, fun!

Now, we are in the middle of buying/selling stuff and our apartment looks honestly like a cyclone hit it! We posted stuff on craigslist on Tuesday night, and haven't stopped coordinating since. We thought it would take a while, so we didn't clean anything out that we were selling. Yesterday, I had almost 20 people that said they wanted to stop by and pick stuff up. Not nearly that many people showed, but it forced us to empty everything out real quick. Now it is "dumped" neatly in boxes all over the place. It is going to be a long 3 weeks straightening that all out. Craigslist.com is a fantastic tool. Our junk is nearly running out the door!

And angieslist is awesome too. It is where you can find contractors and read other's comments on their work before contacting them. It is a $10 one time fee and $6 a month. If anyone wants to check it out, let me know and I can let you see our account. I really like it so far. They even have insurance companies, hair salons, and all kinds of workers. I think it is fairly new, so there are some contractors with only one rating, and some categories with no contractors at all. They don't pay to be on the list, it is up to the users to post their own experiences about the contractors, so it makes sense that it takes a while to get it populated with information, particularly since you have to pay to use it.

For anyone in Northern VA, you have to check our Belfort Furniture, if you haven't already. They have a whole complex of all types of furniture stores, cheap to expensive...the selection is amazing! I'll let you know how the service goes, as we are going back there tonight to attempt to place our order. Hamilton's Sofa Gallery is another good place. They have nice stuff, but it isn't outrageous, like many of the furniture stores in this area. We aren't going with them simply because Belfort has everything all in one location (and one delivery charge), but it is definitely worth your time to go to Hamilton's as well.

My biggest challenge though, is going to be getting Ryan to throw stuff away! After looking at all the crap in my desk, it appears I'm not that much better, but I'm all about pitching it all...Ryan on the other hand, believes there will be a use for everything someday or that everything will be a collector's item. That kind of thinking has made a huge mess all over the apartment, so it appears I am now tasked with convincing him we are not taking any "someday-useful" things or "collectors items." This is going to be a tough one!

Hope you all have a great weekend...