Next time I move, I’m hiring a professional.

Friday afternoon, I picked up the keys to my new home, high up on the 3rd floor of a 3-story walk-up. I spent the next 4 hours cleaning the apartment (to my anal-retentive standards) to remove whatever dirt and decay had been left by the previous tenants. I was thankful that the place had indeed been painted and cleaned as promised so that I wouldn’t need to remove the 50+ empty bottles of booze in the kitchen. Two hours of my cleaning time was spent removing the nicotine coating from the inside of the windows, effectively stripping the yellow tint from the rooms. A new toilet seat, some Kaboom in the tub and bathroom sink and a little scrubby scrubby on the floor and the bathroom was fresh as a daisy.

Friday evening I bribed my old downstairs neighbor with two cases of beer and a pizza for the use of his truck and his back to assist with moving the heavy stuff, the couch, shelves, desk and bed. The rest of the stuff has been moved by 2 other friends and myself. (Note that I still have a fair amount of things left in the old place that I’ll be removing this week. The new tenant of the old place doesn’t move in until Saturday.

But seriously, after carrying my belongings up 3 flights of stairs, I may just tell my old roommate to toss the stuff left into a charity bin. I’m so tired of lugging things upstairs. How did I accumulate so much stuff? Where did this crap all originate? Why is porn so heavy?

Saturday was spent carrying even more boxes and bags upstairs until I passed out and had a nice long nap in the late afternoon. The evening was spent unpacking and arranging.

Sunday was spent shopping! Oh, how I love to shop. I picked up the two 5’x8’ rugs I’d previously purchased at CB2 along with 16 rug tiles of various colors for my new office area and a new stylish coffee table. (It was on the shopping list)

Tonight, I think I’ll try to finish moving everything out of the old place and get my kitchen and office situated.

Anyone in the Chicago area want to help feel free to let me know!