Going to California...

Last month my nephew (living 10 miles away) accepted a job in California. He scooted out as the position required him to start immediately. Small problem: Wife and 2 young children in Florida. The icing on that cake is my niece is in the finals of graduation. Read: dissertation.

A few weeks ago, my wife volunteered to help pack and for a few days each week she filled boxes, sealed them with tape and stacked them in the garage.
They arranged a storage container (with a roll-up door) from a company called PODS that was 16 feet long that now sits in the driveway. My nephew flew back to Florida one weekend and worked 2 days packing as much as possible before he had to fly back... this time with his wife, 2 young children and 2 cats. Personally, I would have left the cats behind, especially the moody one who will scratch you in a heartbeat simply because he knows he can.

With no developed plans, they left 2 cars (with keys under the tires) a rented house (with key under the doormat) and less than 2 weeks before the lease expires and they have to be out!

In desperation, I was called (by my brother) as the 'clock was ticking' and he realized their plans were about to fail.

Cars
The Avalon was older and in need of repair. I pushed the issue to unload it. A friend dropped me off Friday and I drove it to a parking lot near my warehouse to buy time for a future decision.
They are keeping the Camry and will pay a car carrier to transport it to California.

Furniture
About 80% made it to the container, with the exception of a king size 12" thick memory foam mattress. Well, duh, while that should have been loaded in the front with the bed frame, my niece wouldn't have a bed to sleep in. No win.

Electronics
We boxed up 4 TV's, laserjet printer, DVD player and a few miscellaneous items.

My nephew pleaded for the mattress, so we unloaded a bunch of boxes to make room and schlepped the mattress from the 2nd floor out to the container, pushed it up over the boxes and wedged 2 TV's over that!

What goes, what stays
Infant swing, a gift from his sister a last minute must and some baby cradles.
We took apart all those items and shoved them inside.
Literally, we're out of room and have more boxes and baskets to pack.
I opened a few brief cases already in the container... EMPTY (insert a slight episode of Tourette's) but we've got a plan! I was able to repack some boxes into those empty cases. Pillows and bedding that wasn't going to make the trip got squeezed in between every gap we could find.

By then, it was dark, windy raining and the PODS truck was a few hours late for the pickup. I guess he knew we were in 'Coolie mode' all afternoon, so it worked out best.

With relief we did our best, I padlocked the container, closed the garage and we headed back to the condo for dinner.

Next week, my nephew has to arrange for some charitable agency to pick up the rest of the furniture as donation that will require my presence and I'll do a walk-thru with the landlord to get the approval that everything is clean, because they are going to California!