Ouch.

I consider myself to be in shape. I mean, at least partially. I'm not a fitness fiend or anything, but I try to stay active.

I generally go to the gym to hop on the elliptical machine on the weekends.

I take two aerobics classes during the week.

But moving? Moving 17 years of accumulated stuff from my mom's old house to her new house has thoroughly kicked my ass.

I am sore today. Really sore. Upper arms, forearms, back (from lifting improperly), legs (from lifting properly)... you name it, it hurts. Even my fingers are achy.

The saddest part is that we did all that, and we're not even done. My mom and her boyfriend, Dirk, started moving stuff last weekend, but it was just a few things here and there. The big move had not yet begun.

Michael and I got up early on Saturday morning and headed to Dirk's house. He decided to move a few extra big things (like couches) from his house to help my mom furnish the extra rooms she now has at the new house. So I dropped Michael off there to help Dirk and his friend move some of the stuff onto the UHaul, and I drove directly over to my mom's house to start packing stuff up. I basically packed up the entire contents of her kitchen cabinets and drawers. My grandma came to help by loading up my mom's clothes (that were stored in EVERY closet in the house--no joke). Once we realized that all of our cars/trucks were full, we headed over to the new house with the first load.

From there, I stayed at the new house unpacking stuff all day. I got the new kitchen completely unpacked and organized, including the pantry and refrigerator/freezer. My brother, Tyler, and his roommate, Tim, eventually showed up, so the guys moved several UHaul loads of big stuff throughout the day. At around 6:00 p.m., we surveyed the scene at the new house and decided we had made a big enough mess for the day, so we left Dirk and my mom with the assignment of cleaning it all up and getting it organized. :)

Yesterday, it was a repeat of the day before... we just didn't start as early. My mom's friend Donna met us at the old house with her huge conversion van. She removed all of the seats so it could hold as much stuff as possible. And we all got to work--moving beds, dressers, desks, etc. Not to mention about 20,000 boxes (which were most likely filled with junk) from my mom's basement. Just doing a switcheroo from one basement to the other.

It was exhausting. I'm glad to help my mom out, but going into work this morning doesn't sound all that bad. That says a lot, especially considering it's Monday.