Empty Nest . . . again

When our kids moved away to college several years ago, we experienced empty nest . . .all at once. That happens when you have twins.  It took us several months, but we adjusted and actually enjoyed our empty nest.  Then after both graduated from college, Laura moved home while she pursued her master's degree.  We've enjoyed having her back at home for several years . . .actually, we've loved spending time with Laura but we've hated her mess :-)  I'm pretty sure I was messy at that age, too.  Don't ask my sister . . .she might tell stories on me!!!!  So now we are back to empty nest again.

Laura has moved into a lovely apartment with two nice roommates!!  Mark rented a large truck.  He said that we were "overtrucked."  We loaded her furniture inside.  Actually, Dustin came over and he and Mark and Laura loaded the furniture!!

I highly recommend renting from enterprise.  They are not paying me for writing this.  We just had a good experience with them.

The truck was loaded up on Friday night and we woke up early on Saturday morning and drove to the new apartment.  It is about 15 minutes away.  The problem was . . .we had help on Friday night but we didn't have help for Saturday morning . . .and the apartment is on the third floor . . .with no elevators.  Lauren's (yes - we have another Lauren - roommate) "uncle" had hired two of his workers to help with the move.  We were able to hire them on the spot to help us get the sofa and mattress and box springs and all of her other stuff up those three flights of stairs.  Thank goodness!!!!

Laura picked out great things for her apartment.  This is her cute rug in the bathroom.

She made these great frames to go over her bed.  Each frame has a little "clothesline" strung from side to side and the photos are hung with tiny clothespins.

I love her comforter and pillow shams.

One of her sweet friends joined us that day and helped Laura to organize her closet.  She also helped Mark hang the pictures.  Mark is happy to "eyeball" the wall, hammer the nail and hang the picture. 

Laura painted these three canvases to hang in her room.  I think this is neat!!

After a tiring day of moving and unloading boxes and hanging pictures, Lauren's "aunt and uncle" invited us all over for dinner.  They have a lovely home on a private road and the food was yummy!!  They also served a drink called "a red head in bed."  I thought that was a funny name!!!  It was delicious.  I think the most yummy thing of the evening was the miniature twice baked potatoes.  "Uncle" James has built an incredible room in their basement with exposed brick and a bar and a wine cellar.

So now this middle aged mom and dad are back to an empty nest . . .and every night, I'm "shoveling" a little more into the closets and trash cans :-)