Kirkland Calls for Aid

Help us, Seattleite friends. You are our only hope.

Maybe what we need is... a Doctor.

Choose your fandom, but Chez Kirkland needs your help if you're willing. You see, we're moving.

You knew that, because I've told you before, but there have been a few... let's just cal them "complications" because "clusterf&^ks" is a term that violates my self-imposed blog standards.

So, we're moving. As some of you know, +Laston Kirkland is currently out of work (though he starts a new job January 12), so he has been working his ass off getting our stuff packed and ready to go.

We have a... let's just say a "plethora" (because "sh!7-ton" is a term that violates my self-imposed blog standards) of stuff. Part of this is a tendency toward pack-rattiness, especially on Laston's, Leanna's, and Abby's parts (Lizzy too, but she is prone to out-of-sight-out-of-mind-itis where things are concerned. And me, but mine is mostly books). Part of it is two adults in their forties, three kids ages 6-13, and a cat. Part of this is being crammed into too small a space for 4.5 years. And part is very generous grandparents.

So we were moving along - not tossing as much as he'd like but not as little as the rest of the family would, and then the kids' new beds came. Merry Christmas.

Holy um... cow. These things are heavy. So we get them to the new place and there's a couple of problems. Each problem in and of itself is kind of minor, but piled together they are, well... there's that other word again. The first one that violated my self-imposed blog standards.

1. Beds for Abby and Leanna say 4-6 hours to assemble. Okay. Oops - that was for two people. Triple the time and it's more accurate for one person. This has slowed Laston down considerably, and there's a couple of pieces he can't get on because the beds are too heavy for him to move.
2. A couple things are not quite right with the house. Of course, these are both things (and one causes a third thing) that we really want to be right with the house. As soon as possible, like yesterday. 
1. Thing One is that the water heater is not working properly, and there is sediment. They tried a new heating element and no dice, so they have to replace the heater, tank and all. 
2. Thing Two is that we have no cable, the cable guy can't find the cable, and the landlord (we're buying the house but renting the land) swears up and down it's there. We really do need this, because while we can run to Star$$ or up to my mom's or whatever, we're so connected (Laston job-hunting stuff, my school, and just our considerable online life) that this is a right royal pain in the ass. 
3. Thing Three is caused by Thing One - the icemaker - which is a make-or-break thing for Laston - is not working. We can't tell if this is due to the water being turned on and off all the time or if it's a problem with the machine itself.
3. When going down the porch steps at my mom's to take some more stuff over to the new place, I fell. I am a person of considerable heft and so when I fell on slippery slushy steps, I appear to have sprained my right ankle, broken or dislocated (probably the latter) my right big toe, and I have assorted scrapes and bruises (and uncomfortably cold wet clothes). Probably a few more sore spots I'll find in the morning. Mom lent me a cane and an Ace bandage, and I have an old Rx of Oxycodone handy, but... well yeah.

So... we are not as packed as we thought we would be, I can't do as much as I thought I could (or drive), and we have no hot water or Internet service. And very little ice. Laston is close to tears of frustration, I'm starting to get foggy from a mixture of pain and off-brand Percocet, and we could really use some help if anyone is up for it. We have movers to do the actual hauling, but we could use help with last-second packing, unpacking, keeping my leg up and out of the way, and general moral support.

My mom has our three kids and my sister's child, though, so if you'd have to bring the kids, please just send good wishes, prayers, woo-woo, whatever you've got instead; we got ours out of the way for a reason. I love you all, but I can only deal with very little more right now.

I'm going to throw clean clothes into plastic garbage bags while I still can. Give me a heads up if you can help. We'll feed you something.

Pretty please?