Our housewarming gift from GregWe have moved.
Sorry this has been so long, but I felt guilty if I stopped unpacking or cooking for ten minutes to write anything. My Google reader was so packed, and I wanted to give all my normal blogs the attention they deserved. So, here we are, getting to the odds and ends of unpacking, trying to find space to put things, deciding on things that we need for storage, stuff like that. In this heat, it has been pretty difficult for me to keep moving. Even though it ends up being >75 outside late at night, it still stays in the upper 80's in the house (and this is at 2 am!).
Thank you to all of my regular readers who emailed me and commented on my various blogs to find out how we were doing, when we would be updating, where the pics were! It's nice to have all the encouragement.
Ok, so how did moving go? It was HELL. We have already decided that the next time we move, we are saving our money and having someone else do it for us. I don't know if it's because we are getting old or what, but we had some definite trouble. It was close to 90 degrees all 5 days (!) that we moved and what felt like 100% humidity. The first two days, we had help – Our friends Meadow, Dave, And Dave and Miriam. We had offers from other people, but they didn't come through. But then after that, Sans had to go back to work, and it was a holiday, so I was on my own. The third day (fourth of July), I made four trips back to Vancouver to pick up more crap. On day four, I made five trips, ending at 2:30 am. We ended up leaving a mess, and some of our stuff there. But I couldn't bear to go back. But it was stuff we had planned on giving away anyway, so hopefully, it got put out near the dumpster so someone got some free stuff. The last load that we made is STILL in the car, for the most part.
I think Sans now hates me because I have too many books. I think everyone else hates me because I have a nice couch. Or the fact that we live on the third floor.
The first day, Meadow and I went and got the truck around noon. Dave (1) was supposed to be there around 1. He didn't show until almost 4, when I needed to leave to sign the paperwork and pick up the keys to the apartment, plus Sans had to stop by the bank and get a money order for the rest of our deposit and our first month rent. He was able to cash one check but not the other, so we were short by $700. The new managers were very cool about it, though and said we could pay the rest of it the next day. I got a walk through, and everything was pretty good. There were some issues, but the appliances were near new, and the carpet and linoleum is new. I wish we could paint in here, but we have to deal with the off-white walls. Anyway, I will get back to that later.
After they dropped off some stuff, everyone went back to Vancouver, and I stayed to unload the kitchen boxes. Around 8:30, I went to pick up Mario from my mom's house. Once I got back to the old apartment, I found that the truck was only have loaded and everyone had to go home. Se we pushed the mattress down and slept on the living room floor that night. It was so humid until about 3:30 am, when the thunder/electric storm started and Sans ran out to the porch to move all the boxes out of the rain that we had left outside.
The next day, we got up as early as we could, and got breakfast. By noon, Meadow came over and we opened the truck. Everyone had told me that nothing else would fit in the truck. It wasn't even half full. I took over at that point, and rearranged everything and told Meadow and Sans to start bringing me stuff. It worked! I had that thing just packed all up. We could have put more in it, but there was just no more time. We only had Meadow for a limited time, and we didn't know what we would do about lifting all that furniture up to the third floor.
It turned out that Meadow could only make the trip down thee and unload the stuff that she had in her boyfriend's truck, then she had to go back to see him. Sans made an emergency call to Dave (2) and Miriam, saying that we were desperate. They were wonderful and responded to the call. I moved all the stuff in the truck to the entrance so they could take it all up the stairs. The three of them took almost all the furniture and boxes up the stairs and then Dave had to leave because of work the next morning. Sans and I went and got something to eat and brought the rest of the stuff inside. We brought the truck back at 2:30 am.
Sans and I slept on the mattress in the middle of the bedroom floor. We got our security refund for the truck the next morning. Everyone at the U-Haul places were fantastic and friendly. It really made things so much easier, especially since we took the truck out for one day and ended up using it for two. I got Sans to work, and then it was my turn. I picked up box after box and even still had to pack stuff. I made four trips back and forth between Vancouver and Beaverton. Argh. I don't even want to think about it. I was able every time to load up the car in less than half an hour, except the first trip when I went upstairs, and realized how much work hadn't been done, and I sat down and cried. Unloading at the new apartment was a bitch. I would unload everything at the bottom of our stairs, go and park the car, come back and make trip after trip up the stairs until my Quads were on fire and I could barely stand upright.
Finally after that last trip on Saturday night with Sans, I just gave up. I was done. Exhausted, in pain, and barely able to stand. We both collapsed into bed and were DONE.
I fell up the stairs a couple of times (which I am notorious for!), and I got many many bug bites on my ankles, not to mention running smack into the hitch on the truck. My legs are a mess. I took pictures, and I will post them at the bottom (try to ignore the swollen ankles from the heat and the overabundance of ibuprofen).
I haven't driven to Vancouver since. Ha. So that is the story of moving. We so far, have some really really nice neighbors, we only owe $86 for rent in our old place (after the security deposit), and once this heat calms down some, I think we will really enjoy it here.
Mom and her boyfriend came over today to take us out to lunch and Greg brought us a little housewarming gift, he painted for us. We went out to lunch at REO's Ribs, which is owned by Snoop Dog's Uncle. Fabulous, It was really really tasty.
I hope everything is going well for everyone, and I hope to be writing more with more “done” pictures soon!
1 comments:
Things will get better as time goes along. We have moved about five times over the years, and it was always a major pain. We lived out of boxes for weeks every single time it seemed like. It drove me crazy! Hope things are going along smoothly for you by now, and you will soon grow to love your new surroundings. :)
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