We got the internet hooked up last night, and let me tell you, I acted like a junkie who needed a fix. DH and I had a few snippy exchanges until it finally happened. So here I am this morning, reading the 200 emails that I missed.
One thing I realized while moving in the day after a snowstorm was that all my shoes are mules or open toe. Except for two pairs of flats and a pair of boots. Looks like as soon as we get a little bit ahead, I'll be off to Nordstroms and Neiman's.
The rest of the story coming soon. :)
The Next Step in life is often the most frightening. This is my attempt to understand it, think it through and move on to the next.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Monday, March 14, 2005
The move ... Continued
So, we started the day off with the complimentary breakfast that our hotel offered. Waffles, juice, cereal. The eggs were discarded after one bite of their rubbery chewiness.
Then off we went to the apartment complex. Turned out they had closed because of the snow storm. The guy who was helping us told us that they couldn't get up the hills in the complex, and neither could the residents, so they decided to close early. Well, unfortunately for us, you really can't fault that. It was snowing really hard, very cold and the roads were not plowed yet. Anywhere.
So we signed the lease and off we went to the townhome that we'll be calling home for the next year. Ok, to say this was a shock was an understatement of monumental proportions. We went from a five bedroom, four bath, three living area, 3700 square foot house to a two bedroom one and a half bath 900 square foot townhouse. Our house was brand new. The townhome was built in the 60's.
The floors on the second floor were uneven. Off we marched to the Leasing Office again to demand another apartment. Uneven floors? Unacceptable! We started talking, and realized in a panic that we had 10,000 pounds of stuff coming in a few hours. So we asked if they had any three bedroom townhomes available. No luck. Another two bedroom? Sure. But only one. I liked this one a little more, but the parking for it sucked. No neighbors behind us, though, and the floors weren't all that different than what we already had. *sigh*
So those two being the only choice, we decided to stay at the original one, and move into a three bedroom if it became available. Meanwhile, we thought, we'd live the cramped life inside the two bedroom.
Well, it turned out that the guy who was transporting our cars showed up today. WOO HOO! My car is back. Thank you, GOD! As we're finishing up with that, the movers show up. Off we go back to the townhouse.
The hardest part of moving in was them backing the truck & trailer into the parking area. What took 13 (yes, 13) hours to pack and load, took two hours 45 minutes to unload. What helped was that I stayed on top of the organization of the boxes in the spare bedroom. I was able to stack boxes and place the furniture to clear floor space for the next load. All our furniture fit. All the boxes fit. We still have room to move and function.
My parents are coming tomorrow to help unpack and settle us in. Honestly, it should be a breeze. All the hard stuff is done. All thats left to do is unpack the kitchen, and set up our bedroom, and rearrange the family room.
I don't think we'll need the three bedroom place until the kids come home. And even then, we've got a storage shed out on the patio in the back that can hold the boxes that are currently in the spare room.
We've discussed it, and if we stay in this place for the full year, we should have most of our debt paid off, and be in a really good financial position to buy a really great house. Now, all we have to do is sit on our proverbial hands so that we don't buy a house before then.
DH starts work tomorrow, and he's really excited. Why I'm up at 4AM is a mystery to me. I've been up for almost two hours. Although it might have something to do with the two hour nap I took this afternoon.
This was definitely the way to go. Hire packers, ship the cars, and stay in a hotel until the apartment is set up (we'll be sleeping there tomorrow night, tonite we're at the hotel). Those are my recommendations, at least. :)
Then off we went to the apartment complex. Turned out they had closed because of the snow storm. The guy who was helping us told us that they couldn't get up the hills in the complex, and neither could the residents, so they decided to close early. Well, unfortunately for us, you really can't fault that. It was snowing really hard, very cold and the roads were not plowed yet. Anywhere.
So we signed the lease and off we went to the townhome that we'll be calling home for the next year. Ok, to say this was a shock was an understatement of monumental proportions. We went from a five bedroom, four bath, three living area, 3700 square foot house to a two bedroom one and a half bath 900 square foot townhouse. Our house was brand new. The townhome was built in the 60's.
The floors on the second floor were uneven. Off we marched to the Leasing Office again to demand another apartment. Uneven floors? Unacceptable! We started talking, and realized in a panic that we had 10,000 pounds of stuff coming in a few hours. So we asked if they had any three bedroom townhomes available. No luck. Another two bedroom? Sure. But only one. I liked this one a little more, but the parking for it sucked. No neighbors behind us, though, and the floors weren't all that different than what we already had. *sigh*
So those two being the only choice, we decided to stay at the original one, and move into a three bedroom if it became available. Meanwhile, we thought, we'd live the cramped life inside the two bedroom.
Well, it turned out that the guy who was transporting our cars showed up today. WOO HOO! My car is back. Thank you, GOD! As we're finishing up with that, the movers show up. Off we go back to the townhouse.
The hardest part of moving in was them backing the truck & trailer into the parking area. What took 13 (yes, 13) hours to pack and load, took two hours 45 minutes to unload. What helped was that I stayed on top of the organization of the boxes in the spare bedroom. I was able to stack boxes and place the furniture to clear floor space for the next load. All our furniture fit. All the boxes fit. We still have room to move and function.
My parents are coming tomorrow to help unpack and settle us in. Honestly, it should be a breeze. All the hard stuff is done. All thats left to do is unpack the kitchen, and set up our bedroom, and rearrange the family room.
I don't think we'll need the three bedroom place until the kids come home. And even then, we've got a storage shed out on the patio in the back that can hold the boxes that are currently in the spare room.
We've discussed it, and if we stay in this place for the full year, we should have most of our debt paid off, and be in a really good financial position to buy a really great house. Now, all we have to do is sit on our proverbial hands so that we don't buy a house before then.
DH starts work tomorrow, and he's really excited. Why I'm up at 4AM is a mystery to me. I've been up for almost two hours. Although it might have something to do with the two hour nap I took this afternoon.
This was definitely the way to go. Hire packers, ship the cars, and stay in a hotel until the apartment is set up (we'll be sleeping there tomorrow night, tonite we're at the hotel). Those are my recommendations, at least. :)
Sunday, March 13, 2005
We're here!
We spent most of the day yesterday travelling. First on a plane and then in a car. In the midst of a terrible snow storm.
So we've settled into temporary housing for the time being. Our apartment complex is on our shit list for blowing off our appointment yesterday. We were supposed to go sign out lease and get the keys. No answer when we called -- multiple times -- no call back, either.
My parents met us at the airport and we handed off the one cat we kept. He's currently missing his mommy (me). Mom found him crying at their front door. Poor kitty. He has no idea whats going on. All his buddies are gone (all four of them have found other homes), and he's all alone in a "strange" house. I say strange in quotes because he spent the first six months of his life there, and has visited on and off over the years.
So today we're going to go to the apartment complex and rip them all a collective new one. We were very lost, not used to driving in the snow, and were getting no response and more and more frustrated.
I just hope our stuff doesn't arrive today, and they said it might. That would suck because we don't have the freaking key! See our delima?
Post more after I sleep off the exhaustion.
So we've settled into temporary housing for the time being. Our apartment complex is on our shit list for blowing off our appointment yesterday. We were supposed to go sign out lease and get the keys. No answer when we called -- multiple times -- no call back, either.
My parents met us at the airport and we handed off the one cat we kept. He's currently missing his mommy (me). Mom found him crying at their front door. Poor kitty. He has no idea whats going on. All his buddies are gone (all four of them have found other homes), and he's all alone in a "strange" house. I say strange in quotes because he spent the first six months of his life there, and has visited on and off over the years.
So today we're going to go to the apartment complex and rip them all a collective new one. We were very lost, not used to driving in the snow, and were getting no response and more and more frustrated.
I just hope our stuff doesn't arrive today, and they said it might. That would suck because we don't have the freaking key! See our delima?
Post more after I sleep off the exhaustion.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Sweet, Sweet ...
... Cash.
Yesterday we invited a few friends over, and one neighbor. I marked the things I was willing to part with with purple painters tape. Yesterday, we made $800. Today, we made another $400.
I have to say, our neighbor ROCKS! I'm so sorry we'll be leaving. At first, I looked at these strange people (her acquaintainces) that she was brining over as pure annoyances. Now that we have some extra cashage for our adventure ... GODDESS! :)
So the company is reimbursing us moving expenses up to a certain amount. We should be fine, but this cash will give us enough of a cushion that we really won't have to worry. Thank God, for that, too. Because you never know.
So on the flip side of things, we list the house with our realtor tomorrow. I'm so sad to leave. I feel like I'm not done decorating ... or furnishing. I'm hoping that we'll be able to take some of the cash we got from the past few days and save it to buy some really cool things for the new house.
But first, back to the current one. :) We're leaving here on Saturday morning, and we're so ready. Bitter sweet, I'd call it. An adventure of epic proportions, too.
We need to sell this house. Plain and simple. If we don't sell this house, well, honestly, that isn't an option. We MUST sell this house. Right now we're planning on being in an apartment for a year, build up some financial stores again, and buy another house.
We're going to have to bring money to the table. Lots of it. I really don't know where it will come from, but one day at a time. We got more money from the sale of the furniture than I really anticipated, which was really nice, but we're about $20K short of a comfort zone.
And today was my last day at work. I'm no longer pulling down a paycheck. This could get really interesting, really quick.
Unless, of course, we sell the house quickly. Then all bets are off, we still need money ... well, you get my train of thought.
Wish us luck. The adventure continues ...
Yesterday we invited a few friends over, and one neighbor. I marked the things I was willing to part with with purple painters tape. Yesterday, we made $800. Today, we made another $400.
I have to say, our neighbor ROCKS! I'm so sorry we'll be leaving. At first, I looked at these strange people (her acquaintainces) that she was brining over as pure annoyances. Now that we have some extra cashage for our adventure ... GODDESS! :)
So the company is reimbursing us moving expenses up to a certain amount. We should be fine, but this cash will give us enough of a cushion that we really won't have to worry. Thank God, for that, too. Because you never know.
So on the flip side of things, we list the house with our realtor tomorrow. I'm so sad to leave. I feel like I'm not done decorating ... or furnishing. I'm hoping that we'll be able to take some of the cash we got from the past few days and save it to buy some really cool things for the new house.
But first, back to the current one. :) We're leaving here on Saturday morning, and we're so ready. Bitter sweet, I'd call it. An adventure of epic proportions, too.
We need to sell this house. Plain and simple. If we don't sell this house, well, honestly, that isn't an option. We MUST sell this house. Right now we're planning on being in an apartment for a year, build up some financial stores again, and buy another house.
We're going to have to bring money to the table. Lots of it. I really don't know where it will come from, but one day at a time. We got more money from the sale of the furniture than I really anticipated, which was really nice, but we're about $20K short of a comfort zone.
And today was my last day at work. I'm no longer pulling down a paycheck. This could get really interesting, really quick.
Unless, of course, we sell the house quickly. Then all bets are off, we still need money ... well, you get my train of thought.
Wish us luck. The adventure continues ...
Friday, March 04, 2005
D-Day
So last night was the last possible moment we had to make decisions ...
We've decided to move together. This will be great, however, since no one at work knows that we're leaving, tomorrow will be very interesting. I'll work Friday and Monday will be my last day.
We're going to try to leave by next weekend so DH can start his job a week earlier than planned. That will give him no interruption in pay, which will be very nice.
We're thrilled, excited, and terrified.
I call the movers tomorrow to see how fast we can leave. They're the lynch-pin.
Meanwhile, anyone want a cat? We've got three who really need loving homes. These three are the independant sorts that ... well, ok. I'll stop. :)
But seriously, if you're in central Texas and would like a cat that gets along with dogs, we've got a few. :)
I'll try to post our grand adventure, but might be a little distracted for the next week or so.
And yes, it is 4AM. Stress does a lovely job to my sleep habits. HA!
We've decided to move together. This will be great, however, since no one at work knows that we're leaving, tomorrow will be very interesting. I'll work Friday and Monday will be my last day.
We're going to try to leave by next weekend so DH can start his job a week earlier than planned. That will give him no interruption in pay, which will be very nice.
We're thrilled, excited, and terrified.
I call the movers tomorrow to see how fast we can leave. They're the lynch-pin.
Meanwhile, anyone want a cat? We've got three who really need loving homes. These three are the independant sorts that ... well, ok. I'll stop. :)
But seriously, if you're in central Texas and would like a cat that gets along with dogs, we've got a few. :)
I'll try to post our grand adventure, but might be a little distracted for the next week or so.
And yes, it is 4AM. Stress does a lovely job to my sleep habits. HA!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Stress
Hi, I'm just stepping outside the door of my insanely stressed life to give you an update.
To say I'm stressed is actually quite an understatement.
Right now it looks like DH will be heading to our new life and his new job, and I will stay behind and sell the house. Only slight problem, houses are not moving where I'm at right now.
So we've come to a compromise of sorts with our finances. I stay here until the house sells or I find a job up there.
I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't told work that I'll be leaving.
We have way too many unanswered questions, and its driving me insane.
Why haven't I posted? Honestly, I didn't want to infect my blog with the vitrol currently dripping from my every pore. Yea, when I'm stressed, I'm NOT fun to be around.
Wish me luck, I'm heading back in.
To say I'm stressed is actually quite an understatement.
Right now it looks like DH will be heading to our new life and his new job, and I will stay behind and sell the house. Only slight problem, houses are not moving where I'm at right now.
So we've come to a compromise of sorts with our finances. I stay here until the house sells or I find a job up there.
I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't told work that I'll be leaving.
We have way too many unanswered questions, and its driving me insane.
Why haven't I posted? Honestly, I didn't want to infect my blog with the vitrol currently dripping from my every pore. Yea, when I'm stressed, I'm NOT fun to be around.
Wish me luck, I'm heading back in.
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