What up, mah children? You might be sick of hearing about moving, but that's tough, because that's my life now, so you gotta listen to me whine.
The sad thing is, as much as I was dreading it before we did it, I still underestimated how terribly much the moving process blows. Hard.
We closed on Friday, a beautiful, sunny, warm (but not terribly hot) day. That went well. Then we went over to the house to get it ready to bring stuff in. As we looked around more and more, it became painfully obvious that the people who preceded us weren't exactly neat freaks. The house wasn't squalid, but it wasn't clean, either. Drawers and cabinets were full of crumbs and covered with everyday grime. The windows clearly had not been washed in the four years since the house was built...in fact, judging from the accumulation of dust on the ledges, we're pretty sure the windows weren't even opened in all that time. I don't even want to talk about the bathrooms.
It's one thing to clean up your own messes, but another thing entirely to clean someone else's filth--especially a whole house's worth, especially when added to the labor of packing, transport, and unpacking. THAT is the work of professionals. So we hired Dan's folks' cleaning people to come in Saturday and clean the empty house all day. To make a very long story short, the house was cleaned Sunday instead of Saturday and cost us twice what was estimated. So, somewhat disappointing, but overall, the peace of mind a clean house gives us is worth a whole lot of money.
Three of the window treatments broke the first time I tried to open them. Too bad I did it after we had closed instead of in the walk-through Thursday night, huh?
It was hot the whole time. I mean, like, Africa hot. Better than rain, but still sucktacular. Kinda galling that this little snap of unseasonably hot weather has coincided exactly with the days we needed to be outdoors doing hard physical labor.
I've been mildly sick and so a little more useless than usual in this process, and Julia's been sick too. Our first night in the house (Saturday) was horrendous, partly because they involved a 1:30 coughing fit and a call to (and callback from) the pediatric nurse. We probably managed a couple of hours of shut-eye...exactly what you need after an exhausting day in preparation for an even more exhausting day.
Oh, and did I mention that the air conditioning doesn't work in the house we moved out of? Yeah.
But now I'm back at work, Julia's back at daycare, Dan goes back to work tomorrow, and our routine will slowly bring some rhythm back to our lives, even if it's a rhythm obnoxiously syncopated by lots and lots of boxes. Dan just now called to tell me that he got the last of our stuff out of our old house this morning, so we're officially out of there.
And the owner of the house happened to be there while Dan moved the last of the stuff out. He asked Dan to mow the lawn this morning. TO MOW THE FREAKING LAWN OF THE HOUSE WE NO LONGER OCCUPY. It isn't even like it was egregiously long--he just mowed it last weekend. He was like, "Yeah, if you could, it'd really help me out--I don't even have a mower, so I'd have to pay somebody to do it." This is truly one of the most galling things I have ever heard, and a pretty crummy close to what had been a good relationship. Once a house pimp always a house pimp, I guess.
So, that's it. We're moved out, but not in. And the moral of the story is, IF we move again...
1. We're arranging for a thorough cleaning the day of the closing.
2. We're hiring movers. The packing and unpacking are exhausting enough--the transport is just too much. I know movers are expensive, and I don't care. We're way too old for this crap, and our parents are REALLY too old for it.
Craptacularity aside, we really are happy to be in the new house. :)
The sad thing is, as much as I was dreading it before we did it, I still underestimated how terribly much the moving process blows. Hard.
We closed on Friday, a beautiful, sunny, warm (but not terribly hot) day. That went well. Then we went over to the house to get it ready to bring stuff in. As we looked around more and more, it became painfully obvious that the people who preceded us weren't exactly neat freaks. The house wasn't squalid, but it wasn't clean, either. Drawers and cabinets were full of crumbs and covered with everyday grime. The windows clearly had not been washed in the four years since the house was built...in fact, judging from the accumulation of dust on the ledges, we're pretty sure the windows weren't even opened in all that time. I don't even want to talk about the bathrooms.
It's one thing to clean up your own messes, but another thing entirely to clean someone else's filth--especially a whole house's worth, especially when added to the labor of packing, transport, and unpacking. THAT is the work of professionals. So we hired Dan's folks' cleaning people to come in Saturday and clean the empty house all day. To make a very long story short, the house was cleaned Sunday instead of Saturday and cost us twice what was estimated. So, somewhat disappointing, but overall, the peace of mind a clean house gives us is worth a whole lot of money.
Three of the window treatments broke the first time I tried to open them. Too bad I did it after we had closed instead of in the walk-through Thursday night, huh?
It was hot the whole time. I mean, like, Africa hot. Better than rain, but still sucktacular. Kinda galling that this little snap of unseasonably hot weather has coincided exactly with the days we needed to be outdoors doing hard physical labor.
I've been mildly sick and so a little more useless than usual in this process, and Julia's been sick too. Our first night in the house (Saturday) was horrendous, partly because they involved a 1:30 coughing fit and a call to (and callback from) the pediatric nurse. We probably managed a couple of hours of shut-eye...exactly what you need after an exhausting day in preparation for an even more exhausting day.
Oh, and did I mention that the air conditioning doesn't work in the house we moved out of? Yeah.
But now I'm back at work, Julia's back at daycare, Dan goes back to work tomorrow, and our routine will slowly bring some rhythm back to our lives, even if it's a rhythm obnoxiously syncopated by lots and lots of boxes. Dan just now called to tell me that he got the last of our stuff out of our old house this morning, so we're officially out of there.
And the owner of the house happened to be there while Dan moved the last of the stuff out. He asked Dan to mow the lawn this morning. TO MOW THE FREAKING LAWN OF THE HOUSE WE NO LONGER OCCUPY. It isn't even like it was egregiously long--he just mowed it last weekend. He was like, "Yeah, if you could, it'd really help me out--I don't even have a mower, so I'd have to pay somebody to do it." This is truly one of the most galling things I have ever heard, and a pretty crummy close to what had been a good relationship. Once a house pimp always a house pimp, I guess.
So, that's it. We're moved out, but not in. And the moral of the story is, IF we move again...
1. We're arranging for a thorough cleaning the day of the closing.
2. We're hiring movers. The packing and unpacking are exhausting enough--the transport is just too much. I know movers are expensive, and I don't care. We're way too old for this crap, and our parents are REALLY too old for it.
Craptacularity aside, we really are happy to be in the new house. :)
posted by Jackie at 8:53 AM
5 Comments:
Good blog, and I only had to look up one word (syncopate). I don't mind moving as much as you do, especially when it is just across town. Our 5 or 6 moves have ranged from doing everything ourselves, to having someone pack and load, to having them do it all. I think there is something cleansing about moving to a new place, but that's just me.
Not only should you hire movers, you should hire them to actually pack for you. It's a wonderful thing. Moving yourself blows. As my former next door neighbor Lenny once said - "That's the last time we move like Puerto Ricans."
Lenny was in interesting cat.
i think i'd like to hang for a bit with lenny.
i didn't realize the house was only four years old? that's pretty cool.
whenever we move, our very own professional cleaner and painter goes through and cleans and paints everything.
best.wife.ever.
Been there, done that....tooke me a solid week to clean my place. Welcome to home ownership. Second day in, my bathroom fan clunked out. Picked up the phone and realized I AM the landlord. GOOD LUCK! When is the house warming party :P
nice biloxi blues quote BTW
Can we get an update?? Seriously. :D
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