Wordless Wednesday #1

Immediate Need Items

Whenever you move into a house that is more than double the size of your previous house you need to buy lots of stuff.  Often, when you upgrade your house you are buying something more expensive and so you don't have a lot of cash around to buy said stuff.  As a result you need to prioritize and take baby steps. 

Baby steps for us is getting some furniture from my Grandma's house.  This may not be our forever furniture but it is excellent quality and will do the trick to fill the rooms.  This weekend we are going to Grandma's house and will get a dining room table, 2 twin beds, a desk, a dining room server, maybe a triple dresser, maybe a wardrobe, and maybe a china cabinet thingie.  We rented a 10 foot UHaul and enlisted the help of Mr. Bestie and Bestie's Dad.

As far as prioritizing the stuff we need to actually buy, here's how it breaks down according to me (subject to Mr. Molly's re-prioritization since he controls the budget):

Cindy had this in the laundry room and tore it off the wall and took it with her.  In my mind, it would be here when I got here and so now I need to buy one. 

We have nothing to sit on in the basement to watch the new 60in TV so we need the above leather sectional and ottoman.  Mr. Molly thinks that leather is more kid-resistant than fabric. 

You may not know what the above picture represents.  It is residential window tinting.  We need it on the floor to ceiling windows in the great room so our furniture doesn't get totally faded.  As it is, we love having the blinds up but have to lower them every day to protect the furniture and it kills me.  Also the blinds are disgustingly dirty.  Thanks Cindy.

We have enough space.  There's really no excuse not to have one.  It's probably unnecessary for me to state this, but that girl running on the treadmill is not Molly.

We Made It.

Well, here we are.  It's Sunday and we are settled into our new house.  Every box is unpacked, and most things are very organized.  Did I mention that Molly's Parents have super-powers?  Molly's Dad: with the Power of Breaking Down Boxes; and Molly's Mom: with the Power of Organization and Decoration.

Everything went really really well.  Besides some kookiness on the part of Cindy Walsh and there being no power at the AH when we packed up our things, I could not have asked for a better experience.

I think I'm still in disbelief that we live here... I mean all my things are here and I've slept here for 3 nights but I just can't believe it.  It will sink in more when my parents leave tomorrow and it's just the 4 of us in our home.

The kids are really digging the new digs.  They spent the entire day today underground in their massive playroom.  It really shouldn't even be called a playroom.  Mr. Molly set it up like a preschool classroom with little stations... he went through and told them "Here is the train center, here is the cars and trucks center, here is the music center, here is the reading center" etc.  2 days in and it's a total and complete mess.  HA!  But they LOVE it.  They had a great time yesterday playing in the backyard with the baby pool and the sprinklers.  Of course, they found the ONE loose board in the fence that they could escape through.  Guess we'll have to fix that.

I know you're all wondering what Cindy did to make me call her Kooky.  It really was 3 things:

1. She made a big deal about cleaning.  She did end up giving us possession on Wed.  Her movers were done by like 3pm that day and she texted me and said she was finishing cleaning but she expected to be out by 5pm.  Well, she kept needing more time and we told her "take all the time you need to clean our house" so we didn't end up actually getting into the house until around 8pm.  The part that was funny was she just kept texting me telling me how hard it was to clean 4500 sq ft.  Duh.  That's why I won't ever be cleaning 4500 sq ft. and why she had no idea how long it took b/c she probably never did it either.
2. She likes it warm.  The thermostat is programmable and we didn't even think to look at how they had it programmed before we fell into bed on Thursday night.  I woke up sweating at 2am and learned that they set it to cool at 80 degrees at night.  EIGHTY.  Holy crap.  I found Molly's mom sleeping in the basement.  I set everything to 72 and it all cooled down fast but I thought that was peculiar.
3. She is in denial.  For some reason she either did not forward her mail or she put the request in too late.  So we got possession on Wed and moved in on Thursday.  Every piece of mail in the mailbox was for Cindy, Jim, or Brenda Walsh each of Thurs, Fri, and Sat.  Every day she texted me, "Did you get my mail again?  Just leave it in the box and I'll come by and pick it up!"  So I kind of feel like she is stalking me b/c every night she drives by and picks up her mail.  I guess turn-around is fair play in the stalking department.

That's about it.  I'm too tired for pictures but there will be plenty.

Let's get this show on the road!

Ok folks, the time is finally here!  The next 2 days are reserved for MOVING INTO DREAM HOUSE!!  OMG, I seriously can not believe it. 

It's not going to go down exactly how I had previously imagined but I'm over that now.  Here is how it is going to go down:

Today (Wed) Mr. Molly and I will drive back up to that AH.  We are pretty sure we can drive in through the back way.  There is still no power but we are prepared to sweat as we pack up all our things.  We will load up the cars as best we can and drive over to Bestie's house.

I will also call Cindy at some point to check on how her move is going.  It doesn't really matter because I was able to get our movers to confirm they won't show up until noon on Thursday.

We will sleep at Bestie's house and then Thursday morning we will head over to Dream House and see what the situation is.  If they are gone, we will see if the place is clean.  If it is, we will start unloading the cars.  If it is not, we will clean it.  If they aren't gone, we will see how much longer and then show up when they are gone.

The movers will show up tomorrow at noon and start their job.  Probably around 5pm or so, Molly's Parents will show up with the kids.  That will really be fun.  By the time they get there we will have the stuffed animals (alligator and penguin) set up and their big boy bikes.

And then the unpacking begins.... I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MY STUFF AGAIN!! 

I will be silent on the blog until Saturday when the cable guy comes.  Stay tuned for how it all turns out!!

MOLLY MOVER IS FINALLY MOVING!!!!!!

Control Issues

I am a planner. I like to be in control and master the logistics.  For this move I have had everything planned out to the smallest detail for months.  My change of address cards were ordered, addressed, and stamped a month ago. 

So the hiccups and the cough basically destroyed any sense of control I had over this move and that made me want to punch someone.  As of this morning there were 3 things completely out of my control:
1) If there was power at the AH, and if not where was I going to stay on Wed night
2) If there was street access to the AH, and if not how was I going to move all my stuff out on Thursday
3) If Cindy's movers were going to be able to get her out of my house on Wednesday per our contract

I can not control the power company, the police department, or Cindy's movers (or Cindy who is proving to be much too laid back for my tastes). 

So here is what I have done so far to address these issues:
1)  There most certainly is not and will not be power at the AH.  We will be staying with Bestie whose power was restored yesterday.  We will leave the kids here at Molly's Parents House and they will drive to Dream House with the kids on Thursday.
2)  There are two entrances to the AH complex, both off of the road that is closed.  However one of them (the back entrance) is right by a drug store.  If someone can get to the drug store, they can get to AH.  I called the drug store, and it rang!  I got a recording but they said they are OPEN (implying people can drive there) and they are running on a generator.  If people can drive there, they can drive to AH.  Problem solved.
3)  I called our movers and asked them not to show up until noon on Thursday.  They put in the request and that's all I can do.  I'm not going to change it to Friday.... I need to get in that house.  If we are moving in while they are moving out that is going to suck, but it is what it is.  Cindy still seems convinced we are coming on Thursday morning (per an email this morning) but indicated she may not be there by giving me the garage code.  Baby steps.  This is the one thing I really can't control so I'm trying to just be positive that I solved the other 2 problems. JCRL will have to pay us at least $100 for us not getting possession on the correct date, unless Cindy is out of there Wed night.

I don't know why I feel so much aggression over this whole thing.  I think I need to go to a kick boxing class.

Oh Yeah

I forgot to mention the other option that RL gave us for getting rid of the hiccups.  We could have the Stepford Police Department come by on Wednesday night and forcibly remove Jim, Cindy, Brenda, and Brandon from our house.  That seems like it would really win over the new neighbors. I think RL was joking, but it would be within our rights to do this.

Though Cindy is very well-intended, she kind of ticked me off with her latest email to me where she said:
"I am bummed about the mix up with the closing date.  I was hoping to be out of the house and have it cleaned up for your arrival.  My mover really feels that he will need until about noon on Thursday to finish, so we will just have to work around each other.  He was unable to move his arrival up a day.  In addition I had to schedule the pick up of the POD in the driveway for Thursday.  I asked that they come in the morning, but there is no guarantee.  Luckily, it only takes a few minutes to pick it up.
See you Thursday!  I can give you all the keys/remotes/info then."

I SO BADLY want to reply:
"Yes, Cindy, I am also 'bummed' that your realtor caused you to accidentally break the contract.  Either you or she better throw some money at those movers to get them to be out of there by Wednesday.  You have totally ruined my plans for acclimating my kids to the new house and unveiling it to my parents.  You have also caused me heartburn, insomnia, and at least $200.  What a 'bummer'!  See you Thursday!"

Don't worry Mr. Molly, I won't actually reply with this.  You forget that I took an entire 2-day class on "How To Communicate with Tact and Diplomacy."

A Hiccup and then A COUGH

First the Hiccup:

While we were at the closing RL got a call from Jim and Cindy's RL (JCRL).  All I heard her say was, "Well yes, that IS a problem" and then my pen was poised in the air for the next 15 minutes.  Turns out that JCRL told Jim and Cindy that the time of possession was July 5th (thurs) at 3pm.  Well, it's a problem because JCRL read the contract wrong.  The contract says that possession is July 4th (wed) at 3pm.  This would not be a problem except for that Jim and Cindy's movers say they need from Monday morning til Thurs at noon to pack and move them.  Well, my movers are showing up at 8am on Thursday morning.

Much like a hiccup, everyone scrambled around to try to find a solution.  Jim and Cindy's movers could not start any earlier than Monday and would not commit to finishing on Wed. Basically, we were stuck.  We could have just not signed the papers.  However, at the same time we heard through the grapevine that Jim doesn't really like his new job out West and they may not actually be moving.  Hence, it would be no skin off their back if the deal fell through. 

So we signed the papers and here is where we are at right now:

• Maybe Jim and Cindy's movers can finish on Wednesday.  If this is the case... hiccups cured!
• Maybe we can change our move date to Friday.  This would be us bending over backwards and would make Molly sad. 
• The way it stands right now, if their movers take till noon on Thursday the hiccups may need surgery because it will be a total mess.  They will be going out one door while we go in the other, everyone will be pissed, and JCRL will owe us $300.

But that was just the hiccup.  Wait till you hear about the cough. 

As we were signing the papers, a huge storm with hurricane gust winds came through and killed the power at the Title Company.  Mr. Molly had to sign the last paper using his flashlight app.  We thought that was the worst thing, but it wasn't.  When we tried to go back to the AH we ran into this:

Photo Credit

Yes, that is the street that provides the only entrance to the AH.  Sufficed to say, we have no power at the AH and it is not estimated to come back until 7/7 or 7/8.  Also, we can not drive up to the AH because of the scene above. 

So the cough can be summed up as this:  no power, no street access, 90+ degree weather, and possibility of not getting into Dream House until Thursday the 5th.  All of that added up to the temporary cure.... get the hell outta dodge. 

We headed to Molly's Parents house for some prescribed R&R..  We will be hanging here until Wednesday.  Stay tuned to see if our cough gets cured, or turns into emphysema.