Stick a fork in me.....I'm done. Moving has just about done me in.
WARNING!!! You are about to encounter a lot of whining, complaining, and venting in this post! Read at your own risk!
So I thought things would get easier as we moved in....not so much... let me back up a bit and give you some back story. We closed on the Iowa house March 31...I thought everything was going smoothly...the timing couldn't have been better...we would close on the Iowa house and then the Texas house two weeks later...I wish it were the other way around but beggars can't be choosers. As I said, the timing couldn't have been better..we wouldn't be looking at two house payments and we could move right into the Iowa house, etc.
Here comes the title company and our little 'hiccup'. So the title company says there is a glitch with our original mortgage from Capital One and we can continue to close on the Texas house but we won't get our money until we can get this 'hiccup' taken care of....which we may have been able to do except the paperwork we need is packed in the PODS which are somewhere between Texas and Iowa...and that's if I haven't thrown away said needed paperwork (I LOVE throwing things away and have probably thrown away numerous 'important documents'..oops)....and the title company announces this TWO days before we are supposed to close.
So.....we are trying to call Capital One to track down our needed paperwork...which THEY have no record of since our mortgage had been purged out of their system three years ago, so they will need a letter faxed to them requesting needed paperwork and that will take 7-10 days...and every time you call to speak to anyone you get transferred 15 gazillion times cause you never get a hold of anyone who can actually help you cause it's never their department that handles such matters but they will transfer you to someone who can help you...press 1 for this incompetent person....press 2 for THIS incompetent person.....(deep breath)
So after two days of stress and countless cell minutes wasted calling Capital One...the title company realizes they have the loan number we needed to call Capital One with them the WHOLE time and the 'hiccup' is taken care of in a matter of hours thanks to Nathan and his sweet talking ways...I literally broke down into tears in the mall parking lot when he told me this glorious news (and those of you who know me well, know that I NEVER cry)....it was an awful two days...moral of the story...never close a house at Stewart Title and never bank at Capital One.
So after we got back from Texas we 'moved' into our new abode. We were still living out of boxes and had two twin mattresses and box springs on the floor to sleep on until the PODS arrived...which took 6 days....how it takes three PODS 6 days to make an 18 hour trip is beyond me.
The house we chose to purchase is a 3 year old foreclosure...that no one had ever lived in. It apparently was built by the builder as a Parade home...which means it has lots of fancy upgrades in it that we essentially didn't have to pay for! The builder finished it and couldn't sell it and the market tanked...and well, you get it.
The first morning we spent in the house...I awaken to see this outside my window...
Lovely......we got about 1-2 inches of snow...but it was pretty much all melted by noon.
The house is beautiful but still needed a lot of work. All of the closets had to be built out, we switched out the appliances, and various other tweaks had to be made from the home inspection. Most importantly...we had to build a fence for the dogs. Nathan SWEARS he told the fencing guys that the only material they CAN'T use to build the fence is green treated lumber per our HOA...whatever green treated lumber is!?! So what do they use for the fence?.....green treated lumber...
So Nathan has to go out and tell them to stop....luckily they hadn't gotten much of the actual fence up yet, just the posts, etc. So this predicament pushes back the finishing of the fence another three to four days as they have to order the materials, etc. Ugggghhh! The silver lining to this rant is that the fence is finished and my little pups can finally come home!!!
Next up is Mediacom....so I call to get our cable set up...I had to re-schedule the appointment about 3 times and finally on Monday we get internet and TV! Of course the technician is about 4 hours late and AFTER he leaves and sets up the two DVR boxes I figure out the TV in the 'woman cave' has picture but has no sound...and the DVR in the 'man cave' will record but won't play any shows back without jumping and skipping through the entire program and the whole box freezes up anytime you punch a button on the remote...so i have now wasted about another 400 gazillion cell phone minutes on the phone with Mediacom trying to rectify the situation....so essentially I still don't have any TV...I know there could be worse things in life...but really?!?! So Medicacom is headed back out to my house next week to fix the problem or else heads are going to roll.....
Now onto the bugs...as we are unpacking Mom finds some ants on the floor...I kill the ants and think..'maybe they just came from Texas in the PODS since they sat there for 4 days unnecessarily'....but no, they keep coming...and appear to be coming from the 'cracks' in the hardwood floor....plus they really don't look like Texas Fire Ants....So I call an exterminator who proceeds to explain that ants don't really 'travel'...that is more roachlike behavior...gross!!!....and everyone right now is having problems with ants and this warm then cold then warm again weather confuses them....when it's warm they think it's spring and they come out in search of something to eat and drink. He needs to come out and spray....ugggh! Sign me up. Sigh....
The GOOD news is that the PODS arrived safe and sound and all of the furniture was intact. We had an ARMY of people helping to unload and move everything in. We were very grateful to all of our family and friends! We are continuing to sort and organize...but everyday we get a little more settled.
To add more chaos to last weekend...I had planned a girls trip to Galena with two of my sorority sisters. I had originally thought we would be moving in the weekend before...before I knew it was going to take three PODS 6 days to make an 18 hour trip. It was hard enough trying to find a weekend that would work for all three of us...so canceling was out of the question...plus I hadn't seen these girls for 2 years! Nathan gave me his blessing....so I went....
Duce, Erica, and yours truly
We had a terrific time...even though we had crap-tastic weather to be tromping around in....we shopped, wine tasted, got massages, and talked. It was great catching up! The great thing about these two...even though we haven't seen each other in two years..it's always just like picking up right where we left off.
Our sorority mascot is the gray squirrel....and to our surprise we found some 'Girl Squirrel' underwear in a specialty shop...we debated purchasing them and sending them to the house...we opted for a pic instead.
We practiced the secret handshake and the secret knock....however, no Alpha Gam Slams...would that work with wine?
To round off the weekend...we celebrated Easter with Nathan's side of the fam-damily. It was quite exciting as it was the first time in like 6 years that the whole Streeper side of the family was together! We all cheered. We had good food and good conversation.
The kids had an Easter Egg hunt...and there may have been some eggs set out for the adults too....
And we took a family photo....I used the timer on my camera so no one had to miss out...although I think Mark was hiding on purpose....
To round out my pouting Dad informs me I have a feather picking bird to see tomorrow, I turned down a trip to the Rolex in Kentucky this weekend 'cause I thought it was the responsible thing to do, and I pretty much haven't seen a full day of sunshine since I left Texas two weeks ago!
Sigh....life goes on....all I can do is pray that next week will be better! :)...and the ants die!
