Just a quick post to point out that unloading the U-Haul took about a fourth of the time it took to load the truck. Seriously.
Another plus is that nothing was damaged! Probably thanks to Maggie's amazing packing skills. :) And a big yay to Ed, the new landlord, for saying we could move in today, even though rent for us this month doesn't start until Saturday the 5th. Score for friendly people!
Anyway, truck is unloaded and heading back to one of the local U-Haul places this morning. We dubbed Lindsay's mom--whose real name is Janet--to be "Earlene the Trucker." It's a sad day to see Earlene's truck going back to the yard.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Drive
The drive, to be honest, wasn't too bad. It was long, but divided up fairly evenly between two days: just about eight hours the first day, eight hours the second day. Because my roommate Lindsay had her car, I had my car, and we had the moving truck (which Lindsay's mom drove), we had a caravan. Lindsay led the way, I followed in the middle, and her mom brought up the rear. Pippin rode in my car in the passenger seat and was very well behaved the whole way - I was proud of him. :) No meowing fits, no freak-outs. He just sat there and watched me and dozed.
And, because of our impeccable timing, we only hit one city during rush hour: Tulsa. Not too bad. I was worried we'd get stuck in Oklahoma City during rush hour.. or Fort Worth or Austin. But nope!
Also, my car gets amazing highway mileage. YAY MAGNUS.
Here are a few pics from the drive:
My view for the duration of the drive. You have no idea how many times I sang the letters of Lindsay's license plate to the cat. PC2-XOW!!!
Speaking of the cat, here he is looking a little peeved to be in the car. :)
And, because of our impeccable timing, we only hit one city during rush hour: Tulsa. Not too bad. I was worried we'd get stuck in Oklahoma City during rush hour.. or Fort Worth or Austin. But nope!
Also, my car gets amazing highway mileage. YAY MAGNUS.
Here are a few pics from the drive:
My view for the duration of the drive. You have no idea how many times I sang the letters of Lindsay's license plate to the cat. PC2-XOW!!!
Speaking of the cat, here he is looking a little peeved to be in the car. :)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Loading the Truck
All I can say is thank God for Maggie! If she hadn't come to help, all the stuff would not have fit in the truck. Maggie is the queen of organization and figured out how to perfectly fit all the furniture in such a way that it won't slide, won't get damaged, and--most importantly--fits in the truck. A bunch of other people were supposed to come and help with loading the truck, but they flaked--except for one, who broke her toe and fractured her metatarsal, so I think she had every reason to avoid lifting heavy boxes and furniture. To those of you who flaked out, YOU SUCK. I deem our friendship over. -_-
Otherwise, loading the truck was hard work and took AGES. Lots longer than any of us expected. Regardless, we got everything piled inside and then cleaned the apartment. According to the landlord, we get our security deposit back. :)
And! The landlord let me leave a note for the new tenants about Catinca--one of the girls moving in is a vet student, so Catinca will be in good hands. This is a big weight off my shoulders, because I was really concerned about what would happen to her.
Tomorrow, driving to Oklahoma.
Otherwise, loading the truck was hard work and took AGES. Lots longer than any of us expected. Regardless, we got everything piled inside and then cleaned the apartment. According to the landlord, we get our security deposit back. :)
And! The landlord let me leave a note for the new tenants about Catinca--one of the girls moving in is a vet student, so Catinca will be in good hands. This is a big weight off my shoulders, because I was really concerned about what would happen to her.
Tomorrow, driving to Oklahoma.
The Truck
Okay, so we arrived at UHaul a little later than our planned time of 9:00 a.m. When we pulled up, they had a row of trucks pulled up to the building for pick-up that day... and the first one there was a 14-foot truck with a giant green spider on the side. Lindsay and I (and her mom, who came up to help us move) approached the building, with a conversation that went pretty much like this:
Lindsay: Is that our truck?
Me: But.. the spider!
Lindsay: I told you we were going to get the spider!
Me: It's a happy spider, at least.
Lindsay: I refuse to get in a truck with a spider on the side.
Me: It's huge. Why would UHaul even make a truck with a giant spider on it? Didn't they see Arachnophobia?
Lindsay: What if we open the truck and there's a giant spider inside waiting for us?
Me: What, like Aragog? Maybe he'd help us move.
Lindsay: Yeah, or eat us.
After standing around inside the building for a good twenty minutes while we got the truck rented and ready to go, we were directed outside--to a different truck! No spider! No bad omens about hauling brown recluse to Texas! Instead, we got this truck:
Lindsay: Is that our truck?
Me: But.. the spider!
Lindsay: I told you we were going to get the spider!
Me: It's a happy spider, at least.
Lindsay: I refuse to get in a truck with a spider on the side.
Me: It's huge. Why would UHaul even make a truck with a giant spider on it? Didn't they see Arachnophobia?
Lindsay: What if we open the truck and there's a giant spider inside waiting for us?
Me: What, like Aragog? Maybe he'd help us move.
Lindsay: Yeah, or eat us.
After standing around inside the building for a good twenty minutes while we got the truck rented and ready to go, we were directed outside--to a different truck! No spider! No bad omens about hauling brown recluse to Texas! Instead, we got this truck:
Canada Truck to the rescue!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday
Mishap number one fixed: comforter is sitting in the dining room in a nice laundry bag, all ready to be moved. Since the cleaners are next to a Starbucks... my comforter smells heavily of coffee. I was hoping for a nice fresh clean smell, but instead.. Starbucks. They give you frappuccinos and launder your bedding.
Packed most of my room today - tomorrow need to tackle the rest of the living room and kitchen, plus paint the bedrooms. Can't put that off any longer.
Yesterday, I went with Linds to Flat Branch to spend the rest of a gift card one of my students gave to me at the end of last school year. There was a ton on it, so we both got some of their house-made beer (Linds got Brown Ale, I got Scottish Ale), a BBQ Chicken pizza for Linds, a turkey and swiss sub for me with nummy mashers, and the best thing of all--the chokes and cheese appetizer.
Best. Thing. Ever. Freshly made artichoke dip with Parmesan cheese, fresh veggies, and a bread bowl.
Also, Pippin is all packed and ready to go.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Mishap No. 1
Okay. When you move, there are always last minute problems. The first of them occurred today.
I wrote the other day about dropping off my comforter at the dry-cleaners--yeah, of course it's the cleaners, when are they not jerking people around? I took my comforter, dropped it off, got my claim ticket, everything was fine. Went out today to pick it up--was told that, despite my ticket saying to pick it up before 3:00, the day's shipment of cleaned clothes etc wouldn't be dropped off until 3:00. So, I drove to the bank, did a few other errands, went back.
Still no comforter.
Frustrated, I went into the back room and flagged down the woman working. Turns out that, oh, it takes a week for household items to be cleaned. My claim ticket says two days. Good job with communication there. This made me angry. So I pitched a bit of a fit, telling this woman that I would be out of the state in a week, and I wouldn't have dropped it off with them if I had known it was going to take that long. She seemed most concerned that I'd made two trips to the cleaners in one day. I told her that I didn't really care about making two trips, my issue was that I need my $300 comforter back now.
But, of course, she can't do anything. She sends me across town to the "plant" where they do the cleaning. It's on Business Loop--I figure this out after she gives me about five minutes of strange instructions, ending with, "And it's on Business Loop, right by College [street], in a strip mall."
So I left. It took me twenty minutes to get to Business Loop because, of course, they're doing road construction on every street in the entire town. Finally get to the right intersection. I can't find this place anywhere, so I drive down a few blocks and double back. After doing this a few times, I finally find it.
The "plant," or the main headquarters, is in a tiny, run-down building with no air-conditioning and no parking lot. I wedge my car far enough off the street that I won't get hit and head inside.
Enter a wizened old woman who looks like she's had about a gajillion too many cigarettes. I explain my problem, hand her my claim ticket, and she disappears into the back for about five minutes. When she returns, no comforter.
"I dunno, it's not there," she says.
I'm about ready to start ripping people into pieces all Edward Cullen style (yes, I did just make a Twilight reference, enjoy it and laugh at the ridiculousness of that), and she decides to go look again.
Five minutes later, still no comforter.
"It's probably next door being cleaned."
She can't walk next door and find out? No, of course she can't. She looks like one more puff on a cigarette will finish her off. Seeing that I'm pissed, she promises that it'll be clean Thursday after 3:00, available at the location where I dropped it off. If it's done sooner, she'll call me.
I swear, if it's not done on Thursday after 3:00, I will go postal on these people. They owe me my comforter or $300. They can pick.
In the meantime, there are a gazillion things to do at the apartment.
I'm sure everything will get done, but I think it's about to get really crazy.
I wrote the other day about dropping off my comforter at the dry-cleaners--yeah, of course it's the cleaners, when are they not jerking people around? I took my comforter, dropped it off, got my claim ticket, everything was fine. Went out today to pick it up--was told that, despite my ticket saying to pick it up before 3:00, the day's shipment of cleaned clothes etc wouldn't be dropped off until 3:00. So, I drove to the bank, did a few other errands, went back.
Still no comforter.
Frustrated, I went into the back room and flagged down the woman working. Turns out that, oh, it takes a week for household items to be cleaned. My claim ticket says two days. Good job with communication there. This made me angry. So I pitched a bit of a fit, telling this woman that I would be out of the state in a week, and I wouldn't have dropped it off with them if I had known it was going to take that long. She seemed most concerned that I'd made two trips to the cleaners in one day. I told her that I didn't really care about making two trips, my issue was that I need my $300 comforter back now.
But, of course, she can't do anything. She sends me across town to the "plant" where they do the cleaning. It's on Business Loop--I figure this out after she gives me about five minutes of strange instructions, ending with, "And it's on Business Loop, right by College [street], in a strip mall."
So I left. It took me twenty minutes to get to Business Loop because, of course, they're doing road construction on every street in the entire town. Finally get to the right intersection. I can't find this place anywhere, so I drive down a few blocks and double back. After doing this a few times, I finally find it.
The "plant," or the main headquarters, is in a tiny, run-down building with no air-conditioning and no parking lot. I wedge my car far enough off the street that I won't get hit and head inside.
Enter a wizened old woman who looks like she's had about a gajillion too many cigarettes. I explain my problem, hand her my claim ticket, and she disappears into the back for about five minutes. When she returns, no comforter.
"I dunno, it's not there," she says.
I'm about ready to start ripping people into pieces all Edward Cullen style (yes, I did just make a Twilight reference, enjoy it and laugh at the ridiculousness of that), and she decides to go look again.
Five minutes later, still no comforter.
"It's probably next door being cleaned."
She can't walk next door and find out? No, of course she can't. She looks like one more puff on a cigarette will finish her off. Seeing that I'm pissed, she promises that it'll be clean Thursday after 3:00, available at the location where I dropped it off. If it's done sooner, she'll call me.
I swear, if it's not done on Thursday after 3:00, I will go postal on these people. They owe me my comforter or $300. They can pick.
In the meantime, there are a gazillion things to do at the apartment.
- The bedrooms need to be painted.
- Everything else needs to be packed.
- Clothes, sheets, towels, etc need to be laundered tonight and tomorrow before the washer/dryer set is picked up by its new owners on Thursday.
- My comforter needs to be freaking picked up.
- The entire novella of a checklist of cleaning needs to be completed so we get our deposit back. This includes pulling out the fridge and cleaning beneath it. Are you kidding me?
I'm sure everything will get done, but I think it's about to get really crazy.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Guns, y'all! Whoooo!
You know why it's time to leave this place? It's 12:50 in the morning, and two minutes ago someone fired a gun off in the courtyard of the apartment complex. Never fear, it sounded like a glorified cap gun or something, but still.. really? Really?
What happened to my nice peaceful, pretty apartment complex? With the glittering pool and nice neighbors who asked my roommates and me to play volleyball on the sand court right outside our back door?
By the way, guys--they dismantled the volleyball court earlier this year. No more net, and they put grass seed in the sand.
Little concerned about why someone fired a gun. Hoping it wasn't some crazy drunk person or cat-hater aiming at Catinca or one of the other cats. -_- Seven days to go.
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