Tuesday Troubles

At 4:30am my cell phone rang.  It was Todd.  He was standing at the door to my hotel room.  It had taken him until 3:30am to unload the trailer by himself and then he drove the hour back to North County.  How, I have no idea, he looked like one of the people from the movie Night of the Living Dead.

I let him in and we were both asleep in minutes.

At 7:30am I started coaching calls, enjoyed a shower, then left at 10:45am for what was supposed to be a 10-minute walk-thru at 11am with the property manager, but turned into an all-day event because I hadn't cleaned the stove and he was going to charge me an outrageous minimum if he had to bring in a cleaning crew for ANY reason and he seemed to be nit-picking for a reason to do so--commenting on the water stain line in one of the toilets, noting a quarter of an inch line of soap scum on the edge of the glass shower door, and saying the inside of the freezer didn't look like it had been cleaned.  I was happy I had been so particular when doing the inital walk thru with him or I'm positive I would've been charged for things that were there before I had moved in.

I had to drop by the hotel to check out and put all of the perishable items I'd taken from the fridge and freezer into Todd's car since they didn't fit the night before.

A trip to the Dollar Store for cleaning products (and Rubio's for lunch since I was so sick of  Subway) since we'd already moved all of ours.  Four hours later I finally left my townhouse for good.  After all the issues I'd had there--with the inital mold and then the massive contruction the past several months, I will not miss that place.

(Photo is of rotten wood in entry steps of old townhouse.)

Technical Difficulties

Technical Difficulty #1:
In the haze of moving, I had forgotten to plug in my phone.  Phone service was scheduled to be connected on Friday, May 21 and AT&T had assured me there was no reason for a technician to come out.

Monday morning before my first coaching call I plugged in the phone and checked for a dial tone--none. I systematically raced through the house plugging into every jack--nothing, nothing, NOTHING!!

Thank heaven for my iPhone and a number of clients who interestingly needed to reschedule their appointments for that morning (tell me things don't happen for a reason!)

AT&T was so helpful is letting me know they could send a tech out between 8am and noon on Wednesday.  This worked perfectly since this was also when the propane people could send someone out.

Technical Difficulty #2:
Todd had gotten the TV hooked up and cable was working fine--not that we had time to watch TV.  The Internet was another matter.  First, we couldn't find the box with my router in it, then when we hooked it up it didn't work.  Todd didn't have time to troubleshoot, so I resigned myself to a day without Internet.

Temporary Solution
Looking at another afternoon of moving, an evening of cleaning my old place for the walk through the next day and facing no phone for the next day's coaching calls and no shower, I booked a room at the Encinitas Howard Johnsons.

It turns out there was a lot more stuff still to move at the townhouse.  Todd and I packed it in every nook and cranny of his truck and trailer and stacked it higher than probably recommended.

My neighbors across the way popped over bringing us a delicious dinner of steak for Todd and butternut squash mango soup for me with sides of homemade fries, garlic bread and creamed spinach.  After several days of Subway and potato chips, the meal was a welcome gift!

Then it was back to work. He tied down and I cleaned. As I cleaned, I made another vow:  I will hire professional cleaners the next time I move.

We finally got the truck ready to roll around 11pm.  He headed to Alpine and I headed to HoJo.

Day Three: Of Bird and Bathing

he uneventfulness of move days 1 and 2 were appreciated.  Nothing fell off the truck or broke (that we know of).  No one got hurt.  It was, for the most part, mundane moving.

Then came day three.

Todd and I got up and headed back to my townhouse for yet another day of just the two of us moving items out.  There were a couple larger items and several items that were lightweight but took up a lot of space.

We packed all these items on the truck and trailer and as we were unloading into the new house a bird flew in.  First, it flew into the room that would be my office.  We tried to direct it out the door, but instead it flew down the hall and into the living room.  The living room has amazingly high ceilings.

Picture Todd with a broom and me with a big broken down box trying to shoo this poor tiny little bird out the door.  Every time we'd get it close to the opening, it would fly up and bang itself against the big picture window.

I put the cardboard in front of the glass, then it flew into the room to be Todd's office.  It was in here that we covered it with a box, slid a piece of cardboard under it and carried it outside to freedom.

Approximate time:  30 minutes
Materials:  Broom ($10), box ($2.50)

Entertainment Value of seeing two adults running around the house looking insane:  Priceless

Todd and I figured there was only one load of stuff left at my house and he had agreed to take Monday off to meet the carpet cleaners there anyway, so we decided we deserved a shower and some sleep.

I went into the bathroom and ran water--only cold water was coming out.  I ran it a little longer--still cold.  I figured the pilot light must be out.

Todd investigated to find that the gas had been unhooked.  Apparently, when you have a propane tank for gas they unhook it if the house is going to be empty.

Although the icy cold washrag rubdown I gave myself was invigorating after a day of moving, it didn't hold a candle to a hot shower.

Moving Day 2

N-E-V-E-R doing that again (sleeping on a camping pad). Not only did I not sleep very well, I woke up sore and stiff.

We decided to start the morning making our last trip to the local Leucadia donut shop.  I hadn't frequented there, but they knew Todd well.  A half dozen donuts to share and a cup of coffee for Todd and we were on our way!

Day two of moving was just Todd and I.  With one truck and trailer, sore muscles and items that still needed to be packed and carted down from the third floor, we took our time knowing we still had one day left.

The day felt long and many times I cursed choosing to live in a three story townhouse. 

I vow: No stairs ever again.  :-)

We rolled into Alpine with load three around 10pm.  Once unloaded, we threw the mattress on the floor and crashed.  It felt like complete heaven and I slept like a baby.

Moving Day 1!

Grateful to have had the amazing help of my friend Diane and Todd's friend's Rich and Ron, we started the process of moving me out of my townhouse around 1pm.

It's surprising to me how much stuff we accumulate over our lives.  I had purged quite a bit when I moved from Maryland to San Diego, but not quite enough.

Diane and I packed and gabbed while the guys focused on loading the two trucks and trailers.  It took until 5pm to get loaded. 

The guys then took the first two loads to the house while Diane and I escaped for an evening of fun at Girl's Home Happy Hour hosted by Bevey.

So that we could get an early start the next morning, I came back to my place and Todd and I crashed on the floor on a camping pad.

Cleaning, Cleaning and More Cleaning...

Given that the house was so dirty from having sat empty, I decided to hire some help and get it cleaned before we moved in.

I estimated it would take two people about three to four hours to do everything--clean bathrooms, wipe baseboards, clean inside cabinets and drawers, vaccuum, mop and wash the windows.

I've never lived in a house this large.  Silver Spur Estate is 4,400 square feet--that's A LOT of space.

It took the two women seven hours to complete almost everything.  They were here an hour when the lead told me they wouldn't be able to get everything done and we slashed the windows off their to do list.

I understand now why people with big homes have live in maids.  Cleaning this place is going to be a second job for me!

As I walked around the house, I realized I need to put together a cleaning schedule so I can do a little something everyday and it won't be daunting.

Eventually, I do want to hire some help, but right now, we need to spend our money on some essential and urgent home items.

Signing Day!

We met Ron at the house at 5:30pm to sign papers and take possession of our BIG new responsibility.

Afterward we stood in the driveway and watched the sun go down.