Not very happy...

I wish I could write a post about absolutely loving our new house, but sadly, that is not the case.  After about a week living in the house, the new paint smell has worn off, only to be replaced by a the gross, repugnant smell of stale cigarette smoke.  The third bedroom smells especially bad.  So much so, we cannot even set up the bed or place any clothes, towels or any other items in the room we do not want to have saturated with the smoke.  Though the smell of smoke in the rest of the house is not as strong, it is still present and I've been completely grossed out!  I guess the people before us were heavy smokers, a fact the realtor never divulged.  I think part of the problem is the same carpet exists and the ceilings and closets have not been painted, something they should have done when they painted the walls.  If everything had been painted, I think the smell would have largely disappeared.  

You can imagine my frustration over this new problem, it is the biggest problem, but definitely not the only!  Let me name off a few...  Our garage door is broken, the outside faucet does not turn off unless you manually turn it off from the pipe downstairs in the basement, the water smells horrendously bad---like the smell of hard boiled eggs times 10, the basement is leaking water--we have a 5 ft. by 4 ft. patch of soaked carpet that keeps getting bigger, the hot water in the shower does not get hot, but stays luke warm (a terrible thing for someone who loves hot showers!) and now I've noticed we're getting an ant problem in the kitchen.  Yesterday, I just about lost it, actually I did lose it.  I sobbed in my bedroom with Caleb trying to play peek-a-boo and wondering why in the world I had tears streaming down my face with blotchy red flourescent green eyes (my eyes really do look like lizard eyes when I cry!).  I cried because I knew this place did not feel right, even before we signed the contract.  Yet here we were, I was disgusted and sick with the various horrible smells and weighted down by all the problems we've been having with the house in the short two weeks we've been here.  I wrote a 'letter of concern' to the realtor discussing the biggest issues (smoke & water problem) and asking him to help us or we'll give 30 days notice of our intention to leave.  He was not in the office when I gave him the letter on Friday, but his secretary informed me he will return on Monday from a business trip and shortly get back to me.  I will let you know what happens, if we move or if the realtor will try and resolve the issues I've mentioned.  Personally, I'm willing to box everything up again and move to a different place!  Pray for us that everything will work out!

At least Caleb is enjoying the deck!

The Move

I knew the move was going to be stressful, but I hadn't planned on just how stressful.  I should have titled the post, 'Help!!!  I am going insane!'   During the last week we left, John climbed Mt. Ranier (an amazingly huge mountain/volcano with lots of snow and ice).  I dropped him off at his parents on Sunday and he didn't come back until early Thursday morning.  He went to school that day and Friday-- not a problem except for the fact Saturday was the day we moved!   So basically I was the woman behind all the packing.  Luckily, Caleb spent a lot of time at the in-laws-- Grandma Terri was a life saver!  Amazingly, I eventually got everything packed.  It was a miracle how smoothly all the preparations had gone.  I had planned our schedule to the minute of what needed to happen for us to be ready to leave.  On Friday (June 6th) John had an awards ceremony, (of which he received an implant award--go John!) and we all had dinner that night with his family.  

Friday night was also the night we gave away Roslyn (still so sad about it...) and finished up packing.  John's brother and dad were a HUGE help in getting things ready for Saturday.  Saturday morning we picked up the truck, had a fantastic group of ward volunteers to help us move and were able to load up the truck within two hours.  I had 45 minutes to spare to shower and get over to the school in time for John's graduation ceremony.  Everything so far had worked as I had planned.  The graduation ceremony was fantastic and John looked really cool in his doctorate robes.  He is now officially a dentist!  

(Caleb is passed out in Uncle Scott's arms, he really is alive!  You can tell all the boys have sun burned faces from the mountain climb)

After the ceremony, we returned back to the house and finished cleaning and any other odds and ends for the move.  We said our goodbyes to the house and were off in the big Penske truck with our tiel green car being pulled behind.   

(Bye-bye house, you were great!)

We stopped by John's parents house to pick up the babe and then we were officially off at 11:30 pm Saturday night.  This was all in the same day, crazy!  What made that week even more busy and crazy was the horrible cold I had caught.  All I wanted to do was rest, watch Signing Time with Caleb and eat chicken noodle soup.  Poor me!  

We drove 18 hours straight and finally arrived in Utah Sunday evening.  I had asked my mom to invite my grandparents over so I could say hi to them before we took off the next day.  We arrived to a fabulous dinner my mom had cooked, visited as best we could with everyone (we were soooo exhausted from the packing, busyness of the week and of course driving all night!) and slept soundly that night.  Utah was a much needed break before we started off again.  

(Caleb on Grandpa Randall's motorcycle, having fun before we hit the road again!)

We decided to leave Monday night and not during the day, so that we could take advantage of prime quiet time of Caleb sleeping.  Once again we drove all night and through the next day, totaling 22 hours this time of driving!  Yes, this was completely insane and a gift from above that Caleb was able to make it that long.  Of course I had to keep Caleb entertained with books, toys, songs and DVD's for half of that time, but Caleb really was an angel.  I think he kind of liked being in a big huge truck and sitting right next to me.    

(Angel Caleb)

(Not so angel...)

(Kicking back & watching Signing Time)

We drove through Iowa, a place that has been on the news for the severe flooding.  As we were driving John said, 'look at all those trees in the lake, how funny!'  After we saw 10 foot fences buried almost to the very top with water, we realized that it wasn't a tree swamp, but a very flooded area.   We hadn't watched the news that week before we left, so we hadn't realized the extent and damage of the flooding.  We were fooled because of the beautiful weather we had while driving, and hadn't realized all the rain Iowa had been receieving.  It was difficult to find a hotel room, due to all the victims of the flood who needed one as well.  We finally found a room and called it a night, our eyes could hardly stay open!  The news the next morning said to expect severe weather and possibly tornadoes.  We looked out the window and the sky to the west was a menacing dark blue.  I told John to hurry, we needed to get out of this place fast!  I definitely did not want to be caught up in a hail storm with a tornado!  We hurriedly ate our breakfast and drove off to the east, away from the storm!  We drove another 18 hours and finally arrived in Canton at 1 am Thursday morning, Hallejuhia!  Everything had gone so well up to this point, the move had gone just how I planned.  We looked for housing all day thursday with no leads.  I didn't get too discouraged because we still had Friday.  Then Friday came, and guess what day it was...Friday the 13th!   I'm not superstitious, but ironically this day brought our good fortune to an end.  We still had not found any housing that day.  Then that night, we had a severe thunderstorm move in that knocked out our power at the Best Western from 6pm until 3 am in the morning!   You can imagine how hard it was to stay somewhere with no light and having a toddler who had no idea what was going on.  We spent most of that time at McDonald's and Chuck- E- Cheese, waiting until it was late enough to go to bed.   Our only hope was an appointment we had with a realtor on Saturday to show up 4 different houses for rent.  Each of the four had problems, but because we needed to find a place right away (due to John leaving Monday morning back to Seattle to take his Dental Boards & we needed to take the truck back), we settled for one of the houses to move in that next day.  

(Our house for the next 1-2 years, does need some work!)

On Sunday, we went to our ward which was incredibly welcoming.  We are going to love this ward.   We picked up the keys to the house right after church, drove over to our new home and unpacked the truck.  10-15 guys from the ward helped us move all the boxes in.  Our circumstances were unusual being that we had to unpack that day, but there was no other way, we really couldn't help it!  The men were awesome, they came on Sunday and on Father's Day, where they could have been home with their families, but instead chose to take an hour of their time to help us.  

I left out a big fact about the house.  It has NO appliances, none.  I didn't feel great about renting this place, but being basically our only option, I had little choice.  Paying $80 for a hotel every night and a $100 for every day more we kept the truck, was just not possible on our meager budget.  I hurriedly got on Craigslist to see if there were any fridges, stoves, or washer/dryers available we could pick up that night with the truck.  We lucked out, there was an old washer and dryer for sale!  John left to pick them up, but had to stop by an ATM machine to get some cash.  He was talking to his mom on his cell phone and drove the truck under the drive-thru portion of the bank.  He caught the corner of the truck on the overhead concrete roof and busted a big whole in the truck, ahhhh!  I was so mad.  I tried to handle it well, but I had told John numerous times to not talk on his cell phone while driving that big thing!  He waited 2 hours for the police to come to file an incident report.  He was then finally able to pick up the washer/dryer and come home.  By that time it was 11pm and we had no way of unloading the appliances to the garage or basement.  We were hoping to borrow a dolley from the Bishop but we couldn't call because it was so late.  Monday morning came and John texted the Bishop and was able to procure his dolley to unload the appliances.  We finally hauled the big machines downstairs and we were off to drop off the Penske truck.  At the rental place, we were told we would be billed $600-$1,000 for the big whole that was put in the corner of the truck, OUCH!!!  Once again I tried really hard not to be mad at John, but wasn't too successful.  

Right after we dropped off the truck, it was time to drive to the airport.  I kissed and hugged John and he was off, I was then left all alone to return to a house with no appliances and a completely unfamiliar area.  If I had been more sane I probably would have cried, but since I was a little crazy, okay, very crazy at this point, I laughed to think how unfortunate my luck could be!  The one thing that has saved me mentally and physically from the point of no return, is the generous, thoughtful and completely welcoming ward I have moved into.  I've been in some good wards, but there is no comparison with the help and welcome we have received in the 5 days we've been here.  Someone delivered dinner Sunday night to us, and I have had and will have dinner Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night of this week.  The relief society president dropped off a house warming gift of a really nice basket filled with bagels, grapes, hand towels, and cookies from a well-known bakery around here.  The members homes have been open to help me with Caleb and to assist however they can.  I have received a dozen calls and e-mails all asking how they can help and how happy they are to have us join their ward family.  Amazing!  

So that brings us up to speed with what's going on and the story of our move.  I have learned a lot from this experience.  I have learned to never drive my own stuff across the country when a moving company can do it for the same price.  I have learned to make sure my nice furniture is wrapped doubly well to prevent the nicks and scratches it received in the move.   I have learned to never give yourself only 2-3 days to find a house, because you'll probably regret the house you move into.  As with all things in life, experience gives us perspective and  the ability to make wiser choices the next time!   Oh well, the important thing is we've made it to Ohio!

Below are a few more pics of the house...

(Our nice big backyard, which I love...)

(I think Caleb likes our new home!)

Ode to Roslyn...

I thought I’d pay tribute to a dear friend of mine.  A friend who kept me company during those long pregnancy days when I was on house rest, a friend who informed us of intruders or any strangers on the street and a friend who loved me no matter what, even if I yelled at her 5 minutes before to stop barking.  That friend is our dog Roslyn.  Sadly, we had to give her away. 

 

Yes, she was very hairy, yes, she did bark quite often and yes, she did have some instances of nipping.  Yet she found a way to my heart and I have found myself missing and wishing we had Roslyn once again.  She loved to chase bubbles, loved to sit by the door and keep me company as I cleaned the kitchen, loved to run the streets exploring and loved to poop in our neighbor’s yard.  If Roslyn escaped from behind the fence, she always came back.  In every instance she would be sitting on the porch waiting for us, even if we had been gone for hours.  I’d have to say Roslyn’s favorite thing in the whole wide world would be table scraps and affectionate rubs and pats.  She was such a good dog.  We gave her away the night before we left to a seemingly good family with other dogs to keep her company.   The move would have been extremely difficult if we had brought her along.  We have been in Ohio for 3 days and just now found a place!  It has been so hectic over here looking for houses, eating out at McDonalds (basically for every meal--definitely not doing anything for the complexion!) and trying to keep a toddler happy in a small hotel room.  Not to mention the power went out in the hotel with a severe storm we had last night!  With all the craziness of moving out here (a story which I'll write about in the next post!) we would have had a difficult time finding a home that accepted pets.  So poor Roslyn, she has now gone from our home, but not from our hearts.  I hope you’re doing well Rozzo, we love and miss you!  

(Picture taken the night she left our home...)