Boxes everywhere.
Hurt everywhere.
Will write more when full sentences don't tax my brain.
Ow.
And oh my.
Still have a lot of work to do.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The One With The Day After
Moved.
Boxes everywhere.
Hurt everywhere.
Will write more when full sentences don't tax my brain.
Ow.
And oh my.
Still have a lot of work to do.
Boxes everywhere.
Hurt everywhere.
Will write more when full sentences don't tax my brain.
Ow.
And oh my.
Still have a lot of work to do.
Friday, May 20, 2011
The One With The Day Before
I'm exhausted.
Between working and packing and hauling crap to the new place I am not sure what day it is or what my name is. I do however know that tomorrow is the BIG move. We are well prepared I think. The only things left in the old house are the large furniture. Our bedroom set, a couch, two love seats, two chairs, two entertainment centers, two desks, the cat condo, a bench, the bar, a small table, the beer fridge and one giant massive TV. Still not sure how we are going to move that 52" behemoth.
More bullet points for you:
~The lady from CenturyLink called. Apparently she had been trying to get a hold of me for the past few days but couldn't leave a message on our machine. (?) Any way, she said our appointment is all set for Tuesday and she would call me back to do the third party confirmation again. Still have not heard from her so I am not holding my breath about Tuesday. I have Cox on stand by after I see what happens.
~I convinced Charming that we didn't need to believe the Culligan guy (he was making a sales pitch after all) and we are having someone from the Water Authority to come test the water. I am sure they will tell us it is safe to drink just too hard. Then we need to talk to the owner about putting a water loop in so we can get a softener. I hope they agree since we did not know it did not have the loop and we can't install a softener without one.
~This house does not have a microwave. but never fear, we have one from our old apartment in Massachusetts! It's been boxed up all safe for eight years. We dug it out today and the first thing we noticed is the Styrofoam surrounding the microwave had melted to the plug. But it wasn't on the connectors so Charming scraped it off and we plugged it in. We put it on for 30 seconds and when we opened the door it was smoking. So we will be getting a new microwave. I guess the 115 degree heat got to it in our garage.
~We have some unwanted tenants in our garage, front stoop and back patio. I had parked in the garage to unload the electronics today because I didn't want anyone to see and get the idea to break into the new house. I walked to my car and saw something in the peripheral vision. I stopped inches in front of a Black Widow on a strand of web. I think it was dead but my shrieking called Charming who immediately swatted it with his hat...INTO MY FACE!! After many many minutes of doing the spidey dance and almost stripping on the driveway we still couldn't find it. So Charming sprayed everywhere and tomorrow we have to vacuum suck the little baddies up. He didn't tell me how many he found but he said "Enough." That is enough for me to know.
~Tomorrow night, while I am tired beyond belief in a new house surrounded by boxes and boxes of our crap, I mean beloved belongings, the cast of Glee will be performing at Mandalay Bay. To say it is ironic that I am actually off on the night of the concert and can't afford tickets hurts my soul.
~Today we ran to the store to pick up a few things since Charming can still only eat specific stuff. The cart we selected had some of its side wires broken and a sharp piece stuck up on one side. I didn't realized this and leaned right over it to place something in the cart. A sharp stabbing pain hit my stomach and I lifted my shirt to see I had punctured myself in the gut. It wasn't very deep, only through a layer of skin or so, and it bled very little but it stung like a bitch. In the checkout I asked the clerk if they had a first aid kit so I could clean the wound and put some antiseptic on it. Even though it went through my shirt, I don't know what is on that cart, so I wanted to get it cleaned up fast. Right when I finished the manager came up all worried. I showed him the cart and my bandaged cut and he about fell over himself with apologies. I think he thought I was going to sue or something. He kept asking if I wanted to fill out an incident report. I assured him I was fine, just wanted to make sure that cart gotten taken off the floor so no one else got hurt. He practically followed us all the way outside, apologizing again and again. Once in the car Charming remarked we should have demanded our groceries for free.
~Tomorrow I go to pick up the truck so Charming, who has to work tomorrow night and is working tonight until 3 AM, can sleep as much as he can before the insanity begins. So I will get the truck. The 27 foot truck. I am a tiny bit concerned. I have never driven anything so big. The only good thing is it is a pretty much straight shot from the truck place to our house so I won't have to turn too much.
I will see you all on the other side in our new house. If I survive that is...
Between working and packing and hauling crap to the new place I am not sure what day it is or what my name is. I do however know that tomorrow is the BIG move. We are well prepared I think. The only things left in the old house are the large furniture. Our bedroom set, a couch, two love seats, two chairs, two entertainment centers, two desks, the cat condo, a bench, the bar, a small table, the beer fridge and one giant massive TV. Still not sure how we are going to move that 52" behemoth.
More bullet points for you:
~The lady from CenturyLink called. Apparently she had been trying to get a hold of me for the past few days but couldn't leave a message on our machine. (?) Any way, she said our appointment is all set for Tuesday and she would call me back to do the third party confirmation again. Still have not heard from her so I am not holding my breath about Tuesday. I have Cox on stand by after I see what happens.
~I convinced Charming that we didn't need to believe the Culligan guy (he was making a sales pitch after all) and we are having someone from the Water Authority to come test the water. I am sure they will tell us it is safe to drink just too hard. Then we need to talk to the owner about putting a water loop in so we can get a softener. I hope they agree since we did not know it did not have the loop and we can't install a softener without one.
~This house does not have a microwave. but never fear, we have one from our old apartment in Massachusetts! It's been boxed up all safe for eight years. We dug it out today and the first thing we noticed is the Styrofoam surrounding the microwave had melted to the plug. But it wasn't on the connectors so Charming scraped it off and we plugged it in. We put it on for 30 seconds and when we opened the door it was smoking. So we will be getting a new microwave. I guess the 115 degree heat got to it in our garage.
~We have some unwanted tenants in our garage, front stoop and back patio. I had parked in the garage to unload the electronics today because I didn't want anyone to see and get the idea to break into the new house. I walked to my car and saw something in the peripheral vision. I stopped inches in front of a Black Widow on a strand of web. I think it was dead but my shrieking called Charming who immediately swatted it with his hat...INTO MY FACE!! After many many minutes of doing the spidey dance and almost stripping on the driveway we still couldn't find it. So Charming sprayed everywhere and tomorrow we have to vacuum suck the little baddies up. He didn't tell me how many he found but he said "Enough." That is enough for me to know.
~Tomorrow night, while I am tired beyond belief in a new house surrounded by boxes and boxes of our crap, I mean beloved belongings, the cast of Glee will be performing at Mandalay Bay. To say it is ironic that I am actually off on the night of the concert and can't afford tickets hurts my soul.
~Today we ran to the store to pick up a few things since Charming can still only eat specific stuff. The cart we selected had some of its side wires broken and a sharp piece stuck up on one side. I didn't realized this and leaned right over it to place something in the cart. A sharp stabbing pain hit my stomach and I lifted my shirt to see I had punctured myself in the gut. It wasn't very deep, only through a layer of skin or so, and it bled very little but it stung like a bitch. In the checkout I asked the clerk if they had a first aid kit so I could clean the wound and put some antiseptic on it. Even though it went through my shirt, I don't know what is on that cart, so I wanted to get it cleaned up fast. Right when I finished the manager came up all worried. I showed him the cart and my bandaged cut and he about fell over himself with apologies. I think he thought I was going to sue or something. He kept asking if I wanted to fill out an incident report. I assured him I was fine, just wanted to make sure that cart gotten taken off the floor so no one else got hurt. He practically followed us all the way outside, apologizing again and again. Once in the car Charming remarked we should have demanded our groceries for free.
~Tomorrow I go to pick up the truck so Charming, who has to work tomorrow night and is working tonight until 3 AM, can sleep as much as he can before the insanity begins. So I will get the truck. The 27 foot truck. I am a tiny bit concerned. I have never driven anything so big. The only good thing is it is a pretty much straight shot from the truck place to our house so I won't have to turn too much.
I will see you all on the other side in our new house. If I survive that is...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The One Where We Take More Hits
And the hits just keep on coming...
~CenturyLink never called me back. So I called them AGAIN yesterday. Told the whole story to another person, who was a bit of a prick at first, until he pulled up the account and saw everything that had transpired. And this time they didn't include all of the service. So once again, everything had to be redone. This time, the sales person told me he would call me when he got off work on his own time to tell me when we sorted everything out and got us squared away. Once again, no call. So Charming and I decided that we would not go with them. We gave them five chances to prove to us they were worth of our business, way more chances than we should have given them, and they failed spectacularly each and every time. Ironically enough I received a robo call from CentruyLink today saying "there has been an update on your account, please call us to confirm." No thank you, and shove it.
~Yesterday the wind got worse and worse throughout the night so we had to stop things a bit early. Then last night around 3:30 AM I was awakened by the most horrendous noise. I thought a freight train was coming through our room. And then when I woke up enough to realize what it was I really thought we were in the middle of a tornado. The whole house was shaking, the roar unbearable. I couldn't sleep. So waking up at 7 AM was difficult. But we did and trudged over to the new house to meet the painter. It was a cloudless day, cold but nice. So happy to have dodged the weather bullet. An hour later the clouds plowed in and it poured. Off and on all day. Made moving really really difficult. And then I had to go to work and leave Charming all alone to finish moving things by himself.
~Today we had the Culligan water guy come by and assess our water since this house did not have a water softener. Vegas water is notoriously hard and usually softeners are needed. We knew this going in and were expecting to rent a softener for the time of our lease. What we did not expect was the Culligan guy to tell us that the water was hard and that it was undrinkable. In fact we shouldn't even bathe in it! Well, needless to say this changed things. We did not expect the water to be dangerous. And in order to make the water okay it is going to cost us a lot more money a month we can spend. So now we have to fight with the property manager/owner and hope they agree to install a softener and we will cover the filtering system. Or else I am not sure what we are going to done. Because we have to live there. But we need water too. I just worry because we knew there was no softener going in. I hope they can't hold the fact we had this knowledge before hand over our heads. We knew we needed a softener, we did not know the water wasn't safe softener or no softener. And that, to me, should be something the owner should take care of. I mean, it is a health issue, so they should have to make the house safe for us, right?
~In moving things yesterday we parked my car in our new driveway. Neither of us realized how steep the driveway was since we had not driven a car up on it when we looked at it. Now my car was bottoming out going up the driveway. Sure it was loaded down, but this got us to thinking. Charming's car is way lower than mine. How would he get his car up that steep an incline? And if he can't park in the garage what were we going to do? He couldn't park it on the street because he doesn't drive it every day. The HOA would certainly tow it. So another case of we didn't think things through enough and now we are stuck with the consequences. When are we going to learn to cover every single angle before jumping into something? I don't consider us impulsive people but we must be because we constantly get caught in these situations.
UPDATE: Since starting this post things have slowly been looking up. After having a mini breakdown when Charming called to tell me about the water issues, I directed probably the best show of my life which has nothing to do with our problems but did wonders to improving my mood. Then the rain stopped. And Charming called to tell me that he brought his car over and tested it out in the garage and as long as he goes super slow his car doesn't hit anything! He has only about a half inch of clearance but it clears. We rejoiced and I am thankful that I have someone in this mess with me who takes solace in the good we have together.
So I am holding on to the small wins. I will not let the bigger problems get me down. Everything will work out. Positive thinking!
~CenturyLink never called me back. So I called them AGAIN yesterday. Told the whole story to another person, who was a bit of a prick at first, until he pulled up the account and saw everything that had transpired. And this time they didn't include all of the service. So once again, everything had to be redone. This time, the sales person told me he would call me when he got off work on his own time to tell me when we sorted everything out and got us squared away. Once again, no call. So Charming and I decided that we would not go with them. We gave them five chances to prove to us they were worth of our business, way more chances than we should have given them, and they failed spectacularly each and every time. Ironically enough I received a robo call from CentruyLink today saying "there has been an update on your account, please call us to confirm." No thank you, and shove it.
~Yesterday the wind got worse and worse throughout the night so we had to stop things a bit early. Then last night around 3:30 AM I was awakened by the most horrendous noise. I thought a freight train was coming through our room. And then when I woke up enough to realize what it was I really thought we were in the middle of a tornado. The whole house was shaking, the roar unbearable. I couldn't sleep. So waking up at 7 AM was difficult. But we did and trudged over to the new house to meet the painter. It was a cloudless day, cold but nice. So happy to have dodged the weather bullet. An hour later the clouds plowed in and it poured. Off and on all day. Made moving really really difficult. And then I had to go to work and leave Charming all alone to finish moving things by himself.
~Today we had the Culligan water guy come by and assess our water since this house did not have a water softener. Vegas water is notoriously hard and usually softeners are needed. We knew this going in and were expecting to rent a softener for the time of our lease. What we did not expect was the Culligan guy to tell us that the water was hard and that it was undrinkable. In fact we shouldn't even bathe in it! Well, needless to say this changed things. We did not expect the water to be dangerous. And in order to make the water okay it is going to cost us a lot more money a month we can spend. So now we have to fight with the property manager/owner and hope they agree to install a softener and we will cover the filtering system. Or else I am not sure what we are going to done. Because we have to live there. But we need water too. I just worry because we knew there was no softener going in. I hope they can't hold the fact we had this knowledge before hand over our heads. We knew we needed a softener, we did not know the water wasn't safe softener or no softener. And that, to me, should be something the owner should take care of. I mean, it is a health issue, so they should have to make the house safe for us, right?
~In moving things yesterday we parked my car in our new driveway. Neither of us realized how steep the driveway was since we had not driven a car up on it when we looked at it. Now my car was bottoming out going up the driveway. Sure it was loaded down, but this got us to thinking. Charming's car is way lower than mine. How would he get his car up that steep an incline? And if he can't park in the garage what were we going to do? He couldn't park it on the street because he doesn't drive it every day. The HOA would certainly tow it. So another case of we didn't think things through enough and now we are stuck with the consequences. When are we going to learn to cover every single angle before jumping into something? I don't consider us impulsive people but we must be because we constantly get caught in these situations.
UPDATE: Since starting this post things have slowly been looking up. After having a mini breakdown when Charming called to tell me about the water issues, I directed probably the best show of my life which has nothing to do with our problems but did wonders to improving my mood. Then the rain stopped. And Charming called to tell me that he brought his car over and tested it out in the garage and as long as he goes super slow his car doesn't hit anything! He has only about a half inch of clearance but it clears. We rejoiced and I am thankful that I have someone in this mess with me who takes solace in the good we have together.
So I am holding on to the small wins. I will not let the bigger problems get me down. Everything will work out. Positive thinking!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The One Where I Almost Pull My Hair Out
Day one of moving and we have already hit some snags...
~Got a call from our new property manager. She was confirming our meet up today to get the keys. And to let us know the work needing to be done on the home was almost done but the contractors needed to finish up tomorrow. She said not to worry, they have a key and can come in and finish up without bothering us. Uh....what? We were told she was the only one to have a key. And now she's handing it out to contractors. Yes they may be certified and licensed and she knows them but that is not going to make us feel any better sleeping in a house where we don't know if someone we don't know has made a copy of our key. So now we have to change the locks tonight (on our dime), give our property manager a copy of our new key and get up early tomorrow to let the contractors in to finish up the job. Not how I wanted to start this whole process.
~The weather is wicked. It's the middle of May and it's not even 70 degrees here in Vegas. Toss in some 50 MPH wind gusts (the regular wind is steady around 35 MPH) and some threatening thunderclouds and we have perfect moving conditions. Yay!
~Called ADT to transfer our service to the new place. When we got the service a year ago I made sure to ask about transferring it if when we move because I knew we wouldn't be in this place for the entire 3 year contract. We were told not a problem, it's a simple process. Well, simple if you subtract the fact you have to close out your first account, reopen a new account under the new address, be charged a reactivation fee of $99 and all of the extras we added on at the old place are not included. You can believe I raised high holy hell about all of that. So they are sending us a $100 Visa gift card to offset the $99 fee and we are getting all the extras we had added on transferred too.
~Called CenturyLink to set up new service with them at the old place. Cox is just getting too expensive. Now a bit of background here: we tried to get CenturyLink set up before. But the technicians were confounded by the SmartBox in this house and spent 6 hours huddled in our Master closet, muttering to each other. After all that we still didn't have any service. When we tried to reschedule we had a specific time but they showed up three hours early. I flipped out and canceled the whole thing. Well, we decided since we were moving into a new place we would try them again. I went through the whole process with the new sales person and they sympathized with my previous bad experience and knocked off some fees for my troubles. Got all the way to the end where they connect you with a third party to confirm the phone number you are transferring and the phone number they read back to me is wrong. The lady says "you'll have to call CenturyLink back" and hangs up on me, So I call them back and get through to someone again, explain everything that happened AGAIN and find out the account has been cancelled. WHAT?? The lady was very sweet and apologetic but I couldn't believe I had to go through everything again. I am currently waiting for her to call me back to confirm everything and if I don't hear from them in the next hour I am saying screw it. We are sticking with Cox. There is only so much I can take.
~Called our current property management company to find out about transferring the electric, gas, water, etc. Then we asked about getting our deposit back. The lady informed up when we bring all of our keys and clickers down to the office to turn them in we can set up a time for a walk-through and after the walk-through it takes about 3-4 weeks to get the check. No one has said anything to us about what we needed to do regarding handing over keys or anything and I believe if we hadn't called no one would have told us. Just another reason why I am glad we are getting out of this place. I only hope the new place is a bit better. The key/contractor issue has me a bit concerned.
I really hope the next couple days improve in the luck department. Because I am hanging on by a thread. I am trying to stay positive but with every set back and issue it is getting harder and harder.
~Got a call from our new property manager. She was confirming our meet up today to get the keys. And to let us know the work needing to be done on the home was almost done but the contractors needed to finish up tomorrow. She said not to worry, they have a key and can come in and finish up without bothering us. Uh....what? We were told she was the only one to have a key. And now she's handing it out to contractors. Yes they may be certified and licensed and she knows them but that is not going to make us feel any better sleeping in a house where we don't know if someone we don't know has made a copy of our key. So now we have to change the locks tonight (on our dime), give our property manager a copy of our new key and get up early tomorrow to let the contractors in to finish up the job. Not how I wanted to start this whole process.
~The weather is wicked. It's the middle of May and it's not even 70 degrees here in Vegas. Toss in some 50 MPH wind gusts (the regular wind is steady around 35 MPH) and some threatening thunderclouds and we have perfect moving conditions. Yay!
~Called ADT to transfer our service to the new place. When we got the service a year ago I made sure to ask about transferring it if when we move because I knew we wouldn't be in this place for the entire 3 year contract. We were told not a problem, it's a simple process. Well, simple if you subtract the fact you have to close out your first account, reopen a new account under the new address, be charged a reactivation fee of $99 and all of the extras we added on at the old place are not included. You can believe I raised high holy hell about all of that. So they are sending us a $100 Visa gift card to offset the $99 fee and we are getting all the extras we had added on transferred too.
~Called CenturyLink to set up new service with them at the old place. Cox is just getting too expensive. Now a bit of background here: we tried to get CenturyLink set up before. But the technicians were confounded by the SmartBox in this house and spent 6 hours huddled in our Master closet, muttering to each other. After all that we still didn't have any service. When we tried to reschedule we had a specific time but they showed up three hours early. I flipped out and canceled the whole thing. Well, we decided since we were moving into a new place we would try them again. I went through the whole process with the new sales person and they sympathized with my previous bad experience and knocked off some fees for my troubles. Got all the way to the end where they connect you with a third party to confirm the phone number you are transferring and the phone number they read back to me is wrong. The lady says "you'll have to call CenturyLink back" and hangs up on me, So I call them back and get through to someone again, explain everything that happened AGAIN and find out the account has been cancelled. WHAT?? The lady was very sweet and apologetic but I couldn't believe I had to go through everything again. I am currently waiting for her to call me back to confirm everything and if I don't hear from them in the next hour I am saying screw it. We are sticking with Cox. There is only so much I can take.
~Called our current property management company to find out about transferring the electric, gas, water, etc. Then we asked about getting our deposit back. The lady informed up when we bring all of our keys and clickers down to the office to turn them in we can set up a time for a walk-through and after the walk-through it takes about 3-4 weeks to get the check. No one has said anything to us about what we needed to do regarding handing over keys or anything and I believe if we hadn't called no one would have told us. Just another reason why I am glad we are getting out of this place. I only hope the new place is a bit better. The key/contractor issue has me a bit concerned.
I really hope the next couple days improve in the luck department. Because I am hanging on by a thread. I am trying to stay positive but with every set back and issue it is getting harder and harder.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The One With The Treasure Hunt
In between all the packing craziness, Charming and I have been participating in a treasure hunt for the last two weeks. Because we certainly didn't have enough to do.
A local coin shop holds a yearly treasure hunt for a $10,000 gold medallion. Over two weeks you travel around to different points all over the valley to get clues from different merchants. The clues all lead to the exact location of the medallion. Last year it was so hard no one even came close to finding the prize so we were told they made it a bit easier this year. However, the clues were still incredibly obscure and could have lead to a half dozen different things.
Charming and I dutifully went to each clue spot and got our stamps. And after each clue we would sit and ponder the possibilities. One such clue said "Of about 300 in Nevada this one has over 600." See what I mean about obscure? That could be anything! We thought about casinos, stores, schools, banks. We knew it had to be some place that wouldn't mind participating in such a hunt and along the same lines of where we were getting the clues. But it was befuddling.
However, by clue four I had narrowed it down to three possibilities. The fourth clue mentioned "flouresense." The specific spelling of this word had to mean something. So I figured it referred to either a bakery (flour, of course), a flower shop (this was a reach but maybe it was relating to the French word for flower "fleur") or a jewelry store (the sparkle of a diamond is sometimes called the flouresense.) Nevada could certainly have about 300 of any of these things but I was thinking jewelry store was the best possibility since it was the most likely partner with a coin store.
At least I had convinced myself of that.
When we got the last clue on Friday it finally clued us in that I was on the right track all along. "The 2nd is Taylor. The 1st is Morgan. Both are jewels." A quick Google search and we discovered a Morgan Taylor Jewelers. We hot footed it over there and prepared to go in and poke around. A previous clue mentioned about asking DG if it is behind it and be careful because we only get to ask once. So we had to be exactly sure we knew what we were asking before we did.
Charming and I walked inside the store and immediately inside the door we saw a brochure for the coin store. We were in the right place! Now to figure out exactly where the medallion was hidden. All over the walls were paintings. "Ask DG if it is behind it." So it had to be behind a painting. Using hushed tones, Charming and I began to study the paintings to figure out which one would be the one to give up the prize. As we made our way around the room a man came from behind the curtain in the back of the store. He asked if he could help us and we told him no, too afraid of saying anything and giving up our one shot at winning. The man watched us for a minute and then cleared his throat as he realized we were scrutinizing the artwork on the walls.
"So, are you looking for the medallion?"
Charming and I looked at each other, unsure of what to say. "Uh, yes?" I stammered, still not wanting to say too much.
"Yeah, someone already found it about an hour ago."
An hour ago. We were an hour away from getting there first. And we happened to be right in front of the painting it had been hidden behind. Turns out the owner's initials are DG and he was the one to ask. But we never got that far. So close and yet so far.
All and all a bit disappointing, but a learning experience. We were pretty proud of ourselves for figuring it out all the way to the end. Unfortunately it was our tried asses who couldn't get up soon enough to be the first ones to get the final clue that failed. Next year will be different. We will be there ready to go before the places open. We got to turn our completed clue cards in for a chance to win $1,000 so we may still get something. But it was the idea of winning the gold medallion ourselves that gave the allure for the chase.
Probably the closest we would ever get to feeling like pirates.
A local coin shop holds a yearly treasure hunt for a $10,000 gold medallion. Over two weeks you travel around to different points all over the valley to get clues from different merchants. The clues all lead to the exact location of the medallion. Last year it was so hard no one even came close to finding the prize so we were told they made it a bit easier this year. However, the clues were still incredibly obscure and could have lead to a half dozen different things.
Charming and I dutifully went to each clue spot and got our stamps. And after each clue we would sit and ponder the possibilities. One such clue said "Of about 300 in Nevada this one has over 600." See what I mean about obscure? That could be anything! We thought about casinos, stores, schools, banks. We knew it had to be some place that wouldn't mind participating in such a hunt and along the same lines of where we were getting the clues. But it was befuddling.
However, by clue four I had narrowed it down to three possibilities. The fourth clue mentioned "flouresense." The specific spelling of this word had to mean something. So I figured it referred to either a bakery (flour, of course), a flower shop (this was a reach but maybe it was relating to the French word for flower "fleur") or a jewelry store (the sparkle of a diamond is sometimes called the flouresense.) Nevada could certainly have about 300 of any of these things but I was thinking jewelry store was the best possibility since it was the most likely partner with a coin store.
At least I had convinced myself of that.
When we got the last clue on Friday it finally clued us in that I was on the right track all along. "The 2nd is Taylor. The 1st is Morgan. Both are jewels." A quick Google search and we discovered a Morgan Taylor Jewelers. We hot footed it over there and prepared to go in and poke around. A previous clue mentioned about asking DG if it is behind it and be careful because we only get to ask once. So we had to be exactly sure we knew what we were asking before we did.
Charming and I walked inside the store and immediately inside the door we saw a brochure for the coin store. We were in the right place! Now to figure out exactly where the medallion was hidden. All over the walls were paintings. "Ask DG if it is behind it." So it had to be behind a painting. Using hushed tones, Charming and I began to study the paintings to figure out which one would be the one to give up the prize. As we made our way around the room a man came from behind the curtain in the back of the store. He asked if he could help us and we told him no, too afraid of saying anything and giving up our one shot at winning. The man watched us for a minute and then cleared his throat as he realized we were scrutinizing the artwork on the walls.
"So, are you looking for the medallion?"
Charming and I looked at each other, unsure of what to say. "Uh, yes?" I stammered, still not wanting to say too much.
"Yeah, someone already found it about an hour ago."
An hour ago. We were an hour away from getting there first. And we happened to be right in front of the painting it had been hidden behind. Turns out the owner's initials are DG and he was the one to ask. But we never got that far. So close and yet so far.
All and all a bit disappointing, but a learning experience. We were pretty proud of ourselves for figuring it out all the way to the end. Unfortunately it was our tried asses who couldn't get up soon enough to be the first ones to get the final clue that failed. Next year will be different. We will be there ready to go before the places open. We got to turn our completed clue cards in for a chance to win $1,000 so we may still get something. But it was the idea of winning the gold medallion ourselves that gave the allure for the chase.
Probably the closest we would ever get to feeling like pirates.
Monday, May 9, 2011
The One With The Packing
Well...no call from the property manager.
*frowny face*
I am not surprised because that is our luck. We were resigned to the fact we would be in the other house and the Dream House is not for us right now. And we'll make it work because we always do. It'll be fine.
So now we are packing up a storm. And I am finding more and more stuff to get rid of. I guess that is the one good things about moving. It's a great way to purge.
I am a little befuddled though. Last year when we packed up our house I gathered seven huge black garbage bags filled with clothes, shoes and purses. This year I filled three more! I don't think we acquired that much more items of clothing so I am thinking I did not get rid of as much as I should have last time. Charming was just happy he still had something left to cover his cute behind.
The cats are confused but loving the adventure of climbing over the mountains of boxes and laying in newly emptied shelves. The upstairs is almost done, except our closet and bathroom which I plan to tackle tonight. The downstairs will hopefully be finished by Wednesday and then we can work on the garage before we get the keys the 17th and can start moving boxes in. But even with all the stuff packed up it looks like we haven't done anything. I don't remember having this much stuff, but we just keep plugging away. Our plan is to have the majority of the boxes moved over there before we get the big truck on the 21st so all we have to move is the furniture. It is a nice plan. Not sure we will be able to carry it off.
Then after we move in we are going to have a garage sale the 28th to get rid of everything we don't need. Between the 21st and the 28th we will clean and patch holes and paint to match so the house looks better than when we got it and we will be sure to get our full deposit back. Also we need to get the carpets cleaned. So if we time everything right it should all work out.
It's the little things I worry about. All the addresses we need changed, the calls to make about moving phones, cable, security systems. And there is some stuff we have to do at this house too, like install a water softener because it does not have one. But it will all get done. Because we always get things done.
See, I'm trying to be zen!
*frowny face*
I am not surprised because that is our luck. We were resigned to the fact we would be in the other house and the Dream House is not for us right now. And we'll make it work because we always do. It'll be fine.
So now we are packing up a storm. And I am finding more and more stuff to get rid of. I guess that is the one good things about moving. It's a great way to purge.
I am a little befuddled though. Last year when we packed up our house I gathered seven huge black garbage bags filled with clothes, shoes and purses. This year I filled three more! I don't think we acquired that much more items of clothing so I am thinking I did not get rid of as much as I should have last time. Charming was just happy he still had something left to cover his cute behind.
The cats are confused but loving the adventure of climbing over the mountains of boxes and laying in newly emptied shelves. The upstairs is almost done, except our closet and bathroom which I plan to tackle tonight. The downstairs will hopefully be finished by Wednesday and then we can work on the garage before we get the keys the 17th and can start moving boxes in. But even with all the stuff packed up it looks like we haven't done anything. I don't remember having this much stuff, but we just keep plugging away. Our plan is to have the majority of the boxes moved over there before we get the big truck on the 21st so all we have to move is the furniture. It is a nice plan. Not sure we will be able to carry it off.
Then after we move in we are going to have a garage sale the 28th to get rid of everything we don't need. Between the 21st and the 28th we will clean and patch holes and paint to match so the house looks better than when we got it and we will be sure to get our full deposit back. Also we need to get the carpets cleaned. So if we time everything right it should all work out.
It's the little things I worry about. All the addresses we need changed, the calls to make about moving phones, cable, security systems. And there is some stuff we have to do at this house too, like install a water softener because it does not have one. But it will all get done. Because we always get things done.
See, I'm trying to be zen!
Friday, May 6, 2011
The One With The Move
Well, we didn't get the Dream House.
At least, we probably didn't get it.
That lady came back and said she wanted it and the property manager gave it to her. However, several things are in play. The lady's son really didn't want to move there and she had already put a deposit down on another place. She has until this weekend to sign the lease and if she doesn't we swoop in and take it.
However, in the meantime, the property manager, feeling guilty about how we got screwed out of our Dream House, showed us another property she had for lease. It's a little farther from where we wanted to be, not as nice as the Dream House, but better than where we are now. We are going to have to do some rearranging and figuring but we made the place we are in now work so we are up to the challenge. We agreed to move into this second house because 1) we wanted to stay with the property manager who is really nice and attentive and took care of all of our concerns. And 2) if we stuck with the property manager as soon as the Dream House became available we could move into it. Because no matter what we wanted that house, even if it means moving AGAIN. Ugh.
So we are now in the process of packing everything up. And man, I think all of our shit has accumulated over this past year. I don't remember there being this much stuff to pack. It also makes me worry about where we are going to put it all. But like I said, we made this house we are in now work, we will make this new one work.
We are moving the 21st. Because the 29th is a holiday and there is no way we would find anyone who could help us. That leaves us a little more than two weeks to get everything together and packed and ready to go. I am trying not to stress but it is hard. Since we don't have to be out of our old place until June 1st we are going to hold a garage sale the 28th to get rid of all the stuff we don't want to move. So if there is even a qualm about keeping something, into the garage sale pile it goes! Makes purging so much more fun now that I know I may make a profit off it and not have to pack something.
So things are moving along...and we are caught up in the whirlwind.
Of course we are still holding our breath through this weekend that we get that phone call saying the lady dropped out and the Dream House is ours.
Trying to keep the hope alive!
At least, we probably didn't get it.
That lady came back and said she wanted it and the property manager gave it to her. However, several things are in play. The lady's son really didn't want to move there and she had already put a deposit down on another place. She has until this weekend to sign the lease and if she doesn't we swoop in and take it.
However, in the meantime, the property manager, feeling guilty about how we got screwed out of our Dream House, showed us another property she had for lease. It's a little farther from where we wanted to be, not as nice as the Dream House, but better than where we are now. We are going to have to do some rearranging and figuring but we made the place we are in now work so we are up to the challenge. We agreed to move into this second house because 1) we wanted to stay with the property manager who is really nice and attentive and took care of all of our concerns. And 2) if we stuck with the property manager as soon as the Dream House became available we could move into it. Because no matter what we wanted that house, even if it means moving AGAIN. Ugh.
So we are now in the process of packing everything up. And man, I think all of our shit has accumulated over this past year. I don't remember there being this much stuff to pack. It also makes me worry about where we are going to put it all. But like I said, we made this house we are in now work, we will make this new one work.
We are moving the 21st. Because the 29th is a holiday and there is no way we would find anyone who could help us. That leaves us a little more than two weeks to get everything together and packed and ready to go. I am trying not to stress but it is hard. Since we don't have to be out of our old place until June 1st we are going to hold a garage sale the 28th to get rid of all the stuff we don't want to move. So if there is even a qualm about keeping something, into the garage sale pile it goes! Makes purging so much more fun now that I know I may make a profit off it and not have to pack something.
So things are moving along...and we are caught up in the whirlwind.
Of course we are still holding our breath through this weekend that we get that phone call saying the lady dropped out and the Dream House is ours.
Trying to keep the hope alive!
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