August 29, 2005
August 28, 2005
First Rain
It's the first evening of rain here. The first of many, I'm sure. But after our many weeks of summer sun and abnormal heat, it's very nice.
August 27, 2005
Exhausted
I'm almost sure that I've titled an entry "Exhausted" before, but now I really mean it. I spent most of the day at my parent's rental house today getting it fit for habitation. Originally we thought it would be ready by September 1st, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I don't mind cleaning the house, patching holes, basic maintinence, or touch up painting, but I draw the line at painting the entire interior of the house, putting baseboards on cabinets, and patching drywall. It's really amazing the amount of stuff people can hide when they want to sell a house.
After spending a good five or six hours at their house, we drove home to find our dogs about to burst with pent up energy. They are used to going to their local dog park regularly, but with the move they've been trapped in the house, unable to run around due to the slippery wooden floors. Matchbox keeps trying to play, but Jeffrey falls down every time he moves faster than a walk. Frinklin located the only dog park in Tacoma and off we went. One closed bridge, two detours, and two frantic dogs later we found it.
The park isn't anywhere near as nice as our old one. The grass is all dead and it's almost entierly made up of dirt and overgrown blackberry bushes, but the dogs didn't care. The only other dogs we saw were leaving as we arrived. Hopefully next time will be better. We might try heading further up the Sound toward Seattle--they are rumored to be better up there--some even allowing beach access.
I'm going to go take a shower, order a pizza, and spend the rest of my evening on the couch.
August 23, 2005
All the furniture went to a good home
A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a loveseat that I needed to get rid of. The picture had a link to it from a Craigslist posting I placed. The loveseat was free as was the matching couch--both hand-me-downs from the In-Laws for us to use while waiting for our real furniture to show up.
I received many, many inquiries about the couch and loveseat. I answered 10 of the 45 emails that showed up within a few hours. I was very clear; anyone who wanted the items needed to come after Frinklin was home from work (7pm) and it needed to happen NOW. I had four couches in my living room and we couldn't unpack anything else until these two were gone. No one could abide by my conditions. For two weeks I played this game with various people, and then Elizabeth called.
We were in the process of loading the loveseat into the truck on it's way to Goodwill. Elizabeth promised she would come as soon as her boyfriend got home from work. At 7:30, she and Jason showed up (a few minutes late due to my crap directions). They stuffed the couch into their jeep and we carted the loveseat over to their apartment for them where we found...no other furniture at all.
It turns out that Elizabeth and Jason are living together in their first apartment and had a desk, a computer, a TV and some end tables. That's it. Wait--I forgot the air mattress that they reinflated every morning half asleep at 4 am. I took pity on them and offered the queen sized box spring and mattress, as well as the baker's rack we had no use for. They took it all, and we took them out to dinner to celebrate finally being rid of our extra stuff.
It felt very good to give up a lot of items in excellent shape that we had no use for. I've since pared down my sheets and comforters and have a few extras to pass onto them. I'm sure I've got more crap lying around that I never use. I remember very well what it was like to have so little furniture that you felt ashamed to invite people over. Even old hand-me-down stuff can be such a blessing at that point. Not that what we have now is all that fantastic, but it's starting to be things that we have chosen, as opposed to things that we had to take.
August 20, 2005
Great Day
Today was truly wonderful.
It's one of the first really excellent days I feel I've had here, especially since I've been rather depressed lately. Even though the weather in Tacoma is currently challenging So Cal I've been missing my family and the feeling of being home that San Diego always provided. I never really lived anywhere else, and I knew every part of the city I lived in. Now I get lost going to the grocery store. I'm starting to learn my way around. I still consistently drive miles out of my way going from point A to point B.
Today started off with a call from Violet, which is always a good thing. I'm worried about her, but am looking forward to her visit scheduled just a month from now. I wish I could afford to fly out to her house in Chicago--it's been on my list of things to do for a very long time.
After the phone call Frinklin and I headed to the mall so that I could pose for pictures as the Bob's Hogs representative at a fundraiser. We found the local comic book shop and had a tasty lunch at Freighthouse Square, which led us to the art gallery there and a new piece of art for our new house.
We stopped by Tully's on the drive home for ice cream and enjoyed getting lost in the historic district of North Tacoma. The houses are stunning--I'll post some pictures if I ever remember to take my camera out with me.
Home at 4, I started working on the book boxes that have been cluttering our entryway for three weeks. We moved some furniture upstairs, moved another piece back downstairs, and are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We used our new drill for the first time tonight, hanging a wedding gift from the staff at Bob's Hogs that's been in a box (anticipating our move) for almost a year. We found studs, drilled the holes, popped in the anchors and secured everything to the wall. So close to being successful--it appears that we used too large a drill bit and will need to find some larger anchors. Easily remedied tomorrow.
Lastly, we repaired our bed that had begun to sag a bit. My back has been bothering me this last week, so we bought some 2x4s, cut them to fit under the mattress, and created a platform under the box spring.
I'm feeling relaxed, tired, and satisfied. Progress has been made.
August 19, 2005
It feels like forever
I haven't really written anything in almost a month! I've been swamped with unpacking and starting a new job, but I promise I'm back and you'll all see more regular updates.
The new house is great, but it's a bit of a pain in the ass. Frinklin and I got pretty spoiled living in the brand new rental house we had in San Diego. All of the windows had blinds and screeens, the bathroom had lots of storage and brand new pipes, and the yard was taken care of by hired hands.
Now we're learning how to be real homeowners. We weed and mow. We measure for screens and find out that we measured all wrong when they arrive. Frinklin learns how to build a fence. I learn to use a drill and hang curtains. And of course, we get a visit from the local public utilities to tell us that we have a hold placed on our electric meter because the seller of the house didn't get a permit when he replaced the electric box before we moved in. Gee--thanks guy.
I missed a piece of certified mail that came from Tacoma Power today. I'm sure it's to detail the fees that we'll now be subject to in addition to needing to have an eletrical contractor come out and inspect everything. Oh--and we still have to apply for a permit. Until that all happens, the hold stays on. Originally TP told me that they would contact the seller of the house, as he was the one who performed the work. Some supervisor overrode that decision, so I'll be making a call to Mr. Harris this weekend to see if he will cover the cost of his mistake.
I'm guessing no.
If he does refuse, then we'll have to get the work done, then file a suit in small claims court or place a lein against his current property. Sigh. As I said--a pain in the ass.
On the upside, it rained on Wednesday and nothing leaked.
August 12, 2005
Just three weeks ago...
...Frinklin and I were traveling through Central California with two crazy dogs.
August 10, 2005
Happy Birthday to Me!
How to celebrate a 29th birthday:
1. Sleep in.
2. Have the line at the DOL (Department of Licensing, not to be confused with the DMV--Department of Motor Vehicles in CA) only take 2 minutes, then find out that you don't have to take the written test. Score!
3. Have your student loan payment for the month of August bumped to September because you were smart and refinanced.
4. Get presents in the mail (including one awsome housewarming gift from Violet that catalogs all the nearby restaurants, museums, malls, movie theaters, dogparks and places of interest! One of the most thoughtful and wonderful things I have ever received!).
5. Go shopping and explore the local mall. Find your new favorite shirt (in carob brown, not the scary atlantis blue) and buy two because it is so awesome.
6. Have in-laws offer to buy new screen for new house as birthday gift. Exactly what I wanted. Seriously.
7. Get flowers from your husband. Get coconut cream pie from your husband.
8. Go out to dinner at the Primo Grill, which is only a few blocks from your new house. So good.
9. Relax while husband brings you more coconut cream pie.
Ahhhhh (and I only cried once when the postwoman brought me stuff from my family).
My favorite email
The loveseat in the previous entry is something I've been trying to get rid of for the past week. I finally posted on Craigslist and linked to the picture on the blog. I've gotten 15 inquiries. My favorite one:
Are these still available? Also, the picture link... is this a picture of the actual loveseast? Is the couch of the same pattern? Thank You
Um, actually, no. This is a completely separate couch, unrelated to the ad. I just linked to it for fun.
Duh.
August 09, 2005
August 05, 2005
August 03, 2005
The Furniture--She is Here!
Finally!
I literally had begun to believe that nothing that I own would ever show up at the new house. All our stuff would just continue riding around on various moving trucks, traveling back and forth across the United States FOREVER.
The moving company called Frinklin on Monday afternoon to tell us that the movers would be at the house between 2 and 5 pm on Tuesday and, by the way, you owe us an extra $700 because you went over your weight limit. No kidding, really? I tried to explain when I booked job that we had 32 boxes of books and 15 boxes of comics in addition to our regular stuff, but they didn't want to hear it. Asshats. Then they showed up at 6, even though I had to leave my new job on the SECOND DAY to meet them. They also upped the stair charge from $49.00 to $69.00 for THREE extra stairs. The movers didn't mention that until afterwards and I refused. I think he saw the crazed look in my eye saying go ahead--try and take something worth twenty bucks. I dare you. I'm looking for an excuse to kill you.
I'll be contacting the Better Business Bureau later on this week about the crappy service and their inability to call me back while hauling 5,000 lbs of my belongings around.
Lastly, I wouldn't allow the movers to take anything upstairs (more money, you know), so it's all packed in the living room and one bedroom. I have pictures, but you're going to have to take my word for it for a while until we get the desk and computer set up. The movers did not set up the desk, even though we had paid them to.
To top it all off, they lost all my metal posts which hold the bookshelves in the actual cases, so the 34 boxes of books MUST remain packed until next weekend.
August 01, 2005
The Furniture Has Not Arrived
I'm still in limbo. No computer access at home as the laptop has decided to be incompatible with the system we have. Hopefully once the computer stuff all arrives it will work better.
The moving company has been "delayed" again. Every time I call they are "delayed." "It's our busy season." they keep reminding me. I don't give a crap. One would assume that if they are busy it is because they actually have customers, which all must be first-time users of their services because I can't imagine anyone ever using them after being jerked around so badly! The fact that they are busy should not prevent them from giving me the service that I have paid for. I was told, when I yelled this into the phone on Saturday, that I need to calm down or they cannot help me further.
"Help me further?!?" I said, amazed, "You haven't 'helped' me at all! Where the fuck is my stuff?"
Original delivery date: Last week.
New delivery date: Sunday or Monday.
New, new delivery date: Monday or Tuesday.
My orginal quote was 5 - 7 days for delivery. It has now been 10 days.