Waiting

Close of escrow is supposed to happen today. There seems to be a glitch in Condo Buyer's paperwork, so it may close today. Or tomorrow. Or Monday. I won't know until it actually, really, finally happens, which is more than a bit annoying. I had wanted to spend some time there tomorrow and have a contractor or two come for a visit. I can't schedule anything now since there is no certainty that the place will be mine tomorrow.

Cleared out the last of my stuff from the condo last night--it was pretty much just fridge items and patio furniture--and ran the wet Swiffer over the floors one last time. All my patio furniture is currently in my car since I thought I'd be closing today and could take it straight there after work. I'll leave it in there until tomorrow, but if it doesn't close tomorrow, I'll unload it at Mom's or the storage place so I'm not driving around with it all weekend. Extra steps, but what can you do?

Glad that's over

I'm SO glad to have the first part of the moving experience behind me. It was so traumatic, I couldn't even write about it for 24 hours. I selected quite possibly the WORST moving company imaginable--they were late, had limited English skills, didn't have the requested packing material, and here's the capper: took 90 minuted to travel 25 miles at a non-peak traffic hour. It was a horribly frustrating, expensive experience. But it's behind me. All my worldly possessions are contained in a 10'x12' room for the duration of this process. I thought I'd be clever and arrange it so that I could access boxes if needed. Not so much. Not a big deal...

I signed all the paperwork yesterday, so now I'm just waiting for the money to do it's dance so that I can relinquish one set of keys for another. Then the fun really begins!

Speaking of fun, I swung by the house after the moving ordeal on Monday and the lock is STILL on the shed. Nora says the listing agent told her that she won't remove it until close of escrow is complete. I sure hope there isn't a pile of "fun" waiting for me in there. I have no idea why they would want to keep that locked up unless they are hiding something in there. Oh well. Time will tell, I guess. I'll have a big dumpster parked in my driveway at some point, so I'll dispose of anything then if necessary.

Stay tuned for some more photos after the weekend. :)

Counting down

Well, it's finally here--the week it all comes together! Here's a little rundown of the next 7 days:

Today: Couch Guy came to pick up the couch. YAY--space! Continued packing like a crazy lady (with LOTS of help from Mom).

Tomorrow: Finish packing. Move more plants to Kat & Billy's house. Take up residence at Mom's.

Monday: Movers come sometime between 8 and 10. Clean condo.

Tuesday: 8 am--go sign paperwork for sale of condo. Time TBD--go sign paperwork for purchase of dump (this may actually happen on Monday). Keep cleaning condo if not finished on Monday.

Wednesday: Say good bye to my little condo for the last time. It's been awesome to me and I know it will be to it's new owner too.

Thursday: Closing day! Money transfers around magically in its little real estate dance.

Friday: Purchase of house records at the county office and I get the keys to my own little dump. I plan to spend the rest of the day raking up apples, cleaning and generally making the house look a little more respectable. I'll also hopefully meet with a contractor or two.

It seems like a looooong ways away at this end, but I know the week is probably going to pass in a flash. Here's hoping it's a smooth flash.

Kitty prozac

My feline roommate has been been a little traumatized of late. What with all the boxes and total disarray, Mali has detected something is afoot. She's poking around in closets where she has previously had no interest, she's snuggling a LOT closer at night and follows me around the house constantly. Her litterbox revealed that her GI system is maybe perhaps experiencing a little distress too. The kicker was that I went to pet her the other day, and her usually fluffy, silky coat is completely matted. Whether that's stress, or a dislike of the allergen reducer wipes I've begun using recently, she's a mess.

However, for as concerned or stressed as she is during the day, nighttime yields a much bolder, louder, athletic Mali.

Fortunately, I recently read about a product that restores feline bliss:
It's a little plug-in that releases the feline happy pheromone into the air, making cats feel calm and happy. Of course my favorite pet supply store did not have the plug in portion, so I bought a refill bottle and just popped it open for now. I was dubious, but I figured it was worth a try if it was going to reduce the nighttime antics and make the litterbox a happier place.

I think it might actually be working. The past two night have been markedly quiet. I'll be interested to see the effects after I actually plug it into the diffuser.

I think Mali is going to need a haircut to conquer all those matted furballs, but that's a trauma I'll save for another day.

Stuff

Why do we accumulate so much STUFF as we travel through life? As I'm packing what seems to be a never ending stream of belongings, it has made me ponder this. Many are sentimental--hand me downs from my Nana, or memories from adventures, gifts, etc.

For example, I love to cook and bake and many friends know this and so give me kitchen-themed gifts. Do I really need three sets of mixing bowls? A drawer full of gadgets? An endless supply of kitchen towels? I think not.

I'm feeling like I'm under the gun to get everything all ready to move, so I'm not even pausing to weed out anymore. I'm packing things that my or may not find a home in my new house and am simply chucking non-breakable stuff into boxes willy nilly. As I do, I vow to be more discriminating as I unpack. I will certainly have the mother of all yard sales after I move in to the house.

When I do, take a wild guess what I'm NOT going to do with the proceeds... That's right, I'm not got to use them to buy more stuff! I'll put it toward a landscaping fund, or my entertainment kitty, or toss it into savings or something equally productive.

Even with all the stuff, I think I've made good progress this weekend. Took a load of plants to Kat's house for babysitting (and so that she can use up the basil before it fades for the season), and have pretty much emptied the storage closet downstairs. All that remains are cans of paint that I don't know what to do with, by trainer for my bike, and Mali's travel cage. YAY! Though I do need to collect Rosie (cruiser bike) from Natalia who borrowed her while her mom was visiting so they could go cruising into town.

This time next week I'll be completely packed up and ready for the movers to come at 8:00 on Monday morning.

Toasty!

HOT here this weekend. Even so, I've stayed pretty motivated about hauling boxes around. I took a load of stuff up to storage today and assembled a shelving unit that will hopefully help keep things organized. My car is presently loaded for another trip tomorrow. Funtimes!

My storage unit here at the condo is almost empty, and just in time as I discovered a water leak in there on Saturday! It could have been really messy a few weeks ago, but thankfully it wasn't. My goal is to have it completely empty this week.

I spent this evening at Home Depot looking at cabinets, fixtures, flooring, paint, roofing material...pretty much everything. I was trying to get ideas for the house, but really, I needed an hour in some AC.

I spotted a house a few blocks away that has the exact gray exterior, white trim and red door that I'm seeking (I'll take a pic this week). I may go ask them for some info on their paint as it would sure beat getting a bunch of sample quarts and testing all the colors.

Semantics

I called a number of storage places this week and discovered that second floor units are cheaper, which makes complete sense to me, particularly when they do not have an elevator. Most of them do--one of my standard questions this week. Though I will be hiring movers to get out of Cedar Terrace, there is a high likelihood I'll use a U-Haul to move out of storage and into the house, so an elevator is essential.

My first stop today was a little mom and pop storage facility in a sketchy area where you had to get out of your car to activate the keypad to get into the complex. Minor detail since they had offered 1/2 off the price for 3 months (yay!) for 2nd floor units, confirmed that they had a "lift," and the gentleman who answered my questions was so very nice. There is apparently a difference between a "lift" and an "elevator," and I'm not talking about the difference between American English and British English.

After ringing the bell and being told by a property manager that they were not open today (I told her that her husband had told me they would be), I got in. We discussed my needs and she was so unpleasant and PO'd at her husband that I'm surprised she didn't send HIM down to deal with me in the 90-degree heat.

She takes me out to see the unit and we go upstairs and down a rather narrow hallway. She showed me the unit and I asked, "where is the elevator?"
She replied, "We don't have an elevator--we have a lift."
Curious, I asked, "Is it cargo sized or person sized?"
"If you have furniture, you'll have a difficult time getting it up here," came the reply.
"Thank you very much. I won't waste any more of your time."
I bet she gave him hell when she went back to the house!

I drove to the next one which has two different sized units, one of which they said was right next to the elevator. Unfortunately, they had rented the 8x10 on between Thursday and now, so I looked at the 10x13. I agreed to it even though I think it may end up being bigger than I really need. I'd hate to be moving in and find out it's not big enough, so I went with it. They were very nice and threw in a free padlock. Cool. Oh, and it really was right next to the elevator, which is big enough for a small car.

So, between this and scheduling service shut off with both AT&T and PG&E, I feel like I've been very productive in the past 24 hours, despite it being 70 degrees out at 6:30 AM and 90-something during the day.

Next up: securing a moving company.