Moving In

Emma watching Barney amidst the chaos of moving in. And if you're looking closely, you can see the very last box Kurt packed up--it's marked "the last chopper out of Vietnam".

 Kurt and his dad drove the truck from Utah to California while me and the girls went with Kurt's mom. Us girls decided to stay in a hotel half way there instead of drive straight (we couldn't leave until Paula got off work anyway--she had a half day of school).

We found a park within walking distance of our new place.

 Since Kurt and Boyd weren't sure if they'd get to our rental office before they closed, the office came up with the brilliant idea of chucking our keys in the bush if we got there past closing time. As Kurt neared Loma Linda, he realized they might actually make it, and since Kurt was nervous about having our keys sitting outside in a bush, they called the office to tell them how close they were and to please wait. They got to the office at 5:06--six minutes past closing. The door was locked. Our keys were in the bush.

Naomi cleans our new windows.

 When Kurt and Boyd got to the house, they discovered that the carpets had not been cleaned, and there was a layer of grime over everything. There were cables sticking out the wall that the manager said they would take out, but didn't. Our precious 8'x10' plot of grass they claimed had an automatic sprinkler was dead. The one sprinkler was broken. The A/C was broken. And the keys in the bush did not include any keys to the garage. With only a day left with the truck, I was freaking out. We had a truck full of stuff and nowhere to put it. And I wasn't sure I wanted to live there if the management was going to be so crappy to us.

 That night Kurt and Boyd got some sleeping bags out of the truck and slept on the floor. Paula and I were extra grateful we got to sleep in beds at the hotel. The next morning, Boyd went to the office and talked to the secretary there (the manager was out, naturally). After that things started to get better. They sent someone to clean the carpet and arranged to have someone clean the rest of the house. They fixed the A/C and gave us a garage door opener (although we still don't have a key to get in through the garage door close to our house). Kurt and Boyd were able to get most of our stuff into the garage and return the truck. Unfortunately, this set us back two days, so we weren't able to start putting things away until late Saturday, even though Kurt and Boyd got there on Thursday.

But despite the problems we had on move-in, we love our new place. Is it so much more open than our last house and my kids love having a room dedicated to toys. Okay, actually I think it's more me loving not having toys scattered all over the living room. And not to brag or anything, but after putting away all my dishes, I still had several cupboards completely empty. I keep finding new empty cupboards I never even noticed before. It's a nice change from having to invent new ways to maximize a teeny tiny kitchen. :)