Moving

...now browsing by category

 

The Lorigans Move (The Shit Show Continues!)

Tuesday, July 4th, 2017

Warning: This post is going to be long. Way too much crazy shit happened during our move process and I don’t want to leave any of the “good” stuff out, so if you don’t have some time to spend reading right now maybe save this for the next time you need to spend a while in the bathroom. 

Spoiler Alert: We made it to Colorado Springs and got moved into our house. Now that that’s out of the way, enjoy.

Sunday (6/18):
Well, we’re finally starting our trip to Colorado Springs! First stop: Las Vegas. Of course, being us, nothing could be easy so we’ve spent the last two weeks in Lockwood (Shae and kiddos) and Lompoc (me) because the movers came and packed up all of our stuff at the end of May. Rather than spend weeks on air mattresses with no clothes we decided to move out of our house and start the adventure early.Things actually went relatively well packing up and getting on the road. Shae and I only had one minor spat during packing (seriously, how do you leave a load of laundry to do until 9 PM the night before we leave??), which anyone who has ever watched us pack up a tent should find amazing. Since we have two cars to get to Colorado, we are caravanning: Shae has the kids, dogs, and most of our stuff and I have…well…silence and a calm drive.Of course, we picked travel dates that happened to align with a crazy heat wave. We hit 118 degrees on the way to Vegas! Shae being Shae, she decided that despite the fact people were bursting into flames on the side of the road we had to stop at some artsy thing outside of Vegas where someone had stacked a bunch of huge, painted rocks and go take pictures (Shae says I need to tell you it’s called Seven Magic Mountains…whatever, it’s a bunch of stacked rocks). Since the ground was hot enough to fry an egg on, we had to put our special shoes on the dogs’ feet so they could go out with us. As much of a pain as it was to get them on the dogs’ feet, the ladies loved them. We got tons of comments from all kinds of girls. I may have to remember those things.

Our hotel is pretty nice, extremely dog friendly, and we have a nice little lawn right outside our room for the dogs to crap on. The kids enjoyed the pool (of course), and I enjoyed a good beer or two at the restaurant/bar (of course). The only problem we had with the hotel was getting all of our stuff from the parking garage to the room. We didn’t plan things out well, so Shae and I ended up carrying all of our crap (including dog dishes/food) from the garage to the hotel in triple digit heat. Not the dumbest thing we’ve done, but not our finest moment of planning.

Hopefully the rest of the trip/move goes this smoothly. I’m sure it will.

Monday (6/19):
On to Grand Junction, Colorado today. This is our longest travel day of the trip, clocking in at about 530 miles and about 9 hours (counting dog and kid stops). The drive was pretty uneventful, kids were really good considering the amount of time spent in the car over the past two days. 

Even thought it was still over 100 degrees and everyone just wanted to get to the hotel and relax, someone (looking at you, Shae!) decided we HAD to get stop and take a family selfie in front of the “Welcome to Colorado” sign.

The only issue that popped up today was with the closing on the Niblick house. They were supposed to close today, but apparently there was some “minor” paperwork issue with the buyer’s lender. Sounds like everything will get taken care of tomorrow and we should still be lined up to close on our house in Colorado Springs on Wednesday.

Tuesday (6/20):
We made it to Colorado Springs today! The drive was OK, but we found the kids’ car limit. Unfortunately, it was about two hours outside of the Springs. The last couple of hours were apparently filled with fighting and arguing, at least in Shae’s car (my car continued to be calm and silent). The kids are really excited to finally be in their new city. The kiddos also got to see our new home today, too. We did our final walkthrough and the sellers were onsite cleaning the house so we had talked with them quite a bit. They have a daughter the same age as the kiddos, so the kids ran all over the house and found all the best hiding places and got the inside info on the house and yard. Ella may already have a new bestie here. Of course she does. Things are still a little tense though, because we haven’t closed on the Niblick house yet. Apparently, the paperwork issue should be resolved but the lender still hasn’t signed off. Not sure what’s going on, but everyone assures us that it’s not a big deal. I’m starting to have doubts we’re going to be able to close on our new home on Wednesday, but it sounds like we should still get moved in this week. I guess the kids just get more days in the pool.

Wednesday (6/21):
Well, as I worried about, things are still held up in San Diego so we are going to have to extend our hotel stay and request an extension on our closing here in the Springs. I’m still not sure what’s going on with the Niblick sale, but I keep hearing it should close any minute now and then we can close here as soon as everything is wired over. I’m starting to get pretty worried because if we don’t close here on Thursday I’m going to have to reschedule the delivery of all of our stuff and we’ll probably have to go the weekend (at least) without beds, toys, TV, etc.On the bright side, Ella made yet another instant friend. She was down swimming at the hotel pool (while I supervised and enjoyed some free hotel beer), and somehow managed to make friends with a girl about her age from Missouri. They played for about an hour, until I dragged Ella away. So far, she’s made two “friends” in our two days in Colorado; I think her worries about making new friends may have been unfounded.

Thursday (6/22):
Well, shit. Since we still haven’t closed on our Niblick house, we aren’t going to be able to close here in the Springs today. That means I have to reschedule delivery of all of our stuff because we aren’t going to be able to accept delivery Friday morning if we don’t have keys yet. To make things even better, the next available date for delivery is July 10th. So we are going to get to sleep on air mattresses and live out of our suitcases for two weeks or so. You know, assuming we ever get our house.To make things even better, we had to move hotels because there are no rooms at the place we were staying. Yet another pet deposit. On the bright side, both kids like the pool at the new hotel (Doubletree) even better, especially Jackson (although Ella misses her new friend from the old hotel). I also like the bar (good Happy Hour and good beer!), and there are quite a few good places to eat within walking distance of the hotel. We finally got some clarity on the issues with the closing in San Diego. Huge shout out to our SD realtor (Thanks, Kat!) for doing everything she could (including calling from alternate phone numbers) to get the buyers’ lender to finally get off their ass and commit to getting things moving on Friday. We’ve been assured that they are going to send over the clear to close first thing Friday morning, so things should move on the SD side early. There’s still a slight chance we’ll have a new home tomorrow! That said, I’ve already booked the weekend at the hotel; I’ve learned my lesson by now.

Friday (6/23):
And the hits keep on coming. The lender did finally send over their clear to close first thing in the morning, but due to all of the delays all of the paperwork had to be redone and we still haven’t officially closed. Word is that the buyers are signing all of their docs this evening, but then we get papers to sign sent over at 6PM. Looking at the docs, they are all dated from Monday! Why are we just getting these? Even if we send them in now the soonest we can close is Monday, which is also the day the lock on our loan here in the Springs expires. What the hell??? I’m getting a beer. And another one. I give up.

Sunday (6/25):
The weekend was pretty uneventful with the exception of the kids swimming so much that Ella got cuts on her feet from the bottom of the pool. The kids also managed to make a new set of friends at the pool each day. We also found a pretty good pizza place, but the kids were sick of pizza after the second trip in two days. We are still at the hotel, but we’ve received word everything is signed and will process Monday morning. Suuuure it will. I’m really confident. We’ve got an appointment to sign docs here at 2PM so if things actually go as planned we’ll get keys and be able to sleep in our new house Monday night. I’m sure this will work out. We’re due right?

Monday (6/26):
What. The. Hell?? Even when things seem to go well, they suck. We got word early in the day that everything went through on the Niblick house and we have officially closed. Yay! Sounds like things are all working out, and we’re on schedule to close tonight. We get everything packed up from the hotel (it looks like a federal disaster area after the kids spent 4 nights in the room, and they make us put deposits for the dogs??), and head out to get lunch before the doc signing. The signing goes well right up until the end. The dogs and kids were both outstanding (no one even noticed we had dogs laying under the table until we told them). Things were great, up until we went to sign the last set of docs to get our keys and they mentioned the closing date is Tuesday because they hadn’t received the wire of funds from SD when they setup the closing. Seriously? Even when we sign docs for an hour we don’t get keys? Shit!!! Well, back to the Doubletree (luckily they had a room ready), too bad Ella’s feet hurt too bad to enjoy swimming.

Tuesday (6/27):
Woohoo! We finally got keys and have our house! Holy shit! It’s about time. Of course, being us, even today didn’t go smoothly.I finally had to go into work, I could only take so many days off before people forget I exist. Things go relatively well at the new office, although it took me about 3 hours to get my badge properly setup to grant me access to my office. Compared to the past week, that’s the least issues I’ve had with anything. Shortly after lunch, I get a call from Shae that our funds from CA have finally come through and we’ve got the go ahead to go get our keys. I head on over to the title office, while Shae gets stuck in traffic (seriously??). While I’m waiting, our title person comes and tells us that they don’t have authorization from our lender to release our money because they’re still waiting on some paperwork from CA. Again, What the hell? We were told by the lender everything was good and now there’s more issues? In the end, we had to sign a couple more forms and the escrow people on both sides had to talk a bit but things finally got ironed out and we got our keys. YAY!


So, that’s our saga. I haven’t done the craziness and stress justice, but just know it was pretty ridiculous. We are loving our new house, although it’d be nice if we had beds to sleep on. At least the delay is giving us time to paint and get carpet replaced before everything is here. The neighborhood is great; the kids made a new friend on day one (granddaughter of one neighbor) and hung out in their inflatable pool. There are tons of kids for them to play with, and we even got cookies delivered from the “welcoming committee” family that lives just up the block. I wish we hadn’t had to deal with all the insanity, but things have been great since we finally got keys. 

Dear Niblick Dr,

Wednesday, May 31st, 2017

To our little house on Niblick Dr:  I just want to say thank you.  Thank you for being the perfect first home for us.  Thank you for protecting us during the storms and keeping us safe.  Thank you for putting up with the crazy kids and dogs and our numerous house guests.  Thank you for teaching us so much about home ownership.

 

From the moment we walked in, 10 years ago, I knew right away that Niblick Dr would be our home.  It was quirky and had a ton of personality, and we instantly fell in love.  Over the years we have added our own little touches and turned it into our home.  Sure, we never got to do some of the projects we had in mind, but that didn’t make it any less “home” for us.  

 

Over the last 10 years, Niblick Dr, has held many firsts for us.  Soon after moving in, Pat and I got our first dog together.  Lunchbox may be a cranky, potty mouthed, old man now, but as soon as we got him, he fit right in!

 

After Lunchbox we found out that I was pregnant!  Pat and I put so much work into getting their room perfect for them.  I like how they have shared a room all these years, but I guess it’s time for them to each have their own space at the new house.  

 

Niblick Drive is the first and only house the twins have ever lived in.  The day we brought them them home it really made our house feel complete.  This is the house they took their first steps in and said their first words in.  The first time one of them got sick and I had to sit in a cool bathtub with them was in this house.  The first time they rode a bike and the first time they fell off their bikes was here too.  Over the years we have marked the passage of time on the hallway doorjamb as we watched them grow taller and taller.  The doorjamb has gotten rather dirty and gross as time has gone by, and I just haven’t been able to bring myself to clean it.  I feel like if I do, and all the markings come off, I won’t remember what it was like when they were at each stage.  I know it is rather silly since I have a million pictures from those times, but I just can’t do it.  I did transfer all those marks to a piece or parchment paper so I can put them in the new house, but it won’t be the same.  

 

 

Our little house on Niblick Dr has seen us at our highest and lowest points.  It is where Pat and I learned what it meant to be married and where we took that marriage and made it into a true partnership.  I almost feel like starting our life in a smaller home forced us to be in the same room together and hash out any problems that have come up.  It makes me feel better about moving into such a large home where we will each have our own spaces.  So again, thank you Niblick Drive for helping us create this amazing life we have and for holding onto so many memories.  You will be missed.

Update From Lunchbox

Tuesday, May 30th, 2017

Hey everyone! Long time no blog. I’d like to blame the humans for not letting me on the laptop anymore, but honestly I’m just too old and tired to be bothered to share my awesome thoughts with the world. Oh, and my toenails are too long. Well, since I recently got a trim and there’s a ton to fill you guys in on, I decided to sneak Mommy’s laptop out of her bag and let you guys know what’s really going on.

A ton has changed since last time I put paw to keyboard, most notably that the annoying babies have turned into even more annoying kids. However, there is one thing that bears mentioning above the rest: the little bitch. The humans scold me when I call her that, but what else do you call a female dog who’s smaller than you? They call her Whiskey, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because they’re alcoholics and now no one can tell if they’re getting drunk or scolding the brown monster. Whatever her name is, a little over two years ago the humans brought home the insane monstrosity known as Whiskey. Sure, she started out cute but that got old about a month later when she chewed on my shoulder so much that I had to go into surgery to get a tiny little tumor removed (fine Dad, it was huge and gross). Anyway, the tumor wasn’t a problem for almost 8 years until she showed up. Since then, it’s been week after week of torture from my new “sister”. She’s always stealing my bed, stealing attention, and getting both of us in trouble. I’m sure I’m supposed to say I love her, so sure. Whatever. If you think she’s cute, you live with her. I could go on for hours about how annoying Whiskey is, but lately there’s more going on I need to fill you in on.

I’m not really sure what’s going on, but there is weird shit going on with the humans. It started a couple of months ago with putting a bunch of stuff in boxes. They were nice enough to avoid any of my stuff, but they did pack up a lot of the small human’s toys that I use when I can’t find my toys fast enough. Then, a weird sign appeared in the front yard. Shortly after, things got REALLY weird. All kinds of new people started coming by the house. You’d think that would annoy me, but it was great! Every time someone new came by, I got to go for a walk (which is awesome, even if the bitch has to go too). Occasionally, we’d even go to parks, restaurants, etc. It was like the old days, before the small humans took over. Lately the visitors have dropped off, but the packing has picked up again. Today, three strangers came over and put everything we own in boxes. They even boxed up almost all of my toys (I’d be annoyed, but brown poop-monster steals them all anyway). 

I’m not sure what’s going on, but the humans keep talking about how we are going to be “Colorado dogs” or “snow dogs”. So, when the humans were at dinner tonight I did a little Googling and figured out that Colorado is a state halfway across the country. Don’t even get me started on this “snow” shit. I watched some videos of dogs playing in snow that look like tons of fun, if you’re three or four. I’m 10! I’m way too old for this shit! I also looked up how long I’m going to have to share the back of the car with the beast. Three days?!? No thanks. Maybe whoever moves into our house wants an awesome, super-smart, well behaved “mature” dog.

That’s what’s going on in the life of Lunchbox lately. Annoying kids, super-annoying sister, and now this whole moving thing. So, basically the humans continue to suck and I continue to pay the consequences.