A Local Moving Company Can Take the Stress Out of Your Move

Moving is always a stressful experience, whether you're moving across the country or just across town. There are dozens of details to be taken care of before you even get to packing up all those boxes and transporting them to your new neighborhood. The process is especially complicated when you have pets and children. Fortunately, you can get help to make the move easier.

Most people don't even consider hiring movers when they're just relocating to a different neighborhood in the same city.  You may borrow a friend's pickup truck and recruit every available friend to help, but it still takes multiple trips back and forth and is a thoroughly exhausting process.

What if you could get the help you need without breaking the budget? Many smaller, local moving companies provide the same services as nationwide movers, but at a lower cost. You can get the help you need, while still staying within your budget, which alleviates much of the stress. This leaves you to take care of other concerns, like filing a change of address with the post office, switching utility services to your new home, and cleaning the property to prepare it for your family.

When you hire local movers in Clearwater, FL, be sure to check references, licenses, and insurance. This can help you ensure you're working with a respected and reputable business. Once you feel confident in the service and accept the estimate they offer, you can leave the rest in their hands. Simply make the arrangements and the movers will make sure your belongings get to their destination safely and on time.

Many local movers will also pack your boxes for you. If you've ever watched professional movers pack boxes, you know they can do it much faster and better than you or I ever could! The movers also label everything clearly so they know where each box goes when they get to your new house.

Even a short move means taking on a dozen tasks, while still dealing with the everyday aggravations of work, taking care of the family, and meeting other obligations. A local move can be even more emotionally draining than a long distance move. Hiring local movers with a good reputation can help alleviate some of those frustrations and make your move a little easier.

Enjoy the Near Maintenance-Free Value of a Chain Link Fence

A couple years after we had our first house built, Jeffrey (with a little help from Beth) fenced in our backyard with a chain link fence. If you've got small children or pets, which we did at the time, you'll know how nice it is to have a fenced in yard. I could let the dog and the children run without worrying about them too much. It was especially convenient to be able to keep an eye on them through my kitchen window while I made dinner or washed dishes.

While there are always home improvement projects to be done, installing a chain link fence is one project that is easy on the budget, lasts a long time and needs very little in the way of repairs and maintenance.  We didn't really consider other options, but reading through the following list, I see it was a good choice.

Some of the best reasons to consider chain link for your next fence purchase

• Easy Cleaning
  There is very little work involved to keeping aq chain link fence clean. A garden hose is typically all that is needed unless you are in an area that allows for a build-up of mud and dirt. A small scrub brush will loosen dirt that can then be rinsed away. Your fence with stay looking new for a long time to come.
• Corrosion Resistance
  The material that quality chain link is constructed of is both durable and resists corrosion from weather elements. This means your investment will last for decades. Wood has a tendency to weather rough and vinyl products get brittle with temperature changes over a short period of time. 
• Simple Repair Process
  The repairs on a chain link fence are simpler than with many other types of fencing. Sagging and creases can happen over time, along with small areas of damage from accidental contact with vehicles and other heavy objects. Fixing these areas can be one of the more affordable things on your home to-do list.
• Quick Gate Repairs
  Gates designed for chain link fences are attached with hardware that makes replacement easy and inexpensive. You can change styles or replace used and worn gates. There are a single panel or double-panel designs that can match the construction design of your home perfectly.
• Affordable Damage Replacement
  There may come a point in which portions of the chain link fence need to be replaced. The great news is that replacement sections for this type of fencing are some of the more affordable on the market. It is an overall property securing investment you can feel confident about.

Contact experts in chain link fence Tampa like Family Fence and schedule an appointment for an estimate today!

Just out of curiosity, I looked our first house up on Google Maps. That chain link fence is still there - at least I'm going to assume it's the same one. Also, that tree is so tall. Did we even have that tree when we lived there? Of course, we did move out of that house more than 20 years ago (how has it even been that long?), so the trees have had some time to grow.

Top Benefits Of Using Full-Service Storage Solutions

Long gone are the days when you have to load up all of your belongings and transport them to your new home or to a storage facility yourself. These days, you have many storage options available at your disposal and one of them is storage pickup service Boston MA (the reputable company found at www.ondemandstorage.com). While there are many advantages to using storage solutions of all kinds, here are some of the top benefits of using a storage company that will pick up your stuff for you.

No Renting Trucks - It can be time consuming and expensive to have to rent a moving truck. Not many people enjoy having to load and unload the truck, and it can also be tricky to try and drive that huge truck in traffic. When you hire a storage service with pickup included, they will come to you, get your stuff, and transport it for you. There is no need to worry about renting or driving any moving trucks.

No Heavy Lifting - With storage solutions that offer pickup services, you don't have to worry about doing any heavy lifting. You have enough to deal with when you are moving or storing your belongings. Full-service storage companies will come to you, pack and load up all of your stuff, and then transport it to their storage facility until you need it again.

Return Items - When you use a traditional storage unit, you have to pack up your belongings and take them to the unit yourself. Additionally, when you want to remove your belongings, you have to go pack them up again and transport everything. When you use a full-service storage solutions company, they will not only pack and transport your belongings to the storage facility, they will also bring your stuff back to you when you are ready. There is no need to make the trip to the storage facility to pick up your stuff. The company will bring it to you wherever you need it.

Moving or trying to store your belongings doesn't have to be difficult anymore. Using full-service and on-demand storage services can take away a lot of the stress involved with moving. It couldn't be easier to get your belongings packed and stored away so that you can have extra time and energy to take care of other important things.

Leave all of the work to the professionals.

Absolutely Brilliant

As you know, we moved this summer.  We had a crew of movers come in and pack all of our stuff, load it onto a big truck, and then deliver it all to our new house a few days later.

Part of the job was labeling all the boxes they packed - we we'd have at least an idea where each box needed to go in the house, and what was in it.  There's one particular box that makes me smile every time I see it.  (Yes, it's still packed up and stored in the attic now.)

This particular box holds Beth's Karaoke machine.  The label reads - "Singing Machine"

Which I think is absolutely brilliant, because who can really be expected to spell Karaoke anyway?  (I looked it up.)  But we definitely know what's in the box!

I Was Going to Bake Bread

I bake! (Photo credit: bcmom)

I do a lot of baking.  I'll probably do even more now that the weather is starting to cool down.  I've told you my favorite ways to warm up on a cool day haven't I?  Bake something!  Or wash dishes.  They both work really well.  Of course, baking is more fun, but it does usually mean there are dishes to be washed.

Anyway, I was planning to bake bread this week.  I had my sourdough starter pulled out of the fridge to warm up.  And that's as far as I got.

I was planning chicken wraps for dinner Monday night, and I turned the oven on to heat.  Then I got busy taking care of other things while I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Now, this new oven has always taken longer to preheat than my old oven, but I eventually realized that it was taking way too long.  So I checked, and the oven, which was supposed to be heating up to 400° was barely even warm.  Yep, something was definitely wrong.

I had to bake the chicken in the toaster oven, which worked fine, but dinner was really late.  We tried turning the oven off and back on, resetting the breaker just in case something hadn't been done right after our power outage on Friday, though everything else seemed to be working fine.  Nothing changed.  No heat.

It still did not immediately occur to me that I wouldn't be baking bread the next day as planned. Finally after dinner and dishes I realized that wasn't going to work, so I just fed the starter and put it back in the fridge

Thankfully, when we bought the house, we asked for a Home Warranty, so the next day I called to have somebody come and fix my oven.  First they said it would be next Wednesday before someone could come look at it - more than a week - but then they found someone who can come sooner.  Hopefully it will be tomorrow.  They needed my oven's model number and serial number so they could be sure to have the right part - hopefully it's just the bake element - and be able to get it fixed the first time.  However, finding those numbers proved to be a challenge, since there was nothing in the oven where it was supposed to be.

No numbers anywhere

She thinks she figured it out anyway, so here's hoping they got the part in and will be calling me in the morning to come and fix my oven.  If it's something more serious than the bake element, at least it can't cost us more than $100 because of the Home Warranty.  However, it might be a while longer before I can use my oven again.

It's been hard enough living just this week without an oven.  At least it's not Thanksgiving.

A Complete Set

We finally have our complete new bedroom set.

We got it in stages.  First a new mattress - because we decided to get a king-size bed and couldn't use our old mattress, a queen-size.  We looked at and tried a lot of mattresses and finally decided on a latex mattress, which is very comfortable.  We really were thinking we'd go with a traditional mattress with springs and maybe a pillow top like we had before, and we wanted nothing to do with any kind of memory foam.  We still don't like memory foam; we laid on a couple of them just to double-check.  This latex mattress, though, is completely different and amazingly comfortable, and is supposed to last 25 years.  Or so. 

We got the mattress delivered on a Friday and then the bedroom furniture came the following Monday.  We thought it was going to take longer to get the furniture since they told us it could be 6 to 8 weeks when we ordered it, but we needed to get the mattress because we had guests (family) coming and needed places for them to sleep.  So we got the new king-size mattress, moved our old queen-size bed into a guest room, and bought a new full-size mattress for the other guest room.  We wouldn't have needed any new mattresses - or bedroom furniture - except that we let the kids have the full-size beds and dressers from their rooms in our old house.  So we just had our bedroom set - which we got years ago from Jeffrey's dad when he moved in with his dad - and a twin bed.  Oh, and a futon and an air mattress, so I guess we weren't completely unable to have guests.  But it's still nicer to have actual beds.

So, we decided that if we were going to buy new beds and/or furniture, we should buy the new stuff for us and not just to furnish a guest room.  Makes sense, right?  And then we started looking for a bedroom set that we liked.   Do you know how hard that is?  Because we had bedroom furniture and we had no need for new furniture, we'd never even looked to see what we would like.  And there are so many different styles to choose from, and sometimes a really nice set will have something wrong with it.  The bed will be gorgeous, but the dresser not so great, or the other way around.  It's really hard for these furniture designers to put together a complete package, and of course mixing and matching wouldn't work because of differing styles and woods and finishes.

We finally found a set that we liked.  And had it delivered.  Except that my dresser wouldn't go up the stairs.  The movers had gotten the old dresser upstairs, so we hadn't really thought about it, but this one just wasn't going.  It ended up getting damaged in the attempt, so they had to take it back and order a new one.  In the meantime, Jeffrey removed the stair railing so they would be able to get that one up the stairs.  We weren't attached to that railing anyway.  Now we get to choose a new one, and hopefully it can be installed so that it can be removed semi-easily should we ever need to move furniture up or down the stairs in the future.  I'm thinking not - but you never know.

We had the bed, chest of drawers, and two night stands, and an empty wall where the dresser was to go.  We finally got the new dresser last week, completing our new bedroom set. We're really liking it.  And I could finally move my clothes back into our room.  That's nice.

Related articles

• Latex Mattress Questions

Save Money on Car Insurance?

You know all those ads you see on television and all the mail you get promising to save you money on your car insurance and just call for a free quote?  Well, we've been calling and asking.  It can't hurt to ask, right?

Except that all these things we've gotten with promises of savings are just plain LIES.  Lies, I tell you.  But still, we have to get new car insurance - not because we didn't like our old insurance; we did.  Just, for some reason, because we've moved we have to get new insurance.  Why?  I don't know.  To keep the insurance people here in business, I guess.  Because nobody would actually buy insurance from them given a choice.

Seriously, we want to insure the exact same cars and the exact same drivers, and even will be driving fewer miles since Jeffrey works only 5 minutes from home instead of 30 minutes like before.  They should be able to save us some money - at least a little just for that.  But no - they want us to pay half again to twice as much for the exact same thing.  And we have no choice in the matter, even though we know it doesn't have to cost that much.  We have to choose the lesser of all the evils and buy from someone here.  Instead of just keeping our old, much more affordable car insurance.  I'm still not exactly sure why...

It just feels like a total ripoff. 

An Update is Long Overdue

I haven't had much chance to blog recently - or even get online for much more than a quick perusal of Facebook.  What have I been doing?

It involves a bunch of these:

A big one of these:

Some really hard-working people to pack and load and then unload again.  And then we got to start unpacking and organizing and deciding where things go - and how long is this going to take?

You really don't realize how much stuff you have until it's time to move!  Really.  I know there are kitchen counters there somewhere.

I'm gradually getting organized, at least in the kitchen - along with finding clothes to wear and the things we need in the bathroom, all the important things.  I even made bread yesterday in my new kitchen.  Because sourdough starter must be used or fed regularly - though mine is pretty forgiving even when I neglect it for a bit. 

We got a few groceries the other night, and get to eat real food now, even if the only refrigerator we have is in the garage.  We bought a new fridge and even a dishwasher - I've never bought a dishwasher before, never used one either for that matter - but we've had to postpone delivery.  Twice.  Not so handy having the only fridge in the garage, but it's better than nothing, and I'm so thankful we have that.  And definitely thankful not to have to eat any more fast food.  I don't know how Jeffrey stood it for so long.  A few days was long enough for me.  We even had dinner outside on our patio this evening, because the weather has been glorious.  Absolutely wonderful.

We are gradually getting organized, and it's starting to look like a real house.  I might even have time soon to sit down and post that really long, overdue update about everything that has been going on.  Since March.

What, Do They Drive on the Other Side of the Road There?

So we're moving.  And we're going to have to get new drivers licenses in our new state.  Never mind that I have a perfectly good drivers license already that doesn't expire for another 5 years.  And also had to renew the sticker for my license plate, because it expired today - and we move out of state in 11 days.  I called to see if I could get an extension or something.  But no - basically she said, "you're really just screwed.  Whether it's 1 day or 365 days, you still pay.  The same amount.  It's an annual fee."

Apparently I can't wait 5 years or even 1 year to renew things that I've already paid good money for.  I guess the respective DMVs or DOTs or whatever they are have to make money somehow...

Then today Jeffrey mentioned that to get these new drivers licenses we have to take a written test - as if 20+ years of driving doesn't count for anything.  Seriously, isn't the written test for new drivers?  What, are their rules of the road so very different there?  Do they drive on the other side of the road or something?  I mean, written tests are fine for new drivers who have just taken Drivers Ed and studied all that stuff, but the rest of us have been out on the roads driving.  Who remembers how many feet you're supposed to signal ahead of a turn?  And even if I did know how many feet, I wouldn't really know what that means in real life - I just do it.  I'm also one of the few people who seems to know that, on the highway, you're supposed to drive in the right lane and use the left lane for passing.  And, this probably has nothing to do with a drivers license, but I'm also one of the few people that knows pedestrians are supposed to walk on the left side of the street, facing traffic.  At least one of the few in this town - maybe they all know that over there.

Unless, of course, they drive on the other side of the road there, in which case pedestrians should still walk facing traffic, but it would be on the right-hand side of the street.

Seriously, I doubt any of the rules in the new state are any different than in all the rest of the states, which kind of makes a written test a bit ridiculous for people who have been driving for years.

And then there's the fact that a valid current Wisconsin drivers license isn't good enough for ID.  No, they want a birth certificate, and my social security card, and I don't know what all.  Really?  Let's just treat all the new people as if they don't know anything and as if they lied to get the license they currently hold.  Yep, way to make me feel at home.

Dreaming of a New Kitchen

Kitchen Interiors
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We've been looking at houses again.  If you're confused because you thought we'd sold our house and already bought another one, that's another story.  Which I haven't posted here, but I should.  Soon.

Anyway, we've been looking at houses online, and there are several that could be quite nice for us.  Most of them will need a bit of work - from simple repainting, to completely ripping out the carpeting and installing new flooring.  Quite a few of the bathrooms and kitchens need some updating, too.

We're thinking that if we can get a decent deal on a house, we can afford to get some work done and fix it up the way we want it.  It would be kind of fun to be able to call someone in the area like this kitchen remodeling contractor minneapolis and see what kind of amazing kitchen I could have.

They say that the first step in any kitchen remodel, or any remodel for that matter, is to gather ideas, and I am definitely going to need to do that.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so the kitchen is very important to me, but besides wanting plenty of cabinet space and counter space to work on, I have no clear idea about what I want in a kitchen. I'm more about function than about actual design.  I can look at the pictures of the houses and know if I like a kitchen or don't, but I'd have no idea what it would actually take to turn it into my dream kitchen.  I probably should start gathering some ideas on Pinterest.

I also hope there's something in our area like the Inspiration Design Center in Minneapolis.  Everything for the new kitchen is right there, and the showroom is designed to inspire plenty of ideas.  And then - they have 3D design capabilities, which means a new kitchen design isn't just lines on paper.  You get to see what your new kitchen will actually look like.  Jeffrey is always designing houses on paper or on his computer, but I have a hard time envisioning what it's actually going to look like just by looking at the drawings.  This would be much better.

Home Renovations Make a House Your Own

Once again we spent another Sunday watching shows about home renovations. And by watching I mean having the shows on in the background while we went around our business, which on Sunday includes going through the ads in paper to see if there's anything we 'need' and cleaning up the kitchen and the rest of the house which just seems to get so messy on the weekends.  I usually end up watching the beginning of a show to see what they have to work with, and then I try to see the end to see the transformation.

These shows get me thinking it would be fun to find a fixer-upper, hire somebody who knows what they're doing like renovations toronto company Woodsmith, and get a great house for a great price.  Except that the prices for those houses on the shows are usually outrageous considering all the work that needs to be done, but I know that's all about where the houses are located.

It always ends up being a better price than buying the house that already has everything they want, and the final result is just as good if not better.  I'd say better just because the homeowners or home buyers get to choose all the fun things like cabinets, countertops, flooring, bathroom fixtures, etc. instead of having to live with what the previous owners may have chosen.  That's probably the part that appeals to me most.  We've had both of our houses built, and we got to choose carpet colors, paint colors, cabinets and everything else.  It wasn't high-end, but it was what we could afford at the time, and we got to choose.  Then, as we could afford to do it, and as things wore out or needed updated, we did our own home renovations and improvements - putting ceramic tile in the kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms, for instance, and making our house what we want.  Not to mention all the changes to the exterior after the tornado.

That was the hard part about looking at houses and thinking about moving.  The people that owned those houses had either used a local builder, like Woodsmith home builders toronto for those in the Toronto area, or spent their time fixing up and personalizing their houses, and usually the choices they'd made were not the choices we would have made.  Like painting every single room a different bright color.  What's up with that?  Thankfully, repainting isn't a huge deal, but other things like flooring that needs redone or ugly cabinets or countertops that need replaced would take a bit more time and money.  If the purchase price is right, there should be money in the budget to do some renovations and make the house our own.  At least that's what I get out of all these shows.  It's possible to have the house you want for the price you want to pay, if you have the right people to help you.

Apartment Search Made Easy

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of apartments.com for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When Jeffrey first took the job in Champaign, he was intending to get a long-term hotel to stay in because it would be cheaper by the week or month than by the night.  Then our daughter mentioned that he should look into getting an apartment.  Sometimes she is so smart!  He did find an apartment, and it was about half what he would have been paying for the hotel - even with the higher rent he had to pay to get a short-term lease.

In order to find an apartment, he just started searching online and calling numbers, and trying to remember the name of the apartments right across the street from work - the ones we lived in for several years; you'd think we'd remember!  He managed to find them, and it worked out, but it could have been so much easier.  Have you heard of apartments.com?

Now that looks like the easiest way to find an apartment - no matter where you are looking to move, across the country or across town.  Not that we need one now, but I visited apartments.com and started by searching for apartments in Champaign, just to see what I'd get.  I got a whole list of apartment complexes in the area.  They list apartment sizes and a range for rent.  You can even sort the results by rent prices Low to High, or High to Low if you're looking for the upscale apartments.  Or you can sort by number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want and the types of amenities you're looking for.  They have photos to look at, and some of them even have floorplans and 360° views as well as a nice property overview for each listing.

Fill in some basic information - name, phone number, email, desired move-in date, and you can check for available apartments right on the site.  Or, I'm looking at an apartment right now - which looks really nice - and I've got a message on the page that the Property Manager is online and I can chat with him or her right now.  I love that!  What a great way to get information about a potential new home.

So, if you're looking for a new place to call home, start at apartments.com.  They'll make your apartment search easy.  There's also a mobile app, available for iPhone, iPad and Android, so you can take your search anywhere.  And be sure to follow apartments.com (@aptscom) on Twitter, too - they'll help you find your #perfectfit.

The Advantages of Getting Ready to Move

We took a whole trailer-load of stuff to Goodwill today and got rid of it.  Hopefully they can sell it, recycle it, donate it, or something else that will benefit them or somebody else.  We certainly didn't need all that stuff here.  The problem with having room for all the stuff is that we tend to keep all the stuff.

Until we start thinking about moving and realize how many trailer trips it would take to move it all and how much all that stuff weighs - and how much it would cost to have a moving company pack it all up and move it for us.  That's when we start thinking about getting rid of everything we don't really need, because why pay to move something that's just going to go and sit on another shelf?

We've also had our house completely inspected and know that everything is in good shape - not that we were worried about that, but it's still good to know.  I mean, we did have practically everything redone 2 years ago after the tornado, pretty much everything except closed cell spray foam ottawa. The only thing we had to get fixed was the water heater because it supposedly wasn't installed properly.  However, when we were going through things last night, Jeffrey found the packaging from the gas connector from the original installation, and it specifically says that it's for a water heater.  So I don't understand what was wrong about it.

Oh well, at least it was a fairly quick fix and wasn't something like insufficient insulation which would have required installation of spray foam insulation ottawa or something like that.  I know proper insulation helps decrease power bills, but still, that's more than we would have wanted to deal with.  And, thankfully, our house is nice and cozy - except sometimes our bathroom floor.  What I wish we'd done is put some heat in the floor when we had the tile done, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the inspection.

Knowing the house is in good shape is good, but I'd say the biggest advantage of getting ready to move is the purging, sorting and organizing.  Less stuff is better, right?  And if we're not using it, somebody should be able to.

What a Mess

In all the sorting, organizing, tossing, and packing, things are starting to look like a real disaster around here.  That doesn't sound a bit organized, does it?  It's just that there are piles of stuff here and piles of stuff there with everything being sorted out - what goes, what gets tossed, what gets donated, etc.  Along with all that boxes are starting to stack up and newspapers and packing materials are scattered everywhere.  It's quite a change from all that time I kept the house as close to perfect as possible just in case we'd have a showing.

I'm sure I'll need to clean everything up again before we leave.  And now I'm trying to figure out when exactly I'll have time for that.  Sometime after everything is packed up and out of the house I'll just have to do it.  I'm not sure exactly how much cleaning I need to do, but I'll have to at least sweep and vacuum and probably wipe down the bathrooms.  It would be a lot easier to just find somewhere I could Click Here and get someone to come in and clean the floors for me, but maybe that's what the buyers will do.  I just need to leave it decent.  I think.  I'm not really sure how much I'm supposed to do.

I remember doing the last-minute cleaning at our old house before I was ready to load the kids, the cat, the dog, and all the last-minute stuff into the car and head to Wisconsin.  I wanted to leave everything perfect.  And then that night we got to Wisconsin and got to the apartment we were going to be living in for the next several months - and it was a dark, dirty mess.  I'm sure the apartment complex was supposed to have someone clean before a new tenant moved in, but they didn't.  It was very frustrating going from my nice clean house to that.  I'd like to leave the house so that whoever comes in here won't feel like they have to clean before they can touch anything.  OK, even if I don't do any cleaning at all, it won't be that bad.  But I'll probably do it anyway.

At least one of the guys from the moving companies that came to give us an estimate added my vacuum cleaner to the inventory and included it in the list of items to be moved.  Nope, that's not gonna work...

Someplace to Move TO

Not only have we sold our house here, but we've also found a house to move to.  We close on this house March 15, and then we're supposed to close on the new one March 22.  So, we'll only be living in Jeffrey's apartment for about a week - depends on when we can get our stuff delivered and start moving in, but hopefully early the next week.

We had found another house we liked, and the price looked really good.  The only problem was that it is a short sale (which, to me, sounds like you should be able to get into it really quickly, but it's not) so they wanted us to commit to buying the house, but then we'd have to wait 90 days to find out for sure if we were going to get it or if we'd have to pay more if we still wanted it.  Sure, Jeffrey has the apartment until the end of April, and we could probably have extended that a month if needed.  It would have been real cozy - just us and our two cats.

But we just didn't like the uncertainty of the deal, and there was another house right across the street, one that Jeffrey had looked at early on and that I had looked at and liked when I looked after the Feast.  Jeffrey had the realtor check, and the sellers were willing to lower their price quite a bit if we could close in 5 weeks.  So, we decided to go with it.  I think it's going to be a nice house for us.  It's not quite as big as the short sale across the street, but there are only the two of us and the cats, and there will be plenty of room.  We didn't really need the extra room.  It's hard to remember that we don't have kids living here and all their friends coming over and hanging out.

When I went looking at houses after the Feast, I saw one house that I absolutely loved.  If we had been in a position to buy then, I would have wanted that one.  Except that it was a perfect house for a family with kids - a house for teenagers to come over and hang out in.  There were plenty of bedrooms, a nice deck with a pool, and great space for watching movies and hanging out in the basement.  And yes, I really liked the kitchen.  But it really was more house than we need.  I hope some nice family bought it.

This one, though.  This will be really nice for us.  We'll have at least as much room there as we have here - so it's not like we're downsizing really - except for the yard, but that's true for pretty much every single house we've looked at.  The kitchen has a really big island with tons of cabinet space and a large pantry, which I really liked.  Yes, the kitchen is the most important room in the house.  We'll also get a fireplace, which we've never had, and a jetted tub and double-bowl vanity in our bathroom.  Jeffrey has wanted that double-bowl vanity for ages.  There's also a great guest bathroom with a double-bowl vanity - so feel free to visit!

The best part is that I'll get to live with my husband again!  And, while he won't be walking to work like he's been doing these past few months - no excuse not to since he was living right across the street from work - he will be only 5 minutes from work, so we'll be saving all kinds of money on gas. 

Related articles

• Time to Pack
• Educating A Buyer Looking To Purchase A Short Sale
• When short is anything but

Looks Like We Need a Plumber

Water Heater (Photo credit: rd76pag)

We had the home inspection done last week, and everything checked out OK.  Except that we have to find a plumber to evaluate and correctly install the water heater.  The home inspector thought Jeffrey probably installed the water heater himself because it wasn't done properly, something about the wrong materials used for the water and gas lines.  I don't really know, and the guy we paid to install the water heater apparently didn't know, or else he just figured that we wouldn't know the difference so it wouldn't matter.  Hopefully it won't be too expensive.  I kinda wonder if we can get away with sending the bill to the guy who originally installed the thing.  Yeah, probably not.

Thankfully we just had the entire exterior of the house re-done a couple years ago after the tornado, so we won't have to worry about roof repairs (réparation toiture montréal if you speak French), and the buyers shouldn't have to worry for a good long time.  Same with the siding, garage door, windows, etc.  And, really, we just replaced the water heater a few years before that, so it shouldn't have been an issue.  Once it's fixed, though, they shouldn't have to worry about that for a while either.

For anyone who does need roof repairs (in Montreal) be sure to check out these guys for montréal couvreur. They've got over 25 years experience, so I bet they know what they're doing, and they'll do it right in the first place - saving you money in the long run.

Moral of the story: Just because somebody says he's a professional and says he knows what he is doing, always do your own research.  According to the home inspector, a water heater must be installed by a licensed plumber - not just some guy who does construction or remodeling.  He may be a licensed contractor, but that does not make him a plumber. 

My Poor Honey

He took a loaded trailer full of stuff back to Champaign with him this afternoon/evening.  The weather wasn't the best today, but thankfully it was raining all day and not snowing.  And thankfully our sweet son Cory came home last night and helped packing up, cleaning out, and loading last night and today.  (He also got his laundry done and went back to campus with quite a bit of food)

Jeffrey set off a bit earlier than usual today, because it takes longer when pulling the trailer and because he had to unload everything from the trailer and into the storage locker by himself when he got there.  All I could do was watch him go and pray for him to get there safely.

He called a couple hours later to say it was tough going.  It had been OK when he left here, but he ran into quite a bit of wind, and the van wasn't happy pulling the loaded trailer in that wind.  The check engine light was coming on, and she was drinking gas like crazy.   They're calling for those strong winds to be here tomorrow, probably coming from that way - so maybe if we'd checked the weather we would have known he was going to have that to deal with, but we were busy.

I feel bad that he had to deal with that.  And I hope the van's OK.  She's had to work a lot harder in the last few months, pulling that trailer, than she's ever had to work before.  But, just a few more trips like that - for both the van and the husband.  Thankfully they made it safely and got unloaded.  I'm sure Jeffrey is looking forward to weekends that don't involve lots of driving.  That has to get old even when he's not hauling a trailer full of stuff.  And I'm looking forward to not having to say goodbye at the end of every weekend.  Just so much stuff to get sorted and tossed and packed before that...

Related articles

• Time to Pack

But It Won't Be the Same

I hope the library where we're moving is a good one.  I should probably research that...

Last week I boxed up a bunch of paperbacks that I'm planning to donate instead of move.  When I told my son Cory I was getting rid of those instead of taking them and that I could just get them at the library when I want to read them, he said that yes, I can get them at our library here, but what if I can't get them at the library there.  I'm not really worried about that, but I am definitely going to miss our little library.  Sure another library can give me books and programs, but it just won't be the same.  It's like if you always went to a certain day spa montreal and then moved to a different city.  You're used to the aesthetic and therapeutic services in the elegant and relaxing atmosphere, and you're sure no other spa can be as good.

Maybe it can, but there's something to be said for what you're used to, and if you're used to your montreal day spa the same way I'm used to my library, then it's going to take some adjustment.  Will the new spa be open 7 days a week?  Will they offer the same therapeutic massages, hydromassages, aesthetic care, and waxing?  Will my new library give me the same access to the books I want to read, access to great programs, and a feeling of community?

Or maybe I'm the only one who obsesses over these things.  Normal people would just go to the library or the spa in their new town, once they've moved, and see what they have to offer.

Time to Pack

For real.

When Jeffrey first started his new job and we put the house up for sale, we did a lot of sorting and donating, and Jeffrey took several trailer-loads of stuff down to Champaign and put it in storage.  Then we pretty much stopped - because there's only so much you can pack up without making the house look completely empty.  And we waited.

Well, now it's time to get back to packing - packing everything up, because we're really moving.  We got an offer on our house, which we accepted.  We signed papers.  The buyer signed papers.  The home inspector came today, and we've got some moving company representatives coming tomorrow to give us estimates on what it will cost to move the furniture and the rest of the big stuff.

In the meantime, I need to start packing everything up so Jeffrey can start taking trailer-loads of stuff again.  Anything that I don't need in the next 5 weeks goes into boxes, and probably some of the stuff I do need, but I won't notice that until it's already boxed up, and I'll just have to figure out how to get along without it.

And, in case you missed the important part of this post - we have a buyer! Oh, and the fact that I'm going to be busy packing probably means I'm not going to have much time for blogging.  Or facebook.  Or reading those library books I want to read.  Why do they all come in at the same time?

I am looking forward to living with my husband again. 

Related articles

• OK, Time to Move
• Moving Tips and Tricks - Secrets to Packing and Moving Like a Pro
• How to Tackle the Packing Process

Letting Go

We had another showing of the house this week.  I spent all day Monday cleaning and straightening the house to get ready for it.  It's not like it was so bad, but I like it to be perfect when people come to look at it, because then they'll like it, right?  It must have worked, because the people liked it.  They even made an offer.  Again, a low offer.  I know it's supposedly a buyer's market, but that doesn't mean we can be expected to give the house away, and we need to be able to buy a new house, without having to get a mortgage a lot bigger than what we have now.  So we countered the offer - lowered our price, agreed to pay the closing costs they asked for, and to pay for a home warranty - and they walked away without bothering to negotiate further.  So I guess they weren't the ones, and we just have to be patient.

In the meantime, I was panicking a bit.  Yes, I know we've been trying to sell this house for a few months, but the idea of actually selling it and moving - it's hard.  We talked about this when Jeffrey was looking for a new job, but an actual offer and the possibility that it could be soon, made me realize that I might be having just a little bit of a hard time letting go.  I like my house.  I like my neighborhood.  I like that the kids are close.  But, you know what?  Besides the kids - and they/we can visit - it's all just stuff.  I need to keep reminding myself of that.  Selling the house and being able to call demenagement international montreal or some local moving company (how much is that going to cost?) is a good thing.  Being able to go live with my husband again is a good thing.

So, while this particular buyer didn't pan out, I know there will be one, and I need to be prepared for that - both emotionally and for real.  Time to get back to organizing, sorting, and getting rid of the extra stuff we just don't need any more.  We're going to move on so we might as well move on a bit lighter, right?  Also, I need to concentrate harder on emptying out the freezer.  When we sell the house, if we haven't found another one right away - and bought a new freezer since we're leaving this one here - I'll have to survive with just the freezer space in that apartment refrigerator.  That means this freezer must be emptied before that, or else I'll have to start farming things out and giving things away.

Yeah, so much going through my head in the space of a couple days when I was trying to figure out how to be ready to move out and move on in less than two months.  Now if I can just tap into that panic to get the things done that need done - I work best with deadlines, which is probably why this is suddenly hitting me even though I've had plenty of time to adjust and prepare.

I tend to put things off until I have time to do them right, but that's another story.

Related articles

• OK, Time to Move