TRAVELS & JOURNEYS – Page 14 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads Me

Being a So Cal girl at heart, surfing was always a saltwater sport and usually done in warm weather. The thing that surprised me the most when we came east was that the great lakes have waves too. The lakes are soooooooo large that they look like an ocean at first glance. I caught this surfer in a rainstorm on Lake Michigan today and he was looked so at peace even though I never actually saw him catch a wave!

On another note, the plant below was sent to me by my SIL when we first moved into our investment house 5 years ago. It grew huge in my kitchen and had to be cut back monthly. When we went west to help my in-laws, the poor plant froze the first night out. I kept it and babied it while at my in-laws and it began to come back. That was 2 years ago. I keep babying it and it keeps hanging in there. I can’t wait to put it back on my kitchen counter and see where it grows. I call it my Bobbie plant!

I should be home tomorrow and then begins the arduous task of reversing the winterizing from 2 years ago and getting the utilities on. I’ll fill you in on the rest of the Chronicles of a Major Move at that time.

GLITCH #4

Remember GLITCH #1, #2 and #3? Well, not much has changed. I did speak with a supervisor today and while he was a good listener, not much was resolved. After listening to me, he said, “…we can’t guarantee a time only a date.” At which point I asked why they weren’t coming today. He seemed taken aback, but still insisted it would be late in the day on the 8th instead of the originally scheduled early in the day on the 7th. He did promise to see what he could do and call me back. Surprise though, he didn’t call me back, but had the original clerk who failed to call me back on Sunday be the one to deliver the news.

It will still cost us an additional 4 days in hotels with pets and did I mention we had scheduled this based on weather too? We’d been keeping a close eye on the weather and today was the perfect moving day or at least loading day!! Not too hot, definitely not too cold and dry. Enter GLITCH #4 ~ Tomorrow is supposed to bring us SEVERE thunderstorms. Not fun for loading and definitely not my idea of, well, of ideal. The boxes that I so painstakingly packed with care will now get wet and then spend 5-7 days locked in a truck – gee what fun on the other end!

So we’re still here, waiting…

GLITCH #1, #2 & #3

We had an all systems go with our move. We moved all the things upstairs down in an effort to speed the loading process when they get here tomorrow as we will be on the road right behind them and don’t want to be driving in the dark. We worked hard too!!

Enter Glitch #1. What was to be a confirmation call for tomorrow’s arrival time became a clerk asking me if pick up on Tuesday was okay. When I told her no, she said she’d try someone else and get back to me. Several hours later she called me back. Asking me is no longer an option as she is now TELLING me it will be Tuesday. Enter Glitch #2 It will be Tuesday AFTERNOON! Enter Glitch #3 as I’m running the route in my mind and realizing that I will now need to pay for 4, count them 1,2,3,4 additional nights in a hotel with 4 animals since we will now arrive on a Friday afternoon and won’t be able to get any utilities until Monday. So with the late load on Tuesday we’ll need a room for Tuesday as well as Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I told her this was a real problem for me and she was going to speak with a supervisor and call me back again. No call came and when I tried her I got a customer service voice mail recording. Trust me I left a nice, BUT firm message. There is no excuse for not at least calling me back and letting me know what the supervisor said!!!

When we booked this move, there was an opening for the 1st, but it came with a 2 day window for pick up. Hubby didn’t want to be driving over the weekend if the window was on the end so we booked for the 7th, a Monday so we’d have a guaranteed pick up date and be able to schedule utilities and such during the week.

:Sigh: we’ll see what tomorrow brings. I’m trying to stay positive and believe all things happen for a reason despite our personal disappointments.

Finally on my way… home and cancer free…

So as we begin the trek home after being here for a year and a half (thanks mom), we realized that we acquired a few things while here. For Martha’s sake I’d like to be able to say that we could pitch it all, but alas these are real treasures for our house and unpitchable and unreplaceable. Since I have yet to have all my strength return, moving has become a major endeavor for us.

We decided to hire a mover, you know, an end of the load kind of deal. We don’t have many pieces of furniture (just a few BIG bargains ~ 2 tables, an antique file cabinet, an antique bar stool and a bed frame), but it’s primarily boxes so we started contacting companies and decided on a home grown American based mover that uses up and coming mom and pops, Proud American Moving Network. The day we signed the contract, the local news station did an expose’ on moving scams. So off to the Better Business Bureau to check out our new found mover we went. We are pleased to say they are not part of the scam and had no local open complaints. That was when it hit me – do a blog post, take some pictures and chronicle the move.

Think about it – one of the biggest complaints you hear from people is about moving companies – how they damage your stuff, don’t settle the insurance claims, etc…

The very first piece of advice I have is PACK YOURSELF!!!!!!!! My mom has moved a few times and used the same company each time. The last time I was in college and needed a few extra bucks so offered to do their packing for them at a reduced rate. If I remember correctly even with paying me a nice sum, she still saved A LOT on their packing fees, used less space and nothing I packed got broken in the move. It’s all about space, organization and weight distribution.

For this move I have created an inventory, numbered and weighed the boxes myself. One of the points on the expose was that some of these companies overcharge based on weight. Now how are you going to know the total weight of the load unless you weigh it yourself – one box at a time. That also ensured poor me who has so little strength right now that the boxes would not be too heavy. After all, if I can carry them, some guy with a dolly certainly can!