Move Update & Giveaway

It's been quite a journey so far so thought I'd give you a Move Update.  The packers arrived as scheduled on Monday.... well kinda.  They were actually a little late as they traveled from Austin TX and if you remember the weather in Texas was less than the usual pleasant Texas weather.  We had an ice/snow storm and it was COLD!  There were 5 of them on Monday and 3 on Tuesday that packed and boxed and packed and boxed for 2 days.

Shorty after their arrival I received a call from the moving coordinator stating they had notified a 3rd party to dismantle the quilting machine.... Guess when they want to come.  February 28th.  Guess when the moving truck will be at the house to load.  February 26th.  Hmmmm... that's not going to work.  So I spent the next hour scrambling to find someone qualified to tear it down.  I found someone.  

Then that day another 3rd party was to show up to "crate" the head of the quilting machine and a set of longhorns I had for wall decor.  They did not.  They finally made it Tuesday evening at 8:30 p.m. and to quote William.  They were some pretty "rough" characters.  I was seriously scared!  They were nice and polite but that's were it ends.  I'm pretty naive and gullible so when I can tell they were strung out on something, you know it's bad.  

The movers showed up on Wednesday as scheduled and guess what.  They were late too.  Same scenario.... they had to drive through ice and snow.  But they were fabulous movers.  There were 4 guys, all related.... 2 brothers and the other 2 were cousins.  They hustled, had a great sense of humor, and took great care to pack things as if it were their own belongings.  It took them 2 days to load everything up.  We knew it was going to be close as to whether or not everything would fit on one truck.  It did not!

But what was left were things in the storage unit.  The moving company offered to send another truck to pick the things up but we declined.  The value of what was left wasn't worth the expense of another truck, plus someone would have to stay behind to meet them and it was just too much of a hassle.  So, we'll be the next episode of Storage Wars.  There are a few other things not in this picture too.

So we headed out for DeKalb IL on Thursday afternoon.  We had been watching the forecast and really wanted to try to get ahead of the storm.  We did!  That's probably the only thing that's gone right on this whole deal.

We arrived in DeKalb on Saturday evening, got the key to the house, unloaded 2 of the 3 cars that were packed to the gills.  Went to the hotel and crashed.  Sunday was spent buying a few things we knew we'd have to purchase.

Today we packed up the hotel room, headed to the house when we got the call from the driver of the moving truck that he was broke down in Aurora, IL (that's just 45 minutes from the house).  Really!?  The truck just couldn't make it another 40 miles.  Ugh.... And the mechanic wouldn't have the repairs made until 4:00 p.m. today.  Double UGH! Meanwhile I go back to the hotel and check back in.  Spoke to the King who reminded me that we possibly could spend the night at the house if we wanted as we purchased new mattresses and they would be delivered this afternoon.  So back to the hotel to check out again.  Get back to the house and realize we have no sheets or covers for the bed.  We're at the hotel again.  

All this also meant we had to postpone installers for Direct TV - can't hook them up when they're on the truck... now they can't come until Thursday.  Postponed installers for the washer and dryer... I have no idea when they're coming.  Postponed the installers for the quilting machine... they can't come again for 2 WEEKS!  WHAT!!!!

We had to call an electrician to install an outlet for the dryer.  The current connection is for a gas dryer and we have an electric one.  He was scheduled to be here this afternoon.  He came but he can't install the outlet.  It seems the furnace duct work is covering the area where the wall joist is to run the wires up the inside of the wall.  Actually he can do it but it would be cheaper to go buy a gas dryer instead of paying him.  Really!???  We just can't catch a break.    So I'm now the proud owner of a brand spankin new dryer to match my washing machine that's only about a year old.  

I haven't heard from the driver of the moving truck so I'm hoping no news is good news and he'll be in my driveway at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.  

You've stuck with me this long... Now for the giveaway... I have some goodies... a book, a t-shirt, and some other goodies.  All you have to do is leave me a comment on how many boxes you think the packers packed up.  This is boxes only.  It doesn't count the little numbered tags they put on all the things that are not in their "Allied Berger" moving boxes.  The comment closest to the number of boxes will win the prize pack.  I'll give you until March 15th to comment with your guess.  Don't forget that I can't give it away if I don't have an email address to contact you.  Make sure you're not a no-reply commenter.