Hey all!
It has been some time since I have had time to update!
As you might have already heard, we have finally closed on the house in Craig, moved and unpacked about 97% of our things.
I say 97% because we haven't gotten everything, obviously, but because we cannot unpack everything until certain things have been taken care of. For example, we had to order a TV stand for our TV, as the little alcove above the fireplace was too small. Until we take care of the TV and moving cable jacks and the like, it makes placing the pictures and other mementos and breakables a last resort.
Before I get too crazy on that, let me back up to when we came up to Craig to sign papers to close, and what happened since, to catch everyone up!
I came up to Craig, with another car load of our personal transport items, and the next morning, Mike and I headed to the Title Company to sign papers to close on the house. The previous owners were late, by about thirty minutes, so we started without them. When they finally arrived, they informed us that they had no light, and had to get everyone ready in the dark. I'm shaking my head inside, as I didn't understand why they would turn off their lights, and why they didn't open the blinds? Of course, these people didn't start packing until we agree to buy the house, and they were still packing when we came the day before signing to go over a few things, such as sprinklers, winterazations and the like. I have since found a lot of their things, like baking sheets, cupcake sheets etc, among others that they left behind, because they waited so long to start packing. It made me feel better about my work at the house in the Springs, as practically everything was already packed up, and we were still waiting for a contract on the house.
During the signing of the papers, the previous owner's wife, began to tell us about all of the wild animals that she feeds. She was giving us the names of the animals, at least the ones that she gave them, when and where she feeds them, how often, and starts to describe to us, in great detail, what they look like, as well as telling us how many pictures on her phone she has of them. I'm sitting across from her, being polite, smiling, and trying hard not to laugh at her. There was something disconnected in her brain, I think, and from what I've been told, most people in town, feel the same way.
After we finished signing papers, we settle a few things with our realtor, and we begin to head to the temporary housing to load up our cars before heading to the Springs to begin the packing and moving part. As we are waiting, we get a couple phone calls, delaying our trip to the Springs. We didn't leave until after noon.
By the time we get to the Springs, we finish up the last minute packing, and determine that there is nothing else for us to do, until morning. Morning comes, and we are waiting for the movers to show up. They told us the day before, that they would be at the house by 7-730 am...they didn't show up until perhaps 9-930. Late start already.
Mike runs them through which items to be extremely careful with, which items they are going to pack up for us, and all of the other directions. As we are finishing up with our packing and organizing, the movers are moving items into the truck. They continued to tell Mike how organized and well packed we were already. Mike told them to thank me, as I was the sole packer. The time finally came for the movers to move the piano. Now, at this point, there was one mover, who continued to order the others around, kept saying things like, "Just these things here and we're done", when in reality, there was more than just those items he was referring to. When the piano was the last thing to move, he started to get hostile, a downer, and tried to tell Mike that we'd have to leave the piano, that they wouldn't be able to move it. Mike stepped up, became the alpha male, and told him that if he needs to speak to a supervisor, he will, but this is ridiculous, and it will be moved, as we told the company we had it, and there is no excuse. Mike even said that if he didn't have back problems, he would help move it. The same problem child mover, told Mike that he has back issues too, but everyone else manned up and said to just do it. As they began to move the piano, the guy's phone rings, and he answers it, while they are moving the piano down the slope of the driveway! I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief! It took Mike and the driver of the truck to motivate everyone to move the piano! Mike ended up complaining to the company about this guy. I don't blame him, this was stupid, and from what we were told, this isn't the first time this guy has done something like this. We are not sure if he got fired or just written up, but he certainly got in trouble, or at least, that is what we've been told by the driver, who also complained about him.
Now, after the truck was loaded, Mike and I loaded both of our cars with stuff, and Mike had the cats with him. Once we were loaded up, we took off, and made our trip to Craig, cats and all. Poor Mike had been serenaded by Lola for the entire five hours, whereas Kitty and Moxie settled down after a few moments, but not Lola! She had to be heard, the entire trip!
When we arrived to our new house, Mike had just grabbed from the bag of keys the previous owners gave us, that were labeled "front door". They didn't fit in the front door. Mike tried the back door, and they didn't work there either. I drove to the temporary housing, picked up the entire bag of keys, and returned to the house. There was that lady's deer stalking around our house, waiting to be fed. I'm not sure why, but the deer freaked me out. She was as described. The doe has these weird markings down her body that looks like Freddie Krueger got a hold of her. Maybe that's why I'm freaked out by her. Mike and I finally get the door open, and we go through the house, and turn on lights, or try to. A lot of the lights didn't work. We determined that these people either had burned out bulbs, or they swapped them out...either way, we had no light in some rooms. We opened the garage door from the inside, (the reason we didn't open the garage doors upon arrival, was because they needed to get a few more things from the house, and would drop the openers at the realtor's office), and we unloaded the cats into the house, locking them in the spare room with food, water and two boxes. They were freaked out, but were quiet about it. They spent most of their time, sniffing around, and getting acquainted with the locked room. Mike and I finished unloading our cars, and headed to the temporary housing for the night, as we had no bed at the new place.
The next morning, was the day that the movers were supposed to drive up and unload the car. Turns out that our movers stalled in the Eisenhower Tunnel, and would be showing up after lunch. Mike and I made a trip to the temporary housing to get a load, went to get the garage door openers, and have lunch. When they finally showed up, they began unloading the truck. They didn't finish until about 9 that night. We also had our Internet provider come out and set up our access. It was one of those nights that, even though Mike and I didn't really do anything but direct, we were exhausted! We ended up staying one more night at the temporary housing, and of course, the next morning, was my birthday. Mike had to get up early to meet up with our cable guy. Mike let me sleep in, and then came to see me once the cable guy was done. Mike brought me some coffee, and I got up, showered and joined up in the living room of the temporary housing. He got me a couple movie series and then we drove to Steamboat Springs for some sushi, shopping and gelato by the river.
Mike and I by the river, after our gelato!
The view at our spot.We had a great afternoon, and started back to the house, and we were both so tired! Once we got back to the house, we began to get to work. Mike started to get our bed put together, (it's a sleep number bed, and requires assembly), as I began to focus my efforts on the kitchen.
It is there, that I discovered that our kitchen faucet doesn't move as it should. Normal faucets move side to side, from sink to sink, but this one, you feel as though you're going to break your arm, or the faucet itself, trying to move it. It made washing all of the dishes difficult, so it took me much longer to get the job done.
It took me about two days to get the majority of the kitchen squared away, where I discovered all of the items left behind, by the scatterbrained owners before us. I had to laugh, as I opened the refrigerator, as the woman left behind a package of unopened turkey slices and cheese slices for sandwiches with a note, to remind me to feed her cat at the North end of the house. Needless to say, I didn't do it. Now, I have seen, at least, three different cats and a lot of deer.
Once the kitchen was mostly in place, I continued with the laundry, that seemed to never end, as I had packed a lot of clothes when the fire at Waldo Canyon threatened Colorado Springs, and in a fit of panic, I threw as much as I could into bags, waiting for my fleet away if the fire were to spread my directions. Thankfully, it never did, but the clothes remained in the bags, crumpled and in much need of cleaning.
Mike had gone to work, and I continued to unpack. I took a couple days off, and then continued. Now, we are mostly in order, but there are still a few boxes that need to be unpacked, but as I said before, those are going to have to wait, until everything major is in order.
The next afternoon, when Mike came home from work, and as we were talking about our day, I headed to our laundry room, to swap out the clothes. I ended up getting quite startled, as I see this head pop up to look into our house.
"Howdy, Neighbor!"
I knew that this buck was not the same one that the previous owner's wife had fed, but with her, you never know! After stopping my beating heart, I took a few pictures of him. He eventually left and I was still waiting, almost expecting a repeat of his visit. Still waiting.
Now, I have been able to cook a few things, here and there, but I still have so many things that I want to make! There is a new dessert that is coming, and a couple of entrees, so be on the look out for those!
On one of my days of resting from unpacking, I headed to the county clerk's office here in Craig, to register my car. After getting my car registered and new plates, I had to pay. When she told me the price, I about died! $670...I'm rounding of course, but I couldn't believe it! I texted my mom about how I just got raped at the Clerk's office. She replied," No, that happens at Airport Security". I had bust up laughing, as it made me ease up a little, but I also knew that that was a lot of money, which we are tight on, with the move and expenses of buying a new house. I am looking forward to being completely settled, with no more extras...of course, that won't be for a while.
On Monday, Mike and I had lunch at a new steakhouse here in Craig, and then walked next door to the furniture store. We were immediately greeted by this little guy as we walked around a corner. I couldn't help but take a picture of him, and try to prank my mother with it. She didn't fall for it.
"He's so FLUFFY!"
We looked at a few area rugs for our main living room, as the house as all purgo (Spelling?) floors, so everything slides across it, with the slightest touch. We found a nice rug that would tie in our things, and it was on the relatively cheaper side.
The rug that looks nice, that the cats like it too!
We continued to look around the place, and found this really pretty vase! I picked it up gingerly, and turned it over for a price. The tag, which has been pulled half-way off, said 5.95. We both knew that the price wasn't accurate, so we asked about it. We ended up with the correct price, and decided that we had the perfect place for it, it fit our belongings and we both really liked it, so we bought that too.
Sitting pretty in the alcove!
So, Mike and I dropped the rug and vase off at the house, and headed to Wal-Mart for groceries and a few other things that we needed in the house, such as lamps! We got a nice standing lamp for the main room, as well as two small lamps that look so dwarfed compared to the rest of the furniture in our bedroom, but they look nice and put out a lot of light!
The living room lamp!
Now, the last time I headed to Wal-Mart, I found this pretty and cheap Scentsy knock-off. It works well, and I like the scents that I picked up too. The scent floats through the house, and makes it very homey. I picked the most subtle style, as I didn't want anything too flashy.
Banzai tree with a hint of smelly goodness!
The next morning, after our shopping, Mike took me outside to our backyard to discuss what he and his hot tub consultant discussed on placement. He walked me through what he would need to do, labor wise, to make the ground level, and everything made sense. As we were walking across the lawn, to the other side of our back yard to discuss how Mike unlocked the gate that was nail shut by the previous owners, we were both semi-startled to see this little guy in our grass. I'm lucky that I didn't step on him.
If you enlarge the photo, look in the grass for the brown squiggle. That's the snake.
The next few days, I was suddenly feeling a little down, by the move, the lack of communication from those that I left behind, and I was feeling really down in the dumps. Mike had known that I wasn't doing well, and came home with these, and they made me smile, as I hadn't smiled in a few days. I've got a good man, and I know that things like this will make it easier! After talking through some of my issues with him, I've since been better!
Pretty pretty flowers of love!
On Tuesday, I headed down to Denver for an appointment, as they couldn't get their act together and send me my lab sheets, and wanted me to pay a lot of money to get a shipping kit, so Mike and I agreed that it would be easier and make more sense cost wise, for me to just head down to Denver and do it. After fasting for 12 hours, which realistically, by the time I got to Denver, I had been fasting for over 13 hours. I had my labs drawn, drank some sugar water and had to wait another 2 hours before finishing my labs. Once everything was over, I headed to the Springs as I would spend the night at my mom's house. I got to see Willow, and my brother as we did some shopping and had dinner. The next morning, I headed to the house in the Springs to load up as much as I could of the things that remained, let in the cleaning ladies, who were late by thirty minutes, and left for Craig. Mike and I will head back down to the Springs on Sunday or Monday to load up the last five things that I couldn't fit in my car and close on the house in the Springs...then it will all be over!
When I drove back to Craig on Wednesday, I had to keep reminding myself that I was driving. The trees have begun to turn, and they colors are like something that I've never seen! Of course, this is the one trip that I took that I didn't take my camera with me. Usually, I have it with me, but this time, I thought, well, I'm just going down for an appointment, and will be heading back, so there is no reason to bring it. I was wrong. Next time, I really need to make sure that I bring it up with me.
I had gotten an email from a co-worker of Mike's the other day. She is organizing a craft show and Mike told her that I would be interested in participating, and she emailed me to ask if I would like to join. I told her that I was, but had some questions. She has to do some research of her own, in order to answer my questions. On top of all of that, I need to order prints and gifts from my site, so that I have some stock to sell, and plenty of business cards to hand out. I'm hoping that this will put my name on the map, and make this thing take off. I think that this move will turn out well for both Mike and I on the career front. So, I'll need some help, if you can, to tell me which pictures I should print out! If you don't know the site, it is www.mfahey.smugmug.com. Thanks in advance!
Well, I have a lot to accomplish before this night is over! I think that I've caught everyone up on what has been going on. I might have left somethings out, but I'm pretty sure I covered most of it.
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