Wednesday Feb 11- We're supposed to pack the truck. Earlier in the month, I had gone to the police station to request "no parking" signs so we could put the moving truck in front of the house. This is common practice and is NOT out of the ordinary. Although the police officer could NOT have been more rude. Anyway, we step outside on "loading-the-truck" day and there are NO signs anywhere to be seen. Anywhere. Can't say I'm going to miss Bethlehem cops. Ever. So the 26 FOOT moving truck is stuck out in the middle of the street. Everyone who's spoiled-ass kid goes to Seton Academy (across the street) is driving all slow past the truck like they've never seen anyone moving before. Good Lord. We had great weather for truck-packing. And we stayed in Wind Gap with Ian's dad (Barrett) and Tara. They had a few people over and we had pizza. And slept. And all was good. Although, Ranger did decide to lose his guts all over the back seat of my car. Lovely.
Thursday Feb 12 - Thursday was closing on 636 6th Avenue. Aside from gail-force winds and a bunch of trees literally laying on peoples houses on 8th Ave, the morning was rather easy. We stopped at home to organize the animals. (We were in Wind Gap, remember?) The cats were NOT happy and I'm pretty sure Ranger was convinced we were abandoning him. Oh well because we weren't. He's normally really spoiled- suck it up. Stopped at Guardian (oh, I just can't stay away) because I realized I had a key to my desk that I never returned. Went to closing, all was fine. The buyer literally went to closing looking like she had just rolled out of bed. But whatever. Sold our house, now officially homeless til Friday AM. What could go wrong now?
Oh.....you couldn't even imagine. We had a nice drive down. Mom and Dad (haha- yes, they're divorced) rode down in the moving truck together. I suppose they each deserve a gift for that one. Ian drove his car and took the 3 cats. And they cried the ENTIRE trip. I drove my car, with Casey riding shotgun. Ranger was in our car. Since the truck goes a little slower than you can in a car, they would often not be in sight on the highway.....often stopping for gas at different times as well. We left around 12 or 1pm from PA. The trip is 8 hrs, and over 400 miles. It's literally 10:00 and 20 miles to go until Kernersville NC. We pass a Penske truck on the side of the road, which seems to be the same size as our moving truck. I call Dad on his cell just to be sure it wasn't him. Oh. It was. It was them. And you know what he said? Take a guess. Go on. Take a wild guess.
"The truck just died."
"Haha thats funny. No really, why did you stop?"
"No. Really It won't drive anymore. It wont go forward."
You can only imagine the explitives coming from my mouth at that particular moment.
If getting screwed out of relocation allowance (30 GRAND to be exact), Radon in the basement ($500), Electric work to be done ($350), New pipe in basement needed ($900), Almost entirely new roof needed ($2500), one buyer had lost his job so we already had lost one sale, had to borrow closing costs, doping up the dog for the trip, loading up my entire life and starting anew. This. After all of that. Now this. Could it get any worse?
So there we are. On the side of 220. Dog hadn't eaten. Cats hadn't pee'd. We were exhausted. And now it's going to be 45mins to 1 hour until the repair man comes. So we sit. And we wait. And again, I'm waiting for someone to wake me up. I kept saying to my mom "I just can't do this. I can't take anymore Mom."
Friday Feb 13 - The repair man comes after one hour. And after looking at the truck for at least 45 minutes, he's still not sure whats wrong with it. Dad tells us he'll stay with the truck. It's like midnight. We take the two cars to the "pet friendly" hotel we found online.
(Friday the 13th meant nothing to me until today. Until today.)
So we get all our crap, and we get in there. And we ring the bell.
Not just once. Or twice.
20 minutes. 20 minutes of ringing the bell, and this guy comes walking around the corner all calm like. WHAT THE *******************!?!?!?!? I'm ready to completely lose my cool. I'm usually very impatient, but I was doing really well today. "You're doing great. Don't blow it. You're doing great."
And you know how long it takes him to get us checked in? Half an hour. We stand there in silence for half an hour while he dinks around on the computer. I completely am ready to go over the 5 foot counter (so I've got the counter by an inch). He's getting strangled. Right now. Here it goes.
"If you don't find our reservation, we're going to have a serious problem on our hands."
(Whew, okay that was nicer than what you were thinking, but straight. Good job. Remain calm.)
He stands up. And you know what he says?
DO YOU FREAKING KNOW WHAT HE SAYS!?!?!?
"We don't allow pets here."
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?"
(This is where if there had been a bridge, I would have totally jumped. And I'm not even close to kidding.)
I said "The internet.....Orbits, Expedia, my realtor, the sellers realtor, all of them!!! Everything everywhere says you're pet friendly. Well guess what? Tonight you're pet friendly!!!!!"
Casey says to him "You didn't see anything right? You don't know anything right?"
He says "No it's fine. Don't let them out of their cages."
And I think.....no. "F" you buddy. These cats have been in here for 10+ hours. No. I'm letting them out.
So we get into our rooms and I still havent cried. Just wake me the hell up. I'm glad the gun is packed nicely in the broken-down moving van. Or I probably would have shot the guy. Really.
So my mom sticks her head out her hotel door and says "a plane is down in NY". So we watch this for hours. Two and a half to be exact. 48 people dead. So I think to myself, "Well, it could have been worse, right? I could have been on the plane. Now, just wait for Dad to come back and this will be all over." YEAH RIGHT! Did you think I'd let you off yet? Oh no. No. It's not over my friend.
Dad calls. They are TOWING the truck to MY NEW HOUSE. So we go. And it's 3:00 AM. And I'm picking my sleep-deprived father up at my new house. We wait. For like 15 minutes. And they show up. This was the BIGGEST tow truck I had ever seen in my life. Ever. With flames. And chrome. And that huge diesel roar that could easily wake up all your new neighbors at 3:30 in the morning. And he backs up 3 times to get the truck where he wants it. The loudest beeping you've ever heard. Ever. Especially when you can't remember the last time you slept.
So we drive my dad back to the hotel. And we sleep. Could it get any worse?
Why, yes. Yes it could.............. Apparently.
We wake up. And I've slept 4 hours. We leave our hotel while Casey and Mom and Dad are still sleeping. We didnt need them for closing; I needed them to rest. I needed SOMEONE to be ready to unload the truck after closing.
We go to closing. And nothing is ready. Our finance company had not finished the HUD statement, which is the main paper needed for closing. So we wait. The sellers paid $100+ for their realtor to have power of attorney and they sign papers and they leave. Now we're still waiting. The closing attorney tells us he just found out that the closing papers just got to the underwriters desk. Just this morning. Are you kidding? So it's fine. We'll just have to wait. An hour or so. It's fine.
So we go back to the hotel, and beg for an extension. I have nowhere to put my family until we close. They let me stay until 3 without extra payment. Good.
So we decide we're going to get lunch while we wait. We're on our way to lunch and the closing attorney calls. And puts me on conference call with a crapload of people from the mortgage company. I pull over and start pacing in front of some mexican grocery store. I had received gift money. Which was to be used for closing in PA. Now part of it I was using for my down payment. And they needed proof as to where this money came from. A copy of the check. And a letter stating it was in fact a gift. And they questioned me and were concerned how long this would take. (I considered backing up into traffic. This actually crossed my mind. And quickly my reasoning put that idea to rest. But I thoroughly considered it for about 30 seconds.)
My adrenaline kicked in. And there's a point where you reach complete "survival" mode. I need to do this now or I will not have a home. I must provide a home. I am a good wife and I will do this. So do you know how long it took me to go to Staples, get the letter and check and send it? 10 minutes. At this particular second, I feel like super-wonder-freakin-fabulous-woman-with-all-the-power-in-the-world. TAKE THAT mortgage people and question my resourcefulness!!!!???!!! HA! TAKE THAT!!!!! So I call my attorney and tell him I had just sent everything over. And he goes "thats incredible!". And I said, "Well I also told my mortgage lady that I'm currently homeless and she should move her ass." There was complete silence for a moment...."Well done!" he says. I am now very proud and I provide a nice lunch for my family. My dad says "I am so proud of you for how quickly, efficiently, and professionally you handled that situation. You remained rather calm, and I admire that." Wow, what an amazing compliment from someone so very important. I can't say I've ever had a prouder moment.
All through lunch, we talked about how usually I just fly off the handle and how well I handled the Friday the 13th Fiasco. Now, we just have to close and unload the truck.
We closed. We lost $600 in the deal, but whatever. We closed.
And we emptied the motionless truck. And I'm now in my home. And it's beautiful. And it made it all worth it. It's beautiful.
Will upload hilarious video of the moving truck backing up and being loud at 3am very soon. And pictures too. I now have a cramp in my hand.
So hello from beautiful NC. It's really as beautiful as you imagine. Enjoy the snow! =)
Oooooh driving home from Fo Sho Quote in the snowy sleety-ness was much fun!!
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