The Move
Good morning everyone. Well, the move is in process and the new blog is up. I went with ozinnova since we are not actually living in DC this time (Alexandria). NOVA is what some folks around here call northern Virginia for short so there you go.
Things have been hectic the last few weeks as you probably can imagine. We are shrinking from a 4,000 sq ft house to a 2,300 sq ft townhouse. We'll let you know how that turns out. Kerrie and I are in the DC area now and living it up in an extended stay place called the Hawthorne Suites. It is perfect - full kitchen, living area, big bed. If we didn't have the girls, we could probably live here. The girls are in SC staying with Kerrie's parents for the next week and a half and having a lot of fun.
As for the last two weeks, here is a quick rundown.
Sunday, June 1st - Since our house was on the market, we had to wait until the last minute to start to break down the house. This day was that last minute. Pictures, curtains, etc., etc., began to come off the walls. This took a while.
Monday, June 2nd - First day for packers. For the three days of packing, we had two very nice ladies to pack up the whole house. Yeah, two ladies. They worked hard. Kerrie and I continued to take down pictures, fill in holes, touch up paint - remember, when we leave San Antonio on Friday, the house has to be in perfect shape...because we still got to sell that sucker. I also started painting K's room from pink to a beige and finished about 1 AM on Tuesday morning. Finally, during the night, K began to run a 101 temperature and bad coughing which meant no school for K for the week which meant she would be at home with us with all the packing and loading going on all week. Not good.
Tuesday, June 3rd - More packing. The moving truck driver also contacted us and said he would be there a day early (meaning Wednesday) to start loading. Since they had originally planned for the loading to start on Thursday and told us it would take one day (which we totally did not believe and figured we would be leaving San Antonio on Friday night instead of the planned Friday morning), we were very excited about them coming a day early to start. Also, today, I got to clean out the attics. The moving company does not allow its workers into attic spaces - we found out why that makes sense today. I emptied the overhead and the walkout attic in Morgan's room without a problem. The start of the media room clean out went great. However, as I went to pick up the LAST FREAKIN BOX in there, this happens....
That would be my foot finding the one square foot of the attic that is not floored and my leg going through the insulation clear through the ceiling of the kitchen. Now I have been in this attic many many times in the two years we lived in that house. Now, two days before we are leaving for good and when we must leave the house in tip-top shape, this happens. I was not happy. I immediately was on the phone with everyone I knew who had any relative, friend, whatever who could do some drywall work. Of course, in Texas, all the walls are textured. So, in addition to making a patch that would not be noticeable (good luck) we also had to get a machine to dry and texture the ceiling to match the rest of the textured ceiling (again...good luck)
Thankfully, within two hours, we had a friend of a friend bring over her boyfriend who got right to work. Within an hour, he had cut out the damaged sheetrock and patched the thing. Here is how it looked before the patch.
He left around 6 that night and would be back the next day with the texture machine and assured us that we could paint it on Thursday morning and everything would be fine by the time we left on Friday. I was about as confident in that as..well lets just say I wasn't confident.
Wednesday, June 4th - Last day of packing and also Kerrie's birthday. End box count - over 300 boxes. Ridiculous I know. The day also started with a call from the driver saying he wouldn't be able to make it to start loading today but assured me that he would bring extra guys and load the whole house in one day on Thursday. I'll let you guess on whether I believed that or not. Kerrie and I today were still patching holes and I finished painting K's bathroom, which was, of course, pink. The ladies finished around 6:30. Around 6, our ceiling guy arrived with two friends. After laying and hanging plastic, the texture machine came to life. After it was all said and done, the texture looked great. Here are the pics...
For Kerrie's birthday, we were able to have a nice dinner Wednesday night but had definite trouble keeping our eyes open.
Thursday, June 5th - Loading day. I had to start the day by going down to Lackland to out process. K went with me and got to see my office. When I got back around lunch, the loaders had been busy. Kerrie and I then spent the afternoon doing final touch up painting and vacuuming and cleaning carpets in rooms as they emptied. That was a lot of carpet. I also painted the kitchen ceiling and this is how that turned out. We were very happy with it. Here it is...
Around 7:30, the last of our stuff was crammed into the moving truck and the house was empty. Very weird. We loaded up the two cars (and do we mean loaded) and headed to the Courtyard to try to get some sleep for the journey ahead.
Friday, June 6th - I got up early and headed to the house for a final walkthrough. Back at the hotel, we loaded up and were on the road at 8:30 for our 800 mile trek to Tuscaloosa. We got there about 10:00....barely. It was not a pretty trip but we got there. Here is a pic I took going over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.
Saturday and Sunday - Relaxed in Tuscaloosa with my whole side of the family. K and her 1 year old cousin Savannah got reacquainted and had a big time swimming and playing. We did some fishing at my brother's house, swimming at Poppa's, and tried to get some rest. Kerrie got her true birthday dinner by having some crablegs on Saturday night. I got to watch a race with my dad and brother and also watched the improbable LSU 9th inning comeback. Good weekend. Here is a pic of Poppa with his two granddaughters. Please note that I did not get out the real camera all weekend (mainly because I wasn't sure where it was). I am getting pictures from the weekend and will post them when I get them.
Monday, June 9th - We got up early and headed to Greenville, SC to visit Kerrie's parents and drop off the girls. We got there around 1, was at Cracker Barrel by 1:30, and I was asleep on a sofa by 3. Kerrie's mom cooked us a good dinner on Monday night and we watched the LSU baseball team beat UC-Irvine by two touchdowns. Good day.
Tuesday, June 10th - Kerrie and I got up early, kissed the girls goodbye, and headed to DC. We had a good 500 mile trip and got into town around 5. When we stopped to get lunch in Burlington, NC, I saw this place. As Derek put it, if I had had the time to stop for a while, I definitely would have eaten here and gotten the special.
So there you have it, the travel log for the 1,600 trip. Big thanks to my family and to Kerrie's parents for hosting us and all of our stuff for a few nights. We signed a lease on a place yesterday and are set to move in on the 23rd. Until then, Kerrie and I are living it up (or sleeping it up) at the Hawthorne. We both start work on Monday, are headed to pick up the girls the weekend after next, and get back in town in time to move in on the 23rd. Here is a pic of the outside of the the townhouse - yes it looks like a single family but that is only because it is an end unit with the front door on the side.
More updates to come...
Things have been hectic the last few weeks as you probably can imagine. We are shrinking from a 4,000 sq ft house to a 2,300 sq ft townhouse. We'll let you know how that turns out. Kerrie and I are in the DC area now and living it up in an extended stay place called the Hawthorne Suites. It is perfect - full kitchen, living area, big bed. If we didn't have the girls, we could probably live here. The girls are in SC staying with Kerrie's parents for the next week and a half and having a lot of fun.
As for the last two weeks, here is a quick rundown.
Sunday, June 1st - Since our house was on the market, we had to wait until the last minute to start to break down the house. This day was that last minute. Pictures, curtains, etc., etc., began to come off the walls. This took a while.
Monday, June 2nd - First day for packers. For the three days of packing, we had two very nice ladies to pack up the whole house. Yeah, two ladies. They worked hard. Kerrie and I continued to take down pictures, fill in holes, touch up paint - remember, when we leave San Antonio on Friday, the house has to be in perfect shape...because we still got to sell that sucker. I also started painting K's room from pink to a beige and finished about 1 AM on Tuesday morning. Finally, during the night, K began to run a 101 temperature and bad coughing which meant no school for K for the week which meant she would be at home with us with all the packing and loading going on all week. Not good.
Tuesday, June 3rd - More packing. The moving truck driver also contacted us and said he would be there a day early (meaning Wednesday) to start loading. Since they had originally planned for the loading to start on Thursday and told us it would take one day (which we totally did not believe and figured we would be leaving San Antonio on Friday night instead of the planned Friday morning), we were very excited about them coming a day early to start. Also, today, I got to clean out the attics. The moving company does not allow its workers into attic spaces - we found out why that makes sense today. I emptied the overhead and the walkout attic in Morgan's room without a problem. The start of the media room clean out went great. However, as I went to pick up the LAST FREAKIN BOX in there, this happens....
That would be my foot finding the one square foot of the attic that is not floored and my leg going through the insulation clear through the ceiling of the kitchen. Now I have been in this attic many many times in the two years we lived in that house. Now, two days before we are leaving for good and when we must leave the house in tip-top shape, this happens. I was not happy. I immediately was on the phone with everyone I knew who had any relative, friend, whatever who could do some drywall work. Of course, in Texas, all the walls are textured. So, in addition to making a patch that would not be noticeable (good luck) we also had to get a machine to dry and texture the ceiling to match the rest of the textured ceiling (again...good luck)
Thankfully, within two hours, we had a friend of a friend bring over her boyfriend who got right to work. Within an hour, he had cut out the damaged sheetrock and patched the thing. Here is how it looked before the patch.
He left around 6 that night and would be back the next day with the texture machine and assured us that we could paint it on Thursday morning and everything would be fine by the time we left on Friday. I was about as confident in that as..well lets just say I wasn't confident.
Wednesday, June 4th - Last day of packing and also Kerrie's birthday. End box count - over 300 boxes. Ridiculous I know. The day also started with a call from the driver saying he wouldn't be able to make it to start loading today but assured me that he would bring extra guys and load the whole house in one day on Thursday. I'll let you guess on whether I believed that or not. Kerrie and I today were still patching holes and I finished painting K's bathroom, which was, of course, pink. The ladies finished around 6:30. Around 6, our ceiling guy arrived with two friends. After laying and hanging plastic, the texture machine came to life. After it was all said and done, the texture looked great. Here are the pics...
For Kerrie's birthday, we were able to have a nice dinner Wednesday night but had definite trouble keeping our eyes open.
Thursday, June 5th - Loading day. I had to start the day by going down to Lackland to out process. K went with me and got to see my office. When I got back around lunch, the loaders had been busy. Kerrie and I then spent the afternoon doing final touch up painting and vacuuming and cleaning carpets in rooms as they emptied. That was a lot of carpet. I also painted the kitchen ceiling and this is how that turned out. We were very happy with it. Here it is...
Around 7:30, the last of our stuff was crammed into the moving truck and the house was empty. Very weird. We loaded up the two cars (and do we mean loaded) and headed to the Courtyard to try to get some sleep for the journey ahead.
Friday, June 6th - I got up early and headed to the house for a final walkthrough. Back at the hotel, we loaded up and were on the road at 8:30 for our 800 mile trek to Tuscaloosa. We got there about 10:00....barely. It was not a pretty trip but we got there. Here is a pic I took going over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.
Saturday and Sunday - Relaxed in Tuscaloosa with my whole side of the family. K and her 1 year old cousin Savannah got reacquainted and had a big time swimming and playing. We did some fishing at my brother's house, swimming at Poppa's, and tried to get some rest. Kerrie got her true birthday dinner by having some crablegs on Saturday night. I got to watch a race with my dad and brother and also watched the improbable LSU 9th inning comeback. Good weekend. Here is a pic of Poppa with his two granddaughters. Please note that I did not get out the real camera all weekend (mainly because I wasn't sure where it was). I am getting pictures from the weekend and will post them when I get them.
Monday, June 9th - We got up early and headed to Greenville, SC to visit Kerrie's parents and drop off the girls. We got there around 1, was at Cracker Barrel by 1:30, and I was asleep on a sofa by 3. Kerrie's mom cooked us a good dinner on Monday night and we watched the LSU baseball team beat UC-Irvine by two touchdowns. Good day.
Tuesday, June 10th - Kerrie and I got up early, kissed the girls goodbye, and headed to DC. We had a good 500 mile trip and got into town around 5. When we stopped to get lunch in Burlington, NC, I saw this place. As Derek put it, if I had had the time to stop for a while, I definitely would have eaten here and gotten the special.
So there you have it, the travel log for the 1,600 trip. Big thanks to my family and to Kerrie's parents for hosting us and all of our stuff for a few nights. We signed a lease on a place yesterday and are set to move in on the 23rd. Until then, Kerrie and I are living it up (or sleeping it up) at the Hawthorne. We both start work on Monday, are headed to pick up the girls the weekend after next, and get back in town in time to move in on the 23rd. Here is a pic of the outside of the the townhouse - yes it looks like a single family but that is only because it is an end unit with the front door on the side.
More updates to come...
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