nipperkin | Entries tagged with moving

We're all moved! Well, mostly. There are some cleaning supplies still at the duplex but most everything else is at the townhouse. (Except I still can't find the accent pillows for the couch. How odd.)

I don't want to speak too soon, but so far I love the new place. If it's always this way, I'll not want to move for a long long time. It's smaller, and the box springs didn't fit up the stairs so it's up against the wall behind the bookcases, but there's a nice little patio and it's insulated by the neighbors enough that it doesn't get very hot (it was almost 100 degrees yesterday and we didn't even need to turn on a fan! We would have been dying at the other place!) which means it also probably won't get very cold. And it's quiet, except for the occasional banging of pallets at WinCo down the street or fireworks (I think that's what they were but I have no idea why they were going on) on Saturday night. (That was odd.) But I've already unpacked boxes that I didn't even unpack at the old place, and I'll be putting pictures up soon. I'm really excited to have pictures up again!

And of course, the camera ran out of batteries so we couldn't get any pictures of the place empty, but furnished pictures will come as soon as I recharge the batteries and as soon as we finish unpacking.

The actual moving part didn't take very long, which was nice. Cory got the UHaul at 7:30 and had returned it by 11am. He and I almost completely filled the truck by the time our friend Mike showed up, and then we packed his Jeep and our car, and the three of us headed over to the new place. It was nice to have an extra pair of arms. After lunch at McMenamins, Mike went back home and we did some unpacking; and then Sunday we were hermits and we unpacked most of the day, during and in-between watching stupid movies on our new free expanded cable. Heh.

Some of you will probably need our new address. Drop me a line if you do. rivule at mac.com.

So HARD to get up in the morning now. Good thing I had to get up to pee. I think it's getting darker in the mornings.

We've taken seven or eight carloads of boxes and random house things from this place to the new townhouse. I've been coming home at lunch for the last few days and packing up the car so that we can go straight to the townhouse from work at the end of the day. Tomorrow we get the U-Haul at 7:30am and we'll be taking most of the rest of the stuff over that day. Then we just need to clean this place (and, really, do a half-assed job of it because that's the way it was when we moved in) and we'll be done.

The camera batteries are dead, and the recharger is in a box somewhere, so there'll be no pictures until we've moved in completely. But that's OK - empty apartments are boring.

I am bracing myself for the heat wave that technically started yesterday. 104 today, 102 tomorrow, 90s the rest of the forecast. I've never been good with heat and I'm really not looking forward to the house not cooling down at night.

Tomorrow is my friend's wedding shower. I AM looking forward to that.

And last but not least: the townhouse people called tonight and said they ended up pushing our application through "without reference" since they couldn't get a hold of my landlords, and we're free and clear and ready to rent from them! I'm taking a deposit over today.

Well, we've hit a snag in our townhouse application process, it seems: they can't get a hold of our landlord. Half of me thinks "well, duh, this is why we're moving!" but the other half of me is furious that they won't return business calls. We can't move into this place if they can't talk to our landlord.

We got our keys today, and I spent three hours with the rented steam cleaner and the vacuum cleaner and a wet rag, washing down walls and sucking the cranefly carcasses off the ceilings. We also took measurements and pictures, which will be forthcoming tomorrow, perhaps.

Then we saw Harry Potter. It was eh. And then right after the climax the film broke and the lights went up and the ad slides started. It was funny. They fixed it a few minutes later but we missed a little bit of the film I think. Oh well. And the lights never did go back down until the credits started rolling, and then everybody had to leave in the dark. Heh.

Cory wanted to go to a movie because he had a feeling the neighbors were going to party and he didn't want to be here during it. Well, he was right. The stairwell reeks of pot as usual, and there's a good bass beat going on and lots of kids yelling. Neither of us are talking about it but I'm sure we're both thinking the same thing. Thank goodness we only have to be here for a little while longer. Yes, Philomath is a ways away from places we want to go, like movies and downtown Corvallis and stuff, but at least it's quiet.

Tomorrow will consist of packing. How exciting.

We showed up for the duplex showing a bit early, so we took a little walk around the neighborhood. It was very quiet. There's a Dairy Queen and a Thriftway and a Mexican food place and a hardware store within walking distance. And a sleezy motel too! But you can't even see it from where we are, so that's OK.

The lady got there as we were walking back up to the duplex, and she let us in the kitchen door (there's a teensy little driveway that is right next to that door) and we took a look around. I'll just make a list of things that struck me, and I won't put them in any order 'cause it's more confusing that way.

( Snip snip )

Yesterday we got the keys to our apartment. The lady on the phone told Cory "come in anytime between 7am and 7pm" because those are the hours of the veterinary hospital. So we left really early to miss the morning rush hour, and got to Corvallis shortly after 7. The lady at the front desk didn't know where the keys were, or the rental contract. She found the keys, and a blank contract, and she filled out part of it, saying she'd transfer it to the real contract (which I guess the landlord had at his house or something) and send it to us to sign again. That made us a little nervous, but we signed it anyway. And then she said "Dr. Gross is an older guy, and he's kind of sick, so he might not remember you're moving in. I'll have to remind him, so it'll take a couple of days for us to send you the contract." Whoa.

So we got the keys, took the dog to her park a block away, and took pictures and measured the apartment. Pictures will follow if I have time to scan them at home tonight. (I also have pictures of the antique hats for

dotcombabe finally!) We took dated pictures of the "imperfections" in the apartment: a hole in the carpet in the living room (and one in the coat closet), a big gob of wax on the carpet in the living room, broken mini-blinds, that sort of thing. We're going to completely take down the mini-blinds and put up either rice-paper shades or sheer curtains, and then thicker curtains (either I'll make them myself, or we're going to use decorative shower curtains) for when it gets dark out and we don't want people to see in. The mechanism on the mini-blinds in the kitchen is completely broken, so I'm going to have to figure out what I want to do there too, with the sink right underneath. I'm not sure yet.

We walked around downtown and on campus until our feet were sore. (We're not used to walking so much, since we live here where there are no sidewalks!) We looked in three different bike shops to see what there was (I love how there are three bike shops in downtown Corvallis - they're within four or five blocks of each other too) and looked at the message boards in the campus library to see if any used bikes were for sale. It's amazing how many people bike. I don't think I've ever been on campus on a school day, and there were a ton of people out walking and riding and stuff. I liked the ambiance.

So long story short, I'm excited to get down there, even with how run down the apartment is (mostly 'cause I'd like to fix it up a teensy bit if we have any money for it, and 'cause it's in such a great location) and how much time and effort it takes to move to a different city and learn the street system and the buses and all that stuff. Cory loves it down there, and I think I'm beginning to love it too; and I'm already thinking of it as my home instead of Portland.

We went to Corvallis today. Ahh. Corvallis in the fall is so pretty. Corvallis is pretty all the time, though, really.

We went with the intention of going to the punkin patch, and to look for apartments. Even though we're not going to move for another almost six months. But we've pretty much decided that we're going to be in either Corvallis or Albany. Which makes me feel a lot better. We talked a lot about it all day while we looked at apartments, and while we drove home. And after we got home, for awhile, until I started reading to Cory. :) But the plan is for Cory to get his work to let him drop down to part-time, and still let him telecommute, because one of the places we looked at is in Albany, right next to Linn-Benton Community College, where Cory's planning on going for about two years. Then he'll transfer to OSU and get his degree in something business-related, possibly with a graphics background. We'll see. So we need to figure out lots of little things, which is hard because so many parts of this situation are variables, and we don't have any idea how they're going to play out.

It's good to have a solid plan, though, even though it's not really all that solid. At least we know the area where we're going (and yay for it not being California!) and exactly when we're going. And I know it's going to be hard, and even something about that makes me feel good. We've been so static in our lives the entire time we've been together. The only big change was that Cory moved from Corvallis to Portland and I moved across town. And that was 15 months ago. So we've had our lazy days, and now it's time to better ourselves and get ourselves prepared for better jobs. And then have a family, though it may not be for another four years. And the question of whether I'm going to get my degree is still up in the air, though I'm not sure we can both go to school and still afford to live. So I may go to a trade school and get my cerfication in something, but I think it'd be better for us in the long run if we both get degrees. Money would be nice, and I'm not opposed to working a little to get a lot, rather than not working at all to get a little. I think we'd both be more satisfied with ourselves if we actually accomplished something besides staying a mailroom clerk, and a graphic designer for a nonprofit company, for the rest of our lives.

So that's the plan. And between now and then we save up money and try to prepare ourselves mentally for this huge change. I'm excited and scared at the same time, but I know it'll turn out good in the long run.

This weekend was crazy. But now, ten minutes after I get off work I can be home.

On Thursday, Cory left extra early and took the greyhound down to Corvallis after leaving Remmers and the car at his friend Mike's house. He picked up the U-Haul and packed up. Keep in mind that Corvallis is hotter than Portland, and Portland's hottest day so far (I'm pretty sure, anyway) was Thursday. I talked to him on the phone briefly, and he told me it took him an hour to get just the couch down from his apartment to the truck. He did it all alone. He stopped at Burger King for lunch but only ate some fries. When I got home, I helped him bring his stuff upstairs. Let me tell you, I never want to do that again as long as I live. It was AWFUL. That couch is never going to see another apartment, that much is certain.

I was bringing an armload of stuff upstairs when we were almost through unloading the truck, and I could hear him breathing really heavily and loudly, and realized that he had heat exhaustion. I had to stick him in the bathtub and grab his burger for him. I wasn't worried too much until he looked up at me and said "I can't feel my fingers!" and started giggling. Now that I look back on it, it's funny, but I asked him a million times later that evening and the next day if he was OK.

We had TV dinners that night when the truck was unloaded, and watched Trekkies. It was stupid. We slept on the futon in the living room with the fans blasting.

The next morning, Friday, we went to my place and packed everything up. It took a little over an hour. I don't think I've ever sweated as much as I did on Thursday and Friday. Ugh. Friday night's shower was SO good. After we unloaded my stuff from the truck, we went to U-Haul on TV Hwy. to turn in the truck, and then we had no idea how to get back to the MAX station to go to Mike's house, so we walked a hell of a long way to get to it. I wish I knew my way around better. Remmy was really happy to see us, and we were really happy to see the car - we were tired and sore from Thursday, and walking a bit over a mile and a half didn't help.

We tried to watch Kiss Me, Kate that night but it was kinda stupid too. I thought I liked it before. I saw it on the stage, and liked it better than the movie.

Saturday, we cleaned up as much as we could. We got pretty far. Then we had to go to the zoo for my company party. It was boring, so we left after two hours or so. I won a $50 gift certificate to the Discovery Channel Store, though. And we rode the zoo train.

During all of this, I tried to get back online with NetZero but found that I could not. I don't know why. I'm going to have to email them and ask them to cancel my account there, and probably end up getting rid of the computer and using one of Cory's Macs instead. I'm tired of this computer. Now I need to know how much to sell it for. :)

Yesterday we went on a wild REI chase, and bought a few things for the new place at Wal-Mart and Bed Bath & Beyond, including a bookshelf that required no tools to put it together. Ooh. Then we got groceries and had turkey burritos for dinner, and watched Dick (good movie) and The Mothman Prophesies (Cory fell asleep towards the climax...), during which time I finished sewing together my afghan motifs, and then we went to sleep. The clock on the dresser was almost twenty minutes fast, and it messed me up in the morning. Cory left early to go to work (he has to sleep there tonight) and I took Remmy out to play at the edge of the holly farm. There were about thirty slugs all over the ground, and Remmy stepped on one. :( Now she's full of burrs and I need to get her a comb so I don't have to pick them all out with my fingers. I get to take care of her tonight and tomorrow morning too. It's interesting having a dog. I sat and watched the news this morning and she stared at me the whole time. Weirdo.

So now I'm waiting for my boss to get back to me on what I'm going to do today. I called her at 8 and she said "let me get my ducks in a row and call you back." It's taken me half an hour to write this thing, and I haven't heard a peep. Oh well. It's nice to have some free time to check email and update stuff since I can't get online at home.

Nicoal and Josh are coming to our party! Are YOU?

Help me think of everybody I need to send my change of address to. I mean business-wise. I've got my doctor and the IRS and bank and loan people and stuff... what else? And what should I do about moving out of a place that had (has? haven't seen 'em in awhile) roaches? And what phone service is better than Qwest? (But I want to keep my old number!)

Cory and I found a 1-bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer, dishwasher, and fireplace! Our official move-in date is July 11th, but last night I put in my 30-day notice so I don't have to be out of here until the 14th. That'll give us a few days to move, which'll be nice because that Saturday is my company picnic at the zoo and we have to go.

Take Social Security cards to manager
Take pay stubs from last 30 days to manager
Make sure we've got $758 collectively
Call PGE and get an account number
Take PGE account number to manager
Get phone number (we can't just transfer the one we've got, can we?)
Get Cable Modem
Memorize new address and telephone number
Plan housewarming party

A year after I became single, my *new* boyfriend and I turned in our applications and $100 to reserve ourselves a 3rd-floor, 1-bedroom apartment across the street from Columbia Sportswear. With a fireplace! :) We should be hearing back from them sometime today. There's still a lot of variables, but I'm still excited.

My cousin got married on Saturday. Cory and I danced to two dances. One was accidentally. He sang along to the 80s music that was playing and made me laugh until my belly hurt. Having to find a gift for the new husband and wife made me remember why I need to crochet and cross-stitch more. All I had to do was grab the purple and brownish/grey afghan from the arm of the chair, stick a ribbon on it, and go. :)

This is the week of truth.

I got my keys today. It's raining. It just had to start raining when I needed to start moving my stuff. Oh well. Anyway, I can paint my walls and decorate it however I want! I'm very excited about that. And I think I'm going to get another dove. I might just name her Muriel again, like my last dove. So there.

I started my job today. It's pretty easy, and I have my own cubicle and computer, and I get to see everybody in the office and stuff. It's in the KOIN tower. And there's a fareless square downtown that encompasses my apartment and my workplace, so I don't have to pay to get to work and go home! Yay!!!!

It's raining really hard, and the sky is kind of yellowish and weird and REALLY bright.

Current Mood: accomplished

Went and looked at a studio apartment today in NW Portland... it was TEENSY, which didn't bother me, but my closet was bigger than the kitchen. And the stove was really old-school... and I can't even remember if there was a fridge in it or not. I don't know how it'd fit. The guy that was showing the apartment asked me if I was a model. It was kind of funny. He stared at me a lot. Next I'm going to an apartment on SE Morrison. Hopefully it'll be a little bigger... I'm assuming it will be because it's about $15 more than the other one. Both have shared bathrooms, which is OK with me... but hopefully this other one will have a little more kitchen space. We'll see. Whatever I do, I have to hurry. I'm trying to get a hold of a lady at Multnomah Athletic Club, but she hasn't called me back... she wanted me to work for them, and I said I'd think about it and call back. But now I just get her voice mail. Hopefully she'll call back... but I haven't heard from her yet. Grr.

Well, I'm FINALLY home. What an interesting few days, to say the least!
So, we started out on the first of the month, which I think was Wednesday, and drove without any problems (except it was fricking HOT) all the way to Rapid City, SD and grabbed a nice hotel room. The next morning, problems started. To get to Mt. Rushmore, one must drive in the mountains, which means lots of work for an overloaded '88 Dodge wagon. We were a few hundred feet from the entrance to the parking lot when we heard this popping noise like we ran over a water bottle, and water splashed up onto our windshield, and the car lost serious power. I managed to get it into a parking spot (which took a bit of doing since the guy we bought the parking permit for kept talking to us and I couldn't understand why he couldn't see that my engine was steaming) and we walked around looking at Rushmore for a little bit to give it time to cool down. We came back and found the problem: the top hose leading from the radiator to the engine had a huge gash in it. I have no idea how that happened. I suppose the hoses were rather old, but it was amazing to me that it had that much damage. The gash was a good two or three inches long. Nicoal and I found some duct tape and wrapped the hose in it and then drove down the mountain with the radiator cap loose, and made it to an auto parts store just fine, and replaced the hose ourselves and set off, feeling much better.

However, that's not the best part of the story. Eight miles west of Columbus, Montana (don't know where that is? That's OK, me either) my car started making a horrible banging noise as we went up one of the foothills of the Rocky mountains, and I pulled over. Some old ladies who smoked way too much stopped just as we were getting out to look at the engine, and they drove us into Columbus, where Nicoal (thank GOD!) pulled out her AAA card and got us a towtruck to pick us up and tow us into Bozeman, which was about 100 miles away, for free. We got to Columbus at a little before 6:30pm, and it was 107 degrees. Oy. So we waited on the streetcorner for the towtruck, and the guy that drove us was weird and talked to us about his life and how he used to be an alcoholic but he wised up, and how he works so much that he can't keep a girlfriend, and stuff like that. He dropped off our car at an auto repair place which was right across the street from a hotel, and we spent the night there.

The next morning when the car place opened up, we went over there and started the car for the guy, and I didn't even have it on for more than two seconds when he made me turn it off and said "your engine is shot. Only thing you can do to fix it is buy a new engine." I'm actually really surprised that I wasn't that upset. I kind of had a feeling that it wouldn't last much longer, I just wished it would have broken down in Portland. So we ran back to the hotel and called my dad and looked at a few different options, and the cheapest option was for him to rent a car, drive it to Bozeman, pick up all my stuff and Nicoal and I, and drive back to Portland. So that's what we did. While we were waiting for him, Nicoal and I went to the Sweet Pea Festival, which was a few blocks away. We saw a really cool dance/gymnastics group called The Second Hand, which was really neat, and we listened to a few songs by a Celtic pop group, which was OK but it was raining and we had tank tops on and were a bit chilly so we went back to our hotel. Dad got there at half past 2am, and the next morning (this morning), we drove back. I signed the car over to the owner of the car place, and that's where it will stay forevermore. Although I'm sure they'll use it for parts because everything but the engine is in really good shape. The radiator's new and the tires are almost new, etc. I almost wish I could have gotten some money out of it, but I'm just glad that I was able to get rid of it.

So I'm back in Portland now... more on that later... I'm kind of having mixed feelings...

Wendy just wanted to tell me that our roommate Mike was leaving in August and wanted to know if I wanted to leave too, and stuff. She wasn't bitchy at all. Yay! I was afraid she was going to be mean about it.

Maybe I can get Nicoal fly out and drive back home with me! I asked Jessica first, but it's always a good idea to ask more than one person just in case.

I just want the whole moving thing to be out of here. I want my studio and my kitty and my own stuff filling the living room. Then I will be much happier. Sigh.

My phone just rang! That hasn't happened in forever!
It was Rachel. I told her I'd see her within a few months, if everything went as planned.
Speaking of planning, I need to start! Yay!
(Am I getting more excited about moving to Oregon? Am I happier about seeing friends and family and living alone and getting a cat? Yessss!)