The first few weeks…

Try to imagine two adults, two teenagers, two 12 pound puppies (they are full grown, about 9 months old and I will call them puppies forever) and two cats in a 900 square foot space (the second floor would be renovated first so we did not want to put anything up there) without air conditioning and one bathroom. Not only that, but we had all the belongings from the the moving truck, my vehicle and Steve’s apartment. I am smiling now, but I wasn’t then. It was difficult to say the least. Our kids probably would use other words to describe it.

The first problem we had to deal with was the heat. We shut window blinds, covered the windows that did not have blinds with blankets and put fans in every room. We bought two portable room air conditioners and utilized them in the kitchen and living room during the day and the bedrooms at night. It helped some. It was in the upper ninety’s to low 100’s for the first few weeks after we moved in. The dew points were in the 60’s to low 70’s. We were told it was an “unusually hot summer.” So our efforts yielded us indoor temperatures in the low to mid 80’s at night and early mornings, but once the sun hit the south wall of the house, until sunset, the temperatures inside were in the low to mid 90’s. If I used the oven or even the stove top, the temperature went up a few degrees. The lack of house insulation was a major factor. It was a constant battle.

Second we had to carve out space for everyone. The master bedroom is on the first floor so Steve and I took that space. An alcove, off to the side of the room, was turned into a makeshift closet by my dad. The four of us shared two 8 foot rods. There was space next to our California King bed for a banquet table to function as a desk. We would set up the computer here too. (I really needed to get organized.)  The front room, originally a dining room, was the second biggest room so the kids set up here. They each had their own bed and shelves for clothes, but absolutely no privacy.

Third, we had no refrigerator, washer or dryer in the house. A few weeks before we moved, I placed an online order with a national appliance chain to have the three appliances delivered on Monday, 48 hours after our arrival. We bought a dorm sized fridge, to tide us over, so we could keep water cold. I refused to turn on the stove/oven so we ate take-out or prepared foods from the market. Thankfully there was a very nice laundromat about 15 minutes away so laundry did not pile up. Seemed simple enough when I did it, however it was anything but simple.

Sunday afternoon came along and I realized I still had not heard from the appliance store about a delivery time. I found my phone and the battery was dead. I put it on the charger and went to get one of the kids phones to check my email. It was then that I remembered they had been complaining about the poor cell service we had inside our house. They could not get online, texting was spotty and they had not been able to make or receive calls. There had been so many other pressing issues since we arrived, I really did not process what they were saying and how it might impact me.

No big deal, right? I just needed WiFi and I remembered seeing a sign at the laundromat that they had it, so lets kill two birds with one stone, as they say. My parents and I, all our dirty laundry in tow, headed out. (Steve and the kids stayed behind to work on organizing the house.) My first disappointment came when there was no email notification. Luckily I am a compulsive organizer, so I had my journal with every name and number of everyone associated with this move. I called them to inquire about the delivery. My second disappointment came when the sales person told me there was not going to be a delivery, saying “we tried to notify you by phone but could not make contact.” She sweetly explained that all the items I chose were on back order. Apparently they thought they would come in on time to make the delivery but did not. Okay, well I needed to regroup (that or cry). I canceled the order because we could not wait a few weeks for a refrigerator. We had to find one today.

We bought a Sunday paper hoping there would be some appliance store ads because we did not know where anything was. h.h.gregg had an ad. It was about a 45 minute drive, but we were unaware of anything closer, so we went. Amazingly, I found the refrigerator, washer and dryer I had ordered online and they were in stock. Good thing we brought the trailer, right? Wrong. In stock meant at the warehouse, we could not have them today. Okay, when could we get them delivered the ad said same day delivery? Thursday or Friday because we were on the border of their delivery zone. So, I told this poor salesman our story. (I couldn’t make up a better one if I tried.) It just so happened the regional manager for h.h.gregg was in the store and overheard our conversation. He gave the approval needed to override the delivery zone issue so we could have it delivered the following day.

    

Things were looking brighter (or at least more shiny).