Moving Troubles

Happy Labor Day everyone! Hope you're spending it outside with family & friends. Or maybe you're stuck inside due to that tropical system named Lee (granted, it sounds like that area of the country has been in some desperate need of rain). We've been spending our weekend lifting & moving boxes and furniture.

So, we've officially moved into the new apartment. Took a little longer than we anticipated thanks to a major hiccup at the beginning, but everything worked out and we are crazy happy with our new place. But let's start with how our little moving adventure started out, shall we?

I mention before (here) that we had the old place pretty much packed up & ready to go once the moving truck was there. There wasn't a whole lot left to do except wash/dry the clothes that were worn throughout the week and pack up some odds & ends. If you remember, the place looked a little something like this:

The original moving plan was to pick up the moving truck after work on Friday, load up everything in the old apartment & stay one last night there. Then, in the morning, the boys were going to drive the truck to Orlando and pack up the fiance's furniture & boxes while I stayed behind and finished cleaning the old place before turning in the keys. Then, we'd all meet up at the new place around lunch time, eat, and then unload everything.

Last time I moved, we used a 16' truck from Budget, and it fit all of my stuff perfectly. But, since we were also adding in the fiance's stuff, we decided to reserve a 24' truck this time around. We arrived at the Budget place early, and were informed that they had two 24' trucks, but that only one had a working A/C system. Guess who was getting the one without A/C? Yep, us. But, the other 24' truck was being rented by someone who was moving from Florida all the way to Illinois, so we totally understood why we were getting the one without cold air. And, the lady was nice enough to increase our original discount (from a discount code found online) from 15% to 20% for the inconvenience. Not much, but every little bit counts, right?

So while I was paying for the truck, the fiance went outside to do the inspection checklist to make sure everything was ok. With the exception of the A/C, we were good to go. As we walked back outside and towards the truck, we could smell burning rubber. Since the rental place was in a shopping plaza, we just figured someone had peeled out in the parking lot. But, once we got into the truck, we realized the smell was even stronger.... And the battery light wasn't going away... So, the fiance left the truck running while he went inside to inform them that something was wrong with the truck. He and the sales lady came back out and quickly shut the truck off. They saw what wasn't there the last two times we walked out: the serpentine belt on the ground. Yep... the belt that helps run the A/C system & the alternator was just lying there on the ground.

At this point we knew we were in trouble. The place didn't have another 24' truck they could rent out to us, and it was going to take at least an hour, if not longer, for roadside assistance to get there with a new belt. We didn't want to wait because we had family back at the apartment waiting for us to get back. After calling them and explaining what the hold-up was, the Dan's sister-in-law suggested that we ask if there was any other trucks available - even if it was smaller. Luckily, they had a 16' truck that wasn't promised to anyone for a couple days, so they were ok with renting it to us since they would have other 16' trucks coming in. The only downside is that they couldn't give us anymore of a discount than what we already had. Regardless of what size truck you rent from Budget, its the same price.

But now our problem was how to fit my stuff & the fiance's stuff into the smaller truck. It was time to come up with a "Plan B." We decided to load up everything from the apartment Friday night. Then, we treated all of our helpers out to dinner. Afterwards we drove the truck to the new place (90 minutes away) and spent the night there. This was how we spent our first night in our new home:

Doesn't that look comfy? Actually, Dan said that his back felt better waking up from sleeping on the floor than from sleeping on my mattress. My mattress is horrible! It literally has a dip in the middle of it now. We've already decided that the first major purchase after the wedding will be a new mattress.

Anyways, Saturday morning my mom (who met us at the new place) and I drove back to the old place to finish up the cleaning, return the cable box, and turn in the keys. While we did that, the boys started unloading the truck. Shortly before we made it back, Dan's sister-in-law and nephew (the same ones we went to Sea World with) had made it over as well as his mom, and they helped finish unloading the truck. Then we stopped to eat some lunch before the boys headed out to Orlando. While they were in Orlando, the girls (plus Dan's nephew) started what seemed like the never ending task of unpacking. When the boys came back, we unloaded all of Dan's stuff. Then the process of relaxation and recuperation began.

So that was our little moving adventure. I've taken pictures of the new place, but need to transfer them from my phone to the computer before I can write up that post. Maybe by this afternoon or tomorrow. I still need to finish organizing the master bedroom closet & bathroom. And on top of that I still need to grade papers & write up my lesson plans for the week. Definitely grateful that we chose a 3-day weekend to move. I don't know what I would have done if I had to go back into work this morning.

So what about you? Got any fun plans for Labor Day? Or maybe you have some interesting moving stories? It seems like every move has to have one major hiccup along the way.