Moving Saga. Pictures to follow.

We have moved!  We are now in an apartment --in the same house-- which is roughly 3x the size of our old one.  The place is a mess currently, but the old apartment?  Empty as of tonight--minus cleaning supplies.  It's been an adventure for sure.

We decided to move to this new apartment when it came available because, as you may or may not know, to access my bedroom in the old apartment, I had to crawl down a hole in our kitchen floor via ladder.  I'll be honest; it was a MAJOR selling point at first.  I loved it.  It was so quirky and happy and so inexpensive.   It also just happened to include a clawfooted tub while also managing to be the most dilapidated --and yet somehow charming--place I'd ever seen.  I was and am very attached to it--more on that later, but we decided we needed to move because my joints are getting worse.  On bad days, I couldn't make it up the ladder at all.  I had to sit in our bedroom until Tim got home from work (on lunch or for the day), so he could help me even make it to the bathroom sometimes.  That's just not fun.  That said, I've been doing pretty well lately, and nobody who didn't already know that I've got physical issues would guess.. I think.  The new place is pretty handicap accessible.  No stairs -- or ladders -- of any kind, and the rooms are wheelchair and scooter friendly.  It's nice to know that now on bad days I won't be stuck in a dungeon.

ANYWAY.  The MOVE.

First of all, I got the keys to the new place and happily strolled right in.  I saw a toothbrush on the kitchen counter and thought it was a bit odd, but I figured the cleaners had used them to make things spotless.  I was so, so wrong.  I meandered down the hall and peered into the office.  It was littered with pizza boxes, bedding, pillows, and Taco Bell bags.  This is when I began to get a little uncomfortable.  I made my way back to the kitchen, and upon inspection I  found numerous items hidden in the cupboards.   Bear in mind, Tim and I had already walked through the place, which at the time had yet to be cleaned and smelled of dog, but which was *empty*.   I opened the bathroom door and found towels and body wash.

My next call was to the property management people.  "We have squatters.  I've just picked up the key from you, and I've walked in, and someone is living in here."  I was also informed it had already been professionally cleaned.  OH MAN.  The people who lived here before us had a dog.  I know this because I heard him whimper for hours at a time.  I do not know what he looks like.  Not once in the near year and a half that I have shared a house with these people did I see him.  The proof is in the pudding.  Or, in this case, the pee is in the carpets.

But, oh, not only did the carpet smell awful, the baseboard were COATED in dog hair, the bathroom floor had some kind of disgusting grime, there were dead bugs in our window sills, and the list goes on.  The worst part was the smell though.   Allegedly, this place had already been cleaned and readied for us!  We know the cleaners had been in and allegedly done their thing because we talked to them. Not only was it nasty and smelly, but we had squatters!

The property management people were horrified and sent someone to change the locks right away and, upon having us offer to clean the place, agreed and said we'd get a sizable discount on our first month's rent. Nice.  The lock changer arrived. I hadn't dared move any of our things despite the fact that I had all kinds of people ready to help me move that day because.. well, someone was living there.

As he checked the door, some strange man and who I presume to be his girlfriend also showed up.  I asked if I could help them, feeling a little defensive of the place which was--on paper, at least--mine.  The man claimed to be the "friend" of the previous tenants, and he said that there was a mistake, that he should be allowed to live there until June.  This may have been plausible if the same lock changer had not also arrived earlier on a weeks-old work ticket and called the previous tenant ahead of time to be sure he was gone.  He assured him that oh yes, he was gone.  He had been out since the fifth and was done with the place.

ANYWAY.  Basically, there was a very awkward confrontation where the lock changer used the word squatters a lot at the mystery man, and the mystery man allegedly phoned the previous tenant to rant at him about it, blah blah blah.  The lock man then let his intentions be known that he was about to change the locks.  Mystery Man then turned to each of us in turn and somehow, within the pits of his stomach, found the balls to say, "Please don't change the locks."  Um, what?  My name is on the lease, you're in here when you're not meant to be, and this is now MY HOME.  "Please don't change the locks." WHAT.  WHAT.  WAIT.  REALLY?

He: [previous tenant] is going to come back this weekend and clean it; he wants deposit money.
Me: No.  No, that won't work.  I am MOVING IN.  Like, right now.  That won't work.
He: They say they cleaned it, but it's bad, so he is going to come back...
Me: No, he isn't.  This is my home now.  I am moving in.

This went on for some time.  SERIOUSLY.

The locks get changed, and the carpet is so bad that the property management people offer to clean it again, but the carpet cleaner said there was nothing more he could do.  So then the carpet was going to be replaced.  Then the property owners (different from management) decided that no, they didn't want to do that.  New carpet people arrived, not having been forewarned that people were, y'know, at least halfway living here, and they showed up while I was sleeping.  I like to sleep in the buff.  SIGH.

Anyway, they redo the carpets, I spent 30 hours cleaning the ALLEGEDLY CLEAN place top to bottom, and then it floods.  Yep, you read that correctly.  The bedroom flooded when it rained.  They then said they fixed it.  Yesterday, it flooded again.  (They really are fixing it now, but ARGH!)

All of that said, I am in love with the new place.  It smells good now, and it's so spacious.  I'm excited to have a real place for us.   I shall post a video tour of the place tomorrow (probably), and when we get moved in and settled, be prepared for oodles of attempts at homemakery stuff.   Decor, food, whatever! I have never been excited about decorating in my life.  Maybe I ought to see a doctor.