Housekeeping

Every move has some sort of hitch.  Something that makes it a positively dreadful experience.  I'm convinced of this, otherwise we would all be hopping houses every year just for FUN!  The two weeks of homelessness I thought was ours.  Thanks again families for being so accommodating!  We knew the owners were renovating the kitchen, and that they were scrambling to get it done before they moved.  I figured the house wouldn't be spotless when we arrived, and braced myself for a bit of light cleaning.  I should have done more bracing! 

The house was a M-E-S-S.  Floors were dirty with pet hair, dust and sawdust!  Nothing was vacuumed or swept.  They had three cats and a dog.  Before we felt comfortable moving any furniture into the house, we felt it needed a top-to-bottom cleaning.  The floors were all hardwood or tile, so each had to be swept and then mopped.  We had to change the bucket water after each room, it was that dirty.  Cobwebs in the closets, dead bugs in the windowsills.  Josh tackled the bathrooms.  I got the kids working on their own bedrooms.  The owners did leave behind cleaning supplies, which was almost humorous.  Almost.  The final straw for me was the kitchen.  Both the freezer and the fridge were filthy, and had to be completely wiped out and de-gunked.  The oven.  Oh, the oven.  I've cleaned out some dirty ovens in my day, but this one took the cake (no pun intended).  As I was cleaning it out, Josh came over and took a look inside.  "Now that's just rude," he said.   It felt so good to have him validate how I'd been feeling all day. :(

Outside were piles of things that we weren't sure what to do with:  Bikes, a sailboat, a canoe, coolers, wood scraps and construction leftovers, paint, stain, finish and more paint.  We had to organize and move all of these items in order to get our stuff moved in.  It took a ton of time and thought, trying to figure out what they wanted us to do with all of it!  

Now, don't get me wrong.  We've had our fair share of getting in over our head with remodeling a house.  I'm really grateful to have a house to live in, and I'm happy where we are and all of the pluses that come with living here.  I'm grateful the owners allowed us to move in our stuff into their garage and deck early so we didn't have to pay to store it.  I just wished they would have either given us a heads-up, like, "Hey, we totally ran out of time.  Take $200 off the rent next month with our apologies.  Bring your rubber gloves, cause you're gonna need 'em!"  Either that or hired a service to come clean it before we got back.  It stung, I've gotta say.  It was so discouraging to have moved out of a house and worked so hard to leave it in SUCH clean and well-cared-for condition, only to move in and have to AGAIN clean up, but this time someone else's mess.   

The details of the house were left somewhat unfinished.  The entryway is still the original paint-splattered linoleum.  We apparently buried the tile saw with our lawnmover, so they delegated that job to Josh to complete the entryway.  Uhhhh, what!?  Nail holes in the moldings were patched, but not sanded or painted over.  The yard was completely overgrown and the weeds were up to our waists! 

At the end of that long day we were able to feel like things were clean enough to be able to move things in.  Josh got all of the beds moved in and put together, so that night everyone had a room and a bed.  It was heavenly!  Diddles slept ALL NIGHT  peacefully in her crib for the first time in weeks.

The next morning we had some ward helpers assist us in moving the big pieces of furniture into the house.  Two weeks later and everything is in and in some sort of place.  The yard is looking good, and we're able to enjoy it.  The chickens are an absolute joy, and they've supplied us with at least three delicious fresh eggs a day.  We're still working out organizing in this new space and floorplan, and where to hang the pictures and such, but it's coming along!

Thanks for letting me complain.  It's over and done with, right?  Trying to just forgive and forget.  Moving in and moving on is the name of the game.  The next post I'll introduce you to the chickens!