Finally, we’re done moving. Everything was packed up Saturday and moved to the new place in Calgary. But of course, moving is not without its trials and tribulations.
After packing all day/night Friday, Thomas and I felt pretty confident that everything would go smoothly on Saturday. And don’t get me wrong, for the most part it did! Especially when compared to some of my other moves. We started at 10am on Saturday after I picked up the truck, and were loaded up and ready to go by 12:30pm. A million and one thank yous need to go to Catherine, Alan, Brendan, and Lindsay for helping! You’re all amazing, amazing friends.
It was interesting to try and direct traffic, and the amount of “What next?” and “where should this go?” questions surprised me. As much of a control freak as I can be, I didn’t anticipate directing the move! My dad, thank goodness, stayed on the truck and played Tetris to get everything to fit and as it turns out, 20′ was just enough room to get all the furniture and boxes on without breaking anything.
And as far as I know, nothing was broken, either! I didn’t come across any smooshed boxes as we were unloading in Calgary, and have seen no broken glass either. Truly, this move went quite well in absolute terms.
But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without its frustrations either. I gave my friend a key to our place so that he could let in the cleaners that I had called about steam cleaning the carpet and washing the walls. They were supposed to be there at 9am…and by 9:20 my friend still hadn’t seen anyone. I tried looking up their phone number on my phone, but their website had crashed (not a good sign) and idiot me didn’t write down or save the number I called while I was in Edmonton. The steam cleaner guy didn’t show up at noon like he was supposed to either, but by that point I wasn’t surprised.
I finally got a hold of the company yesterday, and the woman took down my office number instead of the cell number that I gave her, and said that she “tried calling a dozen times. Our guys got lost trying to find your house.” Um, what? This is your job! I gave you a clear address, and it’s in an established neighbourhood in Calgary (not a new development, which I agree can be harder to navigate). Have you ever heard of Google Maps??? Look into it!
So our carpets are still not done, but I can live with it. I’ll arrange something else as soon as I have time.
After we got into Calgary, the unloading began. We had significantly less help than we did in Edmonton, as we got in a little later than our friends had anticipated and everyone had things to do/places to be in the afternoon. The heavy things were taken care of by Thomas and his brother in law, and my father. My mom and I hauled boxes, lighter furniture, and organized the space inside the house while the guys moved stuff that would have crushed us (I’m thinking specifically of the 300lb television that Thomas and BIL He-Man-ed into the house).
I still love the place we chose and the neighbourhood especially, but we’ve had some issues with the unit as well. Our utilities were supposed to be set up the day we moved in, but my provider failed to mention that we need to have another company turn on the gas before they’re able to regulate it for us. And for whatever reason, the person I spoke to about changing locations didn’t think to put the work order in for that. So we have no heat and no hot water. Thank goodness we’re moving in July and not December. Our fridge also doesn’t want to get cold, and there’s a leak in the kitchen sink.
*breathes* I think that’s it. Thomas scared the beejeesus out of me by telling me that for the last two nights he’s “woken up to a mouse on his head” and that’s why he’s not sleeping well and I had a moment of “OMFG OMFG OMFG WE HAVE MICE IN THE HOUSE?!” before I realized he was talking about the kitten toys that she likes to drop on us while we’re sleeping.
I’m still in Edmonton until after BlogHer 2012, as I need to clean out the old apartment and do the walkthrough with the landlord. Thank goodness we’re out of that place — as many issues as we’ve had with moving to Calgary, they’re nothing compared to the frozen conditions and sucky communications that we’ve dealt with from this place.
I can’t wait to get to Calgary and get settled in with my man and my cats. I miss them all terribly!
