House problems... but good overall

Mood: tired and a headache
Weather: super duper cold and icy

Ok, I don't like to complain but this house thing is almost funny so many things went wrong.... Lets start with Saturday, painting day; My painting help bailed (but made up for it the next day) so on my birthday I shopped the Home Depot and got all the painting stuff one would ever need. Prepped and was just about done when Lars, Ray and Josh arrived to help. We got underway late and there were numerous complainers about fumes and color and having to lift their arms but a coat of paint got on all the walls we needed. I missed a few spots because after a while I was painting in the dark - no lights in the living room! So another coat will happen soon.

Moving day, I need to do this in list for so we can count the comedy;

1. Our apt building had a fire alarm at 9am meaning we had to catch the freeked out cats and exit the building. We went to get the truck and wondered the whole time if we would have anything to pack or would it burn... Turned out nothing serious, just annoying time waster.

2 and 3. sub zero weather did not improve the mood of our friends and definitely impaired there special relations skills resulting in a truck that did not fufull it's highest level of packing perfection. Nothing broke but a butt load didn't fit. We will be shuttling all week in regular cars

4. Pipes froze - no water

5. Pipes unfroze but now one is split, fortunately it had a valve right above so it's not too much of a problem

6. had to run the water for a min in all appliances, including the washer. The washer apparently does not shut off when full and flooded the basement, we noticed fairly quickly, only about an inch of standing water. Lars and I used every towel in the house to clean up....

7. Garage door does not stay shut. It closes then automatically opens again. We spent 25 min clearing every possible obstacle but in the end it considered the ground the obstacle so we had to adjust the setting for where the 'ground' is. This morning, it was off again and refused to stay closed AGAIN, Lars had to reset it after I left and it is currently about a foot off the ground just to be mostly closed.

8. Our cats hate us and are scared of the new house. Mr Pink, who hides alot, wedged himself between the wall and the stairs under the stairs in a crawl space. We only found him because I crawled under the house to see if he fell into the well and I saw his tail. He had been hiding for at least an hour sitting in a puddle... poor kitty. Hopefully he will be less stressed out tonight after a day exploring. Jingles (other cat) is fine and loves the house.

So that is the saga, hopefully nothing else goes wrong! We dealt with everything with as little fuss as possible and Lars and I make a good team when the going gets rough. Oh, there is also a porch light that we can't figure out how to turn off... that bothers Lars way more then me so I'm not counting it.

Last... we can't get phone or internet in the house until Friday and no TV until the following Monday, all Blogging and E-mail will have to be done at work.

I will follow that rant with the statement that I really really really do like the house, it's big and pretty, and ours. We had lots of help from all our friends and I could not have done it alone.