Too Much Today

I sit here surrounded by furniture that is askew and boxes that are taped with a general sense of being overwhelmed and sad. Maybe it's exhaustion, maybe its the fact every time I turn around its someone telling me something else that needs to be done, but I seriously need a week at the beach surrounded by tan relaxed people and fruity drinks with umbrella's in them.

Let me recap the past few days to put some things in to prospective and to also educate you on the ethics of one company - Coast 2 Coast Movers. I pray to God you read this and learn from our misfortune.

Friday morning they arrive at our home in Mableton and begin packing our things, everything is going well and I'm impressed with the speed by which they can pack. A tractor trailer is parked in front of our house to load it up and take it to Augusta. Jack and I had assumed they would use panel trucks, that is what we would have used, so when I mentioned casually that i hope he can back that up in our new driveway I had no idea the drama that would follow.

Around 3pm on Friday after almost 1/2 of our property was in the tractor trailer a guy, a man I assume has some type of ownership in the company, Ben gives us a call to tell us it would be $1500 more dollars for them to actually get the stuff from the end of our driveway to the house. He blamed us for not telling him we had a long driveway... Let me tell you this so you understand 1) I'm sitting in my living room watching cars drive up and down the road so it's not all that long 2) He never before in our 3 weeks of negotiation mention the drive nor did he ask about it. We provided this man an address and just assumed he would get what he needed from that. Nor did we ever expect him to use a vehicle that couldn't get into people's driveways!

So this is 3pm on Friday with half our stuff in the truck and when my husband points out the items above the guy, Ben, says well - we can leave it at the end of the driveway and you can figure out how to get into your house. Not the correct response, especially we since we had already paid extra for the hoisting services required to get several larger pieces of our furniture into the loft area. So my husband negotiates a bit and gets him down to $650 - the entire time being so mad he is about to call the police. He calls his boss who agrees to pay the $650 despite the fact that the quote we had received before was "binding".

We had a cashiers check for the agreed upon $5,850 and Ben told us we could give him a personal check the next day and they would go cash it before the banks closed. Like we are going to take the man's unearned $650.

Time trucks on and they don't end up completing the load on the first day - they do however break a microwave and grind mud all into my downstairs carpet. At which point things turned a bit ugly and they decided to pick it back up in the AM. I'm glad they stopped because everyone was tired and ill, but this left us frantically trying to figure out a place to stay. Luckily Jack's Mom and StepDad only live 45 minutes away and we were able to invade their home at 11 pm at night. Thank God for family.

The second day they show up at 8 AM and begin loading the remainder of the stuff. They say a carpet cleaner is on the way and they will fix the microwave for us... all is good. They are throwing boxes out of the attic, boxes they didn't pack and have no idea what is in them - not so good. They broke several of my ornaments, but only 1 I have found so far that meant anything, however most of those boxes still sit unopened and I'm terrified what I will find. When my husband took the guy the broken ornaments he said "well packed like that they are going to break"... well Duh they were packed to sit in an attic not to have you throw them. They should have repacked them since we paid for "packing services"... but we continue on. Getting more and more upset by the moment.

The truck is loaded and we head to Augusta. It's now past 12 pm and all banks are closed - please remember they were supposed to have us packed on Friday and we were to be in Augusta first thing on Saturday.

We arrive in Augusta and give them the cashiers check for the $5,850 and the personal check for the $650 to which they respond "we will not accept a personal check" go get us the $650 in US Postal Money Order (on a Saturday at 2 pm) or Cash or we drive off with your stuff and charge you storage until you get us the money. Oh my goodness I thought my husband was going to hurt someone - he didn't instead he called the police. The company stopped loading and we waited for the police to arrive.

The police explained to us that despite the loads of emails showing the earlier binding quote and the fact they were holding several hundred thousands of dollars worth of stuff over $650 there was nothing he could do and left! You have to love how the law protects its citizens. I mean in my opinion that was theft by deception or something, but nope...

So while Jack finished chatting with the police I called "Ben" thinking I could talk some sense into the guy. After all I wasn't upset and figured two rational people could talk this through - boy was I mistaken. He accused us of being unethical and said we would "stop payment" on any check the minute he accepted it. Said we were liars and that were intent on sabotaging this move. To which I completely lost my cool man - I went off like I haven't in years and guess where it got me - no where. We did everything by the book with this company, negotiated up front, got it in writing, told them about every scenario we thought would impact their pricing and in the end still agreed to pay them more and we are unethical? Please explain this to me.

Thank God we still had a business checking account open so I could pull out the money from two accounts or we would have been completely screwed- there is a max you can pull out of one account per day using a debit card. So to make a long story shorter, I gave them cash, they unloaded our stuff (the copier hasn't been hoisted yet as agreed they would) and we sit here surrounded by boxes stressed to the max and trying to deal.

I want a fruity drink and will make it my lifes ambition to tell everyone I can possibly tell not to use the company Coast to Coast movers!

Time's Up

Well tonight was the last night we had to paint before we have to go back to the ATL to get the furniture. We made some awesome headway, but we didn't get as far as I had hoped.

We got all of Mama's section done = 6 rooms, our spare bedroom, bedroom, laundry room and three closets done. We still have living room, dining room, hallway, 2 baths and a tiny area of the kitchen. We were focusing on areas that would be the most difficult once the furniture was in... Grateful we did as much as we did! We have painted everyday and / or night since May 1st (with the exception of two nights we took off) so we are both tired, exhausted fits better I think.

I'm off Friday through Wednesday of next week so hopefully we get some good stuff done during that time in addition to getting some much needed rest. Supervising movers beginning on Friday - wish us luck!

Good Progress

We have made some good progress this weekend in addition to spending way too much money but ah well.

Yesterday a gentleman named Gene met us at Lowes with his pick up truck and a trailer. We picked up a lawn mower and the a set of the following lighting set. Its way cool, we got a chandelier for the living room, a dining room light, a island light, a floor lamp, etc...

It was so great of him to let us use his truck... he got a fridge out of the deal and we are now fridgeless, which is awesome. I won't disgust you with the ugliness we found under /behind that fridge - ICK!

We did some serious painting too. Got two coats of red in the bedroom (it may need one more) and we got the laundry room completely painted. Though that was a bit of a nightmare to paint. It was a bit like painting with water... We also got the tape off of the spare bedroom and have one of the closets taped. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was a lot.

We also bought a ceiling fan for my bedroom, new fixtures, mirrors and etc... for our bathroom, a ceiling fan for the back porch, some door screens and an entire new set of knobs and handles for the kitchen. I can't shop anymore for a while but it was fun to get the stuff that is going to make this house mine.

We'll continue working through Wednesday and what gets painted gets painted and what doesn't will just have to wait till after we get moved. We meet the movers in the ATL on Friday! Can't wait to get really settled and be out of this apartment!

For now it's time to get some sleep. I have band aids on my feet and hands from being project accident prone, aches in places I didn't know I had an am generally just tired. I have a ton of work to do before I'm off for 4 days beginning on Friday. Not sure how I'm going to take the time off, but I am...

Not going to worry about it for now- night.

More Painting

Pam and her husband came and picked up the refrigerator in Mama's area today. The one in our area is going tomorrow and then we will be ready for our fridges from Mableton - Furniture arrives in a week. Can't wait to live among my own stuff again!

We painted the rest of the spare bedroom today - I think we are done with the exception of the closet in that room - and of course clean up. But finally we are done painting in that room - 3 days!

More painting tomorrow... I'm going to have a paint brush grow out of my hand soon.

Night Off - Lazy 1010 - WOOT

We took the night off and did nothing - WOOT LOVING IT :) Man does it feel good to be lazy!

Painting - Painting and More Painting

We closed on our house on the 29th of April and are glad that part of the game is over with. Mableton still needs to sale, but at least now we can begin to get settled. We aren't actually moving our stuff in until the 21st and 22nd of May - right now it's paint time. And boy do I mean paint. We are painting every single room of the new house and it is taking what seems like forever.

As I was driving back to the apartment tonight I was thinking of how long it was taking and why - I am loosing track of what we did when so I'm going t0 use this blog as a house renovation journal. Mainly so I can look back years from now and remember the stories, hopefully you will enjoy our journey along the way.

1) Friday May 30th - We taped up Mama's living room and office. Mama took off all the face plate covers for us.

2) Saturday May 1st - Bobby and DeAnn came down to help us. They were a great help and it was fun to see them. We got a first coat on Mama's living room, office and dining room. The most memorable paint moment of the day is when Bobby had a cup of paint and started talking... a few minutes later we realized there were streams of red paint all over the floor where he was moving his hands while chatting. It was so funny and luckily most of it got on the plastic and what didn't was easily wiped up. We wrapped up painting around 4 PM and then went to dinner at Outback followed by the play Annie. Overall it was an extremely productive today, plus it was fun to visit with family that I hadn't seen in way too long.

3) Sunday May 2nd - Jack and I got a second and final coat on Mama's living room / Office. The only thing left to do in this area is the top of her office area - it will have to wait for an extension ladder. The tape was removed in these rooms and they are considered complete.

4) Monday May 3rd - Jack and I put a second coat on the beige part of the living room.

5) Tuesday May 4th - We put a second coat of red on Mama's living room and did some touch ups with a hobby paint brush on the areas that were slightly messed up. It is a paneled room so it was a load of fun to paint... But it's done other than clean up so we are excited. Major pain in the but room.

6) Wednesday, May 5th - Jack cleaned up the living room (pulled tape, cleaned plastic, etc...) and I did a first coat on one of the orange walls in the kitchen. I accidentally painted part of the soon to be beige wall orange... I had to wash it off with a sponge. It didn't all come off put it looks good.

7) Thursday May 6th - Jack painted Mama's bathroom and I painted the second coat of the orange and finished up that color.

8) Friday May 7th - We took the night off and went to see Iron Man 2 - awesome movie and some MUCH needed down time.

9) Saturday May 8th - I went and chopped off all my hair - Cut like 13 inches off of it! I look like a new person completely. After that we met back at Grovetown, grabbed some lunch and started painting again. I painted the first coat of the beige in Mama's kitchen and Jack painted the top part of her bedroom. Here bedroom is two colors divided by a chair rail: a really light blue and a dark blue on the bottom.

10) Sunday May 9th - I did a second coat of the beige in the kitchen, cleaned up the tape from the bathroom and rehung the bathroom fixtures. Jack touched up the light blue areas and did a first coat of the dark blue on the bottom. I also cleaned the floors in the bathroom / kitchen area of Mama's house. Jack didn't put enough plastic down for me to help him... I'm too messy.

11) Monday May 10th - I didn't feel well today. I was tired and didn't feel very well. I took 1/2 day off and got some much needed sleep and then went in to work. It's absolutely crazy busy at the office with me trying to handle a heavy renewal month with out really being comfortable with the accounts yet. Absolutely nutz! After work I took the night off. I tried to talk Jack into resting, but the decided to go on over and finish up Mama's bedroom.

12) Tuesday May 11th - We began the first coat of color in the spare bedroom in our area. We are painting it Turquoise and it is the first room to be painted in our section and I am loving it. Its bold and beautiful. We painted for 3 hours and still didn't get the entire first coat on. Mama helped us tonight by cleaning my kitchen cabinets out - bless her! I can deal with paint but not icky stuff and there is lots of icky stuff.

13) Wednesday May 12th - We worked some more on the spare bedroom - still don't have the entire first coat down, but it is close. I'm still loving the color!

So 13 days to paint 6.75 rooms! Wow, at that pace we are in trouble... Ah well, guess we will be painting with furniture in the house. Nothing to stress over - I'm determined to enjoy this house and it's changing character. So far the colors we choose are bold and awesome. Its a unique house and it will have a unique style - OURS.