A Blizzard, A Meltdown and Plan B....

Two weeks ago we had a plan that looked good on paper. We were going to load our trailer and pickup with belongings to store in Fresno with Tim's family. And thus preparing for this trip had us ripping the house to shreds in order to sort, organize and pack the things we wanted to put into storage.

After weeks of traipsing through rooms littered with piles of stuff we were finally ready to load the trailer. We lined it up with the garage and starting loading. I really hate that this sounds like a small task when in reality it was hours of carrying things outside as the sun went down and the temperatures dipped lower and lower. At about midnight we were exhausted but had the trailer closed up and ready to go. We then drove out to the machine shop to drop off some materials and picked up a pizza on the way home. Spent, we collapsed into bed, mind you our bed was now packed away in the trailer so we were crashing on an air mattress. Being so tired I don't think we noticed one bit.

Early the next morning we woke up to eeiry, howling winds and set to the task of packing up a few remaining items in bed and cab of the pickup. Then it started to snow. With the winds gusting the otherwise gentle snow was whipped through the air in a horizontal direction. I was growing more and more worried about Tim driving in such weather even if it was only for the first few hours of the trip. I was almost in tears at the thought of him on the road, alone, with a fully loaded trailer and pickup.

Tim pulled the pickup and trailer away from the house and immediately we knew something was wrong. The wheels on the trailer were not only "squatty" but the axle looked precarious at best. It was bowed in a unnatural direction toward the ground. Despite our seemingly careful efforts to pack the trailer the load was obviously too much for it.

We were unsure as to what to do at this point. I mean, "Should Tim start driving and see what happens?, Should we wait until the next morning for the weather to clear? But then the roads would have hard packed snow which would still be dangerous??". In the end we decided to move some of the heavier items out of the trailer to ease the burden on the axle. Mind you this was no easy task when the snow is still whipping sideways, the ramp to the trailer is a veritable skating rink from the wet snow and the item you're trying to move is a table saw that weighs 300 pounds. After much wrestling and slipping on the ramp we rearranged some of the items in the trailer but to our dismay the bowed axle looked unchanged. What? At that point we were both anxious and truly unsure as to what to do. We walked back into the house and Tim said, "Ok, I should get going". He gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked out to the truck. I immediately starting crying because I was so scared about the weather, so tired from loading and unloading and not much sleep and so worried about the safety of the trailer. What if something happened out there? Would there even be cell service or any passersby to help Timmy if something happened?

Then something amazing happened. No, the snow did not stop. Rather Timmy walked back through the front door. The look on his face mirrored everything I was feeling - at that point we both melted down. Hugs and deep breaths followed. We decided right then and there for so many reasons that it was not safe to be driving that day. I can't tell you how relieved I was and I'm assuming Tim felt the same. Within minutes we were joking and laughing, happy to working on Plan B. Whatever that might be.

We decided to brave the weather, at this point we didn't even notice it, and drove out to a favorite breakfast spot for some grub and a brainstorming session. On some paper scrounged from my purse we laid out all the options with pros and cons. What if we sold the pickup here in Bozeman? Could we rent a Uhaul and just make one trip to Fresno with all our stuff? Maybe we could sell the Honda in Salt Lake when we finally leave?

So we spent the rest of the day talking with our families to let them know that plans had changed, researching other options and we settled on what is now Plan B. We decided to sell the pickup in Bozeman and we will rent a Uhaul to take the belongings that Tim was going to drive to Fresno before the blizzard and meltdown happened. The trailer, along with several items, would go to my mom, Linda, and her husband Paul when they came to visit for Thanksgiving.

Feeling refreshed, well kind of, we unloaded the trailer and put everything in the garage. So in 24 hours we loaded and unloaded the trailer. Looking back I know we made the right decision to postpone the trip and now all of our belongings are packed and organized. The house is empty and we are ready to go.

New Tenants

So by the time the potential new tenants came through our apartment I didn't even care what it looked like. I assumed, "No one would want to rent this place...they'll be too distracted by the piles of stuff everywhere". With that said I was shocked to learn that they came through the apartment, they LOVED it, they asked to buy our washer and dryer and then they wanted to know if we could move out early. When Tim relayed this to me I laughed. Out loud. I mean, "sure we can move out early, pitch at tent in the snow and let you move in". Who are these people?? Our property management people told them we are moving out of the country and no, we cannot vacate early.

In the end it worked out. They loved the place, put in an application and we have our fingers crossed that there won't be any other people traipsing through our place. :)

Kitchen Complications

So far the office is almost done, same with the bedroom, the bathrooms, the garage and the laundry room.  You'd think we're nearing the finish line. Wait, not so fast. There still remains one sneaky, unassuming room. The kitchen. We'd talked about breezing through the cabinets with not a care in the world - like it would take an hour or so. Right. Today I started out by clearing the four counter tops. "Perfect," I thought, "I can use each one for a different pile of stuff; one to throw away, one to give away, one to pack and store and the last for those few items I wasn't sure about". Yeah. After unloading almost all of the cupboards each of the counter tops is swimming with stuff. I thought to myself "How did we accumulate 81 glasses? (note: this is the actual count, not a silly exaggeration) there are white wine, red wine, champagne, martini, pint glasses, coffee mugs, tea cups, shot glasses, liqueur glasses, reusable cups for cold drinks, reusable cups for hot drinks.....what?!". Does everyone else have this many glasses in their kitchen??

Another room in shambles and it is crunch time. Tim is leaving with the pickup and trailer this Saturday. He's driving to Fresno, CA, where his family lives - they've been kind enough to store some of our belongings while we're away. With that said, we need to be sorted and packed before Saturday. Back to the kitchen for me. :)

To Laugh or To Cry

At this moment, the house could be labeled a disaster zone by the government. People always say that things sometimes have to get worse before they get better. Right. This is way worse. While we've found homes for most everything we own, taken an embarrassingly large pile of recycling out of the garage and filled several bags full of clothes to donate, there remains a myriad of things that need to be sorted.

Yesterday we informed our property management company that we will be leaving Bozeman the 19th of December. They seemed genuinely surprised to learn that we would actually give them our 'notice to vacate' without wanting to move out early. What? I didn't realize you could do this any other way. They then told us that they would want to show the unit to potential renters and would give us 24 hours notice.

Yeah. So, about that. I was hoping they wouldn't call before the end of next week. That is, after Tim had left with most of our stuff. Then we would have an empty apartment - perfect for viewing. Instead, Tim got a call yesterday saying that they were bringing people by on Friday. Enter the title of this post. I did laugh when he told me about this. Out loud. I was looking around at what used to be our living room; now just a room full of piles. I did laugh but in reality I wanted to cry.