Because I can, I bought myself a little present for my upcoming birthday. I won't open it until the night before, and I may even do the official unwrapping at midnight, just to be traditional. I bought myself (and my daughter) twin-sized air mattresses so we can sleep in the new house on the 21st, and I can wake up in my new house on my 64th birthday. Happy Birthday to me! That really is probably the best birthday present I have ever bought myself, if I had to think about it.
When I unwrap the mattresses, I'll be sure to have the compact air pump with me. I don't want to have to huff and puff my way through a heart attack just to have a place to sleep the first night. There's a reason I'm not going to sleep in my own bed the first night -- it's because the bed will be back at the old house for another night! I take occupancy of the house on the 21st, my birthday is the 22nd, but my son Jonathan can't move me until the 23rd, so that's when the big stuff gets taken over.
Laura and I will move about 3-18 loads in the car, probably on the first two days. Then, by the time we get the U-Haul, most of our stuff that doesn't require big muscles to move will already be taken over. We may have one more load in the truck before Jon and his helper take the one big furniture and/or stuff load. Once he does that, we should be OK to rest from the 24th to the 26th, and then come back to the old place on Thanksgiving to sweep, mop, wipe down, and clean out the fridge and oven. We're not going all-out because I have a $$$$ deposit I paid last year that I'm forefeiting. Why am I forfeiting? Because the complex would never give it back, no matter how clean I left the place. (Sorry, that sounded mean, but it's true.)
We've lived in the complex for just over 10 years, I think, and I've lived in the complex another 3 or 4 times in my life. I have a lot of experience with their rules and regs when it comes to giving back the deposits. No one gets it back. The lady who lived in the house (the only house in the complex) before me nearly sued them because she put in over $500 to have it immaculately cleaned, thinking she'd get back her $1500 deposit for the house. And nope, she did not. She had it steam cleaned!! This place was amazing when I moved into it.
Our last place to rent; it doesn't seem real. I'm 100% for renting if you can do it. I enjoyed letting others do the lawn work, take out the big trash, and fix things that broke. It was great to have so many wonderful, crazy people around and near me for as long as I did. I truly will miss and love some of them. Many of the old folks I've lived around have passed - it's almost as if the complex has changed to the point that it's no longer the hub it used to be. The neighborhood has changed as well. It's time to leave.
My birthday will be celebrated first by waking up in my new house. Then, Laura and I will go to the little bakery in town and get pastries. I may get 3! I can!! I will force her to get at least one load before noon and then force her again to go out to eat with me in El Reno -- I'll even pay for it. She just has to enjoy herself. I think she can do that. There are a dozen really good places, maybe more. I'm thinking Sid's Diner, Las Vazquez, or maybe Swadley's BBQ!
We'll bring the dogs and cats, as well as her new lizard. I thought we were lizard-free for a minute, but she couldn't do it. She broke down and got a Star Agama. If you have to Google that, go ahead. It's really cute, though. We'll have the crickets delivered to the house, which, when you say it out loud, makes one laugh. We'll return to the old house (this one) a couple of days later to clean, sweep, mop, wipe, and straighten things. There won't be too much to "repair". I don't know that we will have anything that's broken, just muddy from the dogs—nothing a quick rinse from the hose can't fix.
We're really hoping that the new house isn't as dusty as this one is. We think that because the dogs run in from the backyard and traipse through the mudroom into my bedroom that it accumulates, but it's just the way the house sits and where it sits - there's a natural spinning of air around it. It's rather hard to see it, but in just over a week, we find ourselves sweeping and wiping down dust constantly, where we didn't have to do that in the 2nd story apartment we lived in, or in any of the ground floor houses or apartments we've ever lived in. This house is a dust magnet.
There you go - 30 days! Just 30 more days and nights, and we will be in the new place. We'll probably visit it 3 or 4 times before that and just walk the 14 acres, checking the fences, taking pictures of the inside of the barn and the creepy storm shelter - we need to get estimates to fix them both. I will leave the shelter in the ground, but I want the entrance improved so it doesn't let rain into the place. The thing took a BIG hit in 2013 when the F6 came through -- BIG hit! I want a safer and more attractive front to my storm shelter! The barn will either be demolished or refurbished. It's about the same amount of money either way.
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