Moving Hell

The last week and a half have been very crazy for me to say the least.  Everything — in my mind — that could go wrong with our move from Nevada to Oregon seemed to go wrong.

It started the day before we were supposed to pick up our Uhaul and auto transporter.  Uhaul called to tell me that not only could I not pick them up at the location right by my house but that the auto transporter and the truck had to be picked up at two separate locations in opposite directions of one another.  Both locations no where near my house.

Yep, you could say it all went downhill from there.  After we picked up the Uhual we decided to go home  and at least partially load the truck before picking up the auto transporter at the other location.  This way we wanted to get at least some of the loading done before it got unbearably hot out.  We loaded the truck about three fourths of the way and then headed over to the second location to get the auto transporter.  About halfway there the truck’s check engine light comes on.  Of course we were picking up the auto transporter from an authorized retailer rather than an actual Uhaul run location so they could not do anything and told us to take the truck over to one of the actual Uhaul facilities to check it out.

The actual Uhaul facility was no more helpful than the authorized retailer and sent us home telling us to call the road side assistance number…which I did and had to hold for a little over two and a half hours before an actual person came on the line to help me.

They sent out a mobile mechanic who surprisingly only took another hour to arrive.  Not that he was much help.  The mechanic informed us that the transmission was going out and there was an oil leak.  He said that no one would be able to get the part the truck needed until Monday (this was Saturday evening and we were supposed to be leaving at the crack on dawn on Sunday because my brother who was going to be driving the truck was supposed to be at work on Monday).  Even had we wanted to unload the truck which was well over half full and had taken a full day of work in the Vegas heat to pack up there were no other trucks in the whole Las Vegas Valley we could have switched to.

Since my brother is a CDL driver the mechanic said that if he paid close attention to the truck it was very unlikely to break down.  Feeling that we were out of options if we wanted to leave the next morning my brother agreed to drive the truck as is and the mechanic called Uhaul and got authorization for him to do so.  Instructing my brother to stop frequently and add transmission fluid and check the oil (which he gave us a few bottles of each) the mechanic left.

So because of all this we got way behind in finishing the loading of the truck.  By early Sunday morning we were rushing around like mad to get the truck loaded all the way.  What kind of fun filled day would it be that morning had we not also ran out of room in our 26 foot truck for all of our stuff?  This forced us to make the decision that we would have to leave some of our stuff behind.  Out of room and out of time we were not able to clean the house as we had planned, which needed to be done if we wanted to get our full deposit back.

I then had the bright idea of asking our oh so helpful neighbor (sarcasm should be noted and you will see why) if he and his wife would be willing to clean the house for us if we paid him $75 so we would still get our deposit.  He was having a garage sale that morning so I also gave him our vacuum, a wii fit board, a bbq grill, a $300 leather jacket, and told him he could keep anything else we left behind in the house that he thought he could use or sell at his garage sale.  He agreed to clean but said he would also need an extra $20 to take any stuff he did not want to the dump.  What’s $5?  So I gave him and his wife an even $100 and they looked us in the eyes told us how much they would miss us, how he had thought of my son as a grandson, and promised the house would be cleaned spotless so we would get our full deposit.

Two days later I found out what assholes these neighbors of mine really were.  They did not clean at all, they scavenged what they wanted to keep and left the house a worse wreck than when we walked out.  The owner is pissed at us and we are losing a large chunk of our deposit now because they had to call professional cleaners to come in so the house would be ready for the new tenants to move in.

The 18 hour drive from Nevada to Oregon took us 25 because of all the extra stops a half broken Uhaul truck has to make and the problems caused the engine to work harder thus burning through gas much more quickly than it should have adding that additional expense.

Unloading of the Uhaul once at our new home was chaotic at best.  Everyone I had asked to come over and help us unload and set up furniture just basically threw boxes in whatever room paying no attention to what they were labeled.  No beds were put together or heavy furniture put where it should be.  Beyond frustrating.

That night when I went in to Uhaul and told them everything they did agree to refund a small amount of the rental price I had paid and said I did not have to fill the tank back to the same level as I had gotten it at.  It wasn’t anywhere near enough of a refund for all the headache.  But hey at this point I wanted to take whatever I could get and be done with it.

Nope…just when you think things are done and resolved and you can move on Uhaul has to go and mess up one last time.

As I mentioned the truck was fully loaded and we had to leave stuff in Las Vegas.  We could not fit the dolly I had rented in the truck so right before we left Las Vegas I had gone and returned it (which was another hassle in itself that I forgot about in my earlier ranting and just typing this is making me to exhausted to go into now).  I had returned it though and gotten a receipt from the location that I returned it to showing that it was indeed returned.  When I brought the truck back in Portland I forgot to bring the receipt with me.  The lady who was working when I brought the truck back told me that I could bring it in the next afternoon when she was working and she would wait until then to check in the truck so I would not be charged for the dolly.  I stood there and watched her type these notes into the system asking the morning shift not to check in the truck that she would do it when she got to work.

Only to wake up the next morning and look at my bank account and find that the morning crew did not read the notes at all, checked in my truck, and charged my bank card $255 for the “missing” dolly.  I was not a happy camper.  Especially when what took them 2 careless seconds to take out of my bank account took 5 days to go back in and caused my account to overdraft.

I am sure that there are people who have had even more horrific moving experiences than ours was.  I do  know though that this last week has been stressful and unpleasant to say the least…and a large part of our stress and problems were caused by Uhaul.

On top of all this stuff that happened I missed my dad’s marriage vow renewal ceremony, that he and his wife had changed the date of to make sure I could be there, because when I woke up and my bank account was all screwed up I went back into stress mode and totally forgot about his ceremony.

Other sad devastatingly sad news was received the day after we got to Portland, however it is not something that deserves or should share a post with Uhaul hell.

A Sad Goodbye

His name is Fezzik and I miss him.  I feel so horrible right now.  We have had Fezzik since he was about 10 weeks old.  I remember when he was a baby his ears were so big he looked like a little bunny…but he grew into his big ears.  He is 6 years old now and we are moving 1100 miles away and can not take him with us.

Yes I am talking about our cat.  He may have been a cat but he was part of our family.  He was so sweet and loving.  My grandma said he was her best friend.  Anytime she would go up or down the stairs he would always walk two or three steps in front of her like he was helping her and would be there to catch her if she fell.  She has this walker with a seat on it and every day when she would come down stairs he would jump onto the walker once she got down here and wait for her to give him a ride around the house.

Fezzik loved to be petted.  I guess most cats do.  He would walk up to you and when you would reach to pet him he would flop down on his back and stretch out hoping you would rub his tummy.  Oh and he would love to watch lights on the wall.  If the sun made something shinny reflect or if you got out a flash light he would go nuts staring at it making what I called a dolphin noise.  His tail would swish back and forth and he would watch making that funny little noise…then he would jump up high and pounce at it trying to catch the light.  This could go on for hours if the light stayed up on the wall.

He loved us and we loved him.  He trusted us.  He didn’t think he was a cat he was one of us.  We can’t take him with us though.  So the other day (two days ago now) my grandma and I took him down the street to the Henderson Animal Shelter so he could be put up for adoption.  It was very hard.  Fezzik does not like riding in cars and he cried the two mile drive there in the carrier.

This is the last time I saw him and this image makes me so sad.  He is so beautiful and he has never been stuck in a cage.

When we dropped him off I wrote a letter from him and gave it to the lady we filled out the paperwork with:

My name is Fezzik, I was born in May of 2006.  I am 6 years old.  I am neutered and declawed.  I am only an inside cat but if you leave a door open and I think you are not looking I will try and slowly sneak outside.                                    I do not like dogs, even friendly ones, but I am ok with other cats. I would be best with a family without small children, older children are ok, and I love old people.  Sometimes I am standoffish when I meet new people but quickly warm up if they know my name and are nice to me and pet me.  When I move to a new environment I usually will find a hiding place and stay there for a day before I get out and explore….

This shelter says as long as the animal is adoptable (which Fezzik is) they do not put them to sleep and keep them up for adoption as long as it takes, there is no limit.  Any animal that comes into the shelter for adoption is spayed or neutered if that hasn’t already been done.  They are given their rabies and first round of shots, and they are microchipped.  The adoption fee to cover the costs and make sure people who adopt them really want them is $55 for cats.  Since Fezzik only needed his shots and microchipped they said they would put him up for adoption the next morning…no waiting period.

I tried to tell him goodbye through the bars of the carrier but he turned his back to me as if he were angry and he would show me.  After they took him back I asked the lady at the front desk if someone pets the animals while they are waiting for adoption and she said no because it makes it too likely to spread stuff from one animal to another if they had something the shelter wasn’t aware of.  The only human contact they get is when the cage cleaner takes them out while cleaning the cage and if someone looking at the animals asks to see a specific one.  While I understand their reasoning behind this it made me feel awful…and this is what is haunting me.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking…omg what have I done?  Fezzik is sitting in a cage and his heart is probably broken wondering why he is there.  It is taking everything I have not to drive over there and tell them I made a mistake and pay the adoption fee to take him back home.  I truly feel like a bad person.

I hope that someone sees his sweetness and the fact that he is declawed will appeal to people and he will be adopted quickly…I can’t stand the idea of him being in a cage for any length of time with no one to pet him.  It doesn’t help that one of my friends got pretty upset with me and told me you don’t just “throw away” a family member.

I am not a heartless person.  I actually feel bad for stray animals and feed any stray cats I see.  I often feel an urge to rescue animals and are sad when they have no one to love them.  I thought I was doing the right thing.  I mean too many people just release their cats or dogs to fend for themselves when they are moving and cannot take them.  Taking Fezzik to a shelter where he would be cared for and not killed until a family adopts him seemed like the responsible thing to do…

Responsible or not I feel like crap for doing it.  If anyone is in Henderson, NV or knows of someone in Henderson, NV who wants a wonderful cat please go to the Henderson Animal Shelter on Galleria Dr and see if Fezzik is still there and adopt him.  I wish this wasn’t so hard and didn’t feel so bad.

Keep smiling even when you feel like crying…

Some days it is harder than others to keep a positive attitude.  I am trying though to keep the smile on my face and believe/hope for the best.  We put an application in on a rental house yesterday in Portland.  Size wise it was the perfect home.  I have never had trouble renting before because I have an excellent rental history, no evictions or anything, despite my terrible credit.  

Well this place (the management company who I will leave unnamed at this point) took our application fees ($45 per adult; we have 3 adults) only to call back within less than 24 hours and say they can’t rent to us because of our credit.  They never checked anything else (income, rental references, personal references, rental history) just the credit.  I offered to pay a larger deposit if that would help.  No she told me they would be unable to do business with me.  She said the fact that I have more than 10 bad accounts on my credit report that are not medical automatically disqualifies me.  

Yes I have bad credit.  Now days many people do.  Many people who never dreamed they would.  The 10 things policy this place had with no flexibility was frustrating.  Yes I have over 10 things but they are small.  Total bad debt that is ruining my credit comes to less than $10,000.  I am sure many people with bad credit have much larger debt.  I’m not trying to excuse my bad credit.  But I was not asking for a credit card or line of credit.  I was asking for a place to live  and they denied me JUST based on my credit.  It was irritating that they didn’t even pull my rental history or speak with the owner of the house we are in now.  We are great tenants, so it’s their loss really I guess….or not…they walked away with $135 and they didn’t even finish their “background” check.

I was telling a friend of mine who lives up in Portland that we didn’t get the house and what the lady told me.  By the verbiage I used quoting the rental company my friend knew exactly what company it was without me ever telling her.  I guess they did the same thing to her and her husband.  It just seems so wrong.  I guess if the management company is that shady I probably don’t want to rent through them anyway.

So now we are a month away from  moving and the owner of the house we are in has it listed and is starting to show it and I don’t have a place I know we have to go.  I seriously today was so disheartened that I was considering calling the owner here and saying I had decided not to move.  I didn’t though.  I have to believe the right place will come along and everything will work out.  I do believe that.  It’s just when you are in the moment sometimes it’s hard to focus.

As my sister-in-law pointed out for the location of the place we were turned down for (even though the house was nice) the rent was on the high side — really high side — for that neighborhood.  If someone had perfect credit and could pay that much a month in rent they more than likely A.) would pick another neighborhood and B.) be buying not renting. It’s true if I could buy I would.  Too bad I don’t know someone who can buy a place as an investment property and let me rent from them….ahhhh I can dream right?

Well here is to keeping the faith, keeping my chin up, and knowing the right thing will come along with in my tight time frame.

Change

When people ask me how long I have lived in Las Vegas I tell them “Six years…that’s four years too LONG!”

When I moved down here from Oregon I was severely depressed and needing to remove myself from unhealthy situations.  I needed a big change.  Vegas gave that change to me.  Although the first two years here were not perfect those are the two years that I was happy here.  Those two years were just the change that I needed.  My depression greatly improved and for the most part I was much more happy.

I remember while I was working in a casino down on The Strip hearing other locals complain how they had live here 16, 18 , 20 years etc and they hate it here.  I would always think then why don’t you just move?  Seemed an easy solution.  Up until to this point in my life that is exactly what I would do if I didn’t like where I was I would just leave.

Once my love for Las Vegas wore off however and I realized I really did not like it here I realized it’s not always just as easy as “ok lets move!”  Especially when you have children.  I am a single mom and I realized so in addition to resources being tight and not being able to afford to just move at the time I began to dislike it here I realized I can’t just up and move whenever and uproot my children.  They were both in school now and for the first time had established friends of their own independent from the friends they would make because I was friends with another child’s mother.

I was now one of those people that felt stuck here in Las Vegas.  I was determined though that it would never get to the point of me saying “I’ve been here 20 years and….” So I began to make plans in my head that I would figure out where I wanted to go and good timing and I would get myself unstuck from this place.

Another two years went by and I had now been here four years.  I decided that Southern California was where I wanted to be.  What could be better than being so close to the ocean?  I had been laid off from my job when the department I worked in closed a few months earlier so I felt it would be the perfect time.  When school was out for the boys I would move to Cali.  I had really fully intended to do just that. For four months I made plans and the kids were getting excited to move.  I told everyone that would listen that I was going to be moving that summer.

A month before I had planned on leaving in sunk it.  We are in a terrible economy.  I am unemployed.  Yes, Las Vegas may currently have the highest unemployment rate in the country and I am not having luck finding a job here.  Things were not much better in California unemployment wise though.  What if I can’t find a job there and my unemployment runs out?  Cost of living is higher.  I could end up totally screwed.  So I decided to stay.  This left me feeling very depressed and trapped here even more than before.

Now I have planned again.  I have been here six years.   I decided that this year is the perfect year to move (and I saved money to do so).  The boys will be going into middle school and high school in the fall so both will be changing schools anyway.  Over the last year I have been trying to figure out where I wanted to be.  My grandmother lives with me and she is 84.  She has made it clear she feels to old to move around and requested that wherever I move I be ready to stay until she is gone.

I always said I would never move back to Oregon.  I had a long list of reasons why I didn’t want to be there and why it would be a bad idea.  However, a few months ago I realized that you should never say never.  I really, really, really wanted to move back home.  I wanted to be closer to my dad because he has a heart condition and could be gone sooner rather than later.  I want my kids to be closer to their family.  I want to be by the rivers, lakes, and trees.  I want to be within a short drive to the beach.  I need life around me not the blah that I see when I look around here.  The only con to moving back there at this time is my boys father and he is in prison for another three years…so problem at least temporarily solved.

Now I am a little over a month away from moving day (July 1).  I am both excited and stressed out.  Stressed because it’s hard looking for a place to live from 1100 miles away.  Also cost of living has gone up in Portland.  When I moved down here it was cheaper to live up there than it was to live in Las Vegas.  That has now flip flopped and things such as rent are cheaper here.

I feel strangely at peace though also.  I am certain that everything will fall into place and we will find the perfect place to live at the perfect price.  That I will find a job in a timely manner there that will work around my school schedule.  I am at peace that everything is going to be alright.  Things are going to align.  I am going to meet the right people for the right things to happen.  I feel that one way or another financially things will fall into place and be fine also.  Maybe someone will knock on my door and give me a large sum of money?  Haha.  If anyone feels compelled to do so feel free 🙂

So here is to change because there are big ones coming in the next few months.  Here is to escaping my trap, to being set free, here is to all the upcoming happiness and prosperity awaiting me.