http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7980431478/a-few-bumps-along-the-way
We’ve been in California for just over a week now. Amazingly, most of our belongings are unpacked and the house is probably more organized than ever.
One of my high school friends who recently moved posted her top ten reasons she hates moving. Considering the fun we’ve had moving so many times in the past two years with LGO, I don’t hate moving - I’m looking forward to the new adventure - but there were several extra “bumps” during this move.
Bumps and turns in the road:
- Movers: Our movers who packed our belongings in Cambridge were terrible. While we were thrilled to have a corporate relocation package to help with our 3,000 mile move, the experience with our moving company was quite negative. Most of the issues were completely preventable, adding to the frustration. A few examples: food packed with cleaning supplies, missing large panels for TV stand, 3 or 4 crushed lampshades, heavy tools packed on top of a hair trimmer and my now-smashed walking cast (from a soccer injury this spring), furniture damage/mishandling, and trash and a broom left in the elevator… just a few of the many things that made it a very stressful experience.
- Mail: We forwarded our mail from Cambridge to my parents house in Ohio for a month before now forwarding it to California.
I haven’t seen any mail forwarded from Cambridge apartment yet, now its been six weeks. We’ve started a ‘case’ with USPS to investigate, but nothing there yet either.Update: Just got a few pieces of mail yesterday. - Nolan Adjusting: It has been much harder for Nolan this time. First, he’s afraid of the bath/shower because if the water is on a low flow setting, it has a bit of water hammer. Now, he jumps at any noise from the faucet. He has also been waking up during the night and not sleeping well. Poor little guy, I hope things get better in the next few weeks.
- Not Quite: There has been several things around the house that just don’t quite fit. My large Kitchen Aid mixer doesn’t fit under the upper cabinets, and there are no plugs on the other side of the counter. The nice built-in bookshelves were installed so low, I’m not sure if the old tenants were able to fit any books in them! Happily, all the books fit great after adjusting the shelves.
- Phone: My cell phone doesn’t receive reception at our house. Not even outside. Chris has the same provider and his works well.
- Finding “Your” Places: Like Tobe’ said, it takes some time to find things when you move. Specialty shops (produce, seafood, ethnic foods), health care, hairdresser, groceries, decent library, and housewares…
- New Things: Speaking of housewares, things are just a little different in a new house and its common to need a few new little things - soap dishes, trash cans, or big things like a washer and dryer and lots of furniture. This is taking some time, but will help us feel settled, particularly because we moved from a place half the size with much less furniture.
- New People and Friends: I remember when we started at MIT, several of us talked about how exhausting it was to talk to new people for hours a day. We knew it was worth it, but took some time to get to know our 47 new friends and their SOs. Now, those memories of meeting new people become fresh again. We only know a few friends out in SoCal, but happy that we’ve been introduced to a few mutual friends in the area.
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-Kacey Fetcho-Phillips
http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/7980431478/a-few-bumps-along-the-way
