Moving to Maryland, Part 2

Sorry it’s taken me so long to finish up our little trip. I’m sure you understand, yes? The craziness of moving and all that jazz. I’ll get to that in a minute.

After we spent the night in Ohio, we finished up our trip by getting to my parents’ place in Virginia around 5pm on Thursday, which left lots of time for eating and hanging out. We didn’t make any exciting stops on the second day of the trip. Mostly because we were ready to be done…and there wasn’t a whole lot to see besides trees most of the day (and maybe a few hick towns in West Virginia). We stayed the night at my parents and then headed up to Maryland in the morning to check in, get our keys and get moved in!

We managed to get up there without any major traffic! The traffic around here, especially during rush hour, is legendary. And we know people that commute about 3 hours BOTH WAYS to get to work/home. Insane? yes. I know. So it was a little miracle to get up to our place in about an hour and a half. We got there and we went over the lease with the management office, and when that was (finally) over, we got our keys and were able to let the movers in so they could get started. I felt kinda bad, they had gotten there before us and had to wait while we were going over the lease. There was no couch stabbing of the movers this time, thank goodness. And of course, we just had to sit around while they brought everything in and put furniture together and stuff. I did get to check off boxes –they were numbered- as they came in to make sure everything was there though. So at least I did something. ;)

Once all the boxes were in, that was it! We started unpacking a few things and getting the bed made (sleeping is important) and trying to settle down a little.

That was Friday. Saturday we took some time and met my parents at the Washington DC temple. Technically it’s in Maryland, but anyway…my parents’ stake was having a little women’s conference thing and my Dad went along to help with ordinances and so we met them to do a session at 11:30. It was really nice to see them again so soon and to go to the temple after all the move in craziness.

But the craziness was just beginning my friends. oh yes…

I think it started with the dining room light fixture. We discovered two light bulbs were burnt out right when we moved in. As with most apartment complexes, we’d received a form to fill out of any damage we found in the apartment when we moved in so that we wouldn’t be blamed/charged for it when we left. So we did a pretty thorough inspection and found a few little scuffs and things. Then we realized the microwave didn’t work (like, the number pad was bashed into the unit and the micro-waves were quite absent when you pushed START). Then the bathroom sink started to leak. Then as I was unpacking the kitchen, we discovered that two of the cabinet drawers were busted. When we tried to make dinner for the first time, we realized that our pilot light for the gas stove/oven hadn’t been turned on. (so we had Five Guys instead. so sad. ha! ;) I feel like there was something else, but I can’t remember. By Tuesday, when I thought the washing machine was also broken, I’d had enough. John and I were going to go over together, but with his work schedule, it wasn’t really going to work. He called the office, and then I went over the make sure they knew what was going on. They didn’t, (naturally) even though John had mentioned everything in his voicemail. The office lady promised the maintenance guy would come that day and fix everything.

So after I watched the maintenance guy poke at the microwave and wiggle the door a few times and declare that he would need to come back another day – he might need to order parts (I’m thinking, ‘really? the buttons almost go into the microwave unit itself…and you think you can get parts to fix that?!’) when I asked him to look at the washer before he left. He gave me a quizzical look, but then proceeded to show me how to hook up the water pipes when it was clear I didn’t know what I was doing. This is what I have to do to wash my laundry:

That’s right. Wheel it out of its little house in the corner of the kitchen, plug it in, and hook the hoses up to the kitchen sink. Holy cow. In retrospect, I actually find this quite comical, but at the time I was mostly annoyed that no one had thought to explain this to me upon move in. SERIOUSLY!? I was really supposed to figure this out on my own?! I’ve never seen this before! This can’t be entirely normal to someone of my generation. Please. Say it isn’t so!

;)

However, I’ve survived 2 laundry days now, so I think we’re gonna be okay. Can’t complain to having a washing and dryer in the apartment. Take THAT coin op!

I’m pretty sure the maintenance guy doesn’t want to see me anymore. (in which case, they should have had everything ready!!) But everything got fixed. Down to the last burnt out light bulb. The maintenance guy ended up coming back later that day with a brand new microwave (ha!) and installed it for us. It’s just like our old one in La Grange Park, so it’s pretty spiffy. I guess that’s the good part to having a busted microwave when you move in – you get a brand new one! ;)

John has completed a whole week at the new job and he says it’s definitely different. He’s going to start biking to and from work soon, we only live about 6-7 miles away from him office. Cool, right? I’ve been decorating, of course, I have a lovely photo wall that I’m excited to show you. AND I made adorable curtains. I haven’t wanted to put any pictures up yet because we still had boxes and things all over the place, but the debris pick-up people came today to take all the boxes. I know, awesome. It was part of the sweet deal that comes with having the company move you. ;)

So stay tuned! Pretty pictures coming soon!