In Case You Didn't Know

Portland, Oregon is beautiful. In every way it seems.

We've yet to experience any rain so far; although, some is supposed to be headed our way this weekend. (Which I'm actually looking forward to. I want to see what this "Portland rain" is all about.)

A moving update: Moving was a nightmare. Packing everything and cleaning everything was harder than I think I've ever experienced in my life. I've decided that what made it so difficult was chasing after and cleaning up after a little toddler in the midst of packing and cleaning. (Really it was more like packing, re-packing, cleaning and re-cleaning. Rich really is a good little mess-maker. But don't get me wrong! He's a good little helper, too.) I do not think KNOW we would not have been able to do all of this without my mom's help. Thank goodness for moms, right? And to think, I almost talked her out of coming out to Logan to give us a hand. 

Literally the day before we moved (so while we were running last-minute errands, finalizing packing, packing the truck, cleaning, etc.) Rich relapsed into his sinus infection/cold/allergies/whatever. The poor boy had such a tough couple of days. He couldn't breathe through his nose, didn't feel well, etc. But he was a real trooper. Honestly, I don't think there is a little boy out there who could have handled everything better. 

Anyway, Rich getting sick just added to all of the craziness that was our move.

Let me explain: 

I'm pregnant. Rich was sick. There was a lot to do. Tyler was administering and grading finals (because he was working as recitation leader for USU) the day before we left (translation: gone ALL day). Tyler had finals the morning we were planning on leaving. So things were already overwhelming.

Now, because Tyler was grading finals on the day before we left, it was up to me to go pick up our moving truck. We had arranged to pick up the truck at a location just a couple blocks from our apartment so I could walk there and drive the truck home. But because of some miscommunication (on UHAUL's part, I might add), not only was there no truck for us at that location, there was no person there to help us out either. Not that walking a total of like four blocks is any huge feat, but the time, the precious time, we wasted in all of that confusion was very frustrating.

After we got the truck, things seemed like they were going smoothly--until we started packing the truck. Apparently packing a truck is an art which we don't know much about. We thought (and planned) that packing the truck would take about an hour, tops. For us (this time around), even with all the help we had, it took about three and a half hours. And even after the truck was packed that night, there were still a few odds and ends left to be packed in the kitchen and upstairs. Along with some cleaning that needed to be done. 

Here I need to pause and give a HUGE thank you to my mom's husband, Jay, who booked us all a last minute hotel room. With how sick Richie became that night, we all would have been miserable all night long, and literally would not have gotten any sleep. 

Once our hotel reservation was booked, we decided to call it a night and finish everything up the next morning. At this point, I was so physically exhausted that my body was having trouble moving. (Back problems during pregnancy.) We got to the hotel, got ready for bed, and thought things would calm down and be easier. But no, the poor Rich boy was so sick and having trouble breathing. He had to be held pretty much the whole night. Tyler only got about three hours of sleep; I only got about four. I don't think any of our hours of sleep were consecutive. (Mine at least weren't.)

Ok. So moving day comes. I woke up early to take Tyler to campus so he could take his finals. Then I headed over to the house to finish packing up the last minute things, and do a little cleaning before the cleaning crew arrived.

I should mention another thanks to my mom and Jay for hiring this crew. 

So, I was working like a madwoman, trying to get everything done, while Tyler took his finals and Rich got a little extra sleep. Mom was at the hotel watching him. She said Rich was whimpering in his sleep all morning. :( 

Finally, the cleaning crew arrived. I gave them a few general instructions (mistake) then headed back to the hotel to help Rich get some breakfast. He didn't feel well enough to eat. :( But we did get him to take some orange juice. 

At this point, I was really getting worried about Rich. You see, his health insurance is actually through Medicaid--which is operated at a state level. Meaning, once we left the state (that afternoon!!) Rich would no longer have health insurance. And I didn't know if he was going to get loads worse or start improving. I decided to call his doctor's office to see if they could fit us in that morning (only a few hours before we planned on leaving). 

Luckily, they fit us in. And we got to see Rich's favorite doctor, who quickly and efficiently saw to Rich and prescribed some meds for him to help him get better. 

But as our doctor appointment was coming to a close, I heard from our cleaning crew. They were finished at our apartment and needed to be paid. And I had no way to get to them. (Or inspect their work.) I still needed to pick up Rich's meds from the pharmacy, and although my mom was in town, she didn't have a car of her own. So, I agreed to let the cleaning crew go to my mom's hotel for payment, and didn't get a chance to inspect their work (which turned out to be a mistake). 

Rich and I headed back to our apartment to gather our things, repack the car, pick up Daddy, and get on the road. 

So we got back to the hotel. I took the opportunity to grab a quick shower (amazing, the restorative powers of a good shower) before Tyler needed us to pick him up from campus. We packed our bags, got Tyler, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to the apartment to make sure that we were ready to hand the apartment back over to our landlord.

But guess what.

Cleaning crews are only as good as you tell them to be. And I have problems being assertive. So when we got back to the apartment, there was still work to be done. AND we had forgotten to take down our curtains.

Here's the thing that was so difficult for me about all of this. About a month earlier, we had gotten a (condescending and rude) letter from our landlady describing what she expected out of our apartments at checkout. Basically she wanted a brand new apartment, but expected us to be filthy slobs, so she was informing us that whatever we didn't clean, she would charge us for. I was determined to hand that apartment back to her in near perfect condition.

But the cleaning crew did not meet my expectations. I was super disappointed in what I saw. Not only did they not do everything I asked, they only half-heartedly did the things they set about to do. 

But at this point, there wasn't much we could do, so we cleaned up the obvious things the cleaning crew had overlooked (like moving our oven and fridge and cleaning the floors below, which I had specifically requested they do), removed our curtains (thank you to our neighbors for their last minute tool-lending), and called it good. 

The disappointing part of cleaning our apartment (for me) was that it wasn't quite in the condition I had hoped it would be. So A) we were proving our landlady's rude letter right, and B) we can say good-bye to our deposit. But sometimes, you just have to admit defeat and let your pregnant body rest. 

So, we left our keys and forwarding address on the counter (I just hope we don't get a bill from them in the mail--can landlords do that? I wouldn't be surprised if we got one. Furious, because we are actually good tenants, but based on the letter we got, not surprised.), grabbed some lunch, and headed out of town.

I won't go into the details of our drive that afternoon. There may or may not have been a wrong turn at the beginning of our trip that separated the car from the UHAUL truck for a couple of hours, and Rich did throw up before we reached our hotel, BUT the important thing is that we got to our hotel whole and safe. (Although we were exhausted.)

I will say that I don't think I have ever been so tired in my whole life. Once I got into bed, I literally couldn't move. And even though Rich woke up throughout the night, I couldn't even open my eyes enough to see what was going on. Luckily, I have a stellar husband who held Rich throughout the night so Rich could rest (even though that meant that Tyler, once again, got very little sleep).

The next day's drive was much smoother. Rich slept almost the entire way. And we made good time (well, as good as you can when transporting a toddler and a UHAUL). 

And we are SO happy to be here. So happy to be done with our apartment in Logan, and so happy to be here with McKay and McKenna and Grant. 

Rich is recovering from whatever was ailing him. And his sleep schedule is adjusting.

And we really just think Portland is gorgeous. And wonderful. And delicious. (I'll probably dedicate a few posts later to the produce here.)