The Move - Literally Calm to Chaotic

**warning this post may contain explicit language**

Where to begin, I suppose at the beginning.  A month ago we rented a PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) and had it placed on the front lawn.  This gave me a month to go through the basement and decide what was going into this POD and why it should.  All of the outdoor Christmas and Halloween decorations went into it, along with every single Christmas decoration/tree/wrapping paper in the house.  I also put winter clothes, a fire pit still in the box, outdoor summer decorations, patio chairs and umbrella, the one dog crate, along with misc other boxes that weren't going to get used or missed if they were in the PODS for a few months.  Originally thinking was the PODS would only be needed for a few months until we got the close date on the short sale house.  Again, original thinking this was...



In the meantime we found a place we could take the dogs.  In a nice area in a town called Grand Island, yes it is really an island right in the middle of the Niagara River yet very close to Niagara Falls. Also it was within a thruway shot of the new house on top of closer to my horses.  This would work, we could to this. However, we also had to sign a 12 month lease with the complex to guaranty we'd stay here 12 months.  They said under certain circumstances we could be released out of the lease (ie buying the house) but in the meantime we are told by the lawyer that this short sale might take up to 11 months to close on because the guy who owns the house apparently is not easy to deal with, nor is the listing agent very pushy and drags her feet. So a big collective SIGH on this topic...

We ran into a big issue with UHaul along with a very mean and nasty manager at the Genesee Street Buffalo location. We had reserved the truck from June 29th until July 3rd through the website.  First, we had an issue even finding a truck available, I believe I touched on all this in my last post.  So let me skip to the end, the truck got returned on the 1st before 1:30pm and the guy still charged us $50 fee for it being late. I will take this issue up with UHaul's 800# later on today because I am NOT a happy camper that a manager would call and harass us at 7:30am over a truck that we clearly had reserved for 3 days.  Stating he was calling the cops, reporting it stolen, wacking us with fines, and so on and so on.  This was not good customer service and I will get my money back on this issue, I guaranty that much!

Now that everything was off the truck began the task of sorting and putting things away.  A lot of stuff was broken, because the two guys unloading the truck were in such a damn hurry boxes got thrown around. Needless to say that did not make anyone happy to open a box of glasses just to find the entire box of glasses shattered.. again another sigh! The task of changing addresses for everything almost went smoothly, almost that is.  The task of getting services moved over however did not go as smoothly.  Niagara Mohawk and DirecTV were the only two companies who were quick and prompt to move services over. The electric was on the night before we got here and DTV was here bright and early on Friday to hook up the satellite dish.  At least we had TV, but no phone, internet, or gas.  Verizon has done nothing but drop the ball on moving our service since Day 1.

Oh Verizon how once I cherished your services now I am beginning to hate you.  The service at the old house was supposed to be off on Thursday they didn't turn it off until Friday.  The new service was supposed to be on at the new address on Friday, NOTHING.. then Saturday and NOTHING.. so at 4:30 on a Saturday going into a holiday I finally called them.  I was asked if the tech had showed up today, tech? what tech? NO ONE told us there was an issue with the lines and a tech had to come out here.  Well seeing I got a "oh we missed the appointment sorry" I had flames coming out the top of my head! So again, I had to wait now until Tuesday for someone to get here.  Tuesday someone shows up, he was to test all the lines to make sure the phone and DSL signal was coming through.  Hook up a few phone jacks and run the lines from the modem to the one computer and to the upstairs DTV receiver.  So I left him here with my Mom thinking OK this will be good.  Not the case, an hour later my Mom calls with this Verizon tech getting on the phone for him to tell me that the Central office had crossed the lines. That the DSL signal was not coming through the line and that the line he was told to hook our service too was already registered to another phone number, WHAT ?? Needless to say I was fucking fuming! It had now been 4 or 5 days of Verizon dropping the ball. No one kept in touch with us to keep us updated other than to say we sent you an email, HELLO I have no DSL how am I supposed to read a damn email? Really they are that stupid... luckily this complex has a public wireless connection that I can log into.  It is not secure and I do not like that, but what were my options at this point? So here we are July 6th Wednesday and I sit on hold with Verizon while I type this post.  Service was supposed to be on at midnight last night, hmmm you guessed it NOTHING! Needless to say I am f'in pissed like you'd read about...  At least the gas company got here on Sunday to turn the gas on so we could take a hot shower, but Verizon you will be lucky I don't switch to Time Warner after this episode!Let me just remind everyone I am using cell phones to make phone calls, cell phones that have a 700 minute out of network limit.... Verizon will comp me my bill by the time this is all said and done.

This brings me to EZ Pass.  See we are on an island, literally that has toll booths at either end to get onto the island. It is a $1 toll for every time you pass through those booths.  That tends to add up when you go on and off the island a lot.  But Ez Pass has a plan that if you are a resident of the island your toll is only 9 cents every time you cross either bridge.  That works for me.. in order to establish residency I had to go to motor vehicles and change the address on my license and both car registrations to reflect the new address.  Easier said than done.. a change of address at DMV took me 2 hours ... thanks to a long line, one person working the front desk, and more forms I had to fill out.  Really I just wanted to reprint my registration certificate to reflect the new address... finally out of DMV I go to pick up the  mail being held, there it is the BIG sign Pick Ups only until 3pm .. HUH??? It was 3:44PM... there went my blood pressure yet again.  Now I had the task of making it from the south end of Buffalo all the way around the city and back onto the Island to EZ Pass before 5pm.  I made the trip in 20 minutes much to my surprise.  Finally I am getting my tags no more of this $1 toll to get home... another easier said than done.  See, I once had an EZ Pass account when my horses were in Rochester and I had to travel the I90 toll section to go see them.  I also had closed that account because EZPass gives no notice of when they will replenish your account and this little factor kept wacking my account and causing over draft fees, so I got rid of the tags. I mailed them checks for tolls due and sent them the 2 tags back. I was assured that the account was closed and when they got the tags back my account would be credited for $20, this would bring my account balance to over paid and I even got a check from them for $2.50. Needless to say this did NOT close the account... EZ Pass sent the account to collections stating I owed them $90 and had to deal with a collection agency, which the lady there was very kind and said she sees this type of thing all the time.  So now I have to call EZ Pass argue with them yet again so they can alert collections it's a zero balance, close out the account and release the one plate number so I can then add it to the new residence account. So right now only one car has a tag and gets the discounted rate.. what a big old pain in the ass this is right now... good lord can something just go right???

Let me next mention my tore up right hand.  Thursday night when we got here I was putting Lucy's dog house together and cut my pinky finger on the knuckle.  It probably needed stitches, but I have no insurance and this move has been costly so I'm flat broke to say the least.  Band Aid and neosporin patched it all up. The next day while unloading the truck Zero got loose from upstairs (my female dogs have to be separated - for some reason Zero does not like other female dogs) so here she goes running down the stairs... her and Lucy get into it.  They were literally trying to tear each other up.  All the stress from the move had both of them on edge and Lucy is timid to begin with and Zero is very bossy.  Lucy took no shit from Zero and let her have it back. Zero has a few nice bite marks on her one ear and head. So here I reach in to get them apart just as Zero is going to latch onto Lucy's neck ... you can guess what happened next, Zero got my right hand thumb instead.  Once she realized that she had my finger and not Lucy she let go right away.  So now I have 4 dog teeth marks in my right thumb. I've been keeping it clean and covered.  The vet wouldn't tell us anything.  They stated if they tell us what to do knowing who we are by law they have to report the dog bite and the dog as a vicious dog. My Zero is far from vicious.. she was stressed out, we all were... so no trip to the ER for that either. I was not taking the chance of my dog getting reported as vicious and the county coming to take her away. NO WAY JOSE....

So through the move.. I suffered numerous cuts on my hands and legs, almost sliced off a knuckle, a dog bite, bruised big toe under the nail, and a swollen ankle. BUT, at least now I am breathing clean air and not black soot... This week I fully intend on going to the DR to have my chest x-rayed because of the soot floating through the old house. It was nice to finally wake up for once and not cough up black stuff and my eyes were clear rather than bloodshot.  So the hassles and aggravations along the way definitely out weigh having some place nice to live!

Until Next Time! Thank You for following and reading! Now that I am moved I will consider doing a giveaway so stay tuned....