Ashley Schaefer

Well, Tom and I are almost 100% unpacked in the house and overall, we are pretty excited about it.

Unfortunately, we have been dealing with problem after problem since day one. It seems like it may be slowing down—dare I say stopping?—but I don’t want to jinx it LOL.

It started before we moved in with a very stinky upstairs bedroom carpet. You know, the kind of smell that makes you imagine the room was stuffed with about 20 cats and 10 litter boxes. Lovely. I had a few… words… with our rental office and they were VERY accommodating. Tried two smell treatments before we moved in, and when that didn’t work we got a pet treatment and new carpet done within 5 days. Problem solved!

The night after we were ‘moved in’ (which took a horrendous amount of time- 13 hours, the movers were nice but slooow) we realized we had no hot water and the AC wasn’t working. Get it?? Water can’t get hot, air can’t get cold? Ha ha… ha… ha. :/  Anywho, took two days for the water and 4 days and 2 trips for the AC. Turns out the first guy missed the huge chunk of door insulation jammed up the AC vent. LOL. Made us really appreciate the AC, but let me tell you—unpacking hardcore in 80+ is not the most fun thing I’ve done.

Next we noticed that although we thought it had been working, the sliding back door did not latch properly, even when locked. A good tug good open it even if you ‘locked it’. Minor compared to the other annoyances, but we are working on that now.

Lastly (but not least in my mind), and not really about the house, is Buddy. It’s starting to dwindle, but my poor dog has been a nervous wreck since we got in here, especially at night. That first night he woke me up at 1:15am panting in my face and shaking uncontrollably. Wouldn’t lay down, didn’t want to be on the bed, didn’t want to be off the bed– preferred shaking and panting while standing on some of my moving related bruises, actually. That was fun. Finally was able to ignore him enough to sleep after 5.

The next night he started climbing into bathtubs and clawing at it as if to make it more comfortable (picture a dog readying a blanket). When we closed the bathroom door so he couldn’t do any damage, he managed to get himself stuck behind the dryer, where he began to scratch up the wall. Tom found him there at 5am when he got up for work. The utility room door stays closed now lol.

Now he still prefers bathtubs, and he acts petrified of the bedroom- shakes and runs away. We think we finally figured it out last night though—the ceiling fan. Tom turned it off and he lay right down. He flipped it back on and Buddy tried to bolt. Now we have a choice I guess—psycho dog, or hot stuffy nights.

Buddy has also been my frickin shadow lately. Cute, I guess, but pretty annoying when I’m trying to unpack and he’s blocking my way. Or am hot and trying to relax and he wants to climb into my lap. I am truly hoping he adjusts to his new surroundings soon.

Things are settling in, though. We have one box with a handful of random junk in the bottom that we have to decide what to do with, and other than that the house is DONE! I am really pretty happy with it.

Now if only I can convince Tom to change the 3rd bedroom from a study to a nursery…