Everyday lives of the Meabon Household
Showing posts with label move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label move. Show all posts

Monday, May 17, 2010

Becoming Texans Again

You've got to love moving companies - not quite the customer service I'm use to from my days at the Four Seasons! After a great final week in Atlanta, we were finally ready for the big move. We knew the movers would be at our house on Thursday by 8am so Jared and I had a great last dinner date night in Decatur on Wednesday, handled some packing details and set our alarms for early on Thursday morning. Since the movers were coming so early on Thursday, we thought we could get an early start on the road and try to get some miles behind us on Thursday afternoon once they finished up.

The alarm went off at 6:00am on Thursday, we finished the final details and were waiting anxiously by the windows for the moving truck to pull up. My mom flew in Thursday to help her pregnant daughter drive 16 hours across the country. When I left to pick her up from her 10am flight, we still didn't have a moving truck so Jared made a call. "Oh, we're just around the corner and should be there by 11am." Great! Just a few hours behind but we can still finish up early and get on the road.

To make a very frustrating story short, the truck finally pulls up at 4pm with Eli, the head mover, announcing that our initially quoted price would be double due to "all of your stuff". Really? Our quote included the square footage of our house, detailed information about what was being sent and how much "stuff" we had. Really? Double the price? Really??? Fine. Whatever. Just get our "stuff" on the truck and let's go. Eli promised they'd be done by 8pm - NO PROBLEM.

Well, as we were finally watching the very last of our "stuff" pack onto the truck at midnight, you can imagine the exhaustion and pure frustration all three of us were feeling. Ughhh!!! And to top it all off, we were asked our preferred delivery date which had already been confirmed. We reconfirmed for Thursday, May 27 and were told that this was our "first day of available delivery" and were promised that our "stuff" would arrive within 21 working days of this available date. Really??? That's the end of June! REALLY!?!?!? I couldn't help but think as we watched the truck pull away that it was the last time I would ever see my earthly possessions....goodbye bed, goodbye lamp, goodbye dining room table. Oh, I'm sure we can make due with some folding chairs and an air mattress in our new home! I'll keep y'all updated as we receive updates on "our stuff"....as of now, no news.

We love our friends, Kris and Lindsey, for being the type of friends we can call at midnight for a place to crash. And if anyone ever needs a place to crash, the Arvisos have the most comfortable guest beds I have ever laid on! Make your reservations now for Hotel Arviso! After a few hours of shut eye, we hit the road at 7am on Friday for the trek - Mom and me in one car with Rooney and Jared in the other with Kitty.

Funny side note for those of you that know Rooney, aka The Toons. Rooney can be a bit, um, special at times. Our vet had given us dog Xanex to knock him out and help his nerves on the road.
Instructions: Give him half a pill every 4-8 hours. Half a pill should make him pretty groggy but he'll still be able to function. He might just be a bit wobbly on his feet when he gets out for bathroom breaks.
After 1/2 pill and one 1/2 hours, the Toons was still bouncing off the wall so I popped in another 1/2 pill. I thought it finally started kicking in. His eyes were glassy and he was sitting up in the back seat but definitely doing the high school math class head bob.

We stopped about 1 hour after half pill #2, opened the door and Rooney bolted out the door, sprinting towards the highway! It was like the kid just lapped up 5 Red Bulls! And I'm sure I'm creating a pretty picture of a 7 month pregnant lady chasing down and tackling a small dog before he bolted across the highway. Clearly, our dog is immune to dog Xanex. We tried a full pill on day 2 and no luck. I wonder if an elephant tranquilizer would do the trick???

After a stop in Lafayette, LA for a crawfish broil with Jared's clients, we made it to Beaumont to spend the night, continued on our way on Saturday morning, drove through torrential storms in Houston and finally made it to San Antonio around 11am on Saturday.

Brent came in for the night so we got to spend some QT with him and are so excited to be close to Austin so we can visit Brent and Rooney and Kitty's cousin Disco on a regular basis. We're at Mom and Steve's for about 2 weeks and the SA house is well under way with hardwood floors going in this week and painting this week and next. Now, we're just praying we see our stuff pull up sometime in the next two weeks. If not, a folding chair makes a lovely living room piece!

On the baby front, we had the first appointment with my new OB, Dr. Cox, this morning. We love Dr. Cox! He put Jared and me immediately at ease and made it feel like switching doctors at 28 weeks of pregnancy was perfectly normal. We have our appointment set up with the perinatologists for next Friday, May 28 and we'll meet with the pediatric surgeons just after that. Hopefully we'll have our scheduled due date by next Friday so I'll keep you updated there as well.

Thank you for your prayers over the last week! It has definitely been a test on our nerves and sanity but we're excited about the next few weeks and what San Antonio has in store. This week we'll make the title of Texans official again at the DMV....oh, I just can't wait for the customer service that awaits us :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Great Texas Migration

The countdown is on! Only two weeks left in Atlanta and the move is exciting but bittersweet. We are moving to San Antonio after living in our beloved Atlanta - Brooke for almost 6 years and Jared (with an 11 month hiatus in Dallas) for almost 9 years.


Jared is taking over the Texas territory for hotel development. Texas has a ton of potential so professionally, this is a great new region for him to handle. After 7 years with Four Seasons Hotels, I'll be taking a break from work to get us settled in the new house and then get ready for the arrival of our baby girl in August. If a contract position popped up between now and then, I'd definitely take the opportunity. I've been asked if I'll return back to work and my answer for now is, we'll see. I love working and the satisfaction I get from my job but I know motherhood is going to be the biggest job I've held so far. Given the unknown for our sweet baby, I want to make sure she is steady and stable before making any decisions. So, as I said, we'll see.


We will miss Atlanta dearly. We've grown to call this city home and have made some of the best friends we could ask for. I don't think I've let myself fully grasp that we're leaving yet but even as I write this, I have tears running down my cheeks. So much has happened while we've been here....our engagement and then marriage, our first home, our careers, our friendships....so many memories!


But at the same time, we are excited about the next chapter. We are looking forward to our new lives in San Antonio. While I went to high school there, its been 12 years since I've called the city home and look forward to rediscovering the city all over again. We have family and friends to welcome us there and are excited to be closer to the Boswells and Swallows. San Antonio will welcome the birth of our baby and will be a whole new chapter in our lives.


We close on our Decatur house this Friday. My last day of work is also on Friday. Jared will fly to San Antonio on Monday, May 10 to close on our new house there. Our movers come on May 13 and we'll drive out May 14 with an overnight stop in Lafayette. We'll finally arrive in San Antonio on Saturday, May 15 and will move into the new house on May 27. Whew!


Here's a photo of the new San Antonio house - in Oakwood:

I'll keep you updated on the move over the next few weeks.