PCS Stage III: New Digs

The new digs are empty, save a suitcase of clothes, this laptop, Tok, and my sleeping bag. Since grabbing the keys on Monday morning, this home has been full-tilt transition.

Upon arrival, I was not ready for what I walked into. Apparantly, since selling the home, the husband (former owner) was diagnosed with cancer. He is in his second round of chemo. Alas, the house reflected the fact that he and his wife spent more time in Anchorage with treatments that in moving out of the home. I find it hard to be "mad" at the house's condition, knowing the circumstances, and I was expecting to clean and tidy up a bit; but wow.

They hired movers to pack up their things, and those movers took the washer and dryer that were part of the purchase agreement. Long story short, the realtor and I agreed that I would purchase a set and give him the bill to settle up. Then I glanced at the yard. No snow in the front yard, but it was covered in little piles of dog poo. New spider webs hung from every surface of the porch, and the doors were covered in dirty hand marks left by movers. The back yard has three feet of snow and little piles of poo frozen within. The back porch was littered with construction debris from a renovation they made to the overhang (part of the purchase agreement).

Each window has a layer of mold around the trim. All the sills have a layer of dirt. The kitchen counters, shelving, and drawers had to be vacuumed and wiped down. Same goes with those located in the bathrooms.

And then I learned the most important lesson of all: I will never, ever, again purchase a home that has white doors and trim. In the past two days, I have used 6 of those Mr. Clean bathroom size erasers to remove grime from bathrooms, doors, window sills, floors, and baseboards. And I am still not done...

On the first day, two lads came to rip out the existing flooring. Next up came the painter for our consultation and to determine how much paint I needed to purchase. Then I headed to Kenai to visit Lowe's and purchase some paint, extra supplies, a washer and dryer.

On the second day, I was a cleaning machine while the painter splashed up the first coats of paint, the Lowe's guys delivered and installed some of the appliances. The cable guy did his installation; and at one point, I was outnumbered four to one as men (vendors) helped me make upgrades to the new digs.

On day three, the paint is applying his second coats; another installer is here to convert the range to propane gas and install it, the dishwasher, and the microwave. I took a shovel to the snow in the backyard, extracting the leftover poo. Along with some snow (byproduct, I guess is what I would call it), the poo from both yard filled a 13 gallon trash bag. I'll rip apart the grownover flower beds in the front yard and determine my garden planting layout. Off to my gardening tools!