We made it to Arizona--that's the good news, but it hasn't been without surprises

 Today is Sunday and we've been in Arizona since about 8pm on Friday. Notice,  I haven't said in our new house since Friday. What do they say about the best laid plans?

Moving day was emotional. One of those days where I go to bed with the best of intentions to get up, get my stuff done, get in the car and head out. Well with me and my sisters there was absolutely no way that was going to happen. Our plan going to bed on Friday was that Bubs would take one kid in his Tacoma and I would take one kid and the three dogs in my SUV. He has a camper shell so most of our stuff would ride along with him. We figured the kids could swap back and forth as the day went on. Our plan for goodbyes was to go to everyone's house, make it as fast as we could and then come back to our house and load everything up and get out. My amazing family had other plans and met us at the door to help us pack up the cars. 

My sisters had a last minute gift for me and insisted I open it. It may be one of the sweetest things I've ever gotten, it was just a simple replica of a baby blanket that my aunt had gotten for me when I was an infant that I carried with me everywhere until I was about 5 and thereafter was my favorite object. I ended up losing it on one of our trips to Destin when I was about 15. Still to this day, it's one of the saddest things I've ever lost so for them to remember was so sweet. Of course there were tears all around and we hugged each other for a crazy amount of time. My cool-as-a-cucumber daughter decided that I was way to emotional for her and she now wanted to ride with dad. My son had built himself a little bed in the back set of Bub's truck so he wasn't giving up his spot. Not sure why it is that dads are so much cooler than moms but now I had no one to ride with me--which was fine but a little sad. 

We said our goodbyes to everyone else, my mom and dad, my two brothers in law and all the kids. Of course when it came time to tell my sisters goodbye we couldn't quite let go and the hug lasted for way too long. Thank god some of the women in our family have a brain because my niece Maddie told us that we are never going to get out of there if someone doesn't kick us in the butt and she offered to ride with me provided I stop hugging her mom and her other aunt. My older sister thought it was a great idea and we'd figure out later how to get her back to Texas before school starts. She ran to quickly pack. Of course when my kids found out the coolest 13 year old alive was coming along with me, they changed their mind about mom not being cool enough anymore and wanted to ride with us. In my head I was like "no way you little brats...enjoy listening to  the Joe Rogan podcast while Maddie and I sing our hearts out for the next 14 hours," Outwardly, I was much more polite and told them that with the dogs there wasn't room. I love my children but I'm going to take that win. We finally got on the road and it was all smooth sailing. The weather was perfect for driving, we never lost each other and we were able to stop and take plenty of breaks for both the human and canine passengers. 

Because all of our stuff won't be delivered until the 2nd, we had arranged it with our Tucson real estate agent and a local furniture rental place to deliver us beds and a dinette set just to get us by. Our real estate agent is very sweet and she offered to stay and wait for them to make sure they showed up (her advice) but we couldn't fathom that a company wouldn't make good on a promised delivery so we told her that if she would just stop by and unlock the doors at their scheduled time that would be good enough. Big mistake. However, we still thought everything was good because on one of our stops I checked my email and had a delivery notification from the rental company saying they had dropped everything off. They were supposed to send pics but there weren't any but I figured they must have just forgot. 

So the rest of the drive was long but non eventful and we pulled into our new house a little after 8pm, very excited to get the bathroom set up, get everyone clean, get sheets on the bed and order a pizza or something like that. I  have never been in the house so Bubs let me do the honors of opening the door for the first time--and very surprised to see that it was still unlocked. In the email from the furniture company, they verified they had locked the door. I knew something was off when the dinette wasn't where it was supposed to be and we walked around the house to find no beds either. I emailed them but of course didn't expect anything back that late on a Friday. We knew there was no way we were going to find a place to stay with three bigger dogs and being able to right to bed was one of the reasons we did the drive in one day. Bubs and I were furious but thank god we didn't direct the anger at each other. He found a Hampton Inn that was about 10 mins away so we figured our best bet was to have him sleep in his sleeping bag on the floor so the dogs had a place to stay while I would take the kids and Maddie and get a room for at least that night. 

As soon as the furniture company opened in the morning I called them to let them know there was a problem. Again, I know Tucson is not Texas and it won't be fair to compare everything but I can't imagine a person talking to me the way this guy did back at home. He said the furniture had been delivered and he had the email to prove it. I was really trying to be polite and I told that unfortunately, we had been by the house and my husband was still there and there's no furniture.  He said he was going to take his drivers' word. I asked him what that meant. He said that if his people say the dropped off the furniture, they dropped off the furniture. I told him that we never got the verification pics. He said, and I quote "that's just a courtesy we do for some customers." I told him that I had talked to the manager last week and said it's standard practice and asked him if he had pics. He said "sure do" so I asked if I could see them. He said he had to get approval from the manager, I told him fine, I'd wait and he said the manager isn't there on Saturdays. I'd had it so I told him, just cancel the order we'll figure something else out. He said that he can't cancel the order because we have his company's furniture. I told him there is no way I'm dealing with this any more and if he doesn't cancel, I'll dispute the charges on my credit card because I'm also paying for a hotel that wasn't in the plan. He said he has 100% success rate of fighting disputes. I told him good luck and he knows my plan and I would call back on Monday to talk to his manager. He said "no problem Karen" and hung up. I called Bubs and told him what happened and to make sure to take pics of the empty rooms. Bubs got really upset at the way the guy had talked to me and wanted to drive to their building and beat the crap out of the guy. I told him I was honored by the gesture but I had 3 very bored and hungry kids so the rude furniture guy could wait. 

As we've discovered, we live in suburb that's pretty far away from most everything in Tucson. The kids wanted Texas Roadhouse and I figured at this point we out the money for a few nights in a hotel, why not. We drove the 30 minutes to the nearest one, Bubs met us there. We have much better options for steak back home but I'm not above a chain restaurant and I think it was nice for everyone to sit down in a place that seemed a little familiar (for those wondering Texas Roadhouse is actually not a Texas company).  Bubs and I got to talking and he said that it's too bad we can't have our stuff delivered Monday instead of waiting until Thursday. I was like, honey, I've already been on the phone with a rude asshole, it can't hurt to call. 

I called the national moving company, they gave me the number for the local office but told me I needed to hurry since they would be closing soon. I called right away and thank god this guy was so much nicer. I asked him what we were hoping for and he said that he had to make some checks and put me on hold. He said that our stuff was on their lot and he could rearrange some things to get us delivered on Monday. He said the only stipulation was he told his guys they wouldn't be working so they could have an extra day before the holiday so they may be grouchy and joked that I better have donuts for them. I looked around at the restaurant and said "do they like steak?" He said he was kidding about the donuts and I told him that I wasn't kidding and I would buy them all Texas Roadhouse for helping us out. He said if I was serious, he'd have no problems getting a crew to have us moved in on Monday. I told him I was totally serious and just have them write down their order and it would be ready by the time they are done. He said he'd see us first thing on Monday. So as long as that actually works, we will actually be in our house on Monday. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on cheap rental furniture anyways. 

So we are here--we've had some utter nonsense, a familiar meal and a really nice person who's willing to help us out. Kids and I are still at the Hampton Inn trying to figure out what we are going to do today. Bubs is taking care of the dogs and going around the house to make sure everything looks ok, set watering schedules, replace some thermostats and that kind of stuff. We are off to an interesting start but this is home.