The Bob Blog: 8-23-11

The Move...

Why Move?

I had been living in a nice condo on the outskirts of Elyria. It was in a nice neighborhood and I had a two-car garage and a full basement. I rented the place because of those two items. I had a lot of things in storage and it gave me the opportunity to go through boxes and throw away things. The downside was that I really couldn’t afford the place. For the past year I’ve barely broke even. It was a poor decision on my part. Hence the move.

Difficulty to Solution

When you have a dog and a cat it’s difficult to find a place. When you have an 11-year-old dog with separation anxiety it’s near impossible. I had spent months looking for a new home for Charley. Again, no takers for an 11-year-old dog with separation anxiety. I was at life group discussing my problem and my friend Kevin piped up. He said that I could stay with him. The only problem is that he is in the process of remodeling. I’m cool with that. I get to keep my dog and cat and help a friend remodel his house. That’s cool.

The Move

It took two days to move me out. I have never taken that much time to move. We ran into many obstacles. Number one, I packed and moved most of the boxes myself. Except for my friend Tim, I didn’t have much help in moving. I did have two other friends come over but they could only help for a little bit of time.

Saturday we moved all the big stuff into my storage shed. Sunday was boxes and cleaning. On Saturday the U-Haul we were using broke and we had to go back and get another truck. Then another problem arose. Kevin had lost track of time and didn’t realize that I was moving in that weekend. So when I went to move my stuff in I couldn’t because the house was tore up.

We got the house situated but by Monday morning I hadn’t slept in almost two days. I can’t fail to mention that I went to the emergency room. I don’t know what I did but I pulled a tendon in my right ankle. So for two days I moved in excruciating pain.

I was so glad when the move was over. I could sit down and organize. Organize is exactly what I was going to do.

The House

Kevin lives in a older home. It has a lot of potential. It definitely looks like it’s in the process of being remodeled. Nothing is organized and a lot of space is taken up because of that. Kevin has been working on the house by himself. That’s not cool. I’m glad I am there to help him.

As of now the kitchen and the bathroom are gutted. The plumbing is gutted and the electrical needs rewiring. You can’t plug in an air conditioner without the fuses blowing. We have a hose connected to the main water spicket and that is what we use to flush the toilet and was things in the sink. I go to the gym to take a shower. I have been eating out a lot since the kitchen is in disarray. That really is my only complaint. I don’t like eating out. Other than that I can live with everything else. It’s humbling in a way actually. We are so used to amenities to make life easier.

I sat down with Kevin and we have a strategy to get the house in working order. During the week we can do small projects like putting in new windows or prepare for larger projects on weekends (electric and bathroom). Then on the weekends we pound out something big. So far it has worked. Our goal is to have a working bathroom and electrical in a month. We have busy schedules so this is a pretty good timeline.

The Neighborhood

Kevin lives in South Lorain. It’s a nice neighborhood. There are a lot of young families and even more kids. A lot of kids! The afternoon is full of kids on bikes or running around in the front yard. The end of the block is a bit shady though. There are apartments at the end of the block and every day there are squad cars or fire trucks. I don’t go near that end of the block.

South Lorain has a reputation. Because of that reputation I have a number of family and friends that don’t want me living there. I’ll address that more in a later blog post.