Aberrant Prose

Our homeless kids

Six weeks ago Tim and Kathy put their house on the market. Three weeks later the house sold and three weeks after that escrow closed. They turned the keys over to the new owners on Wednesday.

Robert and I drove down last Sunday to be part of the moving-out event. We returned Wednesday night with a rental truck full of the overflow that didn’t fit into their PODS unit.

Although lots of packing and readiness for the move had already started by the time we arrived, Tuesday was THE official moving day wherein the majority of their household was moved into the PODS unit, into the rental truck or set aside to be temporarily stored at a neighbor’s house and for packing into their SUV for a road trip.

What a crazy, busy, and wild day Tuesday turned out to be!

Kathy left early with the kids first dropping Aubrey off at her care provider then taking Rylan to the doctor with her so he could see an ultrasound of his new baby sister or brother then dropping him off at preschool. As Kathy and the kids were leaving Robert and I hauled all the refrigerator and freezer items she had already packed into two coolers to a neighbor’s freezer and refrigerator.

At 9:30 Tim’s Dad, Dennis, showed up to help. He willingly helped wherever and whenever he could; like packing a lot of the smaller items, running out for drinks for everyone and buying 2x4s to secure items in the PODS unit.

Movers arrived late morning after stopping at Kathy and Tim's office to pick up furniture and other items to bring back to the house to pack into the PODS unit. They then immediately went to work transporting the washer, dryer, beds, bureaus, chairs, and large, heavy boxes into the unit.

When Tim went to move their Ficus Benjamina tree, he discovered a large rusty, brown spot on the rug where roots had grown through the bottom of the pot and into the rug. Somehow Tim found someone to come out ON Tuesday to repair it (seamlessly and perfectly) by installing a matching section of carpet Tim and Kathy happened to have on hand!

At 12:30 Tim and Kathy's real estate agent and the buyer’s agent showed up with the new homeowners for a walk through. While the new owners were at the house, a floor salesman arrived to meet with them to go over wood samples to install new flooring in the living room.

As if that wasn’t enough activity, a roofer arrived to make repairs to the roof!

Later Tim hauled the coffee table off to a neighbor's house. The night before he and a friend had hauled their sectional down the street to another neighbor's house. A second sofa set Tim and Kathy no longer wanted, was claimed by the movers.

Early afternoon, when it became obvious everything would not fit into the PODS unit and Tim about to order a second one, we came up with renting a moving truck instead, saving Tim and Kathy up to a thousand dollars. Kathy and Robert picked up the truck. Afterwards Kathy headed to the office to pick up more things to bring back to pack into the rental truck.

It worked out good to put the refrigerator into the rental truck to bring back to our house and plug in. Otherwise it would have gone into the PODS unit where it would have sat for a couple of months or more.

Tuesday night everything was essentially done. All that was left to do was to move items to the neighbor’s garage Wednesday morning, all of which will go to a furnished beach house in Orange County Tim and Kathy will rent mid-August. Once moved in, they will stay there for a couple of months before relocating to Sonoma. Since the sale of their house happened so fast, they decided it would work better to stay in Orange County a while longer to ease out of child care, preschool and client arrangements.

Robert and I turned the rental truck in this morning. We were able to easily unload everything yesterday with Gary, Kim and Fely’s help. (Thank you guys!) The next chapter in Tim and Kathy’s move will be securing the Sonoma house they put an offer on in June. Since it is a short sale it could still be several months. In the meantime they are essentially homeless.

PHOTOS

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