We've lived in Utah, Nebraska, upper Michigan and now we've settled in Colorado...at least for now! Marley is 10, Isi is 6 and Enzo is 4!

Life is great!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A Big Fat Update

I just got back from Sault Ste Marie last night. Whirlwind.

We flew into Detroit last Thursday night. Stayed in D that night at a run down Super 8...it was dreamy. Friday we drove up to Soo from D and it was rainy and icy. We passed about a dozen cars that had slid off the road. After driving very carefully for about an hour we stopped at Bob's Big Boy for breakfast. We took our time eating and hoping the sun would pop out and melt the road. It got a little better but still saw slide offs for a while longer. Thankfully we did not slide or glide. A drive that takes a little over 5 hours in good weather took about 8 1/2 hours. We got to the Soo just in time to catch the Realtors right before they went home for the weekend.

One of the Realtors emailed us a list of Landlords or people who own multiple rental properties and I called all of them to see if they had any openings or would have an opening soon. The ones I was able to make contact with didn't have any. I left a lot of messages and for the next three days people called us back to either say no openings or yes, come see it.  I also called 2-3 rental property management places but I didn't catch any of them before they left for the weekend.  As I was making all the calls Nathan was driving and we looked for houses with "For Rent" signs. We found NONE.

Saturday all the real estate agencies were closed and 2 out of the three didn't email me what they said they were going to so we were resigned to having to wait until Monday. Those 2 emailed and said, "I forget what you were inquiring about. Please let me know what you need."  I guess we called too close to quittin' time on Friday so we were put off til Monday.  However, we were able to see a duplex in a nearby little town.  It was three bedrooms and had a semi finished basement. Our hope was restored. We got to see SOMETHING!

Since the bank and agencies were closed we went to JC Penney and got Nathan two new long sleeved shirts for work, buy one get one for $.99....why can't it just be buy one get one free?  I don't know but it was still a good deal.  We also bought him a nice pair of Sorel boots. 

Sunday we went to church.  It's a SMALL branch and apparently half the branch had the flu and wasn't there but the people that were there were SO nice and so welcoming. One of the members of the RS presidency invited us over for dinner for Monday night. She was also very helpful in rental suggestions and advice and even offered to drive us around to show us the area. She will be Marley's surrogate Grandmother...Noel can't wait to meet Marley.

Sunday after church we got to see a 4 bedroom house in Soo and it was a crap hole. The guy usually rents to college guys and it was trashed....and old....and run down. The guy also said "sh*t" about a bazillion times and though that is my swear word of choice at times....I just wasn't feelin' it. We were not interested.

Monday was packed.....as in busy. We started off trying to figure out the bus system and half way understood it by the time we had to move on to something else. Which was looking for a "temporary" place for Nathan to stay until our rental (had no idea where that would even be at this point) would be available.  We went to the Sault Ste Marie housing commission and found that to be no help. We looked into a few other places that didn't help either and then ended up stopping at a few motels to see if and what their monthly rates were.  By this time I was starting to think this move was not going to work.

We went to Human Resource at Nate's work because we needed a letter verifying employment. They were very helpful, not only did they get us a letter they also gave us multiple copies and hooked us up with meeting Nate's boss....they gave us her phone number. Nathan called her and she was available right away to meet us. We drove across town to the building he will work in and met Kathie.  Kathie and our meeting Kathie is a whole other story/post etc. But lets just say she is amazing.  Nathan's job is going to be awesome!  Exactly want he wants to do plus more and excellent experience for his career! He will be building the GIS program. He will be working with great people too.  We only met one other besides Kathie, Joe, but he was really nice too.  This restored my confidence in moving for the job.

We went to lunch.

After lunch we got to see another house in Soo.  It was beautiful.....perfect....the only reason the cute little family was moving out was because they had out grown it. Only problem, it was out of our price range.  Thankfully we had some appointments to see more duplexes out of town. One we loved but it had a huge list of applicants. The other wasn't as cute but it had a garage and it was definitely livable. So, that afternoon we filled out three applications for the three duplexes we saw out of town.

Monday night, as mentioned, we had dinner with Noel and Gary Alexander. Such a cute couple. Noel is LDS and Gary is Catholic. He basically said he'd be Mormon if he could stop smoking and drinking ;-)  They are both so kind and generous and I can tell they already love us.  And we love love love them! I was able to print my boarding pass at their house too.

Tuesday morning again we had a TON to do.  Finish figuring out the bus systems. Yes, there were two at play and we didn't even realize it...that's why it was so confusing on Monday morning.  We got Nathan bus passes for the two bus systems.  We opened a bank account there in town and we just happened to choose the bank that gives perks to the tribe workers.  Wahooo!  And we signed a one year lease for the cheapest place we found, the one with the garage and that is definitely livable. It was a huge relief. Nathan got the keys too but will not "move in" until Sunday because the landlord wanted to go through and give it a good cleaning before he moved in....which is great!  So we booked 5 more nights in the motel we were already staying in.  Convenient and pretty affordable.

Tuesday morning it was snowing and I was dreading the drive back to Detroit by myself.  I haven't mentioned this but I cried most of Monday and Tuesday.  It was hard to leave Nathan up there all alone, but he's a big boy and he is doing fine. I made the drive just fine. Once I crossed the Mackinaw Bridge it was sunny and dry.  Perfect. 

Nathan is at orientation today.

The adventure has begun. 

I didn't take many pictures on the trip because we were focused on house hunting and not so much sight seeing and picture taking.  BUT, I will post the pictures I did take, plus pictures of our new place....soon.  Very soon.

8 comments:

Emily said...

um, WOW!!! i spent the night in the Detroit airport once during Nick's dental school interview chaos :/

such big changes for you guys! i cant wait to see photos of where you are going to be living. sounds like it will be an adventure!!

this little branch is lucky to have you guys ;)

Alissa said...

Oye, sounds like a stressful trip. I'm glad you found a place to live for the time being. Did you know you are moving to a Ticket to Ride destination? Victory likes to point that out when we play. :)

Jeanna said...

Such big changes! I'm glad you finally got housing worked out, how stressful!

When will you and Marley join Nathan??

Green's said...

What a trip! Moving is sooo hard! The hardest part is finding a nice place to live. Good luck with the rest of the move!

Christina said...

Way to brave your way through all of that! I am so glad you found a place you like (and with a garage!) and that you are all safe. I hope you are able to join Nathan soon, because I know being apart is so hard!

LOVE YOU!

Adam and Sarah said...

I want to cry. No, for real. I'm so sad you guys are going so far away. :( But I am happy that Nathan found a job and it's something he's going to love doing. We love you guys and hope that you all are incredibly happy in Michigan. And maybe at some point we can come visit ya'll... that will definitely be during a summer I can tell ya that much! Good luck with the move! ♥

Adam and Sarah said...

PS -- Let me know when you fly out and maybe we'll be able to come tell you goodbye. :)

Amber and Lincoln said...

Um I want to come visit so we can go to Bob's Big Boy!!! Who knew they were even still around??? So excited for you three!