Our Trip

This has been the longest 5 days of my life I think. We were scheduled to fly out of Wichita at 5:19 thursday evening. We got to the airport and the flight had been delayed until around 6pm. Not to bad we figured, it atleast shortened our wait time in Chicago. We finally get on the plane and head out. We get to Chicago and there was no gate for us to go to. We sat on the tarmac in our plane for over 45 minutes. We finally get into Chicago and get to our gate for our next flight. We called the landlord to check in and make sure the key was under the mat. He informs us that he left it with the police and fire at the scene. Apparently the neighbors were doing yard work and were digging and hit the gas line. We get to Cedar Rapids at 10 something at night. We had trouble with our rental car, and finally were able to get one. Ari was very unhappy at this point. We leave the airport around 11pm. We decided to go by the rental house and get the key from under the mat and make sure that everything was okay there. Brian hadn't seen the house yet, and I hadn't been there since I rented it almost 5 weeks before. So we decide to do a walkthrough. We go downstairs to the basement and the smell almost made us ill. The basement was full of mold. There was mold growing on the carpet, up the wall, mushrooms along the baseboard. It was wet. It was horrible. We called the landlord at 11:30pm and told them this was unacceptable and that we would not take a house like that. He said he didn't realize it was still there (WTF we were never told it was there at all) he said he thought it was gone and that he could vacuum it up. NO NO NO we said. we refused the house and demanded that he meet us at the hotel the next morning at 7am. Mind you we were supposed to meet the movers at the house at 8am to unload. We got to bed at the hotel sometime after 2 and got up 5:30 to get showers and breakfast. The guy doesn't show, but calls. A big phone fight ensues. We call our relo specialist and she says we call the city inspector. The wife of the landlord calls and finally agrees to give us our money back. We get it back. We call everyone. The movers are holding our things waiting to hear from us. At 8:50am the relo specialist calls and says she found the name of a landlord who has some properties. I call him at 9am. We meet him at the house at 9:30am, we sign the papers at 9:50 am and the movers are there at 10:10am unloading our things. The landlord thought all utilities were on. By the time we all realized that gas wasn't on it was to late. We had no hot water. Called the company and the soonest they could get out would be thursday. So no dishes, laundry, or showers! YIKES! We spent all of Friday working on unpacking, about 7hrs total. Then Saturday we worked for over 10hrs. We snuck to the local Y, and told them we wanted to check out the place. We quickly ran into the locker rooms and took fast showers. The womens locker room had lukewarm water. :( They thought we were strange. Saturday Ariana took 9 hrs worth of naps, and had a low grade fever. She woke up at 1am with a 102+ fever so we called our local doctor. By 2am we were sitting in the local emergency room. they said she had a virus. UGGGH. Sunday we spent 9hrs unpacking and finally finished at 6:30pm. We called the hotel we had stayed out and they agreed to let us rent a room for 2 hrs to take showers. So we both got nice long hot showers and Ariana got one too! It was the most amazing shower I have ever taken in my life. Then we went out to dinner. Monday we mostly relaxed and watched a bit of TV. We got to the airport to leave, and our plane left Cedar Rapids at 1:19. Ariana screamed at the top of her lungs from the moment the plane left until about 20 minutes after we landed in Chicago. The Chicago landing was horrible. we landed uneven on our wheels so it made for a rough bouncy landing. Then we all of a sudden hit the brakes so hard that everything and everyone slammed into everything in front of us, then we sped up super fast and flew back the other directions. Turns out another plane was crossing the runway and we almost crashed into them. Not good. Then we made it home and got in about 20 minutes early. So now we are home and absolutely mentally and physically exhuasted. Brian is back to 10 hrs a week of OT on top of his normal 40 and he is in school 7hrs a week, plus the internet class, plus homework.
Now to arrange for utilities, lawn care, maintenance, etc....
UGGGGH