Yards and Moving

One of my favorite shows is House Hunters. This week they are doing new episodes all week from Florida. Last night they were in Naples. The couple chose the house I would have - great interior; exterior needs a bit of work. I moved into a new house when I moved to Texas and the backyard definitely needs landscaping. And the front a little as well. The builder called it a "deluxe landscape package." Ummm... I don't think so, but that's another post. Anyway, for the house the Florida couple picked they estimated $14,000 for the landscape. Ack! Granted they needed a fence and a good one will probably run about $5,000, but what would cost $9,000 in landscape. It had grass, so no sod. It needed some trees, but a screened porch was already there. They gave the figure for what they spent at the end and it wasn't quite that and it did look nice. Maybe trees run it up. I tend to plant small ones and watch them grow. Anyway, my budget is MUCH smaller than that, so we'll see what I come up with. The good news is that the show that followed, My House is Worth What? did say that landscaping in the back gives a very good return for the investment. Good to know.

Now, the moving part of this post. When the movers deliver your stuff, they are supposed to put the beds together for you. Generally, I was taught if they take it apart, they put it back together. Now, I have moved A LOT, including two cross country moves. I am not unfamiliar with moving. In the past, the movers have taped the hardware for the beds to the bed frames. Not this moving crew. We found the bed frame hardware in a dresser drawer wrapped in paper. But, we couldn't find the hardware to attach the bed frame to the bed. We looked in every drawer in the dresser and any other drawer we could think of. The driver was frustrated. He couldn't understand why it wasn't with the other hardware. My Mom and I wound up getting new hardware (bolts and nuts) at Home Depot. We knew I'd probably find them - someday.

Well, apparently we missed a drawer. Last night I found the hardware wrapped in a paper towel in the drawer of my nightstand. And, it was basically out of curiosity because I couldn't remember putting anything wrapped in a paper towel in there (we didn't have to unpack drawers for the move). I looked and there was the hardware. Guess I'll count it as a spare set for any future moves. I still haven't found the glass that goes in a lamp table and think it got delivered to the folks in Oklahoma (the delivery before me).

Personally, the load crew in Arkansas was a bit haphazard in my opinion. I almost think he did it on purpose. He was so very sure he knew much more about moving than I did. We were put off by his almost snotty attitude. The Texas crew that delivered was much better.