Texas Transition part 2: They are bigger

I know that they say everything is bigger in Texas, but that is not totally true. It is just that once you get down here, you realize that all of the bugs are HUGE. They are so large in fact that change the names once they reach a certain size. Like a roach is actually called a "waterbug" once it is large enough that you might not be able to kill it with a baseball bat (that is not a joke - scared the crap out of me when it tried to crawl away after I beat it). Now why it becomes a "waterbug" when it actually is just a big freaking cockroach - I don't know. But they are gross.

But the really terrifying things are the Field Spiders and Wolf Spiders here... That image above is about life size. The first one I saw was well and truly the size of my palm, she was on the back porch and I decided to name her Shelob (10 points to anyone that gets that joke). I thought she was large enough that I should domesticate her and keep her as a watch animal in the back. But beware they jump... and they are really fast... and I only had a wood spoon... and I had to put a bell on my child to make sure I would know when they have carried him off. Seriously though, there is nothing as creepy as having one of these behemoths crawl across your foot. Ugh! Also, please note that they are large enough that you DO feel it when they bite. It hurts.

So come on down to Texas and see the freaky wildlife.

The Texas Transition - part 1

So we are finally here in Texas. Moved in... with most of our stuff.

Here begins the chronicles of The Texas Transition!!!

Today, will share the move. We planned to have all of our stuff packed up and on its way to Tejas on July 5. It almost worked too, if it weren't for that pesky moving company (I am so glad I grew up with Scooby)!

So lets get the basics down. The company name is "Serenity Van Lines" and with a name like that you would expect... well, serenity. Instead, I got morons that can't do fifth grade math and who over promise and under deliver.

Marc was our sales guy. I told him, "I have a 10x13x9' storage unit that holds everything that I need moved. He says, "great, that will be $1,800." Then he sends me an email with this "quote" in it. I ask him when it will be delivered, and he says when do you need it. I tell him the 10th of July, he says will do. This is the last time I am allowed to speak to Marc. Apparently, from here on out, I only get to speak to Sarah - the one and only person that will answer the phone and who REFUSES to let you speak to anyone else.

The truck is supposed to arrive to load our stuff at 7am on the 5th of July. We here NOTHING from them, until 9am at which time they tell us they had a flat tire. (HMMM...) But they finally get there at 10am, but what is 3 hours between friends? When I open the storage door, he goes, "that is way more than I was told you had." Now if you are like me, you are wondering - how is that? I said that I had a 10x13x9' and this is a 10x13x9' unit... he then says, "I was told you have 640 cubic feet." This means that Marc somehow got 640cu/ft from the dimensions I gave him. Now I welcome anyone to figure out how you can get that number from those measurements (put it in the comments if you figure it out). Cause whenever I do it, I come up with 1170cu/ft, which is 2x what Marc got. Guess what the does to my "quote"? it destroys it! I ended up paying $3,750 to get my stuff on a truck and on its way to Texas.

Except it wasn't on its way to Texas. Not at all. We don't hear from them until we call them on July 9 to confirm that we will have our stuff the next day. We aren't very fond of sleeping on concrete floors after all. Sarah tells me wife that we wont get our stuff for 21 business days. My wife, tells her she will need to speak with me and hangs up (this is done while we are driving two cars across TX). I call, and ask Sarah why we wont have our stuff for a month? Sarah tells me that my wife is a liar and that she didn't tell her a month. I bite my tongue, because I am not too keen on people calling my wife a liar. I ask her what she DID tell my wife? she says, "21 business days." I can't help it. I ask her how many business days are in a week. She tells me not to take that tone with her. I tell her I would try not to, but that by any measurement, 21 business days is a month. Now back to when I will get my furniture? Sarah, has no idea, but they will call us 24 hours before it will arrive. Do you know where it is now? Sarah, huffs and then lets me know that it hasn't left California yet... GRRRRR!

To shorten this lengthy tale, we got our stuff 8 days after it was supposed to arrive. They had broken multiple items of furniture, and judging by how things have gone thus far, I do not anticipate getting reimbursed for any of it.

I hate Serenity Van Lines. They are liars, cheats, and scam artists. No one should ever use them.

Part 2 coming soon...