Anywhere I hang my hat.....

Well, this is probably a much anticipated blog post for a lot of you. Everyone wants to know why the hell we are moving again so soon after moving in. Well... it is a LONG story, but for the sake of you all who want to know (and the fact that writing for me is thoroughly therapeutic), I will indulge you all in the "story" (which is really more of a nightmare).
Let me just start by telling you all how incredibly disappointing this whole thing has been. All we wanted was a bigger place with central air. We thought we found the home of our dreams. Well. Without giving a play by play of how this all went down, let me just say, we have had a maintenance person for every appliance in our house, since we moved in. Each thing that needed to be fixed, the landlord insisted was a new problem. However, every Mr.fix-it who came here seemed to know the place well, and basically rolled their eyes and gave us the same advice : "good luck with this place" - Oh great. The deal breaker though, was the A/C. We moved in this place hugely due to the fact that we were going to be the proud new parents of a central air conditioning unit. We didn't really care that it was going to cost us more per month to run it. We were ready and we were totally budgeted for the upgrade. We were also totally budgeted for the significant increase in rent we took to move in this place.
Well, when we moved in, we noticed that the house wasn't cooling. I mean it just wasn't comfy, cool, air conditioned house. I mean we did have the thermostat at 77 (which is totally acceptable and awesome for us... after all we are used to a single-wall construction home that had a total green-house effect on super hot days, and trade-winds to cool us off at night). Anyhow -- so the thermostat was very often reading 83, 84, 85 degrees, while the air was running... and the air would never shut off. After a day or so of this, and after a couple of hubby's AC friends stopped by for a look (yes, he has AC friends, and concrete friends, and tile friends, and roofing friends, and fencing friends etc etc)... we contacted the landlord. Well, after a ton of ignored calls later, several very adamant attempts to tell us that this is a new problem, they send out THEIR AC guy. Ok -- the unit is blocked, it can be cleaned, but it really needs to be replaced. OK! Excellent, prepare for a new AC. WRONG. They need two more estimates. Ok -- bring it. So, two more guys come, and they too, also recommend replacing the unit. So, in the meantime... we talk to neighbors, more maintenance guys, the CABLE guy (seriously?), and the assistant in the office of the realty company we are using... they ALL know the issues with this place and the AC. But we also find out, all of the previous tenants cut out of their leases early, mostly due to their electric bill being so high. HUH?! Interesting. So while we are waiting for the landlord to let us know the deal-io on the whole AC thing (like,uh, WHEN it's getting replaced), we get our first electric bill. (Brace yourselves!!) Nearly $500 for 17 days.... and this is running it at a reasonable temp and turning it OFF at night. Holy smokes. We did the math -- it would have cost nearly $700 for the month. I almost had an aneurysm.
More calls are being ignored, the list of damages and issues in the house that need to be fixed are still being ignored, and now we are completely and utterly fed up with the insane dogs (on both sides of us) who bark non-stop from sun up to sun down, without the owners of the dogs so much as yelling a "shhhhh" out the window. Oh my gosh, I am in hell.
So - obviously, this is a no-brainer. We are gonna make like a baby and head-out. We are done giving our money to this company. We are done waiting for the AC man to descend from the heavens and grace us with functioning central air. I have to decide who my sharp-tongued letter will be written to - and how to go about making a complaint (or whatever) with the Better Business Bureau. I am also thinking about writing a horrible business review on Craigslist, and on the Mommy's group I belong to. I just wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (not that I have enemies)... but I am not sure on all those details yet.
So -- where will we go, you ask? Well, we are packing up all our stuff (and have managed to sell a few things in just a day!!), and putting it ALL in storage and moving in to my parent's house forever. HAHA. No -- just until we find a place - which we are hoping will be quick. We love my parents!! They are so wonderful to take us in (again!! -- I think this may be the third time we have lived with them. But the first with two kids in tow... ).
In the meantime, I have packed a house, unpacked a house, and re-packed a house all in a period of three weeks. My kids are both sick. Mu husband is sick. I am leaving to see my sister in California on Monday (oh, did I mention we are moving out on Saturday??).... but you know... I am good at this. I can do whatever this crazy life throws my way. I've battled bigger monsters. Pssh. Bring it. I am good. And home is what I make it. Home is where my family is. I am good -- anywhere I hang my hat.
(And on a side note. I am going to enjoy the crap out of my vacation). :-)