The Invasion of the POD °o°

The POD has arrived! The weather is spectacular, and if we get a lot done in the next 3 or 4 days, each day will be gorgeous, with highs reaching only 74 degrees.  Wednesday is expected to start a cool-down with highs reaching 55 degrees, but I still can't complain too much! There is no rain in the forecast.

It's been days of research, worry, and anxiety.. Is the Pod company reliable?  Will they deliver and pick up on time?  After a couple dozen phone calls and inquiries we settled on PODS.com. They were not the cheapest service at $3200, but they offered the best services in terms of monthly rate, delivery flexibility, and size. We have a lot of stuff, even after purging so much over the last 9 months.

(Remember the boxes of books from the Facebook page... here they are in the Pod.)

Anxiety has not gone away, however. Boxes and bins are easy to fit in there... its the furniture and oddly shaped items that take up extra space like the Adirondack chairs, the bench, metal firepit, and office desk. Packing some things too tightly will just damage them in the long haul from Phoenix to Orlando, so we are trying to pack smart.

We will also have the POD picked up 2-4 days BEFORE we actually vacate the house, so we are not packing up the few things that we will need to later fit in the bed of the truck like the all-important television, video games, DVDs and a couple of chairs.. and the air mattress.

If we can't fit everything in the POD and the truck, the back-up plan is to rent a tow-bar and a Cargo Trailer. They can be rented locally for 7 days for about $200-$300 bucks which is FAR better than a small POD unit which would add another $500-$1000.  Here is hoping I reduced enough and estimated the size we need correctly.

As a bonus to the pictures I added above, click on the short 5-minute video below to see the delivery guy transfer our POD from his truck to our driveway... it's pretty COOL to watch and it kind of like waching Transformers part 4! Add your own cool Transforming sound effects!

The next video is how they pulled the rig away from the Pod in the driveway.  It's about 2 minutes long. It's like watching those Big Rig videos when you were a kid. Very impressive in person.

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Comments are welcome. Positive feedback encouraged!

Don't forget to "like" our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LivingADisneyLife?ref=hl so that we can communicate even more "The Great Mouse Move" details with you, and you with us! 

Mouseketeer Ken and Mousekteer Mark

An Offer on the Table °o°

Last night we got a call from our real estate agent... a cash offer on the house for $4000 less than our asking price of 144 thousand. Now, I don't want to jinx anything, because there is paperwork to complete, inspections to pass, repairs to be made, and any number of loopholes to close up, but if this sale goes through they have asked us to vacate the house by December 16th, exactly 4 weeks from yesterday. It's close to official, but still too early to pack up the toothbrush and deoderant.

Let me rewind a bit, for anyone join catching up recently and haven't read a year's worth of blog postings...

3 years ago Mark and I were talking about the future and where it might lead us. Mark is an Army veteran, having served in Iraq, and was just about to begin life as a full-time student through Culinary School. We first thought about moving to Colorado, but after more discussion it hit us that it was a no-brainer for two like-minded, life-long Disney fantatics should move to be near our favorite thing in the world.. Disney World.

Fast forward three years...

There were tough challenges and obstacles along the way for both of us to face, but Mark officially graduated in September, and we agreed that that would be the time we put the house on the market.  This was the culmination of three years of planning, budgeting for the relocation, socking money away, working over-time, and hard studying to pass difficult classes.

It took far longer to get the house ready that I imagined it would.  Instead of just 3 or 4 weeks, it was 10 weeks of painting, minor repairs, and cleaning but it was finally done (except for some small details), and we listed on November 14th.

We got our first call to show the house early the next morning.  The process of showing a house to prospective buyers is not difficult, but it is time consuming. We have a boisterous chocolate lab, so any time someone wants to see the house, we asked for 1 hour's notice, so that we can stage everything nice and pretty, and take the dog out of the house so they can look around and kick the tires comfortably.

For the last 4 days, we have had 5 showings, so each time we were swiffering floors, wiping down sinks, pulling back curtains, turning on nearly every light in the house, hiding the dog beds under the couch, emptying trash pails, setting up soft background music and lighting nice vanilla cookie scented candles.  I mean to tell you, we are exhausted after all of that, and sometimes, we can't even tell if the buyer was finished or not (we would leave before they arrived, and could not tell if they had come in and left, or had not yet arrived 30 minutes later).

It turns out that the first person to view the house on Friday morning, is the same as the one who came the next Monday, for a second viewing. We had an offer that evening, we accepted their terms and now the house is "on-hold" (in escrow) while we wait.

We had been dreaming for months, even years... you can plan and stratege until you are blue in the face, but it can all change in the blink of a withdrawn sale offer.  Now, we wait for the 10-day inspection period to pass, and we will be able to secure a moving pod.

Next post I will write a little bit about our vision for the future... both living in Florida, near Disney World, and for this blog. I hope you will stay tuned, and will follow along with us.. we want you to join us on the ride!


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Comments are welcome. Positive feedback encouraged!

Don't forget to "like" our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LivingADisneyLife?ref=hl so that we can communicate even more great Mouse details with you, and you with us! 

Mouseketeer Ken and Mousekteer Mark

 

Find us on Facebook °o°

Did you know that we have a Facebook page that is dedicated to this blog and to the smaller details that relate to Living a Disney Life-the blog (as well as living a Disney life)?

Find us on Facebook... we are following our bliss, and moving to Orlando to be near Disney World. Soon we will be bringing the magic to you... Take every step with us!

1. Do you already live in the Central Florida area and are interested in quality friends?
2. Do you dream of relocating to the area in order to be near Disney?
3. Are you just an über-Disney fan that loves to talk Disney even though you don't have plans to relocate?
4. Are you a GLBT Disney fan (or GLBT friendly), and also fit into category 1, 2 or 3?

Then we wanna be friends with you!

Please come over to Facebook and "like" our page. We want to join and build a community of like-minded friends. The link is below:

http://www.facebook.com/LivingADisneyLife


Hugs to all of our new and old MouseketeerFriends,


MouseketeerKen and MouseketeerMark

Comments are welcome. Positive feedback encouraged!

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Breaking out of the Holding Pattern °o°

All things happen for a reason, and they happen when it's time for them to happen... good, or bad... right?

Lets hope so.

The blog I have been so passionate about maintaining suddenly went on an unexpected hiatus for the past 8 weeks.  This was a time that I expected to be able to write frequently.. almost daily updates, but it turns out that each day was more painting.  Can you imagine each blog entry?  

Painting Room #1

Painting the Living Room

Painting the Garage

Painting the Trim in Room #2

Painting the Base Boards - part 7

Painting Until I Bleed Paint

That's about the extent of it. Gripping, eh?  Although I think some folks who are following along appreciate some of the home repair/renovation updates, this is not a DIY blog, and so I didn't want it to veer off track so drastically.  It's about documenting our relocation to Disney World; as we "follow our bliss".

SO... we have finally reached a point that I can comfortably return to writing updates. We are finally listed on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), and are offically for sale as of 11/14.  (If you are interested in seeing Ken and Mark's house, click here for the pictures and details:  Click here: 4233 N 2ND DR, PHOENIX, AZ Property Listing - For Sale - MLS# 5030256 - ZipRealty).  So far, we have had 5 showings, one each day and TWO today. Still waiting for that all-important offer, but our real estate agent has said that a few have contacted her as their clients have expressed interest after viewing. 

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Comments are welcome. Positive feedback encouraged!

Mouseketeer Ken and Mousekteer Mark

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