The Dirty "F" Word

No not that word. I am talking about the word "FILTH". I really wanted to take a picture but my camera would not look. It thought it was too dirty.

"Filth" was my first experience in Strawberry Point, Iowa.

Can I vent for a minute please?

The Filth is not in the town of Strawberry Point itself, but the house. Now, let me explain our housing situation. Sean's company asked him to take this job in Iowa because they needed someone with his leadership experience. It is a one to one and a half year position. They offered to find us a house and pay the rent, or we could find a house and they would consider what of that they would pay. Rental housing is hard to find around here. The company found us a house in Oelwein, which is where Abraxis is, but we decided against it. The main reason being that that town has had a meth problem. I called a realtor and he found this house for us. The pictures online looked awesome. Farmhouse with a front and back porch. The right number of bedrooms, 3 car garage and Air Conditioning. When Sean was here in Iowa for work he walked through the house. He ran in and ran out.... just wanting to make sure that the house would work for us. The company signed the lease for us and we were set.

We drove into town last Saturday, the movers showed up an hour later. I walked into the house and it reeked like dog and urine. Every inch of this house was filthy and I just cried. Just walking through the house turned our feet black. I did not have time to get the house clean before the movers started bringing things in. I did not want anything of mine to touch any part of this house. I could not unpack anything in the kitchen because of food remnants, dirt and dog hair. I could not put anything in Braeden's room because of the smell of urine. There was dog hair on every surface. The amount of hair under the stove looked like 3 dead rats. The back of the dryer was solid hair... I still need to get behind the fridge. A thousand dollars in cleaning supplies, a carpet shampooer, vacuum, steam mop, a scrub brush and bruised knees, the stink of dog is just about gone. It took days to get the floors clean. I found that the bottom stair was where a dog lifted his leg one too many times. There is still dog hair. I think there will always be dog hair.

One week later and things are under control now. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clean, drove here all the way from California to help us out. They saved me since Sean had to work on Monday. My dad has spent a lot of time with the boys so that my mom and I can clean, unpack and do a little painting. They are always there when we need them :) Thanks M & D.

I promise that the next blogs will be on a happier note. Strawberry Point Iowa is an interesting place... from the small town to the neighbors to the grocery store and the farmers market. I am excited for the blogs to come.