Apartments, finding new eating places and the nightshift

Translation for Tori: The above pic is the comic, Cathy, and it details a day in her life starting at 7am staring at the little screen (aka her monitor) and what she's looking at and ending with her in the same spot roughly around 10pm staring at the little screen. In the last frame she's thinking "My universe got so big, but my world got so puny." Hmmm maybe that would make a good one for my next banner.... LOL

Wow, has it been nearly a week since my last post? It's hard to believe. To be honest I dont even think I could begin to tell you how the time has passed either. It's hard being limited to just the laptop and having to share the time as I tend to lose track of what happened when. I can tell you that I've caught every episode of American Idol so far and have been blogging it over in MySpace. Im not sure about anyone else, but I've been truly underwhelmed. Of the nights we've seen, there have been ~maybe~ 2 good nights out of the bunch and even then the auditioners havent been the best. There's simply not enough there to make me go wow. Personal opinion, I dont believe we've seen the winner audition yet and Im still saying it is the year of the African-American male to win.

Saturday we went to see that one apartment that I mentioned in my previous entry. The two bedroom was nice but a trifle claustrophobic for me. The larger of the 2 bedrooms would have been only large enough for the bed, 2 endtables and the dresser with barely enough room to get in and out of the bed comfortably. The smaller of them was just a little over half that size. Let's not go into how large the bathroom makes me feel. The shower area isnt even the size of what we came out of in Texas. I'd be lucky to fit a leg in the tub so I can tell you there'll never be a bath in that tub unless the dog is the one having it. Yeah, I see it now, showers are going to be a joy and a half.

Sunday was a lazy day and we didnt even leave the apartment. No sense in it because not many of the apartment complexes are open on a Sunday.

Between Monday and Tuesday we did the grocery shopping, checked out another complex (this one had AWESOME prices but a 5 MONTH waiting list to get in!!!) and went back to check out a three bedroom in the previous complex. The three bedroom was much nicer but the bathroom was still one that isnt going to be pleasant using due to the size. I feel like I have to bend in half to use the sink and I swear the tub isnt much bigger than one of my shoes (and about as deep as well). The unit we saw was located at the front of the complex putting all those strip malls well within a decent, but entirely do-able, waddle distance which means I can get some exercise getting to and from work depending on the hours I end up pulling. We've put in an application at this complex and with any luck we'll get in. They ran our credit reports though and with the dings we each had...well we're keeping our fingers crossed. There were a couple that were on hubby's that concerned them and one on mine (one from back in 2000 no less!). One of his was easily handled as it had been paid off 4 years ago (yeah this is a good ad for checking your credit file yearly y'all) and the other is in the process of being dealt with. Mine, too, is being dealt with now and was something stemming back from my frist marriage. Actually ALL the dings on my report stem back from then. Since I've been in Texas, I've kept a low profile and paid everything in cash. Anyhow, this one was a personal loan and had nothing to do with a rent situation so with any luck they'll forgive that one. The decision is pretty much in the complex's hands right now. Im hoping they come to a decision in the next day or so. The good news here is that the January special they had running is being carried over to February so the 3 bedroom (924 sq ft) wont cost us much more than $50 more than the 2 bedroom (748 sq ft) overall. About $50 more for 176 sq ft additional space? I can handle that. Like I pointed out to hubby, if we go with the smaller apartment...we WILL have to spring for a storage unit for the extra stuff that doesnt fit (therfore making it more costly still). With the bigger apartment, it's highly likely we WONT have to do that.

Sometime over the last couple days we checked out a couple restaurants in the area. One was a mom and pop type establishment called Tom's Diner. The food's good and service is ok. The other was Clearwater Grill & Bar. O M G the food was awesome there. The waitress looked like she'd half expected that reaction as they have a 5 star chef in their kitchen. I had the San Francisco fettucini (chicken and shrimp over fettucini with green onions and mushrooms all drizzled with an alfredo sauce...*dah-ROOOOL*). I think I found my new favorite place to eat :D.

Oh and hubby's on the nightshift starting this week. He'll be there for the next 4 months which means I'll barely be able to see him. *sigh* I've pretty much decided to stay on a dayshift sleep schedule because once we get moved I have to be awake to get myself to interviews and such. It makes things difficult though because I cant do a blasted thing first thing in the morning as he's sleeping and then by the time he leaves, my mind is starting to shut down for the night. I've got dishes to put away, clothes to fold and supper to get cooked for tomorrow and Im simply too tired to even bother at this point. Well, I'd better scoot and attempt to get at least the laundry folded and the supper cooked. The dishes I can deal with tomorrow while he's sleeping.

Comcast and other schtuff

I was going to post yesterday but we had some technical difficulties. I had just managed to get my "edjumacational" fix, read my emails, and started to read all the blogs that I normally visit when I had to step away from the laptop for a minute. When I got back, I noticed the tv was off...hmmm I dont remember turning it off. *click* Then the tv actually DID turn off. Hmmm. Ah well I got my puter right? Nope. Although it was saying it was connected I was being told that the page couldnt be displayed....not a one. Well damn. Ok this happened a couple days ago, I'll just turn it off for a bit and go back later. I really dont need to be living at the keyboard anyhow right? Then my cell phone rings. *raises an eyebrow* It's my darling hubby...did the apartment phone ring by chance? No why? Because it went straight to voice mail. Hmmm. I pick up the phone..no dial tone, just dead air. Well I let hubby know this happened at least one other time this week that I was aware of and it was off for about 20 minutes, no longer. I get the ok but if it's not back on by one pm call em...at least I can watch some dvds if I get bored. A little after 1pm I called Comcast and found out that it was a problem that everyone in my area was having. I let the gal know that that wasnt good and if it wasnt for my cellphone..if I had an accident I'd have no way of getting help. I also asked if this was something I had to look forward to up this way and she laughed at me and said no. Funny though, the cable on the tv kept cutting out today much like a stream buffering. Im guessing it was well after 3pm when it was fixed because that was about when I took Katy out for a walk and the phone wasnt working then.

Got my final check from Wally World the other day. It's not a bad amount. I think Im going to take it over to the bank in the WalMart and start an account in my name there. Maybe I'll do it like my first ever account and just make it a savings account so it's making money while being in there. It's not as though I really need access to the money regularly anyhow. Plus with this bank being in most of the WalMarts, it'll be really convienient for me to get to especially if I choose to work for WalMart again.

We'll be going out tomorrow to check out a couple apartment complexes. Both seem to be fairly reasonably priced and are located near many retail businesses, many within an easy walk to get to...even in the chilly weather...unless my knees and hips act up that is. It looks like they are really close to an actual form of public transport (as opposed to where I was where public transport in the area was limited to cabs). I think Im going to shoot for part-time with the possibility of going full-time later if it turns out to be a good fit. Maybe I'll get lucky and one of the stores will need someone on the overnight shift? I know Kohl's is looking for overnight ad setters but Im not sure of how close it is to these new apartments to be honest. That would be ideal...no customers, nothing but work to do.

Hubby's schedule starting next month is an overnight shift. It's 1 month nights, 2 months days. He was telling me how they deal with their shift differentials...I guess the amount depends on the day of the week and not a flat rate. To me it sounds more like by the time things are said and done there is no damn difference but maybe I just didnt understand it. I did understand the holiday pay though...or at least somewhat. From what I understand, he can either take it as holiday pay OR as X amount of vacation hours so basically if we have a trip coming up and need the hours more than the pay now thenhe can opt for the vacation hours. It's just a matter of getting the money now on this check OR later. He is back to working the back end of the week though. Weds-Fri and every other Sat I think. Ah well.

I worked on my needlework a bit yesterday and got quite a bit done while watching movies (Finding Nemo and Brother Bear...both for the second time this week). The piece is nearly 25% done. I know it's only that far along as I havent had to turn the pattern yet or fold it in the other direction. With any luck I'll have what I need done completed by the time hubby comes home. He's always kidding me that it takes me forever to get a piece done. Why? Because the first piece he saw me work was during my first year with him. I'd bought it while we were at his folks' house that first Christmas and by the time we got home, I set it down and didnt pick it up until we went out to visit again. That piece had quite a bit of picture to it and very little lettering with no borders whatsoever. It's not my fault though as this craft only holds my attention for so long as the pictures I like are rather detailed. I like to see alot getting done and tend to get discouraged in the early stages. This piece is more like a sampler...a nice saying with mostly borders as details. I like the bordering because once you get a pattern started you dont have to keep your eye on the pattern nearly as closely as with pieces that are mostly picture. I think I'll work on it some today. Im on a piece of border where I really dont need the pattern at all because what's on the cloth already makes it clear where the next stitches go. The hard part will be to remember to make sure the thread doesnt twist or knot up on me.

I think I also want to go christen the bathtub with an actual bath instead of the usual shower. Today would be a good day for a nice warm soak. Maybe it'll loosen my hips and knees up some. The last several years I've stuck to mostly showers because with the way Im built there arent too many tubs that are deep enough nor wide enough for me to soak in properly. Although I stand 5'4.5", from the hips down I have the legs of someone 5'1"-5'2" (petites are a touch too short and averages are a touch too long) and from the hips up I have the length of an average to tall person (it's funny seeing hubby and I sit side by side as I sit taller....his 5'11" is nearly all legs!)...which means many tubs arent deep enough for my liking. Top things all off Im heavy which means it's hard to find a place with a tub wide enough to sit comfortably. The night after honeymoon night we stayed in a Holiday Inn that was supposed to have a jacuzzi type tub in the bathroom. Well I go to our room fully intending on a nice soak for my knees and damned if it wasnt wide enough (anyone got Crisco and a crowbar so I can get in?) nor deep enough (the back of my thighs got a good massage with the way I was wedged in) for me to enjoy my soak. *sigh* Anyhow, I digress...this tub looks to have all the qualifications for a good soaking tub (and here I am without bath salts and my rubber ducky!! Ok, skip the damn ducky and give me some scented candles...) so I think Im going to try it out. Im almost afraid to get in it though because I'll be really ticked if we cant find a place with another like it...

other ramblings

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It's been so damn cold here this last week!! Just to show you how cold it's been (in my opinion at least) I have resorted to the following:
01) Wearing long sleeved shirts daily. Inside as well as out and about (as opposed to the normal tee and muscle shirts I normally like to wear).
02) Socks and/or slippers are a must in the house (man I miss being barefoot already)
03) Wearing pajama bottoms (lounger pants) indoors underneath my night gowns

In essence, one could "pop over" at any time of the day and I'd be reasonably dressed. Yeah...you saw that right. The heavy woman that is a closet streaker has gotten so damn cold that she doesnt fuss about making sure she's clothed. I'll pause a moment while Karla and the rest of my close friends pick their jaws up off the floor, wipe their monitors clean of whatever fluid they were drinking/ spewing, and in general pick themselves up off of the floor.

*pause*
*pause*

Ok. All set? Good.

Monday was hubby's first day at work and he seems to like it so far. He actually will come home and talk about his day and let me know what went on as opposed to just clamming up and crawling into one of his online games. It kinda helps that we're just on the laptop right now and it wont play some of those types of games. Tuesday was a little rougher as he really didnt wanna get out of bed (he didnt want to this morning either) but I dont think it was because he didnt like the job, just the fact he was "so comfy next to his baby". Ok, so...Im huggably soft. Big deal.

I was awake early on Monday...around 7-730am or so. Not because I really wanted to be but because we'd gotten an email a few days prior saying that the maid service would be in bi-weekly and we should expect them on Monday the 21st. Hmm. It's not as though we really need a maid service to be honest. It's just the two of us and we dont make much of a mess with the exception of the kitchen. *shrugs* Oh well it's hubby's company paying for it. Of course they never said when to expect them in, just that it started on the 21st and would be bi-weekly. Ok...so I got up and, leaning on what my TxSis said about her experience with a maid service, I cleared most of the surfaces off so they could be wiped and stripped the bed so the sheets could be washed and things would be made up fresh. I got 4 loads of laundry done (I usually have only 3 including the sheets but with us each wearing more clothes to stay warm...), a load of dishes and everything semi-neatened. Then I got online for my usual writing and reading spree (I wrote 2 entries that day....did you read them both?). The day wore on and no one showed up. By the time hubby came home I was getting a little pissy about the situation. Hubby dropped a note to the people dealing with the corporate housing account to let them know.

Tuesday I was awake by 530am when the alarm went off and out of bed by the time hubby was out the door. Again I waited all day for these people. By noon hubby called to ask if they'd shown and I told him no. I was given permission to get into his email account to see if they wrote back regarding the issue. Yes they had and they'd said the maids would be put on the schedule that day (email was received 1123am). I took it to mean they'd be there later in the afternoon. I spent the afternoon on the computer but I wasnt doing the usual stuff. I'd had some bad news (as detailed in the previous entry) and was trying to get more info on it. While I was waiting on that info I was checking some other sites out and researching a couple of the apartment complexes in the area. There's a couple I think we'll be going to see once hubby can get a day off. The good thing is one of them has Sunday hours. Gotta love that. Both complexes are in the same area and nearby to plenty of retail businesses (a strip mall AND a larger mall down the road) so job hunting shouldnt be so bad. The one complex is known to take people that dont have really good credit too which is beneficial for us. I looked up their rating on the site I mentioned in that one entry and they rate ok (55% as opposed to the 30% and less we've seen in other places). I think it may be do-able so Im crossing my fingers.

I ended up having a ragin headache by the late afternoon. It felt like a familiar one but I simply couldnt put my finger on the cause of it. It wasnt located in my neck and shoulders so it wasnt stress and it didnt feel like my sinuses. It got so bad I ended up pulling out a spare blanket and curling up on the sofa for a while. When hubby called, I got up and tossed the meatloaf we were having for dinner in the oven then toddled into the shower. While in there I figured it out. As the warm water was pouring over my head I remembered the first winter in the trailor in Kirkville while married to the first guy....or bedroom was so small that there was bearly enough room for the double bed in the room. Top things all off it would only fit in the one way...with the head or the foot right under the window. The trailor had piss poor (if any) insulation and the storm windows didnt do much to seal off the drafts. We ended up with a cold draft on our heads as we slept at night. I remember having bad headaches the first week of cold weather...which didnt stop happening until I took to wearing a toboggan hat to bed. Once I got my head warmed up and a bellyful of food...the headache pretty much left. The balance of it disappeared with a good night's sleep.

Yesterday was the San Diego auditions for American Idol. Two nights in a row (Dallas was the last one) I have felt...well underwhelmed. Im not going to go into it here. Those of you that follow my rants on that topic know to travel into my MySpace page to view those. Yes, Im writing on them again this year...assuming I end up with a job that'll give me Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights off ;). Worse case I'll have hubby tape it and I'll need to watch later. Better yet maybe I'll play hookie for the next 5 months....LOL. I need to figure out a better way to write those up as they took for-friggin-ever to write last year and Im not so sure Im up for all that work this year. While I was watching my addiction, hubby dropped another note to the people in charge of the corporate housing and let them know the maids were a no show AGAIN and that the wife was getting pissed.

Today I got up with the alarm again and had to practically shove hubby outta bed. I love the fact he loves me but dammit dont be late the first week at this job!!! I got him shoved out the door and crawled back into bed. Dammit I ended up wide awake shortly before 9am. I dont do well in the am and here I havent been able to sleep to my normal hours. It might be because I crawled into bed before 11pm and was well asleep before midnight that's doing it. I've spent most of the day at the computer yet again. Maybe I need to find a job where Im typing all day or doing computer work (at home would be nicer still). Evidentally it's what makes me happy. I had basically resigned that the maids wouldnt be coming in this week (especially since we'd told the corporate to send them next Monday instead)and hadnt done much to pick up or clear things off when lo and behold a minivan pulls in and the maid service showed up. *shakes head* Good thing I've taken to wearing those lounger pants eh? I think iggy would like the ones I have on today.

In Memoriam

What a sad day I had yesterday. The first shock happened either late morning or early afternoon. I was in my MySpace checking messages and such. Something I do on a normal day. In my inbox on that site was a message from someone I dont really know. I mean I know OF her and Im pretty well know who she is but she's not someone I'd talk to. In fact, it's the same girl that gave me grief a few months back when someone dropped some nasty words on my Yahoo page. Why were the words there? Because someone else had said something nasty on my page about one of the people on my friends list and I'd called them out in my blog by name (this is the one reason I dont normally use names in my blog...ever). Well after I'd called this person out next thing I knew I had two others leaving threats on my page directed at me and these werent even people I talk to! The girl that left me an email via MySpace yesterday was one of those girls. Needless to say I tossed around whether or not I wanted to open it or not. She hadnt given me any grief in months and once that other situation was dropped she'd left me alone so I had no real reason NOT to open this communication. What a sad surprise greeted me in this message that was sent. I was informed that a friend of mine (not a great friend but one I did enjoy talking to now and then) had passed on a few days prior. Now the woman wasnt exactly the picture of perfect health and I knew she'd been ill off and on. I also know that she'd been having trouble with certain people (the girl who wrote this happened to be one of them) and had been moving alot. I also know from pictures that I saw of her that she was quite heavy (Im guessing from the pictures she was heavier than me and Im nearly 300lbs....). Anyhow the letter informed me my friend died on the 18th of this month and the only reason why I was being written is because the girl knew I had been one of the lady's friends. I made sure to pass the info along to everyone I had an email address to. After I did this I wrote the girl back thanking for the information and asked how my friend had passed. She said she wasnt sure as they (Im guessing the drs?) had said it was her heart at first, which makes alot of sense, but then later they'd said her heart was fine. Basically right now I dont know how my friend passed. The girl said she was going to be calling the woman's husband and when she found out she'd let me know.

Rest in Peace Linda aka LBR. You will be missed.

The second one that was a shock and a half I found out about around supper time. I was finishing geting dinner ready and hubby asked me did you know about this one? I asked what....and he told me that on the news they'd just said Heath Ledger passed away. Damn. I dont normally watch the news during the course of the day and news like this really feels like a kick in the gut. I almost dropped the plates I was carrying. Rumors were that this young man had really blossomed during the shooting of the new Batman movie and that he'd done well during the shooting of one other movie that's to be released soon...and now he's dead. He was found with sleeping pills all around him yet the autopsy was inconclusive. Heath had battled addictions in the past but was rumored to be clean for the last year. A real shame that a star just really coming into their own would be extinguished so soon.

Rest in Peace Heath Ledger.

Sunday the 13th and on

Sunday, we got up and went to breakfast with the folks. After we said our goodbyes, we went back to the motel to finish packing. As anticipated, the feline furbaby was very unhappy with me. I picked her up, cuddled her and then set her in front of the carrier door. She, of course, gave the stink eye and attempted to go around the crate. Upon second attempt she went in without a hassle. There was a bit of crying eminating from that carrier Sunday but I knew it was simply because she was being cooped up after a few days freedom.

The drive was rather uneventful...thank goodness. We took a look at several of those hotel coupon books for travellers and went into sticker shock at the hotel prices. Yes, the company is paying for it but it's originally coming out of our own pocket and being reimbursed later. We ended up staying in a Stafford , VA Ramada Sunday night. ~Sweet~ room. After getting the "kids" set up for the night, we went out for supper. He had a roast beef sandwich and I had stuffed shells...yummy.

Monday morning we got up a little later...around 9am or so and after breakfast (a continental one that was more than juice and donuts), we packed back up. Dharma went right into her carrier with little to no fuss. We left a bit before 11am and drove the last hour into Manassas. Im beginning to wish we'd paid an extra day in the hotel so we didnt have to leave so early. At least then, Dharma wouldnt have been cooped up quite so long because the corporate apartment wasnt available for us until 4pm. We did some driving around, killing time. First place we found was the local WalMart. This one is not a supercenter so we wont be doing our grocery shopping there. That sucks because I really like getting my groceries in those supercenters. We grabbed lunch at Denny's (or did we lunch then WallyWorld it?? I cant remember). We made several trips back to the apartment, hoping the apartment would be ready a bit sooner so we could let the girls loose but unfortunately it was right at 4pm before we could get in.

It took us 2days to get the truck unloaded as there was quite a bit in there AND we'd been placed on the 3rd floor (*ugh*). Stairs and I do not get along due to my bad knees. I can take them, it just cant be often. One trip down and and back up usually gets them to complaining loudly and with the one that grinds regularly, well it takes me a while to get where I have to go. Top things all off my right hip has started acting up since we've been here. Hubby ended up bringing most of the stuff upstairs while I was placed in charge of assigning homes to everything.

Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent getting to know the area, running to WalMart for stuff we packed that we actually needed (and a few more clothes more appropriate to the climate like long sleeved shirts, long johns and lounger pants for in the apartment), and placing phone calls. I got ahold of the WalMart that I had been working at and gave them our temporary address so I should be getting my final check in the next few days. Wednesday we didnt go anywhere because, as many of you saw on the home page, we had a nice snow storm (picture at left was posted on the front page of the paper Thursday morning...it's of the lion in the national zoo with his head raised to the falling snow). We ended up with much more snow than what was pictured. So much in fact that we still have some on the ground now. It doesnt help matters that it's so cold that it wont melt off. Im not gonna complain though, the only thing Im gonna gripe about is the booger freezing cold out there. Tuesday our car got delivered here. Stupid idiots were *supposed* to have it placed in storage. Thankfully no one has complained about the extra vehicle ....yet.

We went to take a look at one complex on Friday (?). It's about 20 minutes out, a reasonable driving distance considering the truck only gets 15 miles to the gallon. The lady in the leasing office didnt have a 2 bedroom available for us to look at so I suggested maybe we could see a one bedroom just to get an idea of what we'd be getting into. She had someone coming in already to see one such unit and invited us to come along. It was nice and the complex is near enough to a grocery store so I can walk there even in the cold weather no matter how far back in the complex we end up. The one we were wanting was going to run us $895/mo+utils. Hubby and I liked what we saw but the size would mean still getting a storage unit. On the upside, we would be allowed 2 parking spots so the car wouldnt need to go in storage. On the downside, having to pay ALL utilities can get quite expensive and he's the only one with a guaranteed job. We filled out the app anyhow and the gal said she'd call after the credit check. About an hour or so later we got a call telling us that due to our credit (which is pretty much shot) that we'd have to pay 6 months in advance. Well damn I knew the credit was bad but sheeesh...not that bad! We've yet to decide if we're going to go that route or not. We can once hubby's severance package comes through but it's not an optimal situation for us so we're still looking. There are a couple other places we want to look first that are actually less expensive. The hard point is finding a place that is inexpensive enough, takes our kids, doesnt have income limitations AND isnt "ghetto" (and damn some of the places we passed yesterday definitely were that...thank goodness for http://www.apartmentratings.com/ for helping steer us away from those places).

We found one on Craigs List that sounds promising. The dude wanted to show it to us today but hubby has to work. I told the guy I'd call back when I had an idea of hubby's schedule. It's a basement apartment for $850/ month, INCLUDES utilities AND allows both our babies. I figure there's gotta be something wrong with it other than it being a basement apartment. We drove by yesterday to see about getting a peek at the place but we couldnt find it right off. Hubby figures it may be on another section of the street and we were just missing it. There are only a couple places in the area where I could possibly work at so Im not certain it'll work out. While out we found a few more places with "for rent" signs on them so I'll be giving them a jingle tomorrow to find out if they pass the first bit of criteria (pricing and pets). The good thing about these places are that they are houses and not apartments. That same thing can work against us too though. There were a couple more complexes that looked promising too. They were located in good areas near lots of opportunity for me so *shugz*.

Gotta go....hubby just came home and is going to want to check his email and read the educationals (something I still have to do myself). Im so damn tired as I was up at 730am because some maid service was supposed to be coming in. Not that it was my idea but the company's paying for it. ANYHOW....they didnt show up today so he's gonna want to write the company and let them know the service never showed up. Damn I was looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and taking a dip in that huge tub in the bathroom too. Ah well. At least the kids are comfy.

Saturday 12th

Saturday we got up like we had this entire trip and went to breakfast with the folks. Thankfully dad has mellowed out some and doesnt insist on going at 7am and we'd been allowed to sleep until about 9am. In fact, now I think of it, they didnt even call us to make sure we were up. they simply waited on us and we called when we were ready. Gotta love that. After breakfast we boogied on out to run some errands. Our first stop was to the nursing home to visit a neighbor and cousin. The neighbor used to live at the base of the hill my hubby's family's house sits on and this woman pretty much watched him grow up. As she puts it "he was the first baby on the hill". So everytime we go in we pretty much make sure to go visit her. She's got alzheimer's really bad now and each time we see her she seems to have slipped more and more. This trip was different as she didnt recognize him at all. That was a hard visit for sure. We found out later from her granddaughter that the woman is good either first thing in the morning or 1-2pm after she's had her nerve pills because all the going ons at the home really annoy her and drives her into a confusion. After visiting with her we popped over into the next room over where we'd been told that one of hubby's cousins was staying. This lady I dont ever remember meeting although she acted although we'd been good friends. More than likely she thinks she knows me because hubby's momma fills everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in on us...and I mean everyone. Im not going to fuss about this. You must expect that when you marry someone from a small town.... very small town. On our way out we got into the elevator as usual...the doors closed and thunk. Damn thing got stuck. Doors wouldnt open, the elevator wouldnt move and it wouldnt respond to any of the buttons we pushed. We wont even go into their sorry excuse for a call button that just blinked and made a horrid noise. The guy in the elevator with us told us that this particular elevator broke down on a very frequent basis...very.frequent.basis. It was 10 minutes before anyone realized we were in there..another 5 before the bugger would move the whole 1 floor down (stairs are problematic for me with these bad knees of mine) and then a good 15 minutes before they could get the door open. They're damn lucky that it wasnt a patient caught in there as Im sure they would have been facing a lawsuit if the elevator breaks down as often as we were told. The workers in the home had a nice chuckle out of it, even being cheeky enough to ask us while we were trapped what we wanted for supper...they'd have it processed into a soup and fed to us thru the crack in the door with a straw. They learned real fast that some of us dont appreciate jokes like that when we were released and the nearest person got a withering stare from me.

The next stop on Saturday was to the flea market. They're open Saturdays and Sundays. We wandered around there for about an hour. My goal was to see if I could find another of those large, seashell hanging pieces (one would call it a windchime but it doesnt chime in the wind so Im not sure WHAT to call it) as I'd had to pitch the one I bought 4 years ago out (the handles broke and I couldnt see how to fix it, nor was I inclined to pack it due to size). Unfortunately, they didnt have one this year. We did find some really nice knife pieces that hubby liked so we bought one for him and one for his good buddy in Ak. We also found a special something for the good buddy's wife (she loves frogs).

Afterwards, we went to the mall over in Middlesboro. It's such a beautiful drive out that way. There is this one rock formation that is absolutely gorgeous but I forgot it was just before the tunnel and shut my camera off before I could get a good picture of it. By the time I could get the camera turned back on (it's a pokey machine), we were not in the best position for a shot. I'll have to remember to get one the nexttime we're out that way. I had wanted to take a trip to the mall specifically to get some more shower gel and buy another horse statue. Well the store with the shower gel (Bed Bath and Beyond) didnt have the one I wanted so I got some exfoliating scrub instead in the fragarance I wanted (Moonlight Path) and will be seeing if I like it as well as the other. The store that had the horse statues last times no longer carried them so I ended up going elsewhere and getting a beautiful black panther statue instead. It was originally $35 but marked down to $12.99...gotta love that.Before our last errand we decided to stop off at Shoney's for a late lunch.

The last errand we ran was another trip to gramma's house. Gramma's quite frail and so hubby likes to spend 2-3 days visiting her when we're in town...even if we're only in for 2-3 days. I dont much mind gramma, it's her son that lives with her I cant stand. Every family has a black sheep in the family (and some have 2-3) and this uncle is just that. I usually have no clue what he's talking about but hubby does and manages to keep up a polite conversation with him. Me, well I sit there and fight to stay awake. I dont know what it was, either the nice lunch or the warm room or both but this trip I was unsuccessful, from what hubby said, and managed to catch a 30-45 minute nap on the sofa while they conversed. Maybe I should have brought my needlework in to keep me occupied !

We spent the rest of the evening at his folks' house. His sister and her significant other came over for a bit. They stepped out for a few minutes a bit later and brought tacos back for all of us for supper. Neither hubby or I were overly hungry as we were still full from the late lunch but grabbed a taco or two each anyhow. We spent a few hours together and then left to go back to the motel room. As we were leaving I got this craving for a milkshake so we swung by Hardees first. They have the best milkshakes there. They do "hand-dipped" ones, which means they use the hard scoop icecream and not the softserve like McDonalds, Burger King and others use. Their chocolate shakes are made with chocolate icecream and NOT vanilla icecream blended with chocolate syrup. The special this month is an Oreo shake topped with whipped cream. It's pictured in vanilla but I had them make it with chocolate icecream for that extra chocolate kick..and the whipped cream? Well it aint Reddi-Whip! Yummmmy. I brought the shake back to the motel with us and we relaxed for a couple hours before bed. Dharma was out and about this evening. It was so good to see her relaxed, I almost hated to have to stick her back in her carrier the next day.

reposted cuz she's damn cute

reposted for iggy

Pix from grammas

Gramma, SIL, dad, SIL's son and my hubby. Only ones missing are mom, myself and SIL's significant other.



Hubby and his nephew.

Gramma owns a bit of property...enough she rents out some of the land to cattle owners. This was the first time I saw actual cows on the property though.

She has a big black dog that totally unnerves me. Not that Im afraid of dogs, but this one is much too excitable for my liking. She also has several cats. This one just sat as pretty as you please as though she was posing for the picture. I told hubby if we didnt already have Dharma I would have begged and pleaded for this one. She is gorgeous!

But then who could resist this face? She got comfortable with her surroundings a bit faster this time around and wanted some lovin the minute we got back to the room. It took me a few minutes to get back to my needlework which you can see under my hand and at Dharma's feet. Thanks to the needlework, and the fact we didnt stay long (and stayed in a hotel), I didnt break out in hives this trip. WHOOT!

Thursday 10th and Friday 11th

Thursday we had the weather from hell. It started lightly raining shortly after we got up for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the hotel room and loaded the truck. Dharma (kitty) loaded up really easy this time. I just picked her up and hugged her , then set her infront of the open carrier door. She went right in without the slightest bit of a struggle. There was only one little meow from her as hubby brought her down the stairs and headed towards the truck. In fact, once we got her loaded there was barely a peep out of her all day. She just curled herself up and went to sleep. I think she finally realized that just because she was put in the carrier and just because the carrier was brought outside...did NOT mean she was going to a vet. I found it rather surprising that Dharma was so settled because she's normally a tad on edge during horrendous weather. This day we had just that sort of weather. I wish that picture showed it better. The road we were on had stone on either side and the rain was coming down so hard that there were small waterfalls every few feet. Unfortunately I *just* missed a particularly spectacular one in that photo. This next photo shows the weather during some of the best visibility we had all day. Most times we couldnt see much farther than the nose of the pickup. Many times hubby tried to keep behind an 18 wheeler for a bit of shelter but there were times when the wind was so bad the rain was flying horizontally and the bigger trucks provided no shelter at all. We had pea sized hail at one point and the lightning show....well let's just say I wasnt enjoying it in the slightest. I used to as a kid but there was an incident during my first marriage where a nasty storm scared me so badly, well it makes me extremely nervous now. Thankfully I fell asleep during the worst parts of the storm. In the pic to the right, we were doing 30-35 in a 70 mph zone.

We arrived in Tazewell, TN in one piece. Our first stop was to Frostees to get supper then we headed to his folks house for about 45 minutes or so, then to the hotel. I was hoping to stay at the Holiday Inn a bit farther out from the in-laws but they didnt allow pets. We ended up in one of the local motor lodges. I had my reservations about it but once we got into the room I changed my mind. It was smaller than I'd care to have but it was so nice and clean, much nicer than the place we'd been the night before. Hubby got the laptop hooked to the internet and we checked our emails. The company *FINALLY* sent the address to the corporate housing via email. It was about friggin time. I swear this hurry up and wait attitude they have really irks the crap out of me. I was really glad to see we werent going to be assigned to a hotel room but an actual apartment instead (and damn it's nice....).

The above photos are pictures of the view from his folks house. Isnt it gorgeous? It's actually much better when it isnt so overcast. These were taken Friday before we went to his gramma's house. We spent most of the day with the family. Some of it was with gramma and some over his sister's house and then back to the folks place before going back to the hotel.

Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th

If you go back to the Cliff Notes version you'll notice I've been noting what day the actual blog was written on. You'll also notice I had gotten ahead of myself in a couple cases and as such skipped those ideas when I typed this entry because a couple things planned actually happened a bit differently.

Tuesday the loaders were scheduled to arrive anytime between 8am and noon. They showed up right around 9am or so. I had kitty in her carrier before they got into our house. Boy she wasnt liking it any. Poor little baby. There were 3 that were supposed to be there but they showed up one man short. Oh yes I can see how this day was gonna go now. The way the driver figured it, they could have been in and gone before 2pm but with the no show it was 5 pm before they were done. Thankfully they worked on the bedroom first and when it had all the stuff to be shipped out, I was able to set the cat loose in the bedroom with her litter box so she wasnt cooped up all day. Around 2 or 3 pm hubby looked like he was getting antsy so I sent him off to return the modem and told him while he was out to go ahead and visit that one couple as if we waited until the truck was loaded we wouldnt have time at all to do so. I would have felt awful if he didnt get time to visit them. They have 2 kids so we wouldnt have been able to visit too much later and it looked like it would have been 7 or 8pm before we'd get there. I think this was the best thing for hubby as he was getting grouchy standing around waiting. While he was gone, a police officer showed up and talked to the driver about some code compliance issue (18 wheelers arent supposed to be on that road because it's only a 2 lane road and it'd block up the road). I heard the driver tell the cop that the stuff was "his stuff" (I guess he indicated the house) and all they were doing was loading the truck. Some jerk(s) had called in and complained that the truck was parked there. Hate to tell them, my road aint a main road and shouldnt be used as such (we wont even go into the fact they like to whip down that street). Didnt matter as the codes didnt apply to this truck because they were moving furniture and not making a delivery of any sort..oO(neener neener). Maybe they should complain about the dump trucks that whip down there on a daily basis or better yet park in my driveway and ticket the damn "boom cars" that shake the windows in all the houses on that road as they're cutting through.



Shortly after the loaders were done (so shortly after that they'd barely pulled out of my road), hubby came home. We were expecting his friend from the night before (the hubby of the couple) to come over for a bit. When he arrived we pawned off several items from the garage. I'd have loved to see the look on his wife's face when he got home as the only thing we'd discussed the night before was the wood. When he left our house his pickup bed was about half full with wood, turpentine and other carpentry items.



We went to Texas Land and Cattle for supper. It seemed rather fitting as our first date was at this very restaurant. Well actually the first first date was to a grocery store the night I arrived I went in Texas in May 2003. The first going out to supper date was to the restaurant. Im going to miss that place. Afterwards we went to one last friend's house. Neither she nor the couple could make it out to dinner the night before so we made special trips. We arrived at this friend's house around 9pm and didnt leave until 11pm. All we did was sit around and shoot the breeze, but we had a wonderful time.



It was odd coming back home and not seeing anything in the house short of the stuff we were going to take and the sofa. Hubby hooked up the portable tv, tossed some blankets on the floor for himself and allowed me the sofa for the night. We watched about 10 minutes of television and nodded off for the night. Wednesday morning we woke up around 9am (hot dayum we slept in) and he went out to get us breakfast. After we ate the rest of the morning was spent with packing last minute stuff that we'd needed the night before. While hubby was going over last minute details with the neighbor, I was inside writing down instructions for the maid service that we'd be calling in. We ran out of room in our truck for the food and chemicals so I instructed the maids to go ahead and donate to someone in their ranks that could use the stuff. Im betting we could have found the room for those 3 boxes but at that point we pretty much just wanted to get on the road.



We didnt leave until nearly 1pm... a bit later than we expected. Before leaving we did one last walk around the house..giving each other a smooch in each room. We then walked the dog around the property as we said our last goodbyes. The sucky part of this all is the fact he bought the house not only for himself but for me. The ring I wear with my wedding band isnt really my engagement ring...the house was. It's rather depressing in a way as we'd had all our hopes and dreams pretty much wrapped up in the house. We'd expected to stay there at least another 5-7 years and start a family there.... *sniffles*. Now it looks like it'll be at LEAST that long before we can get into another house because of the costs here. Our only hope is that in 2 years time (his company says he has to stay at least 2 years...only fair since they moved us) something else opens up down in North Carolina where it's not quite so expensive.



Dharma cried quite a bit the first day in the truck. You need to remember, she's never put in her carrier unless it's a trip to the vet. If I'd been thinking, I would have insisted in putting her in that thing and taking her for short drives a good 2 weeks before we left. As it was she assumed that cage, outside and truck meant V E T. How confusing for her when she'd already been to the V E T. She was pretty freaked when we never returned home and ended up somewhere really strange that first night (we stayed in Brinkley Ar for the night). The little bugger almost didnt come out of the cage. Hubby and I went to supper and when we returned played a lively game of "Find the Kitty". I want to know how the HELL you can lose a 14 pound mini panther in a barely furnished hotel room!! Yet get lost she did and no amount of calling, miauing or shaking of a treats can convinced her to come out. I learned that night that for the most part you cannot lose your cat under a hotel bed as many are blocking off the bottoms so critters dont get underneath. You also cannot lose them under end tables or sinks. You CAN, however, lose them under dressers when there is only a 4 inch amount of space between the wall and the dresser. I still dont know how she squeezed that fat ass of hers in there, but she managed it. Kitty also learned a lesson. Dont piss off mommy. She also learned what a leash was for. Again, if I'd had any indication we'd be moving this soon after adopting her I would have leash trained her from day one. She spent several hours on her leash and hiding behind her litterbox. Before going to bed, we pushed all furniture as far back against walls as possible and blocked any other holes with our travelling bags....then we let her loose for the night.

Sunday January 6th and Monday the 7th

Isnt he just the cutest lil guy you've seen? This lil doggy's name is Pepper and he showed up Sunday morning on our back patio. Hubby checked him for tags and found 2. One had lil man's name on it with a phone number and one was his rabies innoculation tag with the vet's number. One would think this would make getting it easier to get him home right? Nope, this little visitor cost us 2 hours of packing and organizing time because the phone number on the one tag was disconnected and the other number...well vets are generally not open on Sundays. Well hubby fed and watered Pepper. Pepper didnt seem to need much though as he looked well fed and clean so there wasnt any case of neglect. He was shaking a bit even though it wasnt all that chilly out so he was probably just scared. Pepper stood head and shoulders above Katy (our chihuahua) and could have easily been agressive with her. However, he was the sweetest and most polite dog you could ask for and was extremely respectful that he was on Katy's turf. Not a growl or snarl came out of him. Hubby and I discussed what we were going to do with Pepper since the one number didnt work and were pretty much set to keep him over night until the vet's office opened the next day if necessary when hubby got the brainstorm to run the phone number through 411.com to see what came up. Personally, if we werent moving I would have been really happy to just keep him as he was that sweet. Well hubby got a hit on 411.com and were we ever surprised that the address that belonged to the phone number was located in Plano....several miles to our north. It isnt a long drive but for a mid-sized dog like this to walk it and there are lots of busy roads between us and Plano. Hubby wrote down the addy and took a couple pix of Pepper on the digital camera to bring with him. He was simply going to go and ask the neighbors in that area if they knew who he belonged to. As he was headed for the truck, Pepper seemed to know what hubby was up to and followed him. Ok, well then...stick a leash on him and take with you....it'll save us gas if he does belong up there.

When hubby got to the address there was a gentleman in the yard and so he asked this man if he knew " Ms. so and so" (the name that was listed with the address on 411.com). Sure enough he did. This man was that woman's father. Good deal! Well looks like the gal had moved to finish schooling and had relocated to Austin. Meanwhile, Pepper had been left in the care of the gal's mother...who lives in Garland. In fact she's right around the corner from our house. Go figure. The guy said he'd call the mother (they're divorced) and let her know Pepper was in one piece. There had been some panic as Pepper is 14 yrs old and takes medicine for a congenative heart problem. We were to find out a couple days later that the poor lil man had been let out to go to the bathroom at 1am Saturday morning (so there had been no meds for over 24 hrs for him) and he'd simply wandered off. The family was profusely thankful (well the father was and a few days later the mother was as well) that the time was taken to return Pepper to them. Seems like someone really was watching out for that darling little guy. Like hubby said, we'd want someone to take the time to find us if either of our little girls got loose.

We didnt get much more done after that. Not sure why though...more than likely errands were run. As I didnt put them in the notes I'd guess I didnt feel they were overly important.

Monday the packers showed up. Between hubby and myself, we'd gotten the lion's share of things packed. Well at least the lion's share of my stuff.....he still had quite a bit to go. They arrived at 9am and Dharma immediately went under the bed. Poor kitty. So much activity lately and now strangers in the house!!! There were 3 of them and they were in and back out by 1230pm. If it wasnt nailed down or closely guarded, it got packed. The running joke was that if I hadnt gotten up they woulda rolled me in paper and tossed me in a box. LOL. They even packed a box of plastic bowls I'd set aside for donation (not their fault though as they asked if everything on the table was to go and I said yes....a day and a half later I remembered that the box had been on the table...oh well). The inside of my house looked like the inside of a storage unit, only not quite so neat. Piles of boxes everywhere. I woulda been so much happier if they'd moved all the boxes to the guest room and out of my sight. Like I said in the notes....Alice woulda hated it...shit I hated it. Friggin slalom course getting through my home.

After they left, we relaxed for a few minutes and watched tv. Around 430pm I got myself into the shower to clean up for supper. We'd had plans to meet a few of our friends out at Cheddars. My TxSis showed up early and for the first time since we were in the house did she catch me totally unprepared for a visit. The standing rule's always been ...call FIRST. Why? Because I tend to dress comfortably, not necessarily appropriately for company (ok, so...*covers iggy's eyes* Im a closet streaker especially when hubby's home...*uncovers iggy's eyes with instruction not to read previous sentence*). Anyhow, imagine my surprise when I heard someone else's voice in my house and how thankful I was they took the conversation back outside. When I was finally fit for company, she came in and we spent a little time together. She had a pressy for me and I had a gift bag for her and one for Kiddo. Her bag contained her Christmas gift (she'd been out of country during the holidays and I'd been too busy before them), and a couple other items. The Christmas gift was one of the 2 lighthouses I'd painted months ago. They were supposed to be for hubby's aunt and mom but we changed our minds and did something else. Anyhow, I'd sent TxSis a pic of them when done and she'd gone gaga over them so I told hubby that one would be hers for Christmas (the other went to my godfather and his wife in June as thanks for getting funeral arrangements done for us in May). The other little items were a couple fairy magnets I had painted and a set of my windchimes for her patio (what the heck, I have too many to begin with and I wont be able to put them ALL up in the new digs anyhow). Kiddo's gift was a nice bath set....supposed to smell like clean linens or something. I was told a couple days ago that it was very much appreciated and it smelled really nice too!

Anyhow, TxSis joined us and one other couple for supper. Another couple and one other person weren't able to join us which is a real shame. We all went to Cheddars and had a great time. I know TxSis was worried about how things went, but all went well considering that she knew no one besides me and hubby. I had a feeling they'd all get along really well anyways.

Just a Cliff Notes version

EDIT:01/13/08 @12:35am: Got the attachment and got the pix off the camera but Im so far behind I may just wait until Monday to start the entries. Been a slow couple days. Scroll to bottom as per usual.
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EDIT: 01/11/08 @ 12:31am: Scroll to bottom for the "Cliff Note" updates on the trip. I'll go into details when I can find the attachments to remove the pix off my camera. Until then, I'll keep adding notes here so you at least get the highlights.

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Im really not up for writing out a huge blog at this point as it's 116am on Tuesday and the alarm will be going off at 730am....making for yet another long day. I am going to just drop a Cliff Notes version in here for now with the promise of doing a proper blog (kinda like the wedding blog) in a few days. It all depends on if we end up in hotels with 'net service or not.

01) Sunday we had some 4 legged company by the name of Pepper. Im believing someone above was watching out for this lil guy and testing us at the same time. (entry Mon 14th)

02) The packers were in on Monday. Arrived at 9am and were gone by 1230pm. House looks like the inside of a storage unit...Alice would hate it. Shit, I hate it. LOL (entry Mon 14th)

03) Monday evening spent time with my TxSis for a bit and then we all went out to dinner. At supper was TxSis and another couple of friends (friends hubby had made thru his old job).(entry Mon 14th)

04) Today (Tuesday) the loaders are due to be in around 8am-12pm. My luck they'll show up just as early as the packers. Wait, that wont be bad because we have stuff to do yet....worse luck will be to wake up at 730am and be vertical and waiting and have them not show up until noon...Will be loading our truck with the stuff we're taking while this is going on. (entry Thurs 17th)

05) After the movers, spending time at another couple's (again friends via hubby's old job) home for a bit. Afterwards, we're meeting yet another friend for lunch. Man, we're gonna be exhausted. Im so glad a maid service is coming in to clean up.(entry Thurs 17th)


06) Possible we have a couple different sets of people interested in the house...and it aint even listed! One is a set of friends and the other came about from 01). Will go into more detail on that later when I write the proper blog entry.(entry Thurs 17th)


07) Leave here Wednesday but we need to drop off the modem to Time Warner later today so I definitely wont be on at all later. Will drop in as 'net service in hotels permits.

08) *^)^&%(& company aint called with an addy yet. I suspect they're gonna cram us in a hotel for 30-60 days. Hell no way will I tolerate that. Guarantee if they do that I'll be pressing to get into an apartment sooner (not that I even wanna be back in one of THEM to begin with). Betting this is what they're wanting in the first place as it'll be cheaper on them.

I think that's about it. I always re-read the previous post before I type the new one so this will serve as my reminder as to what I wanted to discuss.

*HUGZ* ttyl

EDIT 118am.....damn....even my Cliff notes version turned out to be a mile long. *shakes head*

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New additions:

09) Loaders showed up Tuesday...a man short (only 2 showed instead of 3). Needless to say loading took a few hours longer than it should have and threw the rest of the day off. Took so long that I sent hubby to run a few errands (return cable equipment and visit a friend) and while he was out the "code compliance" officer showed up and hassled the loaders because some a$$hole called to complain.(entry Thurs 17th)


10) When loaders left hubby and I waited around for another friend who was going to take the wood hubby had piled up in the garage. While he was there we pawned off a bunch of other supplies.(entry Thurs 17th)


11) Went to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. Then visited one other friend around 9pm, didnt leave her place til after 11pm.(entry Thurs 17th)


12) Slept in on Wednesday (until 9am). He went and got breakfast and we finished getting things loaded and sorted, notes left for the people coming in to clean and one for the neighbor with contact info. Didnt leave til almost 1pm....a bit later than expected. Said gooodbye to the house before we pulled off. Part of me feels like grieving for the loss but have yet to cry over it. I prolly will when I write the detailed entries later.(entry Thurs 17th)

13) Dharma fussed the first several hours but settled down some. Really freaked when we didnt return home and managed to hide herself in the hotel while we were out to supper. A 20 minute panic ensued as we played "Find the Kitty". Kitty found herself on a leash for several hours as a reminder who boss is. We've taken to "Kitty Proofing" a room before she's allowed out of the carrier now. She travelled well today...hardly a peep out of her. Only hiding she's doing is under the covers which will change shortly when I crawl into bed.(entry Thurs 17th)

14) The weather from hell. You should have SEEN the rain we went through. It started before we woke and lasted all damn day. Waterfalls everywhere in Nashville. I dont think it stopped yet. Some patched so damn heavy that visibility was *maybe* 5 foot infront of the windshield (which meant we could barely see the nose of the truck and were LUCKY to see the lights 10 foot ahead of us). Hail. Traffic in 70 mph zones slowed to 50 mph and slower. Some cases crawling along at a blistering 35 mph..... (yeah, sarcasm there...dripping really bad too) (entry on Thurs 17th)

15) Arrived Tazewell, got food and headed to his folks for a 45 minute visit. Couldnt stay longer as the cat had been in her carrier for nearly 11 hours. Nice room. Better than last night's hotel for sure. Sometimes off name places can be so much nicer than the "Big Name" hotels. (entry on Thurs 17th)


Gotta scoot now....12:53am. Will post more updates tomorrow....might actually get started on the actual entries if we get our butts to WalMart for the cord I need. Gotta visit his gramma and make a stop the to nursing home to see that one family friend too. Oh and a trip to the library as the company *FINALLY* sent us our new addy for the corporate housing. Thankfully it aint a hotel room and is an actual one bedroom apartment. Cool beans.
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16) Friday spent with family. Took a trip to Gramma's. Will have pix of the area she's in plus pix of some of the family. (entry on Thurs 17th)


17) Saturday spent the morning and evening with family. Ran some errands... Nursing Home to visit a neighbor who has bad alzheimers and a cousin, then to Flea Market, the mall in Middlesboro (got some pix of the scenery going to it) and then another trip out to see Gramma (hubby likes to spend at least 2-3 days visiting as she's quite frail).(entry on Jan 21st)


18) Trip to Nursing Home eventful as we got stuck in the elevator for 20 minutes.(entry on Jan 21st)


19) Oreo milkshakes!!! Yummy!!!(entry on Jan 21st)


20) Cat finally relaxed. I almost hate to have to put her in her carrier later today as it's another 8+ hr ride. Cant check in to the corporate housing until 4pm so she'll be in it most of the day Monday as well....poor kitty.(entry on Jan 21st)

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Slowly but surely getting there

Today Im in the process of washing all the laundry and packing up what we dont need for the next few days. On Monday night we'll grab last showers here and I'll do whatever gets dirty from today forward. By tonight the only things that should be out laundry-wise is 2 towels, a dish rag, a dish cloth and 4 days worth of clothes.

No, the picture to the left isnt a picture of ours. I wish it was though as it's so much more organized than the piles we have here. Anyhow today we finished up the little bit that was in the guest room and got all the boxes that were already done in there so we didnt have to keep stepping around them. In the process I found something in the bedroom and livingroom. It was something we dont see normally so I had to get online to check and see if Google had a picture of it. Sure enough the description under the pictures was the following word: FLOOR. Is THAT what it looks like? Damn I had no clue. I thought everything pretty much had gotten the hang of hovering everywhere. Oh and I figured out we actually DO have a closet in the corner! Who'da thunk?

Got an email a couple days ago (can I bop my hubby on the head for not sharing when it came in?) that stated that the company would be calling him with the address a week before we're scheduled for moving in. Someone tell me how helpful this is when address changes at the post office take 2 weeks to go into effect?? *Bites own tongue*. I think at that rate that we'll just need to keep the mail going to his folks' house until we're ready to go into permanent housing because I am NOT going to go through that hassle again. Lord knows what's going to happen to the post after the 9th when we leave as no one will be here to get it. We may have to have the next door neighbor just forward it on to us for a couple weeks. hmmm

Got a call today that the company doing the moving for us will be here on Monday to pack and Tuesday to load. The company responsible for transporting the Gran Torino will be here Tuesday to pick up the car. On Wednesday, Thursday or Friday a cleaning service is coming in to do a "make ready" cleaning for us. We'll be gone by the time they show up but the neighbor still has a key so he can let them in. Hubby's got ahold of all the utility companies and everything will be turned off by the 22nd...this way the house can be shown for about a week in fully functioning order. We'll be having the pest control company come in for one last spraying and the propane company to fill the tank with another 100 gallons so that should be a plus in selling as they wont have to put out money for heating right away.

Guess that's it for today. *HUGZ*

V E T, post office, and packing

Ok, so maybe the dog wasnt this bad but the cat certainly was. We got up and took the "kids" in for a V E T appointment to get their S H O T S and stock up on some Frontline. Kitty did NOT like the ride in at all. Who can blame her? "Mommy" picked up and hugged her and then dumped her fuzzy ass in that carrier...plus it was COLD out there!! Anyhow, we got to the vet and it took a bit to get kitty out of her carrier because she was doing as pictured to the left...2 paws on either side of the carrier door and refusing to budge.

After we got them home, we dropped them off home and then went to the post office to drop off a couple packages. One is going to my SCSis (a cd) and one is headed to my mom. The one going to my mom is a perfume gift set she'd bought me and the spritzer on the bottle isnt working. She's going to do an exchange and then mail me the new package when we get to Virginia. While we were there we did a change of addy and all our mail will get sent on to his folks' house. When we get into our more permanent digs we'll do another change of addy. What a pain in the ass. I'd have much rather had the temp addy a week ago so this could have been done and out of the way. I really hate feeling like I gotta light a fire under people's asses to get things done.

Got all the knick knacks packed tonight and all the crafting stuff packed last night. Im finding lots of loose ends type things Im not so certain what to do with as they arent really used and mostly because they're his "stuff". I think I'll let him deal with them. We've done some talking and I believe we've decided to have a professional cleaning agency come in and do a nice thorough cleaning. He'll be calling them tomorrow for an estimate. Considering they wont have much to do (they wont have beds to make or knick knacks to dust) it shouldnt take them long nor should it cost us much. Oh that reminds me...I better have him call Kiwi cleaners for an estimate on the carpets.

Well I better scoot. It's getting late....not that Im really tired as I got to bed super early last night (in bed by 715pm and asleep by 730pm) and got lots of sleep. Totally unusual considering Im feeling ok. Thank goodness for that. How did a friend put it last year? What you're doing on New Years is what you'll be doing all year. Now let's think back, last year at New Years I was ill and what has been the biggest complaint I've had all year? Not feeling well. Hmmm. This year Im packing and getting ready to move. Looks like I'll be living out of boxes this year....and possibly into the next. Oh well.