Over Rainbow Bridge

Goodbye, sweetheart. As sad as I am that you said goodbye.... I'm so glad you're no longer in pain and can breathe easier. I'm so very happy that you get to see your big brother again. So many years have passed, I'm sure he's missed you dearly. Be sure to hold a spot for your sister, you know the ridiculous looking puppy that talked funny. It hasn't dawned on her yet, but I"m sure she'll be missing you in a few days.

 IF IT SHOULD BE

 If it should be that I grow weak 

And pain should keep me from my sleep, 

Then you must do what must be done, 

For this last battle cannot be won. 

You will be sad, I understand. 

Don't let your grief then stay your hand. 

For this day, more than all the rest, 

Your love for me must stand the test. 

We've had so many happy years. 

What is to come can hold no fears. 

You'd not want me to suffer so; 

The time has come -- please let me go. 

Take me where my need they'll tend, 

And please stay with me till the end. 

Hold me firm and speak to me, 

Until my eyes no longer see. 

I know in time that you will see 

The kindness that you did for me. 

Although my tail its last has waved, 

From pain and suffering I've been saved. 

Please do not grieve -- it must be you 

Who had this painful thing to do. 

We've been so close, we two, these years; 

Don't let your heart hold back its tears. 

--- Anonymous ---

       

from the passenger seat

Several months ago, we'd paid for a Pampered Pet Package at the vet's for KatyLou. The package had 14 days boarding, 5 vet appointments and 7 groomings all bundled for one price. Awesome. So this last Friday we carted her off to the "spa" and ran some errands.

I'm not sure when it finally happened but that Walgreens that they were building across the street from the strip mall the Shopper's grocery store is in is finally open. It's really good to see some new businesses come into the area as it shows some growth. It would have been nicer to see some really new businesses come into the area, ya know a store that didn't already exist around here. It could have been worse, though, it might have been another WalMart or 7-Eleven.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this picture slightly amusing? One side of the building contains a medical center, while the other houses not only a bank, but a Dunkin Donuts and a Baskin Robbins. At least when someone has a heart attack from all the fats in those sweets, they won't have too far to go to get to a doctor.

While we were on our way to drop off and later pick up the dog, I noticed that the new apartments are almost completed. These are the same ones that were just breaking ground when we were living in the corporate housing. There will be lofts on the top 2 floors while stores make up the ground level. I half expect that we'll see curtains in some of those windows by next year. By then, we'll be having road construction out there because I certainly don't see that the present roads will be able to accomodate the traffic that I'm sure will start showing up in the area.

Here is KatyLou, fresh from the dryer. She was one happy, clean poochie.

thisnthat

As I'd been telling everyone, there has been expansion as well as loss in our area. Some businesses close while some open. We've had a few that simply changed into bigger locations. One of the the ones expanding into bigger digs is the clinic where I go for my weekly allergy shot. This shot to the left is the old clinic location and was snapped less than a week after they moved. Amazing how deserted it looks in about a week's time. It's a great location. I'm wondering who is going to move in next. It may take a while though, as that section to the left used to belong to a gym and it's been sitting empty for nearly a year now.

On the 23rd of June, hubby and I decided to head on over to Logan's for lunch. It was a beautiful day and as usual. I couldn't help but to take some pix of the water fountains (not shown but are in the Flickr photostream). The retention pond was loaded with geese and ducks that day, so I let (how does Di put it? Oh yeah...) "Ms Snappy Finger" do her thing and just click away. After several shots, I decided I'd had enough until I saw....

this guy (or is is a gal?). It was a pleasant surprise as we generally don't see anything other than geese and ducks in the pond. It was nice to see that the waterfowl had a bit of company for a change. I wonder how many other critters are in there with them.

When we got home that day, I saw this pretty robin sitting in the neighbor's tree. I can't believe it sat so long for me to get this shot. We have some cardinals nesting in the trees out behind our backyard fence. Hubby has suggested keeping the old camera downstairs so we can hopefully get a shot of them or at least of the Charlie that keeps running along or fence. I really need to get myself to a zoo (NO! We didn't go while in TN...*pouts*) and run this new camera through its paces. I'd love to see what it gets in the aviary. I'd also like to get to one of those flower or butterfly gardens.

I'm not certain why I clicked this one. I think it might simply be because I loved how the yellow hydrant contrasted against the green of the grass. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.
This shot actually inspired one that I took while we were walking through town in TN. It'll get posted in the next week or so. There'll be a whole post on just shots from hubby's hometown. Some really neat buildings and a couple site markers that may interest the historian buffs here.

I couldn't resist this shot. Katy's taken to the habit of putting her paw on hubby's foot as if to say "My Daddy". If he pulls his foot away, she just places her paw over his foot, hooks her toes over the opposite side and drags it back towards her. *laffz* Silly dog. The little blur behind her toosh is her tail wagging furiously. It was going so fast, the shutter couldn't catch it.


I think that'll do for now. Lots more to cover and I don't want to get to the point where this feels like a chore. We all know what happens when THAT occurs.

Thanks for the comments on the new blog name. I think it fits and is something I can live with for a while.

Just for you Pop and Ice !

I've acquired a new reader the last couple days and she mentioned on my HomePage that she just loves to come in and look at my darling Dharma's little "hissy face". So I'm posting the full picture so you can see that the attitude pretty much extrends down to her cute little kitty toes.

my silly cat

So a couple of weeks ago I was sitting home, alone, while hubby was out at work. I generally keep the tv going in the background just for some noise because I just cant stand an overly quiet house (even while sleeping). As I was typing away, I glanced down under the desk and noticed that Dharma wasn't in her bed, so I glanced around. Where do I find her? On the foot stool, watching the tv. This is somewhat normal for her, especially when Animal Planet is on.

Then I noticed what was on the television.....

Yep, she was sitting there watching a DOG SHOW. *shakes head* Silly kitty.

Straight outta the Camera

While I was over reading Straight out of the Camera Sunday in Life According to Jan and Jer , I saw a really neat game that was found over at murrieta365. The rules on the site are:

Do you ever take a photo that you love; it comes out so well, straight from the camera, that you're not tempted to do a thing with it, once you've downloaded it. It's wonderful and you want to share it. I've decided to start a new meme - Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday. I'll host it here, each Sunday. So put your thinking cap on, scroll through your files and decide what to post. The subject is open, no weekly theme, just have fun.

Im not bothering with the Mr Linky thingy though....just that's the way I roll.



So here's my pic, I just pulled it off the camera:
This is KatyLou, hubby's dog. She was all excited because she was going on a road trip this past Wednesday, but then she saw the cat in the carrier and suspected SOMETHING was up. Katy travels really well though....she generally just curls up on the bench and sleeps most of the way. Unfortunately, with the cat travelling with us, there wasnt much room on the truck bench for her to do that. The trip on Wednesday was to the vet and of course she didnt like that too well. She was none too happy with us afterwards.

No retouching of any sort was done on this picture, not even cropping. I cant believe how well it turned out. I wish some of my other pix turned out as well....especially the ones I take of the cat!!

cold weather, redecorating, apps, the kids and the 15th

Thank you to whomever sent me this cold weather. However, I'd like to register a complaint....when it arrived it was damaged as the temperature was all wrong. Somehow the weather warmed up to the point where it was too warm for snow yet nearly 20+ degrees cooler than it has been around here. It's actually a tad chilly unstairs now (the last couple days it's been running almost 80 in the second level of the townhouse). A little fair warning next time please with a delivery confirmation would be nice so I can track it and expect it the day it arrives. Thank you.

I've done some redecorating on the page again. I got tired of the banner up top and found that bridge while I was in Google looking up Manassas. While I was in there I figured I'd grab something to match as the background. That's when I came across the picture for Lower Doyles River Falls in Shenendoah National Park. One of these days I ought to take a trip and get my own picture of them.


I got some applications all filled out and ready to go. All I do is get them walked over to the strip mall. I think I'll do that tomorrow. Hubby's got to go in tomorrow afternoon and I really need to prove I can do this by myself....to myself. I've spent way too much of my life cooped up. Not necessarily afraid to go out by myself, but also not brave enough to exit the confines of the property (well except for the occassional trip to the mailbox) Im living on alone. Now that Im living within walking distance of many shops AND a bus route, it's time to get that little problem of mine fixed and pronto. Ya know, I think I'll see if I have enough cash on hand for a haircut too while Im out.


The kids are doing ok. Dharma's going up and down the stairs with no problem. She's become awefully lovey since we moved here and cannot stand to be on a level of the home without anyone with her. It's gotten quite cute actually because she's gotten talkative too. She never really meowed much while in Texas but every so often she'll "hollar" for me if she cant find me right away. All I have to do is imitate her miau and she'll come running. Katy has had a set back though. On her way up the stairs one evening, she took a misstep (or mis-leap?) and slipped backwards on the stairs...sliding about 1/3 the way down. Then her fanny hit a step just right and she ended up doing backwards summersaults for the most of the balance of the way down. We're lucky she didnt get hurt. Since then hubby doesnt allow her to take the steps by herself, actually...she wont even attempt them at all. I cant say I blame either of them. So we're back to carting her up and down the stairs. Well, hubby is, when Im home alone she's kept downstairs.



We got a note on our door the other day. Looks like they'll be working on something in my area on the 15th and it means they'll be shutting off the water that day until the modifications have been completed. I hope it's only a one day thing. Thankfully, hubby has the day off and we planned on being out and about during the day. Hmmm...means I better pack my camera, eh iggy?


Well, I'd better scoot. Chicago showed me how to convert my music files to a lower bit rate through MusicMatch so Im trying to get some of those done as well. I've got several files done but not a whole folder's worth yet so I think I wanna get a few more tunes done tonight before bedtime.

*HUGZ*
LS

The kids playing

Ok, so...just one more. This one was taken while we were in the corporate housing. Hubby'd just brought Katy in for a walk and hadnt gotten her leash off yet and Dharma decided it was a nifty plaything. I figured, what the hell, give them BOTH a little exercise. Hubby was throwing a toy around for Katy and Dharma was having fun too!!

Some pix

Hey. Im not going to do a massive entry as I posted one earlier this morning. I am, however, going to share a few of the pictures I took while we were out today.

The white trees are starting to shed. While we were out we got close enough so I could get a shot of the blooms. Definitely not dogwoods.

I hope this one clicks up large for you. We were upon them before I even noticed them. I've never seen a flock on the ground....they're usually always going somewhere. First people I thought of were iggy and Enicka when I saw them though.

Ok. How'd you like to grow up with THAT as your last name???

Yep. She's making it down the stairs all by herself.

Oh and (turn down volume I didnt realize how loud I got...)

trees, kids, and other schtuff

Here is a picture of those trees I mentioned in one of the previous entries. It was taken as we were driving in an older section of town. What you're seeing is pretty much the way most of this area looks like. You have 2-3 main roads (5-6 lane wide roads) and the rest look alot like this or residential. Residential areas seem to be alot of townhouses...at least in my area. It's no surprise as homes are rather pricey in this neck of the woods. Even the townhouses can run upwards to the $200K + range. Needless to say, I do not forsee us owning property here at all and Im really hoping that something comes through in the next couple years farther south (NC). Oh how that bothers me to say because farther south means less likely to get the snow I've been screaming for.


In the picture to the right you see more of those trees...truly they're everywhere. In this picture we are sitting at the intersection of one of the main drags and the road leading into where our townhouse is. On the other side of the interestion sits the mall I was talking about sometime before. If I was in really decent shape and the road wasnt so damn busy it could be an easy walking distance but to be honest, I wouldnt want to cross that road on foot. Anyhow, the purpose of these two pictures was to give you a good look at the trees. With my luck, I'll be allergic to them. It seems like any place I move there is a flowering tree that likes the aggravate the bejeezus out of my poor sinuses. In fact, the last few days have been hell even though Im taking my meds like I should. My SCSis told me that it's likely that they're Bradford Pear Trees and by the look of the pictures it's very highly possible she's right. From what Im reading it could also be the Cleveland Pear Trees or a hybrid of the two (the cross pollination has strengthened the Bradford tree and made it a sturdier tree). In any case, I may end up hating watching these flower as much as I do a magnolia or crepe myrtle. Worse yet, these flower the earliest of all the flowering trees in the area. *sigh*
As you can see by the next photo, the "kids" are finally getting used to things around here. Katy gets down the stairs well all by herself but because of her height can't manage getting back up alone. It does NOT help that the steps are only 8 inches deep and she's closer to 12-14 inches long so there really isnt enough room for her. Top things off I think the steps are about 6-8 inches in height but her legs Im guessing are only 4-6 inches long. The poor gal, gets a running start and manages 2-5 steps and ends up bopping her nose on the step's edge. Good news though! The end of last week, Dharma managed to come all the way down on her own. Hot dayum no more putting food upstairs for her. I still keep a bowl of water up for the "kids" but no food. The red bed in the picture is supposed to be Dharma's and she did well using it for a long time but she's decided she likes her sister's pillow and blanket better. This picture is odd as Katy doesnt allow her near her pillow and the only time Dharma manages to get in it is when Katy's downstairs. The other day though....I saw them together like this and it was too sweet to not grab a shot of them together.


Here are better shots of those pix hanging in my hallway. I really need to redo the outline on the purple so it matches the pink one. The picture to the left has the pink done in the colors it was meant to be done in. As you can see the burgandy came off looking blah. I was just looking online and it looks like the company that produced these no longer makes them and has decided to concentrate on just the paints and accessories and not on the lits anymore. This means Im going to have to search online in EBay, Amazon and other sites to see if it can be found. Thankfully it's a nice big bold pattern so worse comes to worse I'll just trace it out and use carbon paper to lay the print down on a new canvas. With any luck it wont be too difficult.

Not much else going on here I guess. Got my id on Tuesday....Monday was a trip to the social security office to finally get my last name changed on my card so I dont have problems later after I get another job. This week we're hoping for a trip to the dr but Im thinking we have to wait for some paperwork from the insurance to arrive in the mail first. We also need to get our taxes done yet. We're late getting them done. Usually we have them done by the end of February..... *shrugz*

It's getting there, but damn Im tired of screwing and pounding

So last Saturday, we did nothing at all in regards to the TH. Both of us were beat and my legs were acting up. Not sure what's wrong with them but I'm keeping an eye on them to see if there's any changes for the worse on them. I suspect it's mostly because we've been eating out ALOT (which means much more salt than I normally would consume) and Ive been on my feet for hours at a shot. Im hoping by staying off them for a bit they'll get better. It's next to impossible though with a staircase to navigate on a daily basis. Anyhow, all of us really needed a rest so that's what we did (yeah the dog climbed behind hubby like that and just got that comfy all on her own).

Sunday...I'm blanking on. The camera date on the pix says we spent time in the TH though. I'm sure we hit WalMart for supplies but I cant be for certain whether it was before we went or after. More than likely it was after. I know we've practically been living there lately. Time was definitely spent in the TH though with me attempting to put together the kitchen (which was almost set to go until a couple of days ago..now I got loose ends all over my counters again). I'm sure Sunday was an 8 hour day here as well. I started putting the curtains up but discovered one of the packages of curtain rods for the bedroom was missing the brackets. It may have been that evening we went to Wally World for like the ba-zillionth time...this time for a new set of double rods (kept the first set as the rods themselves can be used separately on single brackets for in the spare room and the office). I have absolutely no idea why they called for a dual bar in there. There is only one pocket on the curtains and the valance is attached. You try and put a dual rod in there and the curtain wont wrap around the window and keep the light out. I did manange to organize quite a bit in the room (until we brought the stuff over from the apartment) and at least we had a nice place to sleep...and the bathroom was looking ok and even the office where hubby spent most of the day was coming together. At least the office was to the point where the Comcast installer could come in and do some work (remember the last entry said we rescheduled because he was running late and we really didnt have the place put together enough anyhow).

At least the most important rooms in my house were nearly set...well until Tuesday when we brought the rest of the stuff over and the other additional things we wanted that we got at Wally World. Now the sections pictured look a tad chaotic again. Just a tad though, not as bad as the storage room . The livingroom looks just as bad because many of our bookcases got ruined in the move. Granted they weren't the best quality but you do expect professionals to do a better job than they did. We're still finding hidden damages as well so it wasnt just the loaders and unloaders....it was packers as well. Needless to say I dont plan on using ANY of these companies again. Thankfully we have 9 months to file a claim, plenty of time to get everything at least checked out even if they dont get unpacked totally.

Monday. Comcast day-part deux. We got up at 6am so we could get some breakfast and go to WalMart for the curtain rods I needed and a few other things. While there I decided to get another valance for the kitchen window. I had 3 for the 3 windows but with as narrow as the side 2 are, it would have looked funky if there wasnt as much gathering at the top of the valances in the middle as the side windows. It took me about 30 minutes to put the second curtain up in the bedroom and about another hour or better to get the valances up. Why so long? Because Im terrified of using hubby's power tools so all building I do is done manually. I start a little hole with a nail and hammer, then I put each screw in by hand (hence the title of my blog....mmm hmm I KNEW what you were thinking...you pig!). It takes a while and I manage to work up a good sweat, but I get the satisfaction of doing it all by myself. Those window shades are really jacked bad and need to be cleaned off but that can wait for warmer weather. I'd love to replace them but that middle window is a bitch. The 2 on the sides are 23" and easy to find but that mashoogana one in the middle is 41". The 39" blinds are too small and the next size up is a 42". I could always get the 42" but then it means putting the brackets on the out side of the window frame and although I dont mind that, it's difficult with this window so we're gonna hit the blinds stores around the corner and see if they have one in the size we need. Oh...I managed to get my wedding corner set back up too. I was gonna set it up in the small foyer but I was afraid the door would get slammed on accident and something would fall and break so I relocated it to the dining area. The grey to the left is my stereo and where the plaque is on the right? Well underneath is where my music shelves are now.

By 930am or so I asked hubby if they were supposed to automatically reschedule us for installation of the cable or were we supposed to call? It must have been a good question because he called to make damn sure we were on the schedule and yes we were. By 1130am or so, there wasnt anyone at the TH yet. Hmmm last week's schedule was somewhere between 9-12 and when we rescheduled they were supposed to put us in the same time spot. I remember hubby saying to make it same time next week but make it Monday instead of Tuesday. So he calls again to find out where the hell the guy is because we've been at the TH since 830am and have other running that needs to be done. Oh yeah, we're on the schedule but we're *just now* told that it was for 12-3pm. It would have been nice to know this when hubby called the first time idiots! He told them to just get someone there as soon as possible. I know he was just waiting for another reschedule because he was gonna tell them sure but the installation damn well better be free. Shit...we coulda slept in some, something we both desparately need at this point. Hubby decided he needed to get the heck out of the TH for a bit so he left me there and headed back to the apartment to walk the pooch. Not 10-15 minutes after leaving the TH, the cable dude showed up. *shakes head*. I called hubby and handed my cell to the cable man and they talked a bit so all were on the same page (I dont trust my memory to be able to relay instructions....go figure I can remember stories from way back when but something told to me just a few days ago...nope, nadda chance). With his directions, the cable guy went to work getting things set up and I sat in the dinigroom and put together my new shelving unit for my music. I really could have used my old one as it wasnt overly wrecked but it was really too small for my needs now. I've got one now that mu music collection can grow into and right now it still has room for all my classical and other instrumental cds (Yanni, Lao Tizer, etc) as well. I'll have to get a pic of it later as Im too tired to be taking that staircase right now. In fact as soon as Im done here, Im headed to bed....a little early for a change.

We stayed at the apartment Monday night and got the rest of our stuff moved to the TH the next day. I was all hooked up and ready to go for Idol that night. WHOOT. We're still finding problems here. I had to have a repair guy in just the other day to get an estimate for the landlady on replacing the boards under my kitchen sink and the sink in the half bath. It looks like they'd had some water damage and failed to tell the leasing office. No damn surprise. Just yesterday a leak that was in the making erupted in the half bath so I had to tell the leasing office to add it to the list. Sad as we'd hoped (hubby, myself and the leasing office) it wouldnt need to be repaired too soon. AH well.

The kids are adjusting to the new digs ok...sorta. So long as they dont have to take the staircase for anything they're fine. It's funny, really. The dog has pretty much got the hang of going down the stairs....it's coming up that's the problem. Her legs are just too short and she has not enough muscle in the hind ones to get her fat butt up the stairs. She does try though. The cat's another matter. She's like me and doesnt like the stairs period. Im hoping she gets the hang of them soon. She's terrified of going down (I've got scratches on my thigh where she caught me with her hindlegs to prove it) and going up was a problem at first as well. As of today, she still squeals everytime we start to take her down (she really tries hard to carve us up too) so what we've started doing is leaving her at the halfway point so coming down doesnt look too scary as it isnt so high up and going up isnt a major struggle. Well she doesnt even attempt going down, just turns tail and makes her way up the stairs and gives me the stink eye when she arrives at the top. After the first night I ended up resorting to bringin up a bowl of water for both and the cat's dish of food so she wouldnt starve. I reckon she'd been without food or water for nearly 24 hrs at that point because her food downstairs wasnt disturbed which means she never left the second level all night. I figure the dog can and will make the trip downstairs a few times during the day and can eat and drink down there. The cat, on the other hand, is just too freaked to do so. The dog's used to stairs because there's a flight of them at the in-law's place and she's been there before. The cat has never seen a stair in her life. All 4 yrs of her life she's been in a house with no stairs and the only ones she's ever seen were through the cage door as she was being transported. I think this is my fault to be honest. Instead of releasing her downstairs and letting her explore on her own, I brought her straight up stairs and released her where her litter was going to be. I never even imagined that my cat would get traumatized by a set of stairs.

Hmmm. Now that I see it how they see it, I can see why it's scary. This pic of the stairs was clicked at about their head level looking down. No wonder neither likes it. I know I aint fond of it and my head sits a HELL of alot higher.

What else? Hmmm I know Im forgetting something yet for the life of me I cant remember what it was. I guess that means I better close this and get my butt to bed.

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.

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!

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.