I started this post on Saturday and it's not done yet. If I don't post it now, though, it may be 3 or 4 more days! Yes, I'm that busy. So here is installment one... There will be more tee shirts coming!
OK, so I was gone longer than a few days. As it turns out, I have only just stopped running. Thanks to you all who left comments and waited patiently for a new entry. Over the last, what, 13 days (I think?) I've had a number of experiences and all of them can be summed up in tee-shirts that I want to have made up for myself....
Here's a few of them:
It Ain't Over Till the Blond Girl Says it's Over! (Dark purple print on a lavender tee)
The move went pretty well. The last time I wrote, I was already exhausted from getting us ready for the move and the next day was closing. The closing went well; I have all the fun pictures of us with the realtor; handing the keys over to the new owner, etc., etc. After the closing, our realtor, Tom, took us out for lunch to ciao Bella, a lovely Italian restaurant. Then we went back home and kept working.
Saturday was the real killer of a day. We went to get the truck and instead of the lift-gate 24 foot we were promised, there was a ramp. They wanted me to take the ramp, but they didn't know that when it comes to customer service, I am a 15 year veteran in the field and I always get what I want. We got the lift-gate, though we had to go to St. Paul to get it. Back at the house, our friends and some friends of the new owners started showing up around 9:30 to help us with the move. In short order, we had 13 men and 3 women (of which Geekwif was one!) working our tails off. After awhile they sent the women to our duplex to start cleaning and prepping for them. The truck arrived with the first load about 45 minutes later. We all stopped for a pizza break and then they started to unload the truck.
Now, after all my tummy surgeries, I was not expected to move any heavy boxes. My role was to be the director and tell people where to go and where to put things. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Well, yeah, to a point. Except when there are 13 men and half of them are calling "Hey Blond Girl! What do you want me to do with this?" and they are calling from both ends of the house. I was running like mad! After the first load was brought in, we went back to the house for a last walk through and cleanup. In fact, my vacuum was the last thing on the truck!
Before we left, I took a walk through our empty house. Already, it didn't feel like ours anymore, but I could hear memories, like sweet ghosts of the past, ringing through my head and heart. The day, just a month after we moved in, when Champs lost his job and we had to fight for the next 5 months to keep the house. Sweet Girl at 5:30 in the morning on her third birthday, calling me to get her out of her crib; "pity tums! Pity tums! Mommy, I need pity tums!" (I had polished her toenails the night before. When I walked in, she was pointing to her toes and her thumbs. She said, "I got pity toes. I need pity tums!") The phone ringing the Saturday morning when Mom called to say that Daddy had passed away. I walked into the bathroom to say a private goodbye to our home. I sat on the vanity and looked at the ever-so-slightly lopsided toilet that I had installed all by myself and burst into tears. Somehow that toilet symbolized our three years in this house for me; lopsided, but still an accomplishment I could take pride in. It hurt to leave the house, because I was leaving our first real home and because it was the first step in leaving Minnesota. Once I calmed down, I wiped off my eyes and walked out. Thank God for Geekwif; she understood all I was feeling and helped me know it was OK to feel it.
Back at the house, we finished with getting everything into the house. I managed to keep my cool for the entire day, though I almost lost it when one of the casters was lost off the refridgerator and I had to convince two of the guys helping us that, no, it was NOT ok for the fridge to list forward two inches to the left. We got it all worked out, though. Throughout the afternoon the guys left by ones and twos until at 6:30, we were done with everything and only Geekwif and one of the guys from our church, Al, were left. We took them to a nice casual Mexican restaurant and then went to return the truck. By 10:30, Champs and I were alone in the house (Sweet Girl went to stay with a friend for the move) and surrounded by boxes. Utterly exhausted, we dropped off to sleep.
I Make Obsessive Look GOOOOOOD (white print on a black tee)
OK, I have a confession to make. I am a stickler for details and once I decide something needs to be done, I get it done. No matter what and to the possible detriment of other things. Now there are times when this is a strength and times when it is a hindrance. I've experienced both in the last few weeks. When we woke up on Sunday, I was determined that we would get as much done as possible - and I think Champs regretted it. We worked side by side to get a path through the living room and to get Sweet Girl's room fully settled. When she came home at 4:00, her room was done, complete with a new canopy and bed spread. She was so excited! Amazingly, she has not had one bad dream since moving here, except for the one night when the canopy fell down and we didn't get it back up. She says it makes her feel safe to have the bed surrounded. I'm just glad that she is sleeping through the night with no bad dreams. I had gotten pretty used to her coming into bed with us 3 or 4 times a week, so this is a real blessing. Anyway, even after Sweet Girl went to bed and Champs was ready to give in, I kept working. By the time we went to bed, the living room was almost done, including a new area rug for the living room put down and all the furniture set up. Finally, we again dropped off to sleep, utterly exhausted and in pain. Champs had to go back to work the next day, but I stayed home on Monday and Tuesday to finish getting us settled.
Monday was crazy! The thought of getting the kitchen settled was a terrifying prospect, especially when you add a Comcast installation guy, a refridgerator repairman and a plumber/heater repairman all coming at the same time. About 5 hours and five hundred dollars later, our refridgerator was working properly again, the TV was hooked up, the kitchen sink was unplugged and the dryer and stove were properly installed without any gas leaks. Whew! Not only that, but I had the kitchen completely settled and looking beautiful and the boxes all broken down. When Champs walked in, I made him go back out and come back in two times until he gave the proper "wow, honey, the kitchen looks great!" exclamation that I was looking for. Thankfully, he was able to laugh with me over that...
On Tuesday I worked and worked until the bathroom (another terrifying prospect, since it is, literally, a third of the size of our old bathroom and has about a third of the storage space) was done as well as our bedroom and all the decorative stuff. By the time I went to bed, I was ready to go back to work, but so sore and tired I could barely move. Remember, please, that we had filled a 24 foot truck. Half of the stuff went into storage for our move, but the other half had to be put somewhere - and I wanted it done before I went back to work. That's what I mean by advantage and detriment.
After 5 days away from work, I went back on Wednesday to more boxes and settling in; see, while I was out, my desk was moved, so I had to box everything up the week before. In true Big Company fashion, I had computer troubles for the next three days and we had two huge corporate communication issues that came up that I had to drop all my work to complete. By Friday, I felt like a zombie.
Check back... more tees to come!
Here are some comments from this post:
Star said...
Boy have you been busy/ I still remember moving into this house 28 years ago. I swore I wasn't ever moving aggain! Still sticking to that. I relate to your comment about being a veteran of customer service. Me too. 23 years. I sum it up this wasy"Never bulls**t a bulls**tter".(hope that didn't offend you. I don't usually blog that kind of language0
Geekwif said...
Well, I was wondering when you were going to finish that post you told me would be up on Sunday. ;-) Now I understand. That is one long post! And more to come?! I like the 2nd one. It was all worth it in the end. Your new house looked lovely by Saturday!
kenju said...
Welcome back - and what a nice long update. You make me tired just reading about all you had to do to get the new place in order. Glad to know you are settled in. Oh, and I like your T-shirt ideas.
princssis said...
Well, neither of those shirts really match me, so I'll have to wait to put in my order until the next line of shirts is revealed! ;-)
It's so good to have you back! I've felt so incomplete the last couple weeks.
Good job getting all that done! I can't wait till you're here - maybe you can light the fire under my toosh! :)
princssis said...
Oh, I just thought of a tee for me: "WHERE is the finish line?" Hee-hee
Shannin said...
My desk was moved on Friday. I plan on getting in extra early on Monday since I know there will be problems...
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