Not Good

Yesterday when I got home from work, I called the plumber.  He was out on another call, but his wife said he'd come as soon as he could.  I waited and waited, and finally called Beverly and asked if I could come take a shower at her house. 

Today,  the plumber's wife called and said he was on his way.  He got to the house, and I showed him where I thought the problem was.  He poked around a bit, and the news is not good. 

Let me tell you, plumbing has gotten a lot more sophisticated these days.  The plumber -- I'll call him Daniel, mainly because that's his name -- has this little camera on a cable.  He was able to run it through my sewer pipes and see -- literally see -- what the problem is.  He also has this other detector thing.  He can run the camera into my pipes and use the detector thing, which kind of looks like a metal detector, to find it.  He holds that over the ground and it beeps.  It has a digital screen which shows exactly where the camera is and how deep it is. 

That's the cool part.  The not so cool part is, when he ran that camera down my pipes, he could see that my pipes were cracked for several feet.  Then there was one spot where it had completely broken. The broken spot was letting dirt fall into the pipe, and when mixed with the sewage, made mud.  That's what was clogging up my pipes. 

The even less cool part is that the broken spot is right under my patio.  He's going to try to shift my concrete slab over, but isn't sure he can do it without breaking it.  I told him not to worry about it if he can't save it.  I'll get someone to repour me a bit.  Or I may buy one of those molds and make my own with QuickCrete. 

Anyway, Daniel has to call that number to check for underground gas/phone/etc lines, which can take up to 48 hours.  He said he was going to make an emergency request so that they will have it done in 24 hours.  He doesn't think anything will be buried where he needs to dig, but he still has to make that call and get an authorization.  It's like a law or something. 

He cleared the mud out of the pipes, so I can at least flush now, but I'm still taking baths at my cousin's house for the next couple of days.  I told him when he's ready to start, just come on out, even if I'm at work.  He shouldn't need to get inside the house, but Bev and James have a key if for some reason he does. 

Then Daniel told me a story of how he went to fix a lady's shower.  She wasn't going to be home, but said she'd leave the back door unlocked for him.  He went into the house and began working on the shower, when a guy came walking down the hall.  Daniel introduced himself and told the guy why he was there.  They guy said to go ahead, so Daniel fixed the shower and didn't think about it until later.  That's when he found out the guy was robbing the house!

He had to go give a statement and describe the guy.  Yes, they caught him, but it was just weird. 

Tomorrow, I'll have to call the realtor's office.  She had told me something about some homeowner's insurance that the seller is supposed to buy.  If anything goes wrong with the house within so many days, they have to pay to have it fixed.  Since this isn't something that happened overnight, and I've only been in the house a month, it should be covered by that warranty. 

Frankly, with all this going on, I haven't even thought about painting.  I'll get to it, but first things first. 

Almost Ready

I'm almost ready to paint my bathroom, but not quite. 

 I stayed up late last night to watch the SuperHarvestBloodMoonTotalLunarEclipse, so I'm a little tuckered today.  It was cloudy, so I watched a feed on Space.com.  I tried to watch the feed on NASA, but it kept crashing.  I guess so many people were watching it that we broke them.  That would make for some interesting water cooler conversation.

"What did you do this weekend?"

"I took the family on a picnic."

"I watched football."

"I went camping." 

"I broke NASA."

Even though it was mostly cloudy here, I did run outside when totality began.  The clouds thinned just enough that I could see the moon, but not clearly.  Still I can say that I saw it. 

Right after work today, I commandeered James and his trailer, and we cleaned out my rental storage unit.  I was sitting there yesterday watching football and suddenly realized it was almost the end of the month.  If I could clean the thing out before Thursday, I wouldn't have to pay another month's rental on it. 

I texted James and asked if he would be busy this afternoon.  I thought between his trailer, truck bed, and the back of my Jimmy, we could get it all moved to my shed in one trip.  Sure enough, that's all it took. 

Speaking of, James and Beverly already have someone coming to look at their house tomorrow evening.  I gave James a spare key to my shed, just in case he needed to stick some junk in there while I was at work. 

Once we were done with that, I sanded down my bathroom walls.  I found two more small spots that I needed to scrape and patch, but I think they are about as good as they are going to get.  I might be able to start painting tomorrow. 

Then disaster struck. 

OK, it wasn't really a disaster, but it sounds so much more dramatic when you say it that way.  When I took my bath, I noticed water oozing out from the base of my toilet, and my bathtub wasn't draining.  Oh, great.  Now instead of painting, I get to call a plumber.  But maybe not.

After much plunging and swearing, the bathtub eventually drained.  After The Big Bang Theory, I ran some more water into it, and that time it seemed to drain just fine. I got brave and washed the towels I'd used to clean up the water that had run all over my bathroom floor.  The washing machine drained with no problem.  Nothing backed up or anything. 

However, neither of my toilets are flushing, so the clog is definitely on that side of the house. I may need to see if someone has a snake to clear the sewer lines out.  I'll need to replace the gasket at the base of the toilet in the front bathroom, too, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It'll be good practice for when I take the toilet out of the small bathroom to fix the walls behind it.    

One Thing After Another

Today was supposed to be my day off.  I was supposed to be able to sleep in, right?  Right?

So what do I do?  I wake up at 4:00 AM and can't get back to sleep.  After tossing and turning for an hour, I got up and started working on my bathroom.  I thought that if I got all that joint compound sanded smooth, then I could start painting as soon as I got home from church.

Alas, it was not to be.

The first thing I did was to take that huge mirror down.
 

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I had a brief moment of panic when after taking the screws out, the mirror was still stuck to the walls.  I thought maybe they had glued it to the wall, but they didn't.

The thing was, the last time the previous owner painted, they didn't take the mirror down.  They just painted around it.  Some of the paint got between the mirror and the wall and acted as an adhesive.    No problem.  It just took a little prying with my putty knife to loosen it, then it came down easily enough.  I didn't even break it.

I got the mirror safely stored in the spare bedroom, and patched the screw holes, removing the drywall screw anchors in the process.  At this point, I'm still thinking I can start painting after church, but then I looked here.  See that ridge? 

That's what happens when you don't take stuff off of your walls when you paint.  I had to scrape that all off and put more joint compound there to smooth it out.  Sigh...

And that's not all!  Looky here:

That's what I found when I took the shower curtain rod down.  And there's one on the other side, too. 

Yippee.  Because I just love spreading that joint compound.

It's been a long process, but I've just about got those walls where I want them to be.  I'll give them a good sanding tomorrow when I get home and see how they look after that.  Maybe I can start painting Tuesday or Wednesday.

As I was taking my shower this morning, I looked up at my walls, and decided I didn't really want to put another wallpaper border up.  I think I'll just put some molding up.  I think I might buy a prettier light fixture, too.  The one she had up there just isn't that nice. 

I really, really need to go to Lowe's, but I don't trust my Jimmy to make even that short of a trip any more.  That means, next project -- car shopping!

And you get to go along for that ride, too. 

Ride-- get it? 

Never mind. 

Sore Hands

My hands are so sore from peeling that wallpaper off, but I must carry on.

I blogged yesterday about the little flecks of paint I'd peeled off with said wallpaper.  Well, I went back into the bathroom and got to looking.  I found several spots like this.

This was from the previous owner's last paint job.  This is what it looks like if you don't fix the peeled paint before you repaint.  It shows up like a dimple or scar on the wall.  So, after work, I ran back into town and bought some joint compound, a putty knife, and a sanding block.

I patched all these little nicks and a few nail holes.  After letting the joint compound dry for several hours, I sanded it and touched up any spots I'd missed before.  I'll let it dry overnight, then sand it again after church tomorrow.  Then I'll finally be ready to paint.

Another thing I discovered is that the small bathroom, the one that is that hideous green...well, she textured the walls before painting it.  It looks like they threw a bunch of sand against the wall and the back of the door and painted over it.  I'm going to have to figure out how to get that off.  I don't like it.  I may have to borrow James' belt sander and see if that will take it off.  I hope I don't end up having to replace all the drywall.  Sigh...

I know it's a lot of work, but dang it, it's my house and I want it done the way I want it.  The lady that owned the house before seemed really sweet, but I wonder about her taste in home decor.  I really do. 

One thing about moving that isn't so much fun is updating all my addresses -- including my e-mail addresses.  When I went to update my Wal-mart account, somehow I ended up typing my e-mail address in wrong.  That's the only thing I can think of.  I tried my old e-mail address.  I tried my new one.  I tried my alternate.  None of them worked.  I finally had to call customer service.  I explained what happened, and the guy reset my e-mail address on my account.  Then I had to reset my password, and I was finally able to sign in.

That may not seem like a big deal, but I had $65 built up in my savings catcher.  I know it's not a lot of money, but it's $65 more than I would have had if I didn't use the savings catcher.

More good news, I'd been having a lot of trouble with my Cable One internet dropping out.  Someone posted in one of our local Facebook groups that they are rebuilding the entire system.  While mine was causing so much trouble was when they were rebuilding this area.  I haven't had it drop since they got finished.  Yay!

Now I'm wondering what other sites I put the wrong info into.  Better go check them.

By the way, I have inspired one of my coworkers.  She was going to hire someone to paint her house, but she said, "If Becky can do it herself, then so can I."  She can save herself a few dollars that way.

I feel so proud.  

The Transformation Begins

I had the day off work today, so I started working on getting my bathrooms painted.  First, a couple of before pictures.  Kindly ignore the mess.  I'm still moving in.

Yeah, this is just a blank wall.  It'll probably end up with a cabinet or at least a towel rack on it. 

I'm thinking about removing this gigantic mirror and replacing it with a mirrored cabinet and a smaller cabinet over the toilet. In fact, I want to take it down before I paint.  I'm just afraid I'll break it if I try to do it by myself.  I need to figure out how to get that light fixture down, too. 

This is the half bath.  I have no idea why the previous owner chose this color, but there it is. 

I ran by True Value after work yesterday to buy my paint, but the paint guy had a line backed up to the door.  He seemed pretty flustered and rushed, so I decided to wait until today.

In the meantime, I started removing the wall paper border in the main bathroom.

Oh, it's lovely wallpaper.  It just doesn't fit with the seaside theme I'm going with.

I got this far before I realized I'd forgotten a vitally important fact. 

That fact being, I am short. Standing on a folding chair just wasn't going to cut it.  So when I went into town to buy my paint, I stopped by Wal-Mart and got a step ladder.  That made things a whole lot easier.

Then on to True Value to get my paint.  When the guy mixed the main color (the lighter blue in the middle), he pulled out the sample to put onto the label.  He said, "Ooo, I like that!"

Then he mixed my accent color (the darker blue at the top).  He pulled out the sample and said, "I like that even better." 

After that, I came back home and pulled the wallpaper off.  I had no idea how hard it is to remove old wallpaper.  I'm starting to understand why people just slap the new over the old.

It took most of the day, and several NCIS breaks, but I persevered and got it done.  

Now I have nice clean walls, but am too tired to paint.  You can see in the upper right corner that there was some blue paint under the white. 

I wondered if I needed to fill those in with drywall compound or something to make it smooth, but since I'm putting up another border, I won't need to.  On the other hand, if I decide to skip the border and put up molding, I'll need to smooth that out.  Hmmm, decisions, decisions...

Some good news... Cody's car broke down Wednesday night.  He thought it was the transmission.  No, that's not the good news.  The good news is, it wasn't the transmission.  It was the shifting cable. 

A whole lot cheaper fix than repairing or replacing an entire transmission. 

Dear CoWorker

Putting sugar in the salt shaker is a joke. Short sheeting a bed is a joke. Toilet papering a house is a joke.

Threatening to tie a woman naked to a chair and rape her until she bleeds to death is not a joke. 

It's not even remotely funny.  If you think raping and murdering someone is a laughing matter, you need professional help.  Or incarceration.   

Thank you. 

That is all.

The Times

They are a changin'. 

I drove by the old home place to pick up the mail.  See that big empty spot?  That's where the old home used to be.

Of course, I knew the guy was going to be moving it, but it was kind of a jolt to see it gone. 

Everything changes...

It's put me in kind of a melancholy mood, but I hope to cheer myself up this weekend.  I'm going to start painting the bathrooms. 

I've got my colors and my theme picked out, but I'm not going to say anything just yet.  I'll be sure and take lots of before and after pictures, though. 

Getting There

Slowly but surely I'm getting things taken care of. 

I called today to get my old internet shut off.  The customer service guy was very nice.  He asked why I was disconnecting my internet, and I explained that it was because they don't offer DSL where my new house is.  He double checked, because he said sometimes the website isn't up to date. 

Only this time, it was.  That's too bad, because I've had good service from them for all the years I've had internet.  We cancelled the service, and he put in a request to have it installed in this area.  They're supposed to call me when it's available. 

For now, I've got Cable internet. 

I was a bit freaked out when I got home and checked my usage to find that I'd already used 93% of my bandwidth for the month.  Really?  I've only had it hooked up for 10 days! 

I called to upgrade and the customer service rep kept saying I had the 15 MG service.  I said, "No, it's 50."  She said, "It says here you have the 15 MG."  Well, no wonder I'd blown through my bandwidth so quickly.  I'd intended to get the 50 MG, but the girl must have misunderstood me.  We got that corrected, and when I checked again, I'd only used 16% instead of 93%.  That's much better. 

While I was on the phone with her, this guy I work with showed up at my house.  He gets old bikes and fixes them up to donate to children whose parents may not be able to afford new bikes for them.  The previous owners of my house had left one in the back yard, so I contacted him and asked if he wanted it. It was in pretty bad shape, but he said he thinks he can fix it up. 

He left, and the cable person and I finished our business, and that was it.  Two phone calls and a visitor.  That is all the human interaction I could take for one day, so I turned myself into a Peanuts character. 

You can Peanutize yourself, too.  Here:  Peanutize Me. 

New Things And One Old Thing

Several years ago, back when I was on the 3 - 11 PM shift, I had a co-worker named Robbie Ann.  She was a really sweet lady, and one of my best friends out there.  She had to quit because of health problems. 

One evening, we were at work and Robbie Ann got a phone call.  She rushed out the door, because her daughter had gone into labor.  Later that night, Robbie's daughter gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy. 

Today, that baby boy started working at the plant.  Suddenly, I felt really, really old. 

But here is something new and old to cheer me up:

A Navy Midshipmen mini helmet.  This design is from a few years ago, but it's my favorite of all the ones they wear.  Yes, I paid too much for it, but I wanted it.  The Middies are 2-0, oh by the way.  Army is 0 - 3.  Just thought I'd throw that out there. 

Yesterday, I posted Cody's old twin sized bed in one of the local yard sale groups on Facebook.  He outgrew it years ago, but I just hadn't done anything with it.  Someone responded almost immediately, and asked if I would trade the bed for a table top grill. Yep, we have a deal!

Now, I have a new grill.  I did some research, and this grill is worth more than what I was asking for the bed, so I got the better end of that bargain.  The lady told me that it was a good grill, but her husband wanted a full sized one. 

Plus, they had a 5 year old who didn't have a bed, so I guess they got a good deal, too. 

Whatever, we're both happy. 

Now to see if any stores have any charcoal left. 

For what it's worth, Mark Harmon looks better at 64 than he did at 20.  But that's just me. 

Just thought I'd throw that out there...

Eye Candy Friday

A new fall wreath for my new house:

Chrysanthemums:

A new hummingbird feeder: 

Dear CoWorker

Yes, I heard you over there complaining about how jealous your girlfriend is.  Hmmm, here's a clue:

STOP CHEATING ON HER!!!

Yeah, that'll help.  That'll help a lot.  Plus, it carries the added benefit of you not having to worry about someone getting mad at you and telling the one you claim you are so lucky to have about all of your other women.

You don't have to hide anything when you have nothing to hide. 

Thank you.

That is all. 

We're Done!

I've sold my trailer house!  I met the guy who is buying it at his bank, and gave them all the information they needed.  Basically, it was just the payoff amount and the address to which they needed to send the check.  They gave me a copy of the check they cut and had me sign a bill of sale, and that was all she wrote.  Well, for my part anyway.  He said he'll be moving it probably the first part of next week.  It's going to be weird driving past the empty spot where my home for the last 20 years had been. 

Part of me keeps thinking, if I'd bought a house 20 years ago, I'd have it nearly paid off by now.  On the other hand, I've enjoyed living right next door to my cousins, and they were really helpful when Cody was little.  But he's grown now, and they're moving back to Texas, and life moves on, even for introverts like me who want everything to stay exactly the same for ever and ever and ever. 

On the way home, I stopped by the old home place to pick up my mail, and to tell Beverly and James the good news.  Beverly's sister Judy and her husband have been here, and she wanted to come out and see my new house.  Beverly hadn't seen it either, so they both came. 

As soon as they got here, Judy got out her camera, saying, "You know if Mother (my Aunt Martha) were here, she'd be taking pictures."  So, Judy took pictures, and Beverly said how cute my house is, and they both exclaimed about the sideways paneling in the small bedrooms. 

 They helped me figure out my color schemes for the kitchen and the bathrooms.  No, I'm not going to tell you.  You'll get to see it as it happens.  I think I'm going to like it, though. 

Jesse snuggled up to Beverly, and she said, "That's the first time he's ever let me pet him!"  I've had him four years, and she's never gotten to pet him before.   Having a fence around the back yard seems to have totally changed him.  He'll even go outside by himself after dark now.  He's never done that before.  I've always had to go out with him, and even then, half the time, he'd stand on the back steps, cowering in fear. 

Now, I just have to finish unpacking and organizing.  That's the hard part.  It took me three days to unload my dishwasher, because I didn't know where I wanted to put anything, so I just left it all there.  I finally unloaded it and reloaded it.  The good thing about my new dishwasher is that it is much quieter than my old one.  I can run it and still hear the TV.

Speaking of TV, I still haven't taken my new one out of the box.  But tomorrow, I can actually come straight home from work, so maybe then. 

Speaking of work, remember that messed up order I had to deal with yesterday?  I was going to braze it up first thing this morning, but when I got there, I discovered that second shift had already brazed it.  Good, right?  Wrong.  They used the wrong headers.  The correct headers were still sitting in a box on the floor, while the incorrect headers were all nicely brazed up.  Oh, they were beautiful.  They were just wrong. 

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (and that was the bosses), I had to re-do the whole order.  Once I got that done, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. 

On second thought, I think I will go get that there TV out of that there box and watch TV in bed.

Laters. 

Mayhem

And it wasn't even Thor's Day. 

It all started when I walked in to work to find an order of parts had been put onto the floor.  There was a note on it that said print error.  I started looking at the parts, and sure enough, the parts listed on the bill of materials did not match the parts listed on the print. 

I walked over the the supervisor's station, where my supervisor, the supervisor over tubing, and the production superintendent were and said, "I need all y'all bosses."  Then I dissolved into paroxysms of laughter at the look of sheer panic on Supervisor Ronnie's face. 

After catching my breath, I explained the situation to them. Production Superintendent James said that he'd gotten an e-mail about it.  As it was sent at 11:30 PM, there aren't a lot of engineers in the office at that time, so nothing had been done about it. 

Supervisor Ronnie called one of the engineers.  Basically, what had happened was that they'd redesigned the header (manifold) assembly, only they hadn't released the updated blueprints to the shop floor.  So, the BOM showed the new parts, but the blueprint still showed the old parts.  I muttered to myself not for the first nor the last time, "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers." 

I got the updated print and began to set up to braze the order, only to discover that they'd punched the headers (manifolds) the old way and they didn't fit.  Thus ensued more discussion, which included involving the tubing group leader, who insisted that the headers were right. 

"Yes, they're right, but the print is wrong."  Whereupon he threw his hands in the air and stormed off. 

Another call to engineering, another new blueprint brought out, another utterance of "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers", but we finally got the order right.  And finally, all the bosses and engineers left my work area, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

During the day, I texted the guy who is buying my trailer and let him know I'd finished moving out.  As I drove by to pick up my mail, I saw the electric company disconnecting my power lines.  Another little stab of melancholy...

After work, I had to go to the hospital to do my annual health screening for our insurance.  All my numbers were good except my total cholesterol, which is always a bit high.  The really good news is my triglycerides are way lower than they were last year.   I guess eating a whole bag of candy corn the day before a blood test wasn't such a good idea. 

I was in Wal-Mart the other day and they had some 32" TVs for $168.  But the brand wasn't one I was familiar with, Elements.  I came home and researched the brand and model that I was considering.  It didn't get very good reviews, so when I went back this afternoon, I decided to stick with a brand I know is good quality.  It was a few dollars more (but still less than $200), but I'd rather have something I know will last.  BTW, the last Sanyo TV I bought I got when Cody was 1, and last I plugged it in a few weeks ago, it still worked.

Now, I finally have a TV for the bedroom!  I think I'll go crawl into bed and watch some TV. 

Well, I have to take it out of the box first, but you get the gist. 

We're Done

Moving, that is.

I hit it hard and heavy this weekend and got all my stuff out of the trailer house.  Now begins the long and arduous task of unpacking and making this house a home.

Sunday evening, I finally packed up the last of my things, and vacuumed and mopped before I left.  As I walked through the house one last time,  I thought about the memories we'd made there.  The birthdays, the Christmases,  Cody's first pie (yes, he baked it all by himself)

The way he used to want to play diner when we ate.

How I would call "order up!" and hand his plate through the window. 

How excited he was to get this nice big bedroom.

And how he fixed it up himself. 

Cold winter mornings, snuggled in bed.

Having to say goodbye to the best dog ever.

I even thought about how excited we were to get it, and how I'd blogged every step of the way.    And now I'm blogging about how sad I am to leave the house my son grew up in.

I stood in the living room for a moment, and listened to the memories whispering from the walls.  I took a deep breath and walked out, closing the door on that chapter of my life and opening the door to a new chapter, softly singing all the while.

I know where I'm going
Do you want to come too?
Got my reservation
And I got one for you... 

I Have Internets!

I have internet at my new house!  And cable TV.   

Still moving my junk, though.  I'd taken today off work.  Well, I've taken all the rest of the Fridays in the year off as a preemptive measure, just in case they cut us back to 4 day work weeks.  It doesn't look like they are, though.  We're still working Saturdays as it is. 

So, I had today off work, but I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped.  First, I had to wait for the cable guy.  No, his name wasn't Larry.  He was supposed to come between 10:00 AM and Noon.  He showed up at 10:15 ish, so that was OK.  But it took him a long time to get the cable hooked up.  I'm not sure what took so long, but it was nearly 1:00 PM before he left.  But I gots internets and TV now. 

As soon as he left, I hopped into the Jimmy and headed back to the old house.  James had backed his little trailer up to my front door, so I started loading things onto it.  I'm mostly working on Cody's room now. 

Apparently, all those times I'd told him to clean his room, he was just shoving stuff behind his furniture.  Four garbage bags, so far.  FOUR, of just junk.  I completely filled up my trash can, then I went and filled up James and Beverly's trash can.  And I'm not done yet.  I'm standing there looking around and wondering where all this junk came from.  I've moved so much stuff out of the house, and there is still so much left in there. 


After an hour or so, I got a bit hungry, so I loaded some boxes into the Jimmy and came home to get a bite to eat.  About the time I finished eating, the storm hit.    Back into the Jimmy I jump, and go flying down the road like a mad woman and start hauling the stuff on the trailer back into the house. 

Between the waiting on the cable guy, waiting on the garbage men, and the rain, it really put a cramp in my packing.  Nevertheless, we must persevere.  I used the time to clean up the master bathroom and the refrigerator really well.  Then I cleaned out my craft closet and loaded up all of that stuff into the Jimmy.  Once the rain stopped, I hauled it to the new house.

By that time, I was hungry again, and out of milk, so into Wal-Mart I go.  Bought milk, pizza, and a few storage boxes, only to get home and discover that my new stove is one of those fancy digital jobs and I had no idea how to turn it on.  Sigh...

I figured it out, but still.  It was just one more trying event in a trying day.   That was when I decided to just give up on the day. 

I will try again tomorrow. 

Rough Night

The dogs and I spent the first night in our new house last night.  It was kind of rough on all of us. 

I got all the way over there, and realized I'd left my melatonin at home.  I didn't want to come all the way back and get it, so I knew I wouldn't sleep well.  I did get some sleep, between the emotional roller coaster of "I'm so proud of my new house" and "I hate this place! I want to go home!", but it was restless sleep, filled with the strange noises of a new house, and a frightened dog who didn't know where he was.  One good thing, the neighborhood was again quiet, so Friday night wasn't a fluke. 

I got up this morning to no food in the new house.  I had coffee, but no food.  Breakfast consisted of a half eaten honeybun from my tool bag that I'd bought out of the machine at work.  I had every intention of going to church today.  I haven't been in so long, I think they've forgotten I'm even a member.  I even took a shower and put on my makeup.  But, as I was sitting there in that strange, silent house, no TV, no internet, not even a radio to make some noise-- and the knitting project I'd packed up was still sitting in the trailer house--the dogs were crying and I was crying, so I said, "I'm going home."  And I did. 

After getting home, sitting in familiar surroundings, eating something, and listening to my worship music playlist, I felt a whole lot better.  I'm sure I'm still going to have my moments, but eventually, the new house will feel like home.   Getting my TV and recliner moved, and the cable and internet hooked up will help.  It'll probably help a lot, since I won't be able to sit and watch NCIS reruns at the old house.  That really cuts into my packing time. 

First thing I did when I got home was to pack up all my vitamins and most of the food.  I still need to get the food from the fridge and freezer.  My new refrigerator is missing the bottom shelf, the one that is right above the crisper drawers.  I know you can replace them, but I'll probably have to order one online.

 The good news is, I finally made it to the store, and bought a new card reader.  You get to see my bindweed blooms.

Progress

I'm making progress.  It's slow, but I'm getting there.  Today, I got the master bedroom and bathroom completely cleaned out.  I still need to clean the bathroom -- the toilet, bathtub, mop the floors, etc-- but all my stuff is out and at the new house.

Once I got done with that, I started on the living room.  I'd forgotten how many games we had.  Cody and I used to play games, but he'd get so ugly if he lost, I didn't like playing with him.  He didn't just want to win.  He wanted a shut out.  So, we stopped playing, but I kept the games.

As far as the kitchen goes, I've moved the most important thing. 

I'll get the rest of the stuff later, but that's all I need to survive. 

One of the benefits of moving is that you find things you'd had stored away.  Some of you may remember the post I wrote about the lap robe I'd made for both of my Grandmas.  Well, here it is: 

And here is an afghan my Mammaw crocheted for me.  I think it was a birthday present. 

You can see her mind was already slipping.  She goes from double crochet, to single crochet, then back to double crochet.  It wasn't much longer that she was barely able to crochet at all. 

And here is the ceramic horse my Aunt Martha made for me.  It's on the mantle above my wood heater. 

Slowly, but surely, the house is starting to feel like home. 

Long Day

I got up at 4:15 this morning, as I usually do.  Worked a 9 hour day at work.  And it's payday, so I have bills to pay and errands to run. 

But, when I get home, James is there waiting with the trailer backed up to the door.  Oh, I was so tired. I didn't want to move, but this was the last day we would have for a long time, so let's get this done. 

We did make quite a bit of progress.  We got my washer and dryer moved and hooked up.  That involved changing out the dryer cord, because it had a trailer house plug, instead of a regular house plug.  That meant a trip to True Value, then back to the house to change it out.  We also changed out the vent hose, just because. 

It's a good thing James went with me, because he gets a contractor discount.   It's a huge discount, too.  I told him that when I get ready to buy my paint, I'm going to bring him then, too.

I have a little deep freeze.  I bought it a few years ago to hold the snakes' mice and rats, but it's got a lot of soup in it, too.  A lot of soup.  Well, wouldn't you know it, every single plug in my new house has a three prong outlet, except the one where I want to put my deep freeze.  It's the only outlet in the entire house that has a two prong plug.   We hadn't plugged it in, because any time you move a fridge or freezer, you need to let it settle for at least 4 hours.  When we got ready to come home, I asked James how long it would be OK before my stuff started thawing. 

He said, "It's already thawing.  See the water coming out of the bottom?"  So, we slid it over and plugged it into a different outlet -- one that has a three prong outlet -- until I can get an adapter.  I checked the contents, and everything was still frozen solid, even the snow I'd collected last winter. 

James laughed and said, "As long as the snow is OK."

We also got most of the big furniture moved.  We moved the couch and love seat yesterday.  Today we got my bed, both of my dressers and my end table, oh, and one of my file cabinets.  It was about 8:00 when we finished.  I was wiped out.  Keep in mind, I hadn't even had a chance to change out of my work clothes, and hadn't eaten anything since 11:00 AM.  We'd been hitting it hard and heavy all afternoon. 

As we were driving home, I remarked, "This seems to be a very quiet neighborhood.  That is good.  I like quiet." 

Since my bed is at the new house, and I don't want to sleep there until I can get a shade or curtain for the bedroom window, Beverly invited me to spend the night in their guest room, but I think I will just make a pallet on the floor.  So, now I need to go vacuum up all the dog hair that collected under where the bed used to be, where Jesse sleeps. 

I clogged up my vacuum yesterday, so I borrowed James' shop vac.  That ought to suck up some stuff, boy howdy. 

And I still haven't made it to the store...

Changes...

One thing that really gets my goat is people who make empty promises.

See, when I got back to work Tuesday, one of my coworkers asked where I had been Monday.  I told him I'd closed on my house.  He said, "Well, if you need any help moving, just let me know.  I'll be glad to help you." 

Now, bear in mind, I never asked him to help.  He brought up the subject.  He volunteered. 

The good news, is we have Saturday off this week.  What with Monday being Labor Day, that gives me a three day weekend to finish up getting moved.  I brought it up to my coworker, and he's now acting like he never said he'd help. 

I was so disappointed.  But James sent me a text and said he'd help me move a few things before he went in to work tonight.  So, we moved some of the heavier stuff, like the couch and love seat.  Tomorrow, we're going to move the washer and dryer, so I need to finish up here and get them cleaned off, huh? 

Last night, I had another pretty major meltdown.   It suddenly dawned on me.  Cody is grown, and he will be moving to New Orleans after this last year of college.  Beverly and James are moving back to Texas.  Mike, Dennise, and the girls have moved to Tennessee.  For the first time in my life, I'm going to be completely and totally alone.  All my family will be gone.  I'll be in a new house.  I don't know any of the neighbors.  What will they be like?  Will they be noisy?  What if they hate me? 

It's enough to make me want to pick up and move to Alaska, where my sister lives.  Almost.  But don't think I haven't thought about it...

I got so upset that I lay awake most of last night, tossing and turning, worrying and crying, which made for a might rough work day.  

Well, today, I found out a few things that make me feel a whole lot better.  Long time readers may recall I've mentioned my friends Amy and Gary.  Precious people.  Turns out Gary's daddy will be my across the street neighbor.  Gary's mama was killed in a car wreck several years ago.  I really, really wish she were still around.  She would be a wonderful neighbor.  I miss her. 

Another couple from my church, Mr. James and Mrs. Nelly, live at the end of the road.  Another couple from my church, Mr. Robert and Mrs. Donna, their son lives at the other end of the road.  That's not all...across the street and two houses down lives the daddy of Cody's best friend from high school.  I've never met the daddy, but I have met Cody's friend.  He is a good kid.  Very smart, polite, and respectful.  That reflects on his raising. 

Suddenly, I don't feel quite so alone any more. 

But now, I have to clean up all the gunk that was under my furniture.  And I'm getting depressed again...

I still haven't made it to the store to get a new card reader, so you get another photoless blog post.

Moving Day

But first, the bad news.  I didn't make it in to the store this afternoon, so I still don't have a new card reader.  Therefore, you don't get any photos with the blog today.  Sorry about that.

The good news is, I've had a couple of friends already offer to help me move.  I'm going to have to take them up on it, too.   I started moving some of my stuff into the new house, and this carrying it a hand full at a time in the back of my Jimmy just isn't going to cut it.  Plus, I need help moving my furniture and stuff.

The guy who wants to buy my trailer called, wanting to know where we stood.  I told him we'd closed on my house yesterday and as soon as I can get moved out, he can come get it.  I know he's anxious to get the trailer, so I want to get out of it as soon as I can.

My problem is -- well, part of it anyway -- that I have so much stuff, especially in what used to be Cody's room.  I get overwhelmed.  I've tried to clean out that room several times.  I walk in, move a few things around, then just walk back out.  Now, imagine a whole house I need to pack up and move...Yeah, and my being an introvert means I don't like asking for help.  I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do it, I think.

After I'd made a couple of trips to the new house, I had a minor melt down.   It's that introvert thing, again.  I don't like change.  I don't like new.  I want everything to stay exactly the same.  I eat the same breakfast every day.  I eat the same lunch every day.  I wear the same clothes over and over until they become indecent, then rail that I have to buy new ones.

Face it, this is a pretty major change.  I've lived in this house 9 years, and in this spot for 20.  I'm comfortable here.  I like it here.  I'm used to it here.  Now, I'll have to get used to a new house, and  new neighbors, and new everything. 

And I will get used to it.  It's just going to take a minute.