Natalie Bullock

Losing cable and my mind

The cable guy is downstairs, disconnecting the digital cable box.  The modem is next...so, I'll see you all on the other side.  Good news, I think - I'm pretty sure I can keep my email address. 

Wish us luck for a smooth week!  :)  (I'll try to check in from my neighbor's house later this week.  Movers come Wednesday and Thursday...)

Less than one week

from now, the moving van will be here, and I'll be tethered to this house all day long.  I'm not sure what to expect - will I be helping?  Directing?  Fretting?  A sobbing, blathering mess?  Well, the last one?  Not likely.  Not on that day, but every single time I imagine driving away from this house, this street, this community for the very last time, I weep.  How can I not? 

You'd never know that we're on the verge of a big cross-country move, though; if you saw my house, you'd just think that I was a lousy housekeeper.  Which wouldn't technically be untrue, but I did it right for over eight months and....well, do you have any idea how hard it is to purge without moving stuff?  I mean, if I had boxes right now, I could go through things, pack what I wanted to keep, and put aside.  It's much harder to do it when you can't separate them so easily.

In any event, move we must, and today, I made a phone call to our cable/internet/phone company to shut off service effective next Monday, the 26th.  Until I have a new phone number in the new location, calls will be routed to my cell phone.  I need to shut off the remaining utilities, write a note to the kids' school, help James do some more of his project and, at the same time, beg his teacher to be understanding of the situation.  I'm supposed to be planning a sort of farewell party for the kids, and a hundred other things that I'm sure I'll forget.  I would write out the list, but I'd probably just be overwhelmed if I saw it all written down.  ;) 

I took this picture the other day; I wish Molly were a bit more in focus, but on a more nostalgic note, this swingset won't be coming with us, and...just wow...my kids have LOVED this thing.  It was one of the first things we bought after we moved here, bringing this in just a few days after we arrived.  It's one of those good-byes that surprise you by gripping you a little too tightly - something more easily replaced than a "real" friend but still holding a place near and dear in your heart and memory.

I'll be going no mail on my lists, and trying to stop email from coming in.  I think I get an extra 30 days of service from my current ISP, and it would be great if I could find the same provider at our destination.  If not, well, there are a lot of digiscrap places that will be getting pinged with undeliverable mail for me.

See you on the west coast!  :)

20/70

As of yesterday, after school:

Okay wait, one more thing

My friend sent this to me, and it is just too funny not to share:

IF'N I WAS  A MAN, THIS WOULD BE MY VALENTINE TO YOU...................

A Redneck Valentine

Kudzu is green,
my dog's name is Blue
And I'm so lucky
to have a sweet thang like you.
Yore hair is like cornsilk
a-flapping in the breeze.
Softer than Blue's
And without all them fleas.
You move like the bass,
Which excite me in May.
You ain't got no scales
But I luv you anyway.
You're as graceful as okry
Jist a-dancin' in the pan.
Yo're as fragrant as SunDrop
Right out of the can.
You have all yore teeth,
For which I am proud;
I hold my head high
When we're in a crowd.
On special occasions,
When you shave yore armpits,
Well, I'm in hawg heaven,
I'm plumb outta my wits.
Still them fellers at work
They all want to know,
What I did to deserve
Such a purty, young doe.
Like a good roll of duct tape
Yo're there fer yore man,
To patch up life's troubles
And stick 'em in the can.
Yo're as strong as a four-wheeler
Racin' through the mud,
Yet fragile as that sanger
Named Naomi Judd.
Yo're as cute as a junebug
A-buzzin' overhead.
You ain't mean like no fire ant
Upon which I oft' tread.
Cut from the best pattern
Like a flannel shirt of plaid,
You sparked up my life
Like a Rattletrap shad.
When you hold me real tight
Like a padded gunrack,
My life is complete;
Ain't nuttin' I lack.
Yore complexion, it's perfection,
Like the best vinyl sidin'.
Despite all the years,
Yore age, it keeps hidin'.
And when you get old
Like a '57 Chevy,
Won't put you on blocks
And let grass grow up heavy.
Me 'n' you's like a Moon Pie
With a RC cold drank,
We go together
Like a skunk goes with stank.
Some men, they buy chocolate
For Valentine's Day;
They git it at Wal-Mart,
It's romantic that way.
Some men git roses
On that special day
From the cooler at Kroger.
"That's impressive," I say.
Some men buy fine diamonds
From a flea market booth.
"Diamonds are forever,"
They explain, suave and couth.
But for this man, honey,
These will not do.
For you are too special,
You sweet thang you.
I got you a gift,
Without taste nor odor,
Better than diamonds
it's a new trollin' motor.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For so long, I couldn't wait until we were sold so I could be "done" with all of this.  And while I knew that it would have to get worse just before it got better, I don't think I realized just what it would be like to be in the thick of it:  three kids, two dogs (and a cat), a hubby who is almost 3,000 miles away, and a 2200 square foot house that needs to be "gone through" so I can purge those things I really don't want to take with me.  So I'm thinking, hmmm...I really probably should pack up the computer since it's such a timesuck, but the thing is, we're still emailing and faxing documents, and - can you believe this? - James has just been assigned to complete a biography report, due a couple days after we're supposed to be gone, with interim projects due between now and March 7th:  the note cards, the outline, the timeline, etc., and it is all for a grade.  That's the sort of thing he'll need help with - both literally and, um, motivationally, and...just wow.  I'm feeling a bit like the kid in The Exorcist, with my head just sort of spinning around and all that.  I think I'll just need to email his teacher and tell her we'll do the best we can, and I hope she doesn't penalize him for the whole situation (to be fair, I don't think she will).

I have to make airline reservations today.  Off the top of my head, this week I need to:

- Inform both schools of our departure/arrival
- Cancel utilities here/set up utilities in CA
- Call relo company to ask about per diem options, since all of our belongings will be packed on February 27th (and we're not planning to leave until March 3rd or 4th)
- Print out directions from new house to various locations since otherwise...how will I know how to get anywhere?  The moving van won't be there until around March 9th or 10th.
- Laundry, the bane of my existence
- Purge, purge, purge!
- Buy dog carriers
- Buy an EHD so I can back up pictures (on two computers), other personal files, and digiscrap stuff
- Arrange for rental car from Feb 26th until we fly out - must be large enough to accomodate two massive dog kennels, some suitcases, and three kids plus car seats for all. 
- Etc. (Cry?)

I'll likely not post again until after we arrive.  I do not know what my email address will be, so until then, if you need to contact me, try to use the email that is in the "About" link to the right of the posts here.

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about these, either, but I had about an hour to do both, and I haven't digiscrapped AT ALL since October...

 

So...until mid-March, adieu!  I probably won't have time to check bloglines or blogs in general (which isn't much different than it has been since Steve left, right?), but hopefully within the next couple of months, we can regain some semblance of normalcy.

Molly's Big News

(and yes, the adult tooth has already come in; we hope it'll move forward now)

Back!

My plane arrived around 6:30 pm this evening; it was an excruciating flight, mainly because I wouldn't know until I arrived, whether or not our offer had been accepted, countered, or rejected outright.  Of course, the fact that I was sandwiched in between two morose men, one of whom felt the need to spread out and grade college exams, probably didn't help.  We had several bouts of pretty severe turbulence, too, so with all of that and my anxiety (over flying, over the house, over the repairs here which remain unresolved), I was very, very glad to reach terra firma.

I was absolutely stunned to learn that the sellers had accepted our offer.  They rejected our request for them to perform a roof inspection (we can if we'd like, though the house is only ten years old) and also crossed out our request for septic cert (but only because the house is on public sewer, not a septic - yay!), but made no other changes.  I couldn't believe it - they accepted our offer! 

It's a beautiful house, with wonderful views and a bonus 1/3 acre on which we can do most anything we'd like - have a horse, fence it in for the kids, build a guest house (or a regular house and sell it with the lot), etc.  The scary part?  WE DO NOT HAVE A HOME SALE CONTINGENCY!  You have no idea how much sleep I'm going to lose because of this. 

But anyway, if it all goes well - both here at this house, and there as well - this will be the view from right outside our "new" family room:

 

And this is the view from the back of the house; it's the same view as from the master bedroom:

Here's the currently vacant and rather forlorn looking side lot:

Yes, it drops right off at the back.  The first order of business will be to install a fence back there.  I'm told the area gets really green in the summer, so perhaps by the time we're out there, the process will be starting and we can look forward to that, too.

And with that, I'm going to straighten up the loft and head to bed.  I hope I can actually sleep!  I thought it would be easier after we got an offer, but I seem to be able to find something to worry about no matter what. 

I hope your weekend was wonderful; thanks for checking in to see what's hap'nin!

Outta here!

Apparently, the inspection went smoothly - they found nothing major and only a very few minor things (a/c coils need to be cleaned, a few cracks in the stucco that need to be caulked - these are things that are found on nearly every FL inspection, lol).  I'll know more tomorrow, but that's a big relief.

I'll be leavin' before 7 am, and hopefully, the winter weather problems up north won't prevent my sis from getting here on time tomorrow morning.  I'm awfully excited about all of this, and enormously grateful that I have such a wonderful community here because I currently have FOUR different people involved in picking up and watching the kids tomorrow and this weekend if my sister does not arrive.  I am really going to miss this place and these people.

I have loads to do still, but James and Molly are already at the neighbor's for the night.  We had a minor change in evening plans when James's coughing became so bad that I had to pull out the nebulizer.  It's been about 10 months since we've used it, and I'm disappointed that it seems we'll need it again this season.  I was nearly in  a panic because I could not find the tubing and was mentally preparing for a trip to urgent care or the ED.  I found it just in time; he was much better afterward, too.

Have a good weekend!  Send PVs that we find the right house, would ya?  Thanks!