We are moved! June 23, 2008

Well, the past week has involved lots of packing, late nights and exercise, but we are now residing in our new house! We were so fortunate to have lots of help from family members helping us move, clean and unpack. Despite the fact that we had a huge garage sale and sold a ton of stuff, we still have too much shit. We nearly filled a 10×20 storage garage, a 24 foot moving truck, two pickups, a saturn sedan and a freestyle AND we still had to go back twice to get everything else! On moving day, we finally left the house after the second shift at midnight, and because the new owners took possession first thing in the morning, we had to put one final truckload of items in our neighbor’s driveway covered with a tarp. (We were confident they wouldn’t mind which they did not.) Too much stuff.

Gertie, our cat with a major attitude, is trying very hard to declare her territory clearly to Drake, our dog. Drake will have nothing of her attitude. (In our other house, we were able to pretty much keep them separate by floor which both of them liked.) Drake is really enjoying his free roaming in a fenced yard.

J decided a couple days prior to our move that he really didn’t want to move, but once he was able to start organizing his room, he changed his mind. He kept complaining that his new room was smaller than his old room (which is correct), but we kept pointing out that the new room would not be shared with his brother.

T missed the whole moving process, but I know that he is going to really like his new room when he visits next time. His room has a ledge around it which will be perfect for displaying Legos and other items.

New furniture shopping has been 50% successful as we’ve purchased a dining room table and chairs. A has hated my table since day 1, so Thursday I will have an official sewing/craft table and Friday our new table and chairs arrive! We still are searching for living room furniture.

Though the kitchen is cramped, I am finding a home for things. We actually have a lot of closet storage in this house which is very different than the last. Our new closet is about three times larger than the last. And though I am not a carpet person, my sore feet have really enjoyed the soft carpet underneath my feet.

I can’t wait until my friend Jakki comes down Thursday because our two days together involves painting over the orange-y entry way and a pedicure!

Sex In The City movie June 10, 2008

I was a fan of Sex In The City though I didn’t ever get HBO. When I would spend the night at my parent’s house and sleep in a room with a tv, I would usually catch Sex In The City or Trading Spaces marathons. Unfortunately, this meant that I rarely got sleep because if the tv is on with something interesting in front of me, I will watch it FOREVER despite sleepy eyelids. This also meant that I could catch up on many episodes all at once which was great. I ended up getting the season dvd’s to complete my viewing background.

So, I was mighty skeptical when I heard that a movie was being made because so often the movie versions SUCK!!! I hadn’t read much about it since it came out two weekends ago which means that it couldn’t be that bad. I went up to visit my sister Friday night and her husband watched all 4 boys (thanks, Nate!), so we could go to the movie.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It was a full two hours, but it was good. I REALLY liked that it was about making yourself a family in every sense of the word, about making a marriage work, about forgiveness and about being happy. I would have been very disappointed had it been all about the singles and sex in the city. What was particularly funny about this whole thing was that there were two fights in this movie that I had literally just had with A within the last two weeks. The one that made me bust out laughing was early on when Miranda got some foam on her lip, and Steve told her it was there. Miranda’s response was to tell Steve that he was always too critical of her (which was my response as well). It was funny to see the same argument from the outside looking in and being able to recognize how ridiculous I was being.

I love Steve..he’s a guy like everyone knows. He tries his darnedest, admits when he’s wrong or has screwed up and is essentially the guy that every girl wishes she could find, except he is a bartender. He loves Miranda despite her flaws.

I loved that the movie had these hilarious moments that were the kinds of things that happen to real people, like me. I also loved that it wasn’t a clear cut happy ending with Carrie marrying Big. I loved that Carrie became wonderful friends with her new assistant as well. I also loved that Carrie sucked it up and purchased her own bifocals!

So, girls, see this movie with someone you love regardless of what kind of love it is – for me, it was sisterly love.

End of the School Year June 10, 2008

Last Tuesday was J’s last day at his GREAT dual language school. (He spends half his time learning in Spanish and half his time learning in English.) It is sad to leave this year in particular because the third year of instruction is when many of the native English speakers really begin speaking in Spanish. (Their second year they spend most of their time comprehending and learning to speak it.) So, I’ll have to find him a Spanish tutor where we are moving somehow. Tutor sounds expensive though, particularly in an urban area.

At any rate, on Monday toward the end of the day, I brought in the tote bags I made for each of his teachers (2 leads, 2 Spanish paras and 1 English para). I worked hard that morning completing two of the bags because I gave a bunch of bags away for Mother’s Day as well. I worked hard to find fabrics that seemed to fit the personality of the teachers. (I volunteered in the classroom every week, so I had a pretty good idea on this thankfully.) Here is what I ended up with…

This is a picture of the a full sized bag in a different pattern…

They were a lot of fun to make and easy too considering I made the whole thing up based on another tote bag I had. The bags were all lined in a coordinating fabric, had a large interior pocket and were very sturdy with the denim. I ironed on interfacing to the six pieces of insert fabric to make them a bit stiffer. Of course, they all had my handmade tag as well.

It was a tearfest when I delivered them. What was surprising was that the first grade teachers chipped in and got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my volunteering. It was so sweet! J was going to take them home on the bus until I showed up! To be honest, I was just thrilled that they let me come every Wednesday afternoon and be a part of the classroom!

I feel so lucky to have gotten to know his teachers and his classmates so well!

Packing, Tornadoes and Rain June 8, 2008

We have been so busy it isn’t funny. We had a wedding that we had to travel to each of the last two weekends. (Both were lots of fun, but weekends are when we can get something done!)

I’ve been packing like a madwoman…going to the grocery store every couple days to gather boxes. We rented a storage unit and loaded up everything we packed so far into two vehicles. We drove down tonight to drop off one load…the car was completely packed and when we put it in the storage unit, it looked like a handful of boxes. We have a lot of work to do before next Wednesday when we leave this house.

The boys are crazy for Legos - they put things together and they stay put together, so I’ve been very concerned about moving them all without breaking them into hundreds of pieces. I stopped at the UPS store and bought a HUGE bag of packing peanuts for the second part of my Lego packing plan. (The bag was as tall as I am to start with.) It cost me $20 and if I can find another store, they should take them back and recycle the peanuts. If this $20 keeps these Legos relatively intact, then it will have been well spent. The first part of the plan, I believe, is going to be crucial to the process – I am putting each Exoforce guy, Batman car, and Star Wars ship in a small garbage bag (the bathroom trash size) and tie it with a twist tie. Those that are bigger, I’ll use plastic grocery bags. The plastic bag is important in the event that the pieces come apart. (I do not have the patience to dig through packing peanuts for tiny Lego pieces.) I will then cradle each bag in tightly packed peanuts so movement is minimized. I’m keeping my finger’s crossed.

We have already had a very active tornado season this year. Last Tuesday evening, there were no television shows on because the weather people stayed on constantly telling everyone about how many tornados were coming their way. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, we woke up at 1:30 am to the tornado siren. I heard it, but it didn’t really register.

A: “S that was the tornado siren.”

S: “Uh. Should we do something?”

A: “We should go check the weather on the tv and go into the basement.” DUH. I knew this, but I wasn’t thinking about tornadoes while sleeping. A had the Parkersburg tornado going through his mind thankfully.

I got J up and we checked the weather on the tv and sure enough a tornado was spotted and headed our way. We went into the basement with a laptop (thank god for wireless), corralled the dog quite easily into the kennel in the basement, but the cat absolutely refused to cooperate. A tried to get her into her kennel and bring her in the basement, but instead she just meowed like crazy at the top of the stairs. J and I snuggled under the stairway under a blanket as we heard another siren and the wind really picked up. Thankfully, we had nothing come near us, but it was very scary. J was very frightened. The next morning at summer camp, J learned that some kids had to sleep in the basement or in bathtubs.

It has rained practically constantly for weeks. The rivers are about to go over the 1993 flood stage and today, we had to take major detours because the roads to get into town were flooded. Last week a woman somehow drove into a ditch, then drowned because the ditch was flooded. Our grass is long because we haven’t been able to mow it, and the yard is soggy. More rain this week.