Moving Days

My dear faithful readers, um, I mean, anyone out there who happens to stumble upon my blog, since I have probably lost my readers from lack of posting, we are in the midst of moving. We'd been bringing boxes to our new house for a week or so, and on Friday we were able to have our furniture moved by the wonderful Central United Van Lines. My dad still knows the manager there, so our "housewarming" gift was a truck & 2 moving guys. Even though I've been around the moving business my entire life (minus the first 2 years when Dad worked for Hormel), I had forgotten how easily & quickly professional movers work. These 2 men were somewhere between Phil's age & my age, I think, and they worked circles around anything we could do. In 4 hours, they had torn down and moved our stuff from one house to the other. Phil & I are working on boxes and after several weeks, we are still not quite done.

This week we've been working like crazy to empty the garage and house. We opted for a U-haul rather than multiple loads on a pick up and van. Tomorrow morning we'll get up & unload that into our new garage, return the truck by noon, and head to our old house to finish loading what we can and start cleaning. I have to also paint 2 rooms back to a neutral.

We have not lived in a home with an upstairs since 1995 when we had an upstairs apartment. I grew up in homes that often had an upstairs, and at one point lived in a 3rd floor apartment. I was a TAD thinner and in better shape back then. I'm discovering muscles in my legs and back that I never knew existed. I know about them now because they SCREAM out at night!

If anyone is still around & reading, thank you! If anyone is bored this week & wants to come help clean, come on over! :>)

By the way, I am working from the girls' computer (they are at my mother-in-law's house this week) because mine apparently got a virus & now has no internet connection at all. It's rather frustrating as I am trying to get a Pampered Chef show finished for a friend. Looks like I may be downloading my PC program to this computer so I can send the show in. Pray Phil has a minute to work on my PC! Pray for strength & endurance for us, as well, as we finish up at the old house. We will really start unpacking next week.

Have a super day!

You know there's a "Tween" in the house when...

Our older child, Bethany, is nearly 13. It's hard to believe that. She is our daughter with Asperger Syndrome, a mild autism, so she doesn't always, or more accurately, doesn't OFTEN, act her age. She thinks intellectually like a child her age, but socially, she is more likely to play with marbles than My Space, and for that, I am very thankful! In spite of the social delays, I have to say there are some sure signs that there is a soon to be teen in the house:

• She uses the word "like" about every 3rd or 4th word of a sentence
• She cries if you look at her the wrong way or change anything

For those of you who have or used to have teens, what were some signs that you know you have a soon to be teen in the house? I'd love to see your input!

Boxing Days

Have you heard of "Boxing Day?" In Canada, December 26th is Boxing Day. I didn't know what that was until I met a friend from Canada and since have "met" folks online from Canada. Traditionally, it was the day when you would take packages to your friends to celebrate Christmas, after spending Christmas Day with family. I hear that today it's something akin to our "Black Friday" shopping spree.

We are having boxing days here. While I am not making up boxes of gifts for my friends (which I would enjoy a great deal more), I am filling boxes. I am also filling bags: BIG TRASH BAGS with stuff we've collected. It's amazing how much STUFF can accumulate in one's home. Compound that with an Asperger Child, who tends to collect EVERY scrap of EVERY piece of paper, plastic, and more, and you've got a real mess on your hands. If I told you the depth of filth I've uncovered, you would probably never visit my home, so let's just say we are moving into a CLEAN house and you are welcome to join us!

I did have a stroke of genius last week when I asked my parents to take the girls and their umpteen boxes to THEIR house and help them sort it out there. They had no distractions like they do here, so they worked all day like busy beavers. They didn't get rid of as much as we'd hoped, but they did whittle it down quite a bit.

The property manager has told us they can start showing this house on Friday. That is less than 24 hours from the time I am writing. Hopefully, they will not come at 1 a.m., but I will be feeling the crunch by then. They will show the house on an appointment basis only, so we should have fair warning.

The house into which we are moving is owned by some friends of ours who graciously have let us go ahead & start moving boxes into the house. Phil has been taking loads over about every other night. He's also been a carpet cleaning maniac. Phil is a bit of a carpet fanatic when it comes to cleaning. Because our friends are offering us such an amazing "deal" on the house, we are trying to do as much of the house prep work as we can. Phil has now shampooed the carpet once with cold water (before we had the water turned on & used the neighbor's hose, with permission!) and again with hot steamy water. The owners suggested pulling up the carpet & staining the concrete, but Phil likes his carpet. At least he is trying to get it as allergy free as possible. The former owners had dogs, and they must have been long haired ones. Thankfully I do not test allergic to dogs anymore, and I don't think they had cats.

As I mentioned, we've had my dad's company move us in the past. That meant getting used moving boxes from them. The time we moved our goods from our apartment in San Marcos into storage (we were going to Africa), we had the most interesting boxes. They said, "Bush" on them. Some said, "Barbara's room." YES, they were the boxes that were used when George W. & Laura Bush moved from Austin, Texas to Washington, D.C.! Whether you love or hate GWB, we thought it was pretty cool to have "famous boxes!"

This time we have a few from my nephew & his wife (we hope to get more, when Nils calls his favorite aunt!). The best one we have found is a rather large box marked, "Katie's Shoes." I want to know how many shoes my niece has that filled a box that big! More importantly, I need to see if she has my same shoe size and if she shares! LOL!

I'll try to get some pictures of the new house to show soon. For now, it's off to la la land.