the road less traveled...well, twice traveled

I had already written a few paragraphs of our story of moving when I accidently closed the window and lost it all. (My mouse is in its charging dock and I'm trying to navigate my browser using only my keyboard. Lesson learned: Ctrl + N is New Window, not Ctrl + W. I could have Alt+F'd it to pick from the File list, but I was trying to be Super Smarty-Pants Memory Girl. They really shouldn't make those so easy to confuse.)

I really don't have the heart to rewrite it so here's the gist: Wanted to leave Friday morning, at the crack of dawn, for various side-splitting, very cleverly written reasons, we left Saturday evening, at the crack of dinner-time. End of gist.

Since Dug accrues massive Marriott points from his plentiful travel, we really only stay at the Marriott Brand of hotels. This, while very thrifty, is somewhat limiting. For example, our first night we had the choice of Medford, 4 hrs away or Sacramento, 9 hrs away. (We were taking the south on I-5/east on I-10 route again.) Nothing in the middle. Of course, since we didn't leave my brother's apartment (We were there after we left our house so Dug could shower and we could eat.) until sometime after 6pm, we decided that Medford would be an ample drive that evening. And it was.

Oh! I forgot one major, super-important detail. Dug was driving our blue diesel Beast, with our sweet Honda CBR in the back, pulling a little U Haul trailer. This left all four sweet, little angel children with me in the van. But don't worry, I wasn't alone. And no, I'm not talking about God being my co-pilot. I was being kept company BY MEJ!!!! Sweet, wonderful Mej worked out all the details for her five children to be taken care of for almost two weeks so that she could come on our little adventure! Wasn't that so cool?! Between the two of us we have nine children between the ages of two and nine. Both of us in a van with only four? Piece o'cake!


Sooooo.....First night, Medford. Second night's goal: Valencia, California. We slept well, seven of us in a double queen room. (Don't tell Marriott.) Well, everyone but Mej. She wasn't used to Dug's Darth Vader-like bi-pap machine (for his sleep apnea), but we picked up some Tylenol PM and the rest of the trip was a breeze. So we drove all day and many hours later, around the stroke of midnight, we arrived in Valencia. We were hoping for a good night's sleep, but that wasn't to be. The front desk told us that if we didn't leave by 6am, LA traffic is so bad that we might as well sleep in to 11am. Dang it!

Five and a half hours later, our cell phone alarms woke us up and we dragged our seven butts into our vehicles. And let me tell you, we didn't have to worry about needing coffee. At 6am, LA traffic is frightening. Absolutely life-threatening. I have never been so white-knuckled driving before. Wasn't sleepy at all. It was worse for poor Mej since she was the passenger and could merely watch. And Dug navigating lane changes with a trailer? I don't even want to think about how he did it. Somehow we survived and made it to Palm Springs for some Starbucks and Jamba Juice. The rest of the day's scenery was this: desert, desert, desert, desert, desert, desert, double queen room at Marriott. Well, there were some very big windmills, too.

When you're driving long distances there's a point you get to towards the end where you think you are going to go crazy if you spend another minute in the car. You don't know how you can possibly make it another fifteen minutes, let alone three hours. With the lack of sleep from the previous night, we hit that wall right about dinner time, when we still had about 5-6 hours left in the drive. We stopped for some Chipotle mexican food and the act of walking with the added benefit of decent nourishment gave us just the boost we needed. Thank goodness, because we were in some major need of sleep by that point.

I need to make note of a couple things. I need to give Mej the credit she deserves. While I usually drove until lunch-ish time, Mej drove the rest of the day, which is by far the majority of the driving. Luckily, while I prefer passengering, she is much happier in the driver's seat. And let's not forget Dug. The whole time he was driving the loud, rumbling diesel truck sans air conditioning and stereo, with the added stress of pulling a trailer. He was not only driving the entire way by himself, but he was almost constantly on the phone since he could not have a web presence for four days. And while he was on the phone, he had to have the windows rolled up since the wind was too loud for his cell. No air-conditioning + windows rolled up + driving through CA and AZ deserts = very hot Dug. Poor guy. We may have had the kids, but we also had a GPS/nav system/laser cruise control/Bob Marley on a kick-butt stereo/Nintendo 64/DVD AND zone-controlled a/c. I made sure not to complain.

It took us four days this time. Well, really three and 1/4. But it was fun. Mej and I got to talk about all sorts of girly things while the kids were headphoned into their movies.

We arrived in Houston Tuesday night. We didn't have power, the water was undrinkable, power lines lying across the roads (all the above, thanks to Hurricane Ike) and Dug had to leave at 6am the next morning to grab the next flight to Pennsylvania and save his project. This all sounds bad, except Dug's best friend lives in our neighborhood and his family welcomed us in with their filtered water, their generator and their fridge full of food.

next...Texas through the eyes of an Oregonian.

Update!

I woke up at the unheard of hour of 8:20 this morning...on my own! Now I know what it feels like to be an early riser!

And, since it's that perfect combination of sunny warmth with a slightly cool breeze and Dug is still sleeping and I'm off the hook breakfast-wise since it's Pancake Saturday and I already walked to Freddy's to buy some eggs and buttermilk for said pancakes and it's still before 10am...for all these reasons and more, I thought I would give you a little update.

I know. I could be finishing up painting the trim in the living room, or packing the last two boxes available before I have to go cardboard-recyling bin diving again, but no! I choose to sacrifice and write to all three of my faithful readers! Don't thank me or remind me how wonderful I am, (yes, that's a nod to you, Dad) there's no reason to. We can all just rest assured knowing that I am fully aware of how magnanimous I can truly be.

On to the update...

The bathroom: We have pretty much finished the plumbing that can be done within the bathroom. There is still a little bit to do with the drain pipes but that is work to be completed through the basement. The bathtub is fully functional with tub filler and shower. (Although to be technically accurate, the shower can't really be completed without the walls being up, which they aren't.) Today we will be attacking the last of the electrical work and putting in the under-floor heating grid. Leaving just the tile work and sheet-rocking before the finishing stuff. Yay! Progress!

The outside of the house: We were going to re-side the house, but then we realized we didn't have enough time. Instead we hired these two neighbor guys to repaint. They are almost done with the priming which means that I have to make a final decision on the colors! Ack!

The kitchen: Our kitchen is a nightmare. It is a conglomeration of 21st century appliances, 1923 cabinetry, 1950's countertops and modern super-cheap particle board cabinets and formed countertops. It contains bright yellow, taupe, white, black, stainless steel and cream. It is somewhat of a hallway kitchen and on the one side is all original cabinetry, complete with a super-narrow, super-short countertop that hits me right at the thigh. The other side has been updated with the cheapest stuff possible to make a super-long, perfect-height counter space. For someone who makes almost every meal that her family eats...it sucks!

The good news: We are having the kitchen redone. Yay! Everything will be uniform and lovely!
The bad news: It is being torn up the weekend before we leave and will not be finished until after we are gone. *sniff, sniff* Oh well. Enjoy it, renters!

Painting the inside: The renter guys told me that they want to repaint their rooms. Hooray! This means that I only have to make sure the trim in each room looks nice. This makes me very happy. Although I did realize that I should repaint the basement, too. At least the common areas. I always forget about it, since we don't live down there. So really I'm back to the same amount of painting again. *heavy sigh*

Packing: It's coming along. I've been out to the hospital twice to get boxes out of their multiple recyling bins. I need to go again. I've been packing stuff that isn't used right now and I've finished 27 boxes! Unfortunately, since it's stuff that's usually stored away, it doesn't look like I've done anything. *another heavy sigh*

That's it. Dug was going to have to travel this week but now he's only going to be gone the week before we move. Still sucky, but not so bad as being gone the two weeks before we move...

We're progressing, but it's a lot like going to college. During my student years, studying was never "finished." You could always study more. It would always be beneficial to understand the material even better. The need to study was always there like a giant flying raccoon that always hovered right behind you no matter where you went.

Moving is like that. Everytime you take a break, you can't really relax 'cause that dang raccoon is there. You can hear his breath and feel the slight breeze made by his wings. He's staring at you, telepathically telling you, "There's more to do." or "If you work now, you won't be so stressed come moving day." or "There's one word for you right now, 'unproductive.'" My only solace is knowing that on 20 September, Mr. Invisible-Non-Existant Flying Rodent will leave me alone and have to pester someone else.


PS I've found a super-cool game for getting your mind off things. It's a challenging, physics-based puzzle game. I know that doesn't sound like fun, but just try it before you judge it, ok? It's Magic Pen!

Who said moving wasn't fun?

Maybe you haven't noticed, but I haven't been blogging a lot lately. I've got a pretty good reason, too.

We're moving.

We're leaving beautiful (albeit soggy) Oregon behind and setting our sights for hot and sunny Texas. This is happening in thirty-seven days on 20 September. In thirty-seven days we need to navigate the murky, often scary, world of real estate, get our loan squared away, somehow try to understand the 4.2 million papers they ask you to sign at closing at the rate of one document a second (Well, it seems that way, anyway.), coordinate moving all our belongings (and my parents' stuff, as well. Long story, don't ask.) 2427 miles away, packing up said things, organizing shut-off times, turn-on times and everything else associated with changing residences, and make appropriate changes to our current home to make it a rental. But by far, the most stress-inducing thing needing to be checked off our to-do list is.......finish the bathroom!

Yeah, you remember that? It is still sitting there, naked as all get out, dressed only in a whirlpool tub and various pipes. Poor thing. It needs to be complete.

At night, instead of the usual evil man in a semi-truck chasing me and from which I can never escape, my dreams are filled with devilish visions of unfinished bathrooms: The entire house collapsing in on the stud-baring walls, guests trying to "do their business" in the hole we drilled in the floor for future plumbing, finding myself forever trapped in this house, never to escape its half-finished renovation.

The ubiquitous "They" weren't joking when they said that moving is stressful. Not one iota.

That's my explanation/warning. Blogging is in the backseat right now. And not the rear of a sedan. I'm talkin' the seat-in-the-Greyhound-bus-that-shares-its-aisle-with-the-bathroom kind of backseat.

I love blogging. I really do. But I've other responsibilities right now that sneer at the endless pursuit, calling it "frittery" and "time guzzler." And I can't argue. Not at this moment in time. Those other responsibilities may be bullies, but they've got a valid point. I'll have time for blogging in the future, but for the next 37 days...the bullies win.