Friday, August 31, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
The #1 reason we keep asking my mom to help us move...
And...some pictures of the truck that tried to kill Owen's dad by first giving him a concussion which then led to heat stroke. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly a vacation.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Welcome to...um...your new home?
Well...after two days and many "adventures" (i.e. screw-ups) we are here. Our trip began with an "emergency" stop at Wal-Mart in Gaylord for an iPod car charger where upon we discovered that Sam had figured out how to escape his car seat. Man that kid has a devilish sense of timing. And that was the good part of our trip.
Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic just north of Ann Arbor, the Nissan overheated and had to pull to the side of the road to cool down. As the traffic was not moving, we elected to "borrow" an illegal turn-around and head back to the first exit to follow an "alternate route" (i.e. short cut/get lost) and, while following a detour because the road we were supposed to follow was closed. discovered that the oil light in the Nissan was flashing. It burned up all its oil overheating. We are now 2 hours behind schedule, have not left MI yet, and I am sitting under a tree because I cannot have the car or the A/C on. Shit. (And...and honorable mention goes out to my brother, Matt, who not only risked trouble at work by taking my call to his cell, but who answered my questions about what had happened and who explained some things to watch for and some things to try, and who also called twice more that day to make sure we were running okay.)
We managed to make it as far as Charleston, WV, where we spent the night - all 6 of us in one room. It was snug!
Today, we began the day with a call to the trucking hub to find that our stuff would not be arriving at the house today, despite the 90% assurance of the delivery at the time the truck took off. If we had wanted to assure delivery today, it would have been an extra $400 - too much.
So, Owen and I took off with Sam because we had an appointment with the realtor at 3 and so were on a pretty brisk schedule. We arrived at 3:05 and signed the lease and then were at the house by 4 to meet with the cable installer. Unfortunately for Tom, who was driving the Nissan, it overheated again in the 105-degree heat and so he had to drive through Fayetteville with the heat on and the windows down to keep the engine cool. I swear, if Owen asks for any more repairs to that car, he's going to be buried in it sooner than he'd like! Anyway, Tom gets the platinum traveler award.
Sam gets the golden traveler award for being generally good-natured the entire trip and for never throwing one of his balls at the driver. He traveled exceptionally well. I also have to give an assist to Grammy's hand-held DVD player and the Wonder Pets, without whom/which we would have likely left Sam with the hitchhiker in Tobaccoville this afternoon (that is actually the name of a place - I did not make it up to be offensive. I don't have to make things up to do that.)
So...we are here, in a suite at the Comfort Inn because a.) we have no furniture at the house yet and b.) it was so hot today that even after running for close to 5 hours, it was still 85 degrees in the house. The low tonight is 80 - not exactly window weather.
The invitation is still open - come and visit! and don't forget to email me if you need my address.
Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic just north of Ann Arbor, the Nissan overheated and had to pull to the side of the road to cool down. As the traffic was not moving, we elected to "borrow" an illegal turn-around and head back to the first exit to follow an "alternate route" (i.e. short cut/get lost) and, while following a detour because the road we were supposed to follow was closed. discovered that the oil light in the Nissan was flashing. It burned up all its oil overheating. We are now 2 hours behind schedule, have not left MI yet, and I am sitting under a tree because I cannot have the car or the A/C on. Shit. (And...and honorable mention goes out to my brother, Matt, who not only risked trouble at work by taking my call to his cell, but who answered my questions about what had happened and who explained some things to watch for and some things to try, and who also called twice more that day to make sure we were running okay.)
We managed to make it as far as Charleston, WV, where we spent the night - all 6 of us in one room. It was snug!
Today, we began the day with a call to the trucking hub to find that our stuff would not be arriving at the house today, despite the 90% assurance of the delivery at the time the truck took off. If we had wanted to assure delivery today, it would have been an extra $400 - too much.
So, Owen and I took off with Sam because we had an appointment with the realtor at 3 and so were on a pretty brisk schedule. We arrived at 3:05 and signed the lease and then were at the house by 4 to meet with the cable installer. Unfortunately for Tom, who was driving the Nissan, it overheated again in the 105-degree heat and so he had to drive through Fayetteville with the heat on and the windows down to keep the engine cool. I swear, if Owen asks for any more repairs to that car, he's going to be buried in it sooner than he'd like! Anyway, Tom gets the platinum traveler award.
Sam gets the golden traveler award for being generally good-natured the entire trip and for never throwing one of his balls at the driver. He traveled exceptionally well. I also have to give an assist to Grammy's hand-held DVD player and the Wonder Pets, without whom/which we would have likely left Sam with the hitchhiker in Tobaccoville this afternoon (that is actually the name of a place - I did not make it up to be offensive. I don't have to make things up to do that.)
So...we are here, in a suite at the Comfort Inn because a.) we have no furniture at the house yet and b.) it was so hot today that even after running for close to 5 hours, it was still 85 degrees in the house. The low tonight is 80 - not exactly window weather.
The invitation is still open - come and visit! and don't forget to email me if you need my address.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sod off...I mean, shove off...
Our current plan is to peel out at apx. 8 tomorrow morning which, I'm not trying to pick or anything...but in my family, with Grandma Alice at the helm, it's about 2 hours to late from the getgo. But...I imagine we will still survive. We are a ragtag caravan: my Chevy (read: shitty) Cobalt; Owen's love of his life, the Nissan (I swear he will be buried in that car when he dies, so they can be together forever in the afterlife); and Tom and Cathy's zippy little blue Mazda. I don't know if I will be able to post updates every day but I will as it is possible.
We have just found out that we have been giving out the wrong zipcode for our forwarding address so, just FYI for you it's supposed to be 28314.
Please, my peeps, email me and ask me to send you my new address in whole. I don't want to post it here because who knows what kinds of unfortunate rifraf might stumble upon this paltry excuse for a blog.
Oh! Also! Flickr is coming! We will be posting oodles of pics as often as possible.
And now. sleeping pills have kicked in and are making it difficult for me to punch the correct key, and so I must skedattle. Send us good karma, positive energy, good chi, lotto tickets and whatever the hell else might seem appropriate.
Love to you all - each and every one. We will miss you but will keep a room lovingly decorated in shades of mauve and eyelet lace, awaiting your compulsory visits to chintz hell!
Houston: we are ready for takeoff!
We have just found out that we have been giving out the wrong zipcode for our forwarding address so, just FYI for you it's supposed to be 28314.
Please, my peeps, email me and ask me to send you my new address in whole. I don't want to post it here because who knows what kinds of unfortunate rifraf might stumble upon this paltry excuse for a blog.
Oh! Also! Flickr is coming! We will be posting oodles of pics as often as possible.
And now. sleeping pills have kicked in and are making it difficult for me to punch the correct key, and so I must skedattle. Send us good karma, positive energy, good chi, lotto tickets and whatever the hell else might seem appropriate.
Love to you all - each and every one. We will miss you but will keep a room lovingly decorated in shades of mauve and eyelet lace, awaiting your compulsory visits to chintz hell!
Houston: we are ready for takeoff!
Friday, August 03, 2007
And we're off...
The vast majority of our stuff is now on its way to Fayetteville, NC, our future home. The truck carrying apx. 1800 square feet of our furniture/junk/treasures took off this afternoon. We used a company called U-Pack that delivered a semi trailer to the house where we loaded it. Then, they picked it up and drove off with it. We will see it again next Wednesday when it is delivered to our new house in NC, ready to be unloaded and fashioned into a home.
Incidentally, anybody needing our new address should shoot me an email. For the time being, our cell numbers will remain the same.
Incidentally, anybody needing our new address should shoot me an email. For the time being, our cell numbers will remain the same.
What can I say? The kid loves veggies...
Our impending move has been more traumatic on Sam than I ever would have guessed. Who knew that a 16-month-old would wig out seeing all his things put into boxes? Anyway, it has been and )I think) will continue to be a rough next little while for him.
Perhaps this is the reason he has seemingly begun to attach himself to strange objects. He needs something to cling to. Literally. On Tuesday night, after a day of packing and hauling, we came to Owen's mom and dad's house for dinner. After dinner, while preparing to return home, Sam discovered a basket of veggies that had just been picked for the garden and, in true Sam fashion, began to unload the basket.
One zucchini in particular gave him a hard time, but upon throwing his entire body weight behind it, he pulled it out, and it became his new best friend. He carried it around with him, petting it and saying "niiiiiice" as he does with cats and dogs.
When it was time to leave, he began to get upset and so Cathy gave him the zucchini to take home. He snuggled it, talked to it and petted it almost all the way home. As he got a little more sleepy, it slipped from his arms and fell on the floor and into my purse. When we got home and I went to get my purse from the car, I found Sam's new best friend, seemingly cast aside and with a a few chipmunk-sized bites taken out of the top, the material from which I later found spit out in the car seat.
You know, sometimes the best way to get to know a new friend is to take a little nibble from his/her/it's head.
Perhaps this is the reason he has seemingly begun to attach himself to strange objects. He needs something to cling to. Literally. On Tuesday night, after a day of packing and hauling, we came to Owen's mom and dad's house for dinner. After dinner, while preparing to return home, Sam discovered a basket of veggies that had just been picked for the garden and, in true Sam fashion, began to unload the basket.
One zucchini in particular gave him a hard time, but upon throwing his entire body weight behind it, he pulled it out, and it became his new best friend. He carried it around with him, petting it and saying "niiiiiice" as he does with cats and dogs.
When it was time to leave, he began to get upset and so Cathy gave him the zucchini to take home. He snuggled it, talked to it and petted it almost all the way home. As he got a little more sleepy, it slipped from his arms and fell on the floor and into my purse. When we got home and I went to get my purse from the car, I found Sam's new best friend, seemingly cast aside and with a a few chipmunk-sized bites taken out of the top, the material from which I later found spit out in the car seat.
You know, sometimes the best way to get to know a new friend is to take a little nibble from his/her/it's head.
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