a very long internet-less week

I meant to write a farewell from North Carolina post, but I had been so efficient in my pre-packing boxing up of stuff that Monday morning I was informed by the moving crew that they could condense our last 4 days in Chapel Hill to 2. I jumped at the opportunity to save leave and get to Maine faster. Now we are safely up in Maryland with 99% of our things unpacked and unscathed, I can give you the condensed version of our adventure in moving.

Monday: The packers were so fast that I had to run from room to room pulling items out of boxes that I had forgotten to set aside- like the big knife to cut the watermelon I was planning on serving Tuesday at lunch. I rescued the knife (imagine trying to cut up a watermelon with plastic cutlery), but wasn't so lucky with the coolers. To transport all our condiments in the car for 6 hours I hit Target one last time for a new jobby on wheels. I'm not so sure it wouldn't have been cheaper to just buy new ketchup, so don't mention it.

Tuesday: A pretty uneventful day other than watching all our items roll onto the truck, though seeing 4 men strain to push our piano up the ramp made me very grateful I am a mommy and not a day laborer. We said goodbye to all our friends at the pool and camped on the floor in an empty house.

Wednesday: The kids and I hit the road in the rain for the trek northward, stopping at the National Battlefield in Petersburg to show the kids where their great-great-great-grandfather fought during the Civil War. I think the kids will remember eating the bag of Cheetos in the rain more than the historical aspects of the walk. The trip was lengthened considerably by the fact that we had to stop every 50 miles so Charlie "tiny bladder" C. could use the facilities. Usually we just pulled over and just let him water a bush, but Maggie was joining him on the little blue pot (stashed under the seat at all times for such emergencies as this) about every other time. Luckily I didn't hear any whining from the backseat after Fredricksburg, as the Capitol Beltway is not known for a a supply of places to pull over without getting in a wreck.

Thursday: We waited impatiently for the movers to arrive and then assisted them in unloading the truck under the assumption that "the faster they get finished, the faster they will leave." Finally the truck pulled away at 5 pm, leaving us in silence and surrounded by mounds of boxes up to the ceiling.

Friday: Tim and I were awakened at 5am by our king size bed collapsing. We took the bed apart and reassembled it to only find it gone wonky again by midday. We must have set a record of the number of boxes unpacked in one 8 hour period as the basement would have been awash in cardboard until Will started breaking them down with his trusty pocketknife. In no time there were a half-dozen tidy stacks in the carport awaiting trash/recycle pickup day. Timmy felt very warm and while Tim went to the grocery to pick up some baby Tylenol, I checked his temperature- 103.4. Right after he reluctantly swallowed the grape goo he promptly vomited it all down the front of my shirt. Since the baby was the sickly one, he got first dibs on the bath and I had to wait patiently for my turn to scrub with Softsoap. The mango scented gel works great to eliminate any unwanted odors I'll have you know!

Saturday: Finally we discover and remedy the bed issue with a rug pad on the floor. Previously we had carpet and the rounded posts had something to grip, on wood floors they slipped under any pressure. Another day of unpacking and hefting boxes of books that were misdirected by the movers. Since the adult books are mostly on the first level and the children's tomes are in the basement, my muscles got a real workout.

Sunday: We wake the kids up early for Mass, explaining to them as they whined about their lack of sleep, "We can go to Mass 15 minutes away at an inconvenient time or we can go to Mass later and spend 45 minutes getting there. Mommy and Daddy pick the closer one. Brush your hair and teeth and get dressed." Good behavior was rewarded with doughnuts in the social hall afterwards and we were home by 9:30am. After a year of spending our entire Sunday in the car getting to and from Mass, this was a real treat. I took the opportunity to take a long nap and thoroughly enjoyed it.

and finally...

Monday (today): As we pull out onto the main road heading for the grocery store Tim called to say that he and Will safely arrived at the farm in Maine. It is still a 15 hour trek since there is traffic no matter what time you drive through New Jersey (even 2am), but he told me that the yellow siding looks great and the neighbors have commented on how pretty our little apartment/garage is. All afternoon we waited patiently for the Verizon guy to arrive to hook up the phone and internet, finally pulls up at 4:30pm, and staying 3 hours before informing me that my ancient 7 year old computer will not work with our new fancy wireless system. (Well, Tim promised me a new laptop soon anyway). The phone/internet up in Maine won't be working for 2 weeks so I will be dependant on trips to the library to email and post. Well, such is just one small sacrifice in the life of a military spouse, I hope you will understand my sporadic posting in the next few weeks until I get everything running smoothly again.

As our good friend Tigger says, Ta-ta for now!"