I’m Baaaack!

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I had intended to write daily updates of our move – but moving was much harder with 4 children than I remembered!  While we originally were saying “this is our starter house, we are excited to be in the ‘game’ and will upgrade someday” we are now saying “this is the house we will die in, we are so excited to never have to move again!” lol

The move went well, if not a little accelerated. We had planned to get in, paint and clean, continue to pack and then move on Saturday, the 9th.  However, our helpers were not available on Saturday…they were available earlier.  So we ran with it.  A bit more stressful to be sure, but now that we are here and the job is 90% done – it will be a good memory of great friends and family members helping us get here!

Still to be done:

  • Move the backyard – trampoline, shed stuff, swing set, etc
  • Clean the old house – we have until the 24th
  • I think there are 2 boxes still in the house.

The Red wall turned out GREAT!  However, it took 4 coats!  I’ve learned that you should prime it with a pink or red prime and just be ready to do many coats, but I love it!  Here is the result (first dinner in our new house with Grammy and Gr & Gr O):

The only real casualty of the move is our internet connection.  When I called to transfer our bundled phone, internet and satellite, I was told that we could not have DSL in this house.  We moved about 1 mile away!  We are NOT in the foothills or way outside of town.  I could not believe it!  I had the guy check 3 times!  I was so flustered that I had to end the call before I made a decision.  I could NOT go back to dialup!  Even if I didn’t work from home!  The next day I called the local cable company and switched.  I’m not used to the cable interface on my tv – but I’m sure we’ll adjust to it – but cable internet is SMOKING fast!  It’s so cool!  We did have to change our email address though. :(  If you have a sbcglobal.net address for any of us, you will want to contact me for the new addresses.  If you have our gmail account address, then don’t worry about changing anything.

Finally, here are a few pics of what the boys call “Elvis Baby” – her curls are really fun lately!

New House – Day 1

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Yesterday was the first day we could get in the ‘new’ house.  This house was built in the early 50s and the last tenants lost their home. :(  So, it wasn’t in great condition…but it certainly isn’t as bad as most of the houses we saw in our price range!

Eric and his dad worked on the garage door first thing in the morning so it can be opened and closed – imagine that luxury! lol

Then, Eric and his friend, Jim, went to get paint while I started to clean the kitchen cupboards.  I was soon joined by Ruth – who ended up finishing the job!

After the paint arrived, everyone pitched in and we got the living room and all the bedrooms painted.  After cleaning the walls, we decided the bathroom, kitchen and hallway could wait.  Our helpers were my Mom, Eric’s sister, Anne & her oldest son, J1, Gayle, Cindy, Jim, Deb, Ruth and Eric’s Dad.  Eric’s mom watched Anne’s younger son, J2, J3 and JGirl.

The only bummer was the dining room.  I really wanted red walls – at least one, maybe two.  As we edged the room, the red was really icky.  Awhile later, it looked dry enough for a 2nd coat…and it looked great!  But then it started to run in afew areas. :(  We were trying to move to fast I guess.  Not sure what we will do about it…I’m probably going to be stuck here today packing.  We are a bit behind because we have people who are willing to help us tonight so we feel like we need to be ready for them.  We had originally planned on moving on Saturday and having a few more days to prepare.

The one thing I’m enjoying so much – my new bedroom – it’s actually a color! I am super excited about it – even in the face of continual “are you sure you want to paint the whole room that color?” lol  It is lilac….as in soft purple!  :D  I love it!!

Well, I’d better get up and pack something….anything!  Please pray for us!  I’m stressing about the dining room and the ever growing todo list!

Moving

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First, thank you all for your comments to my last post.  Please feel free to continue to comment…It it so encouraging!

Second, we are moving.  Only across town, but I’m sure you all know how crazy it can be.  So, I’ll be missing for a bit.  It was a nasty shock yesterday to find out that though we are only moving about 10 blocks, we will be unable to continue with our DSL service.  So we are switching to Cable.  :(  Bye, Bye Dish Network. Bye, Bye sbcglobal.net

If you are in my address book, I’ll be sending you our new family email address….but there are so many friends that I don’t have in my current address book! :(  Please let me know if you need the new email address.  I’ll continue to use my gmail email – and my work email address.

I have a huge todo list – so big in fact that I just look at it and feel frozen!  It’s just too much!  Argh

Shock

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Something has always bugged me about the morning that Joshua died.  I was standing in the ER – and we knew by the way the Dr took him away from us that something was very wrong.  Everyone in the room was moving very fast and talking quietly.  I was holding my coat in front of me and … just watching.  I don’t know where Eric was, but I know he was there.  I could only watch the bed where Joshua laid.

But I was not upset.  I was just standing there.  At one point a nurse tried to get me to sit down, but I couldn’t take my eyes away even for a moment.  To be honest, I was a little insulted that she thought I was that weak.  I wasn’t going to faint.  I had never been so focused.

Today I was listening to a story on NPR’s “This American Life” podcast where a young man was in an accident – he was driving and a bicyclist swerved in front of him and he hit her.  He described a moment after the accident like this:

I had the strangest feeling that everyone was responding appropriately to what have been an emergency.  But I still didn’t have a feeling there was anything to freak out about.  This was something that was being fixed.

That struck a chord with me.  I was so sure that the Drs could fix Joshua.  I think 90% of my earliest grief was simple shock.  I had taken my child to the ER and they were unable to fix him.

It has always bothered me that I didn’t somehow worry more about Joshua.  That I didn’t wail….cry….faint.  I just stood there and watched.  I watched him die.  I will never be able to get rid of those memories.  And, I’ve been ashamed that I didn’t respond emotionally.  In fact, at some point in the ER I shut everything down emotionally – I put it in the box. The box that 5 years later I can just barely peek into.

I know this won’t make sense to most of my visitors….and I pray you never will understand.