Down In the Southland...

...is where you belong

We finally made it to Virginia... yep, all of us are here! Joe came back to Pennsylvania last Wednesday night to help me get ready to head 'em up and move 'em out.

Thursday was spent packing, but thankfully I had a good majority of it done. He spent most of the time cleaning out the garage and his man cave stuff. I donated even more to the Stroudsburg Salvation Army. There was a minor disagreement over some of the stuff, but they took it anyway. I was not reloading a 9' Christmas tree back into the car by myself! They are terribly picky over there! I have never had that problem before. Heck this time it took 2 missed appointments for them to pick up a truckload of donations from me the week before, which also involved me fighting with them. Schmucks. Friday the dogs went to the groomer one last time to say goodbye and get cleaned up while we got the moving truck.

Oh, the moving truck. There's a quick little detour for the story. Back in the beginning of March I reserved at 16' truck for us. Thursday while we were packing up I get a phone call that the truck I reserved isn't available. All we can get now is a 10' (no way in heck something that small will work) or a 24' (ummm.... huge!).  I had reached the point in the day where I wanted to throw everything in garbage bags because I was so tired of packing. So I made Joe talk to the rental company. The nearest truck we wanted was down in Phillipsburg. Despite the discount that they were willing to give us, we didn't want to drive that far for a truck. We were promised that if the right size truck came in by Friday morning it would be ours, but if not the 24' was what we were going to have to take, but at the price of the 16'.

Friday morning rolls around and we have a nice 24' truck that we can't back up the driveway. It's too big and the curvy length of the driveway doesn't allow for it to be parked nicely. Joe parked it at the bottom ad we had to lug all of the furniture and boxes all the way down. To put a positive spin on it, I got my "gym" time in and burned off the 4 cupcakes I ate the day before. It's good to know that when push comes to shove I do have the upper body strength to help Joe lift the heavy furniture. I never want to do it again though. Next time we move I'm hiring some people from in front of Lowes or Home Depot for $50 to move it all. LOL

Friday night we had a farewell dinner with Joe's family. We hit up his favorite diner (and mine too) in Milford. I guess Joe has yet to find a good diner in Virginia. He then went out for drinks with his boys. At 11pm we got to bed and managed to get 6 hours of sleep.

Saturday morning the kids got loaded into the cars. The 2 dogs in the Corolla with me and the 5 kitties in the Santa Fe with their Grandma. We all thought I gave mom the raw deal that day, but she said the cats were fine for the car ride. I guess the only crying they did was the during the heavy downpours we encountered along the way. The cats absolutely fear the rain. I can understand though, since most of them were outdoors before they found me. The ride down took longer than the normal 6 hours, but again that was because of the rain. At one point I was ding 45mph because I was hydroplaning like crazy.

Once at the condo mom still got in to see it before I did. WTH?! I was thrilled once I finally got into see it. It's so cute and the perfect place to start our lives over. We unpacked a lot of boxes from the truck while mom kept encouraging Joe to stop so she could take us out to dinner at her favorite place, Golden Corral. Her germaphobia banned us from the chocolate fountain (but I had it anyway!)

Sunday the remainder of the truck was unloaded by Joe & his cousin, Karl. The 2 of them managed to wrap everything up in less than 90 minutes. Mom headed back to New York about mid-morning since she was missing my Dad and the dog, but probably not in that order. =o) Then we returned the truck. The goal was to spend the remainder of the day unpacking, but we were just too lazy and exhausted.

Joe had taken a vacation day for Monday, so we hit the boxes hard and found even more to donate than to keep! Which is pretty much how the rest of the week went too after he went back to work. I have managed to get a lot of stuff put away, but the pile of donations is growing ever bigger. We're dropping things off tomorrow at the local Goodwill store and some things are getting donated to the local animal rescue. Our "kids" will be helping their less fortunate counterparts by parting with some clothes, blankets, and fleece indoor doggie houses.

I had a job interview on Wednesday and landed the job. It's about 15 minutes from home. Since we are still sharing a car, Joe will dump me off on his way to work and I have to call him when I'm done since he gets finished before I do. To reward the good luck, I'm getting some Pearls cupcakes on Saturday too. In case you haven't noticed, I'm addicted to those little cupcakie goodies. I start the new job on Monday. Wish me luck.

Joe said Virginia is his happy place. When he was back in Pennsylvania even just for the few days the bad luck followed over us like a little cloud and lifted as soon as he was back here. I guess it's just more proof that we are finally where we belong.

Count Down Virginia

The stars are starting to allign for us. We were able to secure a nice little 1 bedroom condo in an area just north of Richmond proper. It's on the second floor in a very nice gated golf community. I guess we just can't seem to escape that whole private community thing, can we? Knowing we had a place certainly eased a good chunk of my anxieties over the move. Joe was able to move in on March 1. I think he's going a tad batty without cable though. I wasn't able to get anyone to come install it until this coming Friday. I think he will survive though because if you know my husband, you know he has about a million DVD's to watch. =o) If he has his golf clubs and the weather is nice, he can always go off to do that. Oopsie... I think they're still in the closet here.

Once March 24th gets here the truck will be loaded and we'll be gone and officially starting our life together in a new home, a new city, in a new state (commonwealth). I'm also looking forward to seeing how the pets react to the change.

I have to laugh when Joe & I talk about where things are in Richmond, as city life seems to be spoiling him. As you know, living here in Pennsylvania anything less than a 45 minute drive is "down the road" or "in town". This is just something you accept as a normal part of country life. In Richmond it seems anything in a 5-15 minute driving range is "close by" and anything beyond 25 minutes is "far away". Here's an example:
Me: How far is the condo from Planet Fitness?
Joe: It's kinda far.
Me: How far is kinda far?
Joe: About 25 minutes
Me: Ooooo, so far. Really? I drive 45 minutes without hitting traffic now to get to the gym.
Joe: Yeah, you'll learn to re-adjust your timing here.

New Year's News

This is slightly late on here, but I did post it on Facebook, twitter and posterous the day it happened. On January 3, my first day of clinicals for my last quarter I was meet with a flash freeze over night. Thanks to a lack of delay on part of the school and poor Pennsylvania road conditons, and the unknown driver of a Jeep my 2004 Mitusbishi Eclipse met with an untimely end.

I loved my car so very much because she was the perfect size for little 'ol me. Not to mention she had been a New Years gift from my husband when we were celebrating the start of our 1st year as a married couple.

I hope that this is not a sign of things to come in the New Year!

New Year, New Start

Happy New Year!

It's time to make some resolutuions. I have given up on doing them in the past since I can't make them last more than a week or two... or four if I'm really ambitious. This year has me thinking a little differently since I took a different stance. This year is to continue what I started last March; loosing weight, living healthier and just gernerally improving my overall out look.

Improving my outlook will involve accpeting all the choas in our lives right now and trying to adjust to it in a positive manor. For example, this whole impending relocation to Virginia has me slightly terrified. I haven't live in a city that large in a long time. There is also the whole fear of the unknown with the Virginia thing. As much as Joe reassures me that I will love it there, I know in my heart I'm a country girl. I hope I can adjust!

Winter Woes

It's really depressing when it's not even Halloween and the forcast is calling for 6-10" or 8-12" of snow. The leaves haven't even made thier way off the trees yet. Inevitably that will add to the distress this early snow will bring. I keep in mind that the ground isn't frozen yet, so it should melt rather quickly in the 40 degree temperatures that are being called for on Sunday.

I've got firewood coming on Thursday while I set aside money to start buying coal for the colder months of December-February. It appears that will be the most cost effective form of heating this winter, even if I have to buy a ton each month. It's cheaper than my electric bills have run over the past 6 winters. In fact tonight I've got the fireplace going just to avoid turning the heat on when the temperature plummets for the next coupld days (and nights). It is cute to see all the pets come out and lay aloof in the living room while the woodstove keeps us all toasty. I guess they see it as comforting as well.

As I plan all of this I realize I will be doing a lot of it alone while Joe works in Virginia. I never imagined having to survive a winter in this Hell Hole without him. It just makes it that much worse to deal with. I know that the seasonal depression will be compounded by missing him, school drama, and work drama. I know Joe will be back and will be here to help when he can, but it's still hard. Casey doesn't shovel snow... I should probably start keeping a $20 in the house to bribe the guys from maintinance to run the plow up the driveway.

Quickie Weekend

Joe was able to come home this past weekend. It was so nice to be able to snuggle with him that first night. I think it threw all the pets off that he was home because they have adjusted to sleeping in his spot in thebed.

His first night home was Friday night and he got in much later than planned due to traffic jams in the great state that doubles as a parking lot... New Jersey! I made him ziti with meatballs for his first official dinner home. What can I say, I have to feel my little meatball some meatballs! Then we just laid on the couch and watched Futurama.

Saturday was like our normal routine had just fallen back into palce. His father came upin the morning to help chop some firewood. About half of it got done because the wood wasn't seasoned. We're going to wait a month or so before trying to chop the rest. We did grocery shopping in the afternoon, had lunch at the Milford Diner followed by  ice cream at the Milford Dairy Bar. It was such a beautiful day out. I couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend. I had to work that night and Joe headed off to watch the UFC fights withthe boys.

Sunday I got home at 8am and he had to leave at 8:30. It was sad to have to say goodbye to him. I felt like I barely saw him. In the time since he left I've had horrible nightmares. Monday night they were so bad I almost called him in the middle of the night to make sure that everything was ok. in the nights since the dreams have subsided. I guess it's just my mind really missing him.

Lost Woobie

I'm lost without Joe right now. He left for Virginia this past Friday morning. He was originally going to leave on Thursay, but that was our 4 year anniversary and I was heartbroken that he might have to leave that day. I'm happy I was able to convince him to stay the extra day.

Our last day was marked by a meeting with the insurance adjuster from Liberty Mutual about my water logged interior in the Eclipse. It's going to get fixed because if we had to pay out of pocket, I would just be dealing with a moldy car. Who knew a car could get so soaked just sitting in a driveway in a hurricane?

After that we had at late lunch at the Gem and Keystone. We both opted to try something new on this visit and the food did not disappoint us! Then it was off to home. I have to admit that I was having a hard time being happy. All I could focus on was that he was leaving the next morning. After moping in the bedroom for a half hour or so, he pulled my into the living room to watch Rocko's Modern Life. Yes, cartoons make it all better.

We headed to bed early because Joe was having lower flank pain. Pretty sure he's got a kidney stone now since the pain hasn't eased. I've got him applying a heating pad, taking ibuprofin every 4 hours and alternating cranberry juice and orange juice with water in between. I know that he is doing ok, plus that's what he tells me, but I still worry. I've had chronic kidney stones since I was 18 and I know how painful they can be, so my heart is aching for him. It's killing me that I can't be there to make him feel better and help him.