mary

Good morning, Y’all!

Well, tomorrow morning I’ll be heading back to
Fort Wayne to get ready to move our stuff down here.  My housekeeper called yesterday (haven’t found a housekeeper here yet…gonna have to work on that).  She and her friend have most everything packed.  I told her to wait on the bed, the bathroom and some of the kitchen as I’ll need those things while I’m there (oh, and the TV and computer…gotta have some form of entertainment!).  So, there won’t be much for me to do, but I have utilities to get transferred back to the landlady and cable boxes to return…things like that, so I have to be there on a couple of weekdays.  I’ve already had our mail forwarded and changed the address on our credit cards and such.

So really, there’s not much reason to be heading up this weekend except the trip will be easier than on a weekday.  I won’t have to worry about commute traffic.  And even though I could make the trip in one day, I’m gonna break it into two and spend the night along the way.  I don’t want to over do it.  Yeah, I’m learning, finally.  I’ll drive about 8 hours tomorrow (with stops) and then only have about 6 hours to drive on Sunday.

Micheal will fly into
Indianapolis Wednesday evening.  He’ll get there about 7:30.  It’ll take a little over 2 hours to get back to Fort Wayne from there, so we’ll stop and have dinner before leave
Indianapolis.

Thursday morning we’ll pick up the moving truck.  Our housekeeper already has a couple of guys to help Micheal load the truck so it shouldn’t take long.  We’ll head out as soon as they’re finished.  We’ll stop along the way and spend the night and get back here sometime late Friday afternoon or early evening.  A couple of the guys that work for Micheal have volunteered to help unload the truck so they’ll be here early Saturday morning.  I’m gonna have the rental people come pick up the rental furniture that morning so we’ll have room to get everything in.

We did go shopping last Sunday.  We bought a beautiful light cherry entertainment center and a coffee table and end tables that match it.  They’ll be delivered the Tuesday after we get back from
Fort Wayne.  They cost a lot more than I would have spent, but Micheal said we can afford a few nice things for a change, so why not.  We’ll eventually buy a bedroom suite and a few other things.

Micheal is planning on us doing some entertaining so it’ll be nice having things to really be proud of.  And we have plenty of room here for that.  We even have a nice large covered patio in the back.  We’re gonna get one of those free-standing outdoor fireplaces to use out there.

I’ve been trying to watch what I eat.  I’ve been eating a lot of salad the past couple of weeks.  I don’t have my scale here, but judging from the way my clothes fit I don’t think I’ve lost anything but I’m sure I haven’t gained any more weight back.  So that’s a good thing.  After we finally get settled in, I’m gonna start concentrating more on making that scale go back down and keep going down.

Well, I’m gonna go read a few blogs then pack what little I’m taking with me tomorrow.  I’ll post again after I get back.

Y’all have a great day!!!

Good morning, Y’all!

I think we’re finally gonna be able to take it easy for a few days.  The past few days have really been exciting…I’m being sarcastic, if you really want to know.

Thursday evening I was cooking dinner and Micheal was putting new locks on the doors.  You had to jiggle the key in the lock to unlock the front door and the back door wouldn’t lock at all.  Anyway, I was standing there at the stove and I could hear water running.  It was raining pretty hard so I thought maybe Micheal had left the front door open so I walked into the living room to see.  No, it was closed, but the sound was louder, so I headed down the hall and looked in the front bathroom.  The toilet was overflowing and the tub was full of nasty water.  I yelled for Micheal and he came running.  He stopped the toilet from running and I grabbed the cheap mop I’d just bought but it wasn’t doing any good at soaking up the water so I went to the other bathroom to grab the few towels we have here.  The shower stall in the other bath also had water standing in it and it was just beginning to run over into the floor.

I think I’d said before that this house has hardwood floors all through it except the kitchen and the bathrooms.  The kitchen has linoleum and the bathrooms are tiled.  We were busting our humps trying to keep the water from running out onto the hardwood floors.  Luckily there is about a half inch rise at the edge of the tile in the door way…a sort of lip that was keeping the water in the bathroom.

We finally got the water mopped out of the floors and Micheal started plunging the toilets and the shower drain.  There was so much sludge in the tub and shower that it just wasn’t funny.  We finally got the water down but the mess in the tub and shower was truly nasty.  While Micheal was working on the plunging, I called the landlady.  She wanted to put us in a hotel for the night but we just didn’t want to go.  We’re both tired of hotels.  We had it where the toilets were usable and that’s what mattered.

The landlady arranged to have the sanitation department come out and check things out, which they did.  They said everything on their end was fine and that we needed to have our landlady take care of it on her end.  He did say if it happened again to call them immediately, 24/7 and not to try to drain it so they could check it under those conditions.  But everything was running fine so we thought it was just one of those things, til Friday night.

Micheal had to work Friday night and I decided that would be a good time to wash all the towels we’d used mopping up from the night before (actually this was about 1:00 Saturday morning).  Just as soon as the washer started draining I could hear water bubbling in the front bathroom.  I ran to the washer and shut it off, then headed for the bathroom.  The tub was filling up again and water was coming out around the base of the toilet.  The shower in the other bath had water in it again, too.  So I immediately called the sanitation department.  They came out and checked things again.  They said the drain on the edge of the yard was bone dry so the pipes had to be blocked somewhere under the house or between the house and their line.  Great.

About 8:00 yesterday morning I called the landlady.  She sent a friend of theirs out with a snake to clear the lines.  Barry finally got here around 2:00.  After almost 2 hours, Micheal called her and said she needed to call a real plumber because Barry wasn’t making any progress and didn’t know what to do next.

Well, the plumber finally showed up about 7:00 last night after Micheal had gone back to the office.  After 2 hours the plumber finally had the lines completely clear.  He called the landlady and told her that there were roots growing through the lines in the yard and it all needed to be replaced.  He also told her what kind of mess I had in the tub and shower from the backups (there was about half an inch of sludge in the shower in about a 16 inch circle around the drain).

Now, here’s the good part.  The landlady called a professional cleaning service and they’re gonna be here tomorrow to give the entire house a thorough cleaning – top to bottom and end to end!  I was dreading having to tackle cleaning that mess and now I don’t have to.  I did have to clean the shower in the master bathroom so we could use it, but now I don’t have to worry about scrubbing the tub and floor in the front bath.  The cleaning service is gonna take care of all of that, and they’ll clean the mess on and in the cook stove that the previous tenant left that I’ve been working on!  Would you believe I was planning to call a cleaning service myself?  I knew it would hurt me too much to try to take care of it all myself and now I don’t have to, and I don’t even have to pay for it!

So we’ve had an exciting few days.  Micheal got home from work a couple of hours ago.  He’s sleeping right now but after he wakes up we’re gonna go shopping for some new furniture.  We’re gonna get a new bedroom suite instead of keeping the rental, and we’re gonna get a coffee table and end tables for the living room.  And we’re thinking about getting one of those movable kitchen islands with a butcher block top.

Tomorrow I’m gonna sit here and relax while the cleaning service does their thing.  That’s gonna be nice.  I’ve been on the run ever since we moved in and I’m ready to relax a little!

I’m gonna go read a few blogs.  Y’all have a great day!!!!

Good morning, Y’all!

Before anything else, I gotta tell ya that I got to talk to Nikki last night!  She really sounds like a sweetheart!  And we’re gonna meet in December!  Micheal’s Grandfather has a timeshare in
Fort Lauderdale and he and Micheal’s mom, aunt, uncle and brother are gonna spend the first 2 weeks of December there.  We’re gonna drive down the second weekend to see them and we’re gonna meet Nikki while we’re there.  And I’ve gotta say that I’m excited!!!!

We finally got moved into our house, somewhat.  I’ll be going back up to Fort Wayne the end of next week to help my housekeeper finish packing then Micheal will fly up the following Wednesday.  By the end of that weekend we should have everything moved in here and set up pretty much the way we want it.

I sure am tired!  For the past several days I’ve been out running around at least part of the day every day.  Yesterday after the cable guy left I had to go get cleaning supplies and groceries.  But I played that smart.  At the grocery store, I made sure they packed the perishables separate and that’s all I carried in when I got home.  I left the rest for Micheal to bring in!

But today I’m staying in and resting.  I did finish unpacking a container of kitchen stuff this morning, but that’s it.  No more for today.  I think I’ll even have Micheal pick up something for dinner or just let him cook.  It depends on how I feel this afternoon.

I’ve not been watching what I eat too closely the past few days.  We’ve been doing so much running that last night was the first time I’ve cooked in almost a week.  But I made sure to pick up healthy stuff at the grocery store yesterday…salad stuff, Brussels sprouts, tuna…and plenty of veggies.  So I’ll do a lot better now.

And we have a nice big kitchen, so we can both enjoy cooking, at least since I finally got the stove cleaned half-way decent yesterday.  You know I just can’t figure it out.  How can people be so nasty and not be embarrassed half to death about it?  I mean, the cook stove is gas.  Two of the burners units had so much stuff burned onto them that they were just black.  I had to get a wire brush to use to get what I could off of them.  I didn’t get it all off, but I got most of it.  And there was stuff spilled under the cooktop.  It was a mess!  And the shower stall in the master bath had mold and mildew allover the girt between the tiles, so that had to be cleaned before we used it.  I’d be embarrassed to leave a mess like that.  And what’s worse, the landlady had a friend of hers come in and clean the house before we moved in and she didn’t clean all that.  Pathetic!!!!  I just don’t understand it.   I’m sure glad I’m not like that.

Ok, enough venting.  I’m gonna go catch up on some blogs.  Y’all have a great day!!!!

Good morning, Y’all!

It’s been a busy week…renting furniture for the new house, setting up cable, and utilities, re-establishing a local bank account, and such as that. 

Then yesterday morning I woke up sick.  My chest was so congested I thought I’d die.  After Micheal left for work, I went to Wally World (maybe 2 blocks away) and got some Nyquil and kept myself doped up on that all day.  I slept most of the day.  I’m feeling a bit better today but I woke up with my back hurting.  Can’t win for losing!

We’re meeting the landlady this evening to sign the lease and hopefully get the keys.  As of Monday the current tenants hadn’t moved out yet, but the truck was there Tuesday, so hopefully we’ll get the keys tonight.  The current tenants are military so they’ve been waiting on the military to do their thing.  But the landlady said we would have possession by the 1^st.  I sure hope it’s tomorrow cuz I have rental delivery scheduled for Saturday, but I can always delay that if I need to.

I still need to go shopping for things we’ll need til we get our stuff moved down from
Fort Wayne – bedding, towels, paper plates, plastic ware, cleaning stuff, etc.  I hate buying some things cuz we already have them, but they’re in
Fort Wayne and we need them before we move our stuff down.   If we get the keys tonight, I’ll go shopping tomorrow.  Then I can just take everything over to the house.  Otherwise I’ll have to keep it all in the truck cuz there’s no room for it all here in the hotel room.

And we’re gonna go get the rest of our stuff next month.  My housekeeper is going to start the packing.  Then I’m driving back up to
Fort Wayne around the 11^th or 12^th  of October to help and to get things done there.  Micheal is gonna fly up the evening of the 17^th.  We’re gonna pick up the rental truck the morning of the 18^th,  load it up.  And we already have plenty of help to load it so it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours and we should be on the road by noon at the latest.

Now all I have to do is find somebody to help unload the truck after we get back here.  The gave us enough time on the truck so we don’t have to rush to unload it, and there’s only a few pieces that Micheal and I can’t handle alone, so we really won’t need much help, but I’d rather have somebody to help anyway.  That way I won’t do myself in and I won’t have to listen to Micheal complain about how hard it was on him to unload all of it by himself.  Yup, I know my hunny!!!

Oh, the furniture rental!  They had a beautiful 4-poster bedroom suite that I rented.  If we decide we want to keep it, the price is really good.  But we’ll have to take a good look at it and see how it’s made first.  I didn’t look that close.  I was just looking for something to get us by til we get our stuff down here.  And the smallest TV they had was a huge 50 inch flat screen.  That’s bigger than the new one we just bought a few months ago in
Fort Wayne.  But we won’t be keeping the rental TV.  We already have 2.

I guess I’ve bored y’all enough with everything.  But that’s what’s been going on the past few days.  I have been trying to watch what I eat, but that’s been difficult.  We have the kitchenette here in the hotel, but every time I start cooking, the smoke alarms go off.  Go figure.  I mean, just boiling a pot of water sometimes sets it off.  I don’t know why they want to put such sensitive smoke alarms in places like this.  That’s a bit ridiculous.  So I’ve done very little cooking and we’ve been mostly eating out.  That’s what’s made it difficult.  I’ll sure be glad when we get moved into the house so I can start cooking normally.

Oh, the house…3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a huge kitchen with a dishwasher, separate dining room, big front porch and large covered patio in the back with storage room, large yard both front and back (all fenced in with chain-link), carport with storage room and plenty of shade.  The house has all hardwood floors so I guess I need to put rugs on my shopping list.  I’ll go to the thrift store and pick up cheap temporary curtains and make some nice ones after we get our stuff moved down.

Ok, I’ll stop.  I’m gonna go read some blogs and catch up with everybody.

Y’all have a great day!!!

Good morning, Y’all!

It’s been a busy week here.  I was out running around every day except yesterday.  I’ve been finding my way around here and found two really nice malls, and that’s not counting the outlet mall just across the way here.

And we got a house.  It’s the one we looked at last Sunday.  The lady called yesterday evening and told me she would like for us to move in.  We’re meeting her there Thursday evening to sign a lease and then we take possession the first of the month…well maybe actually right then, since it’s so close to the end of the month.

We’ll have to buy a few things, and rent a few others til we get our stuff moved down here, but we’ll get by on the bare necessities.  We’re gonna buy another bed since we only have one anyway.  And we’ll buy a patio table and chairs to use in the dining room til we get our stuff moved.  We have our double recliner back in
Fort Wayne so we’ll probably just get a love seat for the living room and a coffee table.  A couple of place settings of dishes and silverware (or we could use disposable stuff) and we’ll be set.  We brought our own cookware to the hotel.  Oh, and we’ll have to have linens.  We’ll rent a TV til Thanksgiving since we have a practically new one at home.

Do I sound excited?  Yup.  We’ll be out of this hotel.  I think it’s some sort of record…living in the hotel just over a week and already found a house.  Nah, not a record.  Every time we’ve moved, we’ve found a house or apartment just before we moved or shortly after.  We were told the housing marked was bad and we’d have trouble finding a place, but that didn’t seem to be true.  You just gotta know where and how to look (and not be afraid to ask questions).

So I may be rather busy the next few days.  If it weren’t for a place to put things, I’d go ahead and start shopping for some of the things we need.  Well, I can still go shopping, just not buying!  Guess that would work.  And there’s a Sam’s just around the corner from where we are now so we can pick a lot of stuff up there really cheap.

I guess we’re gonna spend some time this weekend up there exploring the area.  It’s about 11 miles north of where we are now, but most of the good shopping is between here and there.  So that works.

I didn’t tell ya…the name of the town we’ll be living in is
Goose Creek!!!!!!

Well, I’m off to read some blogs.  Y’all have a great weekend!!!!

Good morning, Y’all!

I’m finally in
North Charleston and we’re temporarily settled into the Extended Stay Hotel and looking for a more permanent place to live.  We looked at one house yesterday that was pretty nice, but I just wasn’t sure about the neighborhood.  All the lawns were a bit overgrown, but Micheal said it was because of all the rain they’ve had here lately.  I hope he’s right about that because it wasn’t a bad house at all.  It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a nice kitchen, separate dining room and a nice yard, both front and back.  We could manage there very well.  And it would only be about a 15-20 minute drive for Micheal to work. 

I’ve got a call in on a place right now that’s a little farther out, but it sounds pretty good and it would be partially furnished, so we wouldn’t have to worry about renting furniture and stuff to hold us til we can get our stuff Thanksgiving weekend.

I got here Friday morning and I’ve been pretty much on the go ever since.  I spent Friday afternoon getting my nails cut, my hair trimmed and shopping for a few necessities.  Saturday we went shopping for more necessities and yesterday we walked around the outlet mall (about 2 blocks away) and then went to look at a house.  I’m tired.  Today I’m just gonna hang around here and take it easy.

I did enjoy my drive down, though.  I drove all day Thursday with the top down on the car.  It was funny…I started passing this big rig on the highway and happened to look up at the driver’s window as I passed (I couldn’t pass him quite as fast as I normally would because of traffic).  Anyway, I looked up at the driver’s window and he was taking a picture of me with his phone camera!!!  Now how wild is that!!!!!  I’m sure it was the car that caught his attention, but it was still a bit flattering!  And I did look kinda cute with my sunglasses, spaghetti strap top and the lace scarf tied over my hair!

You’d be surprised with the idiots out there on the road.  They see somebody in a sports car and think they can act stupid.  I had several people get really aggressive with their driving, kinda like they were challenging me.  I’ve never had that happen driving my Baja so I know it had to be the car.

I’ve done pretty good with the eating…not perfect but ok considering I was on the road.  A couple of hours after I got on the road Thursday morning I stopped and got breakfast… a ham & cheese omelet, hashbrowns and biscuits.  I only ate a couple of bites of one biscuit, about 1/3 of the hashbrowns and about 2/3 of the omelet.  I didn’t eat again til I got to the hotel.  I was so tired I didn’t want to go out again so I ordered a thin crust Hawaiian pizza and ate part of that.

The next morning (Thursday) I left the hotel and stopped for gas about an hour later.  I got a Little Debbie cake for breakfast (I know, not a great choice, but it was raining and I just wanted to get to
Charleston).  I didn’t eat again til dinner that evening after I’d arrived here, which was salmon and broccoli.  I also had a salad and a couple of golf ball sized rolls. 

So all in all I did pretty good while traveling.

Since then I’ve not done too bad.  Saturday and Sunday both we went to IHOP for breakfast – a ham & cheese omelet and hashbrowns both mornings.  Saturday night I had a taco salad (but I didn’t eat the shell) and last night we had Chinese.  Yeah, I know that wasn’t a good choice either, but tonight I’m cooking and we’re gonna have chicken and veggies.

So that’s what I’ve been up to the past few days. 

I’m off to read some blogs.  Y’all have a great day!

Hey Y’all!

I thought I’d better post and let you all know what’s going on cuz I won’t be on here for a couple of days.

I got the new windshield and the license plate for the Solstice today so I’m heading out first thing in the morning.  I decided not to go to
Arkansas right now.  Going by way of
Arkansas and spending a couple of days there would make it a 5-6 day trip.  I’ve been doing great the past few weeks and I don’t want to press my luck.  I’m gonna wait a bit so I can spend a little more time there, and maybe Micheal will be able to go with me.  Besides I’m anxious to see Micheal.  We both hate being away from each other.

As it is, I’ll leave tomorrow morning, spend the night along the way, and get there Friday afternoon.  He’ll probably be at work when I get there, but he’s gonna tell them at the desk that I’m coming and have them give me a key.

I may or may not have internet access along the way.  Connectivity in hotels is iffy at best.  And Friday evening I’ll have better things to do than to spend time on the computer.

Well, gonna go read a few blogs, then I’m gonna relax a bit.  I’ve been running a bit today and I should rest some before I head out tomorrow morning.

Y’all have a great day!!!!

Hey Y’all!

Well, Micheal just left for
North Charleston.  They told him it was ok to wait til Wednesday to start.  He’ll spend tonight in
Tennessee and drive the rest of the way in tomorrow morning.  We’ve already made reservations at an Extended Stay Hotel that’s only a couple of miles from where he’ll be working.  He’ll unload and unpack tomorrow afternoon and be able to be rested before he goes to work Wednesday.

This will be the first time we’ve spent a night apart since January when he was working in
Minneapolis.  I guess I’ll just rattle around here by myself til the paperwork comes in on the car so I can get the tags, then I’ll be on my way.  They’re coming Wednesday morning to replace the windshield on the car.  That’s the only other thing that would have held me back.

And when I go, all my frumpy clothes will still be hanging in the closet here.  What I packed for Micheal to take for me was mostly dressier outfits…nice blouses, skirts, a dress, dress pants, and one pair of jeans and one t-shirt.  I decided I was tired of looking slouchy all the time.  I didn’t pack very much.  I’ll go shopping after I get to
North Charleston and buy whatever else I might need, but no more jeans and t-shirts except for when it’s really more appropriate.

Tomorrow I’m gonna go get my nails done and see about getting something done to my hair.  My hair is so straight and thin that I need to do something…get some highlights, or a body wave or something.  No, not a curly perm…I don’t want that.  I’ve had them before and would rather have it straight.

In other words, I’m changing my image.  My husband is a professional and I need to dress like a professional’s wife.

As for my eating…I’ve done pretty good.  I didn’t gain any weight when we were on the road this past week.  Considering every meal was eaten out, I think that was doing pretty good.  I just hope I can keep that up the next couple of weeks.  I’m not taking my scale with me so I’m gonna have to depend on the way my clothes fit to tell if I’m losing or gaining or just maintaining. 

Well, I’m off to read a few blogs, then find something to keep me occupied so I don’t go nuts.

Y’all have a great day!

Erika, Ethan, Micheal and I all met for lunch today, and I have to say, Micheal and I really enjoyed ourselves.  We were in the restaurant for more than an hour and a half, but it didn’t seem like that lone. 

I’d called Erika last evening to set everything up, then called and left her a message telling her we were gonna be leaving a couple (or three or four) hours earlier.  I called her on the road and told her where we were and settled on a time.  And of course Erika was late!  Ok.  Micheal and I were actually early.  But Erika had given me Ethan’s cell number so we could call them if we needed to.  Guess what.  Ethan was sitting on in and didn’t even realize it had rang.

 Anyway, obviously we made it home ok.  We hit a lot of rain along the way through Ohio and on into Indiana.  Now we’ve both crashed on the recliner with a margarita and a movie.  We already had dinner.  Actually we let Pizza Hut do the cooking for us (one reason I made a sensible choice for lunch, Erika!).

Oh, and by the way…Erika is just as big a nut in person as she is on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Y’all!

Yeah, two days in a row!  Can you believe it?

We’re still in Virginia Beach.  We’ll be heading home early tomorrow morning, and on the way we’re gonna stop off so Erika and I can meet each other.  I’m really psyched about that!!  We’ve driven within 50 miles of her a couple of times before but weren’t able to coordinate a meeting.  This time we’re gonna do it!

And, hopefully before too long after I get to Charleston, I’ll be able to meet Nikki!  We’ll be a few hours apart, but if we meet somewhere in the middle it will be doable for both of us. 

It’s so nice to have a chance to meet some of my Buddies!  I feel like I already know those two, but this will be the icing on the cake…and no, we won’t be eating cake when we meet…haha!!!  I don’t know that I’ve ever met any of my Buddies before.  No, wait a minute.  I met Tamera when we were in the DC area this past February!!

Micheal and I are looking forward to going to North Charleston.  I think we’re gonna like it there.  And for at least a few months we’re gonna be staying in an Extended Stay Hotel right next to an outlet mall.  I’ll be in shoppers heaven!!!  And most of my favorite stores are all within 10 miles of there…Big Lots, Tuesday Morning, Dollar Tree, Borders, Catherines, just to name a few…so I won’t have any problems occupying my time and getting in a little walking!

I’m gonna go read a few blogs now then get to bed.  We have to get up early in the morning.

Ya’ll have a great weekend!