Checking in from PA

We're back in PA for a couple of days staying at Granny's house. Still don't know when we'll have our own internet, but Subway has free wireless, so we've been lurking around their parking lot. The move was stressful, but everything is there except us, the cars, the kids and the cat. We're all heading out for good on Sunday morning. Two friends from church came down with us and helped us with the move. The four of us moved everything in except the piano, for which we enlisted the help of a guy down the street who made the mistake of standing on his front stoop. While the garage is piled pretty high with boxes, everything is physically on the property, so now we just have to figure out how to arrange it. As a welcoming gift, the AC wasn't working in the house, so it was a pretty steamy move in. They SHOULD have it fixed by the time we return. Overall, things went remarkably well. We met up with the realtor today and received our check from the closing, so that end is tied up as well. Chugging right along! Still left to do, besides all the unpacking, is find new health insurance, car insurance, renter's insurance, driver's liscenses, car registrations, enroll the kids in school, find new doctors, dentist, eye doctor, and figure out how to get a good deal on phone/internet/TV. Don's being a little obsessive about that last one. Oh yeah, and he needs to find a job. Really fast. So, other than that, things are going great! I'm so grateful to Butch and Evy for coming with us, and to all the other folks who helped out on the Pittsburgh end. Moving bites.

Check - next item...

The cat has been successfully rabified. We shut him downstairs for the morning, then boxed him up for the trip. He was surprisingly quiescent and hardly put up a fuss at all. He was pretty freaked, and hid his head as much as possible, but didn't try to run away. The attic is almost emptied. I think I made about 50 round trips from the third floor to the first. I'm starting to hurt. We ate chicken nuggets, fish and meatballs for dinner. With a side of raisins. Scooby got to hang out with his friend Kaylyn today for awhile. He had fun, but came home sad. I bought my first textbook online yesterday. Most of them I think I'll get from Amazon, but they didn't have this one. I have auditions the first day and a test the first week. Need to start getting my head into school/work gear. Soon. A couple more days, I hope. Don is downstairs packing. Finally! They gave him a little going away party at work yesterday, with a cake. That was nice, and more than he expected.
Computers will be disconnected tonight, but I should have my laptop and be able to post from that when I can.

Tick Tock

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock...

Three days and counting. The sandbox is cleaned out and ready to go. The attic is all boxed and swept out, except for that one corner of Don's stuff. The wardrobe in the bedroom is empty. The kids rooms are cleaned out down to bare furniture and the only toys out are Legos, Lincoln Logs, blocks and Barbies. The living room is packed, except for the computer. The kitchen is half packed. Utilities have been notified at both locations. Tomorrow I transfer prescriptions and pick up kid's medical records. Cat is scheduled for booster shots this afternoon. Post office has been notified. Magazine subscriptions have been notified. Late thank you notes with new address included have been mailed. All nails and hangers have been removed from walls. To do this weekend: Confirm rental truck. Finish packing kitchen. Pack suitcases for kids to have at Granny's. Pack computers and desk area. Pack bathroom stuff. Return library books and redeem "book bucks" rewards at library. Break down swingset and put out for trash. Cut grass and trim hedges. Pack all of Don's stuff - bedroom, that corner in the attic, and pretty much the entire basement. Clean clean clean. The other 9.000 things I'm forgetting.
Tomorrow is Don's last day of work.
Tick tock. Tick tock.

Today

Going over to Joe and Barb's for a goodbye picnic. Reality starting to set in! Any ideas on how to best transport the cat?
We gave up on the idea of trying to be back by 11:00am for the closing on Thursday (Really? They couldn't move it later in the day? REALLY???) so we're signing papers ahead of time. Therefore, there's no real reason we both have to come back when we take the truck down. Maybe one of us will stay down there with the cat, and the other will bring the kids. Otherwise, the cat will have to live at Granny's for a couple of days. That should be interesting...

Friday night

We took the boys to a Pirate game last night as a late b-day present for Tarzan. We got poured on while standing in line, but almost as soon as we sat down we were presented with this:

Scooby wished for a long game with extra innings...and he got what he asked for. 14 innings later, the Pirates won 2-1 with a homer hit into the river. Quite a spectacular ending to an otherwise pretty boring game. Good fun was had by all.

House ps:

It no longer has a hot tub.

The house

Although we haven't signed the lease yet, our application was approved, so I'm going with the assumption that we have an address to go to at last!

Here are a couple more pictures:

It has a garage, it has a fireplace, it comes with a wooden playset, and, although we probably won't use it much, it comes with an outdoor hot-tub!

Right now, our tentative plan is to pack up the moving truck on the 27th, drive it and one of our vehicles down there, unpack, drive back here for the closing on the 30th, then drive down with the kids and the cat. All that could change, of course, except for the fact that we have to be out of here by the 30th.

One more bite of the elephant eaten...

Maybe?

It's entirely possible that we may have a new address soon.

I overnight mailed the rental application today - and we should find out the results before too long, Monday at the latest. I hope. It was a tough decision, but in a good way this time, with three viable possibilites to choose from. I'll post more details when we find out if our application is accepted. But this might, maybe, possibly be our next home...

House hunting

Note to self: Next time, before driving for 8 hours, have a better idea what square footage means and how small 1,200 sq ft. really is. Houses in our price range are tiny. At least in the good schools. So, we have a possibility for one, but it's pretty ratty and the school is only okay. I think I may have to go down again next week, and keep looking. Not that there's that much more to look at, but something new may pop up. I found a nice looking possibility on Craigslist yesterday, but when I talked to the woman she was kind of a b*&*ch, and I have a feeling it's not going to come through. Discouraging! Wish we were in Norwood this weekend...