{Moving Day}

Moving is such a pain-in-the-arse...

No matter how many times you do it.

Some people only move once in their lifetime.

(...lucky bastards)

Some people move every two or three years.

They become seasoned veterans at moving.

(Like us...   *sigh*)

But it's all still a pain-in-the-arse.

We had the moving company scheduled to pack us out on June 14 and load the truck on June 15.  We've never been packed out in one day.  But they thought they could get it done in one day.  *shrug*  Okay... by 9:30am June 14, nobody had shown up yet.

So Dave made a phone call, only to find out that on their books it said we were scheduled for June 16 & 17.  We had an email confirming the 14th/15th... nobody has any idea or explanation as to how the moving company ended up with the wrong dates in their books.  So, we had to sit and wait two more days....

On the 16th, the driver shows up with a small truck, to which Dave promptly asks "where's the big truck??"  The driver immediately contacts his office (in Pittsburgh, PA) and tells them that we have *always* had a full size moving truck and that all of our stuff is not going to fit in the small truck.  They don't care... "make it fit" they say.  Two more times over the course of two days the driver calls back to ask for a bigger truck, two more times he is told "make it fit, we're not sending another truck". 

In the meantime, two guys show up to pack out the house.  TWO.  That's it.  But wait, it gets better... they do a walk-through of the house, walk out to their car, and LEAVE.  Just drove away without a word to anyone.  We have no idea why they left, but they abandoned us and the job.  The driver gets on the phone and within an hour he has a four person crew at the house to pack us out.

And. They. Were. Awesome.  

They busted out the whole house in about 6 hours time.
The garage was the only thing that was left to finish the next day.  

Day two - finish packing the garage, and then loading the truck...

...which was too small.  

So our shipment was split in two.
The main shipment left immediately for Wisconsin.
It was delivered in a timely manner.

The overflow shipment was picked up by a local company in Va Beach, and put into temporary storage until they can add it to another shipment coming to Wisconsin.  We don't know when we'll be getting the rest of our shipment... Dave has called them nearly every single day to ask them when we'll be getting our shipment.  Every single time he is told the same thing... as soon as a truck is headed this way, our shipment will be on it.  But he still keeps calling.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?

All of our household goods were delivered on the first truck.... the things that are in the second shipment were mostly garage items: treadmill, tool chest, grill, bicycle, patio furniture, an old computer, an old tv, wire shelving for the garage, a recliner, basketball hoop, pilates machine, bunk beds that my dad made, etc.  Nothing that we *need* right this minute, but I feel unsettled knowing that some of our stuff is still in limbo.  

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Retirement

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'....

(in)Courage

Four days.  Dave's retirement ceremony is in four days.  These past few weeks have slipped by.  I've lost track of time, even though I've been agonizingly focused on the calendar...  concentrating on all that needed to be done before the retirement and our move... in the process, I lost track of time.  Does that even make sense?  I don't know.


I have been stressing about the amount of stress my husband has been under.  He is worried.  I am worried.  Will he get a job here?  Will he get a job in Wisconsin?  Will we stay?  Will we move?  If we stay here, will we find a place to live in the same school district so the kids don't have to transfer yet again?  So many questions.


My Aunt & Uncle and some of my cousins lived through the Joplin tornados two weeks ago.  They lost everything, but they survived and lived through it.  Thank you Lord! I feel like we are going through a tornado of our own.  Nothing like the real life-and-death version they experienced.  More of a proverbial tornado.... life is whipping us around, pulling us in different directions, I don't know where we're going to land or what condition we'll be in in the end.


And then, today, I read this blog.... it came to me just when I needed it most.


It reminded me that God has a plan.
He is always in control.
He's God.


And I'm not.

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~Ink~

I've toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo for many years.  But you see, the problem is... well, I'm a big chicken.  The other problem is that I didn't want to get a tattoo 'just to have one' or because I wanted to be 'cool'.  I wanted to wait until I had a reason, until it would represent something significant in my life.

My trip to Ireland had such deep meaning to me... I want to commemorate it with some ink.  I think I've settled on a celtic harp... it represents my Irish heritage, my trip to Ireland, and also the importance music has in my life; my musical talent and the great appreciation I have for music.

Something along the lines of these:

I'm also trying to figure out how to incorporate Dave and the kids... I kind of like the idea of the three shamrocks symbolizing the three most important people in my life.  Maybe putting their zodiac signs inside each shamrock?  

I obviously haven't gotten it completely figured out yet, it's still a work in progress.  

But I'm excited to finally get my first tat.  :)

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~Elton~

Crossed off another wish on my Bucket List tonight.

We saw Elton John in concert at the Ted Constant Center.  *SHOCK*  

When the tickets went on sale about 8 weeks ago, they sold out within minutes... and I wasn't able to get any.  I was so disappointed.

And then Thursday night I was perusing Facebook, and I saw a post that said they released more seats for Friday night's concert!  

One problem... Dave was scheduled to have Duty on Friday night.  

A quick phone call to our friend, Colleen, asking her if she'd take his Duty....  she said "OF COURSE!"

(Thank you Colleen!)

Being a Friday night during Lent, we can't eat any meat.  I Googled and found a fish house within walking distance of the concert venue.  So we got there early, and walked 3 blocks to O'Sullivan's Wharf for a fish dinner.  YUM!  Walked in, and was told there was a 45 minute wait.  Urgh.  So we left, and walked the 3 blocks back.  We went to Starbucks and got a couple of cookies/brownies instead.  *shrug*

So our Friday night was spent sitting in front row seats, listening to 3+ straight hours of Sir Elton John.  We're calling it a late anniversary gift to ourselves.  :)  I must say, this has been my most favorite anniversary gift.  EVER.

Set list, typo: the year is actually 2011

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