A reason for the worry

Oh, how quickly a great evening can go to Hell.  And, after only a week, we made some grand leaps at becoming the talk of the town.

Brett got a speeding ticket last week.  65 in a 45.  Nothing seems to get through to this kid, so I was hoping the huge expense of this mess would ground him a bit.  He goes too fast, even when it's within the posted limit...it's too fast for him in that car.  It worries me to death every time he leaves in it.

Tonight, he wanted to go to a friends house, 15 miles away.  I said, "OK, but leave by 8:30 to head home."  He called about 15 minutes later, and said, "Mom, I almost wrecked my car."  Almost?  Huh?  He said that he went off the edge on one of the many winding country roads around here.  I asked the obvious, and he assured me that both he, and the car, were fine.  I told him to slow the hell down, and be careful.

At 8:50, he called, and Kevin answered.  Why hadn't he left to head home yet?  "My car's messed up."  Great.  We told him to head home, go slow, and be careful.  We watched from the living room windows as he pulled up in front of the house, with a cop behind him, lights flashing.

The cops gets out as we walk out the door, says Brett has a headlight out.  No small wonder.  He didn't "go off the road"...the kid farmed a ditch.  The passenger side is all jacked up, fender pushed into the door, several dents and scrapes.  The drivers side has damage to the fender, the door, and there is dirt and grass between the wheel and the tire.  The headlights are all messed up, one won't open at all, the other only partially.

Yes, he'll be sitting for a while.  I have the keys.  He had one week left on his job, then vacation with Dad's family, then starting a new, better job making more money.  Now he can't get there.  He owes his dad a great deal of money for the ticket and lawyer (to lessen the blow to his driving record) and the car, and he just picked up a "faulty equiptment" ticket tonight.

Plus, bonus of bonuses, I had a cop with flashing lights in front of my new house in my new neighborhood for about 20 minutes.  Joy.

A busy day

What a great day!  Natalie finally fell asleep at 1:00 in the morning, so I slept kind of late.  As we were relaxing, enjoying the morning, I find out that Linda was planning to leave at noon.  WHAT?  Why so early?  Apparently, Jonathan had to work this afternoon, so they had to get him home in time.  I actually cried a bit (the girls didn't see) and Monica got miffed about the shortage of time.  Natalie said, "I want to stay here, but I'm not going to get upset...but I can't talk about it any more."  LOL, me neither, sis.

After they headed home, Kevin started working on the yard.  Dad gave him an old riding mower (my dad is the coolest) and we borrowed his push mower for the VERY steep bank in front.  It was real hard work for Kevin, and I plan to do half of it next weekend. 

While he mowed, I weeded the whole flower bed.  That may not sound like much, but the part on the side of the house was full of clover!  It took a couple of hours to get them completely cleaned out.  Now I know how much room I have to work with (a lot!)  I also found this little plant marker that said some sort of cherry tomato.  I looked closer and saw a little tomato plant!  WoooHooo!  Gonna get some miracle grow out there on that one. 

Kevin is sore and beat, my hands are raw and sore, but we feel like we really accomplished something.  We worked on OUR yard.  Wow, that felt good.  One more time.  We worked on OUR yard.  LOL  I finished the night by going out for a short little ride on Buddy.  He was pretty darn good, too.  Fixed dinner, ate, and now I'm chillin' out, waiting for bed time! 

Seeing my kids!

Yeah, yeah.  I know.  Ecstatic again.  It's not an exaggeration, either.  I really am THAT happy.

Kevin's mom brought the girls home this weekend.  He got some awesome Royals tickets from work (yeah, it's the Royals, but it's still baseball) and invited his 85 year old Grandma, his mom, and his son Jonathan.  Linda got them here around 11 this morning, and they had to leave within an hour to head to the game.

It was so incredibly awesome to see my girls.  I couldn't hug them enough.  I get so nit-picky sometimes with them, but if I don't see them for a couple of weeks, I get pretty antsy.  Jonathan being here was a plus, and Brett decided to come home for the weekend, since everyone else would be here. WooooHoooo!

I have my new home filled with people I love.  After the baseball fans left to watch the Royals lose, I took the kids to mom and dads.  They were so excited to see Gramma and Grampa again.  It's been two weeks since they left, but three weeks since they saw them.  I think Mom and Dad were as tickled as the girls were.

I needed groceries (haven't bought any since 2 weeks before we moved!) so Natalie, Brett and I headed to the store.  Monica chose to stay at Grampa's house.  I spent a ton of money, but there is food in the house again.  Then we picked up Monica, and came home to get to work.

I helped the girls set up their rooms, while Brett did his.  It was a lot of work, and it was hot and very humid today, so we were beat by the time we were finished.  The girls were so happy.  Brett left for a while to see his Aunt Shauna, and the baseball fans got back home.  We had dinner, then my best friend in the world came to see my house.  Oh yeah, she brought her husband, too.  ROFL

Now, everyone is in bed.  Natalie is having a hard time.  First night in a new house.  First night in her own room (ever.)  To top it off, there's a storm moving through.  I feel so bad for her.  I spent about 20 minutes, letting her pick out stuffed animals, turning on a lamp, Brett opened the adjoining closet door so she could here him and Jonathan.  I think she's gonna make it, but she's so nervous.

I told her I'd go back down in 20 minutes to check on her.  She had stopped crying, and seemed ok.  Then, as I'm typing this, she came back up and said "Why can't you come down at 11:08?  Why does it have to be 11:20?"  It's gonna be a long night!  LOL

OK, I'm better now.

There is so much to remember when you move.  How many folks have my address?  I have to notify all of them of the change.  Plus put in the change of address at the Post Office.  Turn off utilities at the old place, turn them on in the new place.  Order new checks with the correct address, change email with all mailings and friends/family.  There's bound to be something forgotten, right?

First, I changed as many addresses as possible within an hour of closing on the house.  Even called on utilities.  Then, the next day, I find out that everyone in this town must have a PO box.  No mail delivery here.  OK, that'd be fine, except that I gave EVERYONE the physical address.  Then was a three-day weekend, so nothing could get done.

Tuesday, I concentrated on fixing this mess.  Add the PO box as a second address line.  Call everyone all over again.  This was a HUGE ordeal.  I had it all done.  Everything was covered, right? 

Wrong.

We got home last night and found we had no water.  Kevin told me that, and my heart sunk.  I was to call the water people about getting it in our name, and didn't.  This little town is so weird.  The guy is at city hall 3 hours a day, weekdays only.  I was given his home number by mom, and planned to call on Tuesday, to not interrupt his holiday weekend.  I mean, that's just rude, right?

Well, I not only forgot to call, I lost the numbers.  I IM'd mom to see if I left them there.  I hadn't.  She said that I put the paper in the pocket of my shorts on Sunday.  It's nowhere, so she got the number again.  I called the guy, and he basically said "yeah, you're screwed, dumbass."  OK, not exactly, but "go to city hall between 1 and 4 tomorrow.  Ummm, we work, but WTH.  All the time, I'm crying.  Mom gave me a bit of a hard time, which I'm sure she wouldn't have if she'd known I was balling like an idiot, but I dealt with it.

Thank God, it rained today, HARD.  People don't have lumber delivered when it's raining, for the most part, so Kevin took a long lunch and drove all the way out here to get water turned on.  $150 deposit!  That's insane.  Oh well, with the crowd that will be here thisweekend, we have to have water.

I washed my hair this morning with bottles of water.  Small bottles.  LOL  What a joke.  It worked, though.  We had 8 bottles left, and Kevin was nice enough to leave most of them for me.  I hate sponge baths.  I need a hot shower in the morning, but I was thankful that I didn't have to go to work completely filthy.  Gross.

How do you get a disconnect without ever receiving a bill?  Just plant your head firmly in your *** and you'll find out.  It's all good, now.  I flushed and everything!  WoooHoooo!  Now, to go take a real shower.  Ahhh, shower.

not ecstatic

It was a very rough day at work, followed by a very frustrating night at home.  I know that it'll all be OK tomorrow, and I get to see my kids this weekend.  That's all that matters.  I love my house, I love my husband, I love and miss my kids.  Jonathan and Brett will be here this weekend, as well as the girls.  I can't wait.

I need to relax.  The problem is my fault.  It's fixable.  Kevin will fix it tomorrow at 1:00.  It's not a big thing.  I cried and felt stupid all night, for nothing.  Heck, we've been through so much in our 10 year marriage, this is laughable in comparison.  Maybe I'll elaborate later, but not tonight.  I feel beat down, ridiculed, and stupid.  I hate that feeling.

At least, at work, I feel smart and needed.  I feel valued and important.  It'll be good to get there tomorrow and solve problems, instead of creating them.  If someone makes a mistake, I am very forgiving...if I make a mistake, I'll beat myself up for days.  I made a mistake.  It's not easy walking around with your head in your butt, take my word for it. 

There's so much to remember when you move.  How could one little detail get missed?  How could that detail (not so little after all, dumbass) cause such problems?  How could those problems cause such tension?

I need to go to bed.  I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of this.  OK, this is all very cryptic.  I'll explain tomorrow, when it's over.  Honest.

For Jim

Yeah, yeah, I admitted to "ecstatic" again.  So sue me.  This is to answer some of my brother's questions.

Pics at last

Pictures as promised.  Had some problems with AOL (go figure) but it seems to be up and running.  I know, 20 is overkill, but I'm just so...ummm, ecstatic?  ROFL