Cleaning & Packing Day 12

7 Days left: Still nothing new to report on the house. No packing done. At a stale mate with it I think.

The big news is, I got my license back today, which means I can drive again WooHoo! It only took me an hour of sitting in the sec of state. I hate those damn pink slips, they suck! If you don't bring everything with you the first time you go, you should have to wait in line on your next trip just like everybody else. You shouldn't be allowed to cut just because your dumb. Also, while we where in the parking lot, someone hit the van. We didn't get to see who it was, but the left a black mark on the bumper, and a little dent. It pisses me off that people can be so stupid as to back into a parked car. It's fucking parked! How the hell can you not know it was there? Not like it's small.

Any way, that's the news for today.

Ok, so I lied, I did manage to get somethings packed. I just didn't do it before I posted this. I packed up three boxes in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. Yippie.

Cleaning & Packing Day 11

8 Days Left: This post should have been made yesterday but I just didn't feel like doing it. I didn't get anything done on the house yesterday. I think I've reached the point that I can't pack anymore until we are ready to start moving. Most of what is left has to stay out until it's closer to the move time. It's stuff we still use. Might break down both the stereos today, along with the computers. They don't get used at all and it ones more thing off the list.

Think I'm going to make a check list for the rooms. This I think will help me stay organized. Or, it won't help one bit. But, I think it'll help greatly.

Cleaning & Packing Day 10

9 Days Left: Today was jam packed full of stuff. Mike and I spent most of the day out side. We found a squirt gun that the people who live here before us left behind. Mike spent most of the day squirting stuff. It was one of the pumpable super soakers. It took Mike about 10 mins to pump it enough to fire, and about 30 seconds to blow all the water out of it. Because we where out side I didn't get much done in the house during the day. I did work on packing some of the stuff in the garage up. I have the Halloween decoration sorted out and boxed up. I inflated the balloon we have to make sure there where no holes in it before I packed it up. If we're gonna live a busy street in Brighton, we can decorate for Halloween and have people see it. Mike and I washed the van, it's not spotless, and Terry would be disappointed in the job we did, but you can see out of all the windows.

Other then that I managed to pack up some more of the DVDs and some of the bathroom decorations we had. I would still be packing but I ran out of tape. With out tape I can't put the boxes we have together. Makes it harder to pack a box when it's broken down. Thats one more thing down. I still have yet to get into the kitchen to do the stuff in there. It's like something is acting against me, trying to force me to keep out of it. Maybe it's fate telling me I need to leave the kitchen to Cameron so he can throw all our food away, except the bag of cheese I'm leaving in the bottom drawer to get moldy. He'll probably keep that.

Cleaning & Packing Day 9

10 days until the move: The guy that was supposed to look at the house today actually showed up. Kevin took him on the quick tour of the place. Showed up all the high point. The guy wanted to place, and they sat in the drive way and filled out the lease. He moves in on the 10th, so we have until then to get all our stuff out. It gives us 3 days to move everything out from the point that we can start moving until we have to be out.

Three days isn't bad. After all we still have 10 days to pack and the house is mostly clean. We pretty much have the house packed up to the point that we don't have anything out we don't need. With the exception of the Kitchen and some DVDs. Tomorrow I'm going to pack up all the spare food in the cupboard and all the pots and pans. I've packed up a lot of the plates and stuff. Other then that I think we're waiting until the last few days for the rest. As I've said before I don't want to be packing and moving at the same time. I'd like to have this place packed up by Thursday so we can just start moving Friday.

Hopefully we can get the trucks to do the moving with. If I get my license back by then I may be able to borrow my dad's. He's a bit picky about it and won't let anybody be me drive it. Guess he figures people will wreck it.

I didn't really do anything today. I've had one of those terrible head splitting pains all day. I've taken at least 12 ibuprofen over the day. It's done nothing to dull the pain. Thinking of robbing Jen of one of her percocet. I've literally spent the day on the couch doing as little as I possibly could. Mike spent the day on the couch with me watching the cartoon DVD we bought him. It's a nice set with old cartoons. Popeye, Betty Boop, Might Mouse, Woody Woodpecker and Superman. I never realized until today how much Betty Boop's voice grated on me. It's like nails on a chalk board.

Jen is bed ridden for the second day in a row. If things follow the correct pattern she should be good tomorrow and Thursday, then be back to feeling like crap by Saturday. Hope one of these doctors will find something to help her. I hate seeing her sick like that.

An interesting side note. From what I gathered from the conversation between Kevin and the guy that is getting the house. He's moving up here from Florida because he works for Harley Davidson and they offered him a store. He's come up to manage it. Now Kevin sells office equipment like copiers and computers and things of that nature. They had a nice long conversation about what the Brighton Harley store needs to upgrade. It appear that this guy who's getting the house is the new manager of the Brighton store. Or at least, that's the way it appears to me. He liked the house because we are so close the Harley store.

And thank you Jess and Liz for the home made noodles. It'll give me something to feed Jen at 2am when there is nothing else in the house she wants or can eat. With any luck she'll be able to eat them.

Cleaning & Packing Day 8

11 days until the move: Today has been rather productive. I started cleaning around 10. And spent the rest of the day trying to get the house cleaned up for Kevin to show. He was supposed to show the house between 5:30 and 6:00. The kitchen has been cleaned again, the floor swept and mopped. I even packed up some of the spare dishes that we don't need. A few lose odds and ends.

The dining room has also been cleaned out. All the extra garbage laying around has been tossed into the trash, and the other stuff got packed up. I swept the floor but no mopping. I also swept the entry way, and moved all the packed boxes from the living room into the dining room where they would be out of the way.

The bathroom has been cleaned. I washed the counters and toilet. I packed up all the stuff on the shelves that I could fit into a box. I need to mop the floor in there I think. I cleaned the counters and toilet in the back bathroom also.

Tragedy struck when I was vacuuming the carpet in the living room. The belt on the vacuum broke. I was due time, I'd been expecting it. I found the book and the spare belt they gave us and replaced the belt. After cleaning out the filters and emptying the tank on the vacuum I finished up the living room and worked my way down the hall way. After the hallway I popped into the computer room. Which doubles and the cats room. About half way through the room the vacuum started smoking and I heard a snapping sound. After taking the vacuum apart I found that the roller on the brush broke off. It is apparently made of really cheap plastic that melts really easy.

After the day spent packing and cleaning Kevin showed up and informed me the guy that was supposed to look at the house isn't coming until tomorrow. So now we have until 3:00 tomorrow to clean up. Which gives me time to vacuum the down stairs. Cam went looking for the right part, and when he couldn't find it he just bought a new vacuum.

Kevin pointed out a few things that need to be straightened up, but nothing I didn't know about anyway. So I guess it's more cleaning for tomorrow. With any luck I can get it done in time.

Cleaning & Packing Day 7

It's Sunday: I didn't do anything on the house today. I was thinking about it, but decided to take a break instead. We didn't wake up until a little after noon. Considering that we went to bed at 11:00 it's quite a bit of sleep. I didn't make it out of bed until what ever time Mike got home. He and I played some games, he got a bath then went to bed. I didn't do much after that.

I've been hanging out in the living room for the last two hours because Jen is ill, she hasn't felt good all day. She is asleep, or trying to sleep at least. I'm not even remotely tired, so if I stayed in there, I'd just toss and turn and keep her awake. This is one of the few times I think it's best not to be in the room with her. It would just make her feel worse.

Cleaning & Packing Day 6

I packed up some of the magic cards in the dining room, and the angel on top of the entertainment center. Other then that I didn't really do anything productive. I was so drug out that I couldn't motivate my self. Hoping to get more done today. Maybe with some luck Sunday will be a good cleaning day for me, as I got almost 12 hours of sleep.

Cleaning & Packing Day 5

Hmmm... for today...

Let see, I did a little on the computer room, boxed up all the CDs and Books in there. As well as all the clothes in the closet and my magic cards. Tomorrow I'm going to take my computer down and pull the desk apart so we can move it. The only other thing that really needs to be moved from the room is the two fish tanks.

I also did some of the bedroom closet. Packed up the board games and all the clothes that where hanging up that we won't need until after the move. Got most the stuff off the ground and the shelf. All together I packed 2 boxes in the closet and two trash bags worth of cloths.

Not much else to add. Some reason I'm really drug out today. Everything seems hazy and disconnected. I've been having a hard time keeping my concentration on anything. I keep dozing off, or just zoning out. Not sure what the cause of it is. Jen says it's cause I'm not used to working anymore.

I may end up adding to this if I pack more tonight, but I don't really plan on it. Though we have the paper delivered to the house, so I might work on packing some dishes.

Cleaning & Packing Day 4

I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked to. I managed to get the entertainment center cleaned off for the most part, everything except the stuff we use on a regular basis. I also packed another box of Mike's toys, and got all his winter clothes put away. Washed, folded and packed away more laundry. Other then that I didn't really get that much on the house done.

I am slightly agitated, this guy has called me about the escort three times now. The first time, two days ago he called and asked about it, then told me he'd call me back. Yesterday he called in the morning saying he wanted to come look at it, but needed to run to Lansing, and he'd call me back around 3:30 - 4:00, when he got home. He didn't call back until 7:00. Today he called again at about 8:00am, said he was running to Monroe and would like to look at it when he made it back, again around 3:30 - 4:00. He didn't call back until 7:30, I didn't get the message until 9:00. When I called him back he was still up for looking at it. He said he was about half and hour away, he would meet me there about 9:30 - 9:45. Cam and I ran out there, we got there about 9:45, he was nowhere in sight.

We jumped the escort to get it to start, I sprayed the inside with air freshener. The we waited. About 10:00 I decided to make sure it would move, so we disconnect the cables we had left connect to charge the battery, and I tried to move it. Now keep in mind I haven't driven a car in 6 months and I haven't driven a stick in over a year. Needless to say, I stalled it. We had to hook the cables back up, but it started. I took off and drove it around the yard once, then we let it idle. About 10:30 I decided to give the guy a call, his phone dumped me directly to voicemail.

As it had been running for half an hour I decided to shut the car off, again we waited. At 10:45 I tried calling again. Still just voice mail, this time I left a message telling him I was going to wait until 11:00 then take off. By 11:00 I was already pissed off, Cam and I packed up and he drove up to the house so he could say good bye to his Grandma. We took our time driving home, in case he called back.

We got home about 11:30. I'm not really that annoyed that he didn't show up, I wasn't really expecting him too, but a phone call would have been nice. I wasted almost 2 hours on him. It was the time I was going to use to pack some more. Now I'm not only still stuck with the escort, I'm screwed out of a day of packing.

Bastard!

On the up side, while we where there, Cam's uncle came out with a business card. He said the guy it belonged to wanted the escort, and had cash in hand. Said as long as it started it was good. I'm going to give him a call.

I'm tired, I'm sore, and I'm a little more then annoyed.

Cleaning & Packing Day 3

I did the math, if Cameron decides he's going to be able to cover the rent for this place another month it gives us 16 days until we can move into the new place. On the other hand, if he does not, and Kevin finds someone for the first of July, that only gives 9 days to get our stuff out. So, it's cleaning and packing every day from now until "D-day".

Let's see, today I started on Mike's room. We got the two big boxes of stuff by his bed sorted and re-packed. His book shelf is cleaned off, or at least the stuff that's supposed to be on it is packed. It has other stuff on it now. Some of his summer clothes are packed up, and I've started on his closet. Altogether I've packed 4 boxes in his room, I think tomorrow I'll try to get his room set, at least get everything we don't need packed. Started a little in the living room too. One of the DVD shelves is cleaned off, with the exception of the Twilight Zone boxed set, which I've left out for Jen. The small counter between the Dining room and the Kitchen is cleaned off, all the stuff in it packed, or moved else where to be sorted. Both of the Junk Drawers are cleaned out, I mean cleaned, I threw away a lot of stuff. It's amazing some of the things we have, for instance we have 3, yes 3, hot glue guns. Also, I found a brand new shaprie marker. You know one of those big fat ones that you can smell 3 rooms away when you open it.

With any luck we can have the whole house ready to go in 9 days. Of course that assumes we don't run out of boxes. Cameron was smart enough to keep all the boxes from the last move, at least the ones that were not destoried. He's also been bringing home boxes from work.

On a side note, for those of you that get the paper delivered to their homes, or buy them to read, could you keep them and pass them along. We have dishes to pack, and no paper to do it with.

James' Quote of the Day:

"Mike! You don't need to speak so loud, if you can't keep your voice down to an inside voice we're going to lock you in your room. That way we can still hear you, but it'll be quietly!"

More Cleaning and Packing...

Mmmhmmm...

Got the kitchen cleaned, all the dishes are done, even the ones from dinner tonight. Floor is swept and mopped. I'd forgotten how much I hate to mop floors. It's a fall back from working as a closer at McDonalds. Having to sweep up nasty day old food, and mop up a days worth of grease always sucked.

Bedroom is done too. Managed to get the floor vacuumed, the shelf is all cleaned off, except the last shelf of hard covers and the stereo. Jen and I went through both the dresser in our room and the one basket of stuff that was there almost as long as we've lived here. Filled up a 30 gallon trash bag of clothes we no longer need, perhaps to the trash or salvation army. Packed up another trash bag full of cloths to go to the new place. Hope we don't get them confused.

For tomorrow I want to get the dining room and the little hall between the kitchen and dining room cleaned up, and either the computer room or Mike's room. Maybe I'll pack up all Mike's stuff he doesn't need. With any luck we can have the house ready to be moved by the time we can start moving. We have to July 7th. Seems like plenty of time. But with the way things go you can never tell.

Also, if anybody has any spare boxes, or knows where we can come across some let me know? Boxes are always the hardest part to the move. I'd hate to have to drive up to U-haul and buy boxes.

Cleaning & Packing...

Started cleaning and packing today. Somewhere around noon I started on the bed room. Jen laid on the bed and talked to me while I did it, Mike was playing in his room. 3 hours and 2 trash bags later the Bedroom is close to being done. I've managed to pack two boxes of stuff, with a third and fourth box mostly done from the room. The desk is cleaned off, all the papers either filed away, boxed up in Mike's box of school stuff, or just trashed. We have three hampers full of clothes to go through. 1 dirty and 2 clean. Also there are 4 dressers I'd like to sort through, I know they are filled with clothes we don't wear. Still need to vacuum and work on the closet and bathroom.

Around 3 Jen wanted to nap, being worn out from the sorting she was doing, and just generally not feeling good. So I hooked up Ye ole' Nomad (Thanks Jess for the link to the plug in!) and moved into the kitchen. Washed the dishes again, and cleaned off the counters. Had to scrub and degrease the stove but at least it's clean again.

My goal for tomorrow is to finish the dishes from dinner tonight, re-wash the counters then sweep and mop the floor. I'd also like to get the bedroom finished, the closet and bathroom done. Also, if I can find some more boxes the pack up the book shelf in here. Last two moves we have made we where packing as we where moving. I don't want to go through that again. I'd like to be able to just load it all up and go with it. I'd also like to be able to get it all in one load of a truck and trailer.

If anybody wants a computer desk let me know, it's a nice corner desk, dosn't take up alot of room. Has built in CD slots, room for a scanner and printer, The cubby for the CPU fits a full sized server tower. We have two desks and only 1 computer that needs one.

It's too damn hot out.

It's 85, supposed to top out around 91. That's too hot, which is funny considering that I used to work outside in 100 degree weather. Seems like every year it gets muggier and muggier. Don't know why that is. I'm currently sitting on the couch wearing as little as possible and still I'm sweating. The house has central air, but it doesn't seem to work upstairs. If you stand in front of the vent by the steps you can feel the cold air trickling out of it. But nothing anywhere else in the house. When we first moved in, if you left the AC on it would make it cold enough you needed to cover up, and that's with it being 105 out side. Don't know how I'll deal with the heat. One of the down sides of being fat. I can handle cold weather, but hot weather sucks. I can't even find any of the fans from the old house, we used to have 5 or 6, now we have 1 which is in the bedroom. The heat is giving me a headache, and the headache is making me ill. Maybe a nice glass of ice water will do me good, assuming we have ice. I hope we do at least.

I could really go for a cherry slurpee from 7-11 right now. One of the super large ones. Mmmm... Slushy.

Seems Like...

Seems like every time we start to pull a head, or at the very least break even something happens to smack us in the face. Liz was here to help us clean up the place Tuesday, which was great. Shortly after she left I needed to make my bi-weekly call to Marvin, when my alarm went off to remind me I was in the middle of making food for the three of us, by the time I finished with the cooking I had forgotten. So no check Today, but I made the call in the makeup time. So it should be here Saturday or Monday. At least with any luck. My Mom offered to pay for my license last Sunday. Of course that was before she talked to my Dad, It's now Thursday and we still don't know if it's going to happen or not. She keeps telling me 'I'll let you know tomorrow.' Now it's coming down to deadline time. Soon they will start taking my unemployment checks.

Jen's getting disability checks, but they look like they are going to be small. She still can't go back to work because she still sick. Hopefully Tuesdays appointment will wield results. Can't work cause I got no license, can't get my license cause I got no money, can't get money cause I can't work. Evil circle of Death!!

I just want things to be better. Wish I was rich.

McPherson

Jen and I took a little trip to McPherson today, Dr. David wanted her to go in for a cat scan. After dropping Mike off at the grandparents we made it to the hospital at around 1:15. We where in the room pretty quick, about 1:30. This in it's self I think is a record for McPherson. Unfortunately nobody came back to check on us again until about 2:45. At which point the Dr. showed up, talked to Jen for about 5 mins and left. We pried the rings from Jen's ears and another hour or so later the nurse showed up to take her to the cat scan, she was gone for all of 15 mins later. At about 4:15 the nurse showed up to start the I.V. which Jen didn't need. She drew the blood and told us that they would be in soon to get her for the cat scan. Evidently nobody bothered to inform the desk that she already got it. Again we sat for what seemed an eternity until finely salvation arrived in the form of Troy.

You know Troy, works with Jen up in L&D. Not the E.R. Well he showed up to see how things where going. After a short conversion he left to 'talk to them'. Not five mins later the Dr. showed back up to tell Jen what was going on, and to prescribe the drugs. We where out of the hospital less then 20 mins later.

To make it short, don't ever go to McPherson, and if you have to go page Troy first. We are home, we have Mike, who is now in his bed. Jen and Cam are checking things out on the net. Hopefully it'll be calm for the night. If I can get Jen to bed early, and no one calls she may get a nights sleep. That's IF I can get her in bed.

Camping Trip

Jen wants to take a trip up north this week. Into the U.P. to see all the sights. Mike has never been up there to do any of it. Some of my fondest childhood memories are from the trips we took up there. My family and I used to head to St. Ignas at least once a year, sometimes farther. Sault St. Marie, Porcupine Mountains, Lake in the Clouds, and Tahquamenon Falls.

I think the trip could be fun for the Mike, even though it'll be a lot of walking. Good start to a summer vacation.

MQoTD (Mike quote of the day)

"Sometimes things just go bad Mom, like you."

Birthday Weekend

Well, it's Monday, which marks the end of my Birthday weekend. All in all it's been a good birthday. Better then most by far. Saturday started out good, woke up rather early, played some games with Mike and Mom. After a late lunch, in which Mike ate 20 pizza rolls, we took the boy to Grandma and Grandpa's. From there we headed straight to MJR to watch X-men III. While I don't think it was a good as the first two it was still a really good movie. So good in fact that Jen and I went and saw it again Sunday morning. After the movie Jen, Cam, and I went to Outback for dinner. I got a 14oz sirlion stake, mashed potatoes, salad, bread, and some cheese fries. After dinner we headed home for some 'quality time' before sleep.

Sunday we woke up late, about 12:30 I think. Sense we missed 'the code' we decided to head to X-men again. I think it was better a second time around. We headed over to Jen's parents for a birthday dinner. Enchiladas! They where yummy, in fact I finished them off for lunch today. Mom and Dad Davey got me Kingdom Hearts II, which I spent the better part of 5 hours playing this morning. Jen is currently playing it, as she missed the first two hours and is trying to catch up on the story line. Jess and Liz got my gift certificates for Outback, so maybe I can drag the wife there some time this week, or week end. Liz made me brownies for a birthday cake. They where yummy too. Gonna dig into some in a few mins. After that we went to my parents for about an hour. We had some cake and got a card. They gave me money which is the norm for them. After that it was home, Mike went to bed and we played some magic. At about midnight we went to bed, Jen fell asleep right off, but she needed it.

Today was fun, Mike got up at 8:30, I started playing Kingdom Hearts. At about 11 Jen woke up. We didn't really do anything else until 3:00. Then we went to the Nature Center to walk around, then to Kroger and home. I made burgers and corn on the cob. I ate too much.

Don't know if you read this or not, but if you do, Thanks for the gift certificates Craig!

Birthday Weekend

Well, it's Monday, which marks the end of my Birthday weekend. All in all it's been a good birthday. Better then most by far. Saturday started out good, woke up rather early, played some games with Mike and Mom. After a late lunch, in which Mike ate 20 pizza rolls, we took the boy to Grandma and Grandpa's. From there we headed straight to MJR to watch X-men III. While I don't think it was a good as the first two it was still a really good movie. So good in fact that Jen and I went and saw it again Sunday morning. After the movie Jen, Cam, and I went to Outback for dinner. I got a 14oz sirlion stake, mashed potatoes, salad, bread, and some cheese fries. After dinner we headed home for some 'quality time' before sleep.

Sunday we woke up late, about 12:30 I think. Sense we missed 'the code' we decided to head to X-men again. I think it was better a second time around. We headed over to Jen's parents for a birthday dinner. Enchiladas! They where yummy, in fact I finished them off for lunch today. Mom and Dad Davey got me Kingdom Hearts II, which I spent the better part of 5 hours playing this morning. Jen is currently playing it, as she missed the first two hours and is trying to catch up on the story line. Jess and Liz got my gift certificates for Outback, so maybe I can drag the wife there some time this week, or week end. Liz made me brownies for a birthday cake. They where yummy too. Gonna dig into some in a few mins. After that we went to my parents for about an hour. We had some cake and got a card. They gave me money which is the norm for them. After that it was home, Mike went to bed and we played some magic. At about midnight we went to bed, Jen fell asleep right off, but she needed it.

Today was fun, Mike got up at 8:30, I started playing Kingdom Hearts. At about 11 Jen woke up. We didn't really do anything else until 3:00. Then we went to the Nature Center to walk around, then to Kroger and home. I made burgers and corn on the cob. I ate too much.

Don't know if you read this or not, but if you do, Thanks for the gift certificates Craig!

Well, it's my Birthday.

So far today, my sisters called me to ask if she can have my birthday Money and I've spent the morning playing games with Mike and Jen. Not a bad birthday so far, except my sister calling. Also called the guy for the house back, I got to pretend to be the current landlord. I think he bought it, but only time will tell.

At any rate, Jen's held up in the room again, and I'm out in the living room with Mike. So far the Birthday is going slow.

New Place.

Well we went and looked at what will hopefully be our new place. All in all it's rather small, but I think we will have more then enough room, once we clean out some of the stuff we don't really need. The insides of the place we looked at where nice. The yards where nice, with the fenced in back yard we can let Mike roam with little or no worries.

If all goes well with the house we may be able to move in before this lease runs out. For once we may have more the 1 weekend to move. We have already started clearing out some of our 'unused' stuff. Jen went through 4 bags of stuff and manage to throw away more then 3/4 of it.

Hopefully we'll be ready for the move when the times comes. And maybe we can spend more then a year there, I really dislike moving.

Escort

Jen's trip to the doc's office took forever. We got there at 2:30 and didn't leave until 5:30. They ran more tests and gave her still more medicine. It would be nice if the could find out what she had and treat it so we could get her better. I'm sure she's sick of being stuck in the bed, not able to go hang out with her family, or work.

We got the escort moved, surprisingly after we hooked cables to it and gave it a jump it started right up. Of course the breaks where seized up and I had to rock it to get it free, but considering it hasn't moved in over a year that's not too bad. The inside of it reeked like mold, one of the back windows where left open just a little bit, but enough to get the inside wet. Add to that the cobwebs in a the back seat and you have a rather dirty car, lets not even mention the trash.

I had forgotten how bad the car sounded when we going down the road. I think it's on it's last leg. Hopefully we can find someone to buy it, but I don't see getting any real amount of money for it. With all it's problems it just doesn't seem worth fixing up. But on the other hand, it started right up after sitting a year, and the engine still sounds good.

My birthday is coming up Saturday, still no word from my family. Not that it really surprises me. I haven't had a birthday party or even a card from my family in over 10 years. My mother is the only one that usually calls on my birthday. My sister usually remember and calls me a week later. I expect that I will not hear a single word from any of them until Sunday at the earliest.

With any luck Jen will feel up to Outback and maybe seeing X-men III Saturday. But I don't have my hopes up. She seems to be ok out side in short spurts, but anything too long and she gets ill again.