July | 2009 | The Mac and Cheese Chronicles

A Message for the General

July 23, 2009
Lorri
3 Comments
Family Life

Boo’s buddy from DC is known far and wide on his mom’s blog as the General. He reads my blog because he thinks I’m funny. Smart boy. I like him alot.

When he and his family moved in April, he accidentally left a shovel behind in the HQ. Since his family is planning on visiting us in August, the boys decided to have the shovel packed up with our household goods so the General could retrieve it when they visit. I, being the totally involved parent that I am, knew nothing about this arrangement until the shovel showed up at our Colorado house.

So, General, we have some good news.

The shovel made it to our house.

The bad news is…
… it lost its head.

The good news is…
… you can always use it as a gun!

And the best news…
…the shovel head finally showed up!

Moving In

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. We’ve spent a ton of money trying to stimulate the economy through our home decorating efforts. Pillows for the reading nook, curtains for Pumpkin Girl’s room, a guest room bed for whichever Nomads turn up on our doorstep, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t even remember.

Then our stuff arrived. Pumpkin and I were looking out my bedroom window when a moving truck loaded with crates drove by. “Hey cool,” I said. “There goes someone’s stuff.” Then the truck slowed down and began to turn around. It was our stuff, of course.

The unloading went well and we were amazed to see what happens when you more than double your square footage. Every prior move to this resulted in our new home being crammed with boxes and misplaced furniture. We could barely move and sometimes had to unpack boxes just to be able to reach a bed or the toilet. Not so with this house! Not one room is overstuffed which makes the whole unpacking ordeal so much easier. And, to our great surprise and relief, we did not go over our weight allowance, but were under by about 2,000 pounds. Which is good because we have to pay by the pound for any excess.

Our stuff actually took up two trucks. Still less than 17,500 pounds!

While the movers were here, the children and I spent part of the morning on our deck. We watched the gliders from the Air Force Academy fly over us and spotted a deer behind the house.

(click the picture to embiggen if you can’t see the deer)

And now the days are consumed with unpacking. It’s painful. Even with a bigger house, it can be difficult to find places for things. It took me 3 days to unpack the kitchen. Just unpack – there’s still a little bit to put away. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and moved on to the linen closet and the children’s rooms.

And I desperately need decorating help. More on that later.

Pikes Peak or Bust

You will be happy to know that the rest of our journey west was uneventful, boring even. From Ohio we got to Missouri and stopped for the night and a swim in the hotel pool. The next two days droned on as Missouri turned into Kansas turned into Colorado. Hundreds of thousands of miles, or so it seemed, of endless farmlands. Corn, corn and more corn. We were focused on our goal, so we resisted the temptation of stopping to see the World’s Biggest Big Mac, the World’s Biggest Prairie Dog, or the World’s Biggest Van Gogh. However, we did ponder the ability of the World’s Largest Prairie Dog to eat the World’s Largest Big Mac. Finally we turned off the interstate and headed southwest, with Pike’s Peak barely visible in the distance. Colorado slowly began to distinguish itself from Kansas as the Rocky Mountains grew larger and at last we reached our new hometown.

As we made the final turns to our new home, my heart started to beat faster. It still seemed a bit surreal to be going home- our home – for the first time.

And so here we are. We’ve seen 7 deer, 2 were in the dry creek behind our house, 3 were in the park across the street and one was in the grocery store parking lot. Apparently there are coyote in the bluff behind the park, and black bears are not unheard of. The children have already put a hole in the hammock we bought from the previous owners.

The new roof that the previous owners are paying for is taking like 4 times longer than it should, but at least it’s getting done. We had the carpets deep cleaned and discovered that they are actually a lighter color than we’d thought! We also got the locks changed and the cable set up. All that we need now is our actual furniture and that will arrive on Friday.

The other evening we sat on our deck and enjoyed the cool mountain air. An occasional breeze stirred up the Aspen trees behind our house and it all felt so right.

It’s good to be home.

All’s Well That Ends Well

I really should know better than to make plans. God always seems to intervene and our first day on the road was no different.

First, we overslept, then took longer to load the car than we’d planned, leaving an hour late. We took it stride and gleefully called out goodbye’s as we passed the landmarks of our lives.

“Goodbye, Bolling AFB”
“Goodbye, poopoo plant!”
“Goodbye, Wilson Bridge!”

And then I promptly headed us in the wrong direction as I navigated Philip through the 95/495 split. And again as I sent us on the toll road through Pennsylvania. Oops.

Meanwhile, the human resources department from Philip’s probable employer finally called while we were on the road and made him an official offer, so he called them back while we stopped for lunch. This delayed us another 30 minutes.

And then, during a midafternoon potty break, Pumpkin Girl discovered that it hurt when she peed. Then within 5 minutes had to pee again. Which hurt even more.

Great ooglie booglie.

So while we gassed up, I got on the phone with our “insurance” company who informed me that I needed a written referral from our doctor to be able to go to an urgent care place, or sit in an ER all night. R-i-g-h-t. Government health care at its finest right there. Coming to a home near you.

My original thought was to keep calling back until I got a better answer when I realized that Wright Patterson AFB was right along the way and we could stop at their ER.

Which we did. Two and half hours later, we were back on the road, meds in hand, and arrived at our final destination for the day 30 minutes later.

11:00 PM. Five hours later than planned.

But all’s well that end’s well. By the end of the day we’ll be halfway through our trip and Pumpkin will be feeling much better.

Disconnected

I’ve been without internet access for almost two weeks now, since the base Temporary Lodging Facility(you us civilians call it a hotel) has a shocking lack of wifi. Thanks to my friend Jenn, who let me sit in her backyard and use her wifi while she was out of town, I’m here to let you all know that our move has gone well so far.

The packers only took 2 days. However, the movers took 14 hours, so the truck didn’t pull away from the house until 1:30 in the morning. Good times.

Pumpkin Girl’s dance recital was a lot of fun and Phil and Boo had a grand time at Cub Scout camp. Philip had his last day in uniform and we closed on our house. Last night we sat along the Potomac and watched the fireworks, surrounded by good friends. This morning we said goodbye to our church family and the parish where our children received a total of 5 Sacraments. The nice thing about Philip being in the choir was that we sung all of our favorite songs during mass.

Tomorrow we head out on a four day journey to our new home.

It’s a surreal experience, saying good bye to friends and to the Army, but knowing we’re saying hello to our first home and civilian life.

I can hardly wait!