Two Guys from Texas

Part 1-Minnesota
It’s Wednesday, one day before we are scheduled to hit the road, and I am sitting at my computer…about the only thing not packed yet. Although I no longer have internet, phone, TV…a life…I can still write my blog and post it later, right?!

I have been through this moving process before, but it is still a weird thing to experience. Talk about an empty nest!! I look forward to getting to the other end so I can begin to get my new “empty nest” ready for all the visitors from Minnesota!

Well, anyway, I have spent the last week watching 2 guys from Texas pack all our stuff and load it in a truck the size of Lake Mary…or, for my Pennsylvania friends…the size of Peck’s Pond. I have no idea why the moving company chose 2 guys from Texas to move us from Minnesota to Pennsylvania???

These 2 guys got to know us really well in just a few days, better than any of you know us…that’s for sure! They know all our secrets…you know…like all our hiding places for valuables and “stuff”…what kind, color, and size our under garments are (oh, wait, I think BG already knows that from the last move! Is my face still red??)...how many junk drawers we have…how much stuff we could stuff into any cupboard, closet, or cabinet…what kinds and types of “critters” may or may not have been living in our garage…and what kind of things we like to snack on when watching TV (remnants MAY be found under and inside cushions…come on ladies, I know you don’t clean there every week either!!).

They are great guys who work very hard AND fast…of course Lex was putting the pressure on a bit so that we could leave sooner…then, only to find out that it really doesn’t matter because the Money Pit won’t be ready for the Texans until Monday…and that’s stretching it!!

So, today they work at a slower pace. At this moment I am hiding out in the master bedroom, the only room with a place to sit (an old green recliner chair) watching “Oprah”, waiting to get kicked out so they can begin packing my sanctuary. A few of you that stopped by over the last couple of days got to visit with me up here….weird, I know, but it was quiet.

I have learned from experience that you get asked very strange questions when you are moving, even stranger than some of the whoppers your kids ask you when they are growing up. I guess they seem so strange because they are coming from grown men. Questions like... “Ma’am,”…in their best Texan drawl… “what should I call this room?” or “Ma’am, is everything in the garage going to be moved to the other garage?”...now, wait just a tick…I wasn’t sure how to answer this one…did he mean maybe we were leaving some of it here?…or did he mean I wanted it moved to…let’s say…the living room of the other house??? These 2 guys are sure entertaining!

Uh..oh…I am hearing the horn from the golf cart…sounds like it’s stuck. Maybe they will figure it out…nope…still beeping away. Guess I’ll have to continue this later.

“Ma’am, how do you stop this thing??” Beats me….LEXXXXXX!!!

Part 2-Pennsylvania
It is Sunday evening, my honey’s birthday, and I am sitting in my NEW master bedroom…seems like that’s the place to hang out lately…watching him build shelving in our closet. Not really a great way to spend one’s birthday, however we are preparing for the Texans who should be arriving tomorrow morning (not sure where they have been since Thursday, but glad their GPS is working!!) I spent the day cleaning cabinets, and pondering why the wood floors just won’t get clean.

The house is only partially done…we do, however have heat, electric and running water, which was not working until a few hours after we arrived. Trying to find a place to put all the furniture and boxes will be a big challenge tomorrow as none of the trim…I called it woodwork, but Lex told me the proper term... has been hung yet, therefore, everything must be kept away from the walls. I am certain that it all will go smoothly…just as certain as I am that Lex is celebrating his birthday just the way he dreamed…and without a cake or a card from his Doober (that’s me!). Tough day…the Giants lost to the Eagles, too!...but he only pouted a little.

More later…stay tuned!

It’s Monday….FINALLY after riding around Bath for several hours, the Texans found a place to park their horses. Because the monster moving van can not cross the bridge to get on to our property, they needed to find a large parking lot and have to shuttle our stuff to the house using a smaller moving truck. The unloading process will now take 2 days.

Highlights of Day 1-
 I am relaxing in my “Oprah chair”, as the taller Texan called it…you know, the old green one from the master bedroom in Minnesota. It is the only one unpacked so far. I think that this is the first time I sat down since we arrived on Friday!
 Today was the day that many of the contractors decided to show up for work. We had electricians, painters, drywall hangers, and roofing/siding guys all doing the two-step with the Texans. It was a bit like musical chairs without the chairs…I’m not giving up the green chair, and all the others are somewhere in Bath on a big truck!
 Lunch was getting cold, and the movers were in transit between the monster moving van and the Money Pit. My honey thought he would be nice and warm up the pizza for them. After pushing several buttons to figure out which ones turned the darn thing on, he put the pizza in the oven, and went on to the next task at hand. Uh…oh…I smell smoke! The pizzas, which were still in the boxes, had caught fire! Wait….wasn’t there a fire in the kitchen in the movie “The Money Pit”?! This is surreal.
 Today our friend Jeff from Alexandria came to see us! He was working at the Verizon office and decided to pop in. It was fun to see him…wish Laura had been along! Anyway…we were on our way to one of the several very convenient and extremely high calorie eating establishments, when Lex spotted one of the old tires from the golf cart sitting by the side of the road across from our driveway. Oh, dear…I wonder what other items of ours have been “dropped” in the tiny town of Bath. The Texans are quickly losing their “star” status.

Highlights of Day 2-
 Well, they appeared again at 9 am with all the rest of our stuff. I now have the center of every room of the house filled from floor to ceiling with furniture and boxes.…since the trim won’t be hung until Monday-MAYBE. There are boxes in the living room marked “kitchen”, boxes in the bedroom marked “living room”, and boxes in the kitchen marked “Will’s room”. There is barely enough room to walk, and for sure no order to this madness!! Where’s my daughter Leigh when I need her? She would be really good at making sense of all this!
 The only rooms we had planned for the Texans to unpack were the kitchen and master bedroom/bath. I informed them that they could not start unpacking because the kitchen cabinet guys were doing the finishing touches and would be here most of the day. I had already unpacked the master bedroom and bath yesterday, while they were busy shuttling our stuff back and forth through Bath, stopping to pick up the things that had dropped along the way I’m sure!
 With nothing left to do the 2 guys from Texas said “Thank you, Ma’am…enjoy your new home” as they saddled up and rode off.

Tomorrow I plan to unpack and organize the kitchen, and put the marked boxes in the correct rooms. After that, I just may cook our very first meal in this house. Or, we may venture out to one of the many great steak shops or pizza parlors on just about every corner.

Now, in my best east coast accent…Yo, Mary Lisa, we’re home babe!