Move, Shmove

02 July 2006

I can only do a quick update because I'm without internet for a few days. I'm at my mom and dad's using their computer. Today is 'take a break from the new house' day.

We are now officially moved. But not without a fairly stressful set of events that started over a week ago.

See, after we sold our house (and did pretty good), we were excited at the possibility of doing some nice upgrades at the new house. After talking with our banker lady, we came up with a figure that we'd have to spend. It was a nice figure. More than I've ever had to spend in one shot my whole life.
So we made plans. Lots of exciting plans. I was careful though, not to overextend ourselves with these plans. Realizing that the number we were given was just an estimate, I took off about 15% and planned with that in mind.
We were also careful not to go out and actually spend all that before we had it. The ol' counting your chickens thing, you know. We comitted ourselves to about 1/3 of that total amount in buying a new couch and loveseat (the sale was only for one weekend!), and the new Ikea kitchen cupboards (had to order them before the closing so we could install them before the move, right? Makes sense...). And paint. Needed to get that, to paint walls before the furniture came in, too.
So then, imagine our shock, anger and disappointment when, the night before we were going to go buy the hardwood floor (also to get it installed before the move) our lawyer tells us that the amount we're getting is, oh, approximately half of what we expected.

Half. O...ma...guness.

Fortunately, we hadn't overdone anything. We hadn't bought more than what was coming in. Small blessing I suppose.
But all the rest of our plans.....out the window.

SO...I didn't want to pout and hang on to my disappointment, so I endeavoured to look on the bright side. We were still getting beautiful new furniture and beautiful new flooring (that my husband did a GREAT job installing with some help from family) and a beautiful new kitchen. So I might not have handles on the cupboards for a while...

Leading up the move week, Verity started acting weird. Thought she had an ear infection so off to the doctor....nope, my wee-est girl had tonsilitis. Great. How much more of that will I look foreward to?

Anyway, day of possession came. I was comitted to going to Wild waterworks with one of my little sisters, so off I went to leave my kids with my mom and spend the day screaming down the waterslides. Hard life, being a good big sister.
I am so naive. My whole life, I've been a tanner. I have dark hair, olive complexion, never had problems with the sun. Until a few years ago when, for some strange reason, I started to burn. Personally, I think the sun changed. (Gasp, it couldn't be me, could it?)
So, you guessed it, I did NOT put on sunscreen and by evening, I was positively crimson. This was such a bad burn that my forehead swelled up and I spent two excruciating nights unable to bear even the weight of myself on my sheets or my sheet on myself. And here I was supposed to be painting my new house. Indeed.
By Saturday morning we were dealing with Jairus. Up in the night, crying, inconsolable. When he came into our bedroom in the morning, he touched his ear and said 'OW' (one of his few words) so I sent James to the clinic. Ear infection for sure, actually, mostly passed with some damage done to the eardrum. Holy mother guilt. But he never indicated he was in pain until Saturday morning!
And overall, still dealing with a very sensitive Honour. Clingy, emotional, wanting me all the time, complaining that her stomach hurt.
Sunday night brought a fall for Jairus, hurting his ankle. He wouldn't walk on it and cried for a long time. We all checked it over though, and it seemed fine--no swelling or bruising. The next morning, he still wouldn't walk on it though so I called the doc--no room at the inn. Went to the clinic, waited for 3 hours. By the time we saw the doc, he was walking on it, though limping. Doc couldn't find anything wrong. Gave me a req for x-rays and said to come back on Wednesday if he was still limping.
And then there was me, with my sunburn and now a sore throat. I get those alot with sinus problems, but this seemed different. By Tuesday morning, I couldn't take it and left the kids with my sister and ran over to the same clinic. I figured if I got there right at opening, I'd get right in to see a doc.
Right.
I got there at 9:05 and I was number 20.

Humho.

Strep throat. So now three of my five member family were on antibiotics. Three different kinds of antibiotics at that. And while I was at the doctor, I missed the internet guy so that's why I'm seriously wire-less for another four days. (Torturous scream)

Needless to say, I didn't get nearly as much painting done as I'd hoped. I started a Venetian plaster finish in the living room and annoyingly, it didn't cover nearly as much footage as it indicated it would. So back I went for a second can. Still bare spots. I called the company and if I buy another gallon, they'll reimburse me. Ok, I guess. Still blowing my paint budget. And the flooring budget. And the kitchen budget.

So then move day came. We had quite a few people lined up to help, but sadly, only about 1/3 could make it in the end. Little stressful. Some friends told me today at church that I should have called and asked for help. Yeah, I should have. But it's hard to ask for such large favours at the last minute and on the holiday weekend. It was a long hard day for those who came and I'm real grateful. (Thanks Matt, Corey and Jay, uncle Dave too)

So this was my quick update. Up to our ears in boxes. A little frustrated with searching through boxes for jammies. Wish my hubby had tomorrow off too, but he took most of last week off to get the kitchen installed. (Did GREAT at that too--thanks Paul for your help).

So, if you're not busy, come on over and help me unpack, eh? Maybe we'll paint a few walls while you're here...

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