So much has gone on since the last time I wrote. My last day of work was a little sad. I knew I was going to really miss some people. I'm so grateful for the
people we met in IL. It feels so great that I've been hearing from several of them since we left. My last day of work was on a Friday, and the packing of the moving truck was set for Sat. THANK GOD for my coworkers and friends. The move was tough, and without them, I swear we'd sure be still be packing that thing up. My friend Laura just took charge. It was awesome. She put in a full day at the house, and then text me early the next morning offering more help.
Our friend Karl was also an enormous help. He and Brian took charge of the actual loading of the truck. Karl took the credit for compacting everything, due to his exceptional "Tetris" skills. We also had help from other friends, and I'm so very appreciative. I've been trying to think of what "thank you" gift to send.
I may look into some Alaskan smoked salmon. I need to do it soon, you know before they forget me :)
We took 3 1/2 days to drive to Vancouver, WA. Brian and I each drove a car, and for the most part Cal and Jesse drove with me, while Ryne chose to drive with Brian. They were long days of driving, but it went better than expected. Cal and I especially loved driving through WY. It was so nice to see mountains again!
Instead of coming straight to our new town, we chose to go to Vancouver
and spend a few days. Brian hadn't seen his family in 2 years, and neither had the boys. It was a little overwhelming to be around that many people, when we
haven't been around family in so long. The boys were in absolute heaven, though. Brian and I didn't make many plans while we were in town. We chose to spend our time with just a few friends. We were so worn out from the previous two weeks, that I'm really glad we spent our time the way we did. We
even spent one night out at Nurse Kristy's new house. She has 2 1/2 acres out there, and it was so beautiful. She has some deer that hang around the property. We put Jesse in a dog run, and the deer stuck around for a while. NK and her boyfriend Gary made a wonderful dinner and we sat around outside talking for hours. The whole night was absolutely perfect. NK wanted to make sure we had a relaxing night, and she knocked it out of the park!
The next day we had arranged to pick up our stuff out of the Vancouver
house. The renter turned into a squatter.... NK came with Brian and I to get our stuff, to find that the tenant (believe me, so many other words I could use there), had put our stuff outside at least a week or two before. Almost everything was ruined. A friend of mine had paperwork and stuff in our garage, and it too, was also destroyed. Seeing our stuff like that brought one of the sickest feelings to my stomach that I've ever had. I don't understand how we went from "doing a favor" (to the renter, as she called it, as it truly was...), to being treated like that because it was time to move out. She knew the house was for sale, and it was month to month. The closing on the house has been moved and is now in 2 days, and she's still there. The buyer understands
there is a squatter, and he will deal with it. I'm just praying we didn't have any
pictures in any of our stuff. It was all soaked, and the boxes were falling apart when we were going through things, and it had been out there a while, so I was worried about mice or things. It was all so senseless. Even the paperwork for
the hot tub (which was downstairs of the house) was thrown out. But I'm done being upset over all of it. I'm not going to let a low life ruin any more of my time.
We spent the last day with Brian's Grandma. The kids and cousins had gone with Brian's Mom and Step-Dad to the beach. So, the house was considerably quieter. It was really nice for Brian to have that one on one time with his Grandma. Oh, we also took Jesse to play along the Columbia River that morning. We are pretty sure it was the first time she'd been on a beach. As soon as she touched the sand, she went crazy running in a Crazy 8. I guess I should mention that she refused to go potty on a leash during the trip, so we got all sorts of lovely little surprises in the hotel room. We took Jesse down to the river, and at first she didn't quite know what to make of the water, but she knew she liked it. She didn't try swimming until another dog came down and showed her how it was done. She was then a swimming machine, and she had a blast playing chase with the dog on the beach. Jesse also liked the water enough to go potty in it. She was almost neck high in water, and you could see her squatting to poop. The owner of the other dog, asked is she....pooping? It was too funny. She then proceeded to pee in there a few times, also. What a strange dog we have!
The boys spent last week at the beach house with the grandparents and two of their cousins, who are the same age. We were looking forward to having some
alone time. While we made the most of a lot of our time, we found ourselves really missing the kids. We drove over to Long Beach to pick them up this past weekend. We got a room for us and Jesse while the kids had their last night with the fam. We took Jesse to the beach a couple of times, where she picked right up with crapping in the water. One time she did it with her ass facing us, and we got to see the big long thing come out of her butt, and start floating in the ocean. So gross. I'll bet you're glad told you that littler story, huh?
As I mentioned earlier, we are living amongst some boxes. I'm so glad to have the truck unloaded and gone, though. Brian and I unloaded that bad boy in one day. Not bad for a hugely fat chick. But let me tell you, I've been feeling it... The weight is smothering me.... Today I started getting back on track, though. I made a smoothie this morning, and added an apple, salad, and steamed broccoli to my day. It was far from a perfect day, but it's a definite step in the right direction. It's also the first time in a very long while that I didn't have a Pepsi. Tomorrow's a new day, and I plan on making even more healthy choices. I have to... I'm not myself. I hate the mirror, and I have hardly anything that fits. It's actually really disturbing to me. I hate that I've let it get so out of hand. But all I can do at this
point, is try to reverse the damage.
Here's wishing you a healthy and happy day!
Jen