Textbook Nightmare

I literally wore myself out today.  I spent almost all day moving textbooks from one place to another.  I have a textbook storage room where the books are “supposed” to be stored, but it was full of a bunch of other stuff that I had to get out of there first.  It’s somewhat slow going, but I’m making progress.  It is just a bit nightmarish in that there is such a volume of stuff to sort, move, and pack.  My body was tired and sore by the end of the day.  For the first time I actually left school at 4:30 rather than staying until 5:00 or later.  I wanted to get out early so I could get to the store as I was running out of groceries.  It’s so hot here it’s almost impossible to get home after getting frozen items without them defrosting.  And I only live 5 minutes from the store. 

I have an invitation to sit in the first rehearsal with the San Antonio symphonic band next Tuesday.  That is exciting.  I’m a little nervous though.  I’m not sure what caliber the band is and if I’m going to be good enough.  I am a decent player, but certainly not exceptional.  But if I can play with the band that would be another social opportunity for me here.  So I guess we’ll see how it goes. 

To answer Mago’s question in his comment – I have finally been able to talk with the principal.  She came to visit with me at the end of last week.  I was able to ask her some questions and everything is going fine.  She’s been good about being flexible with the opening of the library.  So in spite of the busy workload right now, I enjoy being where I am and doing what I’m doing.  The textbook thing will be out of the way soon and then I can focus on being a librarian. 

No cooking tonight

I worked a long, hard day so when I finally got out of the school after 5:00, I decided that I wouldn’t be cooking dinner.  I stopped at Sonic and got a cheeseburger, tator tots, and diet cherry limeade.  It was really good.  I’ve been eating at home ever since Josh left, but I really didn’t have the energy to cook tonight.  Today was simply exhausting and I’m not sure there’s an end in sight.  I have a catch-22 of sorts.  I need to get stuff out of the textbook room so that I can store the excess textbooks. But then I don’t have enough boxes to pack up the stuff that I have to get rid of.  I spent most of the day packing up boxes and boxes of books with the few boxes I’ve been able to hoard.  I’ll be doing that the rest of the week. 

Tonight I’m sitting on the back patio again waiting for Mollie to go pee.  She is such a stubborn little dog.  I don’t know how to get her to figure out that when I bring her outside before bed that it is time to pee.  I’m trying to reward her with special treats and attention, but she hasn’t gotten the idea yet.  So now I’m just waiting.  And waiting. 

I’m getting more tan living here.  Well – reddish – tan I guess.  Even though I don’t just sit in the sun, I’m outside enough that I’ve been getting some sun.  I do wear sunscreen on my face, but I don’t think about spraying it for my short jaunts outside.

Lucy almost went over the fence tonight.  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to confine her to the back yard.  It’s getting more difficult.  I’ve seen several other cats roaming the neighborhood so I guess it’s relatively safe, but I worry about Lucy since she isn’t familiar with the area yet. 

I can’t believe that I’ve lived in San Antonio for almost a month now and I have yet to get to Fiesta Texas and ride rollercoasters.  There are two of my top ten all-time favorites at that park.  I’m going to have to get there soon.  Luckily, it is open most weekends for a while.

Well, I guess this is enough of an update for today.  I’m trying to get back in the habit of blogging regularly, even if there isn’t much to share.  I appreciate the recent comments from Patti, Jamie, Andrew, Mago, Leann, and Jan.

Getting a workout

My job as a librarian (and textbook coordinator) means that I’m getting a workout most days.  Today I delivered two large tvs on carts and more textbooks.  I also have to scan each textbook that I checkout to teachers.  I’m also packing boxes and boxes of other textbooks that are out of adoption.  Then I also have other things to deliver such as teacher edition materials, calculators, etc.  I’m hustling to try and get the library ready to open to students, but that may not happen for another few days.  My to-do list just keeps getting longer, but I’m still loving the job.  I got to school at 7:45 and was working non-stop until I looked at my watch and realized it was already after 11:00. 

I’m enjoying the house, but I really miss having a dog door.  I’m not sure how much longer I can go without having one.  Max has been great about letting me know when he needs to go.  When I let him out in the morning or night, he does his business like he’s supposed to.  Mollie, on the other hand, is a stubborn little bitch – literally.  I put her out and she sits at the back door and won’t go into the yard.  I even wait outside with her 10 minutes and can’t get her to do what she’s supposed to.  Then the next morning, I find she’s urinated somewhere.  I’m not sure what to do about her.  I’ve been trying to highly praise her and give her treats when she does go outside, but most of the time she just won’t do anything. 

My allergies are going crazy these days.  I don’t know what’s in the air around here, but I’m fighting it.  I need to find a non-drowsy medicine that will work during the day.  I just took a benadryl so I’ll be fairly useless in about an hour.  But hopefully I won’t be sniffling and sneezing.  I need to find a local doctor here with my new insurance.  That will tough in such a big city and perhaps too many choices.  Back in Canyon, I didn’t have a lot of choice, but I really liked my doctor because I could always get in for an appointment – even the day of and I never had to wait more than 15 minutes or so to see him. 

I mowed the backyard last night.  I still need to mow the front, but I feel a little self-conscious about it.  It’s times like these that I wish I had a male figure around that could do stuff like that.

I’m sitting in a lawn chair on my back porch (well actually a five foot concrete slab) watching the animals out in the yard.  I’ve been letting Lucy (the cat) out but watch to make sure she doesn’t jump the fence.  She used to wander some back in Canyon, but there are dogs on two sides of me and there are a few other animals that have roamed the neighborhood some so I worry about her.  I also don’t have tags with my current address and other information so I don’t want her to get out much right now. 

Well, I guess the animals have had enough and it’s still hot out here (103 degrees at 8 pm) so I’m going to go inside.  Another thing that I have to get used to is not having a mailbox at my house.  I guess in the end it’s more secure because you have to use a key to get to your box, but it’s also a nice little jaunt down the street.  It’s really not that far, but I don’t think about checking it before I turn down my street after work.  But on the plus side, when I do take the walk down there, I usually take the dogs and they enjoy the walk.

A place for everything

I’ve spent most of the weekend cleaning house.  It’s not that it was that messy, but I’ve been trying to unpack a few more things and get some boxes out of here in addition to general cleaning like vacuuming, laundry, dishes, etc.  I still have a stack of boxes in the living room that need to be unpacked, but I can’t really do anything until I get some shelves for the office area.  I also still have all my books and photos packed up and sitting in the den area.  The guest room has several boxes that need to be dealt with at some point, but I’ll get to it in a few weeks I hope.  My bedroom closet has all my clothes up and shoes in racks.  The kitchen has everything put up and the dishes are clean.  The living room is free of the paper that I’ve had all over the place for a while.  My desk is cleared of junk though there’s still some sorting and filing that I need to do at some point.  I plan to buy a storage cabinet and shelf for the living room soon.  I thought about doing it today, but my car is full of boxes that I’m taking to school tomorrow.  The garage, however, is becoming the catch-all for empty boxes and things that I don’t know where to put for the moment.  I guess it’s just too much to expect me to have a completely clean garage.

It’s hot here today.  Right now it is 109 degrees and we’re supposed to hit 111.  I wish we’d get some rain soon.  I need to mow my lawn, but will wait until later when the temperature starts to go down.  I need to go pick up a gas container and get some gas for the mower.  I also need to fill up my car.  Now that I’m not making lengthy trips back to Canyon for a while, I’d like to see how long I can go before filling up. 

Yesterday I finally got my hair cut.  It was getting much too long.  It feels much better now.   I also picked up a new accent table where I can put stuff when I come home after work.  I also bought an over the door ironing board but realize that it didn’t have the over the door hooks.  So I’ve got to call the number on the instruction sheet about getting that sent to me. 

I haven’t found my small camera – not sure if it’s lost or I just haven’t gotten to it yet.  I have my bigger canon camera, but the battery is dead and I haven’t found the charger.  But I took some pictures of the house with furniture in place with my iPhone.  Keep in mind, I don’t have much in the way of decorations yet – no curtains, little on the walls, but at least you can see how things are set up.  Enjoy.

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Survived the first week

Well, I’ve been a librarian for a week now.  Actually a little more than a week since I started on the 10th, but I guess I shouldn’t get too technical.  I still love it.  Granted I haven’t had classes in yet, but I love just staying busy with a variety of things.  Mostly I’m focusing on textbooks this week.  I’ve also continued to sort at clean out stuff.  I would like to be able to process the books I have, but haven’t gotten those instructions yet.  I made 8 trips upstairs delivering books and equipment today.  Perhaps I’ll lose a little weight with all of this. 

After school today I went out to eat and drink with some of the teachers.  It was pretty fun, but I felt a little bit old.  I was by far the oldest one there.  The oldest of the group of 10 or was only 33.  One of the teachers was only 22 – just a year or so older than Josh.  But it was nice to get to know some of the other staff. 

I still enjoy living here.  The house is great, though I still have yet to be completely unpacked.  But I enjoy coming home and sitting on my new couch, having a beer, and watching t.v.  I also enjoy driving up to downtown and seeing the skyline. 

Josh called today to ask how my first week went.  Isn’t he a nice son?  School starts for him on Monday.  He may be going to Tasmania next year sometime for an exchange program. 

I’m going to call it a night.  Have lots to do tomorrow, but am going to enjoy sleeping in.  I hope all my blog friends on the east coast are doing ok.  Take care and take cover if necessary.

Still a busy life

But I’m not complaining.  I keep really busy at work.  I’m getting a workout by delivering textbooks.  I have to push a cart full of books from the library in one building to another and then down a hallway to the elevator, up to the second floor and then down the hallway again.  So far the people I’ve met have been nice.  The only one that hasn’t been completely friendly is the former library assistant who is probably still bitter about losing her job.  One of the math teachers invited me to join other teachers for happy hour today.  So hopefully I’ll make some new friends soon. 

Yesterday I cleaned up the garage and got the remote control for the garage door opener to work.  They gave me a universal remote and I had to figure out how to program it.  I now can park my car in the garage. 

Yesterday I went to the grocery store as I was running low on people and pet food.  I also got Lucy (the cat) a catnip mat, some feather toys, and catnip mice.  She has been going to town with them.  She is so used to going outside all the time and she can’t do that here. 

This morning I had to go to the new employee orientation which seems odd to have it after I’ve already worked for two weeks.  But I also got paid today which is great.  I was actually pretty close in my estimate of what I would be getting so I’m glad that I’ll be able to pay my bills and have some left over for groceries and such. 

I’ve been having random allergy issues every once in a while.  I don’t know if there’s some pollen or weed here that causes the flare up, but it’s not fun.  I just took a benadryl and some tylenol because I’m getting a headache along with the sneezing. 

I think I’m going to try to get to bed early tonight – I was up fairly late last night and had to get up early. 

So far so good

I have to say that so far, I really enjoy being a librarian.  Today was the first day of school with students.  Normally I would have not slept last night and been worried about everything.  I would have been prepping for lessons and not felt ready.  Instead, I went to bed and slept.  I didn’t worry about my first day.  I knew that I had things to do, but didn’t fret over it.  I got to school around 7:45.  My day officially starts at 8:00.  Class begins at 8:45.  I had plenty to do today.  I handed out equipment, got textbooks ready to deliver, created a textbook form, sorted magazines, scanned calculators, solved technical issues – I had enough to keep me busy.  The middle school students are really cute and small.  It’s certainly a change from high school.  I also have to say that I think school uniforms are a good idea.  Student have to wear khaki pants or shorts (not too short) with a purple or white shirt. 

I’ve pretty much been left to my own devices in the library thus far.  I still have yet to have a long visit with the principal.  I did send her questions on Friday and she answered them on Sunday.  I caught her briefly today to ask her about the textbook form I created.  I don’t know if it is a sign of good faith in me or if she is still just overwhelmed.  She did thank me for being patient with her.  I think that’s a first for me. 

I have one thing hanging over my head at the moment and I’m going to try to get out from under it as soon as I can.  I still have to help finish last year’s yearbook.  I could be a jerk and tell the new adviser that it’s her problem, but I’m not like that.  So I’ve got to spend every evening for another week or two getting that done. 

On the good news front, my keys have been found!  They were in Josh’s car and he found them when he was getting ready to head back to college.  So that is a relief.  Now if I could find my camera that I’ve lost.  I guess you can’t really expect to move across the state and not lose anything. 

I finally found out when payday is.  I thought it was going to be last week, but it is the 4th Wednesday each month so it will be this week.  I could really use the money.  Once I get all my final bills paid from the other house, I’m thinking of buying the Adobe Creative Suite.  I can get the teacher/student version for a little over $400 and it includes all the major Adobe products – namely Photoshop, InDesign, and Dreamweaver. 

Well, I guess I’ve procrastinated enough.  Got to get a little work done tonight. 

Back in Sweetwater

I made a quick trip back to Canyon/Amarillo.  Got there around noon.  I packed up unsold stuff from the garage sale for charity and put a few things in my car to take back with me.  I had to meet with the teacher that is taking over yearbook and go over some things with her – and give her the external yearbook drive.  I then visited with my friend Pam for a little bit before I started the trek back.  I’m staying the night in Sweetwater again.  I’ve been booking my hotel via hotwire and am saving about $35 a night.  Instead of paying $99 for a room, I’m getting it for $64 at the Holiday Inn Express.  Maybe by staying here two nights in a row, I’ll be smarter tomorrow. 

I plan to head back as early as I can get up in the morning.  I’m not setting an alarm, however.  Josh is heading back to college on Monday.  I’ll be on my own in a big city after that.  But I think it’s all good.  Despite the few inconveniences I’ve had to deal with, I’m enjoying being there so far.  I’m even handling the traffic pretty well which really hasn’t been too bad.  It’s much worse in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. 

I woke up last night very disoriented.  I thought I was in my room back in SA, but I couldn’t figure out why my dresser wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  It took a minute for me to figure out where I was.

Today I saw a car in front of me that had a bumper sticker that says “Abortion Kills.”  And then I saw the driver stick her hand out the window and flick ashes from a cigarette.  I don’t know why that struck me as being odd.  You’d think they would realize that cigarettes kill too.

Well, I’m pretty tired after a lot of driving today.  Think I’ll get some sleep – hopefully I won’t freak out in the middle of the night wondering where I am. 

Here, There, Everywhere

It’s been a busy week.  I’m learning the ropes as a librarian – mostly on my own, but keeping busy with that.  When I’m not doing that, I’m dealing with other stuff.  Finally got air conditioning fixed on Tuesday.  That meant another hot day on Monday.  I bought more fans and a thermometer.  It got up to 92 degrees in my house.  I also finally got cable installed.  The technician that came out restored some of my faith in Time Warner.  Still not happy about the first two incidents, but this guy took care of everything and even left me his personal cell if something went wrong.

Had a librarian meeting on Tuesday, Faculty meetings all day Wednesday, workday on Thursday, Textbook training this morning, then work day this afternoon. 

Tonight I’m in Sweetwater, TX as I’m heading back to Canyon for a brief trip to get a few things done.  I’ll get there sometime tomorrow morning, then I have to pick up a wet vac from my brother so that I can finish draining the waterbed and get it moved.  Then I have to meet with the teacher that is now going to be doing yearbook at Hereford.  After that I may go to church in Canyon.  I’m going to head back halfway Saturday evening and drive the rest of the way Sunday morning.  Then Monday is the first day of school for students.  Things are starting to move pretty fast.  I’m ready to get fully unpacked and settled in – but probably won’t happen anytime soon. 

Murphy’s Law

I think Murphy is summing it up pretty well for me right now:

“If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.”

“If anything can go wrong, it will.”

I’m staying positive, but ready for things to start looking up.  Last night we had a massive storm roll through.  Good news is that we got a lot of rain.  Bad news is that a section of my fence (and two other neighbors) was blown down.  A very close lightning strike also seems to have done something to the cooling system.  There’s no power to the thermostat so we’ve been without air conditioning all day.  (Yes, it’s hot – 100 degrees outside – probably 90 inside.)  Of course this isn’t an emergency according to the rental company so hopefully they’ll get back to me first thing in the morning.  I’ve submitted a repair request online. 

Aside from the frustrations, I think I still like being here.  I just wish a few things would start going right.  I do miss having my brother close by.  He probably could have fixed the AC issue easily.  Yes, I did check the breaker switches in the garage and it seems the heating/cooling unit is powered separately. 

I spent the day (before it got really hot) hanging up stuff on the walls.  I have a few pictures up as well as a few other items.  I still need a book shelf for the living room for most of my office items and I need about 6 bookshelves for den for all my other books.  I’m not sure where to put all my Marvin items.  I may try to spread them out among the bookshelves and such.  But that will have to wait for payday.  I’m really looking forward to payday.  I’ll have two paychecks this month.  I do need to pay quite a bit on my visa card though. 

Going for broke

Literally.  I went to get my car inspected today.  The tread on my tires was too low so it wouldn’t pass.  So $500 later I have new tires and an inspection sticker.  I hope I’m able to get my Visa bill paid off before I have to start paying my student loans in January.  Moving has been really expensive.  But so far I’m liking the new house and the job.  Though my house could use more storage (namely drawers), I love the space I have.  I have a giant bedroom compared to my last room.  I bought all new furniture and with a new queen size bed, night stand, dresser with mirror, and chest along with my rocking chair, trunk, and jewely chest, I still have plenty of room.  I was able to get all my clothes in the drawers and have space leftover.  (This does not include marvin t-shirts and such which are in the closet on the shelf.)  Even though the kitchen is small, I like the layout and the stove works great.  It heats up very quickly and water boils in just a few minutes.  The living room is long but fits my giant new couch along with the t.v. and my desk.  The office area in that room is still pretty much unpacked because I really need a bookshelf of some kind.  I’ll probably pick something up on payday.  Josh’s room is smaller than his old room, but he was able to fit all of his stuff including my old desk and a new bookshelf.  I do miss having a pet door, but Max has learned to scratch when he needs out.  I force Mollie to go out several times a day.  She’s had a few accidents thus far.  I was worried about Lucy adjusting to using a cat box because she has pretty much always gone outside as she pleased.  But she has adjusted fairly well though it seems she gets a little stir crazy sometimes.  She uses her litter box with no problem.  I have let her out in the backyard some, but she doesn’t like being out the much because there’s a very large dog that barks in the yard directly behind us.  I haven’t been able to park my car in the garage yet since it is full of the empty boxes and extra stuff right now.  I still haven’t figured out the universal remote control they left for me to use. 

We finally got some rain here.  A storm rolled through tonight which is a relief.  I was trying to figure out if I should water the grass.  I haven’t really seen neighbors watering and I wasn’t sure if there was a water ban.  Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow.  I should still do some unpacking and perhaps start hanging stuff on the walls.  I did get some hooks and things done in my bathroom.  Even though it is bigger, it seems I have less counter space because I have two sinks instead of one. 

I think I may head back to Canyon next weekend.  I need to finish draining my waterbed there and move it to a different room.  I also need to pick up a few things that I left there in addition to bringing my brother’s dolly back to him. 

I found a new addiction – online jigsaw puzzles.  Just what I need – something to occupy my time for hours and hours.  I guess it is time for me to go to bed – though I might have to do just one more puzzle.

So now I’m a librarian

I’ve been working officially as a librarian for three days now.  I’ve kept busy in spite of several issues.  The only computers left in the library are the data station and a small netbook.  The rest were taken away and will be replaced with new computers.  Unfortunately, the textbook program was on one of those computers so I have no way to see how that aspect works.  And there’s still no word on training and such.  So I guess teachers will get their textbooks when they get them.  The data station computer lost internet access yesterday after new phones were installed.  I’m able to get internet wirelessly on the netbook, but can only access school district pages.  A counselor came in this morning to print in the computer lab.  She printed a few pages and then came back to print more and now none of the computers will print in there.  I’ve been needing to print some stuff off, but can’t because in spite of having seven printers in the library, none of them are hooked up to a computer, network, or work.  So what have I been doing?  Today I spent the day getting equipment ready for teachers to checkout.  Even though I can’t really use the circulation software (yet another issue), I got all the teacher laptops, data projectors, and elmos ready for pick up on Monday.  I just need to print a master list and have the teachers sign for the equipment.  I’ve sorted through newly shipped books, gone through the equipment, and storage in the library, and just keeping busy.  I haven’t really had down time.  I’m always finding things to do. 

I still have yet to really talk with the principal.  The first day I arrived, she briefly told me that she had a major crisis that she is dealing with and just didn’t have time to visit with me at the moment, but would try to do so later.  Turns out the crisis is that one of the coaches at the school was arrested because he had sex with former students.  So needless to say, she has been out of pocket. 

In other news, I still don’t have cable or internet.  (Though I’m still “borrowing” for the moment.)  The installation was rescheduled for Thursday.  I gave the technician Josh’s cell phone to call since I would be at work.  They ended up calling my number and of course I missed the call.  The technician never even went up to the house or rang the bell – in spite of the fact that there was a car in the driveway.  Josh was never called and they just left.  I called over an hour after their scheduled time and was told this information.  I was miffed.  They only resolution the person on the phone gave me was to reschedule.  I told him I would tentatively do that, but may end up canceling if I decide to go with another service.  Unfortunately, the choices are limited in San Antonio and one of the possibilities is not in my neighborhood so to speak.  So I emailed feedback to the company last night and got a phone call from them today.  They “waived” the installation fee which was supposed to be free from the start.  Then they gave me a whopping $20 credit and assured me that the technician would be here on time.  Since I don’t have many other options, I guess I have to give them another chance – but if they don’t come through on Tuesday, I’m going elsewhere. 

I finally got my new mattress so it was nice to be able to sleep on it instead of the air mattress.  My back/shoulder still hurts from odd sleeping, unpacking, lifting, etc.  I’m thinking about going swimming this evening to see if it helps.  Not sure what I’m doing tomorrow.  I do have to get my car inspected.  I also need to get to the store at some point.  There’s still tons of unpacking to do as well.  I don’t think I’ll have much time to be “bored” in the next few months.  But so far, I’m enjoying the new house.  I like my job so far.  There’s lots for me to see and do in the city at some point.  Still haven’t found the lost keys though.

Busy few days

Still unpacking.  Probably will be for months.  I have new furniture though!  The couch is much larger than I expected, but I really love it.  It does seem to work in the position I wanted it, but there’s really no room for the end table, but I’ll do something about it.  Marty came over today to make 3 runs to the furniture store to pick it all up and get it inside.  He came with his daughter Sarah who is visiting.  It was a really nice day to spend with him and his daughter.  We did the three runs to the furniture store, then started to get the washer and dryer in when we realized that I have the wrong plug for the dryer.  My other house was much older and only had the three prong plug.  This house is only 5 years old so I needed the four prong.  So we made yet another trip back to the same area where the furniture store is and went to Sears to get the right cord.  Marty got it installed and now my new washer and dryer and up and running.  Then Marty, Sarah (his daughter) and I went to the pool for about an hour.  It was great – but I did discover some things.

First, you must understand that I grew up a water baby of sorts.  I used to spend every day at the pool when I was in elementary school.  I taught myself how to swim and to dive.  At band camp, I used to win the underwater swim every year (how far you can go under water with just one breath.)  But the fact is that I haven’t really been swimming in a long time.  The last time I really remember swimming to some degree was on my honeymoon.  But I do love to swim and I’m  good swimmer.  But I’ve discovered that it’s harder for me to swim underwater because I’m far to buoyant these days.  But I can also float on my back without going under and without a raft.  I can still swim well, but it is more difficult to do much more than two laps without resting.  I am far more graceful in the water.  I hope that I will continue going to the pool and swim laps at least a few times a week. 

After we finished at the pool, I started making dinner.  Marty and Sarah started watching the movie Willow.  I made dinner (San Francisco Chops) and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  We finished the movie and then it was time for Marty and Sarah to head back to Austin.  Before leaving, Marty gave me a quick kiss and told me that he would visit again and that he would come to see movies with me. 

Tomorrow I start my new career as librarian.  It has been kind of vague as to what exactly I’m supposed to do.  I got an email that I was to report to training at 10 am tomorrow downtown, but nothing about earlier that morning.  I’m going to go ahead and go to the school and see if I can get keys and such and figure out what I need to bring to get ready for the year. 

Now that I have a dresser and chest in my room, I think I’m going to try to get some clothes unpacked so I will be ready to go in the morning.  Everything has been so chaotic that I haven’t really had time to stress about the new job.  I guess I’ll figure things out as they come. 

Home Sweet New Home

I am officially in San Antonio.  We packed up everything on Friday.  I’m glad I got the biggest truck because we packed it full in addition to filling up Josh’s car and the back of my uncle’s truck.  The drive was a little slower because of the truck so it took 10 hours instead of 8.  We got in around 7:30 and unloaded.  My friend Brent came from Austin and helped.  My ex-husband Richard also came around 8:45 to help as well.  I ordered pizza for everyone.  Unloaded was easier than loading but then I faced the daunting task of unpacking.  Yesterday I got up before everyone else and got a good portion of the kitchen unloaded.  My aunt, uncle, and I returned the truck yesterday morning though we had a difficult time finding a place to fill the tank with diesel.  They headed up to Austin around 10:30 and I spent the rest of the day unpacking.  It wasn’t very focused – I would start in a box and unload stuff for one room, then switch to another and so forth – but that works for me.  I still have a lot of boxes to deal with, but I’ll get there. 

We are all adjusting pretty well – referring to myself, Josh, and the animals.  Lucy (the cat) and Mollie (female dog) have been clingy.  Max is doing just fine and was happy to get to go for a ride and then be in a new place.  Mollie had a couple of accidents on the carpet – not having a pet door is a new thing for all of us.  I’m putting her outside now a few times a day whether she wants to go or not so hopefully she is learning.  Max already has it figured out.  He scratches at the back door if he wants to go out.  I got Lucy a litter box because I figured she may not want to go out much with a big dog in the yard behind us.  She can’t see him, but can certainly hear his deep bark.  He seems to be a pretty big dog.  All three of the animals slept with me last night on the air bed.  I enjoyed their company, but slept in a weird position or something because my back is sore today.  (Or it could be from all the unpacking.)  I took some tylenol a little while ago and hope it helps.

Yesterday Josh and I went to Walmart and loaded up on groceries since we didn’t really have anything in the house other than beer, wine, softdrinks, and water.  I spent $176.  I hope the food will last a while.  Cable and internet guy is supposed to come sometime this morning.  Right now I’m “borrowing” someone’s unsecured wireless connection. 

I think Josh really likes the house and has found some positive aspects about being in this area.  He likes the city-base that is close by that has a Best Buy and all sorts of shopping areas.  He likes that there are a more variety of radio stations having found both a jazz and classical music station.  When we first got here, he said “This is a really nice house.”  He already has his room mostly set up.  Though it is smaller, he has everything placed where it works.  He bought himself a nice 24 inch flat screen tv yesterday and a new wireless keyboard and mouse for his computer. 

Marty is probably going to come over tomorrow and help us with getting the current washer and dryer out and into the garage and bring in my new washer and dryer.  Since he has a truck, we are also going to pick up my furniture.  My new mattress will be delivered on Thursday – really looking forward to that.

Well, I guess this is enough for a post today.  I gotta get back to unpacking so that there will be some order in the house soon.  I don’t want to live in boxes for months.  I am discovering that in spite of the size of the house, I’m lacking some storage – especially drawers.  Or maybe I just have too much stuff! 

Moving…

I have to say that in many ways moving sucks.  I have too much stuff but it is getting to the point that I don’t have time to think and weed through it.  I’m just throwing things in boxes and deciding to deal with it in San Antonio.  Which means it will stay in the box for about 3 to 4 months until I have time to go through it.  I am looking forward to the new start though.  So many people are sad to see me go but excited for me at the same time.  The nice thing about the blogging world is that I’m still around for you guys – mostly.  Not sure how things are going to be for the next few days.  The big move is tomorrow and I won’t have internet service until Monday sometime.  I will probably check up on stuff via my iPhone, but probably not post anything except on Facebook.  If you want to add me as a friend on facebook, email me at jenz32@gmail.com and I’ll give you the link to my page. 

I have a lot of emotions about moving and such, but haven’t really had time to contemplate them with all the packing, being sick, more packing, and such.  I met with a group of friends from church on Wednesday night and they had such nice things to say about me.  I am really going to miss having those people in my life.  Sure, we can stay in touch to some degree on facebook, but it was really nice to sing with them, go to church, and just be around them.  I dread the aspect of having to make new friends in San Antonio because I’m not really all that social.  I will have to step out of my comfort zone again.

I’m a little sad to be leaving the house that I practically grew up in.  I’m nervous about starting a new job where I feel like I am going in blind.  I’m excited about starting a new life in a new city.  I’m looking forward to having so many things to do.  I’m scared about living in a big city where crime is more rampant.  I am happy to be able to work in the field that I’ve spent the last three years to earn a degree in.  I’m thankful for the job.  I’m sad to leave my friends.  Perhaps at some point these emotions will be more overwhelming, but at the moment everything is moving so fast and furious that I don’t really have much time to think about it.  We are loading up today and I’m not finished with all the packing.  It is never ending!!

So much for being productive

I was actually quite productive until yesterday.  On Friday I set up for the garage sale ALL night.  Really.  I didn’t go to sleep at all.  Considering that I didn’t advertise it other than the sign in my yard, I thought it was a decent turnout.  I got rid of a bunch of the big stuff by giving it away.  I made about $185 overall and got rid of a little more than half the stuff so I thought that was pretty good. 

So Saturday was the garage sale and I was tired.  I managed to get through until around 2:00 when it became evident that it was just too hot for people to stop by.  I pulled all the stuff in the garage and went to take a brief nap.  I slept for a couple of hours and then my friend Pam came and got all my leftover clothes to take to charity.  Then I went to have dinner with Matthew.  We had a nice dinner and surprisingly, he gave me a hug and kiss after he brought me back home. 

On Sunday I went to church.  Josh and I played for the last time.  As soon as church was over, I filled my car up with gas, headed up to get my phone (that I left there) and got the lunch that Josh picked up for me at Sonic.  I then hit the road to Austin.  I stayed with my friend Brent and we went to dinner when I got there.  We came back to his place and I called it a night as I was still pretty tired.

Monday I headed to San Antonio.  I went to the human resources office to sign my service records.  Then I attempted the DMV to change my license, but it was really full.  I decided not to bother with that so I went to the post office to request a key for the postal box.  They said they would have to order it and it would take a few days, but they would make the request.  Then I went to the bank to change my address.  After that, I headed across town to get the card for the community pool.  I tried to go to a different DMV office while there and the line was outside so I decided perhaps I didn’t need a new picture for my license.  Sure, I can update it online, but my picture is 7 years old and shows me 30 pounds heavier with much longer hair.  After that, I started doing furniture shopping.  I found some things I liked but needed time to mull it over so I took pictures and went to lunch.  I ate at a Thai restaurant in the shopping area relatively close to my house.  Then I headed to the new place to get the keys. 

I got the keys and brought in all the clothes that I had loaded in my car.  I have to say that I’m going to LOVE having a walk-in closet.  I am not sure how I lived without one.  I updated my truck reservation and then headed back to the furniture store to see about getting some stuff for the new house.  I ended up buying the floor models of a living room set and a bedroom set as well as a mattress.  I saved about $1300 overall and will be able to pick everything up except the mattress this weekend.  I’m really excited to have new furniture.  I’ve never had my own complete set of new stuff – aside from the bedroom furniture I got in the 6th grade.  I’ve bought a desk here and there – and my bed, but mostly I’ve lived with hand-me-downs. I figure my new start deserves new furniture as well. 

I spent the night in my new place on Monday.  I took an air mattress with me.  Other than the barking dog behind me, it was fine.  My cousin picked me up on Tuesday morning and took me to the airport.  I was fine until the end of the flight when my nose started running.  A full blown allergy attack hit me like a ton of bricks.  Josh picked me up from the airport and we went to home depot to get more boxes, then to Applebees for lunch.  By then I was pretty miserable.  When we got home I took a zyrtec and rested for a bit, but it didn’t help.  Josh and I had to head back to Amarillo around 4:00 to pick up Mollie from the vet.  She was spayed yesterday. 

We came home and I just got more miserable.  Finally I took a benadryl which helped, but also knocked me out.  Though the sneezing is gone this morning, I just feel drained and my throat is sore.  I’m not sure how much I’m going to get accomplished today.  I think today’s focus will be to take care of the online stuff.  I have to update my email address for everything I do online as I will lose my current one when I cancel my cable and internet service on Friday.  So much to do – sucks to be sick when there’s work to be done.