I begin by stating that it hit 100 degrees in Maynard today. Boy, am I glad that I’m not out there moving furniture in this hot.

Next, I want you all to give a warm clot welcome to Blixx who has his own blog now. Check out WARBUCKLE. I’ll add him to my links one of these days.

Then, and update. Jacknife’s father is out of surgery & it went well. He still has a long way to go until he’s completely out of the woods, but this is a positive step and good news. Continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Finally, an outline of our weekend that lasted forever:

Friday morning we woke up and headed to the bank to get what we hope is the last of the multi-thousand-dollar checks we will write for a while. We drove by the house to inspect & went out for a wonderful diner breakfast that I could hardly eat because I was so excited. The actual closing itself was a breeze, with just our lawyer there to walk us through the million signatures. No, we couldn’t get the keys right then. We had to wait until the record of purchase was on file. So, while we waited we went to Lowe’s and grabbed a whole bunch of crap. While out shopping our broker called & said he’d go grab the keys out of the lockbox for us…screw the law! Ok, so we were in business. After a trip to the apartment to load the jeep with our stuff, we were off. It was around 1pm that Blixx grabbed me and carried me over the threshold of our new home. It was rather romantic.
The romance ended quickly as we proceeded to unload the jeep with the first of what would be many, many loads of stuff. Back and forth we went, until we could barely stand. Grips came over in the evening and assisted us with moving the mattress upstairs. He brought beer and butts and we sat around the house pondering home improvement projects. We ordered pizza and tipped the guy well so he’ll remember us. That night, we were up late but Blixx didn’t come to bed until 5am…he was too excited to sleep. I woke up when he came to bed and wandered the house - I could tell he'd been in every room just having a look around & putzing away.

After barely sleeping at all, I awoke Saturday morning and immediately began to rip up the old smelly nasty carpet in the living room. There are wide pine floors underneath!!! So, rather than spending the $500 to get new carpet, we’ll refinish. Until then, our couches are HUGE comparative to the living room space, so between them & the entertainment center we won’t have a lot of bare floor – I’m thinking throw run in the short term. While I was attacking the floor, Blixx went back & forth to the apartment like 3 times with loads of stuff. We were making progress. It was 90 degrees in the shade, but we were making progress. It was around 1pm when Blixx & I started to really snap at each other – the heat and workload was getting to us. He was telling me that we were having people over for football & I was telling him that not only didn’t I want people over for the game, but I didn’t want to GO anywhere for the game either. I said whatever & he decided that time apart would be the way to go, so he took off. Sherbear and FedExMan were in town for a wedding so they stopped by for a visit. They both look so Florida tan & wonderful…there I was in my ratty clothes, hair up in a do rag, sweating like a beer in the sun…and they were dressed from the wedding looking abfab. Oh well, they held their noses when we hugged. We had a nice visit & they checked the place out. I miss them both tons.
While I was entertaining our first official guests, Blixx was running around to Home Depot then ran over & met Tadpole & Toad at the apartment to move the TV and chairs. What Blixx should have done was nap, but there wasn’t any time. They ended up just bringing the TV, but it was all hooked up to cable and ready to go by the time the Pats vs. Giants game was on. (Damn Giants!). I spent 2 hours scrubbing the tub, took a shower & relaxed eating pizza (again) & watching the game.
That evening I was a mess and went right up to bed when everyone left. I’d had it. I was at the end of my rope. Blixx tucked me in & said he’d be back in a few minutes. I passed out cold. When I awoke at around 5am, he wasn’t in bed. In fact, I could tell he had never been to bed at all. And, the cats were missing. After a quick scan of the house, I found him in the basement putzing around with his stuff. He was excited to see me awake and wanted to go to a diner. I told him to get his shyt together and come to bed. I won & he reluctantly joined me in bed until around 9am.

Sunday & we have the joy of a maternal visit to look forward to. We decide that we need to take it easy and remember that we have a month to officially move our crap out of the apartment & that it’s only 10 mins away if we forget anything. We need a plan. We went shopping again, this time opening up a charge account so we could do some real damage. $300 later we still hadn’t bought a grill or lawn mower, but I had new towel racks etc for the bathroom, and designer face plates for the kitchen & dining room. Blixx got tools and lawn stuff. It was fun, but we were rushed cuz Mom said she’d be there around 1:30. She was late (d’uh!) so we had time to relax and regroup. She brought us a whole bunch of cleaning supplies, 4 new place settings of the silverwear set and some of the stuff from CT, including my Breyer horse collection and some dining room chairs so we’d have someplace to sit. Woo Hoo! I think she liked the house, but you can never be sure with her. The reason I think she likes it is that she didn’t go all over the top smurfy happy joy, she was relatively low key. Contradiction? Meet my mother.

Monday we decided to continue to take it easy. We made some trips to the apartment and got a whole bunch of stuff done. I should have cleaned but didn’t. While I made calls to get us officially on gas, power etc, Blixx crashed out hard core on the fold out chair. One minute he was asking me questions, the next he was snoring like a fiend. He was flailing & ended up curled up in the chair like a cat. I went outside to get the camera to immortalize the moment of his demise, & when I re-entered the house his phone rang. He was in such a deep sleep that he literally fell off the chair startled by the noise. He ended up on the floor panting, totally unsure where he was or what he was doing there. I’ve never ever seen him that scared before. He’d apparently been having a nightmare that the house was falling down when the phone woke him. I took a picture, then laughed until I couldn’t see. Damn, but he’s a funny dude sometimes. We went to Grips and grabbed the frame for our bed so we actually sleep off the floor, for the first time in 7 years!!! We got Chinese food for dinner so I haven’t actually cooked anything more than toast in my new huge kitchen. That will change tonight. I guess. Or maybe we’ll just eat leftovers.

So, I’m back at work today. While it still sucks, I’m actually glad that I am inside here in the AC rather than moving stuff in this heat. Blixx is working today too with Grips boss, who is an even bigger dick that Grips can be. Blixx called me briefly a little while ago. He had a bad cell connection, but all I could make out was “everything has gone to shit” and “god damn it!” Not a good sign at all.

We can’t really unpack a whole lot until our furniture arrives this weekend. Tempest has informed me that Purge will be on the island this weekend so he can’t help us move. That is so not good! We need at least 4 guys to move the piano and as of now we have only 2. Maybe 3, but I haven’t heard about RedSox yet. I wonder what Toad is doing this weekend? Maybe tadpole wants to take a ride. I can’t wait to get the dressers from CT so I can have an actual bedroom set. And my dream of doing laundry in my own house will come true as well. Oh, the joys of home ownership! Ok, so it’s the joy of clean underwear.

Mmmmmm, clean underwear.