Arrived

I was trying to post every day of December, in the spirit of Holidailies. However, I have to think that there can be a teensy bit of grace extended to people who put posting on hold for a weekend while packing up and moving to another state.

Yes, I survived, and so did the cats. The move was accomplished due primarily to my parents (who gave up two weekends to come help pack and clean), Jeff's parents (who helped me so much that it would be impossible to list everything that they did, and who have been as good to me as any human beings can be to another), many helpful young Tulare County homeschoolers (names unlisted to protect their underaged identities), and some people whose names I do not even know who volunteered their time to load the truck on Friday afternoon (while I was still working).

Jeff flew in on a redeye flight Saturday morning; it wasn't supposed to be a redeye, but it kept getting delayed. Jerry volunteered to pick Jeff up at the airport so that I could sleep. Rob and Candace had (Jeff's brother and sister-in-law) had driven up from Whittier the night before, so we all met up at Mimi's for Rosalee's birthday breakfast later on Saturday morning, then finished packing and loading up the final miscellaneous items. Then we figured out how to fit two human adults and two (unhappy) cats in pet carriers into the cab of the truck. and were off. I didn't think I would be emotional about leaving, but I cried a little bit.

The drive was long and bumpy, but we survived, and with only three stops (Gorman, Ontario, Blythe). Jeff had the harder part, as he had to handle the driving. I just sat there and tried to shift positions every so often, to keep my back and legs from cramping up. We enjoyed listening to KFI AM 640 when we were driving through the LA area. It's hard to find good talk radio that we both like. The worst part of the drive, by far, was dealing with the cats. I was terribly worried about them, and Jeff said it stressed him out to have me fussing about them all the time. I tried to relax. Touchy was such a good little traveler, overall. He mewed a few times, but then just huddled down in his cage and was quiet, although he did seem to look out of the window while it was still light. Hobbes, however, was loudly miserable. Mrow mrow mrow! I would talk to him and put my hand down by his carrier, so that he would know I was there, and that seemed to help. Eventually, he must have just given up hope, since he was mostly quiet during the latter half of the trip. I offered them water and comfort when we stopped for our breaks, but they were too traumatized for anything. They are resilient, however, because within 15 minutes of being introduced to their new home, they were cautiously nosing around, and within an hour or so, they were frisking about and exploring with perfect ease. Neither of them seems to hold a grudge.

Yesterday (Sunday), there was the big task of unloading the truck. Fortunately, we had great help from Sam and Mel and Dan and Jennifer. Everything got unloaded and into the apartment. Jeff said, "We have too much stuff!" Yes. Yes, we do. It won't happen overnight, but we are on our way to simplifying our lives!

I am working on setting up the kitchen today, as well looking at some other tasks. On the agenda for the rest of the week: going to the ob/gyn (we'll let you know if we have an ultrasound that provides us with the sex of the baby), finishing unpacking, getting into a good schedule with Jeff in our new home, calling OfficeTeam (for whom I have worked in the past, and who have done a great job placing me in employment, so far), calling other potential employers, contacting schools in the area to find out about tutoring, and seeing about re-establishing myself in WoW.