Back up the bus....

For posterity's sake I'm going to go back & blog about the move. I'm still trying to get into the "blog thing" so I'm not quite good enough to accomplish "real time blogging" yet. Let's see. Where were we? Trip to Orlando-check; Found the "colorful house"-check; Horrid sickness when I returned home-check. Oh yeah. The weather. It sucks. I know - it's Nebraska - what should I expect. The stupid midwest had 3 blizzards since Christmas and the weather wasn't looking great for the move either.

Moving day. My bestie, Saxon, flew into town on Saturday night to help with this move. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. She was great! I wasn't as packed as she expected. Of course, when we kept having to pack more & more boxes I realized that I wasn't as packed as *I* thought. LOL! But we got it done. Sunday afternoon we picked up the U-Haul. She rose her eyebrows when she got a look at the truck. I *pffffted* her. Heck, I only got the 17' to appease her (and because it was only an additional $50) - I really wanted to get the 14'. Besides, too late now (and the next size up was a 26' - overkill, IMO).

Fast forward back to moving day. I looked outside - and wished I hadn't. It was slick. And freezing cold. And windy. Ooooo...I did not envy the movers. They arrived right on time & got to work. Saxon took charge of them - thank God. Looking for reassurance I asked him if he thought we'd get everything in the UHaul. He just looked at me & said it was going to be tight. Sigh. Nothing like some more stress to add to all of the stress in my life. And so they worked. And Saxon bossed (and I mean that in a good way!). And I fretted. But I trusted that she would make sure things went as well as they could. Mentally I was already deciding what things could be left if need be. And I told the guy that too. "How's it goin'" became my trademark question to Saxon. I could gauge things based on her response. Sometimes she'd say it was looking good, that it'd fit. Sometimes she'd tell me to not look at the truck. Oh, the stress.... And so we got down to our "car items" and the rocking horse (from my childhood), mom's wheelchair, mom's shower chair, and mom's commode. It wasn't fitting. Not at all. The mover asked what we could leave because it wasn't going to fit. Saxon said he had to make it fit. Because it all had to go. God, I love that woman. Suck a good person to be on your side! And you know what? They found a way to make it fit. We had no idea what would fall out at us when we arrived at Orlando - it was that jammed in, but it fit.

Rewind. About half way through the loading it started to snow. Big fat, fluffy flakes. Oh joy. Thank you, God, for telling me that I made the right decision getting out of this place. But seriously, I wasn't having anymore doubts. I could have done without the reassurance.

So, once the movers were on their merry way, so were we. Yay! All was good until we hit I-29. It was snowing. And windy. So, driving the high-profile vehicle, it wasn't fun with the gusting winds. Then my cell phone rang. "SLOW DOWN," Saxon yelled into the phone. "It's black ice and I'm driving a pregnant rollerskate." Stifling the urge to giggle, I earnestly thanked her for calling to let me know & promptly slowed down. Oh, I see. It is kinda icy. Shit. That's no good. And that's how it was until we were well into Missouri. God, that was a LONG drive down I-29. At times we were only going 30-40mph. There were periods of white out, stretches of ice, and gusting of winds. We drove cautiously past wrecked cars & trucks in the median & ditches - and even saw a truck jack-knife behind Saxon & mom. That night we wanted to get ahead of the storm as much as possible. Originally we wanted to get on the other side of St. Louis, but with the slow-going between Omaha & Kansas City we weren't sure that would be possible. In the end we made it where I wanted to stop at about 10pm in the evening.

And watching my budget Saxon suggested we hit the Motel 6. Um. Wow. And not in a good way. I appreciate the thought, but no way in hell was I doing that again.

More quotes from day 1:
Saxon & mom were paired together in the Focus. Saxon kept insisting it was icy. Mom (who if you didn't know, is legally blind) said, "I don't see any ice. I think you're paranoid." Moments later (according to Saxon), they slide & are facing a field. "Oh my!" Mom exclaimed, "We're facing the wrong way." (Um, no shit Sherlock).

The phone rings near Columbia, MO. It's Saxon. "Um. Your mom wants me to tell you something." Uh-oh, I think. "She forgot her insulin in the fridge at the apartment". Shit. Shit. Shit. Not good. So we decide to find a WalMart - she's got her regular insulin, just not the night-time Lantus. I go into WalMart & explain the situation. I give them her pharmacy's information and ask how much the insulin is. I had previously (months ago) looked up online an approximate cost of her insulin & thought it'd be around $250. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me $44. The tech who quoted it even confirmed it was the Solostar pens. Off we went to dinner & then came back to pick up the insulin. Um. Yeah. So, NOT $44. She rings up the insulin & asks me for $215. Back up. That's not what I was told. After dealing with the pharmacy manager the best she can do is offer me a $15 discount. What crap. She knew I was over a barrel. Mom had to have that med (even though she offered to "just not take it til we could get the insulin over-nighted to Florida - um HELL NO). So, that was my less-than-steller WalMart experience in Columbia, MO.

Another highlight - we got to see the St. Louis Arch all lit up at night. It was gorgeous. And I got to tell Matthew all about how I've been up in the Arch. You ride up in this washing machine drum (yep, that's really what it looks like). Well, I'd be interested to go now, because that was my impression as a 13 year old girl.

Choices....

I'm a proud momma today. Well, I'm a proud momma everyday, but today I'm especially proud. This move to Florida has been SOOOO good for Matthew. He's just flourished. Really grown up. Everyone in our household is so much happier. But he's really taken all of the change in stride. He has little neighborhood friends that he plays with outside of school. And he LOVES it. They come over here, he goes over there. And only 1 "incident" (which wasn't really an incident) in almost 3 weeks!

So today the group of them rings the bell after lunch and out Matthew goes to play football. He's got his cell phone that he takes with him so that he can call me or I can call him at any time. Quite convenient I do say.... Anyway, I digress. An hour into play he calls and asks if he can go over to Seth's house with "the group" to watch a movie. Sure, I say. And I innocently ask what they are going to watch. He's not sure - Seth's got lots of movies. Internally I'm hoping there are no skin flicks in his collection, but I quickly put those thoughts out of my mind. I tell him to have fun and the conversation ends.

About 10 minutes later the door opens. In walks Matthew. What happened to watching a movie, I ask? He says that they decided to watch Freddy vs. Jason (a horror movie for those unaware of what that is). Knowing who Freddy & Jason are, Matthew said that he just politely told them, "No thanks". And, he said excitedly, "They were cool about it!" He's still afraid of not "fitting in", but knew that watching Freddy vs. Jason was not a good idea for him. On a side note, when I was in 5th grade & visiting my dad for the weekend we went to his girlfriend, Carol's house. The supervision was a bit lacking & I ended up watching Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy of the Freddy vs. Jason). Oh man. I'm a horror junkie now, but I had NIGHTMARES from that movie. FOREVER. Ok, it was probably just months, but it was a long time in a kid's world! I wouldn't let my poor mom turn her TV off until I was asleep. Anything else would make me dissolve into hysterics. Matthew knows this story. He actually had showed interest in seeing a horror movie so I told him about my experience. That cured him of wanting to watch one.

I'm just so impressed that he asserted himself. And did what he thought was "right" for him. Would I have had a problem with him watching Freddy vs. Jason? Not necessarily. But I certainly don't think he's ready to handle it.

I'm so proud of my kiddo today. Good choice, Matthew. Makes me know that I can really trust you!

Neglected....

That's what this blog has been. Of course, I did move cross country - in a blizzard, over the mountains. After packing my whole house - basically by myself. And I was sick. And stressed. Beyond stressed. And Matthew caught my illness (not to be too graphic, but we were vomiting out of both ends for 2 days!) Fortunately (or unfortunately) Matthew didn't catch it til I was feeling better. But, I had to care for him when I was dehydrated myself. Sucked. Big time.

The recap. I flew to Orlando the 2nd week in January. Even though I "had" the job - I still had to complete a face-to-face interview, tour the unit, etc. In my mind it was my job. I guess it could have went the other way. They called me the next day & offered me the job "officially" or "for real" or whatever you want to call it. And when the recruiter asked me when I wanted to start - she was surprised when I said I wanted to be in the 2/8 orientation class - and that I had already given notice at work & notice at my apartment. I told her that I had faith that it was going to all work out. She was impressed - or dumbfounded by this silly Midwesterner. I'm still not sure if she knew quite what to think.

But back up. The first night I was in Orlando (Monday 1/11) I went out driving with my trusty friend Lola (Lola is my wonderful GPS). I was driving by the houses I had scoped out as probable rentals. I was sure I'd find a house on the list. Oh boy. Good thing I didn't rent sight unseen. While none of the houses were in a "bad" or unsafe neighborhood, I wasn't impressed or in love with any of them..... And I almost had a nervous breakdown. I cried in the Publix parking lot. Wondering what in the hell I was doing. To myself & my child. Questioning everything. What I was going to do now?? I calmed myself (and hopefully didn't freak out too many people shopping!) and went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

The second day was at Florida Hospital. I spent until after lunchtime there. Then I went back to the hotel and decided to look on Craigslist for more places - since I nixed more than 1/2 of my initial list. That's when I found the Kaiser Court house. It was quite a site. Very bright colors. But the house itself looked nice - it was in an area I was ok with and the school was great. So it went on my list to drive by on my way to see the houses on the original list in Avalon Park. And I was even more impressed when I drove by. The sign with who to call was in the yard. I hate that. I'm not good at calling strangers. Actually, that's wrong. I can fake it well, but I hate it. I'm not a good communicator. No doubt about it. So I took down the name & number and off I went. I debated for a moment, took the plunge & called. An answering machine. So I talked to the machine. On the drive to Avalon Park I got a callback. The property manager was available to show it that evening at 5:30pm. Perfect. So I drove by the Avalon Park homes - both of which were very nice. Things were looking up. I decided to treat myself to Downtown Disney. So I hung out there until it was time to make my way back to Kaiser Court.

It was about 45 minutes from Disney to Kaiser Court - an important consideration in any rental - LOL! But I thought that was do-able. I met Bryan at 5:30pm. And the house was louder than I thought. The paint colors were overpowering. But the house was very, very clean and had "beautiful bones". I still wasn't convinced. Of course I had to ask Bryan if the owners would allow me to paint. That would be a deal-breaker. I'm not sure I'd want to live with those colors. He replied that I could repaint, but if I painted anything in an "obnoxious" color, of course I'd have to paint it before I left. I think we both laughed a little at that! What color could this woman possible think would be obnoxious!!! So I left with information on how to apply for the rental but I wasn't sure. But there was another showing after mine. Of course, after I left the more in love I fell with the house. It was in the perfect location - nice neighborhood, great school, ok commute. So I called home, sent the pictures via email to mom & Matthew and got their opinions. They were both ok with my judgment. So, I took the plunge. Decided to apply online for the rental. Then I got territorial. I hoped the other people looking at it hated how "loud" it was. It became MINE.

Long boring story short - in the car driving home from the Kansas City airport I got the call that we had been approved & it truly was "mine". Now I just needed to pack....