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.