Friday, November 29, 2013

a day late and a turkey short

Here's how we roll.

Thanksgiving ON Thanksgiving?  Never happens with my kids.

This year it was Friday.  Today in fact!



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Saturday, November 23, 2013

campin' out (we're in!)

In truth, we've been in for an entire week now.

We spent exactly 10 nights at the 'rents house.  Not that they were counting.  Because they knew that when we left...Eddie left.


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Sunday, November 17, 2013

the devastation of a town

My hometown made national news today.  Unfortunately.

I grew up in Washington, Illinois and graduated from Washington High School.  So did Phil.  He graduated WAY before me though.  Obviously.

Half of my immediate family still lives there. 

And what appears to have been an EF4 tornado ripped through Washington today. 

I couldn't reach my parents.  There was little to no cell service.

We were headed to their house and I was finally able to reach my sister.  Thankfully, they were all safe and their homes are intact.

Meanwhile, Phil managed to reach our friend Brent, who has helped us so much in the building of our new home.

He has lost his home.

His dad, who lived a block down, also lost his.

But they are safe.

Brent needed a ride to somewhere--anywhere--but by the time we got there, he had already made his way to his sister's home.

This is what we witnessed.



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Saturday, November 16, 2013

casa de 'rents

Who says you can't go home again?

(No really...I had to look it up.)

When we closed on the sale of our old house, the new pad was lacking the following luxuries:

Hot water
A bathroom sink (or any sink)

Now we have both.  So I don't have to wash my hands in the toilet.  Because I do have one of those.  Finally.  In the basement.  Surrounded by stud walls and mountainous piles of bric-a-brac.

My parents were gracious enough to invite us into their rat-infested slum of a cracker-box house.  And by invited, I mean that I said, "Um...Mom...would it, um, be okay if, um, Phil and I and Eddie -- you LOVE Eddie -- and, um, the outdoor cat, stay at your house for hopefullynotmorethanaweekorpossiblytwo...?"

So here's where we were forced to reside for the last week and a half.  What a dump.



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Friday, November 8, 2013

yes, we have no pianos

We have no...pianos...today.

Yay!  My computer is hooked up!  I'm currently sitting in the basement between the chest freezer and the furnace.  Only the best for us.

The week started off as pure hell.  On Saturday, I learned that my very good friend from the first grade was succumbing to the effects of the cancer she's been fighting for the last 7 years.  We lost her Monday morning.
I love you Jeannie, and I will miss you terribly.

She had been to the new house a few times over the last several months and saw some of the progress.  I'm so sad there will be no new memories here.

But Jeannie had the biggest and quickest smile of anyone I've ever known.  And she wouldn't want us to dwell.  Goodbye Sweet Friend!

*********

We closed on the sale of our old house Wednesday.  In true Phil and Andi fashion, we did the headless chicken dance right up until the last minute to get the rest of our valuables out.  And by "valuables," I mean all the leftover crap that you have no idea what to do with.

BUT...Tuesday was an experience.  The guys showed up to move the piano.  Have you ever seen an 800-pound grand piano moved down a flight of eight stairs?

You're about to.

But first, a quick funny.  When I called the place to set up the move, he asked me three different times what kind of door I had at the bottom of the stairs.

And I explained three different times that IT'S A DECK.
OUTSIDE.
THERE IS NO DOOR.
(Additionally, there is no spoon.)

He finally got it.

It really instilled me with boatloads of confidence.

Now I'm going to do a picture dump, because they pretty much tell the story without a whole lot of commentary.

Remember this guy?



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Saturday, November 2, 2013

the BM

Today was the Big Move.

What did you think I meant?

Oh.  Shat.

We did smaller moves to the new house the last 2 Saturdays.  Today was the big one.  We moved all the big furniture (except the piano and our mattress) and a bazillion boxes.

What's left, you ask?  All that miscellaneous crap that you have no idea what to do with so you just stare at it as you scratch your ass.

We did have a few moments of note.

The morning started out by opening the damaged box UPS left on my front porch yesterday.  It was supposed to contain my bathroom sink.  Here's what I found.


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