Days later and we're still BOXED in!

Okay, spare me the lecture for the bad joke ^^ and let me commence with an apology for the lack of updates as I've wandered from home and landed myself first in NY and now in MA. Where will the roaming gnome go next? I'm not really sure, but I think back to Maryland. It is high time that I figured out things so that I can know where my life is going.
The gnome will roam to TN to visit Angela, FL to visit the boys (and maybe take a job), and then to NY for the long awaited tattoo with the Fetzer person (can't get a foot tattoo in the winter. And with moving it would have SUCKED).  I'm still pretty excited to get it though.
Okay, so lets dash back to the 22nd real quick and start at about 9 Am.
The movers arrive, and I have to deal with the dogs and with the men, who are quite cute and mostly in their late twenties. :-) that was part of a rather good day. They came in as Grandpa was eating his breakfast. He said hello and got their names, but didn't want to show them around the house, so you can imagine whose job that became. More than happy to help, and having moved so many times, it wasn't hard to deal with. Afterall, Mom was on the way already and I couldn't wait to have a little backup.
The guys gaped at the amount of stuff they were gonna have to put into boxes, and I did my best to throw things out along the way so we would have less to un-pack on the other end. It went pretty smoothly with them packing and occasionally asking questions. The dogs were more than once threatened with entrapment in a box, (particularly Tazzy man) because they would not leave the workers alone. (Tazzy because he has a new fascination with tap rolls, and attempts to attack them while they are being used to close boxes. What fun!)
Mom finally arrives and Grandpa pretty visibly relaxed and the game continued to be played. One guy, Scott, was rocking through the kitchen at such blinding speed that I was relatively unable to keep up with the things he was packing and the things he wasn't. (ON the flip side of this he was not so organized when packing because he was taking bits of this and bits of that Bitsa bitsa, and upon unpacking some of these boxes he appears to have been rather skitzo about what he was putting where. We got a kick out of it, but it made unpacking rather hard.)
The guys stopped working about 4 thirty and promised to return bright and early the next day. It seemed that would be the way things were going, and they were not yet even close to done so our time line of packing monday and tuesday and loading 1/2 Tuesday and Wednesday, was not going to work out. As it was they were already overworked and there seemed not to be enough people to manage what they were working on.
Tuesday dawned and the movers were here bright and early. Mom and I had managed through dinner with everyone and Nana was dealing better than Grandpa at this point. What fun. Another crew of guys and then another whole day of packing passed with little incident. Murphy's law didn't get us until Wednesday, the worst day for a disaster and...of course we got one.
Things were going normally on Wednesday morning. There was still a lot to do and the movers as well as everyone else were all stressed. It seemed, for a little while, that there was just no way that things would actually get completed. Then the accident happened.
My grandfather was downstairs trying to help everyone get the work bench apart when he got himself tangled in some plastic cover and fell. He hit hard, cut his elbow and his knee (He's on asprin and over 85 so this was messy). He was bleeding all over the place and the skin was missing on knee and elbow. The worst part was that he couldn't move his shoulder, at all. He had landed so hard on the elbow that he basically had an impact injury in his shoulder.
I got ice packs and Jeff (cousin) got gauze pads and tape. We got him fixed up but it soon became more than painfully clear that he was going to have to go to the doctor and get some x-rays done because the shoulder was bad.
We waited, and waited, and waited a bit more at the doctor, and my ipod and my book called to me from home -- laughing that they were not being used when I was almost bored completely out of my mind. I was more than ready to be done. We got a consult and the man sent us for x-rays. Duh.  So we did that, and when they finally got those done, we got another consult and the guy said maybe a rotator cuff tear, (a little one), and did he want to have a cortizone shot in his shoulder. Grandpa declined and we finally, four hours later, managed to get Nana (Who had insisted on coming) into the car and grandpa settled into the back seat. We got home about 20 minutes later and it was nearing two o'clock or so.
My grandparents were supposed to drive to MA and Jody's (my aunt) house. And well. They certainly couldn't drive then. Nana doesn't drive, and Grandpa was in too much pain. SOOOO. we had to find a back up plan. My other aunt, Marie, offered to drive them up and have Tyler follow so that he could drive her home. But, there was one catch. Ty's car was in the shop and Marie's truck gets 10 miles to the gallon. SO. I lent Ty my car. He drove it up after his mother and then drove her home. Poor car had to turn around and make the trip again on the following morning.
So, Nana and grandpa were taken care of and all I wanted to do was settle into a little music and chill for the evening. The guys were still packing and loading but were finally coming to an end. I went upstairs to get my ipod so I could listen to music and read my book, because they were quite loud. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked through everything and, though I knew were I had put it that morning, I secretly harbored a hope that it had just gotten misplaced.
No, it didn't. One of the freaking movers had stolen it. I was not pleased. I absolutely could not believe that one of the movers had stolen it. I talked to the guy who said it was impossible and that it hadn't happened. He said to see if it had accidentally gotten packed. Hard for an Itouch to accidentally get packed after it would have had to have been taken out of your stuff and packed into a box. My Itouch was in the front of one of my bags in an open pocket. It was wrapped in the cord to the charger and had the charger with it. I had put it there that morning because I had nowhere else to put it when I was moving my stuff into the 'no pack pile'.
Needless to say, as there were few places it could have been moved to or fallen to (fat chance in a non slip cover). Those places were searched as the guys finished loading (minus the one crew person -- how suspicious).
We moved the next morning and I managed to get some sleep despite being sans ipod. We got up at 6 and got ready to drive to MA and start unpacking. We arrived as they were unloading. Only Billy and Brian, two brothers who were 'in charge' of the move, were the crewmen we knew. The others were local from MA and were in to help us move things into the house and around off the trucks.
I quickly went through the boxes and realized that my Itouch had not, in fact, been packed as we had all slightly hoped it had. I ended up having to talk to Billy and let him know that the Itouch was not to be found. He said he hadn't wanted to think about it because he knew who had taken it as it was the guy's first day on the job. What fun. Billy said that he had seen it in the place I'd told him it had been and he had also noticed it was missing towards the end of the day before the other guy had left. What freaking fun. So he told me he'd tell his boss and that they would be in touch with me.
I ended up having to call on Friday and ask them what the deal was because I wasn't just going to let a 400$ theft go unnoticed -- and not harass them. The owner of the company called me back and said that he realized the theft was a problem and did not debate that it had happened. He said that the guy was Brian's (One of the mover brother team) friend and that Brian was going to try and get my Itouch back this weekend if he could find the guy. Elsewise they would replace it on Monday. So that is tomorrow, and I'll be awaiting their call.
We've made it through a few days of hauling boxes and unpacking and it just sucks. My back is killing me and the dogs are unsettled and aren't sleeping which means they are keeping me up (Taz is attacking me as I type) * reaches down and puts dog on her lap* okay, I apologize in advance for dog related typos because he'll shortly go to sleep on one wrist or the other.
Packing wasn't too bad, because we weren't really doing it, but unpacking has been a real pain in the ass. I've been working my butt off and taking very little time to myself. It has all been about just helping out and getting this done.
Chris, my Aunt, has come down from Vermont and is helping us unpack. She cannot really do the lifting but is helping unpack and such. It is a great help. My aunt, Jody, is being a flipping pain in our asses trying to re-do what we've already done. She steadfastly refuses to take care of Nana, at all, and is leaving us all with our butts hanging out to get smacked.
Situation: 11:30 am, and Jody has gotten up and gone to church with Jack (Her 11 yr old son). They left nana and grandpa at their house (where they are staying until Mom and I ((we're sleeping at the house)) manage to get the place well enough done that they can stay.) They did not wake Nana and give her any sort of breakfast, just left. Granted, it takes some planning to manage a lot of things like that in the morning and still feed Nana, but you can do it with little thought. (My wrist is getting very heavy.)
Jody left, and didn't wake Nana. So come 11:30 nana isn't feeling well and hasn't had breakfast and is still asleep in bed. Because when she doesn't eat she has no energy to get up and doesn't bother because then her stomach just hurts from hunger pains!
Grandpa was awake, but hadn't fed nana because she wanted to sleep more. He doesn't really realize that he HAS to feed her, or else.
So I'm called in and come over to get her fed. Mom and I tag team her because now that she has spent the morning in bed with no food she feels awful. Go figure. So we get nana fed, and she's doing pretty well. Jack comes up with nana's pills. I had tried to explain to Jody about nana's pills and she had refused to listen, so Jack puts the wrong pills on the plate and nana takes them. So now she's had her whole day's pills and has taken double the dose of one of them, which she takes a 1/2 pill of on Sundays. She took whole pill because 'jody' who didn't want to listen about the pills and become a nurse maid, then gave random pills to jack to give to nana. with stronger pills or a stricter regiment (which jody wouldn't know because she doesn't want to be a nurse maid) She could have hurt nana.
So I try to tell her to make sure that nana takes no more pills today because now she's had all of them and Jody gives me a flipping lecture about not being their nurse maid. They are in your house, and you were the one who gave your son random pills to give to his grandmother when you didn't know anything about them because you didn't want to.
END RANT -- But seriously. *Annoyed face*
SO i'm stuck at Jody's being the babysitter to nana while mom takes grandpa out. I'm not getting anything done at the house and Jody has gone to do that (God knows what she is changing around.) Shoot me! I'm much more productive than Jody is, but because she doesn't want to take care of Nana, she's off messing with the house and I'm stuck here blogging and getting nothing done. (yes, i realize blogging isn't nothing, but still. There is SO MUCH to do and I'm stuck here because Jody is a pain in my ass).
Jody spends more time re-doing things we've already done than she does helping us actually get things unpacked and put away. She spends her time moving the room around after we've set it up, or criticizing my mother for the work she's doing. My mom doesn't need her shit. She's already stressed enough and I'm sick of Jody's 'better than you' attitude.
If she didn't want to be involved, she should have just said something. I also got to listen to her pick a fight with my grandmother this afternoon. She was being a bully. Nana isn't feeling well and Jody was just pushing and pushing her to get things done and telling her what they were going to do. My grandmother does not do well when you tell her what she's going to do.

Anyway, that seems to be the end of the story for the time being. I'm hoping that we can get this stuff done and get home Wednesday. I'm super ready!

~M

D-Day

Well, tis upon us. Moving begins with the packing tomorrow. There is a lot of stuff to pack so it is gonna be a hectic day of packing and moving and such. Should be terribly interesting. But, I get ahead of myself, some updates.

I meant to write, but got completely overwhelmed. I'll write later. Sorry folks, but yes, I am alive and the moving/packing has commenced! *gasp* they are actually on their way out of here!

Will write on this later.

Horoscope

Great, even my Horoscope is in on the madness:

"When times are tough, or at least tricky, the universe often sends hints your way, via coincidental circumstances, vivid or recurring dreams or the appearance or reappearance of someone whose presence makes you feel a certain way. It's up to you now to figure out what those coincidences and dreams are all about. You know you can do it. If anyone is an expert at unraveling such things for others, it's you. Do it for yourself now."


I have very little patience for these things most of the time, and today I just happened to read it. Lovely, I'm supposed to unravel things when I'm still searching for the answers. Today isn't the best day. Spending a lot of time contemplating subjects which should be left well enough alone. Joe is on my mind today. I miss him, as odd as that sounds. I really do. I guess that is how it goes when someone plays wheres waldo in your life. In one second and out the other. At least I got some of it out in my writing over the past few days. 


My Writing, If you've any interest


I guess it is how I keep sane. Go me.


Still planning my tattoo. I'm trying to figure out if I want something permanent on my body. I guess I'll figure that out pretty soon. "Not all those who wander are lost" Has been a phrase to describe me for so many years. I guess I wouldn't mind wearing it permanently.

Finding the Answers

A though provoking bit of writing on that card. I wonder if the generations which are coming and which have come in the last ten years feel more lost than those who have come before us? I feel like there were fewer options and more set ways when other generations were coming through, but now, as we move through our college years and the years scarcely a few years past we have so many more options, and thus it is so much more complicated than it used to be. 

I think a ton of people walk around waiting for the answers to drop on their heads. It doesn't tend to happen that way, but what if. If we had a family business, though we'd rebel and think we wanted other choices, most would inevitably end up working in the family business with the stress removed and their lives set out before them. But as family businesses fall to the major corporations, one now has to pick a job which he/she may or may not be qualified for and go for it. 

The worst part is trying to choose. It is hard to change careers these days because one career tends to take a ton of training. 

So yes, I think we take a ton of our lives trying to find the answers to our questions. We do not head straight into a line of work as many used to, and science is ever complicating our lives by breaking everything we knew down a step further into what we now have to re-learn.

The Generations after us will know more, be taught Pluto isn't a planet, and will be much more computer literate than we could ever hope to be in our lifetimes. I was taught typing on a typewriter in middle school for peat’s sake. I even had to take cotillion classes to learn how to ballroom dance. GAH! So, as we're emerging into the world and re-learning all the things which have changed since we were kids, we're constantly in a struggle to figure out who we are. 

Even in love we're complicated. It is hard to meet people these days once you're out of school. You are not introduced to social families anymore, and you are hardly ever invited to 'real' social engagements these days. So where does that leave many people? In the dusk of a time when things were much easier, and life was easier to live and get it over with.

okay, end mind boggling philosophical rant... 

Boy Pirates...

Took it out of my profile so I had to put it somewhere:

CadavreRiant83

i hate he is taken

though we will see if he even calls tomorrow

my luck he wont

Emily 

he sounds consistent

the ones with girlfriends always are

CadavreRiant83

lmao

great

Emily

yeah, seriously

we have to steal them.

CadavreRiant83

lol

Emily 

We have to be BOY pirates!

ARRRRR

CadavreRiant83

LMAO

Emily 

we'll take them captive

CadavreRiant83

I am totall there!

Emily 

and seduce them

and keep them!

25 inches of snow!

Well folks, I write you from the now frozen north. It was quite an adventure, and yes, I finally have power back after Friday, Saturday, and Sunday without power. That was not a fun adventure thank you very much. To follow, are a few pictures I took of the mess that this snow made. Figures I escape from the frozen south and end up frozen into the freaking north again!

Well, this is the road. Yes, the road complete with one very large tree down the center of it. 

I didn't get a picture of me standing near it, but it was a HUGE tree!

This is the front of the house, grandpa included. 

Check out the snow on the power lines from the house to the street!

I was so certain the trees all around us were going to fall all night. 

It was not fun to be sleeping upstairs around the falling branches.

In the top left you can see sky, that used to be a tree!

This is what the road looked like by our driveway. Check out the snow on the trees!

This snow was WET and Heavy and it was bringing branches down.

To walk around and take these pictures I had to listen constantly for the sound of limbs breaking.

So I could dodge out of the way if necessary.

The next day the snow just fell in huge icy chunks. 

Grandpa got nailed by a few before giving up on a dog walk and coming home!

This is what the driveway looked like.

You can see the small path I cut to the top of the driveway!

I cannot believe the snow we got!

Holy cow!

And, last but not least, this is the aforementioned front of the house with the huge table of snow.

Yes, the table measured about 23 inches, but we got a lot of wet slush before we got snow.

just wow.

In the background you can see that there are broken tree limbs everywhere!

So ends the picture show of the frozen north. I'm super glad we got power back and cannot wait to see how things keep going. We are at March 1 and the grandparents begin moving in 21 days!

~M