Whirlwind week

The Babaloo pointed out that I haven't blogged lately. This is true. It's been a whirlwind week, for certain.
I'm never going to get completely caught up on the details, so let me try to summarize.

We did manage to find a washer and dryer pretty quickly. We looked online. We looked at sales ads in the paper. We pulled the addresses of several secondhand appliance shops in town and headed over the hill. All but one of the shops had gone out of business. The one remaining shop wanted almost as much for a used set as for new. I thanked the lady for her time and had resigned myself to hand-washing clothes for a while. We headed over to one more thrift shop to see what kind of furniture was available, and when we pulled up there were two stacking washer/dryer sets out front. Good eye, Babaloo!

So now I have this, which fit (somewhat) nicely beside my cube freezer in the laundry room, and I have been doing laundry rather happily since.

Thursday a week ago, we headed down to the DMV... er, MVD?... and switched over our titles on the car and truck and got our new driver licenses. We held off on registering the trailer here, since we were hoping to sell it before our 30-day grace period was up. Did you know that licenses here don't expire until you're 65?

After dinner, I started the dishwasher and the Babaloo and I pulled up a movie to stream. About fifteen minutes into it, I heard water running. I jumped up and ran to the kitchen to find water spilling out all over the floor. I shut it off, mopped up the water, and we decided it was too late in the day to call the landlord.
Friday, I had yet another job interview scheduled for the afternoon. The Babaloo was able to get in touch with the landlord as we were finishing our coffee, and he gave us the go-ahead to do the repair ourselves. About an hour later, with a bit of elbow grease (mostly the Babaloo's; I was the finder-of-things and flashlight-holder and pliers-gripper), we had it fixed.

This hose had slipped completely off.

When I got home from my interview, UPS had delivered another order, so one kid assembled her bookshelves while we put together our dressers.

It rained a lot over the weekend, so we kind of just hung out around the house.

Monday, the Babaloo and I crawled under the truck and replaced the mufflers. Then we headed over the other hill and picked up a grill, then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening putting it together. We didn't eat dinner until almost 8pm, but it was great.

Two-fer photo! You can see mufflers and the grill.

Tuesday, we crawled under the truck a couple more times until we had the mufflers positioned/attached the way we wanted them.

This past week I also applied for a whole slew of new jobs. And we started a project that I'll detail here later. And I finally had all the components I needed to hang curtains in all the bedrooms and to sew and install curtains over the skylights in the bathrooms; the cumulative effect is that the house is about ten degrees cooler.

Thursday afternoon, I got a call back from the company I'd seen a week prior. I start my new job tomorrow. Lots of folks have asked for details, but I prefer to compartmentalize my life, so I won't be posting much about it. It's a little over a half hour drive from here, over one of the mountains, with some really nice folks, and I think it'll give me a chance to use many of my skills from previous similar positions. And it's indoors. And it's air-conditioned.

Friday morning, I went clothes shopping, of course. New job, right? Most importantly, I needed office-appropriate shoes. Black, low heel, closed toe, and comfortable.

Gratuitous shoe pic for my sister.

When I got home, a fellow had driven over from Flagstaff to look at the trailer. In less than an hour, he and the Babaloo had properly notarized documents, the Babaloo had cash in hand, and the Prowler was gone. We didn't make money on the deal, but we didn't lose money, either. This means we basically had use of a trailer for a couple of months for free to move across the country. I call that a success. Sure, it would have been easier to rent a U-Haul but when you factor in loading time, driving time, and unloading time --the length of time for which was uncertain when we left NC-- we were looking at about $2000 out of pocket. The Babaloo is a Craigslisting genius, I tell you.

We had codes for free Redbox, so we spent the evening watching movies with the kids.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed over a hill to a neat little cafe'. Most importantly, they had doughnuts for one kid, bagels for the other, biscuits & gravy for the Babaloo, and a bagel with lox for me. It was beautiful and delicious and possibly the best dang lox bagel I've ever eaten. It didn't hurt that their website offered a coupon, so breakfast for all of us cost about ten bucks.

Then we went to the hardware store and the grocery store and finished up at the post office to pick up live worms before heading home. (The Babaloo has started a composting project.) After lunch, I mentioned to the Babaloo that the final thing we needed to replace was the TV in the bedroom. We hunted around on Craigslist and headed over the other hill to look at one a guy was selling. Once he powered it up, though, there was a huge streak across the top right corner. We considered it, but the Babaloo and I looked at each other and agreed that it was annoyingly noticeable, so we passed on it and headed to a nearby retailer instead.

Yes, I will be doing something about those cords.

And I finished unpacking/clearing all but one corner of our bedroom.

And we finally located and framed and hung our degrees and academic awards.

And I think that's it for now. I'm going to go call my momma. Have a great week!

Setting up Household

It's a blur at this point, but during our first few days here, we delved into our nest egg to set up a basic household. We'd kept all our kitchen tools (tossed a lot of pots and pans and almost all our dishes), kept our beds (except our box springs and body pillows), kept the kids' TV and the living room TV and all our computers (but donated the bedroom TV), kept the dining room table (but donated the chairs)... you get the idea. We had less than half a household when we arrived. The only things we had to sit on were camp chairs, which proved too low for dining at the table (insert image of us hunkered around the table at eye-level with the surface).

On Friday, we got up early while it was cool outside and finished unpacking the trailer. After showers, we headed down the highway* with the kids and picked up new body pillows, four ceramic bowls, ice cube trays, trash cans, etc. We also looked for fly strips but there were none to be had. (Flies had swarmed in while the landlord had painted and while we moved all our stuff indoors.) While we were running errands either Thursday or Friday, we stopped by the local internet company and grabbed a business card. When we got home, I called to arrange service but they couldn't meet until Monday at 2pm. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking. That night, we headed into town to Big Lots to pick up a set of dishes, a set of glasses, a sweeper, some taller folding chairs, a basic TV stand, and light bulbs.

Early Saturday, though after coffee, the inlaw and his dad (who actually owns the house) stopped by with a whole set of new deadbolts and doorknobs, all keyed alike. The inlaw brought a spare phone book for us! The dad also walked with us around the property and showed us the sprinkler system for the plants, the shut-off for the water main, etc. After they left, the Babaloo and I installed the new locks. Well, the Babaloo did. Mostly I just held the doors in place while he installed them, and handed him the hardware as needed.

I unpacked a little more and --surprise!-- found two packs of fly strips which I promptly hung. I think in two days, one strip alone caught 37 flies.

Later that day**, we headed back down the highway, still staying in the valley, and stopped by a used furniture shop. The owners, Gary and Janet, are really nice and welcomed us to the area. We snagged four nightstands: one for each of the kids and one for each of us. Now we had a place to store our socks and skivvies! It's nice not living exclusively out of a suitcase.

I only washed the living room curtains completely by hand before I had the Babaloo drill holes in one of our many five-gallon buckets so I could hand-wash a few small loads of clothing in the garden tub. One of many tutorials. The collapsing, wooden drying rack came in quite handy.

We also discovered reddish sugar-ants entering the kitchen window, and the younger kid ran into the living room mid-day to exclaim that they were coming through her baseboard and had gotten all over her computer. (The kids had taken plastic container lids and set up their computers sans internet to write and play solitaire or somesuch.) I got down on hands and knees and used a flashlight to find and squish every ant I could find, sprayed the windowsill and baseboard, and banned her from her room for the rest of the day until it could dry and air out.

At 3am Sunday morning, said kid crawled into our bed because ants had crawled into bed with her.

Sunday, the Craigslist man and his wife (who handles the paperwork for her father's properties) stopped by with the lease. By this point, my nerves were greatly settled. Heck, I'd met half the family.*** And I had a lease in hand.  We had a list of about ten items or questions that the Babaloo asked while I read over the agreement, the biggest problem being that the master bath toilet would not flush properly. The Babaloo also thought to ask whether we could have chickens and they very enthusiastically said that's something they support! After we signed, the wife said she'd need to make a copy of the lease to bring back to me, but I just popped it on the printer/scanner/copier and made one for myself, which she appreciated. Then they hauled butt because they had groceries in the car.

Monday morning, after coffee and a shower, the older kid and I headed into town to the Home Depot, where we found door mats, huge, outdoor trash bins, uber bug spray, a yard rake, and a small countertop bin for compost materials. While I was in Home Depot, I missed a local call on my cell and couldn't reach the person when I dialed back. We also stopped by the grocery store. As soon as I stepped into the produce section, the Babaloo called to ask where the power cord was for our router. The internet guy had shown up early, and the internet was already up and running because the previous tenant had never returned the dish. The kid and I looked in both stores for fly swatters, but there were none.

When I got back home around noon, the Babaloo and I hustled to bundle up the trash and make use of the outdoor bins right away. Most of it was packing materials, but the Craigslist man and his wife had not looked at our indoor collection very fondly when we'd seen them the day before. I immediately called the independent trash company in the valley and set up service. The Babaloo had found a larger thrift store in the town the other direction, and we called ahead to ask that they charge my card and let him pick up a couch he'd seen on Craigslist. They were highly agreeable and he hit the road.

About an hour later, the Craigslist man and the inlaw and the dad showed up with new miniblinds and tools to remove and snake the toilet. The inlaw thought I didn't hear him point out the outdoor trash bins to the Craigslist man, but I did. See? They were talking about it. I spent a good portion of their visit taking supplemental tools, ladders, and old rags to one guy or another. When the Babaloo got home with furniture, the dad said, "Your wife is quite handy."

The Babaloo offered to install the miniblinds and the two younger men helped him carry in the couch and recliner he'd found. The couch, itself, has a recliner at each end. It is not as comfy as our old couch was for stretching out to take a nap, but I do appreciate being able to put my feet up.

I think that's enough updating for today. I'll leave off with Monday and start the next post with our search for a washer and dryer on Tuesday.

SO much counter space! SO much storage space!

*I should mention that the inlaw who arrived with none of the right keys told us no one in the valley locks their doors. Arizona is a very gun-owner-friendly state, so I certainly don't intend to walk up to a strange house and let myself in.

**After I could lock my doors, because gun or no gun, I lock my doors.

***For those of you who need visualizations, this may help. Craigslist man is like a slightly younger, shorter, highly energetic, redheaded version of the Babaloo's stepdad. The wife is like a cross between Peg Bundy and Diva Plavalaguna from 'The Fifth Element', in that she's coiffed and frank and very tall with a beautiful voice. The inlaw is much like I'd expect my mom's friend Helen's son would be today, very friendly and chill and totally a west-coast dude with long sun-bleached hair and a ball cap. The dad is retired Navy and a cross between Cotton Hill and Abe Simpson. (Sorry; I never had the benefit of a grandfather, personally, and don't know a lot of older gentlemen so I may be stretching for comparisons, here.)

The Belated Post About Arriving Here

Okay... I'm almost caught up on things around here, so I'll take a quiet moment to backtrack and write about getting here.

Before we left Durham, the Babaloo and I had been watching Craigslist closely for something that fit our wants, needs, and budget. He had spoken on the phone with a man about a place that was available August 1st, and I'd noted a couple of leasing agencies in the area. We're in Mohave County, which is huge and real estate is affordable but not plentiful.

So, the end of our three-and-a-half day, 2300-mile trip across the country resulted in our pulling off of I-40 on August 1st at about noon and parking in front of a seedy motel so the Babaloo could try to call the man again to see if the property was still available/viewable. They agreed to meet twenty miles down the road at a gas station for which the kids and I were grateful as a bathroom break was long overdue so we could follow from a main road out to the place.

We saw it and agreed to take possession immediately. The man gave the Babaloo a set of keys and we agreed to meet back around 2pm with cash in hand for the deposit and rent. We left the truck and trailer, shuffled a few things out of the back of the car to make room for all four of us, and hightailed it back to town in search of a local bank. It's almost laughable that the purpose of a personal banker is to provide a highly customized banking experience in order to provide stellar service, but just setting up a local bank account in order to cash my own NC check was such a process. Don't get me wrong; everyone at the bank was very friendly and professional but they had their protocol to follow when all I really wanted them to do was call my credit union to verify funds, let me open an account, and cash my dang check. The rest of the services are gravy which could have been set up another day and not after three and a half days of rigorous travel.

Shortly before 3pm, we were back at the house. I used the key the man had given us and opened the front door.* The very first thing we unpacked was my printer/scanner/copier so we could make copies of our IDs for the man and the man could do the same for us because I'm not going to hand over a thousand plus bucks to a stranger and just trust that it's legit especially when he told the Babaloo he was leaving for Vegas that afternoon. 

The man understood and promptly handed over his driver license for us to run a copy and smiled and took our cash, wished us luck, and left. We got busy unpacking camp chairs and moving our mattresses indoors, and then locked up the place and headed back up the road to the grocery store. Milk was only $1.89 a gallon! The fruits and veggies are really cheap and really fresh!

We got back here with a hatchback full of groceries, bone-tired, dusty from travel, and ready to just relax for a bit.

The key didn't work in the front door. Or the back door. Or the french doors. And both the Babaloo and I walked all the way around the house, hoping at least one of the windows would be open, but none were that we could see. And it was slightly cooler than a hundred degrees outside. And we had cold items roasting in the car.

The Babaloo picked up the phone and called the man, who promised to send an inlaw to let us in. Of course, at this point, all my nerves are screaming that we've been had. The inlaw showed up pretty quickly and tried all of about twenty keys on a ring and none of them worked. The Babaloo suggested that we drill out one of the locks. So the inlaw helped us heave our dining room table up and over and out of the bed of the pickup truck so we could access the toolboxes underneath. Only, the Babaloo never charges his drills and none of the outdoor sockets worked because all the switches were turned off indoors. So I dug out my chintzy Black & Decker drill and he set to work. The inlaw headed home to locate his drill. The Babaloo and I took turns drilling away at the doorknob core.

During one of his turns, I was sitting in a camp chair being thankful for shade when one of the kids (both of whom had been amazingly patient all week) walked up and asked how to remove a window screen. I followed said kid around to the back patio and popped the screen out. The kid pushed the unlocked window open and asked for a boost. Thirty seconds later, we opened the front door to find a frustrated-relieved Babaloo kneeling on metal shavings.

After having read about our first afternoon/evening in town, perhaps now you can appreciate how tranquil the view is here at night. I know I sure did that first night.

More updates later!

*This is an unintentional non-truth, but I didn't know so at the time. I put the key in the lock and the knob turned.

Interview and errands

I had an interview today. I think it went well. We'll see.

The more important thing is that I found my way into the next town over, arrived in plenty of time to be seen early, found my way over to two different grocery stores and back home again without getting lost. We have a Smith's here, which is the equivalent of (and affiliated with) Kroger back east. We also have a Safeway, which I don't think I've seen since I was a kid. I only grabbed a few things (produce, Cheez-Its, etc.) at Smith's. I did better at Safeway, and saved over 50% with coupons and sales. The kids were thrilled that we have snacks and fresh fruit. The Babaloo commended me on finding pretty pork chops at a great price. I am horrible at picking meat.

The interview and errands ate up a big chunk of the middle of my day, and I didn't get home until 4:30, at which point it was basically time to start dinner.

Only one photo today: the view of the valley from my front yard at night. It's relaxing to sit outside after the sun goes down. The temperature drops significantly, the traffic settles down, and all the little lights a few miles away twinkle silently. *Contented sigh.*

So now I think I'm going to go soak in the ginormous tub in our bathroom, because I am beat.

Life in the desert

I'm behind on the promised update post. I know I'm behind. I don't have time to sit down and write all that because we ran errands yesterday in Nevada (by the way, probably not the best choice of days, given the regatta in which hundreds of folks, half of whom were drunk, hopped on inflatables and floated down the Colorado River) and I have a job interview tomorrow and am still playing catch-up on laundry.

I did take time to snap a few photos today for the folks who are concerned that I'm living in a barren wasteland. It is the desert, but there is plenty of life here. I wasn't fast enough to catch the bunnies, but I was fast enough for the quail in my neighbor's yard.

And we have palm trees.

And, at the back patio, there is what I think is an acacia. I could be wrong.

And there are trees of other sorts but not so many that they block the view of the many mountains surrounding us.

And the Babaloo saved pineapple plants.

And as long as I'm showing you the back patio, I might as well show you the front of the place.

And that's it for now, because I have banana bread in the oven and laundry I need to cycle.

The Trip

Sorry for the delay in updating, folks. We left NC last Monday and it's been a whirlwind since.

I'm taking time to update you on the trip today, and then I'll get caught up in the next post about arriving in AZ.

The trip is approximately 2,200 miles, or 33 hours, without stops for gasoline or bathroom breaks and without delays for construction or automobile malfunctions. The Babaloo thought we could make it a two-day trip. I planned on three. It took three and a half.

Monday morning, I tossed one last load of clothes in the dryer, guzzled my coffee, and we loaded the mattresses into the Prowler. Then I headed over to Time Warner to turn in our modem. While I was gone, the family carried the last items to load into the car so when I returned, everything was on the sidewalk, ready to go. We made use of the bathroom one last time, and then headed down to turn in our apartment and mailbox keys. The leasing office wasn't open yet, so there was a short delay while I drove around the complex looking for the morning maintenance man who advised me to drop them in the office drop-box, which I did. Then we hit the road before 10am.

It wasn't too long before we realized the truck wasn't going to get the 10mpg we had estimated, especially climbing the Appalachians. I think, during the entire trip, we fluctuated between 6mpg and 9mpg. As a result, I only fueled up every 2-3 times the Babaloo did.

Western NC

Tennessee is very pretty. It has more trees than North Carolina, and almost every vehicle I saw on the interstate was less than two years old.

Tennessee

We considered stopping at an independent campground in Dickson, TN, but when we arrived no one was around to answer the door or phone, so we agreed to push for West Memphis. We did rest for a bit nearby. We busted out the camp chairs and I drove a block away to grab dinner from Arby's. While the kids finished eating, I called ahead to the KOA in West Memphis to confirm they had room for us, and to get info about paying for a site after-hours. I also mentioned during this fuel-up that the Babaloo was throwing quite a few bits of tire at my windshield and asked whether he was just running over a lot of trash. He checked the tires on the truck and trailer, but it was pretty dark and he couldn't see any problems.

We pulled into the KOA around 11pm. It had nice bathrooms and plenty of space, and we were able to pick a pull-through site with water and electricity, and no trees overhead. When we woke in the morning, we pulled out the camp chairs and made coffee using our hot plate, kettle, and coffee press. I had somehow managed to forget about holding out shampoo for the trip. The bald guy in the site next to us happened to have a brand-new bottle of strawberry VO5 and refused to accept any sort of payment when he gave it to us. "I haven't needed shampoo since 1972!" He was headed the opposite direction, from CA, without a specific destination other than Graceland en route.

It was while we were sitting in our camp chairs, drinking our coffee, that the Babaloo was at the right level and angle to look over and notice that the inner passenger rear tire on the truck was shredded. This is why bits of tire kept hitting me every time we went up a hill. The Babaloo and I debated whether to change it ourselves using the spare, but the spare was packed nicely in the bed of the truck and we really wanted to hold it in reserve in case another tire went out 100 miles from nowhere. Plus, it was starting to rain. The lady at the KOA office gave us the number of a local RV repair shop. I was able to call and locate them, and give them detailed info on the size tire we needed replaced. We limped the rig up the service road a couple of miles, dropped the trailer, and left them the truck with the keys while we went to breakfast.

Fast, cheap, good, and friendly.

As a result, we didn't get on the road until almost noon. The details of the second day are kind of blurry at this point. I am thankful that most of it was overcast. We hit a bit of rain, but not much, and the sun wasn't shining in my eyes while I was driving in the afternoon.

Arkansas: fewer trees, more sky

We ate dinner at a Denny's on I-40 that had free WiFi, so I was able to bust out the Kindle and pull contact info for a KOA in Oklahoma, about 50 miles from the Texas border. I called and made a reservation for a pull-through site. We pulled in around 11pm, about two hours after my contact lenses had started to dry out. Also, construction on I-40 in Oklahoma City is insane; the interstate there is terrible and they have about ten miles of narrow shoulders with cement barricades followed by ten miles of the slow lane (our designated lane most of the trip) consisting of half-pavement, half-shoulder. Know how driving on the shoulder causes a car to thump-thump-thump? Ten miles of that. Behind a swaying trailer and transfer trucks blowing by in the left lane. At night, with awful night vision. I told the Babaloo I couldn't push that hard for a third day. 

The KOA manager had left a map and WiFi password at the night check-in with our site number, but had neglected to leave an access code for the electronic locks on the bathrooms. Thankfully, a nice lady with beautiful braids was in the restroom and opened the door. When I showed her our reservation sheet, she told us the code so we could get in on our own in the morning.

The second night in the Prowler was kind of rough. The air conditioner had blown directly on our kid in the upper bunk the first night, so the second night, three of us slept sideways on our queen mattress. This meant the Babaloo had to wake me up to let him out in the morning at 5am to use the bathroom. I reiterated that I was not up for pushing hard the third day, and that I'd really like to find a hotel where we could all stretch out and have a personal bathroom for a change.

Our coffee companion at the OK KOA

Also, driving monotony set in the third day. Oklahoma and Texas are very flat, and unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes. It was at our first fuel stop in Texas that I just had to sit for a moment and lean my head on the steering wheel, chomp some Rolaids, and wait for vertigo to pass.

So, even though it involved a bit of a climb again, I was happy when we made it to Sky City, NM. The weather up there was absolutely gorgeous.

The Babaloo kept trying to convince me that we'd gained hours by traveling westward. We had agreed to stop at 9pm the third day, which meant we actually checked into a Best Western at 8pm just east of Flagstaff. I guess it was fortuitous that the Babaloo wasn't interested in pushing the rig up into the mountains so late in the day. The hotel was lovely. The Babaloo drove the car to a nearby Taco Bell to grab dinner. I was frustrated that (like every Taco Bell ever) they forgot to give me a spork and the Babaloo thought I was blaming him when I was just tired and snippy and not faulting him in the least. After I ate and slept on a wide, flat surface and showered and moisturized and ate again (their complimentary breakfast was pretty comprehensive), I was a new woman.

State line!

Flagstaff is nice. I could live there. But it's rather expensive, I think. And the Babaloo doesn't do snow. I could totally live there, though.

The fourth day, the Babaloo's driving became more difficult to read. I couldn't tell when he wanted to change lanes (my job for the trip was to clear the passing lane for him to get over & back) and he frequently left his turn signal on for several miles. I'm sure I looked like a moron, jumping back and forth from lane to lane and almost missing entrance ramps because I was still clearing the left lane when he turned right. It didn't help that you cannot see road signs from behind a Prowler. I confess I yelled a few times in exasperation.

I was happy, though, when we started seeing mountains. We saw and traveled through several before we reached our destination late Thursday morning.

I'll post later about arriving in town and securing living arrangements. For now, I'll leave you with the view from my front yard at night.

Last Night in Town

This is our last night in town. Tomorrow morning, we'll have coffee, turn in the modem, turn in our keys, and hit the road.

This morning I woke up before 6am but didn't know what time it was because my alarm clock is packed. After coffee with milk, we finished loading all but the last of the stuff in the Prowler. Tomorrow morning while I'm returning the modem, the Babaloo and the kids will load the mattresses, the TV, and our computers.

When I get back, we'll load the suitcases in the car.

Suitcases, camp chairs, first aid toolbox.

We also threw away a whole bunch of stuff today.

The socks I mentioned yesterday.

Broken backpacks, unused boxes, excess mops in the dining area.

I also finished scrubbing the kitchen.

Before sweeping/mopping.

We also took a load of donation stuff over on the way to my sister's house for lunch.

Everything but the table.

Then we had a lovely lunch that lasted five hours. The cousins played. The menfolk enjoyed beers and conversation. I'm really going to miss the frequency of visits with my sister and that's all I'm going to say about it right this moment because I hate crying.

We topped off the air pressure on the car tires on the way home. I've finished sweeping and vacuuming all the floors except the living room. The Babaloo says he'll vacuum and mop after he and the kids finish watching one last movie and dismantling his computer and the TV.

We have very little food in the fridge but nothing with which to cook it. I thought I was being smart by holding back the ingredients for tuna salad, but I forgot about a can opener, so we ordered and devoured a large pizza for dinner.

Right this minute, I'm waiting for my comforter to finish drying (it's been in for four cycles now, so it should be done soon) and then I'll go put fresh sheets on our bed and start one last load of laundry. 

Is that it? We've done so much today but I can't remember it all. I know I'm forgetting stuff, but it must not be important. I'm beat.

If you're reading this and know me personally, please remember that airplanes and telephones and video chats will be used often in the near future.

Two days to go

First, I forgot to mention that we got rid of the recliner and an old shelf yesterday. I'll try to do a better job of relating what we accomplished today.

The Babaloo woke up at about 4:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. By the time I woke up, the coffee was cold and we were out of milk and the powdered creamer just kind of clumped up on top. I caught myself mid-hissy fit and ran up to Biscuitville for coffee and biscuits.

We finished packing the kitchen. I ran up to the dollar store and bought some rolls of anti-slip matting. We duct-taped two rolls onto the folded-out back seat of the Babaloo's crew cab and two onto the countertop of the trailer so stuff won't shift. The last one, we put on the not-box-springs on the dining area of the trailer so the mattress (hopefully) won't slide, either. Two boxes of kitchen stuff are on the trailer counter and the cabinets are packed with shelf-stable foodstuffs.

I bought milk so there's no chance of a coffee-related hissy tomorrow morning.

I filled two of my wooden produce baskets with stuff we want to access en route, including our kettle, the coffee press, sugar cubes, the aforementioned powdered creamer, pancake mix, peanut butter, honey, pop-top cans of pineapple rings, and a box of plastic flatware that I also picked up today. At the very least, we'll be able to make coffee, breakfast, and sandwiches. Those baskets will not be loaded until after coffee Monday morning.

I finished doing almost all the laundry, including the kids' bedding. I need to do one more load of clothing and our sheets & comforter, and then I'll be absolutely done. I have to confess that I gave up on the laundry basket full of unmatched kids' socks and just handed them each a new six-pack of socks yesterday. We did manage to match a half dozen pairs of their favorite old ones, but the rest are going straight into the garbage. That's slack. I know it's slack. I just don't have the time or energy, and sometimes you just have to concede defeat to move forward.

The Babaloo and I finished packing our suitcases, and they're queued up in the downstairs closet. The kids and I finished packing their suitcases. We've all picked out what to wear tomorrow and Monday, and we all picked grubby throw-away shirts to wear tomorrow so they'll go straight into the trash Sunday night. We are going to show up at my sister's for lunch tomorrow looking like bums but she will understand.

I went around the house today with my cordless drill and a crowbar, and removed every remaining nail and screw. The curtain rods are down. The calendar is down. The beloved markerboard is magically still sticking to the wall despite the removal of screws. The markerboard is going into the trash, though. It's been a good five years, but it's time to replace it.

We went through the freezer and refrigerator and threw out everything except a pot of Portuguese beans, the milk, butter, mayo/mustard/pickles (for making one last batch of tuna salad tomorrow), and a handful of frozen meats that we'll take to my sister tomorrow. That left plenty of room for me to shift things around and scrub the fridge thoroughly. I sternly told my family, "If you spill anything in the fridge, you will let me know so I can make sure it's cleaned." Also, maraschino cherries are henceforth forbidden.

I gave the kids backrubs. They've been a huge help throughout this process, particularly today. One kid gave me a backrub. We're all physically beat. I gave the Babaloo peace and quiet for a couple of hours so he could go stretch out after an intense morning of packing and hauling trash so he could catch up on those hours of missed sleep.

I removed the contact paper from the cabinets. The secret is to attach only a strip on the leading edge and leave the remaining portion flapping when you install it. Removal was a breeze.

We threw out all kinds of household cleansers. We only kept what we'll need to finish cleaning here.

I charged our three phones. I charged my Kindle. I charged the camera battery (hence, no photos today). I found the Babaloo's storage clipboard and wrote the roadside assistance number and our membership ID number on the first page of our travel itineraries. I wrote contact info and directions to the campgrounds we intend to use on the way across the country on a spiral notebook and put it inside the clipboard. I divided our Craigslist and flea market cash so each of us will have vending machine money.

I double-checked that our briefcase has our expired driver licences, copies of social security cards, birth certificates, contact info for potential landlords when we arrive, proofs of income from our rental properties and the accompanying leases, and shot records.

I confirmed with the next-door neighbor that she still wants our patio chairs when we leave.

I checked the mail. I put a check in the mail for a miscalculated copay for a doctor's visit. I signed off on a cancellation form for our renter's insurance and put that in the mail, too. I emailed back and forth with one of our tenants and called the other to let them know to hold off on August rents until we have a forwarding address. Tomorrow, I'll check the mail one last time and put a note in the box to remind the delivery person that today was the last day we're receiving mail at this address.

The plan for tomorrow is to finish loading all the nonessentials, wrap up laundry, dust/vacuum/mop, have a lovely lunch with my sister's family, and get a good night's rest.

At some point Monday, the internet will be disconnected. I'll drive across town to turn in the modem, we'll turn in keys, and then we'll hit the road.

Quick Friday Post

This is going to be a quick post, because I am exhausted. It's going to be hard to remember everything I did today, and it might not all be in order.

I was up early this morning. After toast and coffee, I purged/packed cosmetics and toiletries, removed the wall shelf and mirrors from the bathroom wall, and scrubbed the counter and commodes. I grabbed a quick shower and then headed out to run errands.

I dropped a load of stuff at The Scrap Exchange, including the last office chair, the bathroom shelf, and the organizers I'd used to sort soaps and makeup. Then I headed to BigLots and picked up three camp chairs so we have somewhere to sit both here and during the trip. Then I swung by Don Hill's Locksmith and had an extra set of keys made for the Prowler. On the way home, I stopped by the auto parts store and picked up a 32-oz bottle of Lucas Stop Leak for the power steering on the truck. (When we bought it, it had a major leak that we've gotten mostly under control but discovered a small puddle yesterday. Cross fingers for us.) I also stopped by the leasing office to pick up a final temporary parking tag for the trailer and to sign off on Intent To Vacate paperwork.

I purchased the RV Roadside Assistance membership we'd been discussing. The internet will be turned off some time Monday. I called to turn off the water on Tuesday, and the electricity on Tuesday.

While I was handling the bathroom and errands, the kids and the Babaloo finished vacuuming the kids' room and taking apart the bunk beds. He put the not-box-springs in place in the Prowler. I think we've decided that we've gotten rid of enough stuff that we'll have room to sleep in the trailer on the way, so we'll use KOA campsites instead of getting hotels.

One kid's mattress will go here over the dining area.

The other kid's mattress will go up above at the front.

Our mattress will have to fit in this space.

We also figured out what to put in the bed of the truck. The Babaloo took it to the gas station and filled up one last time, and we hooked the trailer up to it.

We finished packing most of the kitchen stuff, and stowed all our good bath towels in the chest freezer for travel. We'll use the not-so-good towels for our remaining days here and on the road; if they get tossed/lost/ruined, no big deal. Oh, and I took a load of donations over before dinner, including more clothing, shoes, kitchen wares, and a medium-sized but heavy TV.

Gone.

The Babaloo and I debated whether to purchase a hot pot or a hot plate for traveling. He convinced me the hot plate would be more versatile. After dinner, I headed over to Target and used gift cards to buy a hot plate, a six-pack of socks apiece for the kids, and a pair of nail clippers since all mine are already packed at the back of the trailer and my nails are driving me crazy.

Do I sound a bit frazzled? I'm kind of frazzled. But it's coming together.

Tomorrow, we'll work on laundry and purging the last of grocery stuff, and then we can start our final cleaning, I guess.

Lots of furniture gone!

We did just a little bit of packing today. We bundled up about five bags of trash and finally finished emptying the last dresser. Both kids have all their clothes packed, and the only things left in their room are the bunkbed and their suitcases. We planned to disassemble the beds today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

My cousin drove down from the rural part of the state this morning with her adorable son and we loaded up three bookshelves, a stereo, a corkboard, some bookends, and a small box of beverage stuff (drink mixes, tea bags, coffee creamers) for her to take to her school for the breakroom and her classroom. It was so good to see her, even though the visit was brief. She and I were two of the youngest cousins in the family, so even though I didn't grow up in NC, when we did travel home to visit family, she was one of the few cousins I spent any time with when I was a kid. Seeing what a wonderful and accomplished woman she has become reminded me how much we grow --not just physically, but completely-- in such a short space of time.

She took one of these... (BigLots' photo)

...and two of these. (BigLots' photo)

Then a guy from Craigslist showed up and took some bedroom furniture. This stuff was from the late 1960s and very heavy to haul down the stairs. I told the Babaloo that our next furniture will be nothing but beanbags and balsa-wood dressers. 

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

And then my mom made it to town. I had Breugger's Bagels waiting when she got here. We visited for a bit while she caught me up on everything going on in her hometown. Then we loaded five bookshelves onto her truck. One of them was the second tall one like my cousin took this morning. I think she said the two unfinished ones are going to store tools in her shed and the others she might be planning to donate to town hall. I know she'll put them to good use.

Gone.

Gone.

Two of these gone.

She also took some canning supplies of which I had too many, some canned goods for her town's food pantry which needs help more than my town does, and a couple of lamps. One was a ceramic green-and-cream lamp that her brother 'rescued' from Roses' department store when he was young (I think my grandfather and most of my uncles on that side all worked for the company at one point or another) and has been in the family forever. I've super-glued parts of it at least twice during the ten years I've had it, and was terrified it wouldn't make the trip. 

Then my sister and my niece visited for a little bit, and all nine of us went out to dinner at El Rodeo, which is one of my favorite restaurants in town. I was rather surprised when one of my kids ordered my favorite dish, the chicken enchiladas. I ignored the fact I'm allergic to hops and had a Blue Moon, which means I'll sleep well tonight, but also probably snore so the Babaloo won't. 

Then we came back here and said our goodbyes to my mom. There were hugs and tears and more hugs and why doesn't everyone videochat more? and I'm trying really hard to focus on all the things that make me giddy about the move and to convince everyone that there are these things called airplanes that fly from Arizona to RDU.

That's it for now. I think we have two more donation runs to make tomorrow and a load to take to the trash/recycling, and then all that will be left is to finish loading. Oh, yeah. I have to finish packing my suitcase and condense/purge all my toiletries. The point is: it's coming together. I'm starting to think we might actually meet our self-imposed deadline of Monday!