We just finished a weekend of General Conference. It is always a nice change of pace to watch church on tv and to not wrestle with children through Sacrament Meeting.
It has been a month now since I last added to this journal and three weeks since we moved and it has been a very busy month. The following is an excerpt from a letter Chris sent to his family:
“We moved (again) last weekend. We closed on our new home on Friday first thing and I immediately went to work sealing and painting the garage floor before ‘stuff’ was put on it. I had to etch it first, which is to take Muriatic Acid and scrub the floor so it's rough and make the paint stick. Then I had to let it dry before putting the sealer on. It wound up taking me much longer than I had anticipated. By that evening I was already wasted. But we brought over most of the items Jo had boxed for the kitchen anyway so that it would be done before the major move the next day.
On Saturday, we started early, and with the help of a couple friends from work, a couple from church, and a new neighbor, we worked for about 7 hours to get everything moved over. We used a small 4x8 trailer that I purchased from a friend several months ago in anticipation of the move (go minivan!). My new neighbor, Mike, also has a trailer that we used. In all, we made 5-6 trips between the two houses, but since it's only less than 2 miles to make the drive, it was no big deal. We saved quite a bit by not needing the UHaul.
Now for a bit about our new neighbors. We have a delightful family who moved in about 6 weeks ago and who lives right behind us on the cul de sac. Their names are Mike and Kathy Krause. They have a little girl named Lexi who is 3yrs old and Amy's instant new best friend. Jo has made good friends with Kathy already, which is nice. Mike and I get along well, too. When they moved in, I did the good Mormon thing and went to help them move. They were absolutely amazed that someone they hardly knew would do that. When I found out, my response was that they obviously didn't know too many Mormons, cuz that's just the weekend thing to do (at least in our ward, where someone moves in or out at least every third week). Anyway, it made an impression, and Mike wanted to come help us to return the favor. His trailer made a nice difference in getting things done.
One thing we really hoped for in this move was to get some neighbors we could be good friends with. Our last place had nice enough neighbors, but they really kept to themselves and we didn't converse much. Now, we have three houses immediately around us. One is an inventory home that is not yet sold (and because of the crummy floor plan, probably won't sell for a long time). On the west side, we have a Cambodian couple who apparently own a restaurant and are rarely home. Behind us (to the north), we have Mike and Kathy. Since we'll share a large part of our fence with them, we're already making plans on putting a door/gate in so the kids can come and go without needing to walk around the street side.
Back to the move. We have been SUPER busy. By Monday, Jolayne had managed to get virtually all the moving boxes out of the house, which was incredible. We have a few boxes leftover still, but by and large we are done with that part. Sunday was a nice break because it gave us a chance to slow down a bit after a few very busy days. Monday, I took a day off work and ran some errands, hooked up appliances, and installed the garage door opener (a multi-hour job). Good news is it runs great! The rest of the week brought the hanging of ceiling fans (since we had no lights in any rooms) and the beginnings of window coverings. Jolayne has been working very hard over the last few weeks to sew curtains and drapes for all our new windows. We decided to do that this time instead of your basic blinds because it will provide a more comfortable look with more character. Hopefully we'll save a few bucks, as well. Many of our windows are so big that normal 2" blinds would not have worked without splitting into multiple sections or getting something done custom. Both options were expensive.
Yesterday (Saturday) I spent most of the day working in the garage. Before setting up my workshop, I wanted to get insulation on the walls (the third bay is not finished at all). So I put that up and covered it in sheet rock. I wanted to use wood (like OSB) but was amazed to see that the price for lumber has tripled in the last 6-8 months. I wasn't about to pay $19 for a 4x8 sheet of wood (since I needed at least 10 to cover the walls!). Sheetrock was not my first choice, but at $5 each was much more affordable. So that job took me much of the day yesterday. I also finished applying a second coat of sealer to the floor. Another project that took way more effort than I had planned. But, by the end of the day, I had the shelving up, the floor painted, and pegboard hung, on top of (mostly) finished walls. It should be a nice work area and maybe now I can find all the tools I need to do the other jobs.
Jolayne says my garage gets undue priority in projects. My only response is "of course". Why should it be any different for the most important room in the house? :-)
Last night we hung drapes in our bedroom after going back to our old place and patching/painting all the holes from our pictures and stuff. I think we're finally done there now. It's too bad we weren't able to sell it normally, but the buyout deal (selling to a broker) has worked out ok for us. At least we got it done. It was a great home to live in, and it's with a bit of angst that I left there for the last time last night. However, our new place is taking shape very well now and we're excited (and very grateful) to have finally gotten through all the hard parts. Note to self, never move again! Another reason not to move is the gorgeous views we have now. The sunsets for some reason are SO much prettier here. Perhaps it's because we can see so much of the mountains now. Anyway, it helps to make all that moving worth it.
Upcoming projects include the hanging of window coverings in the great room (which will require me to rent a large 15' ladder). We still have lots of little things to take care of, such as small hangers for keys, paper towels, etc. Also need to hang pictures. This winter we will likely begin painting various rooms. Spring will bring a fence, air conditioning, and as much of the back yard as we can afford to finish (we will likely need to terrace part of it). Needless to say, it's lots of work. But it's quite rewarding as well. I enjoy those types of projects, and I'm learning lots about how to do many of them.
In addition to the move, I'm also taking a night class remotely for IBM. It's done via phone and Internet and is IBM's solution to travel costs. I'm also in the process of applying to the University of Phoenix to be a part-time instructor (I'm about half-way through the process now). I am receiving a new calling today at church. I've really enjoyed being a Sunday School teacher for the youth, and it's with a bit of remorse that I move on to a councilor in the Elder's Quorum. Work is much of the same, although we recently reorganized and I'm part of a new team now. It's not my favorite people in the department to work with, but on the upside, the afterhours work will be less than it has been in the past. I'm getting some opportunities to work on some up-and-coming new software products for connecting various applications and businesses together, so it's good to get more experience there. I'm still hoping to switch to a new job sometime in the next 6 months, but we'll see if that happens. So far, my boss has not agreed to let me go. On the upside, my tools package that I've written and shared (the one the patents have been applied for) won a competition of inventions at Boulder in August and I have a 50/50 shot of being sent to IBM headquarters in New York now to present the same stuff. I don't care either way, but it's nice to have a chance to meet some of the more important people at the site and in the company. It beats the "just do your job" mentality that I might otherwise be stuck with.
At home, Misha is pretty well potty trained now. What a blessing it has been to have that come so easily for her! The girls are sharing a room together now and although it was a struggle for the first night or two, they seem to have taken to it very well. The move upset their lives lots, and they had challenges with it for a few days, but I think we're over the worst of it now. Misha is still VERY two and likes to argue with me whenever I ask her to do anything, but hopefully that will change. Amy is doing well, learning more each day.
I have to tell you the funniest story from church with her the other week. She'll hate me someday for sharing it, but I'll do it anyway. It's slightly "colorful", but once you have kids, I've learned that few subjects are really taboo. Jo stayed home with Misha who was sick, so I took Amy to church by myself. We arrived late and sat in the very back. Shortly into the meeting, Amy told me she had to go to the bathroom and so she went by herself. She came back shortly. Not long after that, I found that she had an accident and had pooped a bit in her pants, so off we went to clean up the messes. I was pretty upset at her because she's big enough to not do that now, and so we had a talk about things, blah blah blah. Once we got back into the meeting, she told me shortly that she had to go again. Well, not being the dumbest daddy in church, I was smart enough to know that this was her way of making the meeting more exciting (not that she really had to go), so I resisted. But she persisted, so I (luckily) told her she could go. She came back shortly and told me (quite loudly) as she often does, "Daddy, I went poop!" She was so happy. So were the other 10 people sitting around us who heard her exclamation! :-) Then she proceeded to tell me that I still needed to wipe her bottom. At that point, I made haste getting her out of that meeting before she could say anything else incriminating. We went into the men's room and took care of business, but she was upset because she had gone poop in the "dresses room" (as she calls the ladies' room because of the picture on the door--she will only use the ladies' room when she is wearing a dress) she told me she had to go back in there and flush the potty. She did, and when she came out, she was quite upset. I asked her what was wrong and got the reply I was least expecting but will forever remember: "Daddy, it's not fair, that girl flushed my poop!" Poor kid. Who was "that girl" to take Amy's gleeful opportunity away so thoughtlessly? :-) She didn't understand the principles of a shared bathroom since she's used to being at home. Sure made me laugh though. As you can see, her personality blossoms a bit more each day.
Our internet is still down. Being without it for a week has been more difficult than we would have guessed. I'm only dialed up right now at 21k. Hopefully we'll have service restored in the next week and then I'll be more available.”
It is not often that Chris writes such a discourse, so I have to take advantage of it when he does. With Lori, his sister, on a mission now, perhaps he will be writing to her more often.
We are certainly enjoying our new home, and I am amazed that three weeks have passed by so quickly. We did work hard, as Chris said, getting things unpacked and finding places to put everything. I had a lot of time to think about where I wanted things and had labeled boxes pretty well when moving, so putting everything away wasn’t too hard. Things in the kitchen have changed around a bit from their original locations, but that is pretty normal for me. Though, this time, Chris even asked me to changed the silverware to another drawer, and he is usually the one who makes fun of me for moving things.
The girls are back into storytime at the library for the fall and winter. We have been going on Tuesday morning since Monday was always such a rush to get there on time. On Wednesday we have play group. It was at our house last week and it was just a bit crazy. We don’t have a back yard for the kids to play in at this point and it was fairly cool outside to go to a park. The people in our play group are: Melissa Glover with Ellie and Savannah; Jen Bailey with Noah and Lauryn; Elizabeth Lowry with Nathan and Matthew; Kristina Miller with Britton; Tasha Wasden with Audrey and Jonah; Heather Harmon with Rylee and Tate.
Amy has played with Audrey a couple of times and they are like two peas in a pod dressing up and being so girly. Misha dresses up too, but I am not sure that it would be her first choice if given an option.
