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“Rest easy, son, you’ve had a busy day. You’re fortunate you’re still in one piece.” – Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Holy cow, Ben has no idea.
Something exciting has been happening here on Tatooine. Dad Windu, Padawan Learner and I have traded in the roving life and bought ourselves a condo. As you read this, we’re busy getting utilities hooked up, appliances moved in, and personal belongings packed, loaded and moved. Busy being the operative word because we have to be out of the apartment by midnight tomorrow.
No problem, right? hahahahahahaha
So if you find yourself hanging out in Des Moines, stop on in for a visit. We’ll share our view and probably a few refreshing beverages as well.
Obi-Wan: (quietly to Anakin) “This time we will do it together.”
Anakin: “I was about to say that.”
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Time sure flies when you’re entire life is picked up, packed up, carted off, unloaded, unpacked and re-arranged over the course of a few weeks. This is a massively long post, so grab a cuppa because you’re going to be here a while reading this.
I don’t know where I left you all on this journey that has become my life – and I’m too lazy to go find out – so here’s what has transpired over the course of the last 6 weeks or so. We sold the house and are waiting to close this later this week. Huge sighs of relief are being held in check until we get a signed form telling us that, indeed, we are no longer home owners. The woman that is buying our house is using Bank of America for her mortgage, and they are taking for.ev.er to get the paperwork done. This must not be too uncommon because the woman at the title company gave a very audible groan several weeks back when she heard which lender the buyer was using. We were supposed to close today or earlier, but B of A didn’t get their paperwork in on time so we’ve been delayed a few days. Oh well. Did I mention we sold the house in Michigan? Because if not, we did, and selling a house in Michigan is no small feat. Let.Me.Tell.You.
 Four movers showed up on May 20th in a 24 ft truck to box up all our worldly belongings – that hadn’t been sold or given away, that is. After the initial walk-through (in which our nearly empty 1800 sq ft. house looked like it had been robbed), the driver said, “You hardly have anything to move! I’m glad we didn’t bring the semi that we were scheduled for!” As it was, everything filled just under half of the truck and they finished both the packing and loading in a little under six hours – a wee bit short of the two DAYS they had scheduled for the packing (day 1) and loading (day 2). I’m pretty sure they weren’t too impressed with the estimate given by the local subcontractor regarding amounts of goods to be moved.
My mom picked us up on the 22nd and drove us, our liquids, a few perishables, and our financial records out to our new place in Des Moines, Iowa. That’s right, we’re Iowans now. Having never even been to Iowa before Dad Windu’s marathon interview back in February, it seems a little weird to think that this is likely where I’ll spend the rest of my days, but we’re rather enjoying it here. The people have been uber-friendly, there’s no tourist industry to speak of so no fighting traffic on the weekends, Padawan Learner found a gym he’s happy to train at for competitive trampoline, we’ve linked up with an active homeschool teen group, the downtown is awesome and very, very walkable, there’s the most fantastic farmer’s market each Saturday that’s only a ten minute walk away from our apartment, and best of all – Dad Windu, Padawan Learner and I are all together again. Ten weeks felt like a hundred. I don’t know how other families do it long-term.
On the flip side, we’re missing friends and family, we have 79 apartments full of people who are – literally – only steps away, and there’s no giant lake (ok, really more of an inland sea) to flee to when the heat begins rolling up the thermometer.
Still, I do declare: Life is good.
Our worldly goods returned on Monday, the 24th, on a very full 14 ft truck. Two young men tugged, lugged, rolled and dragged all of our things into our 865 sq ft apartment for seven hours. This (different) pair of movers, after dropping off the last box and standing in the last two sq ft of available floor space, said, “You have an absolute TON of stuff!” It’s all about perspective. I tried to get a picture – but it took me all day just to find my purse under all that stuff!
On the 25th, PL, my mom and I headed back to GR for a final week of classes in Grand Rapids. PL’s last piano and Dutch lessons and homeschool and competitive trampoline classes took place over the course of three very busy days. We were even able to grab a little park time with Yoda and Red Leader and their respective boys: Lando Calrission, R2-D2, Wedge Antilles and Lobot, before having dinner with my sister-in-law, Queen Amidala, and nephew, Zebulba. On Thursday, my mother-in-law treated me to a mani-pedi at a little nail place near her and I treated her to lunch. Unexpectedly getting out of work early, Queen Amidala shot me a last-minute call and we ended up drinking eating dinner for three hours, laughing all the while.
Come Friday morning, we were back on an Amtrak train heading for home. Juuuust making our connection in Chicago, PL and I relaxed on the train and I had fun making train tips statements on my Twitter account based on the goings-on around me.
Saturday afternoon found us hanging out and surrounded by other Michiganders at the graduation party for, get this, Qui-Gon Jinn’s niece out in the suburbs of Des Moines! Knowing that we were brand-new to the area, Q-G J’s sister very generously invited us to crash the party and begin the holiday weekend in a social manner. It was fun to meet and put a face to the names of people that I’d been hearing about for the past several years. We even got to drag Qui-Gon Jinn, Endicott, and C-3PO out to our favorite restaurant downtown and show off our new apartment – I’m sure they were impressed by our large assortment of boxes, piles of stuff, and absolutely jam-packed furniture.
Memorial Day was parade-free, at least for us, because we didn’t know anything about where such things began, but that night we found out that they was a large going-on up at the Capital Building. Doh! We did go out to the mall – after we realized that we’d obviously missed all the Memorial Day programs – and saw the new Robin Hood movie. I finally got to go to Ulta and, I must say, it made my X-chromosomes sparkle. Angels sang, the clouds parted, and money absolutely flew out of my hands as I began the process of anti-humidity-fying my make-up supplies. For the record, Smashbox foundation is glorious – it simply does.not.melt.off when the air is hot and sticky. By the way, locals have a favorite past-time with northern newbies: talking about how hot and humid it’s GOING to get. I have been instructed to: wait until August gets here and go for a visit to Kansas/Missouri (preferably in August). From what I can gather, the weather here in August is just a few degrees short of Hell and much, much more humid. *yea*
Oops, out of time. More later.
Obi-Wan: “Sorry, Master, the water fried my weapon.”
Qui-Gon: “You forgot to turn your power off again, didn’t you?”
Obi-Wan nods sheepishly.
Qui-Gon: “It won’t take long to recharge, but this is a lesson I hope you’ve learned, my young Padawan.”
Obi-Wan : “Yes, Master.”
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
Still alive and still in the middle of the moving drama. Here’s the situation in a nutshell:
- House was put up on the market in mid-March
- Come to find out, the realtor’s assistant works for the devil, the Galactic Empire or some other evil monstrosity like Sprawl-Mart and did a major f*ck-up on the listing – 4 days late, crappy pictures, pathetic blurb, etc.
- Realtor’s assistant apparently does not know how to use voicemail as messages were never returned before 48 hours, if at all.
- Realtor did not check assistant’s “work” until after week two of the listing when we had not gotten a single showing.
- Realtor assistant has now been fired/’quit’.
- Price on house was dropped twice.
- House finally sold last Thursday – yeah – but we’re taking a major bath on the price – boo. I’m walking away getting less than I paid for the place 12 years ago – after spending 40K on home improvements these past couple of years. Double boo. I spent most of the 29th in tears.
- BUT it is sold and we’re finally going to be together again. Quadruple yeah!
- I’ve shed about 1/2 of our furniture and all of our yard/garden/garage items. House and garage look like they’ve been robbed. Apartment will still look like a furniture store exploded inside it. It’s all about perspective.
- We’re hoping to close by the end of the month.
- I told Padawan Learner tonight, as we had a Mom’s dinner out, that he has given me the best Mother’s Day present ever in the way he has been handling this topsy-turvy, split household, back and forth to see Dad Windu, emotional roller-coaster of a move.
If all goes well, I’ll be able to write again in complete sentences and whole paragraphs soon.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away…
It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has
been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from
their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.
Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters
led by Luke Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote
ice world of Hoth.
The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker,
has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of
space…
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
It has been a dark time for the rebellion these past few days.
I’ve been doing pretty well emotionally with this whole move thing – “It is what it is” and all that – but I’m also a counselor and I knew the 5 stages of grief were going to come crawling up to bite me before too long.
For the past month and more, I’ve been in full-on moving mode. Decluttering, cleaning, packing, cleaning, realtors, truck rental, long-distance apartment finding, utilities-dealing, using up the food in the freezering, two household budgeting, and so much more. I’ve been – if not happy as a clam about this move – at least in my element. I’m a planner, a to-do list shit-kicker, a woman on a mission. Padawan Learner, on the other hand, has been miserable with all the hustle and bustle of the process of this major life-changing move.
But now everything is pretty much done that we can do. The house is for sale, and we’re just waiting for someone to buy it. Life has calmed down significantly, much to PL’s relief. This weekend really hit me like a ton of bricks. Having to sit in a beautifully decorated, perfectly clean house, with nothing to do but wait made me sad. Really, really sad. Not clinically depressed, not non-functional, but sad.
So I did what had to be done last night. I grabbed my Sunday Morning Doughnut Buddy and met up with Padme Amidala and Princess Leia for drinks last night. One glass of really nice Pinot Noir and a cheese plate and all was well with the world again.
“Order! We shall have order! The motion for the Republic to commission an army takes precedent, and that is what we will vote on at this time.” – Mas Amedda, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
By Friday morning at the latest.
New flooring was laid-down in the upstairs bathroom this morning. Downstairs carpet was cleaned and re-stretched this afternoon. Furniture can be returned to the basement tomorrow after 3pm. Touch up painting is ongoing. New mattress for PL is arriving Wednesday afternoon.
The house is being listed on Wednesday. All our extra crap is getting hauled away on Thursday. A thorough dusting, floor and window washing, and all around deep cleaning is going down Thursday night. Why? Because the house must be available for showings come Friday morning.
Three and a half days from right now. No pressure. Anyone want to join my cleaning army? Anyone? Anyone?
*runs screaming in circles*
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