Moving Day is a Holiday

Staging area, or at least part of it. This photo was taken in our garage a couple of weeks back when we were organizing and getting ready to move stuff to St. Louis for our daughter. We brought things up from the basement and used the garage as the holding place. With tons of snow on the ground we wanted to have everything together to minimize how long it would take us to load the truck and be outside in the cold and the snow.
Another view of the staging area. Daughter did her undergrad in St. Louis at Washington University, and her grad school in Baltimore. So....lots of stuff has been here while she was here, then in St. Louis, then in Baltimore and now.........that's she's back in St. Louis it's time to cart everything back to her; plus some of our older furniture to help her and give us a chance to clean out the basement.
The night was cold, the ground covered. So before we could load we had to clear the walk and the drive....again! Have lost track of how many times we've shoveled snow this year. Tooooooooooo many, far too many I can tell you that.
Loaded, time now for pizza, wine and bed. We plan on an early start. Hubby will drive the truck and I'll drive our car. Luckily we only have to take the truck one way and can leave it there after we unload it.

We knew this would be a working wk-end, loading up here at home and then unloading there in St. Louis. We expected some cleaning and maintenance issues needing attention. However, it was much more of a working wk-end then we expected. We ended up painting and doing far more cleaning than planned; but boy was it needed!! We stayed a day longer due to being snowed in, also something we didn't expect. How many days til spring?

MONDAY, Monday, MONDAY

This Red Mallow measures 9.5 inches in diameter. I love these flowers. I've lost several bushes that didn't come up this year which is troublesome. I wonder if it had to do with how bad those dang Japanese Beetles were last year. They consumed these plants. These were Mom's favorite flowers, and in fact the starts came from her yard. I have this bright red and light pink ones. The red always bloom first and are generally larger than the pink for some reason. White ones also exists, though I don't have any of those.

Hubby's had an overload of maintenance that unfortunately continues today. First on Friday, the garage door wouldn't open with the opener or the inside button. The track is a mess. The part he needs to fix it is available. That's a relief cause this is an older opener and he was worried about that; but the place that has the available part wasn't opened by the time he got home on Friday after work--and they're not opened on the wkend. So, this job has been put off until today, Monday. We can open the garage door with a large 2 x 4. He moved my car outside in the drive for me. Thanks!

He changed the oil in my car, since the reminder was beeping at us. My daughter's car uses the same type of filter, and her's also needs changed. Not a big job, or so one would think. The store only had 1 filter. So, he did mine on Sat; and ventured to a different store on Sunday to get a 2nd one to do our daughters. She's been here visiting after moving from Baltimore and before moving to St. Louis.

Next up, his car won't start. Now, his car is old, 14 years old in fact; but has been a really good car. Plus, he works only 2 miles from the house, he only uses it for that. He removed the battery, took it some place to get it tested, assumed that was the problem--which would be easy to fix. Nope, that's not the problem, the battery is fine. Next he tried to remove the started, as the maintenance guy suggested that so it could be tested. Can't get it off to test it. Hum...then he successfully removes the starter relay switch and is now in the process of taking it somewhere to test it. Gees.........

Our daughter's been out of town this past wk end for a wedding, flew in late last night; and drives out today, Monday for St. Louis. This is the beginning of her move. But, she's not taking much with her; as she'll be staying with a few friends until the regular accommodations become available. Sometime down the road, we'll rent a u-haul something and cart lots of stuff out there.

Hope you all have a good start to your week.

Chugging along TooT-Toot

Thomas The Train, hooks together with magnets. How cool is that? New stuff I guess. This little guy, my pseudo grandson and hubby are playing trains on the deck. He's 2 1/2, very physically capable for a child his age.



The concentration in play is something to watch. It's been a very busy and hectic week for us. Hubby's had one of his long multi-day convention type work activities and so being able to spend some down time like this was perfect. He's worked all wkend from early am til well past 8 most nights. Fingers and toes crossed tonight should be earlier.



I've had a couple of almost regular days at work, which is odd for me. Spent extra time with Daddy this week, we even went out one night to dinner which was nice. Did boring necessary things like running errands, got my hair done (you know out with the grey), did laundry, mowed, cleaned, shopped for groceries. Blah blah blah.




Looking forward to a visit from our daughter this evening. She's driving in from Baltimore. The visit will be super short, as she'll be heading back to Baltimore tomorrow am. She's got a car load. You might remember we brought back a car load when we joined her there for her hooding about a month ago. This 2nd load has been delayed due to car troubles. She still has odds and ends to take care of there in Baltimore ...and another car load needing to be transported, thus her quick turn around back to Baltimore. In a few weeks she'll return with the 3rd load and spend some time with us here before heading out to St. Louis. She's moving back to St. Louis. She loves it there and will be rooming with a good friend. She's job hunting and we're hoping she hears something positive soon. Hard to know, with all the cut backs, even good school teachers aren't guaranteed a job. But, she's very reliable and I know of no one that works harder or is more dedicated then she. She teaches, she tutors, she helps kids before and after school as well as during lunches. She attends their ball games, their skating performances, their family funerals and more. She is a teacher that children and their families long to have. And...I'm just a wee bit proud.

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