Shameless Plug

This is a shameless plug for my Miche store! Don't say I didn't warn you.

First, new shells for October (available on the 1st):

Second, get the Hope charmer free when you purchase any red/black hope shell:

And last but not least, double hostess rewards through October 31st. Let me know if you want to do a web-only party and I'll hook you up!

Blank Slate (or Was That Canvas??)

In no particular order, a tour through my new digs:

View from my parking spot

Front door

View from the patio door

From the front door, dining far left with kitchen door, hall to bed/bath

Living area from the dining area, hall to the left, front door on the right

Kitchen sink

Range

Kitchen from the dining area, pantry door

Kitchen from the hall

Pantry inside

Pantry door to the right of the sink

Toilet/shower area

Bathroom

Vanity

Bathroom linen closet

Linen closet from the hall

Hall from bathroom

Bedroom from far wall

View from bedroom window

Hall closet

Patio

Have any great ideas for (temporary) decorations on the cheap??

Expensive Excitement

Today was a very busy, exciting day. Didn't start so special, finished up my client-assigned computer based training. Since I still can't get into my company's system, and thus could not do any of that training, I thought I was going to have one boring afternoon of trying to look busy doing absolutely nothing. But I lucked out, my new friend (the only other girl in the group) was going out on a walk-down and said I could tag along. So I got all my PPE: hard hat, head lamp, spare flashlight, cut resistant gloves, steel toe boots, safety glasses, and my "super safety bracelet." And we headed out into the plant.

Now, I'm going to digress for a moment. There's a few things I have to wrap my head around on this project, some easier than others. On my old project, when we went on a "walk-down" we'd say we were going "out" and we meant we were going outside. Not many places we were going were very enclosed, and I usually worried about sunburn. On this project, we don't go "out" we go "out into" the plant. It's completely enclosed, and has been for 20+ years. Anyway, not a big deal, but I keep saying "go out" and getting weird looks.

Back to the topic at hand! We went out.. in... whatever! Off we went, in search of I don't know what. My first thought was that it smelled like the 70s. Like my old doctor's office. Not particularly offensive, but not great either. We walked for a while, not really any different than any of my other walk-downs. Then we took an elevator, wasn't expecting that, but I'm not going to complain. The buttons were marked with elevations rather than floor numbers.

We got to a room, no idea what room, but a room. It had stuff in it; pipes and ducts and whatever. There we waited for a while for some guys to bring a ladder. They set the ladder up and one of my coworkers climbed up to inspect a component, a damper I think. Didn't seem too hard, climb up a ladder, read some numbers off a tag. It was only like 15 feet up, no biggy. After he finished that one we moved to another room. Same concept, slightly more difficult execution. This time, at about 10 feet off the ground he kind of had to contort and wiggle in between some hoses, a light fixture, duct support, and some other stuff. I think he knocked his hard hat off a couple times. All that to read some more numbers off another tag. Since the guy and I were new, my friend decided to show us where she had had to climb the other day. We decided to call it a "training exercise" and make the new guy try it (they were looking at HVAC stuff that I know nothing about, so I got to cop out). Let's just say it involved more climb-wiggling. The last adventure on our excursion was where my new friend got to go down in a hole. First somebody had to come check the air to make sure she'd be able to breathe. Then somebody had to bring a second radio (so she took one and we had one up top). All that so she could take a picture of a grate :P All and all, it was a nice diversion from sitting at a computer all day. Although I did realize that I need a rather more... durable wardrobe. Oh darn, more shopping.

After that I headed to the utilities office to change them over to my name for the apartment. The guy at the apartment said they take debit cards, they don't. I had $100 in my wallet, which got me the power. I had to walk up to a drive-through ATM next door to get more cash to get my water/gas/sewer set up. Then I went to the store to get a money order for the deposit on the actual apartment. Then I got distracted... Ooops! At about 4:45 I remembered I was supposed to turn everything in to the apartment office at 5! Oh crap! So I hurried to check out and rushed over to the apartment. I got there at 5:01, but there was no car at the office. I tried calling the manager/owner, no answer. I sat for a bit trying to figure out what to do. So I tried calling again, he answered that time. And this is why I like small-town folks: he came down to give me the keys!

I went to check it out real quick, but I was already late for dinner with my new friend and a couple other coworkers. It's older, but clean and nice and well kept. The layout is nice, little patio off the living room, lots of storage, small kitchen, but big pantry. The bathroom is split into more of a bath + vanity. Bedroom is nothing special, but I don't need much. I figured I'd go back tomorrow after work to go through more thoroughly, so I headed out to dinner. Except I couldn't figure out how to get the door to lock! Seriously! Stop laughing at me :( I don't know how long I fussed with it, and if I hadn't had people waiting on me for dinner I probably would have called the manager again, but as it was I figured I didn't have anything in it so what's the harm in leaving it open. Off I went to dinner and a celebratory margarita! Not as exciting as the day I got keys to my first house, but not too bad for a Tuesday!

Random Southern Musings

My last few posts have been rather long and wordy, so here's a little lighter reading:

There are no coffee shops here
I heard on the radio "And now here's some of the best music ever written..." followed by Funky Town
Carrying my lunch bag on my right shoulder seems to have had an adverse affect on my left hip
My site has a resident dog, she looks like a English setter, white with black markings, reminded me of Pepper
Is it bad that I think of missing my pup more than my man?
Having the main road through town be a divided highway SUCKS
Jack's, while similar in signage, is NOT the same as Jack in the Box
The coffee here SUCKS, I need to introduce these people to real coffee
We have flammable soap at work?? It was marked with an NFPA flammability rating of 3 which would indicate a flash point of as low as 73F
Most people here have no idea what a stand mixer is, and seem horrified at the thought of spending $300+ on a kitchen appliance
Did I mention the complete lack of decent coffee?!

Oh, I signed a lease at my first choice place today! They called right after I made arrangements to sign the lease for the 3-bedroom for $675/month place. I jumped on it! Turns out it's owned by two cute southern brothers :) Pictures to follow!

Settling In

Thursday was much the same as Wednesday, reading procedures, getting to know my coworkers. I got some supplies for my desk, which they keep under lock-and-key. I tried several times to update my info to get my insurance switched over, but I couldn't log into the proper system. Before heading out for the weekend I made plans to hook up with a coworker and his wife at the local high school football game on Friday. Then I headed to my hotel, definitely ready for the weekend.

Friday I had grand plans of heading out early to do some exploring and apartment hunting. I managed to leave the hotel around 2:30. The first place I stopped at would have been perfect, very close to work and only $425/month for a one bedroom unit. Too bad he had just rented out his last available unit and didn't expect to have anything else open up until November. I filled out an application and he promised to call me when something came up.

The second place I stopped at seemed nice, and the lady at the desk was very friendly. She said she had a 3-bedroom townhouse available right away, for $725/month.  She also said she *might* have a 2-bedroom apartment coming up in November, but she didn't have any one-bedroom units coming up anytime soon. Her 2-bedroom would be $615/month.

The third place I visited, right next to the previous community, was nice too, with an older Southern lady as the property manager. She offered to show me a 3-bedroom unit she had available right away. She said it would be $675/month, and had brand-new carpet and cork floors. It looks out over a little wooded area, and seems like a quiet neighborhood. The kitchen is kind of small, but has a HUGE utility room/pantry.

The fourth place I stopped at was income controlled, so I am not eligible to rent there. The lady was very nice though, and told me that the icon on the sign out front meant income controlled so I wouldn't stop at another place like it. That ruled out the little place by the hotel. And I had already ruled out several places just from driving by. That pretty much accounted for all the apartments in town.

After talking to my man we decided I'm going to get a six month lease on the 3-bedroom unit for $675. Maybe I'll be able to get a roommate which would be just about perfect, or I'll use the six months to find another place. Or I'll just stick it out at slightly more than we were hoping to pay. I mean, really, $675/month is not that bad, especially considering the living allowance I'm getting.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. Went to the football game Friday, the football was a disappointment, but the halftime show was decent.

Work did a complete overhaul of the network, so I won't be able to log in on Monday without calling the help desk. The up side is my man will be getting lots of overtime until it's straightened out. Saturday I pretty much didn't leave my hotel room, it's got a nice view:

Sunday I did some laundry and cleaned up my room a bit. And here I am, all caught up and ready to go to bed early so I'm ready for the week at 4:30am tomorrow!

I Never Could Get The Hang of Wednesday

(Based on the events of Wednesday, September 19th)

When I peaked out the window Wednesday morning I was happy to see it was dry. I went down through the lobby and saw that the hotel had breakfast ready before the stated time of 5:30, so I was able to grab some coffee and a pastry. I got to my car without forgetting anything, and getting to work was a lot easier without the rain. I still think the posted speed limit is crazy high. Did I mention that I got my badges Tuesday? After getting finger-printed? Well I did. So I got through security by myself. The gates are crazy like Star Trek, they go *Woosh!* and *Woosh!* just like that.

I had had to make a new password for the client's system and they had more strict requirements. Of course it took me so long to come up with one they'd accept, I couldn't remember it the next day. Luckily they don't seem to have a maximum number of tries before getting locked out, so I was able to log in eventually. But the network was down so we couldn't do anything. We chatted until the morning meeting which was pretty much the same as Tuesday. After the meeting the safety guy came by 'cause I asked him if we could put stuff on our hard hats. He said we could put some stuff on our hats as long as it's "tasteful." I showed him my cool Scooby Doo stickers that my friend gave me, he turned up his nose! Who doesn't like Scooby Doo?!

I had training at 8, and the network was still down, so I took the time to put in my picks for the group's football pool. Well it's not really a pool since the only thing at stake is bragging rights. Basically you take all the games for that week and put a score of 1 to 16 on who you think the winner of each game will be. Right now we're just using print-outs to keep track, but one of the guys started making a spreadsheet. He wanted it to automatically tell you who won each week. So I poked at that for a while.

The training class started just like any other I've gone to with this company. This was a site orientation class and there were some interesting bits of information, but mostly it was boring. At the break I went to the bathroom to find that the hand soap had an MSDS hazard sticker. This one said it had a flammable hazard of 3. Since when is Dial hand soap flammable?!

When I got back to my desk the network was back up, so I started my required reading. My boss came by and dropped off a trash can for me. One step closer to a whole cube. Well, more like half a cube. At least I got a few more hours of sleep and some coffee. Red Bull may have the caffeine, but it doesn't have the ritual of my morning coffee. In between procedures, I pondered the differences between this site and my old site. This site will eventually be a working nuclear power plant, whereas my old site is supposed to dispose of the remnants of the cold war. There we had drills in case of a nuclear disaster, here we have plans in case of a tornado. I'm not sure which is more scary for me...

After work I met up with my mom's friend who was my boss for my internship. I'd say he's kind of like an uncle :) We drove around town looking at apartments. None of the offices were open, but we did cross one off the list just looking at it. Afterwards we went to dinner and split two pitchers of margaritas. Probably not my best idea on a work night, but I hadn't seen him in forever and it was nice to have a familiar face for a bit. Not too bad an end to my first "hump day" in the South.

First Day

(Based on the events of Tuesday, September 18th)

My alarm went off at 4:30 which actually felt like 2:30, after not nearly enough sleep. I loaded up my lunch box and went to fill a couple of zippy bags with ice only to find the ice machine was broken. Now having to go up or down a floor for ice might not seem like a big deal, but when it's oh-my-god-o'clock and you've had little sleep and just flew across the country, every little thing seems an almost insurmountable task. I gathered my stuff and made it all the way downstairs when I realized I had forgotten my rain coat. After trudging back up to my room and getting my coat I finally made it to my car. Here I am all cute for my first day:

I had directions to get to work, but I like having a backup plan so I hooked up my phone as a GPS. It was about then that I realized I wasn't getting any data signal. Well that sucks. Anyway, I headed out of the hotel parking lot and promptly turned down a dead end. It was still raining pretty good, and it was pitch black, my headlights seemed to go about 3 feet before fading to the rain. I found the highway and headed down the road, carefully. After making the first turn I ended up in a stream of traffic all going the same way so I figured I was headed in the right direction. We continued down this narrow, twisty road through the woods. The posted speed limit was 45mph, I thought I was going to die going 30.

As I came around one curve I suddenly saw a flash in the sky, almost like lightning. I must have really been on edge 'cause it made me nearly jump out of my skin even though storms have never bothered me. I tried to focus on navigating the road, when a few seconds later it happened again. This time I had a clearer view of the sky and saw the lip of the cooling tower high above the treeline. Part of me realized the flashing was the strobes to warn planes from the top of the cooling towers, but the rest of me decided this was the scariest thing I had ever seen and went into full-out panic mode. I couldn't breathe, if I could see my hands I'm sure they would have been white-knuckled. It was all I could do to stay on the road, and at one point I *might* have done a little off-roading.

When I finally got to the parking lot I had to pry my fingers off the steering wheel. There were serious curves that I probably wouldn't have taken at the posted speed in perfect conditions, and if you have ever ridden with me, you know that's saying something! It was right about then that my panic attack got it's second wind. I couldn't for the life of me remember what I was supposed to do! My hands were shaking as I dug out my note book to see if I had written down what I was supposed to do. I had a simple note to go to security. I took a few minutes to get myself back in order.

I took a deep breath and followed the crowd into the building. It was odd to me to get all the way into the building before finding the first (and only) security checkpoint. I wandered over to the security desk, trying to look like I knew what I was doing. Of course I couldn't remember who I was supposed to have them call to escort me, so I guessed that the HR lady would know who to call if she wasn't the one.

Anyway, one of my new coworkers came to get me and showed me to my new desk. Now, I figured that it'd be about the same as my old desk, couldn't get much smaller than that, right? Oh boy was I wrong! It was seriously the tiniest desk EVAR! Sure, it was in a cubical, but it didn't even have drawers. The desk itself was just big enough to hold the computer and maybe a coffee cup. There were two smallish shelves on the side cube wall, in a perfect spot to smack my head on when I got up from my desk. I was left there to "settle in" until the daily group meeting at 6:45. With nothing else to do I tried to log in, which of course didn't work. The computers are owned by the client, and as such, my normal log in didn't work. So I started flipping through the orientation packet they had given me. It was oh-so interesting.

The meeting started just like the POD meetings at my old site, stretch and flex, safety topic, quality topic. It was nice to have something familiar in the sea of newness. After that meeting I was taken to see HR for some paperwork. Then off to safety for a mini-training on the site and to get PPE. I got a shiny new white hard hat, completely blank, screaming for some special "Kaylyn touches." Included in my safety gear were nifty gloves, a head lamp, flashlight, and safety glasses. The headlamp and flashlight put my fears of sunburn to rest. Apparently I won't be outside much, I'll be crawling around in the dark. Exciting!

After that I was mostly left to my own devices, which sucked 'cause I still couldn't log into my computer. So I couldn't even read procedures. So I sat and twiddled my thumbs for a bit and stared at my blank computer screens. I noticed that I had two 19" wide screen Dell monitors... and an HP computer. I wandered off to the bathroom and almost burst out laughing. There was a sign telling me not to flush the usual feminine products, paper towels, and pantyhose?! Who the hell would flush pantyhose?? And in the middle of a nuke plant besides?!

By the end of the day I was able to log into the client's system, but managed to lock myself out of my company system 'cause I got confused on what password I was supposed to use where. Right towards the end of the day one of my new coworkers invited me out to dinner with a group of them. Part of me wanted to just go back to the hotel and pass out, but the other part of me was worried about getting all depressed and never leaving my room, so I agreed. After they tried to give me directions for a bit I asked if somebody couldn't just pick me up at my hotel. The guy across from said he could pick me up, thankfully.

The evening was surprisingly pleasant. Lots of laughing and chatting. They seem like a good crew to hang out with. I managed to stay up with the conversation all through dinner and only started fading when we got our tickets. The nice man dropped me off at my hotel, where I barely managed to make my lunch for the next day before passing out. Survived my first day!

Sweet Home Alabama

(Based on the events of Monday, September 17th)

My last flight of the day was supposed to be exactly one hour from gate-to-gate. Actually my ticket said we'd leave at 5:25pm and arrive at 5:24pm, time travel! I got settled into my seat, ready for my travels to be over and hoping to have a little nap. Lucky for me, the captain was of the chatty variety. This is where a sarcasm font would be handy. He told us, in a most verbose manner, that we were stuck in a rather long line for the runway and would have to wait a while. We finally took off into cloudy skies after 20 minutes or so of sitting there. It was a rather smooth, uneventful trip until we started our decent. At that point the captain came back on to inform us that it was raining too hard to land so we had to circle for a while and wait for the storm to move on. This was rather alarming because I thought the South is known for a lot of rain, like the north is known for snow, so if it was raining hard enough for them to take notice, it had to be some crazy sort of rain storm! Of course our plane was so small we couldn't get above the clouds, so we circled THROUGH the clouds for a while. Luckily it passed fairly quickly, and not nearly as bad as it could have been, and we came in to land. Here's a couple of my first glances of my new home:

I'm pretty excited about how green it is at least :)

I got off the plane around 6:15pm CDT, 30-40 minutes after schedule. I breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards the baggage claim. As I started down the escalators and noted that the rental car desks were right next to the baggage carousels (much like PSC) I started thinking about how I was going to get my two HUGE bags to the car by myself. I got the keys for my rental car before the bags came out on the carousel. I found one of those things where you can rent a cart, like at the mall, but it was $3 and took only singles. All I had was a $20! And nobody around could make change for me. Right as I was about to go hunting for somebody that could make change, my bags showed up. I pulled them off the carousel and sat there staring at them for a bit, trying to wrap my exhausted brain around how much crap I had brought:

I looked around in despair, looking for anybody who might be willing to help me. Alas, it appeared that I was alone. I sighed and loaded up my nearly 100 pounds of stuff and headed towards the door. Now, when I had picked up the keys to my rental the lady asked me if I wanted a Toyota Corolla or a Kia Spectra. Of course I said the Corolla, eager for a small familiar thing. I should have asked which one was parked closer. The Kia, I noted, was in the first parking spot by the door. The Corolla was the farthest. Just my luck!

I started shuffling through the parking lot, dragging one bag 'cause I couldn't even pick it up with everything else. At one point I noticed that one of the side pockets had busted open at the seam, I haven't thought of anything that was in there that I can't find, but who knows? Needless to say it took me quite a while to get to the car and get loaded up. At least it wasn't actively raining. 

I got settled in the car, adjusted the seat and mirrors, found a decent radio station, and set up my phone/GPS to head me to the hotel. It estimated I'd be there in an hour. I figured that wasn't too bad. I remembered from checking the map that there was a Walmart just before the hotel, so I headed out with that as my destination. The highway was fairly easy to find, my phone GPS works better than the TomTom (in my opinion). I got on the highway and went to set the cruise control when the floodgates in the sky opened up. I immediately went through a huge puddle and started hydroplaning right off the road. Ok, no cruise control then! I moved into the right-hand lane and slowed down a bit. I s'pose I could draw this out, but I'm tired. Basically it took me well over an hour to get to the Walmart. It rained harder than I have ever seen in my life. The road was flooded in places and there was a big accident at one spot. I could hardly see, even with the wipers on "high." I'm not sure I've ever used the wipers on "high" for more than a couple minutes before!

Anyway I stopped at Walmart and picked up a rain coat as I couldn't remember if I had packed mine or not. I also picked up sandwich fixings and snacks to pack in my lunches for the week. Then I finally headed to the hotel. I checked in and got a luggage cart (thank goodness they're free at the hotel!) and loaded it up. After getting stuck in the hallway twice and in the elevator I finally made it to my room. I dragged my stuff in and took the cart back down to the lobby. I unpacked a little, finding a good portion of my things were quite soaked. I made a sandwich for lunch for my first day at work, and collapsed into bed. The first stage of my adventure, the getting here, was over. I guess I'd better get used to saying "sweet home Alabama."

[Insert Witty Title Here]

Well that flight was three times as long and at least that much more interesting. It was the biggest plane I've been on in a while. Two seats, an aisle, three seats, another aisle, and another two seats. They also had the cool little touch-screen TV thingies in the back of every seat. I watched Loony Toons at 30,000 feet *giggle* I also got real food! I had a yummy yogurt granola cup and a turkey croisant sammich. Apparently a three hour flight is normally long enough for the attendants to provide two rounds of service, but about that time we hit some "moderate" turbulence. I'm not sure moderate is the word I would use! And of course I was asleep when it started! That was definitely a... startling way to wake up, with the sensation of free-fall. I just snuggled my plushies and rode through it. It was rough, but short lived. The landing was a little rough, but not bad. Once in Atlanta it took me a while to find a monitor with my flight listed. Of course it was in the terminal the farthest from where I got in. At least they have a "Plane Train" here. I found my gate, which happened to have a Starbucks near it. So here I am, waiting again, but at least I have a yummy Pumpkin Spice Latte (I love fall!). Too bad the internet isn't free here (I'm writing in notepad to post later). Just a minute ago it was raining pretty hard, a downpour even. The sun is poking through now, although it's still sprinkling. I think this is the first rain I've seen in over a month! I wish I could go frolic in it. Oh well. My third and final flight starts boarding in about 45 minutes. I will get to Huntsville one minute before I leave here. *giggle* Wow, I just realized I'm hitting every time zone in the (continental) country today! I don't think I've ever done that before. As long as I focus on the adventure of it all I'm not getting too upset...

And I'm Off!

I got up at 3:45 this morning, put on my favorite traveling clothes, loaded the car (well, my man did that) and headed off to the airport. I managed to get through saying goodbye to Pepper and the kitty and fish with only a little sniffling. I also got through the airport without making a scene when I had to say goodbye to my sweetie. So I guess I can say I survived the first flight of the actual travel portion of my grand adventure. The flight itself was uneventful, fairly smooth and quiet enough. I've made that particular flight many times before. I even saw somebody I know there. I made it to Salt Lake City airport, found which gate my next flight leaves from, checked the time, got a yummy smoothie from Jamba Juice, and settled in to wait. While I was sitting here I sent an e-mail to my "relocation counselor" about why my car wasn't picked up Friday like I thought it was supposed to. And to let him know to call my other half with the remaining arrangements as I am no longer there to coordinate with the movers. After that was done, I apparently decided things were going too smoothly and promptly knocked my smoothie over to spill all over my hoodie and the floor :( Apparently there's nobody in the airport that knows how to page maintenance to clean up a mess either. I feel really bad too, it's gonna stain. *sigh* At least it wasn't my cute jacket that I'm planning on wearing tomorrow. I just hope my 87 pounds of stuff I brought on the plane is enough to get me through 'til the rest of my crap arrives...

This Is It

Well, here I am. It's my last night in my own bed. We'll get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and head to the airport. Actually I'm pretty sure I'll be half-way to my second airport of the day by the time dawn cracks, but that's besides the point. Anyway...

In a surprise turn of events I actually got my new lappy early in the day Saturday. Although I couldn't play with it right away because we were in the middle of last minute party preparations for the little one's birthday.  She seemed to have a good time, so I guess it was a success. I managed to not cry, so I'm gonna count that as one for the team. At least I got to spend a little extra time with a couple of my closest friends. I'd say that I wish I had more time, but that wouldn't really make it better, so I'll just leave it at that.

Today I finished my packing as it were, and took a nap. We went to the in-laws' for snacks and football and later my "last supper" with them. There was cake :) When we got home I snuggled with my pup and watched her frolic in the back yard. Just finished teasing the cat with the laser pointer. Now I'm about to pack up the lappy and snuggle up to my man and try not to think about tomorrow too much. Crying gives me a headache.

Good night old life.

And Things Were Going So Well

First thing this morning I had my exit interview. It's not so much an interview as a last check that the paperwork is all in order. After that I said my farewells to the rest of my coworkers and headed home. It was almost anti-climatic after how stressful the last few days have been.

When I got home I started moving all the stuff I have gathered to take so far into the garage so the movers can see it all more easily. I also worked on my project dresser and my bumper stickers too. As I was moving stuff to the garage I weighed various boxes to get an idea of how much stuff I had. I ended up with 350 pounds of stuff in boxes. Not counting furniture, or clothes. I thought I was doing pretty well.

Off I went to my second-to-last physical therapy appointment here. The therapist found a particularly tender spot, I think she called it the I-T band? I don't know. Anyway, it hurt. Some of my exercises are getting easier though, so I felt good about that. Even though I pretty much never do them at home. I really aught to work on that...

I had this grand plan to run a bunch of errands, but I got stuck at the doctor's waiting for my prescriptions that were supposed to have been done Monday. Finally I told them I'd pick it up tomorrow and rushed home to meet the mover surveyor dude. That was anti climatic too. He just looked at my stuff and said "alright, we'll call you later." Um.... aren't you going to throw me a bone here and tell me how much you think my stuff weighs??

I think it was about that time that I realized I had been so busy doing stuff I totally forgot to have my morning panic attack. Of course I've always felt a lot better actually doing something than just thinking about it.

After the mover guy left I went over to visit my friend and her new little baby boy. It was nice to get away from the disaster my house is. I even got to feed the baby and watch him drift off into a sweet little food coma. It made me smile :)

When I got home from that I dug my quilts out of the crawl space. I had totally forgotten how much crap was down there. And almost all of it is my clothes! Good grief I have a lot of clothes!! I really should just donate most of it, and start working on a t-shirt quilt with my sentimental shirts. I probably have enough for a king size quilt by now.

After throwing on of my quilts in the wash (smells funky from being in storage for so long) I went out to putz around in the garden. I managed to separate the three tomato plants into separate plants again. And got a ton of tomatoes in the process. And a good handful of green beans. And a couple bell peppers. I thought I hated gardening, but it's kind of nice to get fresh air and do a mindless task with tasty rewards :) I might have to have me a little container garden at my new apartment, whenever I find one...

I was thinking I had a rather good day considering. Until I looked at the status of my lappy... First I saw that it had shipped and I was all excited! Then I saw that they actually pushed the expected delivery date out FARTHER! Now it's not due to arrive until Thursday after I leave! I wanted to scream, cry, pull out my hair, and rip somebody a new one. But I can't find a freaking suggestion box on Dell's website. I give up! I'll just take this lappy with me, and have my man put my new lappy in with the rest of my stuff the movers are taking. At least that way I know it's secured and insured. I just won't get it for a couple weeks. *sigh*

Tipping Point

Today ended up being my last day on the first project of my career. I won't lie and say I worked 'til the end or some BS like that. I pretty much haven't done much actual work since my phone interview. I dealt with some 'hot' items, but other than that I made travel plans and said good bye. The movers are coming tomorrow to "survey" my crap and tell me how much it'll weigh. Well, first thing in the morning is my exit interview. It's a good thing my HR rep is my buddy 'cause I am just south of drunk at the moment. We went out for the little one's sweet sixteen this evening and I had a few. If you asked me a couple years ago I wouldn't have been sure about the whole "step mother" gig, but this last year or so it's been so amazing watching her grow up and mature into a beautiful young woman. I couldn't be more proud and I am so torn that I won't be here for her for the next two years. Hopefully she'll forgive me eventually. But for now I leave her with the promise of senior prom dress shopping at the Mall of America. And with that, my bed is calling!

Sinking In - Part 2

I couldn't find my car keys this morning. My spare set is broken such that I can drive, but chance losing the fob, so I usually avoid using them. I was very distraught at not being able to find my keys, they're on a very sparkly key chain so they should be hard to miss, but it was 5am and nothing is easy to find at 5am. Somehow in my search for my keys I forgot my breakfast in the microwave. In other news, it was a Monday. But not just any Monday, my last Monday on this project. After my initial "holy wha" moment going through the gate this morning it hit me periodically throughout the day with a sick flip-flopping feeling in my tum tum. Top that with the Mondays, and arguing with some Indian person via Dell Chat about the status of my lappy, it was a rather tense day. A coworker also inadvertently found an error in something I did a month or so ago and I had to redo it, with no one to blame but myself. I brought home my last box of stuff from my desk and am trying to go through it. I seem to be just moving my "deal with later" pile around the room as it grows though... But there's nobody else to deal with this crap 'cept me, right? Do I give it up for the evening and hope I feel better tomorrow? Do I force myself to deal with it now? Or do I dump the whole thing in one of my "to move" piles and worry about dealing with it when I get there? But what if I run out of weight on the moving truck? Gah!!!

Sinking In

This morning I woke up at 3am, so tired but wide awake. My mind wasn't exactly racing, but it sure wouldn't settle down. I thought about how few nights I have left in my own bed, friends I've made here and now will be leaving behind, work I'm leaving undone. The whole prospect of the move still doesn't seem quite real yet. Although, as I rode the van to work this morning I realized that I will only pull through the gate one more time. This site has been my home-away-from-home for over three years now; more than half my whole working career. The office building here, as crappy as it is, is a known quantity and, therefore, better than anything else that is unknown. As much as I hate them, I will miss climbing the PT stairs. I will miss the dust storms and looking ridiculous with goggles on. I wonder if I will ever see rebar curtains as thick as those I've crawled through here, or rock pockets as large as I've inspected. Despite many of my friends having already left, the people are what I'll miss most (corny, I know). Perhaps my point of view is skewed because I've never worked anywhere else, but I've really enjoyed my time here. I feel like I made a difference, no matter how small. Although I wonder how long it'll be before my name is no longer on any calculation or drawing... Today might not be my official last day, but it feels like it's the day to say good bye.

A Reprieve

Friday night my man and I had a little stay-cation at a local hotel. It was a really nice little reprieve from all the stress and anxiety. I did not allow myself to think about the move, or work or anything except how nice an evening it was. We picked up some sushi to go, and some goodies from the local farmer's market, and had a lovely little snack-type supper. We watched football and enjoyed each other's company, and some booze ;)

Saturday I took the little one for our last trip to Ulta together. Got our eyebrows done and spent way too much money. Then we went to the company picnic where I was obnoxious with my new (to me) camera. Got to say 'bye' to some folks I don't see much at work anymore, and spend a little more time with my friends.

After the picnic I took a nap (the hotel had feather bedding so I couldn't breathe and thus couldn't sleep) before heading to my friend's house for my official going away party. It was super low-key, which was really nice. Just my friends hanging out and chatting and laughing at the little kids. Nobody cried, which was good. I'm sure the time for that will come soon enough.

Sunday I alternated between cleaning, packing, and sleeping. I sure have been sleeping a lot... I finally got the bathroom cleaned and all of my crap put in the "to pack" pile. I keep noticing things that I'm going to have to buy new when I get my apartment. Like a Swiffer, dishes, towels, bathroom stuff... and then I worry about the timing. If I have the movers load up too soon, I won't have anywhere to put all my stuff before I find an apartment. But if I wait too long I'll be roughing it pretty bad while I wait for my stuff to arrive... What's worse, not getting it in time, or getting it too soon? What are the chances that I'll get it just right? And when is my laptop going to show up?!

Too much to worry about! I'd best just give up and go to bed...

Disproportionate Anxiety

I've had a little over a week to come to terms with my upcoming move and I've noticed something odd. I haven't once worried about if I'll like my new job, or if I'll get along with my new coworkers, or anything about the job portion of this adventure at all. Instead, what gives me the most anxiety is thinking about the things I'm going to need to get for my apartment, like a vacuum and a toaster. I'm moving across the freaking country to start a new job unlike anything I've done in the last five years and I'm worried about making toast! I am an odd duck.

Does anybody want to buy me a toaster?

Hurry Up And Wait

The rest of the day Wednesday was agonizing. I had made my decision but couldn't actually DO anything yet. Phone calls had to be made, paperwork had to be started, and I couldn't do any of it. I couldn't even start preparing anything because nothing was official yet. So instead I sat and stewed in a huge puddle of anxiety. I couldn't sit still. I could hardly breathe. I alternated between being excited, nervous, and wanting to throw up. It was horrible.

Thursday things finally started happening. I got my release date, and my report date, so I could make my travel plans. I booked my flight, found a hotel, and reserved a rental car. I started making lists. A list of stuff to pack, a list of doctors to call, a list of things I wanted to take, a list of questions I needed to ask. Lots and lots of lists. Lists make me feel better. Except when I would realize another whole set of things I needed to do.

The next few days were a roller coaster ride. On the up side I thought about how much more often I'd be seeing my family. Then I'd realize how much crap I'd have to buy to start a new household, even an apartment one. Then I'd think about coming home to an empty apartment and not being greeted by a sweet puppy grin and a "hi sweetheart" and hug from my man. And then I'd start all over again. It was exhausting.

I spent the weekend organizing things to pack that I don't need all the time. I sorted and organized and packed. I took care of household stuff that's been piling up. Between staying busy and the roller coaster of emotions it was exhausting. Sunday we celebrated Labor Day with pulled pork, fresh from my man's smoker. It was so good! And then I realized I'd be without his fantastic cooking. Down goes the roller coaster again.

It's only been a few days, but it's all a blur in my head. This week I packed up both my desks at work and brought most of my stuff home. Although several boxes are still in my trunk. I started taking the bumper stickers off my car (not an easy task!). I finalized more plans both with the move itself, and work stuff. And I wrote up a list of things I won't be able to close out before I leave this project. That particular list was depressingly long. I was so busy trying not to be depressed I almost forgot that Tuesday was my five-year anniversary with the company. What a present this is!

Today I spent a half-day at work finishing my list of outstanding items. After lunch I went to physical therapy and from there spent several hours going from doctor's office to doctor's office collecting all of my records. My plan is to have all of my medical records together in one package before I leave. We'll see if it works out like that... I also stopped at Lowes and picked up a bunch more cleaning supplies to attack my car with. I finished out the day by working on my car for a while and putzing around in the garden. Tomorrow is a couple more appointments, then a little stay-cation with my sweet :)

The Next Day

I don't know who came up with the term "sleep on it" because when I have a huge decision looming over my head I sure don't sleep much!

Wednesday I got up early, after only four hours or so of sleep, and headed off to work. Once there I called up the Chief of my department. I feel very lucky that I personally know somebody that far up my orginization food chain. Not only do I know him, he's actually the one who recruited me five years ago. Anyway, I called him up and asked if he had heard about the project and told him they wanted to give me an offer. I asked for his thoughts and input on whether it was a good career move and whatnot. He assured me that while he could not speak to the personal aspect of the move, that career wise it was a very good thing.

After that I called one of the guys on my project that I have worked under, in one way or another, since I started here. He also said this was a good move, career wise. He added that another round of layoffs were coming here, and that the work is going to drop off pretty steeply in six months or so. Not quite telling me I'd better get while the getting's good, but I definitely got that feeling. Now all that was left to do was to decide if I really good move across the country by myself again, leaving my newfound family here.

As I was thinking about it and talking to my other half and my friends that I'd be leaving here, I realized that my mom's corporate office is only about an hour and a half from where I'd be living. I'm a total mama's girl, and I haven't seen mine since New Years. The prospect of seeing her much more regularly was definitely a deciding factor. I also have family in Alabama and North Carolina, and friends in Tennessee and Kentucky. Having made my decision, although still nervous about it, I called the gentleman back and said yes, I would like to come work for you.

The Surprise Begining

One week ago I was at work, minding my own business, when my phone rang. I answered it in my usual manner, expecting it to be a coworker or some such. Little did I know it was the start to a crazy adventure! The guy on the other end introduced himself as [so-and-so] from [someplace] in Alabama, and did I have a minute. I was incredibly confused as the only person I know in Alabama is my uncle, and he's currently in the far East. I didn't want to be rude however, so I said sure, I had a minute. Anything to break up the monotony of a Tuesday afternoon. At any rate we start talking and he's going on about how he's looking for somebody to fill this position, the job duties would be as such, and might I be interested? Now I'm scrambling, trying to think of who the heck he is and did I apply for something I didn't remember?? I started trying to pull up our company job search site to madly look through all the applications I'd put in over the last couple of months. None of them said anything about Alabama! Finally he tells me the title of the position and it matches one I'd applied to over a month ago. The status was "under consideration." Ok, maybe that's it. I opened it and read more carefully, wondering if I had just missed where it said Alabama. I wasn't sure if I felt relieved or concerned when I still didn't find any mention of Alabama, just "Southeast region of the country." As I finally decide that I had actually applied for the job I had suddenly found myself in the middle of a phone interview for, I realized that the guy on the other end was wrapping up the conversation. The whole thing was so out of the blue, so unexpected, I could barely form coherent sentences. He wanted an answer right then and there! I asked, with probably more than a little stuttering, if I could talk to my other half and sleep on it. He paused, like he wasn't expecting that, then said sure, and to call him the next day. This is about where my brain exploded.

I ran downstairs, well I didn't exactly run, I hurried downstairs looking for my other half. He wasn't at his desk. My "work husband" was there though, so I babbled at him while flapping my arms around. If he didn't already know for sure, he probably though I was a crazy person. After that I did my weird hurried shuffle-step that I do when I'm agitated over to my other friend's desk. She gave me a hug (I had been messaging with her while on the phone so she knew what was going on) and told me congratulations. I wasn't sure I deserved/wanted it. I was so torn, despite having had discussed just this situation with my other half when we first got word of major layoffs and I started applying to other projects. But actually getting a call made it all too real.

Suddenly faced with the prospect of being separated for two years, I sat down with my other half and his daughter at the dinner table. I explained to them, as much as talked through it for myself, what I'd be doing, approximately how long I'd be there, how often we'd see each other. My other half of course supported me 100% although insisted it was my decision to make. His daughter took it like the teenager she is and informed me that she didn't care. I'd like to think she cares, but that's a topic for another day. With my mind mostly made up, I went to bed.