Update August 8

Some of the stress is gone . . .

We rented a truck, paid some guys, and had two saint-hood-candidate friends help us, with a couple of truckloads of things, get stuff into the house yesterday. As of now, at the apartment, we're sleeping on the futon mattress on the floor, we have one twin mattress on the floor in the living room acting as couch and extra bed when one of us can't sleep, a couple of TVs, all of the kitchen stuff, and all of the office stuff left to move. Living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture are all gone, and the cat room/storage room/3rd bedroom of the apartment is almost empty. Praise God and thank You, Lord, for friends!!!

Avid blog readers Aunt Dot and Uncle Larry came by for a quick appreciative peek at the house, exclaiming in all the right places :o). Larry was brave enough to try a peach and an apple from each tree . . . braver than I! He said they were both pretty good (especially for neglected fruit trees). Maybe if I get my kitchen in time I can try to harvest some of each and do something with. It will not happen in the next two weeks, however, so I'm doubtful. I'm glad they finally came by, though. It was good to see reactions from blog to real life.

The house has a LOT of stuff in it now, and we'll have a ton of sorting and unpacking to do when we have time. Right now, the house is in too much disarray and too unorganized to unpack anything, so we figure a fridge, grill and microwave, and a card table with two kitchen chairs will suffice for cooking until the kitchen is installed. Bathroom and grout are top priority now so we have somewhere to bathe by Friday.

Tonight after my work appointments I hope to mow. Today will be 95 degrees . . . the coolest of the week. With the recent rains we've had, the yard is going crazy. All the zoysia has sprung back to life and grown, so we need to knock it down before it becomes impossible to mow.

We're a bit battered and bruised, with Rich's leg not 100% (going to the doc today), his back twinged from yesterday, and my right wrist/hand still swollen and not much help in the move, but we're starting to see some sheetrock-dust-filled light at the end of the tunnel.

One other word of note to show you my hubby's mindset . . . I should have written it the other day, but was just too tired. After I spent a whole day painting two coats of blue paint, dragging the vanity into place, installing the light fixture and having the electrician install the trim over the tub light, and cutting up wood for our trim out in the guest bath, I asked Rich to go in and have a look. He glanced around and focused on the bare wood trim, and made the comment "that's cool." Now, mind you, the walls were a different color, there was actually different lighting, a vanity was in place, and all Rich said was that. So I made a comment about how that wasn't much of a reaction for such a dramatic transformation. Then he realized the walls were blue, there was an extra light in the bathroom, etc. He was so transfixed by the bare wood trim, the vanity in place, and how great it would look that he missed the rest! Wood is like "shiny objects" to him, like the "shiny red button" that you're never supposed to press--he is obsessed with all things wood! It just re-supports my hypothesis that if they made perfume smell like sawdust, he'd be on me like wood glue.

Still have to be out of here by Friday, but we think it's doable. Keep your fingers crossed!!