Oldie but Goodie-On the Move

This is a back by popular demand post. I wrote this on my facebook notes before I started blogging and some people have mentioned it a few times. I decided to transfer it here for all to adore. Thanks so much for the encouragement!

We have now entered onto day three of New Jersey and what an experience it has been. To take you with me though this journey, I must start off in Maryland.A few nights before we packed up, we had a big huge blow out party so the kids could all say goodbye to all our MD friends. The party started at 10:30am and mama and friend were up until 2am. So needless to say, trying to prepare for the move with a two day hangover, will cause me to say "I will never drink again!" I do it so rarely these days, my body can't handle and it's so not even worth it anymore. I will just wait until I am in my 80's and can mix alcohol with my medication and a hangover would be a nice distraction from the arthritis. But I digress...The party was well attended with lots of food as we cooked up everything in the freezer that wouldn't travel, plus ordered pizza. The kids were well entertained and entertaining by dressing up in any and all costumes we could dig up. We also had a surprise appearance by the all too popular chocolate fountain! On top of this, we opened up the hot tub! Farewell party to end the farewell tour that has been going on for a month, was a success! So finally the packers arrived. Aiden and Cody had their boxes to pack special toys and items that couldn't leave their side. They packed, and unpacked, and packed and unpacked these boxes a few times before finally realizing they needed to stay packed for the items to be able to go with us in the car. A lesson perhaps not so well learned by Terry, as his uniform for his last day was laid out on top of the suit case and not in it, therefore packed... lending him towards the idea of arriving to work in a t-shirt and briefs. We really didn't know what day they were going to pull out of MD with all our stuff, or arrive, and finally it all shook out, we were to camp out on Wednesday in an empty house, and pull out on Thursday morning, so we could meet the truck with all our stuff Friday morning. Julie then called when we were on the ride back from dinner to our empty house on Wednesday, offering us her guest bedroom and slumber party for the kids. The cheers for a pajama party were most likely heard throughout the county, confirming that yes, we would take her up on her kind offer of crashing at her pad... three doors down from our empty box. The kids and I didn't get as much sleep as usual, for thrills of a sleep over don't usually lend themselves to actual sleep. But we did get up early and pack the car, say a few goodbyes to the kids across the street and our dear friend Ms. Jeanne. Then it was myself, the dogs and two boys... hoping to make it a no stop ride from Glen Burnie to Cape May in three hours. The first call for a bathroom break however came before we even hit the Maryland State line. We pulled into the rest stop, which with much relief, I realized had a Starbucks, and I needed a hit of caffeine. The boys charmed everyone in the rest stop, as they looked at us like quaint travelers instead of what we really were, screaming kids and a mother who's hair was turning grey before their eyes. After fifteen minutes I was able to get everyone's bladders empty, and a Carmel Machiato in my hand. Then , it was the dogs turn. Surprisingly, besides tripping me twice with the leash, they were very well behaved. The second call for bathroom however, came in Township of Insert bizzar name here... where there is nothing but farmland. I asked Aiden if he could wait, and he said he could. However, I there is NOTHING for this 47 mile stretch. Finally poor Aiden was crying that he had to pee, so I pulled over for him to pee in a field. "No Mommy! NO! NO!" He wouldn't even put his feet down, and I couldn't make him pee. Pulling down his pants and yanking on his.. well.. ya know.. would amount to child abuse a this point. The dogs going nuts, "Yeah yeah.. let me show you how to pee in a field," were not helping the issue. I kept asking Aiden if I could pull into a gas station, but he kept insisting on a restaurant. There are no restaurants on the way down to Cape May. Nada, nothing on 47 but fruit stands. Finally, I pulled into a gas station and just hoped that the toilet could entice Aiden enough to go. Success... he was fine as soon as she saw the bathroom, which was surprisingly clean for a men's room in a beat up gas shack. When we got back in the car, Aiden explained he is a boy. Dogs pee in a bush not boys.

I realized a while later as well, that I had failed to explain that the gas stations had restrooms... he knew resturants did, but didn't know gas stations did... so he thought I wanted him to pee on the gas station, like I wanted him to pee in the bush. My bad! Now we both know! We finally arrive in Cape May at our new home. The most exciting thing here, was the blow up mattress, and new Sleeping Beauty movie. We did a little grocery shopping only for me to start to realize, my freezer didn't appear to be working very well. Oh well, I shall adjust the temp and let it take hold and it will be fine tomorrow. It's brand new after all. Or not.. turned out the fridge didn't work at all. I must mention now, the dogs. So excited to have a great big yard, got wet and goopy very quickly in our drizzled on overgrown back yard. What I didn't realize was the gate to the back woods was left open, so when I fell sleep, with Chianti at my side, Brie snuck out to the neighbor dog... a black lab and trolloped all over the neighborhood all night. I caught her coming home in the morning, the walk of shame. Well, to her it was gloating, but it should have been a walk of shame. Chianti had her own little adventure to our neighbors on the other side where she returned with her back paw sliced wide open. I have no idea what she's into lately, but that's the third time in two weeks she's but her pads. This one was the worst yet, and today I learned she actually went in though the dog door of our new neighbor and bled all over her house. She was not so concerned, but was worried since she didn't know who's dog it was who bled all over her house. She now walks around with a bag on her foot and Terry calls her "rag foot." Poor Chianti, she gets injured, and Brie gets a date. No wonder she stays home more. The movers did arrive, and eventually even started to unpack our stuff. Apparently we were over weight by 3000lbs and they wanted the trucks to drive back up two hours to get reweighed. Finally they realized that was not a good idea and let us have our stuff. At this point, you must realize we moved from a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath, into a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath lacking the huge basement and garage. The amount of boxes and cardboard I believe sunk the house foundation three inches. At this point, you might wonder, how are the boys doing? Well, I have to admit, Aiden is having a hard time. He wants to go back to our old house and all his friends. I finally convinced them to come take a walk with me, we didn't get 15 feet down the sidewalk before the neighborhood girls were coming over and introducing themselves to us. Most the kids in the neighborhood are 5th grade girls, but there is one kindergartner boy, Robert who the kids made fast friends with, as the girls caught me up on all the neighborhood gossip. That made me feel a little better, and now we knew Robert, who Aiden was sure was going to be his new best friend. Cody seems pretty alright with the whole move, as long as he has a nap. With the waiting for deliveries, needing to go shopping and unpacking, he has missed a nap here and there to our utter dismay. Cody needs his beauty rest! So today, for a change of pace I went outside to start on our weeds, otherwise known as our front yard. We have huge planter boxes out there that need to be cleared out. The boys came out to play with me too and the neighbors started coming over in droves. They had all gotten my cards I sent them with our pictures telling them we were moving in June. Everyone was so nice, and the cool thing here.. the kids are kids. Not one child under the age of 17 has been sitting text messaging or talking on their cell phone. The kids ride their bikes, walk around, play with their dogs and sandboxes... its so old school. I love it. We found out that one of the houses across the street has a son graduating from High school, and they were throwing a big party. I was trying to figure how I could finagle myself and the boys an invitation, when the answer arrived. The neighbors told me just to go on over. So I stopped in a Walmart, picked up a graduation card and gift card, and went over with the boys. The neighborhood girls recognized us of course and gave us a warm greeting, and I was off to the races meeting all the neighbors and the boys got a few minutes of fun with Robert, the swing set, a bounce house and a dog named Seamus. They had a pool and were cooking smores but that was a little labor intensive for me, so after a small amount of whimpering, the boys were content just to play for a little while. So yes, I crashed my neighbors party using two cute boys as a shield. They neighbors all couldn't be happier I did, and it was great. Meanwhile, our refrigerator that I bought from Lowes and Cody slept on my shoulder arrived. Now we just need to figure out how to get water over to it for the ice maker. And finally the network guy showed up to fix our internet. All the technicians in Cape May are fabulous, but the home offices seem to be jacked up. Who knows... the acid test will be when we get our first bill. So we probably have about 2/3rds of the boxes unpacked.. that will get unpacked. I still need to find the glass for my cabinets to put the dining room together, our bedroom needs some major help as the bed and dresser need to be swapped because it' doesn't fit right in our long narrow room. Cody to our surprise, loves having his own room and sleeping in there alone.. but wakes up in the middle of the night to come get Mommy to sleep with him. Normally he might just crawl in bed with me, but since our bed doesn't have linens on it yet.. it's harder to do. Aiden is still asking to go back to our old house. At one point he took and empty box and filled it with all his books and told Terry to take them and all our stuff back to our real house. He asks for his friends a lot, especially Oscar and Calvin who are moving to Germany in a few days... and Hayden and Anna... and Will, Danielle and Grace... who were all our neighbors and totally accessible at all time. Cody is content to call them but Aiden just gets more frustrated when they don't show up at our door. I am hoping we can get settled soon and get into some activities, maybe swim lessons, library groups, playgroups and the beach so get involved. We already got an invite to another party for next Saturday, another neighbor, another graduation.. so hopefully all the kids will be there to. Missing everyone very much. I think once we get settled, this will make a lovely home. People here are not your typical Jersey. I haven't heard a single Joisey accent yet, and they seem to have good ideals thus far, and like to have a good time. Schools in this area albeit confusing, seem to be very good. Once the dust settles.. literally, I think we will have a good time.


Last night in MD house.