Progress

I woke up groggy from a night of little sleep. Ugh. A lot of nights I don’t sleep very well because my mind is busy with the excitement of the coming move, as well as trying to plan everything. For example, we close on the house on a Monday. I will have to drive north for the closing but then back south because I need to take care of the cats. (Danny will ride up and down with me). I also can finish last minute things. We won’t be able to actually move until the following weekend. Then there’s the logistics of taking seven cats on the long trip to their new home. I also think about when to switch JJ to an oncologist in the Emerald City. There’s so much to think about. I am tempted to do more packing, but I’m making myself wait until closer to the move date. I don’t want to have to unpack any more packed items because suddenly they are “essential.”

This morning I drank several cups of coffee and ate a quick breakfast of toaster pastries. They aren’t health food, but they are delicious and quick to fix. After my mind had cleared of sleepiness, I went upstairs and did some more drywall mudding. It’s kind of fun and makes me feel productive.

When I finished the mudding, I went outside and contemplated the fence. There’s one piece of wooden fence that has been propped into place. I decided that I could easily install it permanently and that’s one more job that we can check off our list. When I placed the fence into place, however, I saw that it was a smidgen too long so the gate couldn’t close properly. I went and did other tasks while I thought about it and later decided that either EJ could shorten the length or the new owners of our house could. So I got out EJ’s post hole digger, dug the hole and then placed the post into place. It was too long and needed to be cut. Hmmmm. I set that post aside and pulled up from the ground a shorter post that had a bird house on top–after first checking that there were no birds or eggs inside. I put it in the hole and it was just right. I could find only two nails that were long enough, so I put one at one side of the fence and other at the other side. It will do until EJ can find more nails. At least now a stiff wind won’t blow the fence down. It’s amazing what tasks suddenly get done when a person decides to move.

Tomorrow I think I am going to paint the downstairs bathroom.

JJ was rather discouraged this weekend that he still didn’t have a job. Although, really, when you think about it, he hasn’t been looking all that long. Today begins only his third week in the North. The first week he explored and got his bearings and the second week he started looking for a job, which means that he’s only been job hunting for one week. I told JJ this morning that only three months ago, we weren’t even imagining moving–and look at all that has happened since then! EJ and I keep telling JJ to not get discouraged but to just keep looking.

Most companies these days seem to require people to fill out job applications on-line. When JJ got back to the hotel last night, he filled out an application for Kmart in a town located between the Emerald City and the new house. This morning JJ received a call asking him to come in for an interview. He scheduled it for Wednesday morning. “See?” I told him, “Life can change in an instant.” Now he has gone from discouragement about not having a job to the terror of having an interview. LOL. Fortunately he has interview clothes with him. Tonight he is going to have his Dad help him learn the way to Kmart.