Never before has an Easter had this much going on!!
On Good Friday, Mama A and Little Brother were due to head up to DC to meet up with Big Brother and then to Southern IL to spend the holiday with my grandparents and my mom's siblings. The plan? To leave no later than 10:00 Friday morning and be at Big Brother's house well before he got home from work so they could go to Good Friday Mass together and get a good night's sleep before a super-sized trip IL. The reality? Due to several unforeseen events (like a busted sprinkler system and the contractors who were late coming to fix it, which made mowing the lawn go later, etc etc), they didn't hit the road until 6:00 (ish)! Mom called me when they arrived (super late due to holiday traffic) and told me she'd call again in the morning when they hit the road again.
So Saturday afternoon, when I hadn't heard from anyone that they'd left the DC area, I started to get worried again. I figured they didn't want to call really early in the morning and just decided they'd wait and call me when they arrived, but by 5:00 that evening, when I still hadn't heard anything, I decided to just call my mom. And when I asked where they were, she told me in a ditch on the side of the road. Knowing that my mom is a jokester when it comes to things like this, I simply said, "No really, where are you?" Again, she told me they were in a ditch near Louisville, KY. I replied, "Mom, that really isn't funny; where are you?!" She then told me that they were in a ditch, and she'd be happy to put the state trooper on the phone to prove it to me! Apparently with all the storms in the midwest, there was a ton of standing water on the road, and despite the fact that he'd slowed way down, Big Brother hit a patch of water and skidded, fishtailing off the road and down an embankment. There was a creek below them and tons of mud, so they were stuck and had to wait for a tow truck to pull them out! The insurance company sent one truck, but his towing cables weren't long enough, so they had to wait again, with the state trooper at the top of the embankment to mark where the car had gone over. Luckily, the car didn't flip, no one was hurt, and despite some mud and clumps of grass, the car was fine too!
Sunday, when I called my grandparents to wish everyone a happy Easter, I was told that my uncle was in the ER! Dehydration and a stomach virus of some sort. He was feeling much better Sunday afternoon compared to Saturday, but still not 100% and just adding to the family drama that was cursing us this Easter, apparently!
Meanwhile, back in Virginia...
I had sort of a rough day on Friday. Just very emotional and not feeling great about really anything. Sad and depressed and hot and uncomfortable. Just a day of the blues and feeling sorry for myself. When Hubs got home, he tried to make me feel better by taking me out to dinner, but since we couldn't have meat (Lenten Friday obligation) we decided that wasn't the best idea. Instead, we decided that we'd go out on Saturday. Additionally, I told Hubs there was a movie I wanted to see, and that even though it was probably on the Chick Flick side, I didn't think it'd be obnoxiously so and I really wanted to see it! So on Saturday, we hit the gym first thing in the morning, and then had a fabulous day! We drove up by where we bought my Mazda two years ago and ordered our fabulous new family car (2011 Ford Explorer XLT). It's got voice-activated navigation (and just about everything else, too), remote start, back-up camera, third row, leather heated seats, and probably some more cool stuff I just can't remember right now! The car is being ordered this morning and will be shipped to California for us to pick up once we get to the West Coast. After ordering the car, Hubs took me to lunch at a Mexican place I'd heard about but never tried. I had a fabulous burrito that was just the perfect amount of food for lunch! And after lunch, we went to see Water for Elephants, the movie I'd picked... I read the book a few years ago and loved it. The movie was just as good, and very close to what I'd pictured in my mind while reading. I was pleasantly surprised, because I typically am not a fan of movies based on books I've read! Maybe it's because there was so much time between my reading the book and seeing the film?
Sunday morning, we got up early and got ready for Easter Mass. On a whim, Hubs decided to advertise his Honda (the one we're replacing with the new Explorer) on Craig's List. We'd listed the Accord on cars.com already, but figured a second ad couldn't hurt. The ad published at 7:00am. By 10:00, after we'd returned home from Mass and Hubs was cleaning out his gear that has been living in the garage and he needs to turn in before we move, and while I was prepping our Easter feast, Hubs got an email from a lady looking to buy his car. She was really interested and wanted to come see it that day, and hoped it'd be ok with us since is was a holiday. While Hubs made the arrangements, I jokingly asked him what we were going to do for six weeks if the car sold this quickly and we were down to one car until we move. He reassured me that they were probably just going to come look but we likely still had a week or two, and honestly, we probably would not sell the car privately and just do a trade-in with the dealership right before we moved. Oh how wrong he was! This woman was intent on buying a car, came with cash, did a quick test drive, and made us an offer we couldn't refuse! By 2:00, only seven hours after posting the car, she was pulling it out of our driveway and we were waving goodbye to the little Honda that took us on our first date!
And shortly after they left, Hubs realized he couldn't find his wallet. We searched everywhere: all over the house, the garage where he'd been packing his gear, my car where his gear was ready to be turned in, closets, safes, drawers, pockets, the front lawn....everywhere! Hubs finally called the lady who bought the car and asked her to look, thinking perhaps it fell out during the test drive and we missed it when we were cleaning everything out of the seat pockets and glove compartment. When she told us it wasn't there, we could only hope that she was being honest, but figured that since we still have the title to the car (she didn't have quite enough cash to give us all the money earlier in the day), she had no reason to lie. So Hubs sat down and started calling the credit card companies to cancel all our accounts. All our joint accounts, meaning that until they could mail us new cards, we were limited to the cash we had on hand! Luckily, as Hubs was on the phone, I remembered that he'd taken a pile of things that were sitting on the stairs and put them in the upstairs closet earlier in the day. We'd checked all the other closets, but not that one. I ran upstairs, and sure enough, there was the wallet, under a pile of things that were once cluttering up the garage! I'd found the golden egg...er...wallet!
So now we've checked a couple more things off our ever-growing list of "To Do Before Epic Move and Baby Arrival" items!! We've ordered a new car and sold another. We were able to upgrade to a bigger house on base in California (but that is a whole other post) and sent in the paperwork for our pack-out. Now we just need to get the house rented, finalize the dates for the pack-out, finish purchasing the baby things we still need, organize what can be shipped, what Hubs will take in the car with him, and what I'll have on the plane with me, buy plane tickets (crossing fingers Mama A can still fly with me), finish Hubs' last month at work (and figure out the car situation between the two of us since he works an hour away), and deliver Baby H!!! Not so bad, huh? Did you notice my sarcasm there?
Ummm....yeah! That's a ton to finish up in the next six weeks (or less, if Baby comes early!)... Sheesh!!! Wish us luck!!!
So Saturday afternoon, when I hadn't heard from anyone that they'd left the DC area, I started to get worried again. I figured they didn't want to call really early in the morning and just decided they'd wait and call me when they arrived, but by 5:00 that evening, when I still hadn't heard anything, I decided to just call my mom. And when I asked where they were, she told me in a ditch on the side of the road. Knowing that my mom is a jokester when it comes to things like this, I simply said, "No really, where are you?" Again, she told me they were in a ditch near Louisville, KY. I replied, "Mom, that really isn't funny; where are you?!" She then told me that they were in a ditch, and she'd be happy to put the state trooper on the phone to prove it to me! Apparently with all the storms in the midwest, there was a ton of standing water on the road, and despite the fact that he'd slowed way down, Big Brother hit a patch of water and skidded, fishtailing off the road and down an embankment. There was a creek below them and tons of mud, so they were stuck and had to wait for a tow truck to pull them out! The insurance company sent one truck, but his towing cables weren't long enough, so they had to wait again, with the state trooper at the top of the embankment to mark where the car had gone over. Luckily, the car didn't flip, no one was hurt, and despite some mud and clumps of grass, the car was fine too!
Sunday, when I called my grandparents to wish everyone a happy Easter, I was told that my uncle was in the ER! Dehydration and a stomach virus of some sort. He was feeling much better Sunday afternoon compared to Saturday, but still not 100% and just adding to the family drama that was cursing us this Easter, apparently!
Meanwhile, back in Virginia...
I had sort of a rough day on Friday. Just very emotional and not feeling great about really anything. Sad and depressed and hot and uncomfortable. Just a day of the blues and feeling sorry for myself. When Hubs got home, he tried to make me feel better by taking me out to dinner, but since we couldn't have meat (Lenten Friday obligation) we decided that wasn't the best idea. Instead, we decided that we'd go out on Saturday. Additionally, I told Hubs there was a movie I wanted to see, and that even though it was probably on the Chick Flick side, I didn't think it'd be obnoxiously so and I really wanted to see it! So on Saturday, we hit the gym first thing in the morning, and then had a fabulous day! We drove up by where we bought my Mazda two years ago and ordered our fabulous new family car (2011 Ford Explorer XLT). It's got voice-activated navigation (and just about everything else, too), remote start, back-up camera, third row, leather heated seats, and probably some more cool stuff I just can't remember right now! The car is being ordered this morning and will be shipped to California for us to pick up once we get to the West Coast. After ordering the car, Hubs took me to lunch at a Mexican place I'd heard about but never tried. I had a fabulous burrito that was just the perfect amount of food for lunch! And after lunch, we went to see Water for Elephants, the movie I'd picked... I read the book a few years ago and loved it. The movie was just as good, and very close to what I'd pictured in my mind while reading. I was pleasantly surprised, because I typically am not a fan of movies based on books I've read! Maybe it's because there was so much time between my reading the book and seeing the film?
Sunday morning, we got up early and got ready for Easter Mass. On a whim, Hubs decided to advertise his Honda (the one we're replacing with the new Explorer) on Craig's List. We'd listed the Accord on cars.com already, but figured a second ad couldn't hurt. The ad published at 7:00am. By 10:00, after we'd returned home from Mass and Hubs was cleaning out his gear that has been living in the garage and he needs to turn in before we move, and while I was prepping our Easter feast, Hubs got an email from a lady looking to buy his car. She was really interested and wanted to come see it that day, and hoped it'd be ok with us since is was a holiday. While Hubs made the arrangements, I jokingly asked him what we were going to do for six weeks if the car sold this quickly and we were down to one car until we move. He reassured me that they were probably just going to come look but we likely still had a week or two, and honestly, we probably would not sell the car privately and just do a trade-in with the dealership right before we moved. Oh how wrong he was! This woman was intent on buying a car, came with cash, did a quick test drive, and made us an offer we couldn't refuse! By 2:00, only seven hours after posting the car, she was pulling it out of our driveway and we were waving goodbye to the little Honda that took us on our first date!
And shortly after they left, Hubs realized he couldn't find his wallet. We searched everywhere: all over the house, the garage where he'd been packing his gear, my car where his gear was ready to be turned in, closets, safes, drawers, pockets, the front lawn....everywhere! Hubs finally called the lady who bought the car and asked her to look, thinking perhaps it fell out during the test drive and we missed it when we were cleaning everything out of the seat pockets and glove compartment. When she told us it wasn't there, we could only hope that she was being honest, but figured that since we still have the title to the car (she didn't have quite enough cash to give us all the money earlier in the day), she had no reason to lie. So Hubs sat down and started calling the credit card companies to cancel all our accounts. All our joint accounts, meaning that until they could mail us new cards, we were limited to the cash we had on hand! Luckily, as Hubs was on the phone, I remembered that he'd taken a pile of things that were sitting on the stairs and put them in the upstairs closet earlier in the day. We'd checked all the other closets, but not that one. I ran upstairs, and sure enough, there was the wallet, under a pile of things that were once cluttering up the garage! I'd found the golden egg...er...wallet!
So now we've checked a couple more things off our ever-growing list of "To Do Before Epic Move and Baby Arrival" items!! We've ordered a new car and sold another. We were able to upgrade to a bigger house on base in California (but that is a whole other post) and sent in the paperwork for our pack-out. Now we just need to get the house rented, finalize the dates for the pack-out, finish purchasing the baby things we still need, organize what can be shipped, what Hubs will take in the car with him, and what I'll have on the plane with me, buy plane tickets (crossing fingers Mama A can still fly with me), finish Hubs' last month at work (and figure out the car situation between the two of us since he works an hour away), and deliver Baby H!!! Not so bad, huh? Did you notice my sarcasm there?
Ummm....yeah! That's a ton to finish up in the next six weeks (or less, if Baby comes early!)... Sheesh!!! Wish us luck!!!
From what I've heard, Craigslisters are usually ready to buy once they make that call, so I figured it would go quickly! You might also find that with your renters--it's still kinda far out for people to rent (here in Pensacola when I was looking at rentals, they told me that many people move in the day after they look at a place!).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your family is okay, but yikes on the ditch! Glad you found the Hubs's wallet!