Thirteen on Tuesday

Jacob's team lost tonight, 5-1, against West Portage.  It was a hard fought game and the boys did well, despite losing.  It was good to see that even though they lost, they didn't beat themselves.  They were down, but not on themselves.  I think they knew that they had done well during this tournament and were able to walk off the field with their heads held high.  And of course, the fact that they are 9 and 10 years old and dog-piled on each other after the team photo probably contributed to the ability to shake it off.  Most of the boys sounded like they were off to football camps and combines.  The parents were all just happy to be done with the stress.  We take it harder than the boys most of the time.

Now that baseball is done, Jacob and I take off for Utah tomorrow.  First stop at my mom's, then to Dyersville, Iowa for the Field of Dreams site.  Then to Trina's and Mt. Rushmore.  And hopefully then to our new home.  How long will it take us?  I'm saying 4 days.  I hope to be able to post along the way, but it's not highly likely.  Perhaps I'll be able to get on Facebook at least. 

My goodbye party was great fun, thanks to Maryann and Greg.  Extra special thanks to them for throwing it for me.  Enough people showed up that it didn't aggravate my fear of no one showing up but not too many that it provoked my fear of crowds.  Lord, reading that, why would anyone throw a party for someone with my issues?! 

I don't have a "Ten on Tuesday" today.  Oh wait, maybe I do.  But actually, it's going to be "Thirteen on Tuesday".

The Thirteen Best Baseball Players in District 2 and possibly the world: (in no particular order) ((no last names so I don't freak their parents out if they Google their kids))

1. Jacob
2. Keaton
3. Tony
4. Noel
5. Adam
6. Nate
7. Reed
8. John
9. Ben
10. Eric
11. Travis
12. Brendan
13. Dominic

These boys were awesome!  And they are each one of them nice, likeable, polite boys.  It's not often you find that on a team.  Go Team Milwood!

Arrival

Mitch and Sara have arrived in Utah.  As of about three minutes ago, they were at Wal-Mart stocking up on perishables and hoping that the air conditioning will be working in the house when they get back.  It wasn't working when they arrived earlier.  And this, my friends, is why I sent Mitch first.  Because I would have NO IDEA what to do if I got to the house and the AC wouldn't work.  Literally no idea.  Past calling Mitch, that is.  Judge me if you will, but I am the very first to admit that I am one of those women who can't do certain things because I've always counted on Mitch to do them.  Why get married if I'm still going to have to know how to fix the AC?

Jacob's team won tonight, decisively against Parchment 12-2.  Jacob played shortstop, pitched half an inning and caught the rest.  He also hit a triple.  Much better game than last night, where the pitcher fell apart on the mound and the coach (the pitcher's father) did nothing about it.  It was horrifying.  They play again tomorrow night, I think.  It was a giant cluster*#$% when I left regarding when we played next.  I finally just said, "I'll have Jacob at West Portage fields at 5 PM tomorrow.  If anyone else shows up, he'll play ball.  Otherwise, I'll see everyone there Friday night."  Why is this stuff always so hard?  Why make a bracket and schedule all the games ahead of time if it's going to be changed?  Honestly, I don't know what the deal is.  If I had been in charge, it would be fine.  Just saying.

On a totally unrelated note, the light switch for the bathroom here is on the hall outside the bathroom.  Do you have any idea what kind of restraint it takes for me to NOT switch that light off every time I walk by and there's someone in there?  I should get some sort of reward for that.  Not yet though.  I still have a few days left here.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Ten on Tuesday

The next 10 songs on my iPod.  By hitting shuffle:

1. I Love Rock N Roll - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
2. Happier - A Fine Frenzy
3. I Love You - Martina McBride
4. Falling Apart - Matt Nathanson
5. Crashed - Daughtry
6. Change the World - Finger Eleven
7. Tim McGraw - Taylor Swift
8. You Were Meant for Me - Jewel
9. I Want Action - Poison
10. Ms. Hangover - Flo Rida

Quite a mix there, I'd say.

Not a lot going on, and since we're staying at Mitch's mom's, it's a little tough to update.  Mitch and Sara left yesterday and were planning to hit Mt. Rushmore today.  Jacob's got his second game tonight at West Portage against a South Portage team.  It should be tough, but our boys are pretty good, so I wouldn't count them out just yet. 

Fun Fact Friday

Because everyone needs a little useless information once in a while.

-- A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

-- Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle.

-- Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.

-- George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

-- Human birth control pills work on gorillas.

You're welcome.

Sense the Adventure

Closing is complete and went off without a hitch, in spite of Mitch's fear that it would all fall apart at the last minute.  So we are no longer homeowners.  And not a moment too soon, I say.

The couple buying our house is young, newly engaged, and full of hope for the future.  God love 'em.  They are full-time students and work full-time.  No kids, and probably not even a fish between them.  And they are oh so excited.  It certainly takes me back to those days.  I was pregnant with Jacob when we bought the house and he was six weeks old when we closed.  Of course, even then we were probably a good 7-8 years old than this couple, but I remember the excitement.  New house, trying to figure out where you're going to put all your stuff (or how you're going to spread out your stuff so it looks like you have more stuff and the house doesn't look so empty). 

We are officially the renters of the house in Utah, as of today.  Hopefully everything is turned on and as it should be, so when Mitch and Sara get there next everything is working.  That's the good part of sending those two out ahead of time - anything not working, Mitch can straighten out before I arrive.  And hopefully, the Internet, cable and phone will be up when I get there so I can get right back on Facebook and here and not miss too much! 

I got a letter of reference from my job here today.  Good to have, but makes me feel like I should think about getting a job.  No thanks.  Contrary to what Mitch says.  I want to make sure the kids are settled and everything before I do that.  Right now, it needs to be about making everything calmer for them.  Between the move, the cat and the dog, I want to do everything I can to make things simpler for them.  Before Jacob has a complete psychotic break and we end up on the news.

Tomorrow is my last day at work.  I hope I've done enough to prepare my replacement.  There is so much stuff that she'll just have to learn as she goes.  There's no way to prepare her for every possible scenario.  It will be weird to not have to get up on Monday, except to see Mitch and Sara off. 

And then the adventures really begin.  Can you hardly wait?

Murphy's Law

The house is empty and we'll be cleaning it up this afternoon.  Closing is scheduled for tomorrow at 11 AM.  I have withdrawn the kids from their school here and really should call the school there to talk to the principal again about that Track system.  We are moved into Mitch's mom's and all is done but the waiting.  Waiting for the furniture to be delivered there so Mitch and Sara can head out.  Waiting for Jacob's games to be done so he and I can go.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.

We had to get rid of Murphy yesterday.  It was terrible.  He bit a friend of Jacob's and given his nervousness around new things and the fact that our new yard doesn't have a fence, it was just a chance we couldn't take.  We've been lucky so far, in that he only got Jacob once a few years ago, but we just worried that if there were to be a next time, it would be worse.  And it's always a kid and always the face.  So he went back to Animal Rescue, where he will go back into foster care.  I don't know how that will work for him, given his past.  It really really sucks, because we all loved that dog.  He was treated badly as a puppy and that's why he ended up in Animal Rescue.  He was better than he was when we first got him, but I guess he never was going to get over that.  I hate whoever it was that was mean to him when he was little.  Hate. Them.  Animal abusers should be tortured themselves.  Period.

Anyway, Jacob was a disaster.  When we got Murphy, all he wanted was a dog that would sleep on his bed.  And Murphy did.  Sara was trying to train him to do tricks and stuff, and although I suspect Murphy was just in it for the cheese, Sara was really having fun.  And of course, he was my baby.  Even with his horrendous breath. 

We told the kids we'll get a puppy when we get settled in Utah.  Something that will grow up with kids and be used to them.  Something like a Golden Retriever.  No one is ever attacked by a Golden Retriever.  I hope we're not the first.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things I've Learned Living in Kalamazoo, Michigan

1. I can now point out where in Michigan I live using my right palm.
2. I know that the UP is an actual place, not just a direction.
3. I know what a ham bun is, what oliebollen is, and what a Boonzaaijer cake is.
4. I've lived here long enough that I now give directions based on places that no longer exist.  For example, "Brewsters on Portage Road.  You know, where the old Bill Knapp's used to be."
5. You get hot dogs at the Root Beer Stand. 
6. A guy named Bob makes the best tacos in town.
7. There are about a million different ways to capitalize and space any last name starting with "Van".  It can be Vandenberg, VandenBerg, Van Den Berg, Van den Berg, Vanden Berg...the list goes on and on and on.
8. If you are in the UP and see signs for "Pasties", they are referring to food.  Not what you might otherwise think.
9. Dead people are not scary, creepy or yucky.  The family that survives them however...
10. Some of the best people I've ever met live right here. 

Back Where I Started

The movers come tomorrow morning to start packing.  I have to go to work, but Mitch will be here with them.  We've packed what we need to keep with us for the next 2 weeks and hopefully we didn't forget anything important.  I'm sure I've forgotten something.  It's the not knowing that will drive me crazy until I figure out what it is.  We'll be living with Mitch's mom until it's time to head out.  Mitch and Sara and the dog will head out first and be there to meet the furniture.  Jacob and I will go after he's done playing baseball.  I'm hoping they go pretty far in this tournament so Mitch and Sara have everything done by the time Jake and I get there.  I can hope anyway.

It's funny that when we moved here 11 years ago, we lived with Mitch's sister for 3 months and then with his mom for 2 months.  I was pregnant with Jacob and our house wasn't selling in Virginia.  And here were are all these years later, moving back in with her, only this time with 2 kids and a dog and getting ready to leave town.  I guess it's a full-circle type of thing.

Mitch's brother and his family were here this weekend so the kids and I spent most of our time over at Mitch's mom's.  The kids all get along pretty well, and it's fun now to just let them go entertain each other.  Give the boys a football or baseball and turn them loose in the yard and that's pretty much the last you'll see of them.  The girls were all entertained playing with the baby and keeping her entertained.  The girls all slept here last night and they were all out within 5 minutes of me turning off the light.  Guess they were all pretty worn out.

I continue training tomorrow, but I think I'm going to take a more hands-on approach.  I'm thinking that most of the problems we've had thus far is because I was too detached.  So now I'm going to hover.  Time is running out here my friends.

A bit of bad news about my new town:  it doesn't have a library.  It might as well not have running water at this point for all I care.  (And if I don't fill out that water form, we won't have that either!)  So I checked the surrounding towns, including the largest and a non-resident card is $100 a year.  $100 A YEAR.  The closer towns, which are significantly smaller, are $80 and $70 a year.  And I know buying books would run me at least 3 times that a year, but still.  I've been spoiled here with the great library we have. 

Once the computers at home are dismantled, and I leave my job on Friday, I don't know when I'll be able to updated this blog again.  It might be hard to do at Mitch's mom's house with everyone around, but I'll try my best.  I know I'll be on Facebook, because otherwise I might suffer some sort of withdrawal symptoms, but this might be trickier.  I'll do my best and be back as soon as I get to Utah and get my Internet hooked up.

If they have Internet there. 

If they don't have libraries everywhere, I'm starting to doubt everything I knew about modern life.

Crazy Train

Training is going OK today.  Yesterday was bad, bad, bad however.  Everything I had told her on Tuesday was completely forgotten. So I told her everything again.  And now today, she seems to be retaining it.  I"m thinking she just must need 2 days for stuff to sink in, because everything I told her this morning, I had to repeat this afternoon.  Probably by tomorrow she'll remember it.  I hope.

I know, I know.  It was her first day, her second day.  But the thing that bugged me was that I gave her like 7 or 8 pages of typed out notes of everything we covered, step by step.  Plus walked her through the two things I taught her at least 3 times each.  And when I told her to do one on her own, it was like I asked her to fly to the moon.  Oh, and I lost my temper at one of the other employees yesterday, so maybe she was a little scared of me by then.  Hell, I was scared of me by the time it was all over. 

Not sleeping plus extra stress makes for a lovely personality, don't you think?

Maryann gave me some Melatonin to try last night.  I slept well so I'm thinking that could be why today is better.  I'm going to believe that Maryann gave me the Melatonin because she's really nice and she's worried about me, but if I was honest, I'm sure it was to save herself from my crazy. 

I do crazy fairly well.  Usually without even trying. 

Ten on Tuesday

** Edited to add:  This was scheduled to post yesterday, on the actual Tuesday.  Clearly, I don't know how to set that up.  But I'm posting it today anyway.

A little something I'm trying out.  We'll see.

My 10 Favorite Movies:

1. Men in Black
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3. 10 Things I Hate About You
4. Troy
5. Napoleon Dynamite
6. Forrest Gump
7. St. Elmo's Fire
8. Ocean's Eleven
9. Grease
10. The Addams Family

Honorable Mention:  Cast Away, Mrs. Doubtfire, Rain Man

Fourth of July

We picked up the kids on Saturday from their vacation with my mom and stepfather.  They were pretty worn out.  We didn't get home until 2 AM, since we stopped at Dana's for a visit before leaving town, and Mitch had to drag me out of there.  Hey, I practically lived at her house in high school and shortly after - what are the odds we're going to have a quick half-hour visit?  Yeah.

We went to the Kings game for the 4th and watched the baseball game and fireworks after.  They got smart this year and didn't start the game until 7, so there was only supposed to be 30 minutes between the end of the game and the start of the fireworks.  I'm sure it was actually longer than that, but the kids ran the bases and the players were out on the field for autographs so it didn't seem so bad.  In the past, the game has started at 5, so there was always a long wait between the two.  The fireworks were great.  Say what you will about our nothing Frontier League baseball team, those folks know their firework shows.  And you gotta love a league where there's such a thing as "Thirsty Thursday" - $1 hot dogs, sodas, and beers.  By the 4th inning, the baseball hardly matters.

I went with Maryann and her family to see Eclipse today.  I don't think it was as good as New Moon, but I'll have to see it again to be sure.  Shut up.

No work for me today and I start training my replacement tomorrow.  Training will seriously cut into my Internet and Facebook time.  Wish me luck.

Wild, Wild West

We rented a house in Utah and true to our impatient form, it was the first one we looked at.  Whatever, it's a rental.  It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a two car garage.  It has a huge front porch where we can sit and look out at the mountains.  The basement is unfinished, but really nice and big so we shouldn't need to rent a storage place for any stuff that doesn't fit in the main part of the house.  The yard is okay, as far as Utah yards go.  They are all dry and dusty and rocky, but it should be fine for a year.  It's about 30 minutes from Mitch's work and since I don't have a job yet, perfect for me.  They approved us for the rental in an hour and a half and in spite of difficulty getting a money order (due to withdrawals limits on our debit card), we had the keys in our hand in 24 hours.  Easy peasy.  It was really weird too because we called the rental company and they gave us the code to the lockbox and we let ourselves in.  Talk about a trusting society there. 

When we went back for the second look, I talked to a woman who lives on the street behind us.  I asked her some questions about the school, since she had a little boy who is going into 2nd grade with her.  But I'm assuming he wasn't hers, because she couldn't remember what the name of the school he goes to is.  At least I hope he wasn't hers, given that. 

Conversation we had as I was walking away,

"So, I didn't catch your names."

"Oh, I'm Nancy and this is my husband Mitch."

"Soooo, are you LDS?"

"Um, no, we're not."

Guess I better get used to having that conversation.  Mitch and I decided we needed a better answer than just "Um, no".  But I don't know what the appropriate response would be.
-----

We also opened a credit union account, which OH MY GOD, really?  It took forever.  We spent an hour filling out forms and answering questions and then once we left, the lady called Mitch no fewer than 4 separate times over the next five hours to ask him questions.  Does your wife work?  Your credit report shows you have a mortgage?  Why do you have a VA loan if you didn't list any military income?   And who knows what all else.  One would think you would go into a financial institution, give them some money and they open an account.  I'm not sure it needs to be quite so difficult. 

We went to the school the kids will be attending and got all the forms and talked to the principal.  She seemed really nice and never once mentioned that my kids are the spawn of Satan due to our unconventional religious beliefs in comparison to the locals.  (I'm kidding, of course.)  (Probably.)  They have a Track System, where Track A kids show up at like 8:30 and stay until 2:20 and Track B kids show up at 9:15 and stay until 3:30.  I guess it's because they have so many kids.  She said there were like 30 kids in a class.  So I suppose this system alleviates some of that.  I'm not wild about the number of kids in a class, but the education system in that entire area is really good, so I think I'll just reserve judgment until I get in there.

I also found out I will need my social security card to get a new driver's license.  And where would I have put that I wonder?  The joke is, I've been carrying it around in my wallet for the last 15 years and just recently said "This is stupid and unwise to carry this around.  I will put it somewhere safe."  Yeah, I have no idea where "somewhere safe" is.  I'd say the safe in the basement, but that would be too obvious.  Plus I would of had to go down there and put the card in there and that just doesn't sound like something I would do. 

Let's see what else...

I ate at a Del Taco for the first time.  Eh.