End Of Days

It's time. Up until now I knew Jackson was leaving, but it was easily pushed back - it was a couple months away, a couple of weeks, a few days left. This is like standing on a cliff - it's not like sending them off to college and they come back the next weekend all homesick but ready to go back - this is it. just one giant leap into the unknown for all of us. Jackson I think was alright up until a couple of days ago, now he's leaving tomorrow at 2pm, his home, his friends, Becky. He stayed home last night and we watched our usual Saturday night BBC science fiction crap for the last time - I know this will get better but right now it just sucks. He went outside to talk on the phone with Adam who has been his sounding board and source of comfort for the past few weeks. Jackson is going over Becky's today and we're going out to dinner tonight to Ruby Tuesdays, our favorite restaurant - then the bookstore I suppose. I told him Becky was invited but he thought she might be too upset to go, I'm sure she is at this point.  After he goes tomorrow David and I will resume working on the house, finishing the packing and doing one last deep clean. One of the most upsetting things about the delay in the closing is we are quickly running out of things to do - David has all this nervous energy that keeps him fussing over every nook and cranny in the house. So we figet and wander, one thing is happening too soon and the other not soon enough.

B Is For Bored

The buyers had to go for an additional loan as the sale of thier house fell through and they couldn't cover closing costs. SO the person who was supposed to sign off on it didn't and won't be back until Tuesday as it's a holiday weekend SO it delays us for a couple of days. I personally do not like this as it's all nerve wracking to start with and this late in the game it's over the top.Especially since two of the containers are sitting in Fairmont ready to go and the rest of the house is about 95% packed and everything is scheduled to be switched off/turned over on the 3rd. Plus things will be super boring, my books are packed, yarn and needles are packed, all I have left is my laptop, the socks I'm currently working on, 2 balls of blue yarn I reserved just in case of Emergencies and So Forth, and one book that I'm already halfway through. We do shop but there's only so much of that you can do and I promised the Yarnhater I wouldn't buy anymore yarn until we moved so that shuts down quite a bit of my shopping experience.  Bastards. Jackson's friend James stayed over last night so they were up all night as usual, it's hard to believe he's old enough to join the navy and young enough to still have sleep-overs. Talk about your inbetween age..... he got his book back from Josh in NC that he forgot while he was there and he got an address book all filled out from Aunt Janet (thank you Aunt Janet!!), he's full of nervous energy as we all are and nowhere to put it.  I'm sure he'll spend most of tomorrow with Becky, I'm hoping she'll be alright after he leaves, my heart just breaks thinking about that.

Leave A Message, My Back Is Out

I think I must've slept in an odd position because up to now my back has not bothered me in the least. But this morning I woke up and it was a bit of screamer. Of course my heating pad is packed...... it's not really bad though and feels better now. The first two pods are packed and sitting in Fairmont, we have two more and then we're done. David has called the hotel and for a nominal fee we can have all the pets with us which is a great relief since trying to figure out where to board them and making sure everyone has thier shots that are documented is a headache. The guy buying the house came by last night to drop off thier swingset, he had three of the boys with him - better him than me. While he was talking to David bits and pieces started flinging off the side of the truck with a great deal of giggling - they're actually pretty well behaved for thier ages, but they are little boys and they sent him running more than once.This guy and his wife are foster parents so they have a crew going, I think they have 5 or 6. David helped unload the swingset and they do want Jackson's dresser and nightstands so we'll be leaving them also. Jackson and Becky are in the final countdown, so they're spending all thier time together. He leaves Monday so it's not too long now.

Caterpillars And Moving Pods

The moving pods will be here any moment so OF COURSE it's raining ,what else would it do? David's gone down to meet him and lead him back, anyone who's seen where we live would realize it's not a great place to make a wrong turn. Jackson is still defending his stuff, but since they're not picking up the pods until the beginning of Sept he has time. He will be out of here on Monday at 2pm, the navy is coming to get him, bwah haha. We're currently sleeping on the floor on a full size mattress which is uber-fun of course with Pearl the Bed Hog - we tell her Off, not because she stays off but because she leaves long enough for you to claim your portion of the bed before she comes back. I had my last day at work yesterday, I'm feeling a bit discombobulated today, that feeling that I need to be somewhere doing something. I'll be saying good bye to Susan later in the week as she's on vacation until Friday. We've been playing Phone Tag with the RE here and there, ours calls us for the buyers here, we call ours as we are the buyers there. They'll be keeping the hutch and some of the exercise equipment, everytime we need to know if they want something it's like playing Telephone as the agencies don't like you speaking directly. We called our RE to see if they wanted the hutch, they called the other RE who called them - they did so that came back down the telephone line, yes they do, yes they do, yes they do. This goes on for utilities, phone numbers, who picks up the garbage and who do we use for our cable.... The house is pretty well packed up now, we are getting down to bare essentials at this point, we're delaying packing the electronics of course - I hate that. We've learned to do a sketch though of what wires go where on the tv, computer, etc - you always think your going to remember but you never do.

The Art Of Distraction

Jackson has his 7 day meeting today, he leaves on Monday!  - and he is really starting to freak a bit. I know how he feels, it seemed like we had all this time to do stuff and now, this week, we have hit the hyper-drive portion of the program. Adam has been a great reassurance to him, we've noticed he's been getting nightly phone calls that he takes outside and I'm sure Adam has been a sounding board all week. He's trying to see his friends and girlfriend as much as possible, I'm sure Becky is a mess by now. I'm having my own little crisis, today is the last day of work for me, I have to clean out my car, finish my paperwork and hand in my stuff - three years of my life. I just can't seem to concentrate on anything these days, I get on the treadmill, I get off, I pick up my knitting I put it down - anxiety rules these  days. We have empty rooms in the house now, Jackson is starting to get his stuff together. He's feeling the same way, there's so much he wants to do, just doesn't know what to do first Or last. Or at all.  I'm going to miss WV a lot, people have asked why we're moving at all. First of all the house is too big, it started off that way and as all the projects were completed it has just reached that stage of completely overwhelming. The other issue is the cost of living here, this is considered a "sue me" state so all of our insurances are between double and triple what they would be in Pennsylvania - between car, health, home, contractor's, etc we are drowning and then there are other expenses. It is over all untility wise cheaper but your paycheck is a lot less here so that kind of evens out. Even though I'm very much looking foward to moving, I will miss WV as will Jackson and David - we are moving to where our friends are but we are going to be leaving a few behind.

Sock Of Ages

We are starting with attorneys this morning, working out the logistics of Here and There are quite a headache - thank goodness David is taking care of it! I finished the first sock last night, I'm using the Earl Grey pattern from the Yarn Harlot's website - it's pretty easy and I think it came out looking pretty nice. I started the second one after David tried on the sock - they're wool so he thought he would maybe appreciate it more in in October. And he thought two socks would work better for him than one.As you can see from the pictures I have all of my yarn packed up - I bought those Space Bags they advertise on TV thinking they would be perfect. They stink. They DO suck down flat with the vacuum but when you come back an hour later they're right back to where they were before you flattened them out. I thought it was just one of the bags but it was all of them. So I paid $19.95 for basically 6 plastic bags. David said the only space that was saved was in my wallet....... but the yarn is all packed anyhow so whatever. I have no idea why I occasionally have to buy Seen On TV items, you would think I'd learn after awhile, wouldn't you? The Window Wizard sits unused (it worked fine if you like  the big streaky window look), the Tater Mitts were sad, but it looks so good on TV doesn't it? I am on my last couple of days at work, even that is a bit stressful - I have to sort out and unload my car - I also have to do my resume which I've been avoiding, I suppose I should just stop trying to get fancy with it. The problem is I only use Word Perfect when I'm doing stuff like that and I'm sure there's something I need to do to make it work, I just don't know what it is.

Odds And Ends

We're getting to that point in the packing where you're constantly sorting and then just flinging stuff in boxes, figuring you can deal with it later on down the road. I have a hard time labeling these last  boxes - one has Knitting Stuff, Curtains, Magic 8 Ball, Backpacks, etc.... you get the idea. It's pretty much all the flotsom left behind after all the major packing. David has been shifting it all to the garage and back room and now what didn't seem like very much is increasingly becoming way too much. There's only going to be two of us but we don't want to get rid of things that we'll just end up buying over again later on. We're ditching the couchs this week, both are sprung from Mr. Lee, we had them covered when we first got them to protect them from the pets without realizing the cat was sneaking underneath at night and sharpening her claws. By the time we caught her at it the sofas were ruined. We've got to get Jackson to pare down too - we realize that as he gets ready to ship off all items become near and dear - his old sleeping bag, his Dragon Lance books, his little figures and decorations. I suppose we'll do with his stuff that we did with Adam's - trot it around for a few years. Then, like Adam, he'll come home and when we try to give it back it will suddenly become disposable. We hauled about 5 boxes of Adam's Most Precious Items around through all the moves and then on his last visit home when we asked him about it he not only couldn't remember what was in any of the boxes but then cheerfully announced "oh that stuff, you can just throw it out!" But Jackson is starting to go through the clutching phase, his clothes, his video games, his books, his blankets - trying to get that last part of his childhood in before it goes by the wayside. He has been spending a great deal of time with Becky and James, the other day in the car he was looking at the college students walking to class and was mulling over that he is the same age as them. He said to me he found it hard to believe, that he still felt like he was in high school - I felt like telling him same here kiddo, same here.