a year down the road

A year ago yesterday, we signed the papers for this house. Agreed to become residents of Tennessee. I looked back on my post from a year ago

and remembered all that happened during that whirlwind week. Phew. How did we manage all that?



We are quite settled in now. I look outside the window and see well-established flowers, shrubs, trees, gardens and lawns. Inside pictures are hung, boxes are unpacked, I work with ease now in my kitchen. It is easier to work in the garage too, thanks to Mom and Dad's shelves and workbench and Pat's hard work in getting things in order.



What a difference a year makes. This next year will bring a wedding in July, a graduation next May...Lord willing...beyond that we can't know. We rest in the knowledge and security of God's protection and provision and are thankful for all His good gifts.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

His love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

So. We did it.

Moved, that is. All of our stuff from up there is now down here.



Friday morning the movers efficiently brought in all our stuff. When they left, our work began.



And continues. We have emptied dozens of boxes and have about that much left to go.

Glitches:
Phone line troubles, but Pat finally got internet connection within the past hour. Unfortunately it is dial up for now and I can't access it during business hours No problem, I've plenty of other things to do.
Trouble finding furniture we liked. Finally got that done a few days ago. Delivery of new living room furniture scheduled for next month.
Our refrigerator doesn't fit the allotted opening. Too tall. The carpenter will come later today to shorten the cabinet.

Blessings:
Wonderful neighbors, otherwise known as Mom and DOD. The other folks in the hood seem nice too.
A beautiful home in a beautiful setting with a yard just begging to be planted.
And on my first morning walk here, perched on our mailbox as a one-bird welcoming committee, was a beautiful bluebird.

mountain top experience

I did not take this picture, but we are a short drive from views like this.

Not bad, huh?

I can not begin to convey to you the rush of emotions I felt as I held Joshua Robert for the first time. Love, joy, pride, duty, responsibility, awe, wonder and so much more.

He is perfectly precious. A sweet little boy who is easily comforted and not fussy. His mom and dad are at ease with him, no apparent jitters for these new parents.

And may I say here, at the risk of embarrassing her, what an amazing young woman our daughter - in- love is. Most of you know that her mother passed away a month before Joshua was born. Kristi has borne her grief with grace.

We found out on Monday the 28th that Joshua was breech. Kristi had been hoping to have a natural birth. Faced with the prospect of a C-section, she once again proved to be a woman of strength. The doctor asked if he might try to turn the baby manually. After he explained the procedure to Kristi, she agreed to it. It was a very uncomfortable time for Kristi as the doctor slid his hands over her belly, trying to convince Joshua that he should do a somersault. Joshua proved to be perfectly content the way he was ( I think he gets his stubbornness from his dad, tho' some might argue it comes from his paternal grandmother). Kristi was a trooper through all of this.

I am amazed at the speed of her recovery. She is already going up and down stairs, just a week after surgery. She's amazin' y'all.

After the sadness of leaving great friends in Wisconsin, God gave me great joy in welcoming our grandson into the world. Expect more bragging and pictures from now on.

~~~~~~

The moving truck arrives tomorrow. It was supposed to be here yesterday. Mom and Dad are out of town for a few days, so we have taken over their house and their puppy.

I may not blog again until Monday. We think we have the phone lines and internet connection all set up - time will tell.

I will leave you with this verse from yesterday's devotions. Quite appropriate given our current surroundings and situation:

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice islike the great deep.

O, LORD, You preserve both man and beast, How priceless is Your unfailing love.

Psalm 36:5-7a

leave Wisconsin?

Tellico River

When Jon called on Saturday morning (April 26) to tell me that Kristi was in labor, I kicked into high gear.

Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.

I packed, I cleaned, I made lists for Pat, I sorted, I pitched, and I allowed myself the luxury of a few phone calls. I could only make a few, because of time constraints and because I didn't want to fall apart emotionally (more on that later) with all that had to be done.

I wanted to leave by two p.m. That way I would get to MN by 7 or 8, spend some time with Daniel and get to Suzi's before it was terribly late.

Shortly before I left, they began arriving. They assured me that this was not a coordinated effort, but it sure seemed like it as one car after the other pulled into our driveway. Ann and Randy; Lora, Tessa and Taylie; Cindy; DJ.

They brought cards, snacks for the road trip (much appreciated!), tears and hugs. We didn't have much time together, but I could really feel the love in the room. I kept my emotions fairly well in check (more on that later),but there was a HUGE lump in my throat as I said good-by to these dear, dear friends.

Ann and Randy were the last to leave. They helped us load houseplants into my car. As we put one plant in, the top snapped off. This was a ti plant, a wedding gift to us 34 years ago. It was about six feet tall. There was a new plant starting at the bottom and old one simply rotted and gave way as we tried to tuck it into the car. This somehow seemed appropriate. We are leaving our old way of life and are beginning a new and different (really different) chapter.

I said good-by to Ann and Randy. Sadness abounded and I couldn't really verbalize my appreciation for them because I knew I would lose control of my emotions (more on that later). I think I've talked to Ann every day since I left though, we have the same cellphone plan and can talk for free. Hooray for Alltell.

Pat and I finished loading the car. I turned to look at our home of thirty years for the last time.

Then I lost it. Not a delicate little sniff, sniff with a gentle dabbing at my eyes with a lace hankie.

Nope. These were heaving, gulping, wracking sobs. How embarrassing. Poor Pat.

After a minute or two of this, I pulled myself together. Said good-by.

And I left.

where do I begin?

First of all, thanks so much to my sister Suzi, who faithfully updated my blog when I could not.

How 'bout that grandson of ours? Words cannot express the joy I felt when I held him for the first time.

I have so many things to share and practically no time to write this morning. Here is a brief recap of the past 10 days:

April 26 -left Wisconsin, saw Daniel, spent night at Suzi's
April 27 - arrived at Jon and Kristi's
April 28 -Kristi and I did some shopping, had lunch,went to her Dr.appt.where we learned
that Joshua was breech
April 29- Joshua Robert was born
April 30 -May 2 While Pat was finishing up all the packing in WI, I was traveling back and forth to the hospital to hold the sweetest little baby boy
May 3 - Met Pat in IL, spent some time with Nathan and Michelle
May 4 - drove 13 hours to TN, following Pat all the way and even tho' there were brief moments of separation we arrived at Mom and Dad's at the same time
May 5 - closed on our TN home, learned that all our earthly possessions will not arrive on Wed as planned,but on Friday. This throws off Pat's work schedule tremendously.

That brings you up to date. I'll flesh out the details as the week progresses. For example, when I wrote 'left Wisconsin' up above, that does not begin to tell you what actually happened that day.

Thanks for continuing to read and comment. I've missed you!

shredding the evidence

He leads me beside still waters...

This would probably be a good day for me to skip blogging. Not only is there more than enough 'real work' to do, but I just spent the last five minutes staring at the screen trying to think of something to say. Not a great use of time.

I will say this. I have the greatest friends in the world. One of them is quite possible regretting her friendship with me right now. "Let me know what I can do," she cheerily offered.

Well, I took her up on that. We came across two boxes of documents that need to be shredded. She has a shredder. She is shredding. Thank you so much B.!

We have gotten a lot of work done over the past several days. I have taken an embarrassing amount of stuff to the dump. Why did we hang on to all this stuff? I suppose we though we might use it some day. Some day never came and the dump man and I are becoming good friends.

The movers arrive a week from tomorrow. We will be ready. We have to be. Especially me, because I may leave any day now, especially if that baby ticker is anywhere near close to right.

expansion

sun rising on a new day

Pat and I sat across from each other at supper last night. We were discussing some of the things we needed to accomplish in the next few days. Then we were both pretty quiet. I think the enormity of everything yet to be done had just hit both of us.

We have steadily worked on packing over the past few months. Sorting, donating, pitching, selling; packing what remains. Trying to get everything ready in an organized fashion. Now I am sorely tempted to put everything else in boxes labeled 'miscellaneous', though I know if I do that I will pay for it in Tennessee.

No matter what my activity - music, Sunday School, Awana, craft projects, moving, etc. I have found Parkinson's Law to be true:

Work expands to fill the time
available for its completion .

Today, I will try to valiantly beat back the work that continues to expand no matter how much of it I thought I had done ahead of time.

Yesterday was quite productive in retrospect, though at times I felt as if I was making no progress at all. I took care of several banking things, signed for the closing of this house (in case I am cuddling with my new grandson when the closing time arrives), got my hair cut, said good-by to my beautician (who tried her best with me all these years, she really did) and serendipitously ran into M. at the grocery store and B. on Division St. Quick visits and good-byes. I vacuumed, paid bills, washed baseboards and floors. Also did some outside clean-up (now that most of the snow is gone) and some inside packing. We will be eating on paper plates now.
I have a couple more quick visits and good-byes scheduled for today. Then I am going to stay home and fill boxes until there are no more boxes to fill and no more stuff to fill them with.

Blogging may or may not be sporadic. I talked to Jon and Kristi several times yesterday and each time I saw their names appear on my cell I wondered, 'Is it time?'

It wasn't, but the time is very close. Look on the sidebar at the 'baby ticker'. See how many days are left until Kristi's due date?

Stay tuned!

closing comments

If you don't read the comment section in my blog (or any other for that matter) you are most likely missing half the fun. I laughed out loud yesterday when I read Linda's comment:

I can see it already:
PAT'S TO-DO LIST:
1. Buy fishing maps to all lakes in Tennessee.
2. Verify correctness of all fishing maps by fishing each lake in Tennessee.
3. List, sketch, catch, and mount all types of fish available in Tennessee lakes. (Mounts are for formal dining area.)
4. Determine whether Tennessee fish taste different than Wisconsin fish.
CHERI'S TO-DO LIST:
1. Take a choir director speech class on how to correctly pronounce the words in southern country worship music.
2. Locate the local Christian bookstore, thrift shop, bulk food store, and quilting store.
3. Find a Sunday School class that needs a teacher. (Really, Cheri, I don't think you could ever really retire from this...I don't think you could stand it.)
4. Stock freezer with cookies for visiting Wisconsin girlfriends.

Does she know us or what? The only thing she might have missed is that Pat will also be checking out all the rivers in Tennessee. Below each dam. Thanks, Linda, for being such a faithful friend, reader and commenter.

~~~~~

Speaking of correct pronunciation, I have already shared these stories with some of you. Please bear with me while I tell them again.

I went to a ladies' luncheon with Mom while we were down in TN. We had a wonderful time. One lady asked me where I was from.
Wisconsin, I replied.
"Oh y'all! Did you hear how she said 'Wes cahwn sen'?" she laughed.

Pat was talking to our banker in TN and she gave him the name of a man he should call about a certain matter. "Now is that H-o-w-e-l-l?" Pat asked, wanting to make sure he had the correct name. "No," she said, "It's Hall, H-a-l-l."

Clearly we have a lot to learn.

~~~~~
Today is the closing on our office building. 11 AM. We'd appreciate your prayers that all goes smoothly, especially considering this: Ann and I were out for a walk on Wednesday. We passed the office and there was a large van in front of it. The door of the office was open.

We tentatively walked up to the door. Music was blaring. "Hello?" I called. "Hello?"

Finally a man, about my age, responded. I introduced myself, as did he. He is the buyer of the office. He invited us in.

The office is now completely furnished as a cottage. It looks really cute. I always knew it could be a great little getaway place. Pat had given him permission to go in and drop off a few things, I was just a little surprised to see it practically all set to live in.
~~~~~

I spent 2-3 hours yesterday going through one box. Family history. It is fascinating to me and I will share a rather longish post with you tomorrow on some of what I found.

back saver

We had fun playing around with this website over the weekend. Our new home is so totally different than what we are used to we thought we should try a few furniture arrangements on paper (or in this case, monitor) to see how they would look.

Some have said that we will have a lot of fun decorating our new home. I don't think we will 'decorate' it as much as try-to-fit-our-stuff-in-wherever-we-can. And that will be fun too.

The best part about this website or others like it is that nobody hurts their back!

~~~~~
I wrote the above post yesterday because I knew I wouldn't have much time this morning to blog. But once again, I need to ask for your prayers.

As may you know our daughter-in-law Kristi's mother went to be with the LORD last month (March 22). Kristi is pregnant with their first child (and our first grandchild!) and is due April 25 (11 days!) Our son Jon called us last night to tell us that Kristi's father, Bob, is scheduled for bypass surgery. They were planning to do an angioplasty, but the blockage was too severe.

Please uphold Bob, Jon and Kristi, our little grandson and all Kristi's family in your prayers. Though Jon and Kristi have been through some very difficult times lately, they find their strength and hope in the LORD.

for sale

A few years ago we decided to put our business up for sale. At the same time, we put the building which housed the business up for sale.

The business sold right away, thanks to our favorite brother in the Lord. Soon thereafter we had an offer on the building, but it was contingent on the sale of the buyers' home. The alloted amount of time passed, their home did not sell and the sale of our office fell through.

Fast forward...

A few months ago, we accepted an offer on the office. You may (or may not, I don't blame you at all) remember that the closing on that deal fell through the night before we were to sign all the papers.

Since that time a steady stream of potential buyers....well, maybe not a stream, but at least a steady trickle...have looked at the office building.

Several weeks ago we had an offer. This guy was not even one who had trickled through. He was putting in an offer, sight unseen. This offer was contingent upon his actually seeing the office, but he would not be able to come up until, hmm, I think it was Easter weekend, but maybe it was Palm Sunday. The weeks are starting to run together for me.

He came up, loved it. Our realtor called us and said she was pretty sure we would have a firm offer from him on Tuesday. In the meantime, two other parties came through the office.

Party number one made an offer. Party number two made an identical offer. And they both proposed the same closing date. Our realtor informed both parties that there was already an accepted offer on the table.

So on that Tuesday, for a period of time, we had three offers on our little office building.

Simply amazing.

Later that day, the first guy dropped out. The remaining two were informed that their offer was identical to another and they were welcome to 'improve their position'. Each bumped up their offers and came within $250 of each other.

We have accepted the higher offer, of course, but the party that did not win wants to remain on as a secondary, just in case the primary falls through.

The office sale closing is April 18.
Baby is due April 25.
Our current home closing is April 30.
Our TN home closing is May 2.
We close on the lot we are buying on May 15.
We are moving on...
I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you when we are moving. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Through all the events of the past several months I see God's perfect timing. With His help and guidance things are coming together in a way we could have never managed on our own.

pretending and pressing on

Play along with me, please. Let's pretend that we didn't just get three inches of snow overnight, that the winds aren't howling and rocking the trees and that we aren't expecting 5 more inches of snow tonight.*

There, I feel better. Much nicer to think that the sun is shining and the irises are in bloom.

Even though it is not and they are not.

Things are pretty busy around here, so the weather isn't really impacting our to do list.

Tom Terrific stopped by yesterday and took the enamelware and cheese boxes off our hands and generously left some venison sausage. He is such a great guy and always shows up when you need him.

We've had multiple phone calls and emails and faxes back and forth between us and our realtors and the title company. One transaction has more than enough paper work, but four transactions have, well,... four times that much!

The moving company called this morning and confirmed the moving date. All the closing dates are set.

We are thankful to the Lord for how all the details are falling into place.

The only unknown? The arrival date of our little grandson.

Good thing I have all this other stuff to keep me distracted.

*I have plenty of wood in the house and 10 gallons of water in buckets in case we lose power. There are a lot of power outages in our area.

Tomorrow, if we have electricity, I'll blog a bit about the sale of our office.

paper work

Lady Writing Letter with her Maid
by Jan Vermeer
ca. 1670

I could use a maid about now. Or at least an office assistant.

The paper work!

At my computer, I am working on assembling all the Nesbit info to pass on to my successor. Emails to print out, documents to find. Photo albums. This is one pile of stuff.

Then there is all the real estate stuff:
1) Info for selling this house
2) Info for selling the office (did I tell you we sold the office? - if I didn't, let me know, it is a cool story)
3) The contract for purchasing our new home
4) The contract for purchasing a half lot next to our home. Our new next door neighbor thought it would be a good idea to split the lot between us to afford a bit more privacy (and gardening space!)
5) Info from the moving company
6) Change of address stuff from the post officee

Everything is in its own file folder, but all four of the real estate documents (which are pages and pages long) look alike to me and I fear getting them mixed up.

This is all very exciting though, and I find myself waking in the night, mentally placing our furniture in the new home.

Thanks for all the nice comments on our house. It is a much nicer house than we ever thought we would own. Thanks to God's provision and His timing we are getting a good deal on this and it should be a good investment as well as a beautiful place to live.
~~~~~
I saw three eagles on my walk this morning. Two of them were involved in some sort of a tussle, but they are amazing to watch. So graceful and majestic. And powerful.

When I get tired and overwhelmed with the work yet to be done here not to mention everything to be done when we arrive in TN (although, that will be fun work), I am reminded of Isaiah 40:31:
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

This morning's devotions in First Samuel reminded me of how important waiting upon the Lord is. Saul, Israel's first king, repeatedly took matters into his own hands and forfeited God's blessing.

Despite all you have to do today take time to wait upon the Lord. He will renew your strength.

more home pics

We received a few inches of snow last night. Yay. More snow. It will get up to 40 today though, so hopefully this will melt quickly. The snow is beautiful and fresh and clean and white, but to tell you the truth, it is a little hard to take in April. I think we will have to move.

Yesterday was a day spent catching up. Phone calls were made, the checkbook was balanced, bills were paid and we brought home a lot of paperwork that needs to be filed. Just about done with that. We are not quite caught up with emails, but hope to do that today.

Now that we know what our new home looks like, we are going to be working on getting rid of some more of our stuff that just won't fit in there.

Specifically:
my white (with black trim) enamelware. It is currently packed away, but I would be happy to unpack it and sell it to any interested party. I have a large coffeepot, two good size basins, one cooking pot and two rectangular pans with lids. Let me know if you would be interested.

Also I have four round wooden cheeseboxes. Kim ( my friend who died of cancer a few years ago) and I were always going to sand these down and paint them, but sadly we never got around to it.

And Pat is considering selling his mounted fish. A northern, world record small mouth bass, a perch, a brown trout....

Here are a few more pictures:

never had one of these before!

beautiful dining room tray ceiling

view out the front windows-
the area behind the trees is a cow pasture -
I love listening to the cows!
and seeing the mountains in the distance

The contractor who oversaw the building of our home was the same one who built Mom and Dad's home. When Mom and Dad first came over to look at ours, Dad asked if there was a half bath (we have two full baths).

"Yep," I said, "There it is!"

whirlwind

whirl·wind

n.

1. A rapidly rotating, generally vertical column of air, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout.

2.

a. A tumultuous, confused rush.

b. A destructive force or thing.

Day One: Travel. Great weather. Uneventful.
Day Two: Torrential rain at times,white knuckle driving. Being passed by semis traveling 70+ mph in the mountains. And it was foggy in places.
Day Three: View eight houses during the day. In the evening make offer on one, countered, then offer on another, then back to first. Offer accepted (on first house, which was really the eighth, I think).
Day Four: Shop furniture, view house again, go to ladies' lunch with Mom, view house again.
Dream, talk,think, plan.
Day Five: Head home. 12 (or was it 13 ?) hours in car. Dream, talk,think, plan.
Day Six: Head the rest of the way home. Furniture shop on way home. Snowy. Dream, talk, think, plan.

So that sums up the past week in a nutshell. I'll fill you in a little more on the details as this week progresses.

Suffice it to say, we are in for some changes.

From the cold, snowy northern Wisconsin to a mild Tennessee climate.
From a rather rustic lifestyle to living in a subdivision.
From zone 3b to zone 7.
From a decidedly Northwoods home to a more traditional, formal home.

Have a look:

living room fireplace - the space above the mantel is wired for television - we may prefer to hang a painting there

kitchen cabinets - need to get a refrigerator
door to the right goes to garage - we have an attached garage!

view from the kitchen into the living room and out onto the back porch and yard
the boxes in the living room contain the sink and the dishwasher

view from living room back toward the kitchen -
hallway to right leads to two bedrooms and bath
hallway behind the column leads to the front door

looking from the living room toward the doorway to the laundry room and master bedroom
the unfinished breakfast bar is on the right

I'll post a few more pictures tomorrow. Thanks so much for all your comments, I'm sorry I didn't have time to respond to them all while we were on the road. But I sure appreciate each one of you!

Thanks, too, for all your prayers. We have definitely sensed God's guidance during this whole process and are very grateful for safe travel!

there were eight on the list..

We ruled out three of them before lunch. They were nice enough houses, just not 'us'.

The fourth house was a distinct possibility. Fifth: Lovely.Pricey. Sixth: Nope. Seventh :Lovely.
Pricey. Eighth house was a distinct possibility.

We called Mom and Dad over to see the eighth house. They liked it and Dad pointed out some helpful things as Mom and I discussed decorating possibilities.

We made an offer. It was countered. Dad gave us some good advice and Pat masterfully negotiated us into an accepted offer on house number 8. It is a 3-4 minute walk from Mom and Dad's. It is a lovely, brand new traditional home.

Our minds are spinning with ideas.

We are about to embark on a brand new adventure. Stay tuned.

We are so grateful to God for His provision and timing.

living room

quick blog

Really tough driving yesterday...but Praise the Lord we are in TN at Mom and Dad's.

Today's agenda:
spend thousands and thousands of dollars. ~smile~
We are praying that we find a house!

Have a great day everyone!

thanks all a y'all (said with a twang)

for your input!

We are heading off in a bit here into some severe weather.

However, we are very grateful for yesterday's beautiful driving day.

And for you Northwoods types....Pat saw a robin and we saw daffodils! Spring is inching its way northwards.

And hello to new commenter Mary Jo. Thanks for stopping by! Are you the Mary Jo, I know?

Mom and Dad, here we come!

house huntin'

this?

this?

this?

this?

Most of the houses we will be looking at are brick. Termites, y'all. Feel free to vote on your favorites of the above.

I'll check in when I can. And Jessie....thanks so much for commenting....I like your idea!

no foolin'

The dire predictions of 6-10 inches of snow came true. March, which had come in like a lion, also went out like a lion. I don't think it is supposed to do that.

Our porch steps completely were free from snow yesterday morning, now not so much.
The snow covered trees are beautiful, but take my word for it. This is much prettier in December than in April.

Our deck was also snow free. As you can see, now it isn't.

Area schools are closed, though I'm sure many children thought their parents were pulling an April Fool's prank on them when they were informed of the snow day.

The first part of my walk this morning was more of a trudge. Then the plow came through, which you would think would make walking easier. Nope. The plow took off the top layer of snow leaving behind the slushy underlayer which was now polished to a nice flat slippery surface.

Almost immediately after the plow went by, I fell. While I would like to think that I went down very gracefully, I'm pretty sure that is not true. Arms flailing, back wrenching, THUD.

Thankfully, I'm not hurt (unless you count my pride). I thought I had gotten through my last winter here without falling. Once again, I was wrong.
~~~~
Our remedy to all this snow? We are leaving town. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we are headed to Tennessee. To House Hunt. Something we have not done for over 30 years. We will look at a half dozen houses. I have check lists ready for each one. Address. Brief description. Pros and cons for each room. Hopefully we will be able to keep all these houses straight and can find the right one.

One of my Sunday School kids told his parents that he thought we should be on "House Hunters". If we were, I'd be the one tripping and falling in and out of the houses.

Blogging may be sporadic for the next week or so. Have a great week everyone!

when you try to live simply...

....it doesn't take much to make you happy.

I was up at church the other day and asked C. if she had any boxes.

"You need boxes?" called Pastor from the other room.

"Yep," I said.

"Come with me."

We marched over to the vacant parsonage. Tromped through the unplowed driveway. Down a flight of stairs. Lo and behold there, under the steps, neatly stored, were boxes and boxes and boxes.

We dragged them up a flight over stairs, through the snow and loaded them into the back of the minivan.

When I got home, I schlepped them down the stairs and up the stairs. When they were all in the house I counted them. 30 boxes of varying sizes and 7 wardrobe boxes.

Since I arrived home Thursday noon with my Magnificent Stash of Boxes, I have been a packing maniac. I packed up all of Daniel's room (he had left for school a few hours earlier), both china cupboards and half of my kitchen. My side of the closet is packed - except for the stuff that needs to go in the wardrobe, all my music is packed, except for the music I'm playing Sunday morning. My punch bowl, cups and canning jars. All packed. All my sewing stuff is packed, as well as all the other craft stuff. I packed up the game closet and filled one box with gardening stuff out in the garage.

Now that I have all these boxes at my disposal, I have really been making progress. We leave sometime next week for house hunting in TN. I want to have as much of the packing done before that as I possibly can.

Feel free to come over and help. Just don't sit down in one place for very long. I might wrap you up in bubble wrap and pop you into a box.

Come to think of it...has anyone seen Patrick lately?