One foot in Illinois the other in California

Wow I am slacking! My last post was on the 7th? Opps! What’s new with me? Well let me tell you...

Since last time I have seen Despicable me twice, once with Angela on our usual Tuesday night movie and once this last weekend with my cousins and Maddy. This brings me to the point that Maddy is here in Illinois for two weeks. By now she is only here for one more week but she got here on the 13th. Maddy is my 12 year old niece from California (the soon to be teenager I will be moving in with – yikes!). She spent the first week with my dad (Grandpa Teddy) and she will spend week 2 with my mom (Grandma Di). I wish my parents luck…lol Maddy is a little out of control but what 12 year old isn’t?

I have been running around like a crazy person getting ready for my move to Cali. My mother convinced me not to rent the trailer from U-Haul for the drive. She is worried that it will do damage to my car. This change in plans creates a lot of new variable. I will now not be bringing my bed, which suck by the way because my bed is freaking amazing! I am trying not to dwell on this though. Not taking the trailer also means that I have money to ship some things ahead of time. Surprisingly, it costs less to ship a big heavy box then a couple medium size/weight boxes. I sent 3 boxes on Monday (30, 35, 38lbs) and it cost $112 but today I shipped 2 large boxes (67 & 80lbs) for $133. Much more economical to ship that way!

I figure that if I can ship enough of my crap then I can get my TV console in my car. In case you don’t already know I adore my TV console. That and my bed are my two favorite pieces of furniture! So if I can’t bring one I want to try and bring the other. The TV console will fit in my car no problem. The issue comes with putting a bunch more then that in there. This is why I had to boot Ashley from the road trip portion of the trip. I will not be making the drive solo. Well… not really solo since I will have the dogs with me but it’s not like they can have a conversation with me for the 26 hour drive. Although being stuck in the car with the dogs for that long could drive me crazy enough that I start to have conversations with them. Anyways, the point is that I am going to ship as much as I can [afford] so that I have a shot at taking it with me.

I have been very productive so far this week. I am really far on packing, shipped 5 boxes so far, and change my mailing address on a lot of stuff. I also have cancelled my cell phone. So as of Aug 15th I will no longer have my 815 US Cellular number. I will have a 562 AT&T number complete with awesome new iPhone 4 to sweeten the deal! The phone is on back order so I will be waiting for a few weeks. This is actually a good thing though because the less time I have double service the better (cheaper).

You know that expression about having one foot in and one foot out? I feel like that explains my very existence these days. I am still here in Illinois but I am mentally in California. All I can think about is the move and watching the calendar willing it to flip to Aug 28th (when I hit the road). Only 38 days to go.

Dad says "NO!"......but....."NO!"

So I broke the news to my Dad about the move to California this last Saturday. I waited until he was leaving my uncles so that I wouldn’t have to deal with his reaction all afternoon. I knew he would not be happy but I also didn’t quite know how he was going to take the news. See there are some things about my Dad you should know. He is…..unique! That is really the best word for him. He is a little quirky, extremely opinionated, and really funny. People tend to like him…the problem is the my dad doesn’t like them. Ok he has friends and family and stuff but other then that he thinks that all people are idiots or assholes and are out to shaft you one way or another. This is not an exaggeration. I know I am his daughter but sometimes I am shocked he likes me. Lol

FYI: I totally love my dad and think he is awesome but I know how he is so telling him that his “baby” is moving 2,000 miles away was not on the top of my “thing I really want to do” list. But with the move only 8 weeks away it was time to bite the bullet so I caught him in the driveway and just blurted out “Dad I am moving to California with Sara,” and paused for reaction. He literally just turned to me and said “No” then pretty much walked away, which I guess in hindsight is better then him crying, yelling, or having any number of other awkward reactions to the news. I tried to tell him that me being 26 kind of hinders his ability to tell me no but he just laughed said “No” again and continued to walk toward his car. Poor Becky….I can only imagine that drive home with him. Becky is my step-mom and I love her to death. Anyone who can help me keep my dad in line is a saint in my eyes :)

To tell you the truth I really haven’t talked to my Dad since Saturday. He called me briefly on Sunday to ask if I had fun with my cousins and how the hot tub at my uncles was but other then that nothing. I guess I will just let it sink in a little. On related news: Plans for the move are still coming along. I still have to make an appointment to have the hitch installed. Sara is looking at flights and I am trying to pack and pitch stuff whenever possible.

On the Dawn Front: I have been trying to focus on the book I am writing but have been so torn on a few plot twists lately. But I found this online conference that allows you to post content for critique. It kicks off in August so I have 1 month to get a good chuck of it done. I am really going to try to focus on it. I mean planning is great but there comes a time when I have to just sit down and type it out. I can always change things later but having 10-20 pages of notes and scenes isn’t helping me.

I went to see The Last Airbender last night with Angela and Ann. It was good but I was a little annoyed by all the interpretive dance going on. When you see it you will know what I mean. OH! and I was so excited to find Linger on the shelves and Borders last night! It is not scheduled to release until 7/20 but Borders had it early. So I bought it and then sat at Borders and read the first 50 pages before picking Ann up for the movie. I planned to go home and cancel my preorder for Linger from Banes and Noble but by the time I got home I had an email saying it shipped. The book is not supposed to release for two weeks and now I am going to have two copies. Maybe I will have to give one away on the other blog. Or I guess I could return it….decisions decisions.

Enter bee...Queue wave of embarrassment and shame!

I have been stressing the last few days over this move to California. Probably not in the way you think though. I am really anxious to get there so that is not the issue. The problem is that I was planning on staying with Steve until Oct 1st (my last day of work). I was going to leave Kasey and Bailey with my mom since Steve can’t have dogs in his apartment, but now it seems like it might not be possible to leave both my dogs with my mom. So it seems like I will be heading out even earlier. I think that I will be California bound in 8 weeks. Good news and bad new. Good news is that I will be in Cali that much sooner. Bad news is that I will be losing an entire month of pay that I was counting on to get me through the first few weeks I am there, until I can find a job.

In other news, I sold my treadmill last night. I only posted it on the employee trading post yesterday morning but I had two calls about it before lunch. The first couple that came took it home right there and then and I pocketed $400 bucks! Which is a significant loss for me but I have had it for three years and it was just taking up space at this point. Plus can you imagine moving that thing? It is so freaking heavy! Good riddens! I decided to celebrate with a smoothie from Smoothie King. It was amazing!

After the treadmill was out of the way I decided to pack up a few things to take to my mothers this weekend. I might as well start loading up my crap and taking as much just as I can to her house before the big move at the end of August. So not the living room looks a little bare. Only a 2/3 of my sectional is still there and its now even all attached. I will be heading home at lunch to put some more stuff in the car that way I can just grab to dogs and go when I get off work. Speaking of dogs….I went trough my closet and through a bunch of stuff away and came across this fishing hat that I got Bailey when she was a puppy. I put it on her last night and we were able to snap a picture before she tore it off. She does not look happy. Lol

Oh and no good deed goes unpunished. I loaded up my cloths basket with crap to throw away while I was cleaning out my closet and when I went to toss it in the dumpster I apparently pissed off a bunch of bees. I was attacked! I ran like hell but I was not fast enough. One of the little bastards stung me on the stomach. Even though I was not thrilled about being stung I can appreciate the humor in my situation and in the spectacle I made of myself. I saw the bees, dropped my empty basket and starting booking it across the parking lot. Keep in mind I am yelling and spinning and zig zaging the entire time in an attempt to flee. Then I stop and think I am away only to yelp in pain as the last straggler stings me. Then I swear, and repeat the strange running debacle again. When I finally stop I realize that I left my basket but there is no way I am going back for it. So I swear again and head back toward my apartment. That is when I realize the old man watching me from his balcony. Queue wave of embarrassment and shame! I just looked up at him and gestured toward my path of destruction and said “Bees.” He just nodded and grinned.

After that I was afraid to go back to the dumpster so I didn’t take out the rest of the crap and I think its safe to say that my basket is gone. Oh well I guess. FYI I have not been stung by a bee since I was 4. I was at New Horizons Preschool and viciously attacked while I peacefully rested during nap time. That right it was completely unprovoked. So I guess 22 years was all the reprieve the bee community felt I needed after their heinous crimes against me. So here I am sporting a new battle scare. This is why I hate anything with more then 4 legs!