Where to start......

Jeez. It's not easy taking a week off in this blog business. I've gotta remember all the way back to last Monday. Well, here goes nothin'.

Monday, July 17th:
We packed up the remaining things that we had lying around in temp housing and then bid a hasty retreat. Good riddance! I went to do some last minute errands and then was going to head over to the new house. Huzbend was off to work.
I called Sears to confirm the delivery of our new fridge, since I didn't get a call on Sunday. They were coming between 1:45 and 3:45 that afternoon.
At about 12:30, my phone rang. It was the delivery guys. They were ahead of schedule and heading to the house with the fridge. After a momentary panic, I called them back to say that I was on my way. I arrived about 10 minutes before they got there. Phew!
The lead guy walked into the house and quickly began to measure doorways and access points comtemplating along the way and "Hmph-ing" to himself.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, but this unit is just not going to fit in here," he said apologetically.
"But, we measured the dimensions and made sure at the store that it would fit in the space...."
"That's not the problem, Ma'am. The kitchen door is too small to fit through and the sliding glass patio doors are also too small. The only way we would be able to get the fridge in here is if you were to somehow take the sliding patio doors off. Other than that, we are going to have to take the fridge back and you will have to return to the store to select a smaller model."
I quickly looked over the sliding patio doors. There was no way that I could figure out how to take the damn doors off. After consulting with huzbend via phone, I told the guy that we'd have to send it back and contact the store for a smaller model.
The truck pulled away. I was totally ticked off. It was abso-frickin' ridiculous. For some reason, I decided to look at the doors one more time. I jiggled the screen door and it came off easily. Okay........now for the sliding glass door. I lifted up and pulled out using anger induced strength. It came off. GREAT!! The guys had just pulled away and I got the doors off. Figures.
I picked up my back east cell and tried to call them to get them to come back. The phone kept dropping the call. I tried to call huzbend to have HIM call the guys. Again, with the dropped calls. I reached my limit. The tears of frustration started to flow. If I could have strangled my phone, I would have. Finally, I got through to the delivery guys. They made time to come back in the afternoon and delivered the fridge.
After they left, I had to promptly lay down to take a nap. I used up so much energy ripping the door down, that I had to wait for huzbend to come home to put it back up.
After a birthday meal at huzbends favorite burrito place, we decided that there was no way that we were going to both fit on our inflatable mattress (our only "furniture"). We took up our friends offer of a place to stay until Thursday, when the movers would be dropping off our stuff.

Tuesday/Wednesday, July 18th & 19th:
I'd have to say that the sofa sleeper was way more comfortable than the inflatable mattress would have been. Besides that, I had a tv to watch and a nice flat neighborhood to take walks in. Nothing much happened on these days besides me lounging around someone elses house and watching the Tour de France. I got to see those mountain stages I was talking about. Good ole' Floyd Landis had gotten himself the coveted yellow jersey on Tueday. Then on Wednesday, he imploded. He lost about 10 whole minutes of time to his rivals, as well as the lead. He completely ran out of energy on the climbs and fell WAY behind. It was a horrible thing to watch. Nothing like having your absolute worst moment broadcast for thousands to see. Poor dude.

Thursday, July 20th:
I got up bright and early to meet the moving truck at our new house. On the way, I received a call from the truck driver. He was lost. One weird thing about this area is that almost ALL of the roads are numbers, not names. For example, they use names like 120th Street Northwest instead of Maple Drive. It makes it really confusing as there can be 120th Street Northwest and then within two blocks there is a 120th Avenue Northwest. Two totally different streets. Anyways, he was confused, but eventually figured it out.
The movers showed up about an hour later and began the task of unloading. My job was to check off each box/peice of furniture that came into the house and then direct them where I wanted it to go. I quickly realized that we had A LOT more stuff than would fit in the house. Yikes. Too late now.
In the middle of this, the cable guy came to hook up the house. I totally didn't have time to watch over what he was doing. I know that he said that some of our wire was old and not up to snuff, but that things should work just fine. Then he left. While he was here, I noticed for the first time that there are no power lines. They are all below ground. Weird.
It took the movers 5 hours to get all the stuff into the house. Then they left. I was alone, surrounded on all sides by boxes and furniture that didn't quite fit in the rooms.
I went out to figure out the mailbox situation and on the way got caught by two neighborhood moms, one being my new next door neighbor. "Howdy neighbor!" they called to me. I stopped by to introduce myself quickly. They were really nice and welcomed me to the neighborhood. We had a quick chat and then I excused myself to get back to the task at hand, which at that point consisted of wrapping my head around the prospect of unpacking.
Huzbend came home. I don't remember what we did for dinner. I was exhausted and just a tad grumpy. I had been standing most of the day and my feet were screaming at me, "Sit down, you fool! If you do not, we will be forced to swell." Which they then promptly did. I felt just a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of boxes and crap strewn about our new house. The movers were nice enough to put our bed back together and huzbend hooked up the tv. I was able to watch Floyd ride the hardest he has ever ridden in his life, up the sides of, like, five mountains and past all his rivals to come within 20 seconds of the lead of the Tour de France. Floyd rocks.
I, on the other hand, did not rock. That night, I had to sleep sitting up with my feet propped up on three blankets.

Friday, July 21st:
We decided that the first task of our unpacking odyssey would be to tackle the kitchen. I decided I would do the best I could after my morning OB/GYN appointment. Of course, as would be my luck, this day was the first day of a Northwest heat wave. It was going to get above 90 degrees and be humid. Great.
I went to my appt. and everything was fine. The baby had fallen a little lower. She had grown a bit and was still within normal size range. No ultrasound needed. I was 70% effaced and still only 1cm dilated. According to the doc, things were moving along smoothly and she was convinced that baby would definitely be an August baby. I asked about the foot swelling, which was getting worse. Doc said that it was normal, there were no other indications of any problems and that I should just take it easy, drink plenty of fluids and avoid salt. Take it easy? I had a whole house to unpack, lady! Let's see you "take it easy." I also gained four and a half pounds in a week. Doc said that it was all in my feet. Water weight. Holy crap. Four and a half in ONE week. I wondered what the amount was going to be next week.
After the appt., I came home and began the daunting task of setting up the kitchen. It took me all day. The packers had used SO MUCH packing paper that I thought it would be the equivalent of an entire Brazilian rain forest, creepy green frogs included.
Huzbend came home and quickly complemented me on my handy work. After dinner, he took over unpacking duties in the gym and I retreated to the bedroom to veg out with my feet up in the air. My feet had grown about 6 sizes. It hurt to walk on them. They were so swollen that I couldn't even bend them. It was then that I noticed that my fingers were also swelling. My middle and ring finger of my left hand were also going numb periodically. It was SO FRICKIN' HOT. I had 3 fans going, all pointed at me. It was a miserable night again sitting up in bed.

Saturday, July 22nd:
It was errand and unpacking day and yet again, it was sweltering. We got new cell phones, bought a lawnmower (a non-gas, non-electric push mower), bought a propane tank as well as miscellaneous equipment for repairing a shoddy cable line to our tv room. We ate lunch at the Olive Garden. Mmmmmm, eggplant parm. Yummy. Then we came home. Huzbend did some handy work in the tv room installing a cable connection, mowed the front lawn, organized the tv room and cooked an absolutely awesome steak dinner on the grill. It was so nice to have grill food again. It had been so long. I kept myself busy working on the baby room and the office.
Next-Door-Mom stopped by and dropped off four loaves of bread. Her mom owns a bread bakery and she had given them wayyyy to many leftovers. We got parmesan infused bread, challah bread, wheat bread and cinnamon swirl bread. Her husband had introduced himself to Huzbend earlier in the day. They are just way too nice. There must be something wrong with them.
After a long hard day, we retreated to the bedroom (with a 3 fans a-blasting) for some foot-resting, Tour veiwing time. Floyd gained back more of his lost time and reclaimed the lead of the Tour de France. He was large and in charge.

Sunday, July 23rd:
Huzbend took that cinnamon swirl bread and made french toast. He also created syrup by mixing bananas, strawberry jam and sugar together in a sauce pot. He so totally rocks. I love him so. It was awesome. I was glad that I unpacked the kitchen.
MORE unpacking and even more heat. Would it ever end? The whole day was dedicated to unpacking. We finished a good majority of the house. It was almost livable, except for all of the paper and empty boxes crammed into every available open space. The only thing left to do was the garage and the library.
The epilogue of the Tour de France was this day. Mostly a ceremonially ride (except for the sprinters who want dibs on the stage win), Floyd road down the Champs only the 3rd American to ever wear the yellow jersey. Yay, Floyd!

Monday, July 24th:
I targeted the library this day. I would put all the damn books on the shelf even if it put me into labor. You know what, I DID put all the books on the shelves. But, alas, no labor. Get OUT of my belly!
I also registered the truck and got myself some nice new license plates. Problem is that now I can't use the "Please excuse me for going the wrong way, but I am from out of state" look on other drivers. Darn.
I did our first grocery shopping for the house too. It was a busy day. Again, I was grumpy when huzbend got home. He takes it so well. He's constantly on my case about taking it easy and saying things like, "Um, should you be lifting that?" or "Um, why don't you take a break." I don't know what it is, but it's really hard for me to take a break. I feel like such a wuss. Because of my feet, which are still swollen, I hobble around the house like I am walking on broken peanut shells. Its pretty ridiculous. I have also developed carpal tunnel from the swollen blood vessels in my hands. My fingers go numb constantly. And yet, I cannot force myself to slow down. If I sit on the couch or in bed for even 5 minutes, twenty million things pop up into my head that I COULD be doing at that exact moment. I think I need medication.
Huzbend has been dealing with the ups and downs of the new commute. Sometimes, it's really good and it takes about 30 minutes to get home. Other days, it's a nightmarish hour long ride. Hmm. They have a cool real time traffic alert system, but it doesn't seem to help. I hope that he can find the right routes and the right times so that he doesn't get too frustrated.

Tuesday, July 25th:
Next-Door-Mom stopped by to visit and ask me to come over later to chat. We were supposed to receive via UPS the closing papers for our house back east. I wanted to get my new license and I had a meet-and-greet appointment with a family practice for the baby. The meet-and-greet went well. The doc was very forthcoming with her answers to my questions. My only issue was the size of the place. There are, like, nine doctors there. It also had a hospital feel to it, not very cozy. I decided that I might set up another appointment with a smaller practice. The best part about both these places are that they are only five minutes away.
Next, I searched out the drivers license place. I walked in and the place was packed. The gentleman behind the counter said, "I'm sorry, but our number system is down today. Please take this." It was a paper with number 197 on it. I found an empty seat and sat down. The same gentleman then announced, "Number 154. Number 154, please." What?!?!? They were only at 154? No way was I going to sit there that long. Off to visit huzbend at work, I went. Sign papers we must.
I hadn't eaten lunch, so I was able to eat at huzbends cafeteria. It was really nice. He can use his key card to pay for lunch (it's deducted from his pay check automatically. You can contribute an amount towards lunch just like a 401K). They have a really nice set up with seating outside next to a landscaped waterfall. Yes. A waterfall. Very Disney-esque. It's like an geeky utopia.
We got the papers signed and I voyaged back to the house. When I got back, I did my neighborly duty and stopped by Next-Door-Moms house. I met her two kids. They are pretty cute. We ended up gabbing for about 2 hours about all sorts of stuff: mommy-hood, the area, where we came from, our families, etc. I know. 2 hours. We also invited one of the other moms into conversation. I learned that they are both VERY religious. That doesn't bug me at all really, but it kinda creeped out huzbend. As long as they are nice decent people and they don't try to force their beliefs on me, I'm fine with it. Huzbend has a much harder time. Wait until we invite them over and they take a look at our book shelves. Book shelves full of Harry Potter, Stephen King, Dan Brown, titles such as "Hitler's Mein Kampf", "The Big Book of Porn" and "Atheism: The Case Against God" among other things. They may never talk to us again.
The rest of the day was taken up with moving boxes to the garage in preparation for the next day.

And that, my friends, brings me to today.

Wednesday, July 26th:
Today, I had a cleaning lady come in to tidy the place up. The service was recommended by some friends out here. Yes, I paid someone to come and clean the house. She did a really good job. Let me tell you, it is SO NICE to have the house clean. There was just no way that I would have the energy to do my usual new house cleaning. Besides not having the energy, I probably shouldn't be working with cleaning products anyways. So, we decided to splurge.
It's amazing what you can learn about people by being super nice. She was an older woman originally from Italy. She came over to the U.S. as an exchange student and then came back to go to school for Tourism. She works part time as a cleaner and part time as a tour guide to Italians that visit the Seattle area.
After she left, I went and registered huzbends car. No personalized plates this time. Well, at least not yet. Then I came back home and starting writing this novel. I think I have been working on this now for about two hours. I was interupted once by Next-Door-Mom and her daughter. The daughter wanted to make sure the baby hadn't come yet. So, she poked my belly and was content.
Today, the heat finally broke and it is beautiful out. It's about 80, sunny and breezy. Perfect once again. My feet are still swollen, my fingers are still numb and I will probably still have to sleep sitting up with my feet propped up on blankets. But, you know what, it doesn't really matter. Our house is 80% unpacked, it's clean and it finally feels like a home.
I love it here.