Crazy Daisy, Cutie Patootie

so i'm staying with my friend jano (fabulous) this week while finishing school stuff. this is the first time daisy has stayed at a person's house since my parents in february. as we all know, she is a spoiled little mamma's girl. well, yesterday morning i got up and went into the bathroom. she was wandering around the house doing the happy puppy in the morning thing. jano opened her bedroom door and crazy daisy just bounded in as happy as can be. she did the - i'm so excied to see you - i'm unloved and i absolutely crave attention thing. well, this was fine and dandy until the toilet flushed. at that point daisy bounded out of the room to sit and wait for me at the bathroom door. lil girl is pretty darn smart - she knew mamma was on her way out! the double d picture here is from last winters blizzard - she was happy to plan in the snow. none of that where we are going girl!

today i met with my advisor. he was relatively hapy with my summer work. this is a good things seeing as how i needed to have a positive meeting with him prior to leaving. now we can all party party and pack it up pack it in...

Sarah Jersey and the Move to Mississippi

well, seeing as how i have been in the process of moving, i’ve been unable to keep this updated. however, here is the summary update of my recent activities.

tuesday 24 july 2007
today i finished packing up my apartment. when i say finished, i mean finished. it was all in boxes except those few small things that get thrown together at the last minute. i dropped the daisy dogg off at the curtis road animal hospital for another short stay and then went my own way. (by the way, we LOVE the curtis road animal hospital. if there is anyone looking for a vet in champaign-urbana we highly recommend it. dr. kuhns is our favorite!)

working is against my religion
on my way up to fox lake i stopped at the hinsdale oasis for a very late lunch. for those who don’t know, on the illinois tollways the oases are built as large bridge like structures so you can eat while looking out over the tollway. for some unknown (and probably engineery) reason, i love them. while there i noticed this family behind me at mcdonalds. they looked to be amish. now i ask this question – no horses and buggies allowed on the interstate. how did that happen? the consensus is that they were conservative mennonite since they were dressed in dark solids, not just black. therefore they can actually drive vehicles of their own. but, i learned a lot about amish in my quest for an answer. apparently the amish are on welfare. they are also able to drive tractors if their employer asks that of them. they can also take buses and trains. they just can’t drive their own vehicles. good to know.

i can die happy
i went to the county fair on tuesday night to see my parents and to see some family friends. the good news: my daddy did very well. he won a handful of ribbons, including a champion for his crazy needlepoint wizard. he is very talented. i also got volunteered to be a judge for a recipe competition. the theme indgredient: hidden valley orginal ranch dressing mix. check that experience off the list. nothing like eating up on stage with people watching you eat. people whose recipes you are judging.

why can i die happy? three words: deep fried cheesecake. i wasn’t even in the south!! it was a particularly yummy dish. i highly recommend it to anyone looking to gain 40 lbs. a slice of cheese cake topped with carmel sauce, wrapped up sopapilla style and deep fried. then the warm fried goodness was rolled in cinnamon sugar. food-gasm!

p.s. i was called old a lot today. first dj (family friend) introduced me to a friend of his as “this is sarah, she used to babysit me when i was in kindergarten. wow. what an intro. then my mom told me i wasn’t exactly a spring chicken. funny thing to hear from the mouth of a 50 year old woman.

wednesday 25 july 2007
packing day
i packed a truck. in the am matt and dan helped me put the furniture from my parents in the truck. i run a tight ship. it took longer than expected. but, considering that it was jersey’s and jakes’s involved it actually took far less time than it may have taken. i tied everything in the truck and it survived the trip to c-u quite well

aka. i heart packing
then i packed my apartment. i have a lot of stuff. a LOT the truck was packed from top to bottom. but, i totally could have fit more stuff in if i had tried. packing was followed by a fun couple of hours at logo glass night. i really do heart murphys. sierra nevada night. best logo glass ever: leinie’s last week.

Big thanks go out to everyone who helped me pack: matt j, dan j, jane t, carrie p, matt b, amanda b, cristian g, victor c, sara a, and andrew b. i couldn’t have gotten here without your help

thursday 26 july 2007
i drove a lot. big yay to me for back my truck up into my apartment parkig lot to get the last few things in. arrived in ms very late and very sore

Friday 27 july 2007
following in the footsteps of jano i am doing a birthday shoutout. happy birthday katie grace. today is my little sisters 25th birthday. how is she that old? i’m not supposed to be that old. she definitely isn’t supposed to be that old. in the last year she moved to dc., and it sounds like she loves it there. if you ever go to d.c you should visit her. she is now in a kickball league. they play games on the mall. that is so different from ms i can’t put words to it. my favorite recent story about my sister involves my cousin jennie’s wedding two years ago. by that time we lived over a thousand miles apart. we might not have gotten along well as kids, but now we do great. when we get together we revert back to being 8 and 10 yeas old. she still has the ability to control my brother, even now that we are adults. since he is the baby we’ve always told him to do things. she is really good at it. well, two nights before the wedding we were all staying at my aunt’s house. it was a crowded house. katie grace and i were sharing the air mattress on the parlor floor and matthew was sleeping on the couch in the family room. katie and i kept giggling and talking. we decided that the lights from the hall were bothering us so we started reminiscing about how she used to call my brother down to the basement to ask him to go back upstairs and get her a glass of water. this set the giggles off even more. needless to say we decided to test her abilities, and matthew fell for it hook line and sinker. he came right up the stairs when we were giggling and whispering his name. when she asked him to go turn off the light his reaction was perfect. i couldn’t have won more money in vegas betting on it. then he went downstairs and did exactly what she asked.

i got my truck totally unpacked today. big thanks to mike and matt for helping. i couldn’t have done it by myself. i also met one of the neighbors this morning. i actually already knew her since she used to live next door to my friend stephen. however, she saw me out unloading the truck so she came over and welecomed me. heather and her husband live two doors down with their son and daughter. they will be great people to have as neighbors. too bad they have to move soon for her husbands job.

today’s stupid is as stupid does
every time i move i replace my shower curtain liner. you know how they get all nasty and gross with buildup? rather than washing it i just threw the old one out. the plastic was breaking at the top so i knew it was time to get rid of it. i bought a new one before moving since it is one of the important things to have first morning in the new house. well, my silly self left that bag in the trunk of my car – not so useful when your car is in il and you are in ms. ooops.

saturday 28 july 2007
this morning started with a trip to walley world. i am not particularly fond of walley world, and would prefer to avoid it. however, it is a necessary evil so i wound up there getting a bunch of stuff i needed around the house. of course i saw several people i knew. how very vicksburg.

i bought a little lucky bamboo to bring some luck to the new house. we all know that i need it.

the day was spent cleaning and unpacking boxes. ‘nuff said.
the house was “clean” but it needed some additional help befoe putting everything out. you know that this is the last chance i have to clean some of the areas until they get remodeled. today’s big thanks go out to heather for coming into town and picking me up when i dropped my truck off. i really needed that one, otherwise i could have been in major trouble since i couldn’t find anyone else to help me. plus, this was the first time i had the chance to ride in an h3. i've done military hmmwv's but not commercially availabl hummers. that was cool. this whole home ownership thing is going to be very difficult since i have no family/friends nearby to help me. i don’t mind doing things, but there are times where I need that nonexistent second set of hands..

Paint, paint, and more paint
here are some before pictures of the house. the yard needs mowing and the brown spots need patching. every wall in the house needs painting. the colors are somewhat, to very not to my taste. there are lots of holes that need spackling too. we’ll see how long this takes me. that is the point of the 2 week vacation – making the house slightly less hideous. it is really a great house though. it has lots of landscaping done already. the floorplan is great. it has a garage. the floors are mostly great. the walls need a little work and the kitchen and bathrooms will have to get redone in the next couple of years. it is all about giving a little tlc.

even more paint
i got to shoot a paintball gun today! when i was at my neighbor’s they had just gotten paintballs for their son’s new paint-ball gun. i got to shoot the paintball gun for the first time ever. it was fun! i could get into some trouble with one of those. anyone want to go play paintball?

i continued on with the unpacking and cleaning. i got the kitchen and the dining room almost done. i need to wash walls and windows in both rooms. the kitchen cupboards are al unpacked and the dishes are all washed up. everything is unpacked except the pantry. i still need to wash it out before putting food in there. oh yeah, still need to get the stove fixed. here is the first unpacked pictures. doesn’t look different in terms of stuff being painted or anything, but it looks a lot more lived in already.

well, i am off to the airport soon to fly back to il. i don’t want to go back, i would far rather continue working on the house. however, i can’t wait to go back and daisy dogg and bring her back. i think she’ll be a happy camper here. i look forward to getting to walk her around the lake. we need some exercise - we have too much pent up energy. In a week we will be permanent residents here!

sunday 29 july 2007
back in il. driving home i got to drive by the original mcdonalds (1st one built by ray after he bought the brothers out in cali) i always enjoy that. one day i will have to stop there, even though i don’t really like mcdonalds that much.
i spent the whole weekend avoiding work, and you KNOW that i ran into a coworker in the airport 5 minutes before i left. gotta love small town ms.

so close yet so far away

the packing continues. i feel like it will continue forever. however, i know that it won't since it must be done wednesday. however, it feels like the neverending job. now i'm at the point where i'm ready to start throwing crap into boxes without labeling them and without taking care. i'm down to the last things i hate to box: books. i'm a bookophile. i love books. i love reading. books are my friends. they are always there for you and they are so much more interesting than your own life. but, they are heavy. very heavy. and people don't like to help with them. i owe my helpers a lot if they are willing to put up with my books.

status update:
kitchen: done pending refridgerator cleanout thursday a.m.
living room: 1 box of leftovers
dining room: needs a little help
my bedroom: done
spare room: 3 boxes to go
bathr rooms: done
office: done

these things will be done as soon as i go pick daisy up from the groomers. thus, i have successfully packed my apartment in three days time. i think i'm pretty good if i can really get away with that! next it is on to my parents to pick up furniture from there.

my little dog will be naked :-( she needs it since we are gong somewhere warm, but we don't have to like it.

Saturday Night is Alright!

i chose both.

i finished the last few boxes in the kitchen - the food. all that is left in the kitchen is cleaning out the fridge-freezer right before leaving. i should be able to salvadge some of the leftover stuff and take it with me in the cooler. so, my kitchen has now become the room in which boxes are stored. as long as i can get to the sink and daisy can get to her bowls we should be good on that end. as i said earlier, the my desk at my school office is empty with the exception of some library books that i'll need to return sooner or later.

i've continued on with packing up the downstairs bathroom. all the fun, girly stuff is gone. it is down to a bottle of soap and some extra TP. i've started on the main bathroom too. it is amazing how much sutff there is in something as small and boring as a bathroom! where do i get all of this crap? but what would i do without five different types of soaps and ten different lotions? it is my little way of being girly. i've also continued on with the living room. i am down to a could of boxes of little "stuff" left, then taking apart the furniture. it is amazing how fast this can go. between a few tunes and some major motivation - nothing like a deadline - i feel like i'm getting somewhere.

that being said, it is time to go back to the book. i think i'll be happy with the ending, although it is sad to see it end. i don't think i can really be happy for that.

Harry Potter I love you!

Thus far I've spent my day packing. Daisy and I took a little walk this morning, and then I hit the liquor store first thing. The great thing about a college town, even during the summer, liquor stores are a jackpot for boxes!!! My kitchen is packed, as is my office. I am realizing once again, I have an immense amount of crap.

Tonight was supposed to be the big demolition derby. I was so psyched! I love watching that type of crap. Unfortunately, word came from a good sourse, aka the Champaign Po-lice Dept. that I should NOT go seeing as there were rumours of gangs and gunshots tonight.

Instead, I'll spend my night in a conundrum. Do I continue to pack? Or, do I read my new Harry Potter?

My Cold Lifeless Body

by the way, i forgot to mention how much i love moving. i love it so much that i never intend to do it again. they can carry my cold lifeless body out of my house. then my friends and family can deal with moving my crap out, because i'm not doing it again.

I am a REAL engineer

Things are proceeding forward on the moving front. I hadn't heard from the movers, so I called back this morning. Turns out that the woman there is not my favorite person. First, she heard me wrong when I first called last week, and she wrote me down as possibly being moved this Saturday. I guess she couldn't understand my "Yankee" accent. They were booked for this Saturday, and I guess they don't believe in calling and letting you know that they are not going to provide services. So, when I called today we sorted that out, as I described the fact that I was planning to arrive with my truck NEXT Saturday, NOT tomorrow. She proceeded to tell me that they are now booked up for next weekend too. Apparently, had she written it down corectly I would have made it on the schedule for next weekend. At this point I realized that I had no way to get a 50 year old dining room table and buffet and a 90+ (?) year old dresser off of my truck. Needless to say, hysterics ensued.

Fast forward several hours. Now I have yet ANOTHER moving plan. It is only about the 5th one in the last month. Now, instead of taking my stuff down in a truck, flying back to IL to finish the semester and then driving my car down, I'm doing the opposite. I'll drive my car with a load of stuff to MS next weekend. I'll leave it in my garage (yay!) and I'll clean house. Then, since I've paid for it I'll fly to IL and return to school. I'll move my stuff out of the apartment at some point next week (i guess I'll store it somewhere mysterioius). THEN, after a week of school I'll take my stuff down to MS. At that point I won't be pressed for time and can either wait for the movers to have time, or I can bribe people over the course of the week and pay for some extra time on my truck. All in all, this actually seems like it might work out better. I'm not sure why, but it feels like the better option. As you may know, I am all about how things "feel". If it "feels" right, I'm AG. I think I like the idea of having an extra couple of days to clean up the house before I move in the heavy furniture. It will be more pricy, but it will work out somehow because it "feels" right.

An update on the house front. Apparently the stove top works just great. The oven is another story. Somehow they "broke" it while moving out. The digital controls on the oven don't work, so I can't actually change the temperature! Thank Goodness for Home Warranties

Now, on to the post title. They often say that the real engineering gets done in the field. It is all about how you react. The real engineering isn't the design, but dealing with the crises and figuring out how to make it all work. Well, when it comes to moving, I'm an engineer. This is the fifth plan I've had, and I'm sure it will change again before all is said and done. By the way, at some point during all of this I'm going to actually finish my summer school work :-)