Saturday, January 24, 2009

Who am I

Has anyone else ever woken up one morning and discovered that they really don't know who they are anymore. I don't know what or why it is that it seems that since we've moved to CA I have no idea who I am. I thought I was done "finding myself"... you know all those wonderful teenage/ college years. But here I am wondering- I know the basics- I am a daughter of God, I am the eldest daughter of Kent and Beverly, the sister to Dan,Christina, Liz, Andrew and Dave "Trophy" wife of Brian (haha) mom to Ty, Harley, Tank, and Chopper (you know I have to include them..) daughter in law to Joe and Bonnie, sister in law to Amanda, Andrea, Todd Greg, Carinna, Brittney, Alex, Riley, Kelly, Kaitlin, Kevin. Photographer, nursery leader, cub scout leader. But what does that all mean- am I really a nice person or am I really a just mean, am I a glass half full or am I really a pessimist, am I funny or am I boring? Sadly right now I dunno maybe all this questioning comes from all the changes that seem to be happening and somewhere in our storage unit I'll find where I packed myself but for now stay tuned I just might be the next American Idol...

Things that make you smile!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Day Eight

We got up and left Winnemucca at 5:30 am and the Angel's sang hallelujah

and then we got to Reno....

I'm not sure if we got lucky and got to work with all the "special" people at Budget or if they only hire them but we were met at Reno with what we lovingly call a dee de dee (For instance Brian walks into the store and asks the guy if he knows if the moving crew is here or not. The employee's response I don't know you'll have to call the 1800 number.... it only got better)

Budget was suppose to call the national moving company and have movers at the truck at 7:30, instead they called us at 7:30 to say they were getting ready to call the movers to see when they could come. Budget said they would send a crew of around 4-6 people... we had 2 guys at 10 am and their "fast" was Tyler's crawl... (Ty doesn't crawl so you can only imagine)

Brian gave the movers a B- they were actually stronger than they looked and didn't do too bad. We only had to put the box spring and a few pots in the 4Runner. And they did get it all done in 3- 3.5 hours.

OK so I don't know if my expectations are too high so you tell me:
I went with Ty to a resort to get a room for the day (It was 35 degrees outside, and he did NOT want to stay in the car while we waited all morning (we were there waiting at 7:30) Anyways I walk into this resort thinking to myself uh-oh I should probably go somewhere else it's probably too pricey. Talk to the front desk she says $45 plus tax I think to myself hey it's better than the 126 we were paying in Winnemucca...

SO I drag Ty and what I need to keep him busy for a few hours up to our room all the while he pees on me cuz his diaper is too full.

Get upstairs the room STINKS, there is something crusty on the floor, there's no liners in the trash can, no pool, and NO Wi-FI (Even motel 8 advertised free we-fi in WINNEMUCCA!) Have you guys ever heard of a resort that doesn't have a pool? AND later on when Brian was giving Ty a bath and drying him off he found a "poop" stain on the towel that didn't come from Ty.... needless to say they gave us 50% discount but I was still pretty upset and the manager wouldn't come talk to me. I think that for 4 hours and the towel they should've given us a full discount, but again I might have too high of expectations.

We finally made it back to CA around 6:30 pm it seems that two of my plants died on the trip (thanks to Budgets wonderful time frame) other than that everything seems to have made it safely into our storage unit.

I am grateful this trial I mean trip is done....

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day Seven

Guess what-

nope we're still in Winnemucca... but there is good news and bad news.

bad news. Our friend Richard, the mechanic who now knows us by name did all that he could do. Put in a new starter but no luck the electrical mechanic system is fried and has to be taken to a CAT place.

Good new. They are towing our truck to Reno tonight/tomorrow morning and will have a crew to switch our stuff from the crappy truck to a new truck. We will be leaving Winnemucca tomorrow at 5 am and hopefully be on our way to Sac by by noon.

We can always be hopefull

Day Six

MONDAY!!!

Called mechanic just about every hour since 8 AM.... waiting on diagnostics... waiting on parts... ordered a new starter will be here on Tues at 10:30 AM I had to shoot a cover for work so I drove around town finding a spot- amazingly enough not a whole lot in this one horse town. But I did find a park. Went back to hotel took T swimming like we have for the past 2 days. Then went back to park to play for awhile. Found a not so bad diner maybe things will start looking up at least dinner was better tonight. Thank goodness for free fake eggs and bagels in the mornings :)

Day Five

Sunday is supposed to be a day of blessings and uplift right- so say a prayer and things will work right? Not today... A diesel mechanic came (the one who is suppose to be the know all of these fan-dangled trucks) and looked at the truck for about 3 hours. (You know something is wrong when he's shaking his head) Of course all the while Ty and I have packed everything up and are waiting in the hotel room hoping. About 2 pm Budget decides to tow the truck to the mechanics shop in hopes that it is a bad starter and it can be fixed Monday maybe tuesday... went to Raley's grocery store for dinner- chicken strips cold and rubbery, potatoes taste like they were boiled in bath water (used) and Mac n cheese was made with sour milk and moldy cheese. Needless to say outlook is not looking good

Day Four

A Mechanic came and looked at the van for about 3 hours this morning, hoping to leave we packed everything out to the car and sat with a late check out hoping to get of here. About 2 pm Budget says there is no one available to fix the truck. Another night, one grocery store, no wal-mart. Stinky clothes try again tomorrow

Day three

Now the fun begins. We all get up and get going in the morning Mom S takes Brian to the shop to get the van while I go to the bank and get gas. Brian and I meet up and head out of town... fyi I did do better on the shedding of tears today ready to just be done. Luckily the roads weren't too bad, there had been a small storm that we had originally tried to miss that had hit during the night. We had fun talking to one another over the radios. Ty loved catching up to Brian and waving. T was actually a good driving buddy. We stopped for linner at Wingers in Elko and then Smiths for meds. We hit Winnemucca for a potty break turned off the truck and then the real week from *#&#$^ began.... the van wouldn't start, it was 6 pm and there was no one to fix it. Ty and I went across the street to the Holiday Inn Express... don't worry folks probably the most expensive place in town. But we had no room in our car to fit all three of us... and Brian could walk over to it. Luckily for us they do have an indoor swimming pool and their staff is very friendly and helpful. Hopefully we'll be out tomorrow....

Day two

Ty's body finally gave up around 4:30 am and fell asleep for 3 hours. The most sleep Brian and I got all night.Ty finally was able to start drinking and even eating his fav hotdogs. G'ma was a lifesaver as she took Ty with her to breakfast and an extra long bath so that Brian and I could get a little more sleep with the long drive we had ahead of us. We finally got everything together and out to our cars. I said my tearful goodbye to my mom. Ty made sure to give me lots of hugs as we pulled away to let me know how much he loved me. I thought Brian was playing with the Ipod when he radioed me to see where I was, just waiting on him outside the hotel. He couldn't get the van to start.... and this was the beginning of our groundhog day... After about 5 hours of trying to jump the van ourselves and having the Budget truck dealer come and then roadside assistance we were finally able to get the truck to start. IF we'd known then what we were in store for we would've taken off and never looked back, but as it was we didn't. The roadside guy said it would be better if we let it charge all night so we did. We got another hotel room, went to good ol walmart and got swim diapers and swimsuit for T and some food. We had fun that night playing with G'ma some more, going swimming, Ty even slept with G'ma so Brian and I could get some good sleep. Frustrating day for sure but very grateful Mom S was there to help us!!!! I often like to think I can do it on my own but I know I couldn't have the last 2-3 days.

Day one

So maybe one day I'll be able to laugh and maybe you guys will be able to laugh now and help me later...

Once upon a time well about a week ago to be exact we got a huge snowstorm in Utah. Brian was busy trying to pack and keep a monster happy while I tried to quickly finish work. Mom Smith braved the snow and came down to help us out. We probably got a good foot of snow that day... needless to say not helpful.

On wednesday we say call it day one.... we all got up early took Brian over to the Budget rental office. (Note to anyone who might know "Kevin" I am sorry this was just my experience with him) We dropped him off and proceeded to wait for about 20 mins while Brian was inside the office. We all figured that since we had an online reservation that it would take him 10 mins max so the last 20 mins seemed a bit extreme but oh well. Brian sends us on our way to run a few errands. About 30 mins later Brian is still waiting for our rental truck. Kevin just sat there answering voice mails and emails not paying any attention to Brian finally Brian got fed up and got the guy's attention. An hour and half later Brian is on his way home to load up the van.

We had wonderful neighbors in Pleasant Grove. Dave next door came over and was able to help Brian move all the big heavy things into the van- before I even got home- talk about fast workers! Dave helped us move boxes while Mom S helped keep Ty happy... now I'm sure you're wondering how do you keep a 20 month old happy.... Floor hockey. I walked into the house half expecting to have Ty run and latch on to me to save him, but no he wanted nothing to do with me. He was having fun with G'ma! They had ping pong balls and hockey sticks and were chasing the ball everywhere (Mom admitted later that she was sore from head to toe the next day from all this playing :) I was very grateful for this as Ty sometimes tries to be too helpful. Later as we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off my very pregnant neighbor Linda came over with a bucket full of cleaning supplies asking where she could start. I remember being 9 months prego and I'm not so sure I would've been the first at my door to help. I was so overwhelmed at the kindness and love of these two neighbors.

Brian and I decided that it would be better for Ty and I to drive separately then all of us in the moving van and towing the 4Runner. We stopped for take and bake pizza while mom was home quickly putting things together for us. I was busy trying to pack those last odds and ends that really you just want to throw away but you can't throw away a drawer full of towels just cuz you forgot to pack them earlier.... Brian was putting those last things you find in the garage when Ty ran down the van ramp and fell.

Now normally this wouldn't be a probably. He bounces quite well :) Brian saw him and said "oops up you go" Ty turned to him and just looked at Brian as blood came running out of his mouth. Ty had had a screwdriver in him mouth. Brian quickly brought him inside as we tried to wash out his mouth to see what was the problem. (Now Ty is just learning how to spit so this was a bit more difficult. If only you could imagine us running around trying to find flashlights/ paper towels/ cups in our empty house.) We were able to get him calmed down and it looked like the bleeding had stopped, we gave him some Ibuprofen
tried to get him to eat something then we saw the big hole in his mouth.... We took Ty over to some friends the Beachell's to look at his mouth. It was hard to see in his mouth but they were able to see a bit and said he would be ok. He'd be sore for a while but he'd be ok. So glad/ grateful that he would be ok and not need stitches or something more.

Headed back home to finish our last min cleaning. By this time it was about 9 pm we were all tired, Ty needed just mom and Dad time and I was having my emotional breakdown about moving. We decided that we just needed to go unfortunately we didn't get things as clean as I wanted or the wall repainted (I hope they are planning on repainting and it won't be a big deal.... we did leave them the paint if they want it.) But we just had to go. Brian held me in our garage as I cried and we talked about all our wonderful neighbors and friends, events that we've had at our house, good times and bad times. I realized that I had to leave so we got in our separate vehicles and drove to our hotel.

I wish I could say that was the end of the day but it seemed to only start as my 1 year old was hurt, sore, hungry but wouldn't eat or drink because of his sore mouth and woke up every half hour to tell us his troubles..