So many "lasts"

Barring what at this point would count as a major disaster, we will never sleep at our Windsor house again. We probably won't be eating or doing anything else besides final cleaning which happens tomorrow. The boxing-up company came in today and the moving van comes tomorrow between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning. Since I'm staying at the in-laws which is 40 minutes away this night owl is going to have to be up way earlier than I like. We're not leaving terribly early on Saturday, and hopefully will have most of the packing of the vehicles done the night before, so hopefully we won't have to get up very early that day.

I've felt rather sick and lethargic all day and was inclined to blame it on not having any protein at breakfast and then mowing the lawn in what for CO seems like pretty high humidity. Beloved says he felt the same way even though he was at his parents and ate completely different things. He says he wonders if it's that we were much more attached to the house than we realized and are feeling an emotional exhaustion due to the huge change in our lives. He was sweet enough to say that these last five years, and the 14th made five years exactly since we'd closed on the house, have probably been the best in his life which gave me quite the warm fuzzy. I suppose it's possible we just caught some virus or something that made us both run down, but I know that even though I'm not a particularly sentimental person I've been doing a lot of " well that's the last time we/I do _______ here." A lot of it may have to do with this having been our home for nearly twice as long as any other place we've lived and the first one where we had any say at all in how it looked. Knowing that the next place we're going to is definitely temporary and not knowing where we're going after that isn't particularly emotionally satisfying, especially since the house we've grown accustomed to hasn't sold.

Countdown

On Thursday the moving company comes to box up all our possessions and Friday the boxes go in the truck. A lot of people have said how busy they think I must have been until now but I really haven't. Admittedly, without my MIL I would have been a good deal busier, but since she's been doing the kid packing and making Beloveds lunches there hasn't been much for me to do the last couple of weeks. Mostly I've just been helping as necessary, or staying out of the way whichever seems to work at the time.

That's all going to change now. MIL is still going to be helping, but now we're at the point where I'm the one who has to do a lot of the little things, such as washing out trash cans, that need to be done to get ready. I'm also planning on going through my crafts and a lot of general household items to decide what needs to be given away and I'm the only one who can do that.

I seem to have hit a point where the move is almost a relief instead of scary, although we would much prefer that the house was sold. We've known for so long that we "might" be moving that to actually do so is actually the lifting of a mental burden instead of an increase.

Please buy my house!

Beloveds company has decided to pay for a repaint of our exterior trim and complete repaint of the interior. It's generally been agreed that the new trim will use one of the shades from the brick facade which probably will look nice. I purposely hadn't wanted the trim to blend with the brick, but since it won't be my house anymore it will be okay. Naturally, the interior will be some neutral shade with white trim as that seems to be the "thing" to do. I have loved my colors and will never regret changing from the all white but, once again, I won't be here so it won't matter. It's a little disappointing to me that no-one else has been able to see the vision when so many guests to my home have expressed how homey and comforting it was. At the same time, if we do have a house built we plan on going with what I think of as a "hobbit house" decor. I'm thinking parchment colored walls and medium wood tone trim, although the upgrade trim provided is white so I don't know how to make that work, with accents of the burgundy, forest, and antique gold. It will have a little less visual impact but for a strong introvert like beloved that will make it more restful when he gets home from work, and that's an important thing to keep in mind too.

Interesting Movie

Just finished watching Something the Lord Made which is about the surgeon, Dr. Blaylock, and his assistant, Vivien Peters, who performed the first open heart surgeries. Since the assistant was a black man and had started working for the surgeon as a custodian between the two world wars as a way to pay for medical school, which as far as I can tell he never got to, there was an interesting theme about the evolving ways they viewed each other over their thirty or so year working relationship.

My main thought on the movie is that it's a good thing they were researching and proving the benefits of their work before the era of the regulatory alphabet and risk management because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be allowed now. Even if the government did allow it, and since the first surgeries were on children it seem unlikely, not many places would be willing to assume the risk of being sued.

An interesting bit of trivia I had read recently in a Dick Francis novel was that British surgeons were referred to as "Mr." not "Dr." I wondered at the time if that were the case with American surgeons as well. Although, come to think about, it my sister always refers to her surgeons as "Dr.____" and the ENT who did beloveds cancer surgery is "Dr. Smith" so I guess it should have been obvious. Anyway, the surgeon in the movie made a big deal out of being called "Dr." not "sir" so I guess it must just be a British thing to be called "Mr."

The movie was "based on true events" which can mean a lot of different things as to how factual a given movie is. I found it very enjoyable and certainly a good starting point for learning more about the actual historical facts.

IM

Being dragged kicking and screaming into this technology age . Beloved just showed me how to IM after IMing eldest daughter this afternoon to tell her to ask me to turn on my phone, which was off due to a doctor's appointment. I've actually been quite proud of deserving the name "urban Amish" ever since I nearly laughed myself sick hearing it on Jeopardy. Heck, until I joined Ravelry I had no use for the Internet except to play webgames. Everything changes I guess.

Since he knows how much wasted time I spend at the computer I can expect to get lots of reminders now that he can IM as well as e-mail. Hopefully they will be gentle, but with only a couple of weeks 'til move day, if his company gets its act together, I have to admit that a sense of urgency is starting to develop.

Of Sausage and Blogs

A commenter on one of the blogs I follow quoted Bismark as saying that "legislation as with sausage should be ground out and gotten out the door." Since I'm trying to remain apolitical in this venue I won't give my thoughts on the legislation part of that. It did cause me to think though that perhaps blogs fell into the same category. After all, it's neither lack of material or of time at the computer that have prevented me from writing the last couple of months. It's starting to look as though what's preventing me is the desire for perfection and polish in the finished post. This causes said post to remain between my ears for ever. Case in point? I read that quote at least two weeks ago, had the thought instantly and am only now writing this.

I suppose the only cure will be to grind out the writing, get it written, and then edit as necessary. Onward, into a brave new future of writing!

Goodbye, perfection! Hello blogging!

Vive le, uhm... how do you say writing in French?

Well anyway, here's hoping.

Let it snow, etc...

Well, the appraiser was willing to risk the drive from Greeley Friday. He was just 45 minutes late because he had to shovel his walk and such before leaving. Now we have a third realtor coming to do a market estimate and she's supposed to get here at 8:30 A.M. from Boulder. And did I mention it's supposed to snow again? We'll just have to see if she's as brave as the rest have been. Maybe I'll get lucky though this time.