It is finished.

The famous last words of Christ. They apply here, as we finally got out of our apartment in Tuscaloosa. While Eli went to Atlanta on Saturday to watch Bama stomp Clemson at the Georgia Dome, I headed to Tuscaloosa to finally finish up. It literally has taken us a month to get out of there. Ugh.

Here are some lessons I learned about moving:
1. Clean the oven before the final day.
2. Wipe down the cabinets and clean the bathrooms (tubs, etc) before the final day.
3. Remove the adhesive from the windows relatively soon after you take down your winter snowflakes in January. Do not wait until the hot August summer days. Do not wait until the final day of your move.
4. Get a bigger truck and move it all in one sha-bang. None of this multiple- carloads-after-the-truck-has-already-taken-the-majority-of-our-junk business.
5. When you move in, unpack every box, even if you think you know what is in it. I just ordered another copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because for three years I couldn't find mine. I thought for sure I lent it to Eli's sister. I order the book Friday. Saturday, I found the book in a tote of books that was never unpacked when we made the move from Waco! What a waste of Scholastic Bonus Points!

And I learned the the cleaning agent CLR is pretty spec-dang-tacular. Thanks to my sister and plumber-in-law for that little bit of wisdom.

I feel bad about leaving the apartment, because the company is just going to replace the carpet (band-aid) and not do anythink about the cracked foundation, where the water was seeping up through the living room carpet every time it rained. In the closet under the stairs I kept my boxes from my high school classroom library, since I was teaching middle school and didn't need them. In the three years that they sat under there, untouched, unbeknownst to me the water seeped up and I had two boxes of books that not only had become one with the carpet and wall (and possibly some black mold) but also had to be thrown away, unsalvageable. This was the worst of life's disappointments for this bibliophile.

I have, however, made up for this disposal of books by using using all of my Scholastic Bonus Points to get books I have always wanted, including the entire Bone series (graphic novels) and the first Harry Potter book in hardcover to match the rest of my set (I have it in paperback--tacky, and Eli has it in leatherbound--which goes on a different shelf with the rest of its ilk).

Tomorrow is labor day. I shall labor at grading papers for progress reports for the class I'm long-term subbing for. And maybe I'll get the PS2 set up and play a little Final Fantasy X-2, the game where the girls have different powers based on the outfits they are wearing. It's quite amusing.

Almost here

I like nutshells. Here you go: Eli's camping/hiking trip was a bust. I didn't get to spend all that precious time by myself, which a good thing because I was getting lonely.

Last Monday I started my Jazzercise class here. I forgot how much I love it! Okay, no I didn't. I just suppressed the memory because Jazzercise was no longer available in Tuscaloosa. Lisa, the instructor, is really nice, and I didn't forget any of the moves. I rock.

Wednesday, I went to Tuscaloosa to get boxes from my teacher friends. I helped Shelly in her classroom--and, boy, did she need help. I spent six hours with her. Then I went home and watched a movie. Thursday was the first day of school, so I headed up to the school formerly known as TMS and said hello to my peeps that I didn't see the day before. My ulterior motive was to take peanut butter to Kate, but I ran into Emily, Krystal, and others. I felt really out of place since I'm not actually teaching.

After school Thursday, sis-in-law Stephanie called and told me about her first day in Angela's classroom at RQMS. We decided we would further discus this over dinner, so I went to their house and hung out, and we ended up going to Coldstone for ice cream. Nice. Friday I spent watching movies and packing random items. Not much accomplished.

Eli came Saturday. We packed a little, but ended up going to Tokyo (the restaurant) with Rob and Misti, and then going to see The Dark Knight, because everyone has been talking about it and Eli really wanted to see it. It was disturbing. I'm still having nightmares, and I can understand why Heath Ledger was on anti-depressants and sleep meds after playing that role. The worst part, though, was the woman next to us who brought her toddler to the 10:30 p.m. show. Take away her parenting license!!!

Sunday we went to church, then to Full Moon, and Eli left to go back to Auburn. I spent Sunday night packing some more, getting ready to leave. And Monday, I ran around doing errands and left for Auburn at 11.

I'm here now. Back in the job hunt grindstone. I need a job. I need patience. I need prayer. In the meantime, I'm off to the coin wash to do a couple of loads of laundry.

This Saturday we rent the truck and move our junk from Tuscaloosa. We will have officially vacated the property. It's depressing and liberating. I really can't wait to have a couch to sit on. Haha.

A New Month, A New Start

I am in Auburn. I am all by myself. (If you don't count the cats.)

I came down Monday evening, after loading the car like a pro visual-spatial expert. I thought of everything! But I didn't pack everything that I thought of, and that's why my phone is dead with no hope of revival before next week sometime. I sure hope no one calls with a job offer that I need to respond to PRONTO!

Eli took the Bar Exam on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We went out to eat Wednesday night and got some ice cream from Bruster's (which is DJ's favorite ice cream place in DE) and waited for Alex to arrive.

Yesterday, Alex and Eli set off on their exciting camping/hiking expedition on the Pinhoti trail. While I'm glad that I don't have to carry a latrine tool with me to create a toilet every time I need to use it, and I don't have to wash with biodegradable baby wipes when I need a bath, I do miss the company.

Have I mentioned that our apartment complex isn't done being built yet? Out of forty-some-odd units, only 8 or so are populated. I've met most everyone, but we don't hang out or anything. There's a microbiologist working on her Ph.D. and teaching some high school students to get excited about science (through a grant--she, herself, is not so excited to be teaching them); there's an extroverted pharmaceutical sales rep who everyone just calls "Crazy Laura"; and there's a 29-year-old, divorced Finance Professor who enjoys walking around the complex half-naked (and I guess if I had a bod like that, I would probably want to walk around in my skivvies--er, I mean swim trunks--too). And those are just the three people I know what they do. The people next door have a little boy. The girls upstairs are undergrads (I'm guessing). The boys by the pool are elusive (known only by reputation and one rare sighting). The guy on the end doesn't really live there--he just has the apartment for show and spend the majority of the time at his girlfriend's place.

So, it's lonely. The mall stinks. Okay, I'm being harsh because the Tuscaloosa mall wasn't that hot, either. I don't even go to the mall, so I don't know why I spent the fifteen minutes I did yesterday walking around it to find out that there was nothing there that I really was interested in.

The library is my only refuge. And that's where I am now. Checking e-mail, facebook, job updates, writing cover letters, trying to find a job. Auburn area teachers went back to work yesterday. The students come back next Thursday, just like in Tuscaloosa. I'm starting to feel out of sync.

We are by no means moved out of Tuscaloosa yet. We're going next weekend to pack--we're going to move the weekend after that, and then we're going to clean the weekend after that, at which point we will wash our hands of that place.

In the meantime, I brought my sewing stuff with me, and I intend to make a couple of skirts that I've had the fabric to make. I rented some musicals from the library, and I'm going to watch them. I brought some books to read, and I'm going to read them. Perhaps out by the pool. In a bikini. But, we'll see.

The Madcap Recap

I've been back for two weeks now. Almost. And now it's time to tell about ED's Adventures in New England. (ED=Erin & Daphne...it was a Courtside thing.)

Wednesday, 7/2 -- I fly from B'ham to Philly, but not without amusement. In the B'ham airport, someone pages Mr. I. P. Freely to the concourse. I'm stunned. Did that really just happen? The connecting flight from Detroit to Philly required me to sit between 1 teenager with BO (Overheard cell phone call: "Hi, Mom, I just wanted you to know that I'm not dead.") and one large woman with olfactory offending food items she purchased in the airport. Nauseating. Daphne picked me up, and we jumped in the car and Garmin-ed our way to East Orange, NJ, where we stayed with Daphne's mother's cousin's friend Carol for the night.

Thursday, 7/3 -- Up WAY early, taking the first train into Penn Station (cute porter). Then taking a Taxi to China Town (new cabbie...didn't know where he was going). Then catching a Lucky Star bus to Boston (uneventful, except for the man sitting across the aisle who coughed and hacked without covering his mouth...eeew). We did stop for a little while at a Burger King in CT, potty break and all that, but we rolled into Boston in about 4 hours. Then, we bought T tickets, jumped on the subway, and made our way to our hostel at Boston University. We had lunch at UBurger, which I highly recommend. Then, since we were so close to Fenway Park, we decided to investigate touring it, but then didn't want to spend the money when we found out how much it was, so we just walked around the outside of the park (the Red Sox were at Yankees while we were in Boston). It was still early, so we walked around Boston, went to the Public Gardens, rode the Swan Boats, and eventually made our way to the Memorial Hatch Shell for the Boston Pops Concert, free to the public. We returned to our hostel late, realizing that there was now evidence of a third person in our room. Hmm...

Friday, 7/4 -- Up early for the colonial army parade from City Hall and all that Fourth of July hoo-hah. We went to the grave of John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Mother Goose (really), listened to the Declaration of Independence being read from its original spot. We wandered down to Faneuil Hall Marketplace, went into some interesting shops, got some free toothpaste from some college kids who were handing out samples. We wandered a little more and found the Old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea) and went to the harbor for the 21-gun salute from the USS Constitution. Then, we went to Harvard and walked around Cambridge. I felt very smart just being there. After a long day of walking, we went back to the hostel, found some food (BeerWorks--good stuff), and went to the lookout at the top of the building and watched the most spectacular fireworks show I've ever seen. Amazing. And my nachos weren't half bad, either.

Saturday, 7/5 -- Our last day in Boston, we decided to take a guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail, and our guide was Mr. James Otis. Very interesting tour. After the tour, we decided to go to the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum. Lots of old stuff that some woman loved. The courtyard in the center of the building was amazing, breathtaking. We explored all three floors of the museum. I was sad that the gardens were closed for the season. We went to B&N, which had been closed the day before (Is July 4th a store-closing type of holiday? I thought not.), and bought some books from the bargain shelves. Back to the hostel we went, to get some rest before returning to NY in the morning. And we finally met our Irish roommate. Love her accent.

Sunday, 7/6 -- Out early to catch the bus back to NY. We pulled over once so the driver could use a port-a-potty in the middle of the highway, and we stopped at the BK again, and somehow, miraculously, we made it back to NY in 3 hours and 30-ish minutes. Scary. We took the subway uptown to Penn Station, and found out that since September 11, 2001, there have been no lockers at train stations. We would have to check our bags for a fee. Hahahahahah. No. So we carried our backpacks with us, and walked around, going to M&M World, and Hershey World. We saw the broadway production of A Catered Affair and then made our way back to Penn Station, and then back to Jersey for a good night's rest. But no! We were invited to dinner at Daphne's mother's cousin's house, so we went and ate Fourth of July leftovers. It was good company.

Monday, 7/7 -- We head into NYC with the aim of meeting up with Patrick, Daphne's second cousin once removed, who works for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We get there early, so wander over to Rockefeller Center. Later, "Pat" shows us around the studio, which was dark this week, so no John sightings, and then takes us to eat at this fabulous restaurant, VYNL (highly recommended). We say our goodbyes and then make our way uptown, walking up 5th Avenue, going to Tiffany's and FAO Schwartz, and down into the depths of the Apple store. We walk through Central Park and sit to rest on a bench near a jazz band. We read our books. It's beautiful. Finally, we decide to walk down 5th Avenue to find Saks Fifth Avenu, but we never find it. Weird. What we did find was Nintendo World, where we got to play with the new Wii Fitness game. Fun! Then, we ate hot dogs from a vendor outside Penn Station, and then took the train back to East Orange (but not before getting some NY Cheesecake and a couple of Cokes).

Tuesday, 7/8 -- We've decided that we want to get on the Today show, so we get up early and take the first train in, truck it to Rockefeller Center, and then make it on TV! It was awesome. We shook hands with Ann Curry, Al Roker, and Meredith Viera. Matt Lauer didn't really shake hands with people. After this adventure, we started walking north, our mission being the Met. We finally made it to the Met and wandered around. The best parts being the Comic Hero exhibit and the roof garden. Then we had to get back south for our hair appointments (see the picture below), and back WAY north to the Cloisters before they closed. And then back down to Broadway, where we ate a quick dinner at Sbarro and saw the show XANADU! I loved it! Great show, highly recommended. Afterwards, we bought our I Heart NY shirts, and said goodbye to the Big Apple, as we boarded the train for East Orange for the last time.

Wednesday, 7/9 -- We are up at a reasonable hour, trying to time our exit to coincide with Carol going to work. We've decided that we are going to go back to DE via Princeton, NJ. We stop and walk around the BEAUTIFUL campus. Why didn't I apply there? I don't remember. Then we head back to Wilmington. Before we get home, we stop at Wawa and get sandwiches. Cool stuff, for sure. Josh comes home shortly, and we go to dinner at the brewery restaurant in Newark (I can't remember the name, but I've been there with DJ before). When we get home, Daph and I try to play Dance Dance Revolution on PS2. Colleen gave it to Daphne sometime earlier this year, and she had never played, but the back sensor was broken, so it wasn't as much fun as it should have been. Bedtime.

Thursday, 7/10 -- I fly from Philly back to B'ham. Exhausted, and ready to be home. Ready to sign a lease and get packing for our move to Auburn.

And that's our trip in a nutshell. The last two weeks have been spent teaching writing camp, and then sorting through all my junk, trying to come to terms with what I will be taking with me to the new apartment, and what will be sacrificed to the trash/Goodwill gods. Continue to pray.

New Haircut

I'll write more about my trip to NYC and Boston with Daphne, but first I must tell everyone that I FINALLY got a haircut!