Updates

1) I have the best friends in the world, yo. I went into moving weekend thinking that I was so grateful for my friends coming to my aid with moving, but if worse came to worst, I would have been able to handle everything myself.

After watching those guys fit all of my furniture into the U-Haul like a jigsaw puzzle, not to mention wrestle a washer and dryer out of the basement (having to remove the basement door to get the dryer out) moving the new washer and dryer in, unload the furniture into the new (tiny) place, help me plan where to put the recliner (that barely fits...it barely fit through the door, actually) and THEN move the OLD washer and dryer to the boy's new place.... And do all of that with SMILES and LAUGHTER... well, there's no way I could have done that by myself. Buying them lunch and ice cream just doesn't express how very much I appreciate having them to rely on. It makes a single girl misty to know that she's not really that alone after all. (One guy even VOLUNTEERED for this madness....yes, Brad, I'm looking at you.) I'm so very lucky to have met these guys and I'm reminded of that with every act of generosity and kindness.

2) I have disrupted the lives of my children. Laney is already in the new place. I wanted her to have a chance to explore and take an ownership of sorts before I brought the dogs in. I'm not sure that she's actually taking advantage, though, because every time I'm there, she's tucked between the toilet and the bathtub. Maybe now that the furniture is in she'll be a bit more bold. I sure hope so, because we're coming down to crunch time, and the dogs are coming soon...

3) There is no right answer when moving animals. I moved Laney first, but she's obviously terrified alone in a new place without me. However, Casey freaked the HELL out with all these strange people in her apartment moving stuff out the door. She was barking pretty much constantly the entire time the boy moved his stuff on Saturday and I moved my stuff on Sunday. She calmed down a bit when she was let out to explore the emptied apartment, but she's still obviously on edge. Something's going on that she doesn't understand and she's not too happy about it. Blue, on the other hand, has obviously had disruption in his life before and come through it just fine because not only was he the most quiet one, I actually caught him snoozing amidst moving. Yay Blue!!

4) Remember when the boy loved his dog? Yeah, well, any sort of progress that Tyson has made has gone all to hell with the disruption of his routine. With Casey's barking, though constant, I could tell her to "sit" and "lie down" for a brief reprieve in the noise. Tyson has been pretty much foaming at the mouth for two days straight now, complete with whining/howling and heavy panting. At one point, one of my friends mentioned that he sounded like a horse with his panting. Like a neighing horse if that gives you any idea of how bad it was. When we had to move the items in his room, we put him in his crate since the door was standing open and he's the one dog that can't be trusted not to run off. Boy he loved that! Enough to empty his bowels for the boy to clean up. This morning, when putting him in his room as usual (no crate - it's already been moved,) he was immediately freaking out again. Apparently the lack of furniture scares the hell out of him. The boy is terrified of what will happen in the new place. I can't say I blame him. I can't say I'm sorry to see Tyson go, either.

5) Miraculously, everything fits in the new place. One chest will be taken back to my parent's house for storage (because it's kind of nice, and I don't want it in the basement) but everything else fits just fine. Even the recliner. I was beginning to despair about the recliner, but it just fits in the bedroom. I can't really recline, but at least it wasn't given to the spiders. AND it still sort of looks like a normal room. (Some boys will just put furniture anywhwere it fits and couldn't understand that I'm a girl, so the room still had to be functional....)

6) I'm currently on an air mattress in the old place to pack up the remaining items and not have to move the dogs quite yet. I'm officially entirely in the new place by the 15th at the latest. Next week begins the "ride my bike to work" experiment. My friends have bets going....the shortest time being three days before the experiment fails, and the longest being one week. I'm setting out to prove everyone wrong.... (Of course, if it rains, I get to drive.... :-)

7) When the boy got home from work, Bob was MIA. However, I saw him one last time on Friday. Unfortunately, he had attempted to cross a very busy street near my apartment complex - during rush hour. When I called to tell the boy, he made me turn around and attempt to rescue Bob. I did. It was too late. When I got through playing chicken with morning commuters (in my frigging high heels) and got close enough to confirm that Bob had moved on to a better place, the Public Works truck was pulling up to remove him from the road. I did NOT confirm this to the boy. I left it as "I wasn't sure" if he had made it. The boy takes these things pretty hard...better to let him hope, right?