Coming Up to Speed...

-The movers were with us the week of July 4, packing and loading all our stuff. On July 6 the big truck pulled away, carrying most of our worldly possessions. At 2 pm on July 9 we left Cheyenne. We made our way across the country, arriving in Herndon Virginia on July 13.

-Grandma & Grandpa (my parents) flew in from Phoenix and were waiting to meet us when we arrived. They like the Cat Daddy & me, but they REALLY like the boys, and they REALLY helped us by taking care of them while we looked for houses.

-We looked at several rental houses in the greater-suburban-DC area (I think the locals call it Northern Virginia, or NOVA), and settled upon a lovely place in lovely Ashburn. It is quite an area--very affluent, very pretty, and currently very hot & muggy--but that's another post. More importantly we will be five minutes away from friends of ours, which we are pretty dang excited about.

-But the lease doesn't take effect until August 1. Grandpa & Grandma were with us just over a week at the extended-stay hotel, and then thankfully we were able to extend our reservation until we move in.

-The extended stay place is pretty nice. We have two bedrooms, a little living room, and most of a kitchen. They say it's a full kitchen, but there's no oven so I'm inclined to disagree on that count. Still, other than the oven thing, it's pretty well-equipped so we can eat in a fair amount of the time. Plus, the hotel provides breakfast every day and dinner three nights per week, and they even have fruits & vegetables so we don't get scurvy, or rickets, or something. I feel good about that.

-The hotel takes pets, but charges a pet fee for each one, which gets expensive quickly. Our friends in Ashburn have gone above & beyond in dog sitting for us. Max and Zoe have good hearts, but are not the best behaved dogs ever, and our friends have taken the neediness, neuroses, and doggie-pee in stride for over two weeks now. Did I mention how grateful we are? Cuz we are.

-Nipples has been with us, but is not having the best time ever. We have kept him inside so as not to induce confusion about where "home" is. Honestly he'd probably do just fine since he is as sharp as he is fierce. We are being extra-cautious though, so inside he is, until after we get to the new house.

-As a result, he has adopted a life's mission of escaping at all costs. Thru trial and error, and a series of angry-kitty rescues, we devised a system for keeping him contained as we come and go from our little suite, so he just has to be in his carrier when housekeeping comes. He then destroyed the clasp on his original carrier, busted through the zipper on Zoe's soft-sided carrier, and even managed to break out of his brand-new hard-sided carrier before we found two clips we hadn't fastened properly. Now he is safely contained.

-The kids are doing well overall. Hotel pools are brilliant.

-The Cat Daddy has had some time off, due to waiting for security paperwork. Incredibly helpful. The Littler One had what we're pretty sure was Hand Foot & Mouth disease, and I had a random fever/sore throat/headache for a day or two. I made the Cat Daddy check my scalp for a bullseye rash to (sort of) rule out Lyme Disease, and he was all "You should never shave your head," and I was all "Thanks for that, but is there a rash?" And there wasn't, so I felt better about probably not having Lyme disease. It is worth noting that I most likely didn't even have a tick bite, but the whole story is long & boring, so let's assume that with my neuroses it was worth checking. And I recovered quickly anyway, so we're good now.

-I'm more & more "anti-stuff" lately, or more accurately "selective stuff." I packed lightly but wisely for our stint in extended-stay and while there are a few things I learned for the next time, overall I'm very pleased and most importantly don't feel overrun by stuff. That said, I am looking forward to getting into what will be our own space for the next two years, with our own stuff. Even if I want to get rid of half of it.

-Speaking of which, our stuff will arrive on August 6, exactly one month after it left on the big truck. The movers will unpack us over the 6th & 7th, during which time Mrs Z and her crew will be with us for practical help and overall moral support, so I am hopeful I will not implode from the pressure of figuring out where everything goes RIGHT NOW (we've never had them unpack us completely before, so it is a new endeavor for me).

-This is the most time I've gotten to spend on a blog post in a while, and I can only assume that I've just jinxed myself and bedlam & mutiny are about to ensue, so I'd better quit while I'm up to speed.

Stay classy, Ashburn...