Today  

We got up with lots of things to do!   We needed to get the wheelbarrow, lawn mower and dolly from the storage place, switch our insurance to here, get the internet hooked up again, organize all the boxes and stuff here in the condo, get a chain for putting our bikes out under the stairs.  I stayed home and organized while the man did the running around.  I swept up all the dead bugs and dust that had accumulated in the house during our absence, found a place for the canned goods in the bathroom closet, and made the guest bed.  We found a dead rhinoceros beetle outside when we put the equipment on the back patio.  Then I made a place for the Christmas tree by the glass door. :o)  I'm looking forward to decorating for Christmas tomorrow.  I'm sad that our nativity picture is in storage, but we have most everything else. 

 The Comcast guy came at 3 and hooked us up again.  Apparently someone had cut our wire and we were not connected anymore.  He was very professional and took care of it lickity split and we were up and running again!  Jer has the tv and I have the internet!  Good to be connected to the world again!   

We were very tired so we went to dinner at the barbecue place down the road.  Mmm.  What a wonderful dinner!  You should all come to visit us just so you can have some of that barbecue.    

 Yesterday 

 We got to the storage place and met the guys that unloaded the van.  They did a great job!  We looked at the van and looked at the storage unit and said, hmm, maybe it'll fit.  But they got it all in!  (except the wheelbarrow and lawnmower and dolly)  One guy had to push with his back against the opposite wall while the other one brought down the door, but it finally closed and we were done!  Jer said we would ask for them again to help us clear it out when the time came so they couldn't complain about how hard it was to get the door open again.  

Then we needed to return the van and trailer that the little Toyota truck was on.  There is a UHaul place in Kingwood a couple miles from Lara's house, but we were told to take it to downtown Houston (narrow streets, lots of crazy traffic while Dad is driving this huge dinosaur of a truck and me driving behind him trying not to get lost) or they would charge a penalty fee.  We finally made it down there and it was a gas station with no place to put that huge van and trailer.  And they said so very clearly and long.

(this picture was taken in the Costco parking lot while I waited for Jer to get back from returning the Comcast stuff to the store.

After a couple frustrating phone calls we were finally told that we should have taken it to the Kingwood place.  They were expecting us.  Can you imagine how we felt at that point!!?  I just wanted to scream and throttle somebody!  But we did it and were finished!  Then Jer and Lara and I had a very late lunch at a Mexican place and it was all over.  All behind us.  We went to Barneys' and rested and got ready for the concert at 7.


Mary and Sam play in the high school orchestras.  Mary in the older one, Sam in the 9th grade one.  And they were truly unbelievable!!  Their expertise and skill reminded me of the choir at Meridian when they had that wonderful director.  These directors must have been first class too.  The kids sounded like professionals.  And they played things that I like, too.  That's always a plus. We got there in Lara's new little Mini car.  It's a little station wagon/suv thing that was a lot of fun to ride in.  She says it's even more fun to drive.   

And finally we started on the way home but stopped at the store to get some breakfast supplies.  Then we were home in Crosby and unloaded the truck and the Subaru.  It was close to midnight and we were tired.  We had finally gotten done the worst of it.  We slept long and soundly.