Sunday, May 25, 2008

Eastward Bound - Home At Last!!

Hello everybody!

H, Pudda (cat), my Mum and I made it home to Douglas, Georgia at last!!! Mum is such a trooper and did a great job of helping me out, thanks Mum!
After arriving in Moscow, ID a little before midnight on Tuesday May 13th, we changed out suitcases, had a cup of tea, and loaded the last of the things into the back of my Honda Pilot by which time it was quickly approaching 3:30 a.m. I had wanted to be on the road at 4a.m. so we decided to go ahead and leave that little bit earlier. The roads were pretty much clear of traffic and by the time we got to the interstate up east of Coeur D' Alene 2.5 hours later at dawn, we had only seen the one live deer by the side of the road. I really didn't want to encounter any more!

We went over Look Out Pass - Elevation 4725 ft and there was still snow along the side of the road. Entered Montana at 6:15 am!
Drove hard the rest of the day to get to the Little Big Horn by 5:15 p.m. The park closed at 6 p.m., but we had a look at the museum, and then up to the monument to view the soldiers' graves and also the resting place of the cavalry horses. We were glad we had made it in time to visit.

Had supper at a nice diner called JB's restaurant in Sheridan, Wyo and drove on to Motel 6 in Buffalo, Wyo.

Mileage for Day One: 758.83


Day Two
Left Motel 6 by 6:10 a.m. and drove to Gillette, Wyo. Pretty countryside and the start of the Black Hills. Got to Mt. Rushmore by 10:05am. Toured the museum and saw the faces which were impressive. H was more impressed with the local chipmunks!!

After lunch continued long hard drive to Albert Lea, MN, committing ourselves to getting there by reserving a Super 8 motel room. We arrived at midnight!!

Mileage for Day Two: 732.06


Day Three
Left Albert Lea by 7a.m. No sight seeing today only to get through Chicago and into Ann Arbor, MI by 6p.m. Due to heavy traffic in Chicago, we missed our time by 40 minutes! The plan had been to drive on down to my brother's place near Dayton, OH, but we decided to rest and spend the night at AE's there in Ann Arbor. Good decision as we were tired!

Mileage for Day Three: 667.28

Day Four
Saturday being the next day Mum successfully did what she needed to do in town whilst I took H to the local park borrowing her cousin's tricycle which she had fun using but it needed the extended handle on the back that some tricycles have to make it easier for this expecting Mama! :-)
Left Ann Arbor and arrived in Huber Heights, OH (Brother's house) by 2:30 p.m. My sister, her husband and their son, Ian were already there. H was glad to have a playmate :-)

Spent the weekend relaxing and meeting my s-i-l and nephew for the first time. H even started a pillow fight with Ian which was fun to watch but Ian soon finished it! They played well together. No tears and they shared toys. Sometimes H calling Ian 'Boy' and Ian calling H 'Girl'. They were sweet together.

Day Six
Left Huber Heights by 6:15 a.m. and drove south on I-75. Driving, driving, driving, switching out drivers and more driving! Said Hello/Good-bye to Powell, TN and continued driving!!
We made it to Douglas, GA by 9:30 p.m and had to do a little bit of guess work to find out where my new house was located! I said to Mum, "If I can navigate Chicago, I can find my new house without having to call Shaun!!" ;-) We pulled into the driveway and thanked the Lord for such a great and safe trip. Except for a lady having a rear tire blow out on I-75 we did not see any accidents the whole trip!!

Mileage for Day Six: 741.36

Our new house built in 1947 is a 2 bedroom one bath charmer :) Dearest S has worked hard on painting the rooms, installing new floor in the kitchen and bathroom and working with a friend who so very generously sanded, helped stain and varnish the wood floor throughout the house as a gift! We have beautiful red mahogony shiny wood floors that make you go "Wow!" when you see them! :-)

After resting up with Mum on Tuesday H and I took her to the airport for very early on Wednesday 21st May. And with special thanks to Pastor Quaade coming to the rescue to pick Mum up at the airport in Washington, she made it back home to Moscow, ID by early evening. Poor Mum, her internal clock must be so messed up I'm sure it will take a couple weeks to get readjusted!

The rest of the week has been spent finding homes for our things, breaking down the moving boxes and hopefully putting them in the deepest darkest place in the attick not to be seen for a good few years!!!
There is the cutting-in paintwork to be done throughout the house, and painting the white woodwork and then putting up bookshelves before all of the boxes are gone :) H and baby's room will be the first to be tackled. I will post photos as and when I get them.

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to read this extra long post. Hope you've enjoyed it!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Ok, The young and the old are down for a nap so I have a few minutes to have a go at this.... then the nap is where I'm headed!!

Where is your cell phone? Currently do not own one. Will be getting a disposable for our trip back to GA.

Your significant other? My Gorgeous-Hubby :) All alone in GA (not for long!!) working on our house and his lawn business....

Your hair? brown, chin length but will be trimmed and layered soon.

Your mother? Loving, generous, hard-working, and soon to be here.

Your father? Quiet, too hard-working, and a wonderful Papa. :-)

Your favorite thing? umm... at the moment, probably a painting my Grandfather did when he was 15. Which in 24 years time will be 100 yrs old!!

Your dream last night? I don't remember dreaming

Your favorite drink? A really nice cup of National Trust tea. But since I can't get any of that I'll settle for a really nice cup of Yorkshire tea :)

Your dream/goal? To be in God's will for my life honoring and pleasing Him.

The room you are in? The basement!

Your fear? Failing to do what the Lord wants me to do.

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Location? With my family of hopefully at least 4 kids by then ;-) Working in a church that is thriving, teaching my kids and working in my garden/providing for my family.

Where were you last night? Resting in bed.

What you are not? A loud, and look-at-me woman.

Muffins? Yes, please. Goes good with tea :)

One of your wish list items? To get a simplicity ellis changing table/dresser to go with babies' new crib that my great sister and her hubby bought for us.

Where you grew up? Bicester, England

The last thing you did? Put H down for her nap.

What are you wearing? khaki skirt and purple/black/ mauve stripe shirt.

Your TV on? Nope. Your pets? Down to just good ol' Pudda now (cat)She's here with me and will be coming back to GA. In her life-time so far she will have travelled close to 6,000 miles! by car of course!!

Your computer? UL's computer. Mine's in storage.

Your life? Busy, exciting and about to get more so!

Your mood? Tired but still going. Now if H wakes up before I get my nap in I might get a bit cranky ;)

Missing someone? My hubby.

Your car? Honda Pilot, which I really like. But come on guys... make your windscreen wiper replacements more available. The local Honda dealership here is 30 miles away!! I can give you a few good names... stock 'em at Auto Zone, Shucks, Jiffy Lube and Wal-Mart!!

Something you are not wearing? ummm.... a hat.

Favorite store? I don't have one.

Your summer? Being at home with my hubby and preparing for arrival of new baby!!

Your favorite color? Blues

When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday, but I can't remember what it was H did.

Last time you cried? When H broke my glasses and then I found out she posted a dvd in the vcr!!

Who will repost this? YOU! I tag YOU! If you play along, let me know in the comments, and I'll come visit you. (I like the way she worded that!)