Can't wait to move in!

This picture is old but I do love it. It doesn't necessarily

relate to the post but I thought I'd share it nonetheless!

We are moving in less than 2 weeks and I have a million trillion things to do but I just have to have a little therapy and type a blog entry! So much has been going on, I know there's no way I could possibly summarize it briefly but I'll do my best!

We had a great weekend here and got a lot of packing done. Sunday night Justin and I decided we needed to get out of the house. So we took the girls on a car ride and made a quick stop at Target. Justin was craving pizza so he decided to drop Morgan & I off a Target and he and Paiger were going to go pick up pizza. He said he'd feed Paiger while he waited for his pizza. As I was unstrapping Morgan from her car seat she was very excited and stuttered a little (she's been stuttering lately, it's almost like her mouth can't catch up with her brain). Anyway, she said, "Daddy, daddy, you are so silly, you can't feed Paiger because you're boobies aren't big enough!" We laughed so hard. We explained that daddy was going to feed her oatmeal. We all laughed and I took Morgan in Target and Justin "fed" Paiger while waiting for his pizza.

Morgan told GiGi this weekend that "Sometimes, I just call her 'little sis'! (referring to Paiger)" Yesterday, I was explaining to Morgan that the next holiday is Mother's Day (she has this new excitement for holidays and birthdays) and I asked her if she knew who her mother was, she looked at me with a very confident smile and in all seriousness and said, "Yes, GiGi!" I said, "No, try again?" She said, "Paiger?" Finally I gave up and explained that was her mother, she said, "No, you're Mama." :) I guess we'll call it "Mama's Day!"

Ok, back to what else is going on in our lives. The girls and I went to Dothan Monday morning to check on the status of our new rental house! Justin had to work this week and couldn't be with us. The renters were out over the weekend and I was able to get in and evaluate what furniture we would need and not need, etc. I also wanted to see if I wanted to paint any rooms. I know it sounds crazy to paint rooms in a rental house but I'm a "nester" and my color paint on the walls would give me such comfort. So, after Paiger's 9 mo check up we headed to Dothan.

Chance (my BIL (brother-in-law)) was in town and I told him just to meet me at the rental house. My MIL (mother-in-law) and SIL (sister-in-law) were also going to meet me there. They had the keys. So, I pull up with the girls and I'm greeted by my MIL, BIL, and SIL. I said, "well, how is it?" (Keep in mind, Justin and I did go through this house but the people were there, with all their stuff, and we didn't get a very good look!) They all explained that it was "Ok, for a rental house." They were being way too generous with that explanation. I walked through saw some pretty nasty looking rooms and bathrooms and thought, "Oh Lord, please help me!" I shed a few tears in the front yard and called Justin and said, "It's definitely going to need to be cleaned!" But I sucked it up and gave myself a little pep talk and said, "We're going to make it work, I just need to go buy some new carpet, vinyl, and paint".

My very nice and selfless BIL escorted me around town to have the utilities turned on, etc. We spent a fair amount of time at the Dothan Civic Center Utility Dept waiting to be seen to have the utilities turned on. We had to wait with about 20 people who were asking for "extensions" on their power bills. I didn't even know there was such thing and I think we both were in shock of what we saw. Words can't quite describe... one woman was there straight from the hospital with her newborn in her arms, she had her arm bracelets on and her slippers and winced when she sat down... I think the baby was born yesterday; needless to say, we saw some pretty rough folks. Chance said, "Next time you want me to go there with you, let me call my dr first and make sure I'm up on all my shots!" It was rough, sad and a good reality check all in one.

After taking care of the utilities I headed to the Carpet Barn Outlet to buy carpet, padding, and vinyl. The back room of the house is asbestos floor tile and I didn't want Paiger crawling on it. I took it back to the rental house and realized there was no way on this earth I could get the 12x12 carpet and the 12x25 vinyl in the house by myself. (Chance had already headed back to the beach by now). I managed to get it out of the suburban but couldn't lug it inside. Thankfully, Tommy came to my rescue. All he could do was laugh when he saw the house, he said, "You must really love Justin Stickler to live here!" We tried to be positive and figure out how to make it work. He lugged all the new flooring in for me and I gave him the grand tour.

When I arrived back at my MIL's house (who had the girls) I got a call from Justin saying the power company called our house in Tallahassee and couldn't get the power on at the rental house for some reason. I tried to call but they were closed. Later that night as I laid in bed talking to Justin I just kept telling him I didn't know what to do about this house. I told him that it was just really dirty and the floors were bad, etc. He had called Mr. Frumin (the landlord) earlier that day and told him I was disappointed with the condition of the house and he told us to call a cleaning service. Keep in mind, Mr. Frumin left for a 14 day cruise to Europe just after speaking to Justin. I told Justin I just didn't know what to do... so, he asked me, "Darby, can we make this work?!" I said, "Of couse we can make it work!" So that was that and I went to bed thinking, "the decision has been made and now we're going to stick with it and make this thing work!" I woke up at 6:30 with Paiger and we snuck out early to run to Lowe's to get paint and other carpet materials. I knew if I was going to make this work I'd need some stuff to help make it work. I bought 5 gallons of paint, carpet knife, carpet tape and a vinyl knife. I came back to the Stickler's house and GiGi came out of her bedroom with this lovely piece of paper. She had been in her room writing down all the pros and a few cons to the house on Kent. I told her that was great and that Justin and I had discussed it and that we were going to make it work. I explained that I already went to Lowe's got the paint and that I was going to run over there to drop it all off.

I called the utility company at 8 and was explained that the wires coming into the meter box were melted and not to code. He told me they were sending an inspector to inspect the electrical wiring of the house at 10. I rushed the girls over to Tami's and I met the inspector. The list was rather long and complicated and the repairs didn't seem minor; one said, "Replace and move inside panel to meet code". I know from past experience, moving an interior electrical panel is not a quick task. He also told me I couldn't use a microwave in the house. I was quickly thinking maybe this house wouldn't work after all. I took some photos of the house and went to my SILs house to use her phone book. She said, "there's a house right over there for rent, let's go look at it!" So we did. And it was a dream come true. It's ugly outside but I don't care at all. The inside was clean with brand new carpet and new paint and it had 2 very nice clean bathrooms. So, I proceeded to sign a lease and I've never been so relieved!! I emailed Justin the pictures last night and he couldn't believe that I actually considered living there. And now that I look at them I wonder what I was thinking too. I was just trying to be positive... maybe too positive! Praise the Lord for providing a way out! Here are pictures if you are so inclined to see the disaster. Be sure to see photo comments for the full effect.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.7tbrqoz1&x=1&y=-m858tm