Is That a Light I See?

A light at the end of the tunnel, I hope? Well, maybe...

It has been 9 days since I last posted, and much progress has been made.

We have now gone through everything in the master bedroom, and almost everything in the closet. We have also brought more than half of the boxes down from the attic and are in the process of figuring out what to do with them... Many of them will go to my step-daughters, and others will just go with us into storage until we move again...

Anyway, we have started moving furniture out, and we will also move most of the packed boxes, etc, out to the garage ready to load into the trailer. We will have to try to mark them so we know what to bring with us on this first trip, and what we will leave in the garage for a few weeks until we can make another fast trip down here to get the rest of the items...

It is exciting to think that we will finally have this major "loose end" tied up!

Oh -- almost forgot the most significant news of the day (or the month)! The closing of the house took place this afternoon! It is official, and we no longer have this mortgage payment to make! So, PTL!

I may not have time to post again until after we are back in TN...

Another Week...

Can't believe it has been a whole week since I've posted... I know we've made some important progress, but it seems like we've accomplished very little compared with what is left...

The truck is now once again in good running condition -- it's legal anyway... It was very expensive.

The van is now in the shop, and it will not be as expensive, but it needs a full tune-up, and several other things. It should be done tomorrow.

The trailer is ready to use to haul trash to the dump. It doesn't yet have the top on it, but I have sealed the wood. Just needs a day or so to dry. I'll probably start loading trash tomorrow... We will try to take only one trip to the dump to minimize the cost, but it may not work out that way... We desperately need to get some of the trash bags out of here!

We have made very little new progress in packing. We ran into an unexpected problem with the well pump that had to be fixed. Always these things happen on Saturday afternoon when everyplace is closed. I thought the starter capacitor was bad, but it wasn't. I ended up having to pull the pump, and discovered that a wire had apparently been pinched between the pump and the pipe when it was last put down, and it just now corroded through. So, I ended up soldering it together, and sealing it up with a heat shrink wrap, and tape, and it is now working... It took most of the day to get that done (between running around to find a capacitor which turned out not to be the problem, and then getting the soldering iron, etc, which I didn't have here).

We truly do still have a lot to do. I will be going to work in Dallas on Wednesday, so that is one day I can't be working here...

So, we have a lot of things to get done, and our goal is to be finished in less than two weeks. Definitely a challenging goal!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

After church and Sunday School this morning, we went to TaMolly's to eat (favorite local Mexican restaurant).

Then, we came home and took a nice long nap (or at least I took a long one). I got up around 4:30 or so, and went out to resume work on mowing the lawn... It is going to take a while, and I'm going to have to rake up the huge bundles of grass (hay?) that come out of the mower deck periodically... This is going to be an adventure...

We have the trailer ready to load garbage into, so we'll be able to get a lot of this out of here tomorrow! We will be taking the truck in to be worked on tomorrow, so it will likely be late this week before we can get the trailer to the dump. That's just as well since it will probably take us most of the week to get all the things sorted through -- much of which will likely be trash...

So, we obviously have a busy week ahead... Hopefully, by this time next week, we'll at least have a date set for the closing on the house or maybe we will have already had the closing!

Overall, it was a good first week, and we have gotten quite a bit done. If we can just maintain steady progress, we'll be doing great...

Secret Weapon

Today, my SW worked hard on the two kids bedrooms and the dining room. See, SW could mean "Sweet Wife" or it could be "Secret Weapon"... Today, it means the latter...

She has thoroughly gone through everything in both bathrooms and both of the kids bedrooms, and has done most everything in the dining room!

If it were not for her being here and working diligently, I would never get any of this done! Thank you, Sweetheart!

And, we have some things in the kitchen, but there were many items missing...

Anyway, we don't have a lot in the living room, so that leaves the attic, the master bedroom and closet, and then the garage... Lots of stuff...

Meanwhile, I was able to get the truck out last night, and we went and took the trailer to get wood for putting sides and top on the trailer. And, today, I was able to get the sides built except for the back which will be hinged doors... It does look nice, and it will be done pretty quickly.

Then, tonight, I got my tractor out and mowed just a little bit because it was getting dark, and the lawn is still just a little too wet... I plan to mow some tomorrow if the weather holds...

Meanwhile, the kids are making progress at school... Not as much progress as we would like, but progress nonetheless.

Slowly, but Surely...

Slowly, we are making progress... Mostly, cleaning the bathrooms, and fixing little things that were neglected since I moved like bad switches on ceiling fans, etc... Those little odd jobs are getting done, so that is a nice thing even if it isn't a huge part of the job.

We went and bought moving boxes today so now we have something to pack things into... We have also been working through some of the details of what we're taking and what we're going to do with the rest... We'll see how that comes together.

And, we did get the truck and trailer registered today, so those are some important items also. I have also sketched out how I plan to put sides and a top on the trailer using 7/16 inch OSD boards, and I bought tarps to put on the trailer bed (to prevent water from splashing up through the boards) and another to put over the top of the boards once we get it all packed... We may need to use the trailer to haul some things before packing it up to leave, so I'll have to wait on doing that work for now. I could buy the lumber and put it in the garage (where the truck is currently parked), but I want to keep it out of the weather since we don't know when God wants us to send out the Dove...

The sun is shining today, so that is good. It was supposed to be heavy thunderstorms again today, but PTL, they were wrong!

Well, we plan to take the truck in for service and inspection on Monday morning, and hopefully, it won't be too bad, but I expect there will be some surprises...

We appreciate the prayers that we know are going heavenward on our behalf... Thank you very much...

Fourth of July

It was a pretty good day today. I can't really say that "we started out the day" at all because we just slept right through the start of the day...

But, when we did decide to stop being lazy, we had a very nice day... We didn't really do much work around here today (or yesterday for that matter). We have been a bit overwhelmed, and we decided to just give ourselves permission to take the day off!

I did do some weed trimming today trying to at least locate the driveway since it is being overtaken after all the rain recently! That looks a little better now, but I have a lot more work to do.

I did fix a pull switch on the light of the ceiling fan, so that is more convenient (we can use the fan at night now -- without having to unscrew the light bulbs).

We did hamburgers on the grill, and then went out for ice cream afterward, and came home and I opened birthday gifts and we went outside to set off fireworks and firecrackers that we got for the kids. It was quite a nice evening... Now, Dawn and I are laying in bed watching a movie (and I'm blogging -- sounds like a person problem, doesn't it)...

Other Notes

We are eagerly awaiting the date of the closing of our house sale to our neighbors. They will let us have as much time to get things out of here as we require, but we obviously would prefer to have the closing as soon as possible. Hopefully, that will take place within the next ten days or so.

The kids are not quite finished with home schooling this year, and that is many times more challenging than it was before we came to Texas. There are many things to do, and people to see, and it has the feel of "vacation". But, they really need to finish! Almost doesn't really count for the curriculum we are using (ACE). So, hopefully, we will be able to get through to them soon...

Meanwhile, we have many loose ends to tie up here. I need to get the truck registered (so I can take it to TN and then register it there), and then I need to have both the van and truck serviced (at the mechanic I've used for several years). I need tires on the van, and may need to have tires on the truck (it has 6 of them). I'm sure I will be paying a bunch of money to get both vehicles into the shape I want them.

Then, we need to get all the animals to the vet before taking them back to TN with us... Three dogs and three cats (we don't even want to think about the traveling part yet) need vaccines.

Then, I need to buy some lumber to put sides and a top on my flatbed trailer to avoid worrying about losing things on the trip -- not to mention the weather... We'll have a tarp over the top for the rain.

So, you can see that, aside from the tasks of cleaning, going through belongings, and packing, we have much to do! Please continue to pray as we work hard to make this all happen as soon as possible, so we can get home to our home in TN (where we will turn around and do the same thing again in the next 6 - 12 months).

We just pray that God will sell our home there in TN as quickly and easily as he did the one here in TX! And, of course, there is the minor detail of where we will move to once that does happen...

A New Project...

Well, we're going to be taking a break from "The Hill" for the next little while, but we have a new "project" (if you can call it that)...

We have come to Texas to clean up and sell the house that I lived in for several years before marrying Dawn and moving to Tennessee...

When we arrived very early morning on July 1st, we were appalled to find many things missing, and we're still not sure what happened to them.

Needless to say, we are very upset by what we found.

We have begun the long and difficult process of cleaning things up. We spent most of today shopping, cleaning, and beginning some small repairs.

We expect to be here for several weeks, so we have had to buy food and other household items to live while we're here, not to mention a lot of cleaning supplies.

Aside from scrubbing the kitchen sink and bathroom sink, shower, and toilet, I was able to fix the toilet (running constantly due to a slow leak) and also replaced a bad switch for the vanity lights. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is at least a start.

It has been difficult to know where to begin, and I've honestly been reeling after being completely stunned by finding the state of the house and so many things missing.

Over the next days and weeks, I hope to be able to post progress on this truly daunting project...

I should add that we believe we already have a buyer for the house, and that they are not requiring any changes -- they are willing to buy "as-is". However, I would be embarrassed to leave things in the state that we found them when we arrived last night!