I mowed the new yard for the first time last night. I would have said that I cut the grass, but it’s more like cutting down the fast growing variety of weeds. Previously Kim has done this task and I’m now gonna give her some credit. It looks much easier than it really is. The main problem is getting to those hard to reach areas, which would be much easier with a weed eater. Luckily Kim showed up with one of these last night, a gift from Phil and Doni. The only problem is that it is slightly broken and not usable. I hope to take it to a store in the next couple of days to see if it is fixable. Then after that our only problem will be getting grass to grow instead of all of these weeds.

We finally finished the moving process last night. Toward the end of last week I moved everything out of the old apartment besides the large turtle tank. I knew this would be a two person operation, especially since the tank is four feet long and must weight a hundred pounds or more. Anyway, we successfully moved the tank last night and only broke one end of the tank trim. I should be able to easily fix that though.

When I started filling the tank I was amazed by how unlevel it was. Being the quick thinkers that we are, we added two furniture coasters to one end of the stand to level it a little more. It still isn’t perfect but that shouldn’t matter since I don’t fill the tank up completely. At least I hope it won’t matter.

While at the apartment we also made sure that everything was as clean as possible and ready for some new tenants. The landlord still needs to repair some water damage coming from units above and then paint the walls but we’ve done what we can. Now we just need to get our deposit back and we’ll be done with renting! It’s a great feeling.

We went out and bought a dog crate last night from PetSmart. I know what some of you are thinking (Phil). No, we aren’t getting a dog. Our rabbit needed a new cage. Some of you have probably seen and heard the obnoxious cage we had him in before. Not only was it purple, but Amstel was free to move it around wherever he wanted since it was so light. Trust me when I say that he took advantage of the situation and moved it around often, which was never a quiet process.

Anyway, upon moving into the house I decided that this old cage would not be allowed in the house except for the basement. So when we moved Amstel over to the house he went straight into the basement. That was until yesterday morning. Before heading into work I went down to the basement to feed him and give him fresh water. What I had discovered was a flood that had mostly confined him to sitting on a telephone book. I moved him into a much dryer spot in the basement and decided that we would have to get a more attractive and less annoying cage that could be moved out of the basement. So that’s what we did last night.

Amstel is now on the main floor of the house in a smaller but better cage. He does appear to be much happier already. We’ll probably let him out of the cage each night for some exercise but we have to keep our eye on him otherwise he will quickly get into trouble. I’ve discovered so many chewed up wires during the moving process. Silly Wabbit!

Over the past few days I’ve moved almost all remaining items into the house. As of now the only things left in the apartment are the turtle tank, along with the stand and other supplies, and a large mirror. Kim is coming back to Kansas City tonight so maybe we’ll move more of the remaining items. We have exactly one week left on our lease and we’ll only be in town for half of those nights. The deadline is quickly approaching.

Not only can I not move the turtle tank by myself, I also am not sure where to put it. Once it’s placed somewhere it is pretty difficult to move again, unless the entire thing is drained. I’m leaning towards putting it in the office, like it was in the apartment, but I’m unsure where the office furniture is going to go. Phil and I are still planning to install a cable outlet into the office but we haven’t done it yet. Once that’s done I’ll know exactly where the computer desk should be placed. Then the other desk, book case, and tank will have to fit around it. Perhaps it’s time I gave SketchUp a try.

After waiting over two weeks, I finally received my Slimmy in the mail! The shipping delay was blamed on the huge demand they received after their products appeared in several blogs. I had multiple reasons for ordering the new wallet. First, I blame the pains that I often have in my back in neck on my old thick wallet. I’m not sure if it’s the real culprit or not, but I guess we’ll find out. Second, the old wallet was wearing out some of the back pockets in my pants. The Slimmy is slim enough to keep in my front pocket and I am planning to keep it that way. This is also a more secure way to carry your belongings, although I doubt I have to worry about that much.

I’m in love with the Slimmy thus far. I followed their recommendations and put the little cash that I do carry in the first slot. Continuing on I put two bank cards, one credit card, and my drivers license in the second. The third slot will be used for receipts for my purchases which I actually do keep until they clear the bank. I don’t see the need to carry much more than that and I could probably cut out one of the cards if I needed to. The nice thing with the Slimmy is that it starts off very thin in size but can expand to accommodate many cards. So despite the shipping delays I am very happy with my purchase so far.

Today is our friend Phil’s 40th birthday, so happy birthday to him. We met up with Phil last night at the Brooksider to help him celebrate climbing over that big hill. We finally got to sit on the outside patio instead of in the smoky confines of the bar. It was a nice night out and I’m glad we finally took a little break from the moving.

Speaking of the move, I would say we are now 98% done. Christie met up with us at the apartment last night to assist us with the remaining kitchen items along with other miscellaneous stuff. After tonight I’m hoping that everything will be out of there besides my fish tank and turtle tank, at the most. If we can move some of that tonight I will be even happier.

We fly out super early tomorrow morning headed for Greensboro, NC. One of Kim’s cousins is getting married and Kim is a bridesmaid. After this weekend, Kim will be gone most of next week so I’ll have to finish up the move all by myself. :(

Things have been very busy around here. Not only do we have our move to deal with, but I also have my company’s move as well. Our office isn’t physically moving anywhere but we are starting the conversion process to Harris. Yesterday we had another full staff meeting to discuss the mound of paperwork that we now have to fill out and turn in by the end of the week. We’ve got the works: W-4’s, direct deposit setup, pay schedule, confidentiality agreements, conflict of interest, substance abuse policy, etc. I’m going to need an extra day this week just to get through it all.

Last night we brought over more things in the kitchen from the apartment to the house. Now we should actually be able to eat something besides pizza for dinner. I’d love to eat pizza everyday but I think Kim is getting tired of it. That or she is becoming brainwashed, because I think she was asking about specials at Papa John’s for tonight. Welcome to the world of pizza addiction, population two.

After work on Friday I arrived at the new house to find Kim, Doni, and Doni’s sister Ronda all busy cleaning every square inch of each room. I decided it was best to stay out of their way and concentrated on changing the locks and working on a couple of temperamental light switches. I’m happy to report that I was only electrocuted one time!

Originally we wanted to start packing up the apartment on Friday night, but once the cleaning and repairing was done we were too tired to do so. That left us no option but to get up early on Saturday to get ready for the move. After a few hours of packing up clothes it was time to head up north to pick up a moving truck that our realtor provided for free. I had a blast driving the truck back down to the apartment where we loaded it up with help from Phil and Doni. We concentrated on getting all of the big stuff into the truck since it would be our only opportunity to do so. Once the loading was complete I think we had about 90% of our stuff in the truck.

From there we all drove over to the house to unload everything. The unloading process was much faster than the loading. Since we were sort of blocking part of the street we carried most things just into the front room of the house. Once the truck was unloaded and moved out of the way, we decided to attempt moving the bed upstairs. This brought along the first challenge of the weekend. The box springs to the queen sized bed would not fit up the stairs. We tried bending and forcing it up, but only ended up with some scratched up walls. Thankfully there are about thirty leftover buckets of paint in the basement, so touching up the walls should be no problem.

Later in the evening we stopped all of the moving process to get ready for a wedding reception for one of my friends here at work. It was a traditional Indian wedding reception so we weren’t sure what to expect. Overall it is not much different than what I am used to minus the very colorful dresses, authentic Indian cuisine, and entertainment from various family members of the bride and groom. The program consisted mostly of singing, dancing, or speeches from various individual family members. It was a very entertaining and interesting celebration that I’m glad to have attended.

Sunday morning we got right back to the moving game. Kim started by disassembling the box springs for the bed. She was convinced that if she took off enough pieces that it would then fit up the stairs. I was a little skeptical at first, but the worst that could happen would be that we had to throw it away and buy something to replace it that would work. Amazingly her work paid off and she did eventually get it upstairs where she reconstructed the frame and put the entire bed together. Needless to say I was amazed and very thankful.

While Kim was busy with the bedding, Phil and I attempted to draw up a plan for running a cable outlet into the spare bedroom which will become the office. I spent some time up in the insulation filled attic only to realize that this might not be the easiest way and must contact the attic insulation contractors as soon as possible to fix this issue. We investigated the three existing outlets and discovered that two of them are run from the outside of the house. We are now considering this to be the best method and are trying to get together the necessary tools to get it done. Hopefully we can figure something out soon without too many problems.

As of right now most everything is in the house besides most of the kitchen equipment and lots of our decorative items. The bedroom is almost completely setup and almost all of our clothes are out of boxes and either into the closets or dressers. We also have our entertainment area downstairs setup with TV, couch, and coffee table. The experts from Clean Air Doctors: blown in insulation suggests us to get some insulation done! There will still be lots to do this week, but at least we are making some very good progress. Stop by and say hey if you are in the area this week. I’m sure we’ll be busy and could use a hand or two at times. A big thanks to Phil, Doni, and Ronda for all of their help this weekend. We couldn’t have done it without them.

The day has arrived! We close on our first house tonight after work. I cannot wait to get the keys and check everything out once more. Hopefully everything goes smoothly. At times we still feel like “the puppy that lost his way.” With the keys in hand the packing process will then begin. Thankfully we don’t have too much stuff to pack up for the move.

In other news, the Pig-Fest evite has gone out! In less than 24 hours we’ve already got 66 RSVPs. If you didn’t get an invitation in your in-box, here is your personal invitation. As always, I cannot wait for the event and I hope to see you there.

Yesterday was not only my brother Tim’s 24th birthday, it was also the three year anniversary for Kim and I. We celebrated just like any other normal day, I made an excellent dinner and we shared a couple of drinks. We thought about going to a movie or something, but I figured it was better if we saved our money for the upcoming house purchase.

Speaking of the house, I think we have officially signed the last paper before we close on May 11th. The pressure and anxiety has died down a little and now we are just wishing we could move in sooner. T-minus 22 days and counting…