Seaweed and Bubble Wrap and BIG Moving Trucks

Of course, with the move coming up, I'd like to be able to write something all profound and heart-wrenching about how I will miss Maryland terribly, how it just won't be the same with all the evangelicals in Texas, and how we're trading a crisp, breezy Mid-Atlantic autumn for the stark raving mad HEAT of the Southwest. Goodbyes are always hard (for me, at least), so I'll save sad for later. For now, I'm content to make jokes -- like the other night when I told my sister that I, along with our possessions, might need to be swaddled in bubble wrap and marked "Fragile" after the week is all said and done. Allow me to elaborate:

Drudgery:

• Since our house is officially on the market, it has had to be CLEAN 24-7. It occured to me the other day that this is about as freakin' annoying as making sure you have on clean and newish underwear when you leave the house in case you get in an accident or something and have to be stripped of your clothes for medical reasons. Except it's much easier to throw boxers in the wash. Pressure's off now, though. The movers have come, so there's no more STUFF to keep tidy.

• Yeah, so, um, my drudgery column is going to be pretty deficient here because the movers came today (check out the pics) and packed the hell out of our house, and now we are sitting on the floor, surrounded by cardboard and a few random shelves and pieces of furniture. I guess that could be drudgery to some, but it's kinda cool, actually and made us think of our first meal in our first apartment in Maryland atop plastic bins. Okay, I'm moving on from drudgery now. Well, wait...it's raining and the sump pump is doing the death gurgle again. Ah, always more drudgery to be had when you think you're fresh out...
  

Fortune:

• Happy 8 Months to our perfect baby boy! He's actually got a touch of fever today (we think from a flu shot he got Tuesday), which should, I guess, be drudgery, but he's a real trooper, our little kiddo, and charms everyone in his path. There's a random kid in the neighborhood who keeps dropping in, wanting to talk to us, but mostly to Eli. He says his name is Xavier, that he's five, and lives down the street, near the alley, in a white and blue house...but I don't know. This is the same kid who staggered onto our front steps last week, asking to cut our grass (big brother on side walk pushing mower). Today he jumped in front of Shaun's car (while he was driving it up the street...yeah, not funny, I know). Then, this afternoon, he came up on the porch and sat on the swing with Eli and me and we practically had to peel him off as we headed to the neighbors' for dinner. Sad...but entertaining nonetheless.
  
  

• As an early anniversary gift, my hubby babysat the tyke yesterday while I went to the Elizabeth Arden Salon to have a few hours of relaxation. Yeah, not the most opportune time (or maybe it was), but the appointment was made far in advance, unable to be cancelled without paying more $$, so I went, okay. And I got wrapped...in seaweed. But not really like a fruit roll-up or anything, even though that's what I envisioned. When I was done, my "technician" gave me a checklist of things I should do to extend the detox, like eating light and avoiding stress for the rest of the evening. So I stopped at McDonald's on the way home, got a Quarter Pounder with cheese and fries and then stayed up with the hub 'til at least one, organizing the house for the movers. Sorry, no pictures of that...
  

Ah, well, did I mention we are almost all packed up, and it's crazy weird that people have so many material possessions. And that we hire BIG trucks to move them to storage houses in Mississippi. Yeah, Mississippi. I hope I don't need my blender or anything because that would be a hike.