Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

[starlight1]

Sounds like all that sexual energy is going into nesting right now and that's ok! It's very exciting and hard work taking on the tasks you're doing and it's coming along beautifully! I LOVE the wall work. I mean I didn't realise it would be three different colours and I like how you took the inspiration piece and made it your own. It suits the light SO well.

God, and I can't believe you have 4 linoleum layers on the kitchen floor- what a nightmare

But thank you for sharing all the house porn, it's so cool and exciting

Do you find it helps you stay motived to update your progress here on things?

Also I hope Darknight is feeling better after the talk, and also that you all have fun and get a good nights sleep.

 

[Bluebird]

Oh, writing a journal has always been my outlet for everything, so yes, writing about things definitely helps. But also, I like having a record I can go back and reread at times. Plus it's a boost to go back and say, ok it feels like slow going, but look - stuff IS getting done.

Today I weighed myself and I lost 3.2 pounds on my diet this week. I am comfortable with that, though it would be soooo easy to cheat. It's difficult not to stuff my face with junk when I am flitting from one project to another. I figure though, if I am ever going to get back out there and date again, it is not going to happen at my current weight. Not because I can't get dates - that's never been a problem - but because I'm just not confident anymore. And that's huge. I'm unhappy with my body and I'm the only one who can change that. So, here I am, trying again. I have more emotional work to do in therapy as well - seriously, keeping my soul safe is Important for me now. I am determined not to fall for someone like WarMan again, and being able to recognize love bombing and the gaslighting I experienced is paramount.

That said, I am not really interested in dating anyone at the moment. lol Especially with my libido being on a downswing. But yeah, that's ok because I'm nesting. Also I just feel so full up in the love department - DarkKnight and PunkRock's willingness to work so hard on things that don't matter much to them on our house project, it means a lot. They are really doing their best to make me happy and that recognition brings me joy. However, that's tempered with the realization that they deserve all the happiness I can bring them, and feeling inadequate to repay their dedication in kind. I will try though. They're amazeballs, and I'm truly very lucky to have them both love me so much.

I also want to touch on briefly that this house renovation has really brought up a lot of thoughts about my dad. He's been dead a few years now, but not only did he die in February, but he was always very handy. I know he would be here helping us lay down floor, hang drywall and paint. I'm going to make myself cry, but I see him here in my mind sometimes, and think about how he would have been involved, driving both my guys nuts with his incessant talking about nonsense, and yet having them in awe in the stuff he knows about construction. I talked a little about it last night with PunkRock, while we were working on the subfloor. It's hard to really express my feelings about my dad. I both worshipped him and hated him with every fiber of my being. It's intense. A large part of my attachment issues stem from him and it still makes me angry that I am fucked up in ways because of him. However, I am determined to fold over that piece of me and grow stronger, even if it means some wonkiness and weird thinking from me sometimes.

 

[anamikanon]

I was reading this latest post of yours and thought of my dad. He died last March. Extreme DIYer all his life, which I get from him and admired too, but I also hated him a lot and frankly would have been happy to not meet him again at all if his illness hadn't brought my parents to stay in my home because they couldn't cope on their own.

I'm enjoying reading these posts about the work on your home. It is the sort of thing I enjoy too. DIY+Nesting. So fantastic.

 

[Bluebird]

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Today has been crazypants. Conlan and Fergus - my totally NOT FeLV + foster kitties - were adopted. Their new parents live an hour from us, so we (DarkKnight & I) met them in Frederick. Everyone here is sad to see them go, but we are oh so happy they were placed together. They weren't so glad to be in the carrier though. Lol

Apparently, Conlan feels we need to go sit and think about what we've done.

I will miss Conlan the most. His expressions are amazeballs.

So, today PunkRock and I have been laying the subfloor in the kitchen. It has been really slow going. If you remember, we first only had half enough underlayment, and then on Friday, it got too late to actually start nailing it down. Well, today we kept running out of nails. We figured a box of 300+ should be fine. Ahahahahahahahahahahahabaha. So far we've purchased 7 additional boxes. We've put down about half the floor, and we've got a rhythm going where he puts down the plank, nails around the outside, and then I follow behind and nail the center. The edges have nails spaced 3 inches apart and the center is 6 inches spaced. Fuck a duck. My hands are going to be crippled after this!

We're not exactly pros at this lol. However, everything is level and even and when I scoot across it on my butt, I'm not catching on anything. So we will call that a win. At the moment, I have caught up to him, so I am taking a break. The plan is if it gets to 10 pm again, which is in about an hour, we'll just lay down the rest of the floor, and my daughter Michigan and I will come back tomorrow during the day and nail it all down.

For whatever reason, PunkRock's work has fucked his schedule up and tomorrow he works 12:30 to 9 pm. So he can't get back to work on it then. Instead, the plan is he will come over and finish painting the trim that I fucked up by pulling the tape off wrong, and painting the window trim over the sink, and the two baseboards that go behind where the fridge and stove will be. He has Tuesday off this week, so he can lay the peel and stick tile then. We decided not to grout anything after all, so that will help on time. I figured that if this is a temporary fix for a year or so, pulling it all up will just be a bigger pain in the ass if everything is grouted.

The bad news is that with PunkRock's schedule being wonky, the following Thursday he is working, so he had to cancel his first tattoo session. I am so very upset about it. However, there is nothing we can do. So now his first session will be March 30. Sigh.

Today DarkKnight pulled up the carpet in my daughter's bedroom, so we can get a good coat of paint on the baseboards later this week, without carpet fuzz interfering.

He also put on the new window lock and pull in the kitchen. Oh! And we got the Sputnik light to work! Only, we're not really sure how. Oh well, I am psyched about it!

 

[Bluebird]

So, yesterday my daughter and I went to the new house and finished nailing down about 30 square feet of underlayment. At first she complained a lot and was pretty terrible at it, but when she saw me just grabbing a hammer and just working away at it, she started following my suggestions and did much better. By the time we were finished, she was a pro. Honestly, she has only come to the new house less than a handful of times and hasn't been involved much in the decisions or remodel. Lately she has been working long shifts and keeps getting called into work. It was nice to work on a project together!

I am getting frustrated about selling my old couch - I have been stood up and ghosted 3 times now. Someone messaged me this morning and says they want to buy it tomorrow. I guess we will see. I will use the cash to get the rug I want for the new living room from Lowes, so I am anxious about getting that done. Oh shit - I just looked at the photo I took and the 8x10 version is $370! The 5x7 is $178. I was thinking the lower price was the larger area rug. Gah! I don't have $400 to drop on this, even if I sell the couch. FML Well, I guess I will have to sell some more things. I certainly have a bunch to go through. I hope I sell a lot at my indoor yard sale, but that cash will go toward paying for a cleaning crew at the old house. I so don't want to scrub this place down - I want to concentrate on the new house! I need to take some time and make a list of what's left to buy before move in - it's only 2 1/2 weeks away!

DarkKnight and I had dinner together last night and then went grocery shopping for my Biology class today. It will be a short lesson and then I am hosting a "flavor party." I bought those "magic pills" that block receptors so everything sour you eat is sweet. It should be fun for my kids! They were pretty excited in class last week when we talked about it. Anyway, after shopping DarkKnight and I started packing the kitchen. He was really anxious about it, and his anxiety made me annoyed. I just wanna pack and get shit done, but he really agonizes about getting rid of things. I'm like, throw it out! We haven't used it in 3 years! But he's all like, but what if we need it and don't have it? I just tried to go slow and deal. We got a lot done but there is soooo much more packing to get done. I really have no idea how this is going to look when it's time to go!

Today is my class, and PunkRock has the day off, due to his wonky schedule. I didn't see him last night because he worked til after 9 pm and then went to the new house to fix the trim I messed up the other day, and to paint the window over the kitchen sink. Today he is supposed to go back over in the morning and lay down the primer on the underlayment. That has to sit for a couple hours to cure, and in the meantime, he has a doctor's appointment. His feet have been bothering him - he has SUPER flat feet - and his carpal tunnel is not getting any better. He has an appointment lined up already with the surgeon for that, though. Anyway, he will come pick me up after the doctor appointment as my class will be over by then, and then we will spend the rest of the day laying down the peel and stick tile in the kitchen. I am pretty jazzed to have this finished!

 

[breathemusic]

OMG, I feel your pain on the packing and sorting of stuff. Sudo is terrible at getting rid of ANYTHING and it drives me nuts! Especially since I know if I just tossed stuff when he wasn't looking he would never even notice that it was gone.... EVER. He was just raised in a household that didn't get a lot of extra stuff, so they didn't throw things away. But Sudo over the years has managed to build up plenty of stuff, making it worth purging. I'm dreading these next few weeks of trying to make him purge useless shit that I don't want to pay to have moved to the new place!

 

[Bluebird]

When's your closing date?

 

[breathemusic]

April 7th!!

But Sudo and RCT won't move for another 2 weeks while we rip up carpet and install some hard wood on the second level. And then I'm probably going to wait and move 2 weeks after that (we have a cabin trip the weekend in between).

I really need to figure out the picture thing on here with the re-sizing nonsense so that I can start posting renovation porn like you're doing!

 

[Bluebird]

I've found it easier to put pics in a photobucket album and just link that way. No resizing needed.

 

[Bluebird]

Sooooo yesterday was crazy. PunkRock had the day off, and he went to the new house first thing, to spread primer over the underlayment. Apparently you do this to make the peel and stick tile even more likely to stick. After that he had a doctor appointment.

While he was at his doctor appointment, I taught my Biology class, and had our "flavor tripping" party. It was fun. Then, PunkRock arrived, and we went to the new house together, where he started laying the actual tile on the floor. This went well until dinnertime, so he took a break and we took off to eat at Red Robin. We returned to the new house for about 30 minutes, at which point we then had to leave and go to Urgent Care.

PunkRock sliced his thumb pretty badly, trying to cut a tile. His straight edge slipped, and boom! We didn't leave Urgent Care until 10:30 pm. He got 5 stitches and a note to take today off of work.

Yikes!

So, the kitchen floor isn't finished, which means the appliances have to be delivered today into the living room of the new house. DarkKnight went over there after his choral practice last night and emptied out the far side of the living room, to make sure there was space to set them. Today I am going to call the plumber and delay him another day as well, as he is scheduled for first thing Thursday morning. It's just not happening.

I plan to go over there this afternoon (the appliance delivery is from 1 to 5 pm) and do some touch up painting in the kitchen. We also need to measure the amount of baseboards we need to purchase. We bought the two smaller pieces already, that go behind the stove and fridge, but the rest of the room needs them too! I plan to have them pre-cut at the store, though PunkRock will have to miter the corners. They come already covered in white primer, so that saves us a step.

 

[breathemusic]

I've found it easier to put pics in a photobucket album and just link that way. No resizing needed.

So how does that work? Once you save the pic into your photobucket account you can just get a link to it, and if you past that link into the blog, the picture itself shows up instead?

 

[Bluebird]

Yep. You just need to put IMG brackets around it like this [IMG.]Link[/IMG.] only take out the periods I put in there.

 

[Bluebird]

Yesterday I spent some time painting trim in the kitchen and basement landing area. PunkRock and I did some shopping - I bought some doorway thresholds, a T Square and some brad nails for our finishing gun. PunkRock is picking up 50 feet of baseboard trim for the kitchen today. Oh! And our new appliances were delivered! I don't think i've been that happy in a long time, it was ridiculous! Seriously, so much squee from me over those! The delivery guy was agog at how large the fridge was, and I have to say, it was bigger than I had imagined it would be! I just ordered the largest one that would fit in the space, sight unseen and wow! The coolest thing is that I have never in my life owned all new kitchen appliances. I've always bought used or they were already in place. Next to the fridge though, the stove and dishwasher look tiny!

So, anyway, the appliances are now in the living room because the kitchen floor was unfinished. They had to take the doors off to get it in my living room, and took off the front door of the house as well. After they put everything back together, I realized that the kitchen entryway is even smaller. Yeah. 29 inches. The side of the fridge without the doors on is 30 inches. However, since a door used to be in the space into the kitchen, there is some interior trim that if it's removed, will bring the space to 31 inches. So PunkRock took that off and we will have to ease it through. Only, we can't use a dolly - this sucker is too large for a dolly. Sigh.

Everything is awesome! I'm just going to keep repeating that until it is a fact!

PunkRock is hoping to be back at laying the floor tonight. I am going over there this afternoon with him, where I will be doing a second coat on some of the trim and some green and gray touchups as well.

Right now I am running around doing errands. I dropped off my prescription for a Valium for my next dental appointment, and I am meeting some people to sell some furniture and artwork. I finally delivered Conlan & Fergus' paperwork to the shelter. I need to now go buy our snake some mice and some hair color developer. I gotta stop at the bank. THEN I can go back home and meet some other people to sell more stuff. I get a lot of no shows and that is aggravating.

I am writing this from Panera, where I am having a salad for lunch. I am doing great still on my low carb diet. It really is day by day, meal by meal. What I am discovering is that i will be super hungry, but after I start eating, I can't finish because I fill up quickly. Trying to make good choices can be hard but so far I am successful. 5.6 pounds lost! I only need to do that 6 more times! Lol I am hoping to be sexy AF by my anniversary in May, for PunkRock. I would say the same for DarkKnight, but our anniversary is next week!

 

[Bluebird]

Hey! I missed a day. It's been busy.

Today we did our usual Pandemic Legacy game. We always share a meal, and today we ordered from a local sub shop. Their online ordering form lets you give a name on each sub. Heh. I haven't laughed so hard at something so nerdy and stupid in a long while. I guess the photo has spoilers, but nothing too major.

Yeah, that happened. More spoilers - most major:

Holy fuck. We lost 3 games in a row! Goodbye July. We lost the first half of August but hopefully things can only get better, right? We found the virologist and the immunologist, and we were given a tactical nuke. Holy fuck. A nuke! We put it on the Washington DC card, because, well, why not? We have a nuke. Right now we have at least 3 cities at stage 4 and one fallen city - Paris. It was like, the Faded were just outbreaking and spreading and we couldn't stop them. Ugh. It was still hella fun. Better luck next week, I guess. Also, haha the virologist says our pills the government gave us were just placebos?! Yikes! Probably true - our Operations Expert has two scars, and so does the dispatcher. (We just started using the dispatcher - we named him Gilligan. I don't even remember why. It was funny at the time!) The other 3 major characters we are using all have at least one scar. It's kinda scary - we can't afford to lose the scientist or medic!


*************** Spoilers End

This is truly the most fun I have had gaming in a long while. If you haven't picked up this board game yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. You play with a team, and it's a campaign, but you can change the people playing each time if you have trouble sustaining a regular group. However, it is definitely best played with the same group of 4. Be warned though - after 12-24 plays, the game is no longer playable, and you can never replay it because you destroy pieces along the way. Like, really destroy them! I seriously can't wait until season 2 and I can throw all of my money at this company!

 

[Bluebird]

Um, house update is in order, I guess. I heard from my daughter in Nee York and she called out of the blue to tell me she wants to come down for Spring Break, which is the week after we move. I am SO excited to see her! We got to talking about me hiring a cleaning company for our rental, and she volunteered to do all the scrub down. She does this as one of her part time jobs, so I know she'll be thourough and things will look good. I am going to pay her $100 per floor, so she'll make some money on this trip. I sold my telescope today for $300, so I put that cash away, and now I can pay her. So that worked out perfect.

I sold my dining room server today as well, and that paid for a new shelving unit for our game room. Another win there! I sold some other odds and ends yesterday, but that isn't earmarked for anything in particular.

I don't think I went to the house at all on Friday...so here is a shot of my unfinished kitchen on Thursday night:

Still lots to do! We're behind schedule, but moving along. This photo was taken from the little landing area near our side door. It hasn't been painted yet. Or tiled. Fuck. Yeah, we're behind!

Other random photos:

DarkKnight started pulling up the carpet furring strips on Thursday in Michigan's room. We have to do this for the entire house...

Oh! On Friday, I spent the day at home selling things, and packing. Our dining room used to be impassable because of all the full and empty boxes, but since I was selling my server, I had to get those out of there. So now it looks like this:

That's ColePorter, with Gus on the stairs.

Future:

Well, tomorrow PunkRock is renting a truck for Michigan, so she can move most of her stuff to a storage unit. I think she is having a friend spend the night tonight to help her move it all out. Then, PunkRock and DarkKnight are finally moving the appliances into the kitchen. (The plumber is coming Monday to hook them up.) There is a little bit more peel and stick stuff to put down, so that is getting finished up, and then PunkRock and DarkKnight's cousin are finishing the fireplace work and building that wall out as well. DarkKnight has D&D, so he won't be in the house long tomorrow! I think I will be sanding cabinet door fronts in the basement.

On Monday, we'll have a visit from the plumber, and Solar City is coming out to give us an estimate on putting up panels on our roof. We figured, why not see what it'll work out to be? We aren't making any decisions, because we haven't gotten any utility bills yet! So we won't make a choice for a while. Also on Monday, we should get the kitchen baseboards cut and nailed up, all the paint touched up and this room will be done except for the stupid cabinet fronts. Those are going to take while because there are 27 of them to sand and paint, attach hinges and pulls and magnet closes on.

Edited to add - I almost forgot that I am hella pissed at our dumpster rental company. They were supposed to drop off the dumpster this coming Tuesday. It got left on Friday. Thank goodness I didn't have any plans for using the driveway this weekend! Also, I pay by the week, and because of the work schedule, this is a total waste of time for me. Now I have to call on Monday and make sure they realize I am NOT paying for these 4 extra days!

 

[Bluebird]

Today was another day of good and bad stuff happening at the new house. I have a bunch of pictures, so I will break up my entry to show the progress (and lack of progress) on other things.

Ok, I ended my last post, bitching about the dumpster that got dropped off 4 days early. Today is the first I've seen it, and oh boy will they be getting a call from me tomorrow.

Can you find anything wrong in these pictures?

Yeah. Not only did they set the dumpster directly on a garden hose - which is very easy to see, I might add - they set it so close to the porch that we can't actually open the door to use the dumpster. Unbelievable.

Yeah. So this is aggravating.

First on the list tomorrow is calling the company so we can get this stuff straightened out.

Early this morning, PunkRock took my daughter to go pick up the rental truck and we all loaded (with help from a friend's family) her belongings up and everything is now in her storage unit. We got exactly the right size too, so I am doing a happy dance there!

After that, PunkRock, DarkKnight and I went over to the new house where I had a very anxious morning of watching and hearing them move the new appliances into the kitchen. The new stove went over with no issues - and when I pulled off all the styrofoam later, it was super sexy - but that was where the good times ended. The dishwasher dumped water all over the kitchen floor. While inside the sealed box. We were all like WTF IS GOING ON?! This was supposed to be a brand new purchase! So I got on the phone and Home Depot told me not to hook it up and they would have it picked up tomorrow. So I texted the plumber and was rescheduling with him when HD called back to tell me they had found out this was absolutely normal for new dishwashers. Apparently they are all individually tested at the factory. Ok. (I looked this up later, and it's absolutely true!) So anyway, crisis averted. Except after talking with the plumber, he will now be here at 10 am tomorrow, since that works better for his schedule. So that's all good now.

But the goodness stopped there. See, I think I mentioned that I may have purchased a huge fridge. The amount of work that my guys had to put into getting it to its new home was insane. They ended up not only having to take the doors off the front, but they also ended up taking out the entire door frame of the kitchen entryway. Previously PunkRock had taken down the interior trim, but as of right now, the entire frame is gone. Sigh.

There's DarkKnight trying to figure out a good angle. You can see my new stove! It's actually pulled out a bit, and not in its final resting point since it has yet to be connected in back. Enjoy my walls too - still without baseboards. Didn't happen today, but they are on the list for tomorrow!

And here's PunkRock, taking down the door frame. Sigh. They tried REALLY hard to make it work, and at the end, they still put a scratch and dent on the left side of my fridge! It isn't TOO horrible, but I am still not enthused that it happened. Honestly, I am still just happy that after 2 hours, they finally got the stupid thing into my kitchen!

This looks like shit now. I think the good to come out of this though, is that the door that used to be here is going to be a door in the closet I am having put in, in DarkKnight's room, and now that door will have the same frame it originated with. We're just going to put some new stuff up here now. But not like, now, since we are so far behind with everything. Sometime this week!

 

[Bluebird]

Ok, one completely good thing to happen today: my daughter's room!

The carpet has been put in the dumpster - well, heaved up over the side, at least - and the tacking strips that held it in place are all gone. The floor isn't completely perfect, but overall, it's decent. Everything is set to have the trim all primed and painted and finished in here tomorrow. Then all that will be left to do is to prime and paint the door - which is on DarkKnight's to do list tomorrow. I am hoping it happens! I still need to purchase linoleum for the closet floor and lower walls, so the litterboxes will have a place to live, but I can't seem to find any I want to live with. I am going to get measurements here and go shopping in the afternoon tomorrow. I have to come up with something.

Ok, the rest of the day for PunkRock today was the living room fireplace wall. Do you remember what it used to look like?

Here it is now:

So fucking amazeballs.

Tomorrow PunkRock will tape and mud this sucker up so we can get the walls ready for paint later this week. So much more needs to happen in this room, it's ridonkulous. However, this is what I have been waiting for since we bought this house, so the progress here has me quite squee!

Here's the living room to do list though:

* Mud & Tape & Sand to finish drywall
* Measure & purchase trim for around the hearth, on the floor.
* Prime & Paint said trim
* Install that shit
* Grout the fireplace
* Paint the fireplace doors & reinstall them
* Paint the walls in the entire room
* Rip up the carpet, cut it up and throw it in the dumpster
* Pull up all the carpet tacking strips
* Wipe down everything
* Cut new baseboards & install them to go around the new fireplace walls
* Prime & Paint all of the baseboards in this room
* Find $400 to buy myself the area rug I desperately want

So yeah, that's what we need to do in one and a half weeks. IN JUST THIS ROOM. Ugh. The cat highways we took off the list until after we are moved.

I'm not going to get into the rest of the house or I will have my stress level go through the roof just writing this.

Oh, and to make things even better, I now have a yeast infection. I didn't have any normal triggers, but I think my change in diet, combined with stress, isn't helping. I had DarkKnight buy me a 3-day over the counter kit and I hope that works. I figured since the itchy just started, I might have caught it in time to not have to call my doctor. Feh.

 

[Bluebird]

Today was busy, but it seems like much was not accomplished. lol Everything that needs to be done has multiple stages before it gets to be labeled finished. Sigh.

My appliances are installed now though! And working great! DarkKnight is beyond excited about the stove. Though, looking at the pic - I have a switch that didn't get updated in the last go-through.

Yeah, did I mention that the fridge is too big? The kitchen isn't that small, but the fridge makes it seem like everything is close quarters. Sigh. Not sure if there is anything at all to do about that.

So other things that got worked on - DarkKnight was either ripping out carpet or putting primer on trim and doors all day. Our gaming friend that we play Pandemic Legacy with came over and put primer on my daughter's bedroom trim and sanded the trim in the office. PunkRock mudded the new living room drywall, and knocked a hole in the wall in DarkKnight's bedroom, and drywalled the inside to start the outline of my closet.

Because carpet was getting ripped up, the table & chairs got moved into the dining area for the first time, even though touch up paint needs to still happen, as well as baseboard installation. But there's an end in sight! It's exciting to see parts come together.

PunkRock was hella grouchy today and didn't seem to be happy at all, at any point. This always puts me on edge, because I don't know how to respond. Mostly I avoided him, which was easy since I had so much to do in regards to budgeting, and returning stuff, and appointments. Well, I had a single appointment - the Solar City rep came out and told me we had a beautiful, strong roof that got plenty of sunlight. However, since we are with the city power company, we don't qualify for their program. They would end up being more expensive, apparently.

Anyway, yeah. I got my period this morning too, so ugh.

Edited to say - the striped awning in the last pic outside is coming down this week! They are on every window, but now that the dumpster is here, we can tear them down. True story, from the inside, we're shaded and it seems like no one could see in at all. I am here to tell you that is false. I've been changing in the office for weeks and realized tonight that from the road, it's full view right through the window. So yeah. God, I am dying. Lol

 

[vinsanity0]

Just wanted to say it's all looking awesome. From here it looks like it's going very quickly, even though it may not seem like it to you...lol. Also, I feel ya on the trim removal. I lived in a 100 year old house for a short period. We would have had to take out a wall to get a fridge that big in there. We had to buy a small one and still take off the trim. We couldn't even get a couch up to the tv room upstairs. Everything was too narrow.

 

[Bluebird]

Things are progressing pretty quick - you're right. It just seems to be super slow in person, is all.

Today no one will be at the new house very long - I do have to go over later and move the recycling can back away from the road. PunkRock works late, so it's a bust today as far as accomplishing anything.

I am teaching in a short bit. There's an end in sight to Biology now, so that is good news. Today we are dissecting rats; one is pregnant, so that is always kinda iffy on how the kids do. We will see, I suppose. Next Tuesday will be the last class held at this address, we will be moving later that week! After that, the last 3 classes will be held at a student's house. My new classroom will be full of boxes, as it will be holding ALL of PunkRock's stuff, until the end of May, prolly, when we finish the major construction parts in the basement.

Good news! DarkKnight got an email today that he is officially promoted. We knew it was coming and have been waiting. His paycheck tomorrow should reflect the new pay scale and his bonus. They actually bumped him from being a level 2 tech to a level 4! We were surprised because we thought he was only going to be a level 3, but apparently that's what he's been doing lately. So YAY! We like this company a lot - oh! - he just got a catalog in the mail because he has reached his 5 year mark with them. We were expecting things like tie tacks or pens, and the catalog actually has gifts to choose that include backyard hammocks, framed artwork and tents! He hasn't decided what he'd like yet, I don't think, but he was leaning toward a meat smoker last night.