I am sitting here in Diana's office with a mocha and my feet up, watching the uniformed hotties stroll by her door. Very nice! I will be spending the day in Syracuse. I won't be driving anywhere becuase I get lost. Easily. However, I will probably be wanderin' off after lunch to explore the few blocks around the building she works in. If I do straight lines out, I can find my way home easily. If I have a map, I become directionally oriented much faster, but I don't have one. Getting lost today would be bad. It would not be like getting lost in Schaffhausen. Maybe we should make a tag to pin to my raincoat that says "If found, please call... and feed french fries. Thank you." Maybe we could shorten that to the " freed fries" and leave it at that. Hmmmmmm. Emptied two of my media boxes last night. Can't do much more with those until I get shelves, and I am still trying to hash out the rug thing. I also chucked a bunch of bathroom stuff with expired dates and what not. I know I'll be chucking a bunch of stuff like this as I unpack. Not enough that it would have made a difference in the number of boxes I packed, but enough to make me feel like I am still dropping the crap from my old life and making way for the new. Speaking of new; I am not sure exactly where along the Black River I went hiking, but it was beautiful! One of the trails had access to the river in several spots. There is a lot of shallows that are made of smooth slate. Easy walking and lots of places to sit and read or enjoy the river and listen to it sing. I loved it! I will be going to these spots as often as the weather will permit. I might even have to try out my snowshoes there. If they fit. I will have to check that out. I have also been told that a drive up highway 3 in the fall is beautiful, and that about 3 hours up you are in the mountains. I am going to try and do this as soon as possible. Mostly because fall only lasts so long, and it is swinging into the straightaway here. Man, is it beautiful, too! Other than that, not much going on. Mom, Dad and Carol will be heading my way soon. I am so looking forward to that! I really hope the crisp, sunny weather we have been having holds out so I can show them about a bit. We will see.

And now for the downpour!

Holy shit, it is windy! Like "I am so pissed off I am going to throw air about furiously like a raging lover' windy. The cats are totally freaked out! Smudge is cowering under the bed and Misty is alternating between wanting comfort and wedging herself under something. Pug strikes out when he is this upset, so every time one of the girls bolts (or even breathes), he chases them and whacks the crap out of them. So, on top of the horible wind, we have horrible cat noises, too. Wee. Unfortunately, this kind of wind hits all my panic butons as well, so it's not like I am much good to the furries. I creep around like some anxious ghost, whining and begging the cats to let me snuggle them; for their own good, of courseI feel like such a sissy, but wind this hard has always freaked me out. Always. The sun is up now, and although Mother God has decided to extend her hissy fit, at least it's light out and not so scarey. Moving on. My closet shelves are in, and so I will paint them this afternoon/evening. Now that they are in, I want them to be blue. I just don't know that I want to atke the time to do that. Probably not, since I just want to freaking unpack, already! I will drive into town today and visit the NCAC co-op store and chat up the people there for info on teaching crafts. I have a great idea that kinda evolved from something I saw on pintrest. Might be a fun first time craft class. If I can't do it there, maybe I can do it somewhere else. Hopefully, I will get the last of my carpet, too, and finish that up.

The blue walls in my room have a second coat, and the closet ceiling is painted. Can't do the room until the carpet is down, which happens this weekend. Then the handyman needs to come and put in my closet shelves so I can put my clothes in it. Diana's mom has been packing to move, and has filled the upstair with boxes and stuff. This gives me very little little room to work. So, if I can get my closet done, then I will have a little more space to work with. But until then, I will go to town and run a few errands and get my hair cut. I will feel better with it out of my face. Bleh!

I have managed to keep more than busy. I am a bit overwhelmed, but I guess that is my own fault. I did enjoy a nice cup of coffee with a potential new friend today, and that was fab U lous! So, tomorrow I will start and finish the blue in my room. When that is dry I will have to remove everything that is in there so I can lay the carpet. A pain in the butt, however it will be so nice when it is done. the carpet is 9' x 12', and the room is 9'2" by 15'3". I am not going to worry about the 2" , but will need to do something about the 3' plus end. Pretty sure I have come up with the awesomest solution. Ever. Seriously, I am THAT good! When it is done, I will be all posty with pictures, both before and after. If it doesn't turn out, I'll post some before pictures, and then an after picture of the Oval Office or something. Just cuz. Work is fine. There is a part of me that still dreads going there. I was wondering when that was going to surface. My immediate boss is pretty cool and fun, so that helps. The lady that works with us as regular morning replenishment is super kewl, too. We've been yaking a bit, and share a lot of the same opinions on the downward decline of Michaels and the treatment of employees and what is going wrong. Unfortunately, Michaels is Michaels, and so I will never be completely happy there again, unless I win the uber-mega-super lotto and can buy it and make them run it my way. Except I wouldn't waste my money.

So, my commute has gone from 50 miles one way to 17. So, instead of filling up every 2.5 days, I'll probably be filling up once a year. LOL! Okay, it will FEEL like once a year! Had my first close shift in ages last night. It was great. Why? BECAUSE i DIDN'T HAVE KEYS! Yes, you will get tired of me saying that. I put up plastic dividers and did label maintainence. For 8 hours. I helped customers and learned the store layout in the process. It was fabulous! So, today Diana and I do some shopping, and I will start painting my closet. Yeah!

I had a glorious first day at work! Their truck is TINY!!!!!! We had 23 shopping carts of repack merchandise. 23. The average in Beaverton was 60 to 70. The staff was about the same size to work this tiny truck as we had in Beaverton to work a truck 3 times the size. I would say something is wrong with this picture, but since it no longer effects me, I gayfully dance a jig and move on. My day was great. I had no keys. I repeat- I had no keys. So, I was not a garbage running, return doing, truck recieving, answer a billion stupid/repeat questions person today. And ya know what? I will have no keys tomorrow, either. Or the next day. Wash, rinse, repeat. Did I mention that I had a glorious first day? I should have stepped down from management a long time ago.

Another lovely day here. I am again on the sun porch with my morning cup of coffee and Pug, listening to the breeze tickle the leaves, and the birds chitter away the early morning hours. I adore this sunporch, and will hate to have it closed up for the winter. Good thing about it is that it will be open for business again next year! Today I will spend time painting my bedroom and seeing what little spider and bug entrances need to be plugged up. Once I have those things done, I can start looking at what I need to make the place unpackable. No shelves means my stuff stays in boxes. I want it out of the boxes. So, I will stay home today and play homemaker and see what Diana has that will help me accomplish the basic prep work for buying shelves and such. Tomorrow I will work my first shift in the new store. I am stressing out about it, but not because I can't do it. It has been so long since I have walked into Michaels as an employee and not a manager that my mind and body can't snap out of Manager Mode. A few days there should take care of that. I found a crafting Co-op store that I can do some volunteer work at and join, and they teach classes. So, I want to go check them out next week and talk to someone in charge about giving some hours and teaching some classes. Keep your fingers crossed. If I could suppliment part time at Micheals with teaching, I'd be thrilled!

Day one alone.

Yesterday I finally felt like my normal self again. Hard core road trips sure have a way of slappin' ya down with their own brand of jet lag. Esh! I just saw Bill off this morning. After 8 days of straight social, I am looking forward to a day of quiet. I have an errand to run later, but am going to spend the rest of my time on the 'puter and going for walks. Word up! The kitties did great on the road trip! Smudge had the hardest time. She hates not being outside or having fresh air, and the drive really wiped her out. Misty wanted to look out every window, and would poke around on and off on the trip. Pug would occasionally look out a window, usually chatter a bit about what he saw, but then would go snooze in his carry case. I am so proud of my little ones! They did me proud!They are adapting very well here. Today is the first day they have been allowed downstairs, so I am keeping an eye on things. Pug is way more interested in exploring the house than even bothering with Faith or Justice. He doesn't even give them the time of day at this point. Misty came downstairs and poked about a bit. Now she is snuggled up next to smudge in a sunbeam on my bedroom floor. A friend asked if I had taught Pug slug-bug to spice up our long days. Didn't do it, since he puts some serious effort into his physical activities and I didn't want shredded upper arm syndrome. However, Bill knew it, and after I started a game of it, we had a blast socking each other randomly. Fun road trip games! I was able to get a little hiking in yesterday with Bill. Took him to Black Pond, which is a bird refuge/wildlife observation area a few minutes down the road. It is located in some dunes along the edge of Lake Ontario, and is absolutely beautiful! We walked the sandy beach and enjoyed the sunshine and waves. A very nice way to help make this change feel more real. So, I will eat lunch, run my errands, and then call it a day. My brain is starting to get a little fuzzy, so I think I am not as over the trip as I thought. Bummer.

Well, I am here! It's a bit surreal, and my brain feels a little soupy and fuzzy. I have only every been here during my yearly vacations, so my mind is doing the whole "July, yet not July. Whaa?????" Yeah. The last I left you, my gentle readers, I was working out various aspects of the trip, and still in my apartment. I found a single mom with three kids that needed furniture, so she took the rest of what I had. My landlord found tennants willing to paint, so that saved me a heap of last minute work. Dad came back down and helped me wash the walls. TSP doesn't even remove kerosene smoke. Go figure! So, we did the best we could. After a long last night on the 31st, I was fed a wonderful breakfast by my dear friend Ruth, then gathered up the kitties and headed to Seattle. Smudge, Misty and Pug didn't care for 4 hours in cat cages, but other than the occasional outburst (Pug would rattle his cage bars like an inmate), they did well. They also behaved very nicely at my parent's house. Misty, who I worried about the most, was a big trooper! She was the first to explore and discover the upstairs. She loved going up to see if Dad was watching TV. If he was, she would pounce on his lap as if it were her last chance, and sleep as long as he would let her. Then he would carry her down to my room and set her on the bed. She is the master manipulator! LOL! Dad rigged up a great setup in the car to separate the front from the back, and all three occupants settled in quite nicely. They spent most of the time sleeping. Occasionally Pug would place himself so he could look out the front window between the two seats. Then he would talk to us for a bit. Misty liked peeking out the side windows, and occasionally would view the scenery by looking over the driver's left shoulder. Despite the good riding behavior, I know they are all glad to not be back in the car today. Bill was a great companion. He loves to drive, so he did most of it, and we chatted like gangbusters. We also sang horribly together and made really bad jokes. It was a fabulous trip in all, even if the days were long and our butts were flat and sore every night. He likes it here in New York State, and Diana likes him and has already extended him the invite to show up and stick around whenever he'd like. The scenery was amazing! I think I want to live in west Montana next. It was so stunning I could barely peel my eyes from the scenery. I-90 may not offer the best view, but It offered me more than I had seen before. I crossed the Missisippi, got a tour of the navy pier in Chicago, saw Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, beautiful high country and barren desert. Spotted lots of cows, ground hogs, hawks and beautiful antelopes. Bill has seen many of the places we drove through. He could even say, "Hey. There is this great resturaunt up here that I eat at whenever I head out this way. Lets do lunch there!" Um, can you say awesome? Yeah. Me too! Now I will spend a couple days showing Bill around, and then I will start job hunting. He is thinking about driving to New York since he is so close. Me, I will rent him the car and wave goodbye. I am a country girl at heart, and I want to sit here on the sunporch for the last few weeks of fall and listen to the crickets sing to me with their New York accents. To each their own.