Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Rest
Rainy Day
I am sitting on the veranda enjoying the day. I like it out here. I was afraid the summer heat would exclude me from my favorite perch. But the temperatures so far haven't been all that bad. It is usually in the low to mid 80's and there is always a nice breeze. The worst is that I sometimes have to move back near the building because the rain blows in from the sides. If I didn't have my electronics out here, I wouldn't mind.
This is a good place to be out in nature. I have been enjoying the companionship of a host of birds. There are whippoorwills, cardinals, sparrows, robins, and finches that I see regularly. I know there is a mockingbird somewhere, because I hear him all the time. We are near a state park and a wildlife sanctuary. I see the great raptors circling in the evening. I am told that there are eagles there, but I don't think I'd be able to identify them in flight. I think the ones I see are hawks. This guy, who I think is one of the whippoorwills, regularly hangs out with me. When I am sitting on my veranda perch, he is perched in the tree across the parking lot. I wonder if he thinks I am as strange as I think he is awesome. I wonder if he is watching me. Maybe he is just looking for an afternoon snack.But alas, the rain has stopped, and the breeze is gone. It is now too hot and muggy to continue enjoying my sanctuary. I will end this for now and go inside. I have chores that need to be done, dishes to wash and floors to sweep. Maybe I will reward myself with a bowl of ice cream and a cookie or two when I am done.
Not a bad day for a Thursday.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
A "Regular" Day
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Family Update
Saturday, June 7, 2025
The Hygge of Doing
I started my day as usual, baking a fresh loaf of bread. I had hoped to bake muffins the night before to have ready for breakfast. But alas, the half gallon of milk we had in the refrigerator had been there far too long. It had spoiled far beyond usage. Jack, in his typical teenaged mentality dealt with it by placing it beside the rather full trash bin. It was the early morning hours, so I didn't fret much over it. But night turned into morning, and then afternoon and then evening, With the milk long past its usefulness and the trash bin refusing to empty itself, my sense of cozy order began to itch. A short trip outside was exactly what I needed to reset the space, clear the air and bring back my sense of comfort. And besides all that, I needed an excuse to get out of the apartment and walk around a bit.
The day was a warm one, we were still out of milk and popcorn. Tomorrow is Father's Day, I hadn't gotten anything for my son, and wouldn't it be nice to have some ice cream? I told Tim that I was going to make a trip to the Dollar General to get the milk. He must have been reading my mind, because his response was "can you pick up some ice cream?"
Summer's version of hygge isn't about candles and blankets; it's found in the crisp relief of cold treats, the quiet satisfaction of a stocked pantry, and small moments of synchronicity-like Tim and I, perfectly aligned in our craving for ice cream.
And the fresh bread barely got touched today. Summers in the south are just too warm to desire heavy foods. Maybe it's time for the sourdough starter to find its hygge in the refrigerator.
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Hygge
My hygge likes clean cotton sheets to sleep on. That is why getting the courage to buy new sheets to replace the polyester ones my son had on my bed made me so happy. It likes fresh homemade bread and cookies. And of course, a nice cup of tea sweetened with honey and some fresh cut flowers do not hurt. But fresh cut flowers don't really go with the Lord of the Rings bachelor's pad feel of this place. My hygge will just have to make do with the tea and fresh bread.
My grandson's hygge likes to have the freedom to choose what he wants to eat, and when he wants to sleep. It's summer, and he doesn't have a job until the camp he will be counseling at opens in a few weeks. He might as well enjoy it while he can. School starts back in early August. The freedom will be gone before he can blink an eye.
My son's hygge likes a clean enough house and inhabitants who get along with each other. He says that a spotless home makes him feel like he's in a museum and he can't relax. But nobody likes dishes in the sink and an icky bathroom. Clean enough is good enough.All of our hygges are technology hounds, Tim and Jack more than me. But I want electronics that do what I want to do without frustrating me. Tim has enlightened me to the uses of ChatGPT, but I couldn't load it onto my tablet. It is too old for the technology. And forget putting it on the old laptop. That thing couldn't handle Paint. But I got my new laptop today and it comes loaded with Copilot. And I have spent the whole evening playing around with it. I think it's going to be an interesting tool to learn.
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Finally
Not that I really need much from a tablet or a computer. But I would like something that I could continue to blog on and will load YouTube, or Netflix. More and more I try to load a program or download an app, and I'm hit with a message that the platform isn't supported.
Today I finally jumped. I bought myself an inexpensive HP with 16gb of ram and 256gb of memory, and comes loaded with Windows 11. I also get a free year of Office 365 and Aa 64gb SD card with it. I won't be doing any gaming on this thing, but I wouldn't be on a better computer either. I've given up on the lofty aspiration of becoming a YouTube influencer, so I won't be needing a high-powered editing suite. My goals are much simpler than all that. I just want something where I don't spend hours waiting for a program to open. I want the time I spend writing a blog post, or a grocery list to be measured in minutes and hours, not days.
And yet even as I write this is the fear that I am expecting way too much of this humble machine and am setting myself up for disappointment. Time will tell, It arrives on Saturday. I have the week to dream of frustration free computing. Hopefully for a few years, until the computing gods decide I must once again upgrade my devices.
Sunday, May 4, 2025
A Whole Lot of Baking Going On
I was able to get most of my things out of the pod. It seems that the only things my brother and sister were able to unload before I got there were a couple things my sister thinks will bother me.
I think I was right about my suspicion that Karen wanted us to unpack the pod for her. But even if I, or my son were inclined to be so generous, we really didn't have the time.
I rented a van for a full day but needed to have it back at the facility by 7:00 pm. Jack wanted to go with us and tried to force it by ignoring the time and missing the school bus. We had to take him to school before we picked up the van. Still, we were there before 8:00 am and were on the road before 8:30. The trip to Tuscumbia takes ~4 hours. We spent a little more than two hours unloading my things into the van and then had another 4+ hour trip home in building rush hour traffic through Birmingham and Montgomery. We arrived with just enough time to unpack everything into my storage unit and turn the van back in. We finished at 7:02 pm.
I texted my brother when were about an hour out away from Tuscumbia and he was there waiting for us when we arrived. The house is on a large property and the driveway is very long. U-Haul in their lack of customer service had placed the pod a long way from the house. It was at least a full city block away, if not more. I do feel for my brother and sister, but you know...Karma is a cruel bitch. They had chided me for my efforts to try to convince the U-Haul driver to place the pod in a more convenient manner in Washington. They claimed that it was my fault the driver wasn't more accommodating. Now they were living with their inability to get them to behave in a more customer centric way. Still, it was April 28, and the pod had to be unpacked by May 1st, and none of it was done. I had to move their things before we could get to mine. We in the least, placed their things in a way to make it easier for them to move, if they did that. I am not sure, and I don't want to ask. I gave my brother the keys and a few other things I felt were best suited to staying with them. But I did not look for the artwork. I would probably have had to open every box to find it. I told Ken that I would send it when I unpacked it, and he seemed grateful for that. It made me wonder if Karen has been turning her abuse toward him. He asked us to come into the house, but I refused. I told him it was because of the time crunch we were under, but in reality it had more to do with wanting to avoid contact with Karen. He looked frail and depressed, and I was sad to leave him. But...there are too many reasons. I can only shake my head and fight off the guilt that I feel.
So now I am baking away my sadness, and my misplaced guilt. My grandson is happy to have the fruits of my labor. And my son's happiest childhood memories are around me baking. Neither of them is complaining about how I choose to cope, so I will continue as long as it makes me feel better.Sunday, April 27, 2025
The Pod Arrived
To make things worse, she texted the date the pod will be picked up, knowing that we plan to be there on Monday. I was left with the impression that she expects us to empty the pod for her. I really don't want to spend that much time there. If that is the case, my peace-maker son will probably want to oblige, and I'm not feeling that charitable. I want to have a talk with him about it before hand, but I don't want to be the problem here.
I'm glad my son will be there.
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Insomnia
I have been here for a full month. While I am no longer in the fight or flight mode, (I think I did both) I still feel adrift. This does not feel like my home. I have the urge to ask permission before I make the slightest change. But I don't dare ask permission because it is making my son crazy. He wants me to feel at home, for this to be my home too. So, I make the changes that I must have and hope that I am not stepping on toes. But this does not feel like my home.
Yesterday morning I woke up at nine. I showered and decided that I really needed to have a place for my puff to hang. So, I found a hook in my knitting supplies and hung it from the rack that hangs from the shower head. There were only two hooks built into it: one for Tim, one for Jack. My puff is teal and the colors in the bathroom are navy and grey. I will find a new puff in the proper colors the next time I go to a store.
After the changes I made in the bathroom, I stripped the beds and washed the bed covers. They have not been washed since I got here. This is a bachelor's pad: men do not seem to care about those things. But, you know, bacteria and smells...When I remade the beds, I used my travel blanket on my bed. The coverlet that was there is a winter blanket and is too warm. Maybe it was one of the things that have been disturbing my sleep. The room is decorated in black and grey, as is the rest of the house. My travel blanket is a cotton summer quilt and is white with grey roses, not too much of a disruption...I hope. Tim calls it my room. I hope it won't upset him. He doesn't seem to get upset over much. While making the bed, I noticed that the sheets are polyester. I'm kind of a sheet snob. Polyester does not wick moisture, and the bed is too warm. I wake up in a pool of sweat every morning. I ordered new cotton percale sheets. I got them in grey, but it's another change I worry will step on toes. Guests do not wash the bedding or buy new sheets, and I still feel like a guest here. This is not how Tim wants me to feel, so I do what I need and hope it will be fine.I cleaned the kitchen and living room and noticed that the AC blows hard from the vents in both rooms. That led me to check out the vent in my room. It was closed; I assume it is the same in the other bedrooms. I took the broom and opened mine with the handle, only a little. Somehow, I doubt that Tim ever even looks at them. But I can't sleep when I am too warm, and my bedroom has been too warm, even with the fan running. Those toes again...
Tim found an advanced emergency medicine course for paramedics that he'd like to take. It will have him spending three days a week in Florida through Christmas. He asked me if I would mind being left here with Jack while he does it. Jack is fairly self-sufficient, and of the age that leaving him alone would not be a problem legally. But he is a teen, and it is a better idea for an adult to be present. The opportunity is the sort of thing that his ex-wife would freak out over. He has walked away from a lot of career development to appease her. I have nowhere else to be so, I will be here at least through Christmas. I guess he's worried about stepping on toes too.I'm getting tired again now. Maybe I can get back to sleep. Hopefully I won't sleep until noon. I should get the broom and open that vent a little more.
Monday, April 14, 2025
Twenty-One Years and Counting
I did nothing to celebrate. What could I have done, gone out for pink iced cup-cakes and pink champaign? I had a quiet day at home, did a couple of loads of clothes.
But 21 years, DAMN!
If I survive the 🟠💩, I will do something to celebrate in four more years. Maybe a cruise or something big like that.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
There Was Some Splanin' to Do
Friday, April 11, 2025
Storms
The exterminators were only in our apartment for 20 minutes or so, but it was a long day of work the day before for us. After they left, I began the rather frustrating task of trying to replace everything back into the cabinets it all came out of. Tim went off to work. When Jack came home from school, like the teenager he is, he went right to bed and slept until late in the evening and then on arising, immediately started playing video games with his friends. Around 11:30, I was exhausted, achy, and smelled a bit like a goat. I made myself a smoothie and went to the bedroom to get ready for a shower and bedtime.
I had just used the last of my smoothie to swallow some Benadryl and Ibuprofen, when I heard Jack go into the bathroom. I thought I might be in trouble when I heard the shower running. The kid takes marathon showers, so I knew that I was in trouble. I'd be fighting sleep before he was finished. While all of this was going on, a storm had started. and it was a doozy. I went out to the breezeway to find that it had blown the patio furniture up against another apartment and the rain was blowing sideways, as were the trees. Not long after that, the power began to blink on and off. That must have rushed Jack out of the shower, because a few minutes later when the power went out, he came out of the bathroom fully dressed. We used the flashlights on our phones to find a few candles. But the Benadryl had done it's magic on me and I was fighting sleep. With no power, I was in a bind because my CPAP doesn't work when the power is out. It impressed on me the need to get a power station. As much as I know that I must reign in my retail therapy, I will be purchasing one as soon as I get paid again in a week.Just short of 1:00 am, I finally had to give in. I tried sleeping in a mostly sitting up position, and it must have been effective. When the power came back on at 4:30 I didn't have the expected sore throat from having snored like a foghorn all night. And the sleep report generated by my Fitbit showed that I had not woken up the umpteen dozen times that I would have expected. Still, sleep apnea is a dangerous condition that I will continue to treat with my CPAP.
I found an even more dangerous thing when the power coming back on woke me. I went around the apartment turning off all the lights that were left on, and I did not see Jack anywhere. It's a small apartment, there aren't that many places he could be. I checked on the patio, and the furniture had been placed back where it goes, but there was no Jack to be found. I thought about calling Tim but decided that I will give Jack a chance to come clean himself. When he gets home from school, I will confront him and let him know that wandering around after curfew isn't wise. Mostly he is a good kid. But he is a teenager. Nothing he has done so far comes anywhere near what his father did as a teen, and especially nowhere near the shenanigans that I pulled. But I do wonder about all the nights his father was working, and I was sleeping.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Business
I miss the mountain. I miss going around a bend in the road and being hit with the National Geographic level raw beauty of nature. There is beauty here, but it is not on the same level. I was looking for a particular photo last night and it hit me that I've seen some incredible sights. I’m thinking about buying another rail pass in the fall and taking another cross-country trip. The trip from Seattle a few weeks ago exhausted me, but if I plan rest stops on the trip, maybe it won’t be too bad. Maybe this time I will start in Miami and take the train north into Maine. I’d like to see the autumn leaves when they turn. I'll have to stop spending so much if I really want to do that. My rent is much cheaper here, but I have been on a spending binge for the past few weeks. I bought new hearing aids and new prescription sunglasses, but I really needed both of those. Then I decided that this last trip that I took has left my shoes looking disreputable. Since every other pair I have is living it's best life packed away on the pod, I ordered a new pair. And I have been planning on replacing my summer wardrobe anyway, so I ordered some new capris and blouses. And since I have been informed that it isn't cool to walk along the golf course paths, I will need a bathing suit. So, I ordered a swim dress...this body has long since seen the day to show off in a bikini. And then, you know that I absolutely need a smoothie blender. I've really been on a binge. I justify it all as actual needs and tell myself to quit feeling guilty because I have already paid my son back the money that he loaned me. But really, this has gotten out of hand. I think that a lot of it has been retail therapy to soothe the uncertainty that I was thrown into. It has got to stop, or at least slow down. My plastic needs a break.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
Hands Off
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Settling In
I paid my son back the money he sent me to get here, and the small amount that he will accept for rent. He has some financial things that he is trying to accomplish, so I hope that it helps. I certainly don't want to put an obstacle in his way.
The biggest challenge for me right now is keeping busy so my mind doesn't squirrel cage on negative things. I have taken up baking again. I've made a few attempts at getting a sour dough starter to take. So far, I haven't been successful at it, but I can get store bought yeast to take hold and rise. Today I made some shortbread cookies. It's been years since I made cookies for my son and grandson. They aren't as excited about them as they were when they were four years old. But it gave me something to do. And the cookies aren't that bad.
I have started walking again. But I'm afraid that very soon the southern summer will put a quick end to the habit. I guess I will have to take up swimming when that happens, though I'm not too keen to wear a bathing suit in public. I might have to be one of those early morning swimmers.On my walk today, I was followed for quite a while by a butterfly. It flew around me while I stopped and pulled out my phone to snap a picture. Then it flew off on it's own after I thanked it for the snapshot. There are lots of birds here, and while I enjoy listening to music while I walk, I often go without it to hear them sing instead. Most of the birds that I saw in Washington were either crows or Steller's Jay. They caw, but I never heard them sing. I have missed the morning and evening symphonies that we get in the south. It's nice to hear them again.
We are living in a golf course community. The course is beautiful and well kept. It has paths for the carts, which I suppose all courses do. This morning I decided that it would be nice to see where the paths ended up. While the course was empty when I started out, I did encounter a few golfers along the way. They seemed surprised to see someone walking there. I do not play golf and thus have never been one to frequent the courses. I do not know the etiquette, other than you do not walk on the greens, which is common sense. So I don't know if I was breaking any social rules. I really hope that they were simply surprised because no one else does it. It would be a great place to walk, and there aren't many other great places here. As for learning the game...It's an expensive hobby and I am left-handed. I'm sure they make clubs for left-handed people, but it was an issue when I was in gym class in high school. And I have had no desire to pursue it since. If you know, please feel free to enlighten me. I really don't want to go around pissing people off just to take a walk.Friday, March 28, 2025
And Then...

Friday, March 14, 2025
Postponed!
Thursday, March 13, 2025
11th Hour
My plan really was to pack up Ken's room while he was at work. But he didn't go to work today. There was no explanation why. He also didn't pack anything in his room. He isn't feeling well, I know this. He is still recovering from the flu. It took me more than a month to get back to normal from it. But he wouldn't let me pack his things either. He was even more a bit short tempered about it when he told me he'd pack everything this coming weekend, and I replied that they will be here tomorrow morning to pick up the pod.
Karen slept in really late. After she got up, we both worked very hard to get what we could in the pod. We have the things we want from both sheds. All that I'm leaving behind in them for the junkers are two cheap suitcases that I hate. I'm not even going to glance at what Karen and Ken are leaving. I was totally appalled to find out that Karen was keeping an picture of our grandmother out in the shed. The picture was taken about 1911 or 12. My grandmother who was around 2 at the time was stylishly dressed, standing in front of a period toy and wearing pearls and a gold locket. It is in a very ornate, gold leaf frame that was damaged by the neglect of being left in the shed. Besides being an amazing family heirloom, it is probably worth a fortune. And she put it in the shed to keep the bats company...
Then tonight...As we were just heading out to buy more tape and boxes, Karen's daughter showed up. I love Nora, and it is great to see her home from Hawaii. But she is a major distraction. Every item to be packed is passed back and forth. The memories of it are discussed and the gossip about anyone else who is associated with the item is shared. This would have been fabulous a few weeks ago, but c'mon! We are at the "Throw it in a box and get it out the door" stage of this move.Sunday, March 9, 2025
Count Down
The pod arrived on Friday, but not until after 4:30 pm. By then Ken was home and as I suspected he rushed out and was doing his "man of the house" routine. The woman who delivered the pod told me that the door to the pod could be placed to face either direction. But Ken jumped in with "put it here", mainly because he didn't want to have to move his van. As a result, the door to the pod is facing away from the gate and we have to walk up a small incline. Even though I spoke up and requested the door face the gate, no, she listened to Mr. Bossman. I have to work harder to keep from emasculating a guy. I remember it with every heavy box I have been carrying up that incline. I was so furious with my brother, and I let him know it. Then I went to my room, smoked almost a whole joint by myself and went to sleep without making him dinner. Having gone to bed at 5:30 pm, I woke up at 2:00 am. The headache that I had brewed the day before was still with me and I was grumpy with the frustration that I have been feeling.Karen is the only one of us who has actually been inside the house. Her description of the floorplan is that you walk into the house and into the main hall. on either side of the hall are two of the bedrooms, the kitchen and the living room. In the middle of the hall is a small staircase that goes up to a landing where the bathroom is, then goes to the back of the house and staircase that leads to my area upstairs. The only problem is that looking at the pictures I have, there is just no way that is a three-story house. And it isn't the style that lends itself to being a split level. Anytime I show her the pictures and ask for an explanation of what I'm seeing, she says she can't explain it, and I will just have to wait and see. That too has been a source of irritation to me. It's not just that she can't tell me anything about the floor plan, but she says she didn't pay attention to things like closets and pantries. What she saw as the porch, and that is all she apparently needed to know.I used my early morning hours looking at the few pictures I have trying to figure out what exactly I can expect. And to my amazement I did actually come up with a reasonable deduction of what is there. The revelation started with a picture of the back of the house. I noticed that the shades are up in the upper left window. And in that window is a can of some sort. I was able to locate that window from the pictures I have of my area inside. It is the window that you face as you come up the stairs to my landing. It accounts for one the dormer windows. There is a picture of the bathroom where that window is showing in the mirror above the vanity and sinks. The other two dormer windows are in my bedroom and bonus room.Coming up the stairs to my area, there is a rather large landing. Karen says that it is large enough for a small seating area. The window that you see is the one that I noticed the can sitting in. For the window to be in the mirror in the bathroom it has to be the door opposite it, it's kind of hard to see. The door on the left with a window showing is the larger of my two rooms. Karen can't really give me an idea of how large it is. But it has it's own mini split. There is a second one in the landing. and all of the rooms have ceiling fans. There are also closets in both of my rooms and a large linen closet in the bathroom. But the bedroom closets seem like they may be on the small side. From what I can tell from the pictures I have; the smaller closet may be close to the size of the closet that I currently use. The other room, the closet may be the size that you see in a child's bedroom. It will be more storage space than I have had for a while. I'm really kind of excited about this now.
After being up several hours figuring all this out I decided to take a nap and get up Saturday morning ready to go fresh. I woke up around 9:30 am. Karen was sitting in the living room playing games on her cell phone. Ken was in his room watching YouTube. I went out to the pod to see what we had to work with. It is 16 feet long, which is way more than I can imagine that we will use as we do not plan to take a majority of our furniture. Inside the pod are handles that can be used to tie the boxes in place so they don't slip around the unit during transit. I hadn't thought about that, so as much as I didn't want to spend money and especially at the big box store that I went too. But I needed to get things so we can get this show on the road...literally. When I got home, Karen and Ken had not moved from the locations they were in when I left. My frustrations began to flourish again.
They are coming on Friday to pick the pod up and ship it. I am more than willing to bet that it won't be 4:30 in the afternoon. Probably more like 8:00 am. So, we need to have it packed and ready to go by Thursday night. There is nothing that I can do to motivate Karen and Ken. They are making their own decisions here. I have decided that all I can do is make sure that my things are in the pod. Karen and I already had around 30 boxes packed and stacked up in the living room. I grabbed a travel dolly that I had taking up space in my bedroom and started hauling boxes out to the pod. My plan was to take the larger and heavier boxes first. Then add a layer of larger lightweight boxes and then stacking the smaller boxes on top of them, doing one row at a time so we don't have to reach over a row of boxes to stack the pod to the ceiling. We have space, but we won't if we waste it. Karen wouldn't even stop to listen to my plan. She had three rows deep before we were even stacked halfway up. I kept having to rearrange it. I was exhausted to the point of physically shaking by the time we got all the boxes in the pod. When we came back into the house, Ken was pulling on his shoes and asked if he could help us load. For the three and a half hours that we were loading and arranging the pod, he sat in his bedroom watching YouTube, and as soon as we were done, he decided he should be helping.When I got up this morning, it was Ground Hog's Day all over again. Karen was sitting on the couch playing games on her cell phone and Ken was in his bedroom watching YouTube. The only difference was that Ken had gone out and brought me home two egg McMuffins. I looked around and decided that it's time to get down to the suitcase that I will be taking with me on the trip across the country. I had told myself that it would be fine to leave my bookcases intact. At first, I wasn't going to take them. They are cheap Ikea knockoffs. But when I was in the big box store, I noticed that they are more than what I paid for them three years ago when I bought them. And with the clown we have running the country, who knows how much more they will cost next week.
Last night I thought leaving the shelves constructed would be fine. But why? Even with plenty of space, it will fill up fast if we all do things like that. So, I deconstructed them and my desk. Then I went through my clothes and packed everything I know for sure I won't be taking in my suitcase for the trip. I need to do laundry before I can finish this task. And I couldn't, because as soon as I started taking my furniture apart, Karen got up an started doing her laundry. I will do mine tomorrow and work out just what I plan on taking with me. Everything else will be packed and taken out to the pod. My hope is to be living out of my suitcase tomorrow night, and if not, at least by Tuesday night.Karen's last day at work is Tuesday. I honestly do not know if Ken has even put in notice that he's leaving. It's important that he contacts Social Security. But I dare not even broach the subject with him. He knows this, but he is being a dick about it. I'm going to do my thing and let him FAFO. It would be nice if we could sit down like adults and have a constructive discussion about what the timetables are and what needs to happen. But no, that can't happen when people turn stubborn and refuse to do their part.
Realistically, the communication has not been stellar. Karen insisted that she has the planning under control. When I'd ask for information that I needed, like "What's the target move date?" and "When is the pod coming?" or "Do we have junkers coming to take refuse away?" I was more likely to get a "Don't worry about it, everything is taken care of." Only it isn't very well planned. Nora is coming to help us pack on Thursday night. The pod will be gone the next morning.My frustration at this point is boundless. All I can really do is make sure that I have done what I need for myself. I know that by this time next month, I will be complaining because I won't be able to find all my stuff and I wish I'd labeled the boxes better. I hope that we will all be settling into our new home.