Goodbye house
Today we packed up the rest of our house, gave it a cursory re-cleaning, and left. Except for when Will has to swing by later this week to pick up the radon tester (now that the de-radon-ator has been installed), we don't plan to be back in our house ever again. In less than two weeks, it will belong to someone else.
MiniPlu was devastated. She curled in her emo-corner of her closet and cried, and I wasn't sure we were going to get her out of there. I didn't cry - I'm not much of a crier - but I spent a lot of time embroiled in pensive thoughts the past 24 hours, remembering all the changes we've made to the house, all the things we experienced while living there, all the happy memories, all the milestones. It still feels like my house, my yard, my neighbors, and it's hard to picture someone else being there. :(
Steve helped us in the morning and my SIL Karen drove out to help us in the afternoon. We rented a U-Haul truck, and it was frankly appalling how full that got stuffed, especially before we unloaded some furniture at Goodwill, given how much we already moved, gave away, tossed, etc. I mean, it was the bare bones left back at the house. How in hell did we still have that much stuff to get out of there??? And we have all of that to unload and unpack tomorrow (didn't have the energy to deal with it tonight).
Black belt class last night was ... interesting. The instructor, basically the highest ranked person aside from Grandmaster K (Master M is actually a little higher than Master K) can be kind of gruff, and he literally barks like a drill sergeant when leading class, but he seems to have mellowed recently, and he honestly doesn't scare me at all. Still, he's not easy to please, so when he praised me early on for the way I was doing a particular exercise, I was surprised, especially as I didn't feel I was that exceptional, but I gave the proper, "Thank you, sir!" response. And then, not five minutes later, on the next exercise, he not only was pleased with me again, he actually told everyone to stop and watch me demonstrate how I did it. Like, seriously - WTF? I'm not THAT stellar. I mean, I do a decent job, but I really have no idea what was going on with his sudden admiration. I exchanged glances with the people on either side - my friend Alison on the left, and an 8th-grade girl on the right, who is the only non-blackbelt ranked higher than Alison and I at class - and they both were like, "Geez, gold stars for you today!" (The teen girl and MiniPlu were friends, and I'm friends with her mom through the elementary library and PTO, so we can joke around like that.) Frankly, I think they were nervous lightning was going to strike me next, lol.
And Master M must've said something to Grandmaster K (who arrived about half hour into the class) during our mid-class water break, because then HE said something to me about how I was doing well and to keep working hard and, seriously, it was just UNREAL. I mean, I like recognition for my hard work as much as the next person, but this sort of thing just doesn't HAPPEN to me, normally.
And on that note, I'm off to bed. Ugh, really not looking forward to unloading tomorrow. Also, neither kid got any homework done so far this weekend, so I'll be busy with THAT, too. Plus the usual weekend chores and errands, whee.
MiniPlu was devastated. She curled in her emo-corner of her closet and cried, and I wasn't sure we were going to get her out of there. I didn't cry - I'm not much of a crier - but I spent a lot of time embroiled in pensive thoughts the past 24 hours, remembering all the changes we've made to the house, all the things we experienced while living there, all the happy memories, all the milestones. It still feels like my house, my yard, my neighbors, and it's hard to picture someone else being there. :(
Steve helped us in the morning and my SIL Karen drove out to help us in the afternoon. We rented a U-Haul truck, and it was frankly appalling how full that got stuffed, especially before we unloaded some furniture at Goodwill, given how much we already moved, gave away, tossed, etc. I mean, it was the bare bones left back at the house. How in hell did we still have that much stuff to get out of there??? And we have all of that to unload and unpack tomorrow (didn't have the energy to deal with it tonight).
Black belt class last night was ... interesting. The instructor, basically the highest ranked person aside from Grandmaster K (Master M is actually a little higher than Master K) can be kind of gruff, and he literally barks like a drill sergeant when leading class, but he seems to have mellowed recently, and he honestly doesn't scare me at all. Still, he's not easy to please, so when he praised me early on for the way I was doing a particular exercise, I was surprised, especially as I didn't feel I was that exceptional, but I gave the proper, "Thank you, sir!" response. And then, not five minutes later, on the next exercise, he not only was pleased with me again, he actually told everyone to stop and watch me demonstrate how I did it. Like, seriously - WTF? I'm not THAT stellar. I mean, I do a decent job, but I really have no idea what was going on with his sudden admiration. I exchanged glances with the people on either side - my friend Alison on the left, and an 8th-grade girl on the right, who is the only non-blackbelt ranked higher than Alison and I at class - and they both were like, "Geez, gold stars for you today!" (The teen girl and MiniPlu were friends, and I'm friends with her mom through the elementary library and PTO, so we can joke around like that.) Frankly, I think they were nervous lightning was going to strike me next, lol.
And Master M must've said something to Grandmaster K (who arrived about half hour into the class) during our mid-class water break, because then HE said something to me about how I was doing well and to keep working hard and, seriously, it was just UNREAL. I mean, I like recognition for my hard work as much as the next person, but this sort of thing just doesn't HAPPEN to me, normally.
And on that note, I'm off to bed. Ugh, really not looking forward to unloading tomorrow. Also, neither kid got any homework done so far this weekend, so I'll be busy with THAT, too. Plus the usual weekend chores and errands, whee.