We Move To... The Garage

At least the kitchen is usable now - more to come!

Where to start? How about, sorry that it's been so stinking long?! Sorry. Now, the biggest thing was the move in that I left everyone hanging on the edge of their seats with. It was a glorious Saturday morning with the soft fluffy clouds that come after a bit of rain and bring sunnier days. It was a cool 45-50 degrees and almost no wind. It was perfect weather for moving heavy boxes and breakable china.

Needless to say I was a bit nervous about the truck being on time due to a freak snow storm, the clouds erupting with 17" of rain or even a king-size pot hole on the interstate that blows out the trailer axle. Many prayers later and a few powdered doughnuts surrendered to my belly, the truck showed up - 10 minutes early. Man I just gotta trust God and relax some. This driver was friendly, courteous and most importantly on time. The day was going to be perfect and I thought I had plenty of space for everything. In short, for once I was right on both accounts - again this trusting God thing is really something I can really get used to.

We had a great crew for the day, to list them would be long, but I'm going to anyway - they earned their stripes! My sister Mary, Bro Sean, His fiance Sarah, Uncle Tim, Caryn, Russ, Grandpa Case, Grandma Helen, Shana D., Lola K., Kirby V., Ron V., Mark S., Sam and Jake D. (Shana's boys), Sal V., Ellie, and last but definitely not least Dan J. That my friends is a good crew - and they got a ton done, not just moving stuff either.
WHOOHOO The Truck's here!/Everyone anxiously awaits...

Yeah it was full/Tim & Kirby use great care

I carry a huge headboard/Ron directs traffic on the ground

Lola thinks this is play time/The men discuss strategies of unloading

Kirby works to fill the garage/Sarah gets the heavy stuff

Mark carries a chair/So does Ron

Mary walks the cardboard runway/Sarah watches her step

Mary works while Tim..?/Oh how the garage fills quickly

Dan J is a one mane moving machine/An takes great care too

Tim & Sean unload the last few/Dan verifies the emptiness



Grandpa was so keen on lifting heavy breakables, so he starting painting the basement bar/extra living areas, now that the trim has been painted. While Gpa was sucking fumes, Grandma, Shana and Caryn were all cleaning windows, cleaning floors, and getting the house interior ready for actual living. Although nothing new came into the house during this move except a bed (I FINALLY get to sleep above the floor!) it was cleaned top to bottom by days end by these ladies and a few others as the moving ended later on.
Grandpa works his magic in the basement/Around the bar...

Up the stairs.../Grandma does her work in the kitchen

MANY Hands made the kitchen ready


We had a group of guys also retrieve the counter tops and TV and other furniture from the storage facility in DSM. All tolled, I will now be 'saving' about $250/mo. just on not having to pay storage fees! That is a good feeling. Don't worry though in later entries I'll tell you what has been taking that void. Back to the move in though...

Lunch was fantastic array of chicken salad sandwiches, mixed fruit, chips, pop and a great cake my mom brought with a VERY appropriate message. amazingly we had completed the removal of all of the items from the semi before lunch and the guys showed up soon after lunch with the first load from the storage units. I guess there was more in there than I had remembered putting in there. I suppose you can't relate to that in your own house. ;-) With the extras coming in from the storage unit, we had time to do smaller misc jobs like start to set up my bed, move the tub into the bathroom and set up the washer and dryer. Oh wait on that washer/dryer thing... we forgot to install a dryer vent before the drywall went up. Shit.
Full tummies were had by all

The girls put together the bed/Ellie inspects the work

Three ladies that have done SO much to help/Mom shows off the cake

The tub is moved into the master bathroom


You have no idea how badly I have wanted to do my own laundry. That is saying more than you realize. You know how everyone has their ONE thing that they absolutely hate to do around the house? For some doing the dishes is the worst chore, others it's cleaning the bathroom, for my it's doing laundry - BY FAR. To say that I look forward to doing my own is nuts and that's because I hate that others are being burdened with my stinky, filthy work clothes. That's nothing to say that 'the exchange' of the baskets is ever comfortable. I feel like I'm smuggling socks and slacks in the resturaunt at times. I look forward to having my life contained in one place, and for right now it's still not. We're getting closer no doubt, but there are things that just seem to continue to hang out there.

All in all it was a great day and I got one step closer to having my life back together in one place. I still don't have things IN the house, but at least they're all at the same address now and I can at least LOOK at my couches and kitchen utensils (oh which by the way were also brought into the house by Caryn, Shana and crew. They COMPLETELY set up the kitchen with my stuff so I can honestly use the kitchen like it's supposed to be used!! I almost forgot one of the biggest things - man am I glad that I can ramble on forever then I can remember more good stuff! Too bad for you though I've probably already said too much and I'm losing you. So I'll shut up for this installment and let you look at the rest of the day and enjoy.
Sal cleans with Ellie's help/LOTS of help

Ellie loves to help 'pray, pray'/Ron uses a straight blade

Russ gets a hand from Sam/The beautiful entrance into the living room

Russ readies the 3 season porch for the move/


Again, thank you all for making this happen. The first move to Pella, the destruction of every wall in my house, the slow rebuilding of the guts within the walls, the rebirth of my yard, the rebuilding of the walls and ceilings, the painting, the staining and varnishing, and now moving back to Des Moines. It's been amazing and hopefully nearing an end. You all have been with me the whole way and I can't even imagine what it'd be like without you. Lonely I guess, praise the Lord though, you never left. Thank you.

Saturday Crew Is Early

Everyone was Movin' & Shakin' Wednesday Night

This week the crew showed up and I mean REALLY EARLY - like Wednesday night! That's right, I had a crew of six people show Wednesday evening ready to do whatever I needed. It was a great bunch from Two Rivers Marketing - the agency that both Leslie and I worked for. Making a star appearance were John K., Jill V., Jill L., Ryan J., Karen S., and Julie S. - yes there were a lot of 'J's that night.

I am making preparations for bringing up the semi full of my old house NEXT SATURDAY and I needed to create some space for all of the stuff. In walk the crew from 2RM and BAM!! we're clearing away junk and organizing other junk that needs to stay! They kind of looked at me like - '18 months of tearing and repairing and we're moving boxes and sweeping your porch'? Yep, needs to be done so that the big day of moving can happen.

Well three hours later the 3-season porch and garage were cleared and organized, all of the hardware for the 2nd floor doors were taken off and placed in baggies and a good portion of the paint was stripped off of the top of the bar (that was mistakenly painted by the painters - MAJOR OOPS). We won't go into how many four letters words I uttered, well it was really only one word multiple times.
Ryan J uses VERY toxic stripper/John and Jill work and Julie is...?

John moves a heavy door/Jill V removes a hinge


As the group was departing for their homes and warm beds that no doubt provided a little rest for their very sore backs, we discussed how a 'small' group of six could get so much done. Simply put that was 18 hours that it would have taken to do that work - not to mention the additional time just due to the fact that when working alone it always takes longer because of the efficiency of two sets of hands working on the same project. In one night a lot was accomplished that will allow for this up coming weekend to really be possible.
Jill L works on the door handle/John & Julie work together

Julie isn't so sure he's doing it correctly/The group (minus Karen)


Another first was reached this past weekend on Saturday. It was the first weekend that we didn't take off, but I worked alone on the house. Not really abig deal at all, just an interesting fact to consider. For more than 62 weeks I have had at least one other person helping me on my house and in most cases many people. In some cases it was nice to work quietly by myself, but reality sunk in and I realized how much I didn't get done with such a 'big' weekend on the horizon and it was a bit disheartening. Oh well, there is next weekend, it will come whether I'm ready or not and that's good from any perspective. I might even have a couch to sit on in a week or so. No more 5-gallon bucket seats or plastic lawn furniture. Although I might just keep some of that in the house so I don't have to clean as much until more of the painting and final touches are put on each room. we'll have to wait and see.

Regardless I hung a sheet of drywall in the landing of the 2nd floor, moved a couple of switch boxes that were sticking too far out from the drywall, cut a few holes for plumbing and got to hang with Buddy during Coke breaks. All in all it was a good day. Just me and my trusted dog who has been through the deepest valleys of life with me. Sometimes the quiet progress made along side an old trusted friend ain't so bad.

The Big Unveiling: Part II

The BIG SURPRISE!

Last week Tuesday (the 11th) a gift finally found its home in Ellie's room that had been waiting to be delivered for over a year. Shortly after the New Year of '07 I received a call from some of the folks at Meredith Corporation from the Parents Branding team. They had heard of my story through a few different channels and really felt compelled to help out in any way they could, but they didn't know how right away. The right opportunity presented itself and they gave me a call right away.

It turned out that they had just finished taking pictures of one of their newest products and didn't have anywhere to store it and would usually have put it up for internal sale for the employees. Considering my situation and that Ellie didn't have anything yet, they wanted to donate to Ellie when her room was ready. I thought that was a great gesture, one that caught me off guard and I about lost it. It's those 'girly' moments that Ellie will have that I usually feel the hurt the deepest. Those are the moments that 'Mom' is supposed to share with their daughters. Sure dad can have them too, but they were the moments that Leslie absolutely lived for and so looked forward to sharing with Gabrielle. Here were folks that saw a void in a part of life that I wouldn't necessarily know what or how to give my little girl and gave me that. They gave me more than just a toy, they gave me the thoughtful package that covered it all - all the pieces, all the correct designs that girls like things I don't know about - and all I needed to do was show up with my little angel and be willing to play. Amazing. So many people have worked so hard so that I can one day just show up and play - I still don't know how to take that gift sometimes without getting all mushy.

Back to the story. The woman from Meredith named Sondra told me that she understood that I was still looking at bare studs (I don't think she fully understood just HOW MANY I was looking at though) and the when I had Ellie's room ready she would love to deliver the gift in person. I thought that was amazing and absolutely agreed that it should be a special time away from even the 'reveal' of the room to Ellie. every couple of months Sondra would write and ask how things were progressing and if the room was ready or not. Ever patient, she would always respond to my 'not yet' with the usual, well it's still waiting for you whenever it works best.

Well last week I gave the much anticipated shout to Sondra that the room was ready, Ellie had already seen her room (and loved it as you know) and it was time for another surprise for Ellie. She was completely excited, but her schedule was crazy busy and might be a challenge to get the whole team there. I told her whatever she wanted to do for scheduling was great by me since she had waited so patiently for me. We set the date for the 11th at 4:00. I was to pick up Ellie from Daycare and head over.

Ellie and I headed over last Tuesday to see what new 'prise? Daddy' was waiting. We arrived and saw that Toye and Barry were there and had set everything up, but Sondra was not able to attend because of business. We ran upstairs and went into the room to see a huge shape covered with a blanket. Getting behind it, we pulled back the cover to reveal a HUGE doll house that had everything from a sink and bath tub to stairs and even patio furniture! Man, this house has more in it than my real house. Ellie squealed with excitement and couldn't stop asking ' play Daddy, Play with me?!' Needless to say it was a huge hit.
The unveiling begins.../Ready? Set..

Oooh IT'S A DOLL HOUSE/Look at all the cool pieces!

The gift in perfect presentation/Thank you Meredith Parents Branding


Ellie and I have spent quite a bit of time in her new room playing with all of her new toys. Thank you all for you generosity. I honestly can't say thank you enough. My little girl has never stopped smiling throughout this whole ordeal and a lot of it is because you all never stopped sharing your smiles with us.