D-Day is Upon Us

Warning--pictures galore today. This may be the last entry for a couple days, or at least the last with pictures. We don't have connectivity at the new place until the 20th, so we'll be on borrowed dial-up lines until then. ICK, but we'll be thankful to have them.

Plenty of pictures of the new digs are already posted here, so visit Sarah and see some there. Then keep reading here.

We go and get the truck at 3 p.m. EST today. Wish us luck---the packing isn't complete. And this is the result of a rather marathon session yesterday


That's Matt, as of about five minutes ago. Poor thing. He has worked so hard these past few days and is out cold. Can you blame him? I mean, it's been hades around here, with all there is to do in such a short time frame. Thank goodness for the kind and understanding souls of Anne B., Susan P., Carrol K., and Rachel K., who have helped so very much in getting us ready, including tons of packing yesterday and Monday (they did ALL of the bagging you see below). I did feed them home-made lasagna last night for dinner, which is slight payback for their hard work. They claim it wasn't really work, as they got to fondle and play with great yarns (who can argue with that logic?). But they're amazing, as they turned this


into this


And that lovely tower of Koigu


was reduced to this


by Anne. Amazing work, ladies! MUCH THANKS!

Now for just a couple more pictures of the new digs, courtesy of Sarah from their trip this past weekend. First off, here's a different vantage point from the front room that she showed on her blog yesterday evening. This is looking into the next room, featuring Ann K. and Sheila C., two of the wonderful Michigan ladies who visited last weekend (the foursome was Sarah, (not that) Wendy, and these two--and we had a wonderful time with them here, as we miss them and our other Michigan friends so very much)


Ann is in the blue and Sheila in the blue and white check. And sneaking in the picture behind them is Barb P., Columbus resident, mother to our new landlord and his sister--who's a fab knitter, INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL supporter of us, phenomenal knitter in her own right, and darned hard worker (she has been putting in long hours prepping the house for us to move in). It's been quite the "family affair", as I don't think there's a single member of the P family who hasn't been working on the house to get it ready (thanks, Amy, Jim, Barb, Jim, Cathi, Jamie, Matt, and everyone else over there who have put in long hours and lots of sweat making way for us). One more picture


This is what I refer to as the classroom, as I think it will make a wonderful place to knit and learn and chat. Please ignore the hideous gold walls and "charming" border (they're history shortly), as well as the window unit--the central AC goes in shortly. And the gentleman in the picture is Barb's husband, Jim--another of the HARD WORKING team of the P family. I think he's running for the door, having put in many hours of late. But can you blame them? Look at all of the wood, the beautiful transoms over the doors, and more. If you could see that wooden door close up you'd take in some amazing detail work that was NEVER PAINTED. Shocking, given trends over the life of this home. But we're thankful! We have a beautiful space that will need some love and paint and more hard work, but come next month, it will be a showplace! COME SEE!

Seriously, we've set the GRAND OPENING weekend for October 24th-26th. Of course, we'll be open next week, but we'll be working on rooms, painting sections of the house, and getting shevling up for the next couple weeks. And all during September the new yarns start arriving (actually, some are in the UPS system headed our way right now). We expect most new stock to be on hand by October 1 (we've got plenty in the mean time), so we will have a couple weeks to spiff it all up in anticipation of the big weekend. If you're in the area (or not, Rachael) stop by and say howdy. We'd love to meet you!

With that, I'm off. Matt's up and I smell his coffee brewing. Back to work!!!!!

Good Vibes Abound

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you

To each and every one of you who've written, tagboarded, and commented with positive energy, suggestions about the dog, ideas for the useful stuff we're finding in our archaeological dig in the garage, and to every one of the wonderful souls who are sharing their days (and nights, starting today) with us getting out of Bloomington and onto the next stage in our lives. I say it so often I wonder if it still has the impact I want it to, but I am constantly overwhelmed with the wonderful and giving friends (near AND far) that we've met over the past three years (one in Michigan and two here, so far). We wouldn't exist without you and we wouldn't be ready for the move without you (and now I have word of folks lining up to help unpack this weekend and paint and redo some of the incredible hardwood floors that run throughout the ENTIRE house).

Connor seems to be settling down a little bit, and Tate remains underfoot. Earlier this morning, while I was sitting on the couch, Connor was in her usual position next to me and Tate tried to come up as well, but she blocked him. So he tried to scale me like a mountain. He's a lovey dog, and very kissey too. So we try to overwhelm them with love and petting for the next couple days and they deal as best they can. They're being good, but probably just confused for now. In two days they'll have a new home and a yard again. Hooray! And there's a Benji-mix mutt next door to terrorize through the fence!

Off to go pack something. Probably more digging in the garage and in the closet in the master bedroom. Oy, we are packrats. In a B-A-D way.

Moving is Hell.......

FYI--we're in the midst of moving (not the middle--yet). We have the truck from Wednesday afternoon for 48 hours, so we'll be loading boxes starting then. In the mean time, we're packing. We haven't even started on the ThreadBear stuff yet, as we're leaving the shop up and running as long as possible. It will be packed tomorrow, however, but be opened and we'll be up and running again early on Thursday. In the mean time, we're still processing orders and shipping things--there's a HUGE pile of boxes, bags, envelopes and more going to the Post Office today. Thanks for lightening our load!

The dogs are not well--Connor hasn't stopped licking her paws for hours (that's her nervous tick) and Tate has been underfoot all day. Rachel keeps putting him out on the deck (HI RACHEL--THANKS FOR HELPING) and I keep letting him in.........he looks so sad outside. Matt and I are convinced that he may be a victim of moving abandonment--his former family may have moved and let him loose rather than take him. How absolutely pitiful. He is VERY attention-needy and it's only gotten worse with the packing that's been going on.

Back to excavating in the garage. We're going through boxes out there that haven't been opened in no less than two years, and in some cases more like four or five years (I just went through one that I packed when I moved from South Carolina, and that was May 1998). Obviously there's stuff out there that we have no use for. And there's stuff out there that we're fooling ourselves if we keep (like that box of 34 and 36 waist jeans of mine--some with the tags still on them). Oh, to have a dumpster in front of the house right now..............there's just so much JUNK in our lives, but not for very long. Matt's a-callin', so I have to get back to work. If you don't hear from me for a couple days, send in a search party--I'm probably buried in the garage.