Just RK

This is everything that won't fit in our apartment... except for the sofa part of the sectional, which is at Jody's. Last night we needed a fan, as being on the second/top floor of our building is sure proving to be a toasty existence. There is central air here, but it seems to be a tad inefficient, to say the least. So we made our first trip to the storage unit. (We weren't at the "moving in" there, since we were unloading the other truck at the apartment.) M jumped in and walked on boxes and random other items to get to where the fan was hiding. Successful trip, and we're enjoying the breezy outcome.

Alright...continuing on... Sunday the 18th, we got up, very stiff from a night on the floor, and began the last leg of the house-prepping journey. We loaded our suitcases and such into the cabs of the trucks, using every last space. We boxed up the last few items that we needed, cleaning supplies, etc. M and Braska left about 9 am to head on. Mom and I figured we'd be along in about an hour. Close to 2.5 hours later, we finally were ready to jump up in our trucks and take off. We formed our two-part caravan and took to the interstate. The trip went well overall, though I don't plan to trade in my car for a moving truck for everyday driving in city traffic. No thanks. M got to the apartment office and signed the lease then he and Braska went to hang out in an empty apartment. My sister Rachel came over to keep them company a bit since we were so late in coming. (She was just showing off her fancy new Acura and all it's fun toys...that's always a good way to pass...

I'm a big fan of So You Think You Can Dance on Fox. Last night we were watching it on the DVR and when this young man appeared, I stopped and said, "No way!" Both M and I stopped what we were doing and watched...here's what we saw. After it was over, we we grinning, talking about how great his speech was and all kinds of what I call "geeky" DS stuff (therapies, diagnoses, characteristics, etc). Then we both said that the blogs would go wild in no time. This is just the kind of thing that we like to see, so why not post it?!? This morning, there are entries on a few forums I watch, and Meredith is the first blog on my reader to post on it. I'm sure more will follow. But all blogging silliness aside, this guy is really neat. He is a neat guy, DS or not, but I personally believe that at least part of it is because he IS who is IS and has learned to be more than ok with that. That's all we want really. Go Brett!!

I feel like I should write so much, but I'm just not finding the time anymore. I'm so sad that my daily blogging has turned into bi-weekly almost. So for now, pics and captions will have to suffice. In case you've missed it somehow, here's what started this chaos of the past few weeks. It culminated in a two-part move, beginning Saturday 5/17 with the load up. We had a great turnout of guys (and Susan!) so the work went fairly quickly overall. It took some time to work out the jigsaw puzzle of fitting all our big things in with few little things to go in the gaps. But the guys did a great job. Since there were so many hands available, and since we had a bit of a truck issue (it was too small!) we decided at the last minute to get a second truck and go ahead and load while there were people there to help. The first pic there shows both, the second zooms in on the right side of the first. Ridiculous...two trucks. And since there were plenty of hands, Mat...

Moving is no fun. Packing and unpacking is not enjoyable work. Leaving a life and a place we loved for a place we don't really know is scary. Missing friends and coworkers we liked so much is painful. Giving up something I'd dreamed about and never thought I'd actually have in my backyard is really hard. (I love this pic, just had to share...so clear and blue.) Why did we do it? Why would we up-end our whole life? What could possibly cause us to do such a thing? Nuff said.

The funeral has been arranged, and little Maria Sue Chapman's life will be celebrated tomorrow morning. This was posted on DownSyn , and it's so perfectly matched...the song written by this precious girl's father a few years ago. Never did he expect, I'm sure, to have his own song meant to minister to others parallel his own life so closely. I also found SCC's blog today, with some other videos on it of the family and all. I love seeing that he's as cool a guy and dad as I thought he'd be from being a big fan for close to 20 years now. Enjoy this one especially...

I want to put up pics and stories and update all of you who have been so great about supporting us through this crazy fast move. But I'm so darn tired. I'm trying to balance working, keeping Braska somewhat entertained (which is seriously getting harder), and finding time in there to actually unpack and organize this place since I'm here now. So far, it's not left alot of time for blogging. Sad, I know. For now, here's a couple pics. This is where we are now. We moved in Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I was up at 5:30 am ready to get to work, at least for the few hours I had before it was time to head out again. This was my view out the sliding door when I opened the vertical blinds. Not bad, really. It was so peaceful. Then a couple hours later when the sun had risen, view from the little deck. It's actually pretty quiet and peaceful, at least the little bit I've been here. That is, with the constant low interstate noise of I-70 just 1/4 mile or ...