We moved mom and Christy on Tuesday. It was an 11 hour day. And it was HOT. This is the day the countertops went in and the cable guy did his thing.

Wednesday (can that just be yesterday?) the plumbers came to hook up all the sinks. Two plumbers for 4+ hours each is not a cheap deal but what are you going to do? There was unpacking and cleaning the duplex to fill the day. Steve and I both went back at 7:00 PM to help Chris with the fence building.

Today, 6 weeks from the day we closed on the house, we have about finished 'combat' operations. (That's what Steve called it.) We put up a wall of shelves in the garage and got the last of the pile off of the floor and in some semblance of order. The washer and dryer are hooked up. This afternoon I helped Chris with the fence.

The house is on a slope so the fence is not a straight run. It looks really good. Here's a better shot of Chris, the fence-maker:

Inside the fence feels nice (below). The backyard feels bigger rather than smaller. I didn't promote the change from the original chain link to this fence, but I was wrong. This is better.

Do you see that tall light pole in the photo? I've never seen it before and I've lived in this neighborhood for 18 years! Tomorrow I'm going to have to figure out where it lives.

Don't know what's going to happen with the stump/table. My guess is that the pink and blue paint is going to have to go when the weather is cooler.

The other thing that is happening is that the sprinkler system is going in. They are having to hand dig the trenches in the back because the electric, gas, cable, and who knows what other cables are buried in the back. It's slowing the crew down but that's OK. Mom and Christy are in no shape to drag hoses around and Texas summers require more watering than I could keep up for them.

I should have taken a photo of some of the dying trees in town. Big ones, little ones, natives and exotics – there are a lot of brown leaves. I don't know if any of the trees will be coming back in the spring.

Tomorrow I may be moving some boxes so they can unpack but I think my life is coming back!

We watched Jaws Sunday night in the pool. Elanor enjoyed it – although she did get a little unnerved when Quinn got bitten in half. Before the movie, we talked a lot about what was to come, the shark was a machine, there would be fake spurting blood, the music was spooky… overall she took it all very well. I admit it, when my kids were little I let them watch way more violence than sex. Chris, Jeff, if you are reading this feel free to back me up here. they turned out just fine!

Christopher shared this trailer with me and I think it's fun enough to post. It's entitled "Must Love Jaws". I know Jaws and am of a certain age (55) so what struck me duriong the movie were all the 1970s era parts of this movie. The hair, glasses, interiors – it was a kick!

Paint, he's been stripping paint. My mom now has our bedroom furniture. It was hers first. She bought it in 1950ish. She and daddy used it for a long, long time and then we got it. We used it for a long, long time. Mom asked for it back and we said OK. She bought us a replacement dresser and chest.

To buy something new (that we would have liked) was going to cost more than $1500. Antiques are cheaper and we like them better anyway. This is what I found. This is so not our style but it's the same 1950s vintage, the drawers all work, it doesn't smell funky, and each piece is a little bigger than the ones we had before. That's a plus.

Steve spent more time than I did stripping the paint off. I mostly ran the hand sanders. So much so that if I think about it I can still feel the vibration in my hands. (That may not have been smart.) Anyway, we both worked in temps well above 100 for many hours. I started applying Watco today.

Watco has been around forever. It's a wiping stain and finishing oil in one and its easy to use, looks good, lasts forever. What I found out immediately is that the white paint permeated the wood. Where the paint is in the grain, the stain doesn't take as well.

You know what? We are both so hot, and so tired, that we've decided that we might be able to make this look work. I may hit it with a glaze once we have it inside. I'll post photos of the drawers in place later so you can see.

The ends of both the dresser and chest are masonite which was a surprise. They won't stain. I'm either going to paint them or cover them with wallpaper. I think I can turn this bad surprise into a good surprise. I've already spray painted those fancy, not-our-style handles green. I think they are going to be way fun!

In other news: Tomorrow is the main move for mom and Christy. The countertops go in, Mom and Christy go in, the new fence is going up, and the cable is being turned on. Who knew it would all happen at once!

Just so you know that I am not completely altruistic I want to show you my newest toy work related computer purchase:

This is an 11" MacBook Air. The bitty one. I bought one of the very first Airs, skipped the 2nd generation, and now I have this great new toy business laptop. Tonight I'm going to work on setting it up. I also recently updated my iPad to the iPad2. The new one is not that much different from the original but mom and Christy needed a new computer and I hope my original iPad will be perfect for them. It was the best reason I could come up with for upgrading :-). You may not know this about me but I am a Mac early-adopter. Well, not always early, but a soon adopter.

And as I write this I'm listening to the news about the current market crash. It reminds me of when my dad died. After he died I walked around for several days amazed that life just kept moving on. Right now I'm too busy to spend a whole lot of time stewing over this latest turn of events. I think that most of us will just keep putting one foot in front of the other and, God-willing, it'll work out for the best. I'm going to applique (after I set up my computer) to stay sane and do the best I can to live a worthwhile life. I'm sure you all will be doing the same. Knowing that, I feel just fine!

We finished our work on the inside of mom's house! Except for one bit of touch-up on one wall but at this point that hardly counts. We both worked most of yesterday and today at mom's house or at our own house.

I believe I told you that I'm giving mom back the bedroom furniture she had for much of her life until she gave it to us. 'Our" furniture is now in her new bedroom and mom is so very happy. Steve spent most of today stripping paint from our 'new' dresser and chest of drawers. It got so hot the stripper quit working so he'll be back at that early in the day on Sunday. (Tomorrow we go north to visit Steve's mom and dad.) I cleaned our house and ran numerous errands while Steve sweated. I had the easier job.

The countertops go in on Tuesday, the plumber comes on Wednesday and I think mom and Christy will be in the house by Wednesday afternoon. There will be more moving on Thursday but the end is in sight. Oh happy, happy day!

Jan Krentz shared this link and I want to share it with any of you who haven't seen it. I want to see these places! (I want to think about filming myself so that I can make one of these fun videos.) I'm looking forward to traveling again. Life is good!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Rick Mereki has more videos and they are probably equally fun but I have not had time to watch them. Click here for more.

This was the front of mom's house early this morning:

I didn't take a photo before the previous owner made her 'yard art' go away. I wish I had so that you'd know what it looked like. She liked color (the front door was egg yolk yellow before I painted it dark blue) – but the colors she liked could burn your eyes. She had many, many yard ornaments. It's true that I like the occasional gnome, but it went way beyond that. I drove by this house for years and it was a yard that screamed HELLO! The rest of the houses in our neighborhood don't scream.

Today I made the baby blue go away…

The taupe is better. It may change to something else later, but for now, this works. Mom would love it if we could sandblast off the orange paint on the concrete but I don't know when we're going to have time for that.(FYI – my mom and sister do not like a house of many colors.)

While I was out front I saw this lamp post. How can it be that it has been invisible to me for all this time?

It's not awful, but it's out of scale. And the style is wrong. But it's going to stay put for now. Presumably it works but I didn't flip the switch to check.

Steve worked on the last of the electricty tasks today. He's found 2 switches that don't appear to turn anything on, one switch that managed to flip a breaker, and 2 outlets that don't work. And a ceiling fan whose wires are hot until he puts the bracket up, and then they are not hot. The electrician will be coming back and we hope that what needs fixing does not required going into the attic because it's hot here…

Sherman is in the middle of that hot pink area. It was 110 today. We lived in Tempe, AZ, for 4 years when Steve was in grad school and I can attest to the fact that it feels like the desert right now here in TX. Grass, plants, shrubs, trees – many are looking like they aren't going to make it to September. I didn't like this heat then and I don't like it now. The only difference is that now the air conditioning in our cars work for which I am grateful.

I hope that this is not going to become the norm but I'm married to a scientist and I believe in data, not wishful thinking. I'm working on wrapping my head around the idea of living in a new climate. I know that there will still be normal years ahead but by the time I'm way old, I figure the temperatures we are having now may be the new normal. It makes me wish there was more I could do that try to be 'greener'. On a happier note, by moving my mom and sister closer I won't be driving to OKC nearly as often. That is a positive step.

I did go see the new Harry Potter this afternoon. What fun! I've read all the books more than once, seen all the movies – this one is by far the best in my humble opinion. I cried, discretely. The theater was well-behaved – very quiet even. No texting, no cell phone. It was great! Ooohh – I saw it in 3D which was even more fun!

It's not like the last 4+ weeks have not been my life, but they did seem guided by forces outside myself. Mom's house isn't finished but it is really close. So close that neither of us worked on it today. Gary, the plumber, did work today. I thought it might be easier for him and cheaper for us if he worked on the pipes while the counters were off. He was happy and the plumbing is ready to be connected when the countertops are installed.

We moved a few things to the house over the weekend. My sister's bed was one of them. It got a fresh coat of paint before moving in.

Sunday night we had another floating movie night. The movies don't float, we do! I did remember to take a photo this time before it got too dark. We watched Galaxy Quest – too much fun!

It's like a drive-in, but way better.

We have plans on how to make the screen better next year but no one is complaining now :-). By the time we hit play there were more folks in the water but it was pleasant enough that those who wanted to stay dry also enjoyed it. There will be more news tomorrow – I'm not sure what it will be, but I'll let you know!