Madness

It's now 7:08 am. I've been up for almost an hour and a half after sleeping on the floor last night, for only about 5 hours. This week has been trying.

There was this:

Colby had attachment issues with the Ikea couch we sold on Craigslist. We spent the weekend packing, packing, packing, running loads to the storage unit, dropping off donations, running errands, packing, packing, packing. Monday was similar, but then there was this:
I love dinner with school friends!! It was wonderful to catch up with so many people.

Tuesday, I met with my advisor one last time and then headed home to pack before our big move the next day. I also happened to get my second motor error on my insulin pump in six weeks! Unlike last time, I immediately called Medtronic. I explained the situation, and also explained that I was leaving the country in one week. How about a new insulin pump?

They said yes! And I decided to become a it more stylish:

And it came the next morning while we packed up our moving truck with the help of two friends. Then there was this:

Yes, those are 90% of my worldly possessions, packed into a 10' x 15' storage unit. And now I'm sitting alone in an empty house.

After we packed everything into the unit, Nick and I dropped the truck off and then drove to a place that promised to buy any car. See, we haven't been able to get rid of Nick's. We tried to sell it to another dealership on Monday, and they weren't interested. At all. Nick has an excellent car, in really good condition and it drives beautifully, but it has a lot of miles on it. So, we frantically freshened up and drove the 45 minutes to this place. And then we had to wait for over an hour. And then the number was far too low and we knew what we had to do....

But first we had to load up our electronics - at 8:30 pm - and drive them to our friend Parker's house where they will be in a climate controlled environment for two years. But just as we start doing so, our neighbors' cat, who we're watching while they are on vacation, came over to our driveway bleeding from the mouth. A fair amount of blood. And we pondered what to do. We tried to figure out what was wrong. We hemmed and hawed about if we needed to take him to an animal ER, but what if he's ok? He was eating, so we finally decided to let him be and check on him in the morning.

And then we delivered the electronics, finally ate some dinner at 9:45 pm, drove home, and did one last repair. That rascal, Colby, jumped on a shelf that was over our bed - and formerly inaccessible - and ripped it out of the wall shortly after we woke up yesterday. Our repair isn't perfect, but it should be ok, so long as the renters don't put anything too heavy on it.

Then we walked through the house, making an enormous to-do list for me for the next couple of days. And then I cried from the stress of it all. And our air mattress pump wasn't charged, so we had to sleep on the floor. We showered and hit the ground at 12:30 or so.

So this morning, Nick left at 6:15 am to drive to St. Louis. He was supposed to fly today, but now he is on the road. Driving through thunderstorms. He'll probably be on the road for about fourteen hours. Then he'll leave his car there and his dad will try to sell it for us. Nick flies back to Philly on Sunday, the same day that we vacate the house and the same day that Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit our area.

And now, this is my to-do list:
I'm sure I'm forgetting many, many things. There are a few items on that list that involve making more to do lists.

And I just don't know how I'm going to manage it all. But I don't have a choice. It's me and the kitties for a few days - no car, almost no furniture, no Nick. I'll head out of the house tomorrow to attempt to retrieve my visa, have coffee with one of my professors, and then head out to West Chester to decompress and stay the night with a friend. And then it's back to the house on Saturday to do whatever hasn't been done.

I'm trying to keep my chin up and see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's difficult right now. I need things to go smoothly. I need to be efficient. I need to ignore the exhaustion and how overwhelming it all is and make this happen. I can do this. And Rome is waiting for me at the end.