So Much With The Talky-Talky:

(since only my brain and my fingers are functioning at the moment, this one is one of my more "diary" entries. If you're looking for something else, you probably should want to tune in later in the week, lol.)

Oh lordy lordy I am exhausted. If my feet weren't physically attached to my body, I think there's a good chance they would beat me senseless and run far far away right now. My back is complaining very loudly and my hips have apparently gone into rigor mortis in protest.

I was up at 7:30 this morning and packing the last of the boxes I had on hand. Mike and John (his best friend) were on their way over from the Coast at 8:30am, with trailer and dollies and moving blankets and more boxes for me to fill.

When they got to town, they stopped off at the furniture store to pick up the new double-pillowtop mattress Mike bought last week, and then went to my FIL's to pick up an extra queen bed he has that we need for the guest room*.

I finally got to see The Hub around 12:30 this afternoon, but it was a whirlwind of GOGOGOGOGOPACKPACKPACKMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEGOGO until about 5:30 this evening. We were very lucky that Mike's younger brother carved out his entire afternoon to help us. Mike's "fishing buddies" are apparently only that - just friends for the fish'n. Two offered to help and one showed up (to pick up fishing stuff Mike brought over from the coast for him) and then promptly left to "go get Mike's Big Fish trophy". We never saw him again. The other dude no-call/no-showed entirely.

The FIL made an appearance, mostly BS'd with John and made his usual snide comments. At one point, as everyone's hustling and moving stuff, he found me by myself and said/asked "Well, is this move going to be the solution to your problems?"

WHAT A DICK. We moved to this gawdawful place because HE offered MIKE to take over his plumbing business. An offer that was only given if 1) Mike had gastric-bypass surgery (which he did in September of 04) and 2) Mike quit drinking to excess (which he did entirely - not just a little - completely, before his surgery) and 3) got established in town and with a job to start (which he did - we bought a house and Mike got on with a plumber as soon as he was cleared from his surgery recovery).

Four years and three months later, FIL has yet to start back up his plumbing business with Mike and doesn't think anything of it. The entire last year of Mike not working, he made zero effort to get the business going.

I blame him for us moving here. Everything that happened/happens/will happen is all our own making - me and The Mike. But trustyoume I would have NEVER moved away from my hometown if I had known that my father-in-law is such a jerk. I certainly know it now, after all these years and all the times he's been a dick to all his kids.

When he said that to me today, I responded with "I can be poor in a town I hate, or I can be poor in a town I love". I also told him that life always has problems. Money or fame or infamy or abject poverty - everyone's got problems. One of our *problems* is living our lives in a town that lets such ruin and blight exist with no plan or foresight to correct it. The illegal fireworks are but one small example. The rampant graffiti, the dogs running the streets, the urban sprawl of WalMarts and Super WalMarts and the inherent issues they bring. I'm hard-pressed to name anything good about the town itself, outside of the few people I've gotten to know that are worth knowing.

Porterville is a town on the fast track to Nowhere and living in it day after day has worn me down. I only leave the house for three reasons - to go to work so I can earn a living, to knitting-related stuff and to buy food for us and the animals. Outside of those three reasons I'm loathe to leave the only haven I have in this town.

On a positive note, there are a few things that I think have changed our lives that probably moving here attributed to. First and foremost is The Knitting. I had to move 2.5 hours away from my best friend to find out she knits and for her to teach me. Go figure! Second and probably equally important is Mike's love for Bass fishing. He's as enamored with all things fishing as I am with all things knitting. He's met people here that have taught him so much and he's shared a thousand laughs with all those guys and gals. Another benefit has been leaving the accounting office after 6.5 years and earning so much more because of it. My old boss kept telling me that I was lucky to get paid what I was getting paid "for Porterville" and yet I left her ass and got over $5.00 more an hour right out of the gate. "For Porterville" LOL! Lastly, all the great Central Valley people I've met because of ravelry. Suzanne, Carolyn, Sister Di and (Zubie)Jen are the people I feel the closest to, but pretty much the entire Bakersfield bunch I enjoy and will miss, as well as several in the Visalia group. Let's say I never moved away and still took up knitting . . . I wouldn't have known these people in the flesh which would have been my loss.

It's 9pm (as I type) and Mike is just now hitting San Luis Obispo. He's dead-set on unloading everything this evening, and I can only imagine how dog-ass tired he and John are, if my poor aching body is any indication. Thankfully, Mike's older brother and another friend are there waiting to help. Fingers crossed it goes much faster on that end.

So. The bulk of the move is over. Our couch and my rocking chair are still here, as well as a few boxes-worth of household items. I don't have a refrigerator, a freak'n ceiling fan/light fixture in my living room or my lamps in here either(grr). All the t.v.s have left, but I do still have the computer (which means my podcasts and all the intronets I want). I have an 80 gallon ice chest where my dining table used to be and all the ani-mules are still with me. Right now Freckles is so traumatized, between the fireworks last night and the moving upheaval today, she's climbed inside the couch and refuses to come out - for food or kitty treats. That ain't good.

Oh, and a final thing! When I gave notice to my boss the other day, I told him that my "unofficial" last day would be the 16th (the last day of the payroll period) but that I was absolutely available to help find/train someone for my spot if it took after the 16th - no need to leave him in the lurch since 1) I don't have anything lined up at the moment and 2) I need his recommendation since Pam (my old boss) harbors grudges like we stash fiber. The day I gave notice I posted on CalJobs for my position. I then went and checked out some resumes and two were worthy of printing and giving to my boss. The next two days a few resumes came in over the fax (hardly qualified to be the receptionist let alone the Controller of a multi-million dollar company with various other financial interests - just a fact) and my boss asked me to line up an interview with one of the two I had found myself.

SCORE!!!

I talked with her Thursday, to line up the interview (and again with proof of how small this town is? She'd interviewed with me at the accounting office two years ago but my then-boss didn't select her). I had a good feeling on this one, and initially gave her some pertinent info to take into the interview. Later that evening she emailed me to ask a few more pointed questions and I gave her the straight scoop on several things - the good, the bad and the ugly. It was only fair.

She called me this morning after her interview and BADAMMM! She's taken the job. She starts Tuesday afternoon. I may get out of P'Hell by the 16th, or very close to it!

When I finally hit the road West, I'm not looking in my rear-view mirror. My In-Laws can kiss my ass. Since I don't want to fight with The Mike, I haven't told him that there is ZERO chance I'll be returning to Porterville in the year 2008, and a good possibility for zero appearance in 2009. Thanksgiving and Christmas are at MY house, in MY town this year. Any coming back I do will be to Bakersfield and/or Visalia to meet up with my knittas for a visit.

Otherwise, y'all best be planning your trips to the Coast!


* we are serious about setting up a guest bedroom in one of the spare rooms. So many of my friends, and Mike's friends and our friends together have said they definately want to visit us over there and we are SO EXCITED to have our friends visit! We promise to dedicate a room that has zippy cat hair and unpacked moving boxes and fishing/knitting/sewing paraphernalia in it. It's all about our house being a place for people to come hang out and to come enjoy our town. I forget to say "YES! Come visit!" when people express their desire - because I assume they know we're friends and more than welcome. I think it, but I need to say it too, so consider it said. What I wouldn't give to have Ellen Bloom and CJ and Suzanne hanging out in my living room, or visiting my area's highlights with me. We'd have a hell of a good time.