23 Days Before Closing (The time that remains before we have to get out of this house)

I have painters working on my new house. My interior wall is completed. My exterior wall is almost completed. My gate comes on Friday. I can start installing my window coverings. I need to get more smaller moving boxes so I can pack up more stuff to take over to the new house. I moved some stuff into the new garage cabinets. After two days of battling we have the starting of a security system installed. We've got a few more battles to fight but I expect that we'll have a security system up and running by next weekend. My fountain grass was yanked out and replaced with red yucca. Yeah! My drawer organizers fit my drawers and look beautiful and are just waiting to be filled with silverware etc.

On a related note, we (HTP and I) have decided to postpone any celebration of our anniversary at the end of this month until mid-May. It's related because we just don't dare take any time off from moving and closing to do anything other then grab a burger at McDonald's.

Needless to say, our diet has gone by the wayside. By the time we get back home each night we are just too tired to cook supper. Last night we grabbed a bite over at Burger King. Lunch? What lunch?

We missed lunch because we were baby-sitting the security guy...and I mean that literally. He was a baby, a youngster, an idiot who dared come right out and tell HTP that HTP didn't understand wiring and electical/telephone systems. HTP didn't kill him. And I didn't kill him when he punched huge holes in my wall before HTP could stop him and kindly show him exactly where the wires for the security system were behind the wall in my living room. The baby suggested that the builder would come back and patch the holes that he'd punched in the wall. I told him that he just didn't understand how the "system" worked. My builder is not going to come back and patch holes that were punched in a wall after closing. Idiot! Note to self. Get someone to patch holes in the wall so the painters can paint said wall.

*****

And then later in the evening....

We just got back from the new house. After a quick meeting with the security people at their place of business to iron out security system issues, we ran over to pick up more packing boxes and bubble wrap. Then we ran over to the new house so we could install window coverings. HTP installed the window coverings....and I helped! Of course, we couldn't install all the window coverings because the painter isn't done yet. He did agree to patch the holes in my wall tomorrow. They have a lot more painting to do too but it looks nice. And it's not pink! It's peach!

Our fans came today. Two of them. We're supposed to get the other two tomorrow. I have to schedule the fan guy to come out to do the install. HTP thought I should go out and pick a light fixture for the kitchen but I told him that we can wait until we get back in October. I'm not even sure I really want to get rid of the thing....yet. I may be able to live with it. It isn't too awful. It serves a purpose. We'll see. Too much is going on right now anyway. I've still got construction dust floating around my new house. Let's wait until the dust settles a bit.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

If you've ever walked into a Chinese or Japanese business and noticed a figure of a cat with an upraised paw, you've met Maneki Neko. "The Beckoning Cat" is displayed to invite good fortune, a tradition that began with a legendary Japanese cat many centuries ago.

According to legend, that cat, called Tama, lived in a poverty-stricken temple in 17th-century Tokyo. The temple priest often scolded Tama for contributing nothing to the upkeep of the temple. Then one day, a powerful feudal lord named Naotaka Ii was caught in a rainstorm near the temple while returning home from a hunting trip. As the lord took refuge under a big tree, he noticed Tama with her paw raised, beckoning to him, inviting him to enter the temple's front gate. Intrigued, the lord decided to get a closer look at this remarkable cat. Suddenly, the tree was struck by lightning and fell on the exact spot where Naotaka had just been standing. Tama had saved his life! In gratitude, Naotaka made the little temple his family temple and became its benefactor. Tama and the priest never went hungry again. After a long life, Tama was buried with great respect at the renamed Goutokuji temple. Goutokuji still exists, housing dozens of statues of the Beckoning Cat.