Our Pennsylvania Trip
Saturday, flying out didn't work so well. We were suppose to be on the 8 am flight, but got bumped to the 10 am flight. We'll at 11:30 the plane finally showed up and we headed to Atlanta. We landed 20 mins after our connecting flight left for Harrisburg. So we got to wander around the airport for a little over 6 hours. The highlight of the day was meeting Cam Newton's aunt, who works there.
On Sunday we attended one of the Churches on our list of possibilities. Unfortunately it's not the right place for us. Gary attended another one of the Churches yesterday, and we will plan to visit several more. We drove around the countryside, particularly the valley where we will be living, that afternoon. It's a very pretty place. It was especially pretty after the snowfall on Monday. I imagine it will be even more amazing in the spring and the fall. Gary showed me where he will be working, and the few stores in the area. It was nice to get a feel for the place.
On Monday, we meet up with a realtor to see a few places, and Gary made several phone calls to check into more. Granted, I'm still a hormonal mess some days, but after seeing some of these places I was in tears, and told Gary it might be six months before he could move us. The town he is working in has 1200 people, and there isn't much to rent. The two apartment complexes there, wouldn't work. One was strictly one bedroom apartments and the other one and two bedrooms. Legally we can't living in a two bedroom apartment anymore, though I know we could make it work for a time. The housing was just terrible. The worst place, had 40+ year old carpet, cigarettes everywhere, no AC of any kind, and the realtor tried to tell me that it would air out just fine when we got the windows open. It was a duplex, or what they call a double, and with no windows set up for a cross breeze, there was no way it would ever improve. Furthermore, they were also trying to sell the place and had to disclose that it needed all new piping and wiring, so not only was it really nasty, but it was a tinderbox. I wouldn't have my dog live there, let alone put my kids down on that carpet.
Thank you Lord, Jackie (who Gary will be working with) found a farmer with a house, that we could rent. It's an interesting story. The previous renter, turned off the furnace in January and a pipe in the bathroom on the second floor busted. It ran so long before anyone caught it that there was 7 feet of water in the basement. As a result they had to completely trash the kitchen that was beneath the bathroom, pull up all the carpets, pull out all the dry wall and insulation. What's even worse, is that they completely redid the house 5 years before. It was nice stuff too, we saw it. The guy apologized and offered to help make it right, but then found out that because he wasn't actually living in the house and because he didn't have any renters insurance, and they hadn't made him sign a contract, that he wasn't "legally responsible" for the damage. It is a terrible situation for the farmer, and they weren't going to rent anymore. However, they talked with us, and are going to let us rent from them. It's just terrible for them, but the one really nice part for me, is that they are going to let us use whatever colors we want, and they asked what my preferences were and would get what I wanted for the house whenever it was cost effective. Especially after everything else we saw, I was very excited about this farmhouse.
On Monday we also meet everyone that Gary will be working with at the local office, and he also carried me by the other office, so that I could meet some of the people he will be working in conjunction with, and who he met during the interviews. We had lunch at the really amazing place that Gary talked and talked about before. Let me say it was every bit as good as he said, I joked that I will be adding a fund to the budget to go there to eat about every other month. Tuesday, we located Gary some temporary housing until the house is ready (hopefully by the beginning of May). Then we got to play for the rest of the day. We saw Oz the Great and Powerful, walked around the mall and Bass Pro Shop. We checked out the pool at the hotel, and just got to be together, without 40,000 interruptions for another cup, another movie, fighting over toys, or other typical toddler moments. It was nice.
The older two were good for Grumps and Ahna while we were gone. The littlest one did great for her first flights, and nights in a hotel. Gary has already started work (last week), and I miss him terribly. I'm not excited about the moving again part, but I can't wait to get to where he is. Aside from the lousy single parenting part, I'm just better with him. Only a few short weeks, I hope.
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