IT'S LEAVING DAY!!!!

I bet you didn't think I was going to make it here today... did ya? Well it took me awhile as I was a little busy but I had to stop by before we got on the road tonight! I am officially finished packing, besides the laptop which will go in as soon as I'm done here!

This round packing has been pretty uneventful, well for me.. Jason had a little bit of a drama fest last night over "missing" sunglasses! 2 years ago for Christmas I got Jason some really expensive custom Oakley sunglasses and truthfully he never wears them because he is such a tight wad and is scared something will happen to them because of how expensive they were. But generally when we travel or something he will bring them and wear them... unless he cant find them. Last night around 9:30pm he comes and stands in the bedroom doorway looking like a child who lost their favorite stuffed animal before bed.... what do you need? Jason - "Ummm where are my sunglasses?" with a very accusatory tone. Me - "I don't know, I don't wear them" (this is where my Dad comes in as this is exactly what he would say to me when I was living at home and looking for something that clearly I should know where it was). He huffs and puffs and tells me they are always on MY dresser... no they aren't. First of all why would they ever be on MY dresser and not his own? Second of all just because you say it, doesn't make it true! What proceeded this was ridiculous.. he literally tore the apartment apart and I totally sat here letting him act ridiculous as he went through the kitchen cupboards (because obviously that's where they are hiding) making a huge mess of everything! As he is making a mess and freaking out hes telling me what a catastrophe it is that they are gone forever. I mean really, a bitch fit of massive proportions! Yes they got up and walked away Jason!!! They didn't care of your out and out neglect so they went to find someone who would really appreciate them, FOREVER! Funny story... they were sitting on his suitcase the whole time. They must have gotten up and walked over from the top of my dresser.

So everything is taken care of minus giving notice and paying rent.. I should have known I would be denied this pleasure before leaving! For some reason the property manager (Trunchbull) has been MIA all week. We pay our rent in cash and I don't really feel comfortable leaving $1,450.00 in cash under her office door and hoping she gets it and is honest about it. I called the office a bunch of times, I even called the after hours emergency number and left messages with no response! So today I just stuck a note under her door with our 30 day notice letting her know that we would be moving and that we were on vacation and tried to get ahold of her many times and I would pay rent the morning of the 4th. I'm sure we'll have to pay the $5.00 a day late fee, which I plan to argue but whatever. I did however reread out lease this morning and we have to be out of the apartment by 12:00pm on the 30th, they will charge us $120.00 to clean the carpets and $70.00 an hour for the cleaning they think needed.. her and I will discuss this as this place was a complete pig sty when we moved in and if she thinks shes charging us for cleaning my foot is going to meet her ass up close and personal!

I did plan to get up this morning and make my way here to blog about my day yesterday and all my running around and road rage... did I mention I hate small town drivers and the fact that EVERY street has a speed limit of 35mph... Really? In case you didn't realize that's practically coasting, and I don't do anything at a snails pace without losing patience and cussing! I did pretty well, I usually avoid downtown... and by downtown let me clarify and explain its the one real "town like" street where the banks are! I don't parallel park, especially in the truck because it looks like this...

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I had no choice but to go to the bank so I just figured at the right time of the day I could probably find somewhere I could park even if I had to walk a little, which I did and it was fine. On my way back I managed to only yell once at the person in front of me who was so wonderfully obeying the speed limit and turning every left turn into FLIPPING LIFE CHOICE!!!!! Why in the F&*^ does it take you a whole 5 minutes to turn, seriously.. left turn.. life choice? What are we doing here?

All in all I managed to do everything I needed to do and get back here with no tickets, all of my hair in tact and no war wounds from a beating brought on by one of my road rage targets! I thought it was pretty successful! 

We are headed to Minot, North Dakota tonight and then we will fly to Raleigh in the morning.. to say that I am excited is the understatement of the century! Not only are we going to get our brand new amazing house but we are going to shop for all that will go in it!! Jason seriously asked me yesterday if I was ready to do a lot of shopping.. HAHA does he know me at all?? I CANNOT WAIT!

As I mentioned before we are taking the laptop so check in for pictures of the house and all the goods we are buying! I plan to really be better this time about blogging while we are away as I will have lots to tell and we are taking the laptop so I will have no excuse! We are super excited about this time in our lives and are so very appreciative off all your kind and thoughtful words!

I will leave you with this amazing letter I saw today.. remember my blog this week about the horrific letter sent to the mother of the young boy with Autism? If you missed it you can read it here. Anyways I saw the response from this young boys mother, and it was so eloquently written. This mother is so brave, she is taking this horrible experience and finding the positive, she didn't return this woman's hate with her own hate she opened up the door for good things to come of this horrible experience and for that I admire her. Here is her response...

1. Dear Pissed Off Mother,
   
   Allow me to introduce myself. I am Matthew's Mom, Tracey. I am Dianne's daughter, who is Matthew's grandmother. How blessed I am to have a Mom who is willing to lend a hand and spend time with Ma...tthew every so often when the need arises.
   
   Matthew is an incredible young man who is 16 years old. He loves spending time outdoors ~ gardening, mowing the lawn, watching the birds, building bird houses, spending time with his dog, floating around on the river. He is outside more than he is in. How fortunate are we that he enjoys an active lifestyle. We don't have to constantly encourage him to get away from the video games, computer or tv screen. Oh, don't get me wrong, he will spend time in front of the computer, normally on YouTube trying to learn all he can about the interests I have listed above.
   
   Briefly I have given you a little synopsis of Matthew's life. Sounds pretty carefree and typical, doesn't it? Sounds like he would blend in to an average neighbourhood pretty much unnoticed? Perhaps.
   
   What I haven't told you is that my son lives with Asperger's Syndrome. Oh? You don't know what that is? Really? Your recent correspondence led me to believe that you had all the answers and it was me that was missing the boat. Someday when you're finished solving all the world's problems, I'll let you search out the term on your own as I wouldn't want to waste your precious time right now.
   
   What I would like to do, if you would humour me for a moment, is thank you. I want to thank you for allowing so many discussions to take place because of the views you shared with a grandmother who was spending time with her grandson. You have been the reason that a neighbourhood and a community have rallied around a family with love, respect and support. You are the reason that families all over this country and beyond in neighbourhoods of their own now have people stopping to pay a little bit more attention to the person living next door to them. I want to thank you for publicly sharing your wisdom and describing so eloquently the roads 1 in 88 families walk on a daily basis. Thank you for confirming that it isn't always easy and for seeing, first hand, those days that require us to be a little bit stronger, those days when we have to dig down really deep to find the courage and patience to just put one foot in front of the other. Thanks for getting that there are times when a simple few minutes out in the backyard can be pretty frustrating. I'm sure you can only imagine what's it's like 24/7/365.
   
   You know, it's a shame that I can't address you properly. I have no idea who you are. I would welcome nothing more than being able to sit down with you over a cup of coffee while our children played outside. I'm sure I'd be able to get through at least 30 seconds without being interrupted so we could discuss all these issues you have such amazing grasp of. Eventually, I suspect your identity will be revealed. Once your phone and doorbell stop ringing maybe we'll have the opportunity to have that chat. In the meantime I'll have to settle for the menial task of communicating with people who aren't quite as up to speed as you claim to be. The people I'll be having coffee with will only offer empathy, support, love and unconditional acceptance to me, Matthew and my family.
   
   There are others I can talk with as well, you know, some of those 1 in 88 families I spoke of earlier. Yes, we talk, too. And we talk about people like you. We wonder how you became such an expert when even though we have lived this way for as long as we can remember, we still don't know from one day to the next what all the best approaches are for our families. I can't begin to imagine how you came to your conclusions and have it all figured out.
   
   Alas, I have taken enough of your valuable time. You must be proud of yourself. And you should be. Because, you see, this all backfired on you. You wanted to ostracize. You wanted to bully. You wanted to belittle. But you didn't. You brought people together. You strengthened a bond. You educated. You opened the doors to discussions. I really hope you're not pissed off anymore.
   
   Remember me when you have time for coffee.
   
   Sincerely,
   
   Matthew's Mom
   Tracey

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   Pretty amazing right? 

   Anyways I really have to run now as I have spent a little more time here then I planned and I still have things to do before Jason gets home! Happy Friday everyone and I will be around these parts tomorrow with travel details I promise!!!