Adventures in moving cross country- Volume 13: The lucky goodbye

So we've been in Lansing for a little over a week now and I know there's so much that I haven't had a chance to update on my blog but the truth is, things have been so busy I just haven't had a chance to stop and write.

So I guess I'm going to keep everyone in suspense and continue on with a story chronologically.

Ok, here's a sneak peak- it's the view from the porch!

The last post found me with my brand new work-at-home job arrangement and about 2 weeks left in our race against time to get out of Oregon.

At this point I want to back up a little though. Our time line was kind of crazy when we were leaving. Bucky and James flew out at the end of May to go to the Brew-Ha-ha Roller Derby Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, James's mom would meet them and drive Bucky and James to Michigan after the tournament. Jerome and I would stay until school was out for the summer and do all of the remaining purging and cleaning.

Super Official Timeline

Before they left though it was touch-and-go as to whether or not the plan was actually going to work. First Bucky got another super cold. He's not sick all that often, but when he does get sick, it's for weeks at a time. He spikes a fever and he's just a snotty mess. Then James got the cold, and not only was it a cold but it was full-on throat searing, voice taking laryngitis. This was just in time for the going away party that we had planned. We got a keg of beer had a theme (it was Zef of course) and had a lot of friends over to wish us well.

Work it!

A perfectly sweet rendition of our new place!

(Thanks Mom!)

James powered through the party and Bucky was doing better until, with days left, Bucky started puking profusely.

Meanwhile, Agent and her copilot, Zoom, had made their way across the great US of A and had just arrived at the house.

Spoiler Alert: The horns did not break off and fly back to impale either of them!

The same day that Bucky was puking his brains out, (pun intended) Agent was letting us know the dismal news that the house was in no way ready for habitation. There was one functional toilet on the first floor, no shower, the gas was off, so no oven on the third and the 1st & 2nd floors were completely under construction.

 Master Bath is looking spacious!

It's the skylight for the Murder Pantry!

But there's a toilet! It will be ok!

With three days until James and Bucky were slated to fly from Eugene to Wisconsin we seemed to be in a little bit of a pickle as panic was starting to spread.

Now I want to make it clear right here that Bucky leaving with James, and going almost a full month before Jerome and I would end up in Michigan, was completely 100% my idea and I had some pretty specific reasons for that.

First off we had a lot of work to do before we could be even close to ready to move out of Eugene. From getting rid of all of our stuff, to cleaning up the house to just managing all of the little odds and ends that we had to tie up, having Bucky away from that all would make the job much easier.

Another huge reason to not have Bucky around was my new remote position. Trying to figure out a whole new job would be hard enough. Trying to figure it out while a "busy" 4 year old was hounding my every move seemed impossible. I had 2 solid weeks to establish how working from home would work before the most chaotic piece was going to be reintroduced.

With all that in mind, when James and I were assessing the situation we were in, and lamentations of "This was a terrible idea." arose, I was a little defensive. When we started talking about what kind of alternative plans could be made with just THREE DAYS to go, I was sick with anxiety.

We ended up sticking with the plan and altering a little. James mom could put them up for a little while, until some of the critical issues with the house we're resolved. James also has a buttload of friends in Michigan, some who had kids, who he could reach out to for help with entertaining the young lad.

Bucky stopped puking after that one day, James was armed to the gills with cough drops and I took the morning off of my last real day in the office to drive them to the airport.

Go, my lovelies, spread your plague across the world!

Now, with the house half full (of humans at least) it was time to empty it of all the accumulated crap.