Triumph!

I picked up whisperflight in Tom Lee Park (not her primary residence) Friday morning at 7 am. Drove to DFW, watching the weather turn colder and colder.

We loaded up my worldly possessions in Fort Worth amidst a smattering of freezing rain and just plain COLD rain. After the original movers were two hours late and their parent company couldn't find them to get me an ETA, I told them to take me off their list, and hired a couple of folks who worked at the storage facility instead. XD whisperflight used her powers over the spatial laws of the universe by orchestrating the arrangment of everything in a 17-foot truck, such that we PERFECTLY filled the truck and nothing had room or inclination to shift during the drive.

With mom driving the truck and myself and Whisper in mom's SUV, we hit the road about 3 pm, leaving a city already being layered in sleet. It was slow going for a long while: Our top speed was about 50 MPH, because we didn't know what we'd find on bridges. But the temperature gradually warmed to about 35, the precipitation stopped, and we managed to escape Texas before the place was covered in ice. We found out later that all the bridges and overpasses iced up that night. If we hadn't left Texas when we did, we'd probably still be there.

We wanted to get over the Mississippi River while the weather was good (for certain values of 'good' that include 'fucking freezing, but at least it's dry right now') so pushed on till about midnight, stopping in historic Vicksburg overnight. Had a dramatic little argument with mom, who did not like having to settle for the fifth hotel we checked out instead of pressing on at 12:45 AM to find one that met her specifications exactly, and spent the rest of the night making snippy little comments about how terrible the place I got was.

She and I were both much less cranky when we got up the next morning with some (not enough) sleep behind us, to find the weather had held out: It was still cold as shit, but dry all the way to Oxford, where the roads were perfectly clear. benma, stationary_jew, shadowstitch, and Joey managed to clear Memphis and helped us unload - THANK YOU, guys. I lack the words to express my appreciation. There's no way I'd have moved a lot of that stuff without you. And I appreciate nataspowers' and go_dorito's attempts to clear their driveway, despite being iced in. Once we were done, I sent whisperflight home to alsafi with them, and began the next gargantuan task: Haggling with my mother about furniture arrangements.

So now my stuff is here without mishap, and I can begin the Christmas-esque task of unpacking a bunch of things I didn't know I had. Yay! Presents for me!

...Mom leaves today. Thank God. She has been a tremendous help, and I love her dearly. But saturation point has been reached.

Also.

Particularly for alliath:

I just unpacked my Alyson action figure.

HEE. <3

ALSO:

1) I was so proud of my ex-city on Saturday. Fort Worth had clearly taken precautions against the ice, which was just starting to hit the city that morning. There were swaths of sand on the roads, policemen were narrowing down traffic on overpasses to two lanes instead of four in an effort to keep some of the lanes clear as driving got more dangerous, and drivers were being extra-cautious and courteous, keeping their speed low and leaving a lot of space between cars - even on the interstate. I remarked to whisperflight that that should have made news headlines: "CITY D.O.T. DOES ITS JOB; DRIVERS ARE SENSIBLE; NO ACCIDENTS OCCUR!"

2) Aside from mentioning she came along, did I remember to gush about how much help Whisper was this weekend? Did I gush sufficiently? I don't think sufficient gushing is possible. Please consider it done here. <3 <3 <3 THANK YOU, Whisperflight.

3) I have figured out what it is that's driving me nuts about my mom right now. She wants things DONE. RIGHT NOW. I, on the other hand, am happy to wait until I get another paycheck under me, or until I've unpacked Object A which will dictate where Object B is going to reside - or until I've had time to settle in and relax and think about things. She wants towels in the spare bathroom RIGHT NOW, and suggests we go buy some. I know I HAVE more towels packed away somewhere, and guests can, by God, use my bathroom until I find them. She wants to unpack the kitchen NOW and put glasses on shelves. I intend to buy some shelf-liners once I've paid a couple of bills, and since I've got enough dishes to get buy, would just as soon leave glasses in boxes until I've got liners on the shelves. She wants to drop everything and locate the DustBuster to vacuum cat hair off a rocking chair, and gets VERY FOCUSED on doing this when it's really, really not a big deal. She wants it done NOW. I figure it can wait. Hence, tension. Add in the fact that I just moved a WHOLE BUNCH of my shit, realize I have too much, and don't want to accrue more with her habit of, "Oh, we don't have it yet? Let's just go buy more for you! I'll pay for it," and the tension rises exponentially. (Plus, I'm very uncomfortable with her paying for things for me; I'd rather wait and buy them myself in a month. To be fair, this is only partly financial altruism: She has no intention of letting me live down some of this help later on. Trust me.)

...Fortunately I have friends to whom I can rant, and LJ to which I can post. I can survive this. I keep telling myself that for all the times she's been here for me that I DID need the help, frustration is a small price to pay.

Condo Pictures

Here are pictures from the moving extravaganza yesterday, as well as the requested photo of the Alyson action figure alliath made me... because I am too lazy to upload it into a separate gallery. :)