Doling Out The Doilies

So once again, the blog has been on a bit of a hiatus. But, we've been busy off and on. 

Peyton, Asa and I all went to Ohio a couple of weeks ago.  Well, we went at various times, and not for anything particularly fun. But, we did go to Ohio. My mom and her siblings are still working on cleaning out and packing up my grandmas house, and I had offered to go help. Peyton also volunteered (as did Hayden and Calib- but they were needed to stay home and watch our four-legged family members!)  Our main goal was to get the family piano down to Florida, we rented a small moving truck one way and the plan was for Peyton and I go to up, help with what we could, Asa would follow and get the truck, I would fly home, and Peyton and Asa would cross-country road trip it, all while Calib and Hayden held down the fort at home with the furry family members. (Don't worry, the whole neighborhood knew we were gone, so if they needed anything, they had plenty of people to call). 

So two weeks ago yesterday, Peyton and I packed up and flew up to Ohio. I hate flying, but it beats driving, and at least the Tampa Airport is awesome, and efficient. There's a new train from long term parking, so there is no more waiting on the shuttles, and lots of food options. The Burger 21 at the airport comes complete with all the yummy Burger 21 sauces. 

I cannot say the same for the Detroit airport. Our gate was like the closest you could get to baggage claim, yet somehow it took 45 minutes from the time we landed until we got our luggage. How does it take that long, for real? People clapped when it finally started moving! (This was my complaining message I sent to Asa telling him there were still no bags). 

We were less than pleased to discover it was still super cold in Ohio and there was even some patches of snow. We didn't even get pretty snow, just gross dirty patches of old stuff. As soon as we walked out of baggage claim we could see the remaining snow at the side of the road. Gross. 

But, we were rewarded that night with a dinner of Chud Spuds! Peyton, for coming along, got his favorite: Toft's Chocolate Milk. Good luck getting this kid to have anything but Almond milk, unless it's this very specific kind, which you can only find in Ohio (I think- you can't find it down here, that's for sure!) 

My mom has five sisters. Only one of them lives in area, so going through the house has been a bit tough. It's a big task for mom and Aunt Bonnie, but her other sisters have come when they can. They were here in January, and they sorted through and distributed some of the family treasures then. My mom ended up with my great grandmas passport from when she came to America (my grandpa was just a little boy then, so his picture and my Great Uncle Eddie's are also included). 

I was somewhere around 10 or 11 when my great grandma died, but I remember her pretty well. Peyton was very interested in looking through the old stuff that mom had that was once my great grandmas. 

Even though we got the tiniest of rental moving vans- there was still plenty of room beyond what was needed for the piano, which meant we would have lots of room to bring back anything we ever wanted to get to Florida- from things at my grandma's house, to things at moms house. Peyton begged to bring Big Bird back. I said no at first, but then he was so helpful, I caved. 

We looked through my dad's old books to bring stuff back with us and even found this amazing Alexander the Great board game. 

My favorite was the morale scale! 

But I also decided I would go through my old room, and keep what I wanted and throw away the rest.  No need for my mom to be enshrining my childhood in my old room, it was time to get my crap out of there. I brought one empty picture box that matched two more I had at home, and filled it. (I promised Asa I wouldn't bring home any more moments than what fit in the nice little grey box.)  I found some real gems, including all kinds of stuff from my first year at Cedar Point at Snoopy Photo. 

And the wills we wrote to each other when we left, and my patch from my uniform. I didn't keep the whole book, but I did keep that. I also found a good box to put it all in- a media box from the printers! 

A couple of days before we got to Ohio, a tree in my moms backyard had fallen onto her garage. We got to see it before the insurance company came and took it away. Luckily she has a cement block garage, I think it kept the tree from falling right through it. 

Also, snow. Do you see all that? Peyton was less than thrilled. 

I didn't take too many pictures the first day, it was mostly going through the old dressers that both mom and I were taking to our houses. Since we had the truck, we also took whatever mom wanted down to Fremont for her. That meant cleaning out things like the buffet and the dresser in the hallway. 

We just put Peyton on one station, and he would put on his headphones and knock it out, he was pretty awesome like that. He took everything off the boards for the family renuion, and completely cleaned out the bookshelves and then put little nick nacks from around the house on them so I could take pictures and send them out to my cousins to see if anyone wanted anything. We started boxes for everyone so I could just pack things up for everyone along the way. 

There were some really old magazines under the bookshelves up there. Peyton partially enjoyed the new gadget page with and telephone and answering machine in one, and the old Kelloggs ad. 

And oh my goodness, the Santa Claus things. My grandma collected Santa stuff, and there was so much of it. I took some pictures for my cousins and my brother (who said I had picked out too much stuff that made noise), and then we made little treasure boxes for all the great grand kids. My mom thought we could dole them out to the parents, and then put them away for when they grow up and get their own places- because who doesn't need Christmas decorations? Allison, who is like the best friend a girl could ever ask for, came over every day to help, I could not have done all those Christmas boxes without her! We made 17 boxes in all, filed to the brim with santas! 

Every night mom took us to dinner, since we were working so late. Peyton always got to pick. We did Panera two nights in a row, which I didn't mind. Warm soup on a cold night was perfectly fine with me. I didn't take too many pictures the first day we were there, but I did take a picture of mom with her weird bent fork. 

Even though it was late when we got home, and I'd been sorting all day, I wanted to go through my old room. Peyton and I found some real gems, including some of Asa's stuff. 

Peyton was super excited about the box of Dragon Ball Z VHS tapes we found, and he told me we needed to bring them home. 

He lined them all up for a picture to show all his friends. But I was like 'what are we going to do with these?' They're big and bulky, and we don't even have a VHS player. So, we called Asa who said we COULD NOT throw them away, as it's probably his oldest possession (his parents didn't keep anything of his). Since mom has a VHS, we decided to leave them there for now. But, if we don't end up watching them while we are there, we're going to throw away the VHS and keep the covers to do something cool with them. Peyton was talking about all the 'stuff' we had, and how it all just fits on his phone these days. 

We also came across some of his old stuff, like his very first video game. Sadly, the disk was not in the case. 

We did have some finds from the house, including an old rusty pick axe we found in the garage. Peyton wanted to bring it home, despite my "What are we going to do with a pick axe?" 

I also found two tubs of newspapers in my parents basement. 'Newspapers' was written in my dads handwriting, and I opened up the first tub and the first paper was from Bush being inaugurated. At mom's house I tried not to spend too much time sorting, so I closed the tub back up and decided to bring the whole thing home to sort through (plenty of room on the truck, right?) While cleaning out grandmas we also found a couple of interesting newspapers. I'm going to have to figure out how to display the presidential ones. There's some goodies. 

We also found weird things like velvet paintings and grey wigs. 

And a lot of dust. 

There was also lots of packing and sorting. Grandma and grandpa had lived in that house since my mom was something like 5, so it's quite the undertaking. This pile is just all the pictures we found! 

Meanwhile I took more and more pictures to post and see if anyone wanted anything we were coming across. Peyton had to be my model sometimes, for size comparisons. He was less than thrilled, but he didn't argue it. 

Peyton was rewarded his second night with Panera and then later a trip to McDonalds for the allusive Szechuan sauce. He said it was ok, similar to dusk sauce- better than barbecue, not as good as sweet and sour. 

Apparently there's Blaze pizza in Toledo now too. We made a trip there for dinner one night as well.. in the snow. 

We did find time to stop at Allison's house while we were in Ohio. She doesn't live too far from my grandmas house, and she had some surprises for us from her trip to Australia. 

She went to go pick Asa up from the airport for us on Wednesday night, while mom, Peyton and I stayed behind to keep working on things at the house. I promised my brother before we took the piano, I would take one last picture of it in its home. 

When we headed out to meet Asa and Allison for dinner, we discovered the car needed scraped off, an experience poor Peyton has never had in his life, so we gave him the scraper. He was less than thrilled. I said 'yea, now imagine doing that at 6 am, in the dark, before you go to work.' Scraping off a car is one of the worst things about winter in Ohio. 

Also, it was weird snow. It looked like white dippin dots. 

We went to Tony Packos for dinner, but earlier I had told Allison I hadn't had coffee in days, so she also stopped by Starbucks for me, and not only got me some coffee, but also brought us back some cake pops. 

The plan was Wednesday night to take some of the bigger items mom was taking to Fremont. So, the buffet and a dresser, along with lots of boxes of things went to her house. Apparently, I didn't take any pictures of it leaving, or unpacking it in Fremont, but Asa and I handled it on our own. We kept telling everyone not to worry about it, we're expert movers- we moved every single time in Florida without anyone's help, so we knew what to do. I wish I had taken a picture of the buffet in moms house. It looks really nice there, and I unpacked the nativity scene that sat on top of it for her house too. 

The next morning, after we had unloaded the truck Asa and Peyton went up to Toledo in the truck, while mom and I took the car. 

The big project of the day Thursday was to get the piano on the truck. My cousin Jake took the day off work and drove up from Columbus to help us get it on the truck. (Seriously, isn't that awesome?) And Allison had found us some rental ramps and gotten them for us since apparently Penske's 12 foot trucks don't come with ramps (who knew?) 

It's a small upright piano, so as far as pianos go, it's pretty light. But, it's still a piano, which means it's pretty freaking heavy. After moving it from the corner to in front of the door, we decided it would be best to move the truck as close as humanly possible to the front door. 

So, in this video you see the piano on the front porch, and Jake directing Asa while he backs up the truck. It's kind of my favorite video, ever. 

So the truck temporarily sat right in front of the house. 

And down the steps went the piano. 

With a few breaks for streching. 

And with a little help from me (I'm no wimp!) We got it on the truck. 

So naturally the only thing left to do was to reward the movers with pizza. 

We picnic-ed in the pianos old spot. 

The boys were then rewarded with a movie, and Allison came over to help my mom and me keep working. We did go on an attic exploration. We were really excited about it, but it didn't yield any results. In fact, we were all a bit too short to even see much up there. 

That evening while the boys were at the movies, I loaded the truck with the rest of the stuff we were taking from grandmas, and then we put Cort's stuff at the very back of the truck. Peyton and Asa were going to stop in Cincinnati and spend the night, so they brought Cort all kinds of stuff too. 

After almost everything was on the truck, I had one more thing to pack up. My dad's painting as hung by the front door of my grandmas house my whole life. When my dad passed away, my grandma said we should take it. But we told her it should hang by the front door until we don't have this house in the family anymore. 

My mom was going to get the picture, with the idea it would eventually go to me, but mom said we should just cut out the middle person and give it to me now. I was also the one who took it off the wall, which was a little sad. 

And I was really worried about packing it all up and getting it to Florida. But Allison came to the rescue once again and wrapped it all up for me. She even provided the box for it. She's moved a lot, she's more of an expert mover than me! 

That night we all went to dinner with Jake, my Uncle Grant and Aunt Sharon, Allison and her husband, Nate. We never ever get to see Nate so it was really nice to get to visit with him too. 

We sung by the house for a few last minute things after dinner. Asa and Peyton were going over to Jake's to play video games, and Allison was collecting the ramps to take back for us. This might be the last time Peyton was at the house, and it's for sure the last time Asa will be there, so I took a few last pictures. 

Friday around lunch time we went out to lunch before Asa and Peyton headed out. 

They did, however, stop to get some Toft's milk to bring home in a cooler for Calib, who loves the stuff as much as Peyton. 

Mom and I, meanwhile headed north. She was going out to Arizona for work, and I was flying home since the truck only seats two, and since Calib and Hayden were still holding things down at home! But, we stopped by Toledo for a few last minute things. She wrapped things up at the house, while I went out to make copies of the cousin's picture from my grandparents 50th anniversary and fill up the car, despite the fact I HATE pumping gas in the cold. I often say scraping off my car and pumping gas in the cold is why I moved to Florida. 

I took a few pictures before I left the house. There's still a lot of work to do, but we made a ton of progress. 

I might be back to help again, but just in case, I wanted to take one last picture out front. 

And then it was time to fly home. Mom was just a few gates down from me, so we had dinner together before boarding our flights. Mine was delayed (only after we had boarded), so while I was sitting on the plane waiting for take off for ever, I texted Asa and Calib who texted me back their current situations. 

Calib had recieved the pizza Asa ordered for him, 

and Peyton and Asa were in Cincinnati with Cort and Holly (and Gwen and Garrett).  

For dinner, they went to the church Fish Fry, which fun fact: Asa has been bugging us to go to one in Florida for weeks, since we pass the sign at the church by our house every week. He was very excited to finally go to a church fish fry. 

Peyton might have been less than thrilled about the fish fry, but he went along with it. 

And then they went back to Cort's to hang out for the evening. 

I got home around 9:30 on Friday night and the house was pretty clean, and the trash had even gone out on the right night. Etta was also a little crazy. She is already pretty hyper, but leave her for a week and she will attack you with licks and jumps. The next morning she was still attached at my hip. 

The plan was for Asa and Peyton to try and make it from Corts house to home in one day. Peyton is not a fan of random hotels (sure, he loves a good Disney hotel, or waterpark hotel, or Cedar Point hotel- but the others, not so much), so they spent the day driving and updating us along the way. 

They got up really early, and headed out, despite the snowy, cold weather. 

They stopped at what they claimed to be the 'Northern-most Publix' for subs for lunch. 

And then ate dinner at Fazolis, just before they got to the Florida state line. 

They made it home somewhere around 10 pm, with breadsticks and chocolate milk for Calib. 

When you rent a moving truck like that to go cross-country, they give you a week no matter how long you think you need it, so we had until next Wednesday to get it all unloaded and return the truck. Sunday we unloaded everything on the truck but the piano, and Peyton showed his brothers some of the stuff we brought back. 

Toft's chocolate milk in a purple metal cup is apparently quintessential Ohio, and they were excited to have it in Florida (my grandpa always drank out of the metal cups). 

We had stuff from my grandma's house, but we also had stuff from my mom's house. I was able to bring back my dad's stone chess set, and finally get back the Kuehmann's potato chip can from my dad's other side of his family. 

When we got back we were running errands and we got a message from our neighbor Teresa, who had helped with a wedding that was catered by Capital Tacos. She had lots of leftovers and provided us with dinner, and lunch for like a week. We had rice and beans and chicken for days. The queso and chips were also a huge hit. (For real, the chips are amazing!) 

We had lots to show Calib and Hayden too, including all the treats Allison and Nate had brought us back from Australia. Allison so kindly got me two magnets, which I think makes 4 magnet twinsies for us. 

Oh, and Etta was also very excited about Peyton and Asa returning. She even helped Asa trim the palm trees- sort of. 

The piano sat on the tuck for a few days all by itself. We had to go rent ramps again, and we knew we'd have to get at least one neighbor to help us. Getting it in the house once it was off the truck wasn't going to be a problem, but it made me a little nervous to get it down the ramp with just Asa, Calib and me, so Teresa loaned us one of her kids to help get it down the ramp. It was quick and uneventful, so that was good. 

And since we don't even really have steps up into our house, the three of us took it the rest of the way. 

When we first started talking about getting the piano, Asa wanted to know where we would put it. I said I'm sure it would fit between Home School Central and the wall.  (I wasn't positive, and I never measured, but I was pretty sure! When it got here, it slid right in with a couple of inches on either side. I put the lamp, the Santa Claus, and the picture of my grandpa playing the paino on top, just like it was in Ohio. 

Everything from the truck had been put away, except I still had to unpack my dad's painting. Allison nailed that one, it was all in on piece safe and sound without so much as a scratch. 

I knew just where I wanted to put it. The painting had always been hung next to the piano, so it only made sense to hang over the piano here. It looks awesome. 

In case you've been wondering, none of us actually play piano- but we are all trying to learn. We've all done lots of youtube tutorials, and yesterday there was even a waiting list for people waiting to use it. 

So that's the saga of getting the piano to Florida. 

Next up: Florida Anniversary number 12!