9:31 a.m. - Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2003

So I am now living in San Antonio. I have moved myself and my 2 children in with Sir. We have been waiting a long time to do this. It is FABulous! I�ve been packing and planning for weeks saving the big push for the last 3 days� the procrastinator that I am. I was planning on renting a big drive-it-yourself I-Haul truck (you know� U Haul�humph� Every time I have seen it done You ain�t hauling squat! I have to do it!) and use to tow jack to take my car with me too. Sir would be there in the afternoon to help me unload and such. Reason for this wanton desire to do it all by myself was because I really wanted to have my folks over to see everything after it was all set up and decorated and arranged and rearranged, etc. Why would that matter? It is a move. There are supposed to be boxes and picture frames all over the place. It is supposed to look like a cardboard elephant exploded, right? Ok. All I have to say is that they are my folks. And I love them, but� They � especially Mother � are PRETENTIOUS!! Well Daddy caught wind of my plan and did not like that idea at all! (Not the part about how pretentious they are; just the part about driving a truck and hauling a car behind it with me, myself and I.

Side note #1: Oh and if anyone is curious, Sir was not available to come over and help me because he was working; otherwise, he would have been all over that! P>

Daddy wanted to help me do it which, of course, meant Mother was coming too. So I finally just gave in and decided to let them do whatever they wanted to make them feel good about what I was doing. Believe me this is something that I must endure. These are the same parents that after living with them for over a year after my divorce forbid me to move into an apartment down the road. And when I argued that I was almost 30 years old, been married, divorced, had 2 children, and could pretty much do whatever I wanted... They physically and financially made it impossible for me to do so. Yeah� I was none too impressed. It later turned out to have been ok because the company I was working for at the time merged and my job was cut in the interim.

Side note #2: I am an only child, so my folks have no one else on which to focus. Therefore when my father gets in a tizzy about something he wants/must do for me, that�s pretty much the end of the discussion. I may be a little bit bratty sometimes, but that�s just my personality. I am actually not spoiled. �Yeah, right,� you say? Case and point: I never got a pair of Guess jeans when I was in Junior High School. That was the �in� thing! All I wanted was one pair! Just ONE measly pair! Nope� my mother was not about to spend $28 for a pair of jeans. Don�t we wish we could find that so easily now!

ANYWAY� I have everything packed. I had gone over to San Antonio a few days before and taken Sir�s big Chevy truck to haul my stuff, and Daddy had his Nissan Crew Cab truck as well. We went over to the I-Haul and picked up a trailer to put on Sir�s truck and away we went to loading bunk beds, boxes, entertainment centers, TVs, boxes, bicycles, T-ball equipment, random furniture pieces, boxes� you get the idea. Now we are off! I text messaged Sir to let him know we were on our way. He text messaged back asking if I was driving the truck with the trailer� heh, heh, heh� I replied, �Heck no I�m not hauling the trailer! Daddy, of course, is taking care of that. I am not to be trusted with such things!� Pretty funny actually� I guess that�s just a Daddy�s prerogative. We make it to San Antonio with little trouble. Mother didn�t even make us stop for a potty break! We got everything unloaded. Sir and Daddy set up the bunk beds and the entertainment center. We ate pizza. We took showers. We went to bed. It was late so my folks stayed the night.

Side note #3: That was a switch! My folks actually had a room � with a bed � to stay the night! I lived in Nacogdoches for almost 10 years and my folks were never, ever able to stay the night when coming to visit unless they got a hotel room - 20 miles in town. Wow! No dirt roads! No oil top roads! No chicken trucks or log trucks to try to run me off said roads! No checking the bed for scorpions! An actual guest bedroom! I must be really moving up in the world! Bwuahhaahhaahhaa!

The next morning Sir got up and went in early to work. He has big meetings, workshops, preparations going on right now. I meandered my way out of bed a couple of hours later to start the coffee. Daddy was already up, dressed, gone to get coffee for Mother, and pacing � waiting on myself and Mother to get up so they could go. Well Mother was not ready to go immediately she wanted to drink her coffee. Eat some breakfast, (I made French Toast � and please don�t start with the Freedom Toast bit � Sir is in the Air Force � believe me I have my national pride. Certain things to me have certain names� like it or not.) and go ride around the area with me a spell to get ideas as to what we would be doing when they came to visit other than just go to the Riverwalk. Well Daddy got irritated that Mother wasn�t ready to leave. When he realized what our plans were he decided that he was not going with us and was not going to just sit around. So he went and pulled out Sir�s lawnmower and began to do the yard. When I went out and asked him why he was doing it (it wasn�t that bad) he replied a bit huffily, �Som�in to do!� Geeze. Mother just laughed and said, �Come on, Trixie! Let�s go and get back before he�s done!� We went and explored the very large shopping and dining area near the house and headed back. Daddy was now edging. *shaking head* He finished up, took a shower. Then we all said our goodbyes and thank yous and so forth and they whisked away back to Houston. Alls well that ends well I suppose. Either way I am still a new San Antonio resident living in a sea of organized cardboard chaos for at least the next week and I couldn�t be happier!!