//Jason here. I thought it might be useful to send on our new address and phone number. The Nemrows 127 NM 467 Portales, NM 88130 (575) 226-3688 Now, back to the letter... // May 26, 2013 Dear Mama, (Sigh....) I finally have a computer back to type this up for you. And to think, my job is not over yet. We have been in the throes of moving for nearly two full months. I am extremely exhausted. All of the beginning work was packing and cleaning, getting ready for the big move. That occurred when Jay moved the "big" move up by two weeks. Of course, the 24 foot truck that we had reserved never materialized. The biggest they had was a 16 footer. We knew we would have to make two trips with the 24 footer, and we only had time to make two trips with the 16 footer. We only moved 2/3rds of our things. So, for a week, I'd bring the boys to school, then load up my car with stuff and drive the two hours to Portales, unload, and drive back to do more packing and getting the boys from school. The boys did really well in their grades and got lots of neat certificates and pins for all of their hard work and effort. They were so excited to be out of school, though. We all camped out on air mattresses in Tucumcari because on the 18th, your grand daughter (your first grandchild) graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts (cum laude). Actually, once her final grades came in, it should have been magna cum laude. Her art show was a success and she ended up selling two pieces. Poor Caleb threw up all the night before, so he stayed in Tucumcari while the rest of us went off to the graduation. We camped at the Tucumcari house that night because we had our farewell at church the next day. We left right after Sacrament meeting. We arrived at our new "home" in Portales in time for lunch. I am still learning how to use the oven with all of its electronic bells and whistles. The following week, the girls and I went back to Tucumcari (leaving the boys to fend for themselves) and spent a few days painting. Once the furniture was moved out of our bedroom, we noticed the same water damage that was in the living room. Same south wall. Mudded and sanded that before painting. Same thing with the laundry room. The wall behind the washer had some water damage and we fixed that up and painted that also. Then, we had taken down the partition wall that separated Josh's room from Jason's office. In doing so, Jason accidentally put a big dent in the drywall with the hammer. There was also a hole in the wall where Matthew had slammed the door in anger that needed patched. So, we painted that room, too. The only room left in the house that had not been painted was the twins' room. It had a lot of little dents in the walls and looked dingy, so we painted that room as well. The only places we did not paint were the hallways. I scrubbed them down, though with Magic Eraser. I never really went upstairs all that much and never knew how much crayon my kids had drawn on the walls with. And SOME people's kids wrote their names EVERYWHERE! I will not give out the names of the guilty. Let's just say that there was only one kid whose name I did not come across. By Wednesday, after finishing up with the painting, I brought the girls back to Portales and did some grocery shopping and actually cooked a real meal that was not ramen or a sandwich. They were all so grateful. I actually got to sleep in my bed that night. That was a godsend. Went back to Tucumcari the next morning. Stopped off at the WalMart in Clovis to return some curtains I had bought. Apparently the day before, the WalMart had had a bomb threat and they evacuated the store. There were carts all over the place with milk and eggs and ice cream still sitting in the carts. No one was around in Customer Service, but they did my return at a regular cash register. Did some shopping for Jason's birthday coming up. Got to Tucumcari and started cleaning. I ended up buying a new vacuum cleaner because the old one smelled like the motor was burning and it wasn't sucking up the dirt very well. Ashle had come over while I was vacuuming and wondered why I was vacuuming a perfectly clean carpet. It was only after I dumped all of the dirt that she realized how dirty they really were. Friday came. I was supposed to pick up a birthday cake that I had ordered for Jason's birthday (they were gonna be closed on Saturday because of the Memorial Day weekend). I was so busy, I completely lost track of the time and never went and got the cake. Jason showed up that night and we went and borrowed Mickey's old pick up in preparation for the next day. The next day was our "dump day". We made three runs to the dump, and it was about $10.00 a trip. The waste company we had looked into wanted $300.00, so we did real good there. After the runs to the dump, we returned Mickey's truck. The Mericles came while we were doing all of this and took some of the tools off of Jason's hands that he didn't want. Anyway, I treated Jason to a nice lunch for his birthday . After lunch, we came home and started packing up both vehicles with as much stuff as possible. Most of it was camping gear that we really need to go through. It consisted not only of our camping gear, but all of the gear from girl's camps over the years. Not to mention Shayna's camping gear from her stint at the Utah Conservation Corp. We also had the few tools that Jay decided to keep and my filing cabinets. I finished packing up my kitchen and most of my bathroom. I get to go back on Monday to clean out the fireplace, sweep and mop the middle section and pack up what is left in my bathroom. I really need to go through all of our stuff and downsize even more. We have gone from a 2800 sq. ft. house to one that is about 1500 sq. ft. I have already thrown out much, and donated much, but I need to do even more. But I have to say that I really hate this house in Portales, and not just because of its size, I can live with that, but first, all of the sinks leaked. My toilet never really flushes. It just swirls around and around and around. The wiring is really crazy. The evaporative cooler doesn't work. Supposedly the landlord came and fixed it but it never got cool and by the second day it started squealing horrendously. One of my burners on the stove doesn't work at all. There is no water pressure. Our dumpster for our trash is only big enough to put one, maybe two bags of trash in which only gets picked up once a week. With our size family, this is going to be a problem. There is still a window in my bedroom that won't go down that was supposed to be replaced weeks ago. The kids' bedrooms have no fan or vent to get air in their rooms and they cannot open their windows. Luckily, there is a ceiling fan in my room but has only two blades on it. The house still smells and still needs deep cleaning. And today, after church, we came home and as I was trying to get lunch on the table, the oven started some high pitched alarm. We hadn't even been using the oven. The landlord said he would come over after he finished eating his lunch. It was mind bending. It was the clock in the oven. Don't get me started on the ants. Trust me. This is giving me total incentive to get Jason to finish his Masters and then get me out of this place. Apparently the class he is working on right now (something to do with cyber law) is the toughest because of all of the lawyer-eeze. He has eleven classes to finish to graduate and has already finished one class. Ten to go. He says he feels a strong urge to finish as quickly as possible. Remember last year when he decided to get his certificate in Linux and he said it was the toughest test he had ever taken but managed to pass? The guys at work told him that that was why he was hired, because he had that qualification. They just got some new computer servers in and they decided to train Jason on them and put him in charge of those servers. This is really good experience for him. He is really enjoying his work as well as working on his schooling. It is me and the kids having a hard time with this transition. He is wanting to eventually go into the Foreign Service after he gets his Masters and who knows where they will send him if he gets in. Next month he goes to Lubbock to take a test for it. If he gets in, that will mean we will move every two to three years. That is the reason we need to downsize some more. I do not want another move like the last one. Interestingly enough, our "calling" at church for the moment is to be on some committee to do with 72 hour kits. At first, I was disappointed, but then I decided that if Jason gets into the Foreign Service, we may need that knowledge. Then I got my new visiting teaching companion assigned to me. She is Hispanic with a very thick accent. Man, I was having trouble understanding her. I almost started to complain about that, but then realized it may be a blessing in disguise if Jason goes someplace in South America for this Foreign Service thing, so I will learn to deal with it and do it with a cheerful heart. Anyway, Sam came down with whatever Cale had last week, and now Josh has it. They stayed home from church today because of it. I hope it ends with them. I do not need to be getting sick. I still have lots of unpacking to do. Our house is a maze of boxes. As I unpack, I will sort through it and do more tossing and donating. In a 90 degree house with no air movement, I am sweating like no one's business, and I usually don't sweat, but glisten. Well, I will close for now, enough complaining and gritching and grousing. Time to move forward and try to be more positive. After all, when Mom is happy, everyone is happy, and we can definitely use some of that happiness business. I send you all of my love, and hope this letter finds you in better spirits than I am in. Your 4th, Lisa