Sorry, Wrong Number

We have discovered why we hadn't heard back from the hospital about Z's manogram yet: they put the wrong prefix on the phone number. Our area code for his cell is 240; the local area code is 254. The lady taking down the information was either on autopilot or thought Z had mispoken, so the phone number they had was not correct.

After two weeks of playing phone tag with the hospital and his PCM, we finally heard from the surgeon late yesterday.

Results:
There is a tumor present, but it does not have the resonance signature of a cancerous tumor.

Now we have to wait until Monday to find out what they plan to do with it.

BUT this is Great! Fabulous! Terrific! news.

Other news that's making our collective heads spin: we are moving back to Maryland, in two weeks. Due to some unexpected events involving our tenants, we are going back home to take possession of our house and eliminate paying for two places at the same time. Our tenants were supposed to be in the Maryland house until the end of next March, when they were going to be purchasing it. We were not planning to renew their lease. After discovering they would be unable to purchase the house, they gave us their thirty days' notice to be out on the first of August. They have a large family and finding suitable living quarters can be a challenge for them, so when they found something they jumped on it.

Our house is in no condition to get a new tenant at this time, so back to Maryland we go. We have actually gotten phone calls from two different people -- one neighbor, one friend from church -- in the last week expressing some concerns about our property. We're not entirely certain what we're about to walk into. Our lease in TX runs out in September, so at least that part is easy. Z will have to stay in TX until work can move him up here, though, so he may be sleeping on couches for a while.

Initially it was looking like he'd be in TX until March of next year, but an opening has occurred in the D.C. area and hopefully Z will slide into it by the end of September so we can be a family again. Z will continue working with the church here until he leaves.

We have accomplished what we came to Texas to do as far as getting the new church started, we have done all we can do at this point. Any future progress is out of our hands; it's up to the people who say they want this church to get rolling. Ball's in their court to do what needs to be done.

It's still surreal and such short notice, but luckily I can pack things in my sleep. This makes move #21 for me (in 32 years) and #26 for my husband. Guess our military brat pedigrees (and six years as a military wife) come in handy once again, right? There is still the "freak out" element present, though. I do that really well, too.

Our kids are actually excited to be heading back up there. A gets a little grin on his face when we mention moving back to Maryland, and K flat out shrieked with joy the first time we told her. Now she asks multiple times daily if we're "going to Maryland today?"

We are hoping beyond hope that we will land in one place and just stay there for a while. Contrary to popular belief, we do not actually enjoy moving. We moved twice in Maryland -- once to a home closer to Z's work, because he was getting up at 3:45 in the morning and getting home close to 9 p.m. and by moving closer he could sleep in until 5:00 and get home around 7 -- more family and sleep time. Then we moved a couple of years after that because we'd bought a house; Z was getting out of the military and we were planning on staying put for a long time.

We said when we bought the house that we were there unless God Himself moved us. Famous last words, she said, as the H family drove to Texas a year later...

Sooo -- now we're coming back, hopefully for good this time. Both Z and I really love western Maryland, from the people we have befriended to the gorgeous scenery. At the risk of sounding like a complete freak, the land out there just has a beautiful, peaceful spirit about it, whether you're at the river or up hiking through the mountains. Maryland feels like home. It's the first place either Z or I have felt that way about, in all of our moving around.

And, hey! Maybe I can have that garden and chooks yet. I think the chickens will have to wait at least a year, though, until we can get everything squared away with the house. I suspect that repainting will be on "the list"; we're hoping drywall repair and replacement flooring are not on "the list".

If we can swing it, one of the things we'd like to do in late fall would be to take down the "office tile" ceilings and put up good ol' drywall ceilings. That will make a tremendous difference in our abilities to insulate and soundproof, because the ceiling tiles we currently have are rated at about a 2 to a 4 as far as R-value goes, and it's not so easy to put in insulation over a ceiling with a bunch of cracks and holes in it.

It will also look about a thousand times better, which will do wonders for my mood. Amazing how aesthetics can do that. I'm not a fancy schmancy person, but I would like things to at least have a nice finished look. Some of the tiles have holes in them, and whoever installed them didn't put the frame in straight, so we have a crooked grid all over our ceiling with views of the roof around the edges of some of the tiles. It's just enough off to irritate me. Functional, yes, but not energy efficient, and they're ugh - lee.

My husband believes that every house needs an ugly something, if for nothing else then as a conversation piece. Perhaps we'll leave the genuine circa 1960's scalloped wooden cornice in the living room for him...that way I can update the kitchen and ceilings and still have an ugly thing for Z. Or maybe not.