Empty Feeling

As of this afternoon, we really do have an Empty Nest.  Otter brought the car back and we took her to her apartment, along with the last of the stuff she's taking for now.  While she was here, we boxed up the remaining stuff that was in her room and it is now stacked against the wall in "her" room, along with the craft items which ere already boxed.  There is still a little bit in the closet, but I'm not sure if it's anything she'll take now or at all.  Her winter clothes are still here, but she'll need them soon.  She took the rest of her blankets and towels, her nicer clothes (the ones she paid major $$ for) and a few other things including a Swiffer I found at a yard sale for her for 50 cents.  We vacuumed her room while she and I were packing up the last of the boxes and there was definitely a mousie or several nesting under her bed last winter.  She had some dirty clothes in the laundry basket, I washed that for her last night and she brought her dirty laundry with her to do so she could wash it while we packed the last stuff up.

 

We took her back home (that sounds so strange!) after all the packing and laundry was done.  Both Otter and Roomie/Other Daughter have televisions, but they don't have cable or satellite service yet.  They might not get that for a while, they don't have internet either but that will probably be more important to them than cable tv.  We bought them each a wall-mounted antennae for their tv sets, Bill installed them for them today and they can now get the local stations.  There are over 30 local stations in the Tulsa area, so they have a lot of options.  They wanted to be able to see local stations and were going to get antennaes later on, but we wanted them to have access to weather warnings immediately.  We do get some really B.A.D. weather, and they needed to be able to access any warnings.

 

When we got home, we both felt very strange.  Empty is the word that fits.  While we are glad that she/they were able to make the move, it's still hard for the parental units and it's going to take us a while to adjust.  Maggie was overjoyed when Otter got here, but she has been adjusting better the last few days.  We've been working with her to get used to me doing most of her care/feeding/belly rubs/etc., over the last few weeks and it seems to have worked.  After we got home, I let her in Otter's old room and she was fine.  We weren't sure how the beagle would act, she used to sleep in Otter's bed but that ended a couple of years ago because Maggie licks everything and Otter got tired of getting into bed and discovering that the pillow was wet!  I pulled the door to that room shut and moved the dog block back into the hallway so that we can get into the hall bathroom from the living room without having to climb over the thing.  The hall bathroom door is being left open, at least for now.  There are still a few things in that bathroom that Otter left, but most of it is stuff that she doesn't really want/need although she'll probably get her earrings later on.  She took all the important stuff - hair stuff and asthma meds - when she moved on Wednesday.

 

There is still one quilt, the 12-year quilt needed a patch and I did that this morning.  But I gave Otter a quilt that my mom gave me, Mom and our special Aunt (referred to as AJ) made it and I helped with it.  Otter was overjoyed to get it, she nearly started crying - Froggy, that is the picture I texted you and I think she was actually crying when I took the picture.  But it needs several repairs, mostly just thread that has biodegraded on seams and hems.  I'm about half way through with that.  But there are a few spots where the fabric has worn through and some small tears, Froggy is going to send me some fabric she has that will work.  This particular quilt is made with fabric that came from clothes we all wore so it has a lot of meaning.  I discovered that it doesn't have a lining or any batting - but then in S. TEXAS, we didn't really need super warm quilts!  We also switched our bed quilt today while I was getting Otter's blankets organized, we now have the camo quilt on our bed.

 

I'm not going to be in a hurry to paint, I have several projects in the works at the moment and Bill's got several pachinko machines in line to be refurbished.  I'm going to move the desk to where I want it and start putting the Yarn Stash in there, and we're going to get a ceiling fan soon.  I also want to put miniblinds in the window.  Otter's bedroom in her apartment has miniblinds so she didn't need to take the curtains, so the miniblinds can wait a little while until we have time to install them.  But the painting will wait a while, we wanted to get it done soon but we don't really have time right now so it might wait until Spring.  We're not going to get the pull-out couch/loveseat now anyway, winter is not really the time we have guests so it can wait a few months.  Unless we come across a really good deal.

 

Otter could still use a floor lamp, Roomie has one so she has enough light in her room (she has the living room) but Otter needs more light.  I was looking for one yesterday when I hit yardsales and a thrift store but I didn't find any.  I did find the Swiffer I mentioned, I crocheted a cover for it today and I'm going to make at least one more for her.  Roomie's mom bought them a microwave, so that's one less thing they need.  Really, about the only thing they need now is a vacuum but they can probably get a carpet sweeper instead.  I told them that they can borrow my vacuum if they need it, but they'll probably see about a carpet sweeper pretty soon.