A Busy, New, and Wonderful Weekend

Wow, what a weekend it has been in the Clifton house! It was a crazy, busy, and oh so much fun type of weekend, but I guess I will start from the beginning which in this story happens to be on Wednesday night. The conversation went something like this. . .

(Mark and I are in bed about to go to sleep, discussing plans for the rest of the week)

Mark: So yeah, I'm off for good Friday. . . It's going to be a long weekend.
Me: Oh that will be good, we get a holiday together!
Mark: Yeah I am so ready to move and get out there to Harleton.
Me: I know this place is a wreck, but I can't do anything about it because we are sorta in this limbo stage!
Mark: Well when are we gonna move?
Me: I dunno. . . we should just move this weekend! (I am totally kidding here)
Mark: That is not a bad idea, becuase when would we have another chance or free weekend? (This leads to an intense discussion of dates before the end of April, which brings us to the conclusion, there really isn't a better time than this weekend)
Me: It is just going to stink, because I am going to have to be the one that gets up early and drives! Plus there is no cable or internet out there!
Mark: But it will be so worth it!
Me: I will only do it if I get to get a puppy.
Mark: Fine, we will get you a puppy!
Me: So this weekend huh? We really are gonna move?
Mark: Yep this weekend. We will need to get a truck, the trailer, everything packed. . . (trails off as he goes to sleep)

So yeah that is how we decided we were moving on this weekend (actually on Friday), in bed Wednesday night! Needless to say there was a lot of work that needed to happen between now and then. Sadly nothing really did get accomplished haha! I didn't get a chance to do any packing at all before Friday came, but I have good reason and here it is. . .

Thursday night I had class and actually got out of it early for a change (ususally she keeps us the whole three hours). I had already decided beforehand that I was going to go and get an easter dress that night, and had seen one online at Target for cheap! So I caught up with Anna who was also going to go by herself, and decided we would meet up in L-view after she got off work. Well with me getting out around three that left roughly 2 hours or so of downtime for me. I had been looking for a long time online at petfinder.com to find a puppy, but it is so hard to do when you don't really know if they are there or not. So I decided with my extra time I would drive to the Humane society and check out what they had.

I ended up finally making it there (it is way on the backside of downtown)and am excited about what I might find. Mark and I decided we wanted a medium size puppy we could train and make our own, and have it end up the way we wanted it to, so I go in and look at the puppy room first. This is filled with tiny puppies, and one very yippy chihuahua dog that is barking and making every other dog in there bark too! I didn't see any that I just fell in love with. I mean they were cute, but they weren't the breeds I like or we were looking for. So I go out and look at the adult dogs. There were plenty out there, all different kinds for all different families, but one in particular caught my eye. There was this one little black and white dog, that in the midst of all this barking was just laying there looking at me. I was drawn to her immediately. The lady there warned me she was shy and that could potentially be not good for a youth ministers house, but I asked to see her anyway. She went and got a leash to go in for the dog, who shied away from her and made me think "oh no she was right". The dog also didn't walk out, but had to be dragged out of the cage until she got to me. However, once she was at my feet it all changed. She allowed me to pet her and also to walk her into this little visitation room where I could let her off leash and talk with her. She was just so sweet and melted my heart, I wanted to take her home right then but Mark wanted to meet her, so I just filled out paper work on her that said I wanted to adopt her and would come back! I then went to petsmart while I was waiting on Anna to get there and dreamed about having a dog of my own while walking aimlessly down the aisles! I also found my easter dress and accessories which made me feel good!

I returned back in the middle of storm, which made out lights go out in the new house! We spent sometime over at my grandparents with my aunt and cousin that had come in! I also told Holly I would watch Emilie (the cousin) while she and Ballou went to a funeral and she could help us pack and move.

Whew hope you're still with me! This brings us to Friday, moving day! As I said we didn't have anything packed and or ready, so it was an early morning trying to get it all together! Adam came down to help with the big stuff and we got the trailer and truck both loaded down with all the big things (couch, bed, tv, bookshelf, nightstands, dressers, boxes, etc) and got it all moved to Harleton! I went and got Emilie who helped us by crumpling newspapers for extra padding! She did so good and worked so hard. We get out to Harleton and Ballou and Holly come over and help us get everything situated and moved in! We then spend the rest of the day getting everything in its place, Mark, Emilie, and I head back to Marshall to get another load while Mom, Noni, and Ballou stay and clean like they have been all day! It was a team effort and couldn't have been done without the efforts from everyone! We ended up eating pizza that night with everyone, and Emilie stayed over and watched Alvin and the Chipmonks before going to bed with us!

This brings us to Saturday, which was the day of the community wide Easter Egg hunt that our church puts on. Mark gets up early and goes to get everything prepared because he is doing the music for it, and I had a booth to run! It was a blast and lots of people showed up! After it was all said and done I decided to hold Mark to his promise and convince him to go and get the puppy I saw on Thursday after the egg hunt. I give him enough time to eat and all, but then we are headed out, him apprehensive because of all the changes (he likes to have time to take it all in while I am like Why not today?). We get to the pound and talk a little bit before going in (which comes into play later). We go in and get what I think is the dog I saw, but with much shorter hair. I count it up as they gave her a haircut and we get to see it and Mark gets to visit with it which was good. Even though it is more hyper than I remember we decide to get it! I finish the paper work and they are putting it in, and I say "I hope this is the same dog, let me check" and I pull out my phone where I took a picutre of her on Thursday and it isn't the same one! Yikes! We were filling out the correct information, but they had accidentally sent the dog to Kilgore for an adoption day type thing! They were bringing her back on the truck then so we had to wait on her.

While we are waiting though, we have to pick up bbq to take back to our house where everyone in the family (including Mark's parents) are coming in to eat. Mark decides it would be better to go and get the meat while we are waiting and proceeds to look for his keys, which he can't find until he checks the locked car! By this time, the weekend is too much, and he hates doing stupid stuff like that, so he is not so happy! It takes another 20 mins, a hanger, hammer, and screwdriver later, and we are in, pulling away with our new dog, the right dog, Fluffy, who we change her name to Ellie! We make a mad dash into Target and Petsmart to get essentials like collar, leash, food and water bowls, and a brush for her shedding coat, and rush home! We make it there in time to brush out Ellie and greet his parents! We have a nice supper and Ellie is loved by everyone!!

Sunday is Easter and comes in stormy! We go to church and have a great Easter service and then come back and get Ellie before heading out to eat at my Aunt Lori's house! She is loved by everyone again, and makes and great first impression!! After leaving there it is finally down time! Mark, Ellie, and I spend the afternoon on the couch with a movie in and being lazy!

So there you have it! Our long and crazy weekend! I applaud you if you have made it to the end!