eclipse and phases of the moon

I think I have it: Let’s start with several assumptions. At 3:00pm (for example) the sun is always in the same place. And the moon goes around the earth in the same direction that the earth spins. (I think that this rule is pretty universal throughout the solar system. Everything turns in the same direction). The eclipse is at 3:00pm on the 8th of April.
Every day at 3:00 pm the sun is in the same place. (This takes the rotation of the earth out of the equation) So, does the moon come in front from the west or from the east. From the right or from the left?
There is a trick and I think I have this correct. The sun comes up in the east, but the earth spins west to east. This tells us that the moon moves west to east. So, the moon approaches from the west.
I went down this road with the last eclipse. I communicated with a guy and he told me that the moon can be seen in the west just after the sun goes down. I went up on a mountain where I could have a clear horizon and saw the moon. It was huge, almost like a strange cloud. Was this before the eclipse or after the eclipse? I think it was after the eclipse and this povides a corroboration. (It was cloudy all day today. This is the 4th of April)

[@mrphysh]

The sun chases the moon. and the days after the eclipse, the moon is to the left of the sun. It becomes visible as a crescent a few days after the eclipse. This is pretty complex and probably not well understood by most people.

[@mrphysh]

… I think that the moon moves maybe ten degrees a day. So, two days before the eclipse, it should be 20-40 degrees to the west. It is still cold, but I bundle up and go outside with a pair of binoculars. I carefully focus the binoculars on Mission hospital many hundreds of yards away. I sit in a chair and look and look. No Moon. I will try again early in the morning tomorrow. This is western North Carolina and horizons are a bit hard to come by. We will see, starting with whether I am up and the sky is clear.