Unpacking

Hubby took the past two days off to help with everything. The movers arrived on Monday and somehow (I believe that Divine Intervention played a role) managed to manuever through the parking lot to our apartment.

They backed the 46 foot semi into this handicapped spot. And there were two vehicles parked at the end of the garages.

We have made significant progress in unpacking although if you were to walk through the front door this is what you would see.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so hasty in inviting Lady Jane to stay on our sleeper sofa. Can you spot it?

Most of this stuff we need to put into storage because we can live without it for the next year. We also rented a garage unit down in the parking lot to use for storage. This is what it currently looks like.

Several boxes of books are going to have to be sold. If you want any let me know quickly before it's too late. The first box went to the second-hand bookstore yesterday.

I spent over an hour this morning unpacking ONE box. It contained spices and kitchen stuff. In the past we have had movers who put a piece of tape over any open containers before packing, or else they just didn't pack them. These movers just wrapped everything in paper and put it in the box. Needless to say I have been cleaning up copious amounts of baking soda, salt, garlic powder, cocoa, pepper, and various other spices.
Enough of a break. I'm back to the boxes. I really need a job, just to get out of here!

Zippy Day

Mr. C is an only child this weekend, as M has gone off to Alabama for En Fuego, an all-day concert. He has been excited that we have a zip line/ adventure course and couldn't wait to go. So we thought this would be a great opportunity for him to do something special.

The most important thing was learning how to hook up to the cables.

He was with a group of five other people, who were from Alabama. First they had to learn how to use the carabiners.

So fast he's a blur

He got to go on two courses. The first one had eleven obstacles and a zip line.

This is one of the obstacles he had to cross.

The second course had nine obstacles and a zip line. We were there for around two hours and Mr. C was exhausted, but talkative, when we left. He assured me he was never scared of anything. Then before he went to bed he confided, "I was a little scared I would fall and hurt my crotch." Well, the harnesses are pretty awkward, so can you blame him?

Apartment Living

I'm not coming out!

Well, you could probably figure from my previous post that our home buying experience was not going so well. All hell broke loose on Monday and the deal fell through, mainly due to the incompetence of our mortgage company. I am especially upset by this fact because we had wanted to go with another lender, but our realtor urged us to go with her company's mortgage arm (huge national chain, which I won't name).

We had to do something immediately, so we went to an apartment complex and signed a 1 year lease. This is obviously not the ideal situation, but it gets the kids into school and gives us a place to sleep at night. We are on the second floor which means we'll get our exercise. We do have a garage, but considering that we have 700 sq. ft. less than our house, we need it for storage. We also have to fit in all the stuff we had in our shed, garage, and attic. It will be tight.

Last night we started taking stuff over from the hotel. The cats were in the first load. Lizzie actually came out of her cat carrier. Her new safe place seems to be the bathroom sink. Oh, our poor traumatized girl!

Moving Update

There goes our stuff off to storage. Will we ever have a house to put it in again?

I know I'm supposed to not be hooked up to the internet, but the router is one of the few things still remaining in the house.

Just as it seemed our move was going to happen, the mortgage company called at dinner time tonight and threw a wrench in our plans. They need more documentation, and according to their records we aren't even approved for a loan at all yet, despite supposedly having a closing scheduled for Friday. This is after getting a "pre-approval" before we even made an offer on a house. How can this be happening?

They have already given us a list of what we have to pay for at closing, but now they are saying we need several thousands more. I know you all want to send cash right now--haha--but we can't use any "gift" money towards the purchase. So what should we do to acquire all this extra money? Who knows.

I've joked about being homeless, but it looks like that could very possibly happen after next week. And without a solid closing date and documentation we won't be able to enroll the kids in school. They withdrew here on Friday, so we can't just stay put either.

I am trying not to lose it again like I did earlier in the week. Hubby has not said any (well not many) cuss words. So we are standing strong for now. Keep us in your prayers and hopefully by this time next week we will be in our new house--or at least have a roof over our heads.

Off-line

I am in the process of disconnecting everything in the house, in preparation of the movers coming tomorrow morning. This means after tonight we will be off-line for awhile. We will also have no TV or phone (as we use Vonage through the internet). We will still have cell phones, so not completely off the grid. What slaves to technology we've become!
I took a couple of pictures of the cats to show two very different attitudes about moving, but I'm too lazy/busy with other things to upload them. Imagine: Socks laying sprawled out on the coffee table, snoozing. Lizzie cowering behind a curtain, eyes wide trying to figure out what is about to happen and why the house has been ransacked lately. They are complete opposites.
So long for now.

Fragile

I am these stacks of bowls. My family will tell you that the bowls have to be in two stacks with one of each color per stack. The colors don't have to be in any particular order. That's me. I will rearrange the bowls if they are stacked "wrong".

So now we are in the middle of this messy time of transition. I don't mind multi-colored bowls, but I need to have control over how they are arranged. My breaking point came yesterday when I received several emails from the realtor, mortgage guy, and mortgage girl. The line that threw me over the top was this:

I always do for my people, but there is no way I can give a definite date.   We can put in for a day and time, and hope all is done and ready to go, without any issues, or problems from anyone.   That right now is the best we can do. 

WTF!?! I was busy yesterday trying to set up utilities, mail forwarding, kids' schooling and at the same time being told that there could not possibly be a definite date for our closing. It was like someone not just rearranging my bowls, but smashing them on the floor and saying they might or might not be broken.

I turned my phones off and had a breakdown. Hubby drove home in the middle of the day and tried to make everything as right as possible. He is amazing like that.

I think what he sees, that I forget, is that it isn't just the move. It's also Smarty moving out, Mr. C starting middle school, and as always that first day of school when everyone else goes off and I'm left home alone without a job. I try to push it all aside to deal with later, but emotions have a way of working their way to the top and forcing themselves on you. At least on me.

The traditional first day of school photos of my beautiful kids:

First day of middle school--6th grade

Getting ready for the first day of junior year

Tough Day

This is the day I have been dreading for a long time now. We dropped Smarty off at school and probably won't see her until Thanksgiving.

We met all the other girls who are living in the annex with her--there are 5 altogether. They all have their own rooms, but some have to share bathrooms. The rooms are really a good size.

We celebrated her 18th birthday early. Her actual birthday is next Wednesday and it is the first day of classes. Happy Birthday!

We are so proud, and sad, and anxious. But mostly proud.

I have been up and down all day. There is so much in my mind that I have a hard time expressing it. When she was born I never even let her lay on the carpet without a blanket to protect her. By the time I had Mr. C, I just put him down on the ground and let him chew on sticks. Maybe I'll get better with seeing them fly the nest over time. God, it was hard today though. Thankfully Hubby took the day off work. He held my hand through the worst of it and got me to finally leave, or else I would probably still be standing in that parking lot.

Yard Decoration

Look closely in the mulch or click photo to enlarge

Hubby went to walk through our new house with the realtor today and this was in the front yard. Can you see it? It is a wild turkey wandering through the neighborhood! I'm not sure how I feel about this right now.

All the dates are up in the air right now. We are in that whirlwind process of changing/finding insurance, signing countless papers, getting inspections, and on top of it all we are renting our Alabama house (since it didn't sell). Being a landlord is definitely stretching me beyond my comfort zone. The fact that the people want to move in immediately is further stressing me out. It looks like we will face about two weeks of being "homeless" while we are waiting to close on our new mortgage/house and I don't know how that's going to work out. AHHHHH!

More Unfamiliar Territory

If it isn't enough to have Smarty going off to college and Mr. Creativity starting middle school, Marvelous has started dating this summer. They spend time here with our family and at his house with his family, as well as hanging out with friends. She still does stuff without him too, which I think is good.

This is all new to us and it is just one more thing to make me feel like my head is going to explode. Here is a  cellphone picture I took of the two of them at the church ice cream social (My cellphone takes horrible pictures, usually 3 seconds after I push the button.)

I'll call M's boyfriend Young Skywalker

Obviously I'm in need of lots of prayer right now. Too many changes!

My Toy Story

Molly the aviator and Kit the cowgirl

Last night I watched Toy Story 3. This movie is extremely emotional for anyone who has a child going off to college--okay, at least that's true for me. I remember taking Smarty to see Toy Story when it first came out. She was the same age as Andy. And this year they are both moving out and on with the next phase of their lives.

As we are preparing to move the rest of the family as well, I have been going through everything trying to weed out what I can before the movers come to pack it all up. Somethings that will never be thrown out are Molly and Kit. And unlike the toys in Toy Story 3 I don't think they'll ever be donated to anyone else. Time surely flies.

On a related note: Smarty is driving back from Indiana today. She went up to spend the week with Grandma and Grandpa. Anyone who can manage the traffic in Nashville (in the middle of an 8 hour trip) will be fine living out on her own.

How Hot Is It?

It has been in the triple digits here the past couple of days. Apparently it is so hot that the wildlife is beginning to seek out the AC in our house.

Blue-tailed lizard, captured in the kitchen

Lizzie ripped its tail off. They grow back.

Lizards aren't too bad but we'll be in trouble if the owls try to get in.

Sprucing Up

Our house-hunting saga has led us to leasing our house. There are a few things that I want to change a bit before someone else moves in. One of them is the window coverings, or lack thereof.

Our family is perfectly happy to have bare windows*. After all, we don't walk around the house naked. And more importantly, our neighbors aren't really out at night trying to see into our house. However, other people may be more comfortable with covered windows. So I sewed up a couple of window sheer panels et viola!

If only everything else about moving were this easy, I wouldn't be so stressed out. I would fill you in on the details of our leasing/moving, but everything is up in the air right now. Isn't that a great place for them to be with less than two weeks to the start of a new school year?

*Most of our windows have blinds, especially in the important rooms.

That Time of Year

It's that time of year again. No matter what else may be happening in our lives, there will be a lot of sharks this week. Sharks are awesome...on TV.