A Big Hug

I wonder what the record is for the first return trip ‘home’ after a move?

I made it 9 days.

Gavin had his preschool field trip to his teacher’s sheep farm on Wednesday so Gavin, Tova & I dropped Ethan off at school & headed out of town so he could go.

For Gavin the trip was well timed.  He’s bored & missing his friends.  The trip back to see his classmates seemed to put the sparkle back in his eyes & greatly improved his mood.  I think he needed to see that his friends remembered him & still liked him.

For me, it was probably too soon.  I felt so sad driving down our old street & seeing our old house (which Tova excitedly pointed out).  It brought tears to my eyes seeing Gavin run to his teacher & throw his arms around her.  It brought more tears to my eyes to see Gavin & his buddy A~ holding hands & acting like long lost twins.  I couldn’t bring myself to stop by Ethan’s school & see friends there or stop in at the neighbors for a quick visit.  I ache to go ‘home’ & I think seeing all that we’re missing is just adding to my melancholy.

It was a beautiful day & here are some pictures.

Gavin & A~, Kings of the Tree House

Petting the Baby Lamb

Gavin's Class

I hope the funk clears soon.  I’m getting a little tired of myself.  I’ve been looking for MOPS groups or story time at the Library or some sort of playgroup in hopes of meeting a few people.  I found a few leads & am hoping to try them out on Thursday.  I haven’t told Gavin yet.  He’ll just make me more nervous by also being nervous.  Wish me luck!

K~

Staying Positive

I am aching to go home to Jana Rd.

I miss my friends.  I miss my kitchen.  I miss my insomniac neighbor whose living room light was my nightlight.  I miss my grocery store.  I miss having errands take 20 minutes because you almost never wait at stop lights.  I miss people saying ‘hi’ to me at the store, school, church, as I drive…

Easter was hard for me.  We tried a church & we’ll not go back.  The only person who talked to us was the Pastor & even he wasn’t all that friendly.  It’s Easter for crying out loud!  There’s tons of visitors – a great time to make some connections with people who possibly don’t have a church home but this church must have enough members so they don’t bother to find new ones.  The clincher was at the end of service, they ushered everyone out.  I hate that.  It is such a waste of time.  I suppose if you know people there, it’s a good chance to visit with your neighbor (& there was plenty of that going on during church) but if you’re a visitor, it feels like an eternity.

Enough whine, which by the way, I found a drinkable wine for people who don’t like wine.  Me for instance.  Manischewitz Premium White Concord goes down really easily, especially with this stuff.

Here’s a list of positive things about the move.

1. Walking Ethan to & from school.  I love this!  We get 2 miles of walking in without really even trying.
2. My bedroom is great, it just needs some room darkening shades.  I have a walk-in closet & my own bathroom with my own sink.
3. My dishwasher is super quiet.
4. I love the double oven
5. Target is the closest place to shop.  I have no idea where the Wal-Mart is even located!

I still want to go home though…

*sigh*

K~

My Weekend In Pictures

Family Room

The Boy's Room

My First Walk-In Closet

Exhausted after a loooong day

K~

They’re Here!

The movers are here with my stuff.

I’m sleeping on a bed tonight!

K~

Catch Up

Just a quick update.  We were able to close on both houses on schedule.  The closing on our old house went fast.  We were able to leave town by 9:30am.  The closing on the new house took longer.  The kids were excellent during each closing.  I wouldn’t have put money on that.

We had a few issues with the new house.  The seller had agreed to do a few repairs & they weren’t done.  Our first full day in the house involved the carpet guys, the Sears delivery guys, the dish installer, & a plumber.  The ‘plumber’ was an idiot.  There’s a leak in one of the pipes in the basement & he, who is actually a supervisor for the seller’s construction business, was doing as minimal of a job as he could & after 8 hours, our Realtor demanded a plumber.  The plumber came today & did a sloppy job but we’re hopeful the leak is fixed.  Jason’s not happy with how this has been going & I’m tired of people in the house.

The carpet is done, the plumbing is hopefully done, the internet is hooked up (YEEHA!!), Ethan’s at school, the other kids are napping, & our semi of belonging’s comes tomorrow.

I’m exhausted.

I’ll try to update on Ethan’s first day of school later.

K~

Over & Out

The minivans are stuffed to the gills.  The kids are strapped in, the pets are loaded, & we’re off!

Closing is at 9am here & 4pm in Metropolis.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to control my tears well enough so I can drive.

We won’t have internet until Wednesday (Horrors!).  We won’t have furniture until Thursday.  I’m not sure which I’ll miss most.

Next time you hear from me I’ll be officially a resident of Metropolis!

*sob*

K~

A funny story from Sunday night.  We were preparing the kids to say goodbye to our neighbors & I was telling Gavin that on Monday they wouldn’t be our neighbors anymore.  He excitedly asks “Are they going to be our cousins?”

The Long Good-bye

I’m feeling a little dehydrated.  My eyes are burning, my nose is sore, & I’m really stuffed up.  Saying good-bye is hard work.

Today was harder than I had anticipated.  That’s not completely accurate.  I had been so worked up about Friday, I hadn’t paused to think how hard Sunday would be.  Leaving our church family was hard.  I’m at a loss for words to describe it.  What I will say is that you (church family) mean the world to us.  You have been there for us, for our children, for our friends.  We’ve had good times & bad times & yet, we’ve always remained a family.  I love you & will miss you.

We also did the last few hard good-byes tonight.  We ate supper with our good friends & I think I won the bet on how many times I’d cry.  I only cried once & that was as we were leaving – completely expected.  L~, it was divine intervention that you crossed paths with B~ & became one of my closest friends.  You have made these last 12 weeks bearable & I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship.

I think for me the good-bye I was dreading the most was with our neighbors.  Three years ago, I was told a new family with boys about my boys ages would be moving into the house down the street.  I was so excited.  I prayed that the kids would be good friends for Ethan & Gavin & that our families would be friends.  Little did I know how much they would bless us.  Play dates, carpools, sleepovers, camping, walks, & many bike rides later, I can say my prayers were answered & then some.

This little town I dreaded moving to 10.5 years ago (It had no Target! It was in the middle of nowhere!) is breaking my heart to leave.  I have loved living here.  I’m proud my boys were born here.  I’m proud my daughter came ‘home’ here.  I’m proud of the career Jason built here.  I’m proud of the person I grew to be here.  You all played a huge role in our lives & I’m forever grateful this little blip on the map has been my home for 10.5 years.

Blessings to all of you!

K~

Things I Cannot Find

Things I didn’t remember to pull out:

• dog leash
• sidewalk chalk
• band-aids
• toilet brush

Things they packed which I didn’t intend for them to pack:

• Tova’s shoes (no idea where she took them off)
• The necklace Jason gave me for our 10th anniversary (had been wearing it all the time but took it off  Tuesday night for some unknown reason)
• A CD of pictures I was supposed to deliver to a friend

I’ve had a few people give me hints on what to do first when our stuff arrives at our new house.  So far, my plan is to make the beds, set up the kitchen & unpack clothes.  After that, I think we’ll be able to function.  I’m not saying that’ll all get done on Thursday but for sure by the weekend I should be able to cook again.  Maybe I’ll break in my new oven with a ham for Easter.

The school stuff went fine.  I was on the verge of the ugly cry while dropping Gavin off but was able to pull it together for pick up.  Ethan was all done packing up his desk when we got to school & while I like his teacher a lot, I’m not as emotionally attached to her as I am to Gavin’s teacher.  No risk of tears there until my friend C~ who teaches at the school walks by.  We just didn’t look at each other, ‘cuz nothing make me cry easier than looking at C~.

I had a great night out with friends Friday night & Saturday night we went to a shindig our church family threw.  We’ve had such fun saying goodbye to our friends!  They all know how to throw a good party.

I suspect Sunday will be hard.  Our church family is so important to us, it will not be easy to find a church that will measure up.  We also have our buyers walking through in the afternoon.  I’m trying to get motivated to clean the kitchen but that room probably has the most of our junk spilling out of the totes making it hard to clean.  Where am I supposed to put all my stuff when I empty the room out?  I feel like I’m just moving the mess around the house as I clear out rooms.

Enough procrastinating!  It’s time to tackle the kitchen.

K~

Empty

These two rooms were the rooms with the most stuff.  Now, they are mostly empty.

Playroom with no toys

The Family room. Thankfully it still has some family in it

I have to say the movers did an excellent job.  They were finished yesterday, a day ahead of schedule & I am not at all worried about the condition of my stuff when it arrives in Metropolis.  Gavin was very taken with the movers.  On Thursday he went to play all day at a friends house so he wouldn’t be underfoot & he wanted Jason & I to make sure the movers knew he had to go play so he couldn’t help.

Everything was in the truck by 3pm.  It’s hard for me not to get teary as I walk around my empty house.

It’s going to be one of those days though.  Today is the last day of school for Ethan & Gavin here in our current town.  I’m so sad.  Ethan has a field trip today to a Gem & Fossil Show & he’ll take a special snack.  Gavin was going to have a field trip but it’s been rescheduled due to storm damage.  He’ll have a special snack too.  After everyone is in the van & I can see again, we’ll make a trip to DQ with friends to celebrate?  Mourn?  It’ll depend on who you talk to.

I hate that I’m crying about it already & it’s hours before I even take Gavin to school.

With Gavin I hate leaving such a wonderful preschool.  His teacher is wonderful & he’s made such sweet friends there.  I am so sad that Tova won’t know the school as her preschool.  It’s such a wonderful program.

It’s so hard for me to even imagine dropping Ethan off next Wed. at his new school because it’s essentially a building full of strangers.  I had no worries here because I have many friends on staff at his current school.  I knew there were many people keeping an eye out for him.  I won’t have that luxury at the new school & it makes me sad & nervous.  Ethan’s had a great teacher this year too.  She saw me as a partner in Ethan’s education & I always knew she’d listen to my concerns about him & vice versa.

It’s going to be really hard to close this chapter.

K~

Here We Go

Look what pulled up outside my house this morning.

I cried.

Surprised?  I didn’t think so.

As always, the kids like to keep things interesting.  I’m up to my neck in lists & totes & baskets & Gavin completely melts down last night about 7 because his neck hurts.  A quick look at his throat makes me think he has strep but he will not settle down.  He was crying so hard he nearly puked.  Tylenol didn’t help so a neighbor came up to stay with the sleeping kids & Gavin & I drove to the nearest walk-in clinic, 35 min. away.  Thankfully it wasn’t busy & even better was they filled his scrip right there instead of making me drive another 20 minutes each way for the nearest 24hr pharmacy.  I finally put Gavin to bed about 10:30 & then continued packing.  I called it quits at 1am & I still wasn’t done.  Then this morning I had to make an appointment with our dr for Tova.  She has had a nasty rash & I was suspecting a UTI, turns out she has strep & is ahead of the game on the yeast infection.  I wonder if I should quarantine Ethan?  Nah.  We’re leaving soon, what do I care if we infect the whole school?

The packers have been here for 5 hours now & the garage is done & they’re working on the basement.  Gavin’s been helping & the guys have been pretty good with him.  I think Gavin is doing more entertaining than anything but I’ve been assured he’s not getting in the way.  He’s definitly out of the way now, unless they decide to pack my room where he’s supposed to be napping.

Enough procrastinating.  The fridge needs to be cleaned out.  Blech.

K~