It’s starting to feel a bit more normal around here.As far as settling into our house goes, I would say that we are mostly settled.  I think that because our new home has an almost identical floor plan as our previous home, figuring out where the furniture goes, has been easier.  We did move a couple of pieces to different locations, however most of it is still the same.  There have been times where I still feel like I’m in the previous house and I think (briefly) that Alberstons, WalMart and Target are still “just down the street”.
We are settling in fairly well though.

Just a picture showing the “put together” part of the house.  For anyone curious about the painting hanging above the piano, the adults in the picture are my great-great grandparents, with 3 of their 8 children, on their homestead…….in a soddy.

And here is something more realistic.  This is actually the bonus room, where the computer, older TV, kids toys,extra books and the sewing machine live.  I just haven’t sorted it out yet.

 
I think more bookshelves are called for.   Don’t you?

Another thing that is feeling more normal is the Fall weather.  When the calender showed that it was officially Fall last month, our weather still chose to be hot enough for us to wear shorts and sleeveless shirts.  Now, as we approach the middle of October, we still have sunshine, but there is a nip and crispness to the air, and the nights are really cold.   We’re finally getting those Fall days that justify sitting on the couch or a favorite chair, wrapped in a blanket and drinking a cup of hot cocoa or tea.  Very cozy!

Since my last post, we’ve also started the new school year.  I have a Junior in High school now.  This year, she’s involved in a homeschooling co-o, where she’s taking 3 classes.  She has writing, literature, and speech.   She has some very busy days ahead, but I think she’ll enjoy them.  My son, under normal circumstances, if we lived in a “one size/program fits all” world, would be a Freshman in high school.    We’re once again, going a different route to teach him in the manner in which he learns.   Right now, he’s very much into astronomy.  He’s fascinated with the stars, planets, watching the International Space Station as it flies overhead, and……….”Eve” from the movie “WALL-E” (which sparked his interest in space to begin with).

I should get going.

It’s nearly lunch time and the “young’ns” will be getting hungry.

One of them is showing me her sad puppy eyes, asking for a ride to the mall.

Elizabeth

Last week was family week for our family.  Kevin’s sister, Lorrie and cousin Barbara came to town, to see Kevin’s mother, and to visit with the rest of the family.    It isn’t often that we see our families.  So when members from out of state come to town, it can be like a family reunion.    When Kevin and I were first married, Lorrie and Barbara would stay with Kevin & Lorrie’s mother and step-father, and every night, after work, almost everyone else who lived locally would drive out there and visit until rather late.  Kevin & Lorrie’s mother now lives in a memory care facility, and that place would probably frown on so many guests at once.     So these days, Lorrie rents a place and a car and she is free to have guests over or drive out to see family members.

So this past week was like a week-long party.   We were either going out to dinner every night or going to Lorrie’s & Barbara’s, or they were coming to our house.

I didn’t see the point of starting school last week, when the rest of the state was.  Who can really concentrate on school-work when there is visiting to be done?

This is Lorrie, Heather and I during her first full day here in town.

Lorrie & Barbara left for home on Monday, already making plans to come back next year.  We were sad to see them go 😦

Last week was also a countdown for my side of the family, as my sister Rachel, her husband Matt and little ones were finishing their packing, preparing for their move to Nebraska.  They came over on Saturday afternoon, to see our new house, let me hold the new baby one last time, and for Heather to entertain her little cousins who think she’s a really cool cousin.  We talked about their new apartment, the trip, the boys starting school when they arrive.

Then it was time to say “Good-Bye”.  I would be lying if I said that we didn’t cry.  My daughter and I have been getting teary-eyed off and on ever since we first heard that they were planning this move.  They do plan to come back in a year.   We are really going to miss them!  Especially at those times of the year involving holidays, and school concerts, and the sports events that they’ll probably be a part of.

They left on Monday and thanks to Facebook and Foursquare, we’ve been able to follow their progress.  It was also handy for us that Kylin has an atlas to follow along with.  Always a teaching moment.  They arrived in Nebraska yesterday and will be moving into their new home today.

Welcome Home Sisters!

Elizabeth

  It’s been nearly two weeks since our move, and my table and kitchen are still the designated waiting areas for items waiting for their new home.  My pantry is about half of the size of my previous one and my kitchen and doesn’t have as much cupboard space.  So I’m working on some creative storage.  Our plan is to set up a set of large shelves out in the garage and refer to that as “the pantry annex”.  Once that is established and our canned goods are relocated, then hopefully, we’ll be able to eat our meals at the table, and have a clear counter (that last part may be wishful thinking because countertops are rarely clear).

Elizabeth

We are completely moved!

The days leading up to the move were rather stressful, more stressful than what we usually experience when we move.  First, there was the possibility that we would be moving to Kansas.  We were a week away from moving day when Kevin flew out to Kansas for an interview.  While there, he saw a few red flags in that situation that convinced him, that moving the family to Kansas for this particular job, wouldn’t be a good idea.  My teenage daughter was so relieved!

Our moving day was scheduled for last Wednesday.  We had a 26ft moving truck rented.  We had arranged for help for that day.  We were ready!

We had planned to sign the lease for the house on Tuesday, in the early evening.  However, at that time, we wound up in the ER as Kevin was in a lot of pain (and as things usually go for us, when we finally decide to go to the ER, the pain or ill feeling, lessens and then we feel we’re taking up a nurse’s valuable time).  I was getting very concerned because we had to be out of our house (and have it cleaned) by Saturday, and I wasn’t so sure that I would be able to drive that moving truck.   After a CT Scan revealed that Kevin was dealing with a kidney stone, he was given some meds and was discharged.  By the time we arrived at our new landlord’s home to sign the lease, it was 9:30 PM.   However, by the time we went to bed, Kevin was feeling no pain and the plan for moving day was going forward.

The move itself took longer than we had anticipated and we made more trips between homes and needed one more day with that truck than we thought we’d need to.   Thankfully, we have several good friends who came out to help on both of those days.   To our new neighbors, I apologize for how loud our piano was as we rolled it across the asphalt driveway and into the house, when it was nearly midnight.

By midnight on Friday, we were out, and the house was spotless.

So now we’re in the new house.  Adjustments are needing to be made as we unpack.  Especially in the kitchen.  My new kitchen doesn’t quite have the square footage or the storage space that the previous one did.  Especially in the pantry.  So we’re improvising until we can get some shelves set up in the garage (which we can’t do until I unpack several more boxes out there.

Two days ago, I finally found our coffee grinder (after Kevin had bought a replacement and we had used it) and our silverware.   They were in a box labeled “Kitchen, Open First”, which I found under a few other boxes in the garage.  For the next move, I’ll carry that coffee grinder in my purse!

Slowly, things are coming together, and the house is starting to look normal.

Just a pic of how unpacking is going.

Believe it or not, this room looks better than it did a few days ago, when it was filled with these boxes and bookshelves and dressers.

Hopefully, this will be cleared out by Friday.  My sister-in-law is coming this weekend and I’d like to be able to offer her a place to sit.

Elizabeth

Well, actually, the end of our days in our current house is near.

We have less than a week to go until moving day, and I will be so glad once it’s behind us!

We had a plan, to move to a house in the area where we used to live.   We had plans with the landlord to rent the house and we had a moving day set and friends committed to help us move.

Then, Kevin found out about a job opportunity.   It was in Kansas.  It sounded like a great opportunity, and a great career move.  So, not wanting to regret taking advantage of this opportunity, he applied for the job.    Because we weren’t sure how those interviews would go, we didn’t feel that it was a good idea to sign a one year lease if it meant that we’d have to move in a month or two, so we let the landlord know, so that he could advertise his house to rent out.   Needless to say, my daughter wasn’t happy at all about the idea of moving far away, from her friends and family.  My son was ok with it as long as there was a WalMart and a Target where he could still buy his HotWheels and CARS toys.  The only thing he said that he would miss, would be Cafe Yumm!  I wasn’t all that thrilled with moving either as I also have friends and we have family here as well.   Our sisters however, were a bit excited at the prospect of having us within driving distance (My sister is morning to Nebraska in less than a month, and Kevin’s sister lives in Texas).   My concerns were mostly about making new friends,  finding a new church, homeschooling groups, and affordable housing with a basement (I have no desire to be in “Tornado Alley” without a basement), and how we would move across the country with our cats (one would for certain need to be tranquillized as she won’t get into a carrier).

So this week, on Tuesday morning, the kids and I took Kevin to the airport to see him off to a possibly new future for us.  He hadn’t flown in at least 7 years, so this was his first time going through the TSA’s scanner.  He was cleared, however the full tube of toothpaste he had in his carry-on did was not.  The TSA agent brought me the offensive toothpaste and announced to everyone, that no more than 3 OZ was allowed.   Then, an elderly couple took it upon themselves to lecture me, the non-flyer, about the rules of flying and how all of those are on the internet.  Um, I’m sorry folks, but I didn’t pack his bag!  Save your lecture for the people who are putting their shoes and belts back on.

While Kevin was in Kansas, I spent the time looking for an apartment for us to live in while we were figuring out if we were staying or going.   Apartments are small, and nearly cost as much as a house rent-wise.  Especially when you add the rental of a storage unit.  The benefit of an apartment is that you can rent it from month to month (though in some cases, that arrangement will cost an extra $100 per month).  The kids and I went to one of our malls.  My daughter decided to get her ears pierced again, which lifted her spirits a bit.   On Wednesday, we went to see a movie, and on Thursday, we worked on packing more of out things.

After the interviews, Kevin really didn’t feel that this particular job would be a good fit for him or our family, so we decided that we will stay here in Oregon.    He contacted the landlord to see if the house that we had planned to move to was still available.  It is!  So our plans to move into it on Wednesday are moving on as if there was never any interruption.

Most likely, my next post will be after moving day (and after the looooooong nap I hope to take afterword).

Yay!

Elizabeth

I’m not attempting to quote a line from “Total Recall” (the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived on Mars dressed as a woman and the robotic head had a glitch and kept saying “Two weeks” ).

What I am alluding to is the fact that we have two weeks until our moving day.   We’re planning to move back to the area of town where we lived before moving to the house we’re in now.   However, I believe that we’ll be within walking distance of family.  Also, our new house has the same floor plan as the one we’re in, so I shouldn’t have too much difficulty arranging everything as I unpack.  Right now, our once spacious rooms are crowded with boxes.    I’m really looking forward to the move being behind us and having our things unpacked, and being settled, and eating off of our real dishes instead of paper plates and plastic cups.

My computer is still refusing to acknowledge my camera when trying to download pictures, so once again, this post is unillustrated.

Our first major celebratory season is almost over.  My son, one of my nephews and my sister had birthdays in May, as well as Mother’s Day.  We had Father’s day, two wedding anniversaries, and my sister’s baby shower in June.  In July, my grandma and my other nephew had birthdays.  In August, my new niece was born, just in time for my daughter’s birthday.  We have two more birthdays before the month is over, and they happen after moving day.     The summer also included events such as July 4th in a local small town nearby, and summer camp for my daughter (she had a great time!).

School is the next thing on my mind.  Since we’re homeschooling, I need to think about more than supplies.   I need to see if there are co-op classes for my daughter, as well as calling the public high school to see about having her take a foreign language class there.   Figuring out which schedule will work for us this year.    Hoping that the tires on my van will hold out from all of the driving that I’ll be doing in shuttling the kids around for various activities.

Just a few of things that are happening here, all within a month……

Elizabeth

Moving day is quickly approaching.

We still have no idea as to where we’ll be living.  That’s a bit unsettling for me as I like to have my ducks in a row, make lists, and when preparing to leave point A, I like to know where point B is.   I probably would not have made a good wife for Abraham (from the Bible).  God just told Abraham to pack up and go and when he arrived at the right place, God would tell him.   That took a lot of faith, and probably a lot of strength for his wife while leading what some might consider a nomadic lifestyle.  Sure, I’d like to travel all over the country, but not with a U-Haul.   I wonder if, when Abraham would stop and pitch the tent, at every stop, did Sarah ask, “Is THIS the place?”.

So, with 43 days left, I’m still packing, and we’re still searching for just the right house with the right amount of rent.  Also, with the knowledge that we most likely will need to downsize as lower rent sometimes means smaller house, we’re trying to determine what goes into storage,  or the Goodwill.  Yesterday, I finally decided to part with a lot of toys from when my kids were little.  I had been saving them for when little kids come over, however, there haven’t been that many who have visited.  I am keeping some things so a child would be entertained.

While I’m packing to move to another house locally, my sister and her husband are also packing their young family, to move to Nebraska which is 1,200+ miles away.   The occupation that my brother-in-law went to school for (respiratory therapy) , is not available as a full time position in the majority of hospitals in our state.   So he found a job in his home state, which will be great for him and his family.  The schools are great, as well as the cost of living expenses.  We’ll all miss them a lot.  Especially at family gatherings.  Hopefully they can come and visit often, and hopefully, we’ll be able to drive out to see them some day.  I did tell my sister that I expect to see a lot of pictures of her growing family, and she’s even mentioned possibly blogging (which I would read regularly).

So with moving day approaching, I need to get back to my packing.  Hopefully we’ll know where we’re going when I write again.

Elizabeth

to pack, and find a house, and be completely moved out of this one and have it cleaned from top to bottom.

So far, I’ve taken the breadbox and the latte machine off of the counter, and moving them to the dining room table.

I have an area where a Goodwill pile lives

I’ve transferred all of our movie DVDs to sleeves in a binder (in case the next house has less square footage than this one, we’re looking for ways to store what we want to keep and save space.

I need to call various stores like Pier 1, TJ Maxx, and other various retail stores to see if they have boxes that we can have.

We need to go through various boxes in our garage to see what we want to keep and what to give away.

54 days and I’m already feeling overwhelmed.

And my son just informed me that he’s expecting some help in shaving his mustache tonight (I’ll let his dad handle that one).

Elizabeth

……..we find out that another moving day is around the corner.

I discovered an envelope this morning, laying on our newspaper on our front porch this morning.  Inside was a 60 day notice for us to move out.  It’s not because we were delinquent in paying our rent or threw wild parties, thus disturbing the neighbors.   Our landlord just wants to move back into his home.  He had been living with his parents while he finished college, to lower his expenses, so he rented his house to us during that time.    We had planned to move…………next year.   However, those plans have been accelerated for us.   So now, it’s time for us to move on.  There is a chance that we may be able to rent a house nearby, so already, this situation may not be as big of a concern as it was this morning.

So, I need to pack.  I already have my “New-House-Starter-Box” set up.  It’s really a laundry basket with some of those basic things one needs on the first night (in our experience, they’ve been late nights because we’re assembling beds and trying to get mattresses to lay just right on box springs) after moving into a new house (toiletries, fresh towels and bedsheets).

The last time we decided to move, we had 6 months to pack, plan and prepare for it.  This time, we have 60 days (more like 59 now as of this post).

Can we do this in 60 days or less?  I believe we can!

Can we do it without getting stressed out……….I’ll get back to you on that!  We will try

Elizabeth

I’m a few days late in posting about Father’s Day.  Busyness always tends to supersede the need to write.

It’s always been rather hard to shop for my husband and father on Father’s Day.   It’s hard to find the right card to describe them.  My dad doesn’t play or watch sports, but he isn’t a couch potato either, and the gross “men” jokes don’t apply to him.   He does enjoy humor, so I try to stick with that.  My husband isn’t a sports fanatic, or a car guy, and he isn’t into serious cards either.   Still, even in the humor section, it’s hard to find a card that isn’t over the line and might offend (in my dad’s case, I leave the insulting card giving up to his sister as they’ve been giving each other those cards for years).

For my husband, I usually make him breakfast and serve it to him in bed.

He had been told just a few days before to stop consuming dairy products for a few days, and decided to wait until after Father’s Day to start, so that he could have the gravy on the biscuits.   They were delicious!!

Not pictured is the cup of his favorite brand of coffee (which we only buy for special occasions as it’s rather spendy).

I also gave him a Neil Diamond CD because, he’s a fan of Neil’s music.  I don’t have a picture of that.

I also gave Kevin updated pictures of our kids, framed and ready to put on his desk at work.

The kids are growing way too fast!  They can wear our shoes now, and they’re as tall as we are or close to it.  I’m just happy that I was able to get the boy to give me a normal smile (and not an intense one) for these pics!  They were good sports considering that it had just started to rain.

Kevin was glad to have some new pics of the kids to show off at work.

The rest of the day was spent just lounging around the house, which is very rare.  Truly a day of rest for the father of our house!

Elizabeth