Progress

Yesterday I managed to empty out our linen closets, despite taking a good 4 hours off to take Kid to her playdate:

imagine one more box

Today my kind, kind, friend stopped over helped me hammer these out while the kids played:
imagine 2 dish packs, 2 large boxes, a mirror box, 3 book boxes, and 1 box of toys

In between all that I also managed to set this up for the kids sleepover they're having tonight:
image huge tent on our screened in porch

I've also been listening to Prep while I lay on my bed pack. It's fantastic.

Progression Shots?

Maybe I'll start documenting my packing progress.

Seeing as I clearly need some kind of motivation.

boxes packed: 0
storytimes attended: 1
trips to library for internet: 2
errands: 3
playdates planned: 2

(we've only been home for 20 hours, 10 of which were spent sleeping... can we say procrastinate)

I'm off to the moving company to pick up more boxes and tape.

My goal for the day is to pack my linen closet and craft closet.

Progress pics tomorrow.

I know you can't wait.

We've Arrived

I almost died of a heart attack while driving between a concrete wall and double trailer semi. On the inside of a tight mountain curve. The longest 5 minutes of my life trying to get myself out of that horrible wedge.


The house feels weird, like we don't really live here. I feel bizarrely unemotional about it, which is a relief. Not like our old house in Ann Arbor which I still prefer to avoid seeing when possible.


I've already been bitten by about 20 freaking mosquitos.
For real. We've been here an hour... and I've been inside.

And some jackass realtor has left our back door open for who knows how long.


Oh, and you'll be interested to know that the damn hallway light burnt out AGAIN.

On The Road Again

We left this morning (early).

Brief stop in Ann Arbor to meet with the neurologist (Cyclical Vomiting... new diagnosis... most likely will develop into either regular migraines as she ages or remain with just vomiting ie abdominal migraines or combination of both... or somewhat unlikely.... grow out of it. But yes we can expect her to vomit without cause monthly. Goody. Strangely, the Dr said that every single patient that morning had presented with cyclical vomiting... so must be a fairly common neuro issue... among neuro patients that is).

Genius pit stop idea: Ikea. If you're on a five state road trip there is a good chance you'll drive by one. You know what they have? A supervised drop-off kid center. You know what else they have? Cinnamon rolls, coffee, and pretend living rooms.
Bonus for me, they also had free kids meals today. We were there for 3 hours and I spent a grand total of $4. We played, we tried out EVERY.SINGLE. piece of furniture on display, I had mental break, and we had dinner. I also was able to completely avoid the rush hour traffic I would otherwise have hit in Cincinnati and Lexington.

Tonight we're at another Hilton. As Kid said when we loaded up this morning... "Could we not stay in a motel?". I hear you kid, and I raise you to "Could we only stay in 3 star and up hotels?". Road trip tip: Travelocity Top Secret Hotel deals. We've got a Hilton with pool and breakfast for under $60. I've stayed in nasty blood stained motels for more. Plus Hilton labels there pillows "firm" and "soft" which I find hilarious... mostly because they have (in every hotel... this is our 3rd Hilton this summer) been placed in the wrong cases 100% of the time.

That's all folks.

I'm trying not to kill the kids tonight... but they aren't making that easy.

He's Not Just The President

"Dad I saw a commercial for people to grow hair." Kid begins.

"I would enjoy you not to have a patches of no hair." She sets the stage.

"I am looking at one now." She says not so subtly.

"I enjoy you the way you are now...." Kid attempts to smooth any ruffled feathers.

"But I would enjoy you more to look like a normal dad... with hair." She nails the coffin.

Delayed

(Also known as my first stage of packing procrastination)

I was hoping my 17 year old niece would be able to come down with me to Asheville to turn my trip of drudgery into a spectacular teen adventure... but alas... it wasn't meant to be. I'm trying not to kill myself over it. As she said "Just cry a little". Will do.

I was going to leave tomorrow morning.

But.

It feels so much better to sit around NOT packing our stuff up and eating brownies (yes I actually have to pack to go and pack... it sucks) .

Also, kind of legitimate excuse style... Kid's neurologist called with an unbeknownst to me scheduled appointment for Tuesday morning. I don't know why that happened. Usually those referrals take a couple of months. My mom suggested there might have been a sudden cancellation... could be. I thought about canceling it and rescheduling for when we're back, but I also want to be sure she gets in BEFORE starting school just in case we need a special protocol on file with the nurse. I don't want to take a gamble on the appointment and then have to wait until October to get her in. (of related interest: Kid has not thrown up once since getting out of school for the summer... this is the big thing to talk over with the Dr re:abdominal migraines)

I guess I think it's best that we stay, so now we're leaving after the appointment on Tuesday.


And now for the boring details of my life...

Tomorrow we are finalizing all the moving contracts and insurance for said move. We can't remember if our homeowner's covers this or not. I'm thinking with the corporate move I must not have cared and just added the extra coverage.

I'm also going to get all of our stuff organized and moved out of my grandmother's space.

We've put off the carpet until we move in. While I wanted to have it all done before the movers came, it just got too complicated. I really need to be able to see the spaces and look at carpet samples in the proper lighting, etc. It just got to be too much of a rush, and for that amount of money I don't want to regret my decision. I'm thinking of a light greyish taupe (called shale) by the way. Neutral but not beige. I also think the grey tones will allow for more paint color choices (assume we'll have at least one pink room). Oh and we're going with Lowe's. I wanted to support the local store but the service/price/and quality in our range just weren't worth the premium.

That's the update. That and I've gained 5 pounds in the 5 weeks I've been here (Remember when I made fun of Mr F for that?). Once again proving that I just can't drink soda without weighing 5 pounds more pretty much instantly. When will I learn? And when will I stop loving it's sparkling effervescence? Probably never... which is why I need to reinstate the ban. I just can't control myself when I let soda back into my life.

On that front... once I move I am totally going to bring it. For real. Really real. I am totally ready. I feel like complete crap.

P.S. Have any of you (Deb?!) done the Tracy Anderson Method? I'll have a lot of room in my basement for those crazy routines. I'm dying to hear what people think of it!