Sunday, July 25, 2010

Yikes!

So after two weeks of trying to whip this place into shape, Alex and Hannah came back with a van load of stuff and now this places looks like we just moved in again!  Well, not that bad, but you know what I mean, right?? 

At least we have two more ceiling fans up.  The girls now have light in their room and there’s light in the living room now.  Yay!  My massive chalk board is here, too.  I need to run to Home Depot to get some brackets or something so Alex can hang it up.  I missed that board!  I think it will look great in here.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We’re here!

Well, we’ve been here for 2 weeks, but I haven’t had any time to blog.

Moving was hot, stressful, sweaty, overwhelming, dirty, and confusing.  I am soooo glad that it’s over!  (well, we still have a few things at the house, but 90% of it is done!).

The night we got here we stayed in the guest suite.  That was nice.  We stopped off at the apartment first so we could all see it….hmmmmm…..how do I put this…..I was stunned silent for a good 5 minutes.  I already knew we were losing half of our square footage, but seeing it freaked me out a bit!  Yikes!  How was I going to fit everything in here?  Could I fit everything in here??? 

On Sunday we got up early and started unloading the truck.  Then some of our friends showed up and unloaded with Alex while I stayed in here to figure out where it was all going!  I ordered some pizza, got some drinks, and kept those guys well fed so they wouldn’t totally pass out from the heat and the stairs.  Oh my – the stairs!  I should have buns of steel soon.

Once all the boxes were in, I didn’t see the living room for 3 days.  I couldn’t get to it!  Boxes were everywhere.  The last box I logged in the list was #118, and I knew there were a few more after that.  So approximately 125 boxes in a 2 bedroom apartment.  Holy hell.

Of course, we couldn’t unpack the entire time, could we?  Nope.  The girls and I hit the pool in the mornings and then came back to unpack after lunch.  Perfect!

On Friday some of my fabulous friends showed up, swooped in, and helped move furniture and unpack the rest of the boxes.  I bribed them with food; it al worked out great.  ;)  Having pictures hung up really helped.  I was feeling a bit lost that first week and almost felt like an intruder here. 

So we’ve been here for two weeks now and I’ve learned quite a few things:

  1. Moving is no fun.
  2. Boxes multiply while you sleep.
  3. Decluttering is a great thing.
  4. Being organized is very, very important.
  5. My girls are very happy.  Their room is bigger and is a little more organized every day.
  6. Doesn’t matter what size your kitchen is as long as you know how to cook! 
  7. Less space = less to clean.
  8. Mary is very, very close.
  9. I love swimming with the girls in the morning.
  10. I like running on the treadmill while it’s horribly humid, though I need to find a trail to run on.
  11. Disney is about 25 miles from here.  We now have water park passes!
  12. I sleep better.
  13. There is a very large and diverse homeschooling group here.
  14. I still need to declutter a lot.
  15. I need to run a lot.
  16. My bathing suit is becoming my morning outfit (after running).
  17. Moving is no fun.
  18. Being here is good.
  19. And most importantly – my husband is a rock star.  (can you tell him to hang the rest of my pictures though?!)

There’s more, but that’s the top of my list.  I am working hard at organizing this place, getting it sparkly clean, and getting the rest of me back to normal.  Oh wait, that’s right, nothing about me is normal.  :)  I’ve been baking already, but I’m finding that baking in the afternoon and living on the 3rd floor is not a good thing unless you like living in a sauna.  I will have to save my baking for early morning or at night.

Do I miss being out in Spring Hill?  Nope.  Do I miss the house?  Nope.  Well, maybe I miss the closet space.  I’m hoping to take a day or two next week and go exploring with the girls.  I need to find a running trail that I can go to in the morning.  The treadmill is fine, but nothing is a great as running outside.  Maybe we’ll go check out the malls, do more swimming, and maybe head back to the water park. 

Alex is working hard and is exhausted when he finally gets home at night.  We all went out last Sunday night to the Polynesian Resort at Disney to watch the fireworks.  That is one of my favorite things to do.  :) 

I’ll post some pictures just as soon as I get a bit more organized in here.  Can’t let y’all think I’m not on top of my game!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Movin’ on up, to the east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y……..

Sorry I has been so long since I’ve blogged about anything.  Life has been super busy around here and I haven’t had time to do much of anything.

My parents were here for a week in June and we had such a good time with them.  I will have to do separate blog updates for all of that.  We had so much fun, did so many things, and I can’t properly blog about it at the moment. 

I’ll tell you, it was soooo nice to drive again!  Especially a car that I didn’t have to return to the rental place!!   :)  The kids were thrilled.  I think they were just happy driving to wherever we were going.  They didn’t care what the destination was, they were happy with the journey. 

I think the arrival of Hope came at the most perfect time.  It was like all the pieces that had been hanging up in the air just fell into their proper place.  Which leads me back to the title of this post.

We are moving to Winter Park, just north of Orlando.  Alex got a job out there, so the girls and I are in the middle of packing up this house.  Hopefully we will be nearly done by Friday when Alex comes back (he is up there working now) and then we will all be out there either Saturday or Sunday.

Mary asked me today if I was sad that we were leaving this house.  I thought about it and had to say “no.”  While I like this house, I never quite loved it.  And frankly, the stress of the past few years has left me exhausted.  I am ready to leave this place and go somewhere where I can sleep well! 

I am very happy that we will be closer to Mary and closer to my favorite place on earth…Disney.  We can finally get our water park passes that we were gifted at Christmas!  I’m super-excited that there is a great homeschooling group out there that is not religious based.  I’m sure there will be some awesome things for the kids to do.  There are tons of different opportunities out there that I am really eager to explore. 

I will once again be back to my regular blogging once we get over there next week.  Until then, I will be knee-deep in boxes, tape, and stuff.