Pretty Purple Petunias

Today, Ashlynn and I ventured outside (something I don't like to do here in Houston) 'cause it was a beautiful day. We turned on the backyard sprinklers to give the new grass something to drink and then we settled in by the patio to color the floor with chalk and to plant some flowers.

Lowe's has the cutest character themed garden tools available right now. To buy all the pieces, I'd have to opt out of eating for the week 'cause they're so expensive! I did however break down and bought her the Dora watering can, the matching pink rubber gardening gloves and a two piece tool set. With the flowers, I spent about $10.

She loved it so much she's wants to go to the store and buy more flowers to plant tomorrow. I urged her to wait 'til we've moved into our new home. She said, "Okay mom, but we have to plant a LOT of purple and pink flowers". Okay I said back smiling.

A home to call our own... for the next year anyway!

We found out this morning that we've been approved for our very first East Coast home!! Yay! I have been doing a happy dance all day! It's cute, in a good location and in our price range! Woot!

3 Bdrm
2 1/2 bath
Finished Basement
Water Priveleged

We'll be 1 hour from DC, 25 minutes to Baltimore, 30 minutes to Annapolis and 2 hours from Philadelphia.

Now my new adventure begins. I have 27 days to MOVE DATE!! I can officially change my address on my resume, the recruiters now know where exactly to help me look for work, the moving company has been updated....ahhhh bliss.

Now to make this whole scenario "perfect" would be to find a killer nanny job for another year that would let me be with my kiddos a little bit longer. We'll see. For now, my sights are set on big brown moving boxes!!! Yay!!

As an added note: MANY THANKS to our ever wonderful and PATIENT realtor, Sandy January. You were so wonderful to David and I. If any of you (assuming I'll eventually have more than 5 followers! ha!) need a realtor in the greater Baltimore area, I HIGHLY recommend her.

Our Last Texas Rodeo

Although last week was filled with a bunch of housing agony (we still don't have a home in MD yet), we did manage to break away from it a bit and have some fun. We got tickets to the Rodeo along with an offer of FREE babysitting from one of my daycare kids mommies as a going away present! How could we pass that up?!

David and I took the bus option to get there from a Park n' Ride. The Rodeo was fantastic, the concert was as well. The best part of all was that we were able to eat dinner uninterrupted together and enjoy each others company the whole evening. Thank you Maegan!!

Then this past Saturday, we decided to take the kids to the Livestock show/Carnival. Unfortunatley it rained so much there was no Carnival anything available.... Instead we stayed warm and dry inside learning about animals and enjoying some leisurely window shopping at all the booths. Ashlynn scored big time by walking away with a light up horse necklance and a PINK Cowgirl hat!

I just got in trouble...

So I tried to tell David tonight about my blog. I mentioned the name of it to him... it was enough to get him up off the couch, turn off all the lights and say goodnight after telling me that he thought if I had time to "blog" then I had time to do.... that's when he trailed off.


Good night my dear loved one. I do love you very much. You just don't understand.


Had you given me a chance to explain, I would have said that I decided to blog to have an outlet of some sort. I am in the home ALL DAY with our children. You work late and when you are home you are preoccupied with other things. Having a blog gives me a chance to vent, to feel as though someone is listening to my issues, concerns, thoughts etc throughout my day. IT'S NO DIFFERENT THAN WRITING IN A DIARY. Only we're not 12 anymore and in this day and age it's my choice to make some of my thoughts public.

I dedicate this blog to you honey. It took me 2 minutes to complete... you're right, instead at 11:42 pm I could have started folding laundry, or put away the dishes in the dishwasher. I guess that will get done in the morning.

Goodnight. xoxo

House or No House?

For those of you who are interested in knowing what is going on (Yes, you FOUR followers!) we still do NOT know. We were told we'd know by Monday. Then yesterday we were told we'd know "for sure" before the day was over.... and here it is Wednesday and we still don't know.

The funny thing is last night I had a dream that we didn't get it. The other family got it because their move date was sooner than ours which ultimately means more money in their owners pocket. So when I woke up today I sorta felt relieved. Strange, I know.

Last night in my insomnia induced state, I decided to check and see if there were any NEW listings in our 6 goal cities. Lately, there have been none. Last night however, I felt as though I struck gold! There was 1 new listing in MY ideal city AND it is less than a mile from the downtown area I'd love to take this year of renting to explore, it's a 1 block walk to a park in one direction and just two blocks from a big outdoor shopping center in the other direction! The negative is that this home is smaller than the one we're waiting to hear about and it's $100 over our "max" of what we can afford. Naturally.

I started thinking of all the things we could cut to afford $100 more monthly. We're already going to cut cable when we move to afford the other house! The cell phones??? Nah... we tried that once before. Ha! The internet? NO WAY!! How else would I keep you followers up to date on my boring life? :)

It's almost 10am in MD right now. Surely they should know today whether or not we're qualified?

Ta-Ta

The Ever Changing Mind

Today, the topic of just staying put here in Tx came up again. Sometimes I feel like that is the right decision. As staying means I get to stay home even longer with my wonderful children... but with that thought also comes heartache and a major stomach ache. What to do?? Texas... booo. Staying home with MY kids and no more babysitting... yay. Staying here in this horrible horrible humidity that I cannot stand.... booooo. Making my hubands life much easier by saying "we'll just stay".... definitely a yay....

Why do all the life directional arrows all point to stay... yet my brain is saying leave?

Stay tuned...

Sincerely,

Confused in Hell (errr... I mean Texas.)

Patiently waiting... tick tock....

So after David was able to go to Maryland last weekend and look at homes, we've had our share of set backs. We thought we found "the" temporary home for us only to find out the lease application was full of ridiculous addendum items. Our decision to choose the house even further away was an easy one as it was the nicest of all the homes he had looked at. We avoided choosing it first to avoid the longer potential commute times I'll be facing. Later that same night we found out that house was now no longer available. After being a bit sad about not choosing it first originally we got a bit of hope from our realtor. She found another new listing in the same townhome complex only two blocks closer to the highway! We filled out the application, I ran to the bank to get the necessary money and we got everything faxed/emailed back to the realtor on Thursday. Now, we sit. We "should" know something by Monday. The wait is killing me. The pic below is the house we're pending on...

Hi everyone (anyone?)!

I've had this blog set up for over a week now. Everywhere I go, everything I do all day, I think "oh that would be good for the blog" or instead I think "what was I thinking? I don't have the time for this".

So, today is officially my first entry. Lucky you. The decisions that led to me ultimately doing this are much too long to list. The jist of it is, I'm a mom of three children who most of the time don't listen to me, a wife to a wonderful husband who doesn't always understand me, a daughter to a mother who is now deceased & a father who I'm finally getting to know, and the best sister to three siblings anyone could ask for (insert ridiculous laugh here).

For the last four years I've been living in the Houston, Tx area. Most of the time, I'm miserable here (besides you handful of friends who've made it bearable). The positives are, I had my last two babies while here and had the wonderful privelege of being a stay at home mom. It's the hardest job I've ever had. Typically this is when I'd say I wouldn't trade it for the world.... but....

We're in the process of moving. Again.

The move is because I want it. I begged and begged and finally wore my husband down (Love you baby!). Since my early 20's when I had a job w/ a booming IT company. That company sent me to Virginia on a few business trips. This was my first experience anywhere outside of California. Instantly, I fell in love. With the entire D.C. Metro area. I don't know if anyone gets it when I say I felt like I was "home". I had never experienced anything like it. I connected with the area. Unfortunately, moving there wasn't an option then. A short time later, I was laid off from that company, moved to Northern California for a new job, lost my mother, went through a divorce, bought a house, got remarried, bought another home with my new husband... Life happened and the dream of moving back there fizzled a bit.

In October 2008 my husband and I, my oldest son and our daughter took a family vacation to the Washington DC area (and to PA and NY too). This was not a good idea. The trip was exactly what I wanted it to be. The hotel was perfect, situated right on King St. facing the farmers market that Saturday morning. We woke up to the sound of live sax music right below our window. It was wonderful. Once again, I knew. I KNEW that very morning I belonged there. For good.

Since that trip, we've talked on and off about moving back east. This past winter, my husband requested a transfer and to my amazement it was approved! Ack!! Now what?! We're MOVING. I've done a happy dance every morning since I found out. I've been driving my husband crazy. I hate the process of moving... does anyone actually like it? I love being in a new place, just wish I could snap my fingers and just be there.

So, this blog has become my new outlet to vent about the bad stuff, boast about the great stuff and ultimately just share in my adventures of moving home, finally. If you'd like to join in on the crazy trip just follow my blog. Thanks.

Tara