We'll be leaving on a day that ends in "Y"....

At some point, you realize you have too much stuff. So you purge. You donate, you give away to friends/family, you sell etc. However, when you're packing a moving truck, you realize that all your months of purging somehow doubled your stuff?! WTH. There it is... sitting out staring at you saying "How are you going to put me in that truck?"

We were suppose to leave Monday. That turned into Tuesday which turned into Wednesday... you get the point. Now the truck is leaving sometime after 2pm tomorrow and we'll stay behind to clean our empty house and stay one last night to try and get a good amount of sleep. Afterall, we'll be next facing a 24 hour road trip with a 1 and a 2 year old. Yes, seriously.

We were alotted 19 ft on a 26ft trailer. Today we almost have filled up the truck to that allotted amount and yet we still have two beds, 10 or so more boxes and a bunch of misc. crap that doesn't fit into a box... and a garage still screaming for someone to come in and clean IT up as well. We've sold pretty much ALL our furniture.

Our new home will be equipped with 200 boxes, 2 toddlers, 1 dog and 2 very tired adults.

I'm crafty right? Wonder if I can make a couch and a table out of the boxes?? Ashlynn could color them with her crayons!

Night all.

Taking the long road...

This move is certainly putting every ounce of our patience to the test. Anything that could go remotely wrong has. I have always been the type of personality that looks at the glass half full. Not quite a real modern-day Pollyanna or anything mind you. But when things are looking down I try really hard to remember what the outcome is suppose to be and ask what I can do to turn this ugly situation around. I don't always make the right decision to get to point "B" but I usually get there.

None of this is in any particular order:

In the last week alone, we have found out that our lease on the house out in Curtis Bay still hasn't officially been signed. So we're going based on the word of mouth of an agent that it WILL be signed.

Next we learned that our Agents that we hired to list this home still haven't done so. It's a long story but there's still no sign, no inspection had been scheduled or anything. We leave on Tuesday and I finally got someone scheduled this morning to be here Monday.

Ryan, my youngest, has started teething again. This time, a molar. For those of you who don't already know, he's my cry baby. I love him dearly. However, EVERYTHING makes that kid cry. Teething... doesn't help.

My husbands 1999 Durango decided two days ago that it would just die. Turns out it need a whole new Transmission. No, we don't have the money to fix it. We could, if we chose to not pay our mortgage this next month?? Still mulling that one over... (kidding of course). So now we can't drive his car to our new destination. We're on the hunt for someone to bring it to us on a flatbed. We've gotten a couple quotes and it isn't nearly as bad as we feared. Far cheaper than fixing it right now. Unless someone decided to buy it in the next 5 days of course. That would be wonderful.


I naturally, started. You gals know what I'm talkikng about. It's the worst yet since having Ryan. I got a massive migraine for the first time in years. I'm sure the migraine isn't entirely tied to this but a combination of everything. Still, it isn't helping.

David's job is keeping him so busy up until the last minute he's working in the Houston office. I'll keep my opinion on this to myself as it is likely a co-worker could be reading this at some point. This is keeping him from helping in finishing the moving process. Which then leads to the poor man stressing out even more. Our weekends have been spent with him working too. No fun!

Oh and we learned that Saturday, the day we're loading the moving truck is suppose to be pooring rain.

Seriously?!

There's plenty more little stuff happening but all in all, I'm SOOO FRUSTRATED. Our moving truck will be here tomorrow! Ack!!

On the flip side, I got a wonderful fortune in my chinese take-out the other day. It read: Your friends will truly be helpful in your next month's endeavor.

The very next day, my friend from Dallas told me that she and her fiancee took half the day off on Friday to come all the way down to help me move!! XOXO Then yesterday, another friend of mine here in Houston agreed to come to my house Saturday to watch the kids, feed them lunch etc while we load the moving truck.

I'm overwhelmed, frustrated, a nervous wreck, tired and scared.

I cannot wait for Saturday to pass, Tuesday to arrive and our drive to our new home begin.

Spring "break"!

Jack is visiting from his dads this week, as it is his Spring Break from school. Unfortunately with us moving in just over 2 weeks, his dreams of spending each day by the pool or at some kind of amusement park isn't gonna happen. Instead, I opted for a cheap day outing nearby.

We started our day out by visiting the Easter Bunny at the Galleria. I was fearful that Ryan would be one of "those" babies that would cry in an attempt to leave him with the big scary fluffy bunny. I don't know why, because as soon as he saw the guy, he wanted NOTHING to do with me. He and Ashlynn both hugged him, and sat on his lap like great little children for mommy.



A friend of mine told me about the Chocolate Bar and a store called Candylicious down on West Alabama St. in Houston. I've been wanting to go but just hadn't been able to make it. These both are next door to each other so it was hard to decide which to go into first. The trip inside Candylicious took up way too much time as the kids loved checking out each and every kind of candy this place had to offer. I on the other hand couldn't wait to visit the chocolate bar.






Next we headed to the Children's Museum downtown. I have been told by many parents that the new addition to the museum is amazing and they have a great tot play area. They were not kidding. The place was amazing. We spent most of our day upstairs in the Tot Spot. Found out that Ryan REALLY loves playing with the soft blocks (Now on the top of my list for this Christmas!). He sat and built "stuff" for such a long time. He also loved the tunnel. Ashlynn was a hot mess just running around loving her freedom. She was in one spot one second and in another just a few seconds more... Luckily, Jack was with me and was able to keep a watchful eye on her too.










Downstairs, is the new Kidtropolis. It's a mini "city". They have a Veterinary Office, a Grocery Store, a Bank, a Hospital, a Police Station, City Hall, an Art Studio and a Restaurant. This place was CRAZY. It was too much for Ryan and he was much happier sitting in the stroller watching his sister. Ashlynn loved the grocery store but was grossed out by the plastic crabs! She filled her basket and then got to check out at the register like a "big person" as she said. Later she drove a police car and the ambulance, she tried her hand at voting at the City Hall and then tried to break into the bank vault.








What an amazing Day. As you can see, the little ones were EXHAUSTED. For those of you in the local area, know that this amazing museum holds a Family Fun Night on Thursdays and the admission is FREE. I believe the hours are from 5-8pm. Otherwise the museum is open from 9-6 daily and costs $8 each (over the age of 1).

This is no April Fool's, we really ARE moving in 18 days...

Paperwork is signed, the house in Curtis Bay Maryland is ours to rent for the next year. I have 18 days and counting to get this entire home sorted and packed. I've spent the last three days packing up Jack's room and spending some not-so-lovely time in the E.R. due to a concussion. It's not the ideal Spring Break for Jack I'm sure, but his room is done. Whew.

The next hurdle is my Craft Room. Yikes! I've sold almost 50 sets of stamps, freecycled boxes of misc. craft item odds n' ends, and have packed 6 boxes in there so far. Yet, it doesn't look like I've touched it! A sure sign I'm a HOARDER of crafts. What is a girl to do?!

Makes me a little sad to leave this home. Even though I LOVE my house, I can't wait to get the heck outta Texas. Wish I could bring the house with me. It's perfect for all of us.

We've decided to go with ABF U-PAK this time for our move. When we moved here from California we (along w/ a ton of friends and family) packed a large 28 ft UHaul and we moved ourselves. It was horrible. This time, we have completely downsized and are going with the container system. We chose ABF 'cause they were cheaper by HALF than the famous one's you see advertised like P.O.D.'s or PackRat. We pack it, they ship it, leaving us to travel on the road together in our own vehicles with just the kiddos and a few selected items in the back. Love it.