Tuesday, February 14, 2012

It's time for a new blog!

Things are just as crazy as ever around here.  We are trucking along making plans, sorting things, making piles for Goodwill. We went through all our old photographs and threw about the ones that weren't worth keeping and will ship the rest to be scanned and put on a disc. The old albums are getting donated. I also have a pile of toys to sell to a consignment shop. We bought new doors for all the bedrooms, closets and bathrooms. The scariest thing we did was schedule our mail to be forwarded to our new address (which is our friends house that will be where our RV is parked). It felt like a very finalizing step. The weeks are flying by and there is still so much to do! My goal for the week is to relax and enjoy the process. We have lots of excited things happening and are very fortunate to be in a position to move across the country.

I'm trying to appreciate all the little things that I love about Seattle, but often don't pay attention to because I'm so ready to get out of here. I love the mossy trees, the craftsman style houses with creative urban gardens,  being a quick drive to downtown, living next to a bus line, the mountains peaking out in the distance, our friends and the people that we probably won't see after we move.  I'll miss the house that we've called home for 7 years. It's so comfortable and has been perfect for us for all these years. I remember being very excited to move to Seattle and enjoy the city, start my career, get our first house - the house that we lived in when we got married and brought our precious Finley home to.  I'll remember Seattle fondly.

It's definitely time for a new blog. Our Life in Seattle will be outdated very soon! Stay tuned for a link to my new blog....

Thursday, February 2, 2012

overwhelmed and excited

Before I get into all the stress we have associated with the chaos and uncertainty that is about to take over our lives..an update on Finley. She is now 21 months and has really started looking like a little girl. She still loves to eat and sleep. She isn't potty trained yet, but will either get us a diaper or lay down on the floor for a diaper change when she needs one. She loves the dogs, books, puzzles, cleaning, cleaning products, wallets, grapes, cheese, hats, juice, baths, trying to dress herself, yogurt. She still isn't saying a lot of words that are understandable, but she tries and understands an amazing amount of what we say to her. And the most exciting thing is that she finally started giving kisses. It's so sweet!

Well we pretty much have 8 weeks left before we move! It's getting stressful. We have a very long list of repairs that need to be done around the house. Lots of little things that add up and are leading to me being very overwhelmed. Mostly painting, drywall, and molding. And then there is furniture to sell, stuff to sort through and either pack, sell or donate. The yard needs lots of work to look neat and tidy.

Then there is the plan for the drive. The plan as of now is that a moving truck will get dropped off outside of our house on April 17th. At that point we will hopefully have everything packed and ready to be loaded. We will drive away for the last time on April 19th with Finley, the dog and I in the little car and Ben driving the trailer. Then we will head down to Reno and drop Finley off with her grandparents to spare her the very long, boring drive. From Reno we will make our way across the country on I-80, stopping in Boulder and Iowa for a few days each. Although there is a small possibility that we will stop in Phoenix and Texas instead to visit Bens family.

We will arrive in Massachusetts on May 1st or so and then that's pretty much where the plan gets vague. We'll stay in our trailer, unpack the truck into a storage unit and start looking for a place to live. We will plan for Finley and her grandparents to arrive sometime around then. Oh and at some point we will put our house on the market, so we can buy a new one. That will happen after we are out and it will "show" better without 3-4 dogs and 3 people and the mess that we produce.

I am a person that likes to know what the plan is when it comes to things like this. This has been good practice for me in letting it go and hoping it all works itself out. In the day to day I've been trying to use up as much food as possible, packing boxes slowly, taking paintings down, bring small loads to Goodwill. My goals in the next week are to get a few things up on Craigslist and order new doors for upstairs and of course continue to pack and clean.

Ben is leaving for Massachusetts actually on Saturday for his big interview to get into Vet school. Not knowing if he will be starting in the fall is my excuse for lack of planning what town we are going to choose to live in. Also, I've never been to most of them and Google is only so helpful in picturing what a place looks like. If he does get in we'll probably look for a house to rent that is within 30-45 minutes drive at the most and still in a location that meets my picky criteria.


For now we are trying to enjoy our last weeks in this city we've called home for the last 8 years and I'm sure when some of the uncertainly is resolved our stress and overwhelmed feelings will turn into excitement for all of these upcoming change.