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.