NEW BLOG!!!

This is my last post here. Please join me here from now on.....

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Thanks for Reading!

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 Our Life in Seattle will be outdated very soon!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....

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. 

Location

 

Sunset from a few days ago

We had a little bit of snow today. It was another lovely lazy Saturday. We made it out to breakfast by 12! We tried a new place....Hi Spot Cafe in Madrona. I think this is my new favorite breakfast place. They have scones, which I haven't tried yet, but brought one home. My omelette was amazing with flavorful mushrooms and cheese. The coffee and bloody mary was very nice as well. It's a cute little neighborhood that I've never been to and will definitely go back.






We booked our moving truck yesterday! It's coming on April 17th. We have three days to pack it and it has to be unpacked by May 7th at a location undetermined at this point, likely a storage unit. That gives us 17 days to get to Massachusetts. Plenty of time to visit people and perhaps even a flyball tournament or whippet race along the way. One less thing to worry about. We've been thinking about things we want in a future house and making lists to organize our thoughts. When we bought this house our only requirements were that it was in a certain location, the layout was decent for us and the dogs and some garden space. It wasn't our dream house, but it's served us well.

Anyway, in our next house the requirements are: location (I want to be a short distance from a playground, stores, restaurants, places for me to work), land (has to be at least 4-5 acres and some portion flat), old (I want an old house ideally from before 1940), not astromonical taxes.  Other things that aren't absolute requirements but would be nice: fireplace, hardwood floors, 4 bedrooms, mudroom, pond/river/lake/pool, barn, sunroom/greenhouse. We have big plans for a set up that would be better for the dogs. I'd like to have a mudroom/dog room that has a doggie door leading to an outdoor dog run area.  This area would be separate from our other outdoor space. We'd also like to have enough space to exercise and train the dogs outside. I'd also like to have a dining room, playroom, and a larger master bedroom. Lots of these things probably won't happen anytime soon, but it's fun to think about. 

Here is Finley's favorite project - organizing her lotions, salves, creams etc. They have to be organized by size and each one has to be shaken and thoroughly inspected

Mellow

We've been having a nice mellow January so far,  which is nice. We are enjoying our last few months in Seattle. Last weekend we went out for breakfast, to the farmers market and took the dogs for a run and then spent the rest of the day cooking. It was perfect and relaxing. On Sunday I took Goose herding and then took Indy and Pax to flyball practice. During the week starting in January I have Finley home with me on Tuesday and Wednesday and Ben has her on Friday. On Tuesdays we have gym class just a few blocks away. It's so cute to watch her jumping and tumbling. The trampoline is the best.

Finley is still getting more teeth. She's got a few pushing through right now. As usual with daycare, she has been sick off and on and has had on going ear infections. We've decided not to treat with antibiotics, but keep watching them and giving her immune boosting supplements. We are avoiding antibiotics as much as possible. Also she's got a toe nail with fungus, that we've sucessfully treated with a plant called Neem.

The amount of time that this kid spends sleeping is amazing (or so we thought). It turns out that she quietly plays in her crib a for awhile. Yesterday she starting making noise to get up at around 10:30 am (who knows how long she was up before that). And then wanted a nap at 2 pm. I put her in and went to check on her every so often. She didn't actually fall asleep until 3 pm and then we woke her up at 5 pm for dinner. Her favorite toys right now are stacking blocks and her "purse", which contains various business cards for organizing. Favorite foods are still almost anything, but the best thing are grapes, cottage cheese, yogurt, pineapple, sausage, cheese, bread, kefir, eggs, olives, broccoli. She still isn't ready for potty training, but has finally started to ask for diaper changes and will bring the wipes and a diaper. She is also very good about putting things away and taking things out that we ask. When she is hungry, we tell her to get her bib and she goes running for it.  Talking is getting better too. Lots of it is not possible to understand, but she is trying lots of new words and putting them together.

We are still working on slowly packing up our house and getting rid of things that aren't worth selling or bringing. All of our off season clothes, most decorations and books are packed. We decided to find a 6 month-1 year apartment to rent when we get there and house shop after our house here in Seattle sells. So we are focused on finding a rental for May 1st.

Ben finally heard from Tufts! He has an interview on Feb 6th! We are very excited that he has make it one step further. While we are moving either way, it would make this move much more positive if we knew he was admitted to start school in the fall. We are crossing our fingers!

Owl Through 20 Months