Breathe In, Breathe Out

I spoke with our loan officer this morning. The appraiser still hasn't filed his appraisal with the VA. That information has necessitated a call to the moving company to bump our moving day back about a week (at least). That makes me just a little grumpy, but there are so many blessings to offset that tiny bit of news. Our grandbabies will be here in 2 days, with their parents in tow. I  plan to spend all next week vegging, playing in the back yard with the girls and not worrying about moving or packing or traveling or anything. It's going to be a fun week, with Hailey's graduation as the centerpiece of the week. We are going to eat good food (cleaning out the freezer in the process), laugh, play and enjoy each others' company. We have also scheduled a family pix. It'll probably  be our last opportunity for a very long time.

Hailey's class had an awards assembly last night, giving out the scholarships and awards. Hailey is graduating with honors, so she will get to wear the gold braid on her graduation gown. I'm so proud of her and her hard work. She is SOOOO ready for this whole thing to be finished.

The moving company rep came yesterday for our walk-through. It's so revealing to see your home through another's eyes. I thought I was doing well with the decluttering--then again, maybe not. There is still so much to do, maybe the additional week will be a blessing.

I've been trying to get loose ends tied up and knotted. There are so many little things that go along with moving. Got our Temple Recommends renewed--our stake leaders will be nearly 2 hours away in ND, but only 5 minutes away here. Stocked up on new unnies. Ordered a new Washer/Dryer set (half the price of anything we've seen up in ND). Scheduled final "girlie" checks. Took the sewing machine in to be cleaned and serviced. Still so much to do, but I'm getting a handle on it.

We are finally enjoying spring/summer weather. I'm reveling in having the windows open and the breezes wafting through. I even took one blanket off the bed!

Let It Go

Tad was home this last week, and we spent lots of time cleaning. We spent one whole day cleaning out the garage, another whole day cleaning out the shed and two other days doing yard work. We also spent that cleaning time making piles of things to be donated. Now it must be understood that we are NOT packrats. I am really a pretty organized person, and things have NOT piled up. We'd never qualify for an episode of "Hoarders". We have lived in this house for 8.5 years, though, (the longest we have ever lived ANYWHERE) and things have accumulated a little, since this is where we raised our 3 kids. We ended up making 4 trips to the Youth  Ranch donation drop-off, just in this week. That doesn't include the fact that I make a big trip to the drop-off about once a month. Most of it was stuff we've used well and outgrown the need for. It was all good and usable. The beauty thing is, it's now OUT of our lives, OUT of our heads and OUT of our house. We don't and won't miss it, especially since the kids are all (going to be) out of the house. I love the mental freedom of a good de-cluttering. I know that there are tons of blogs showing how to organize things in one's home, but I've always thought it was better to have less to organize in the first place. I don't have before and after photos, since this is not that type of blog, but suffice it to say that a little more breathing room is a wonderful thing. It will also be much easier for the movers to pack our household goods.

Crunch Time

Things progress towards our moving day, but we don't even know when that will be. I need to call our moving coordinator this week and let her know what our tentative plans are for closing on the house and when we want to move. This is the first time in my live I've ever NOT packed the boxes and loaded the truck for a move, and it is weird! Usually by this time we are living out of nearly full boxes and the walls are bare, but this time I'm not supposed to pack anything. The only thing I CAN do is declutter the house and every room so the movers don't pack something I don't want to take. There is a little bit of overlap between what we are taking for ourselves, what we are leaving until we sell the house and what Hailey will need to survive until then and after. Ack! I'm afraid that when all the dust settles there will be too many things in the wrong places.

Tad has only 1 more rotation home before Hailey's graduation and our moving week. She has 2 weeks of school left before graduation and boy, is she trunky! Tad will be here for 1 week, go back to work for 1 week then come back for her graduation. We will enjoy spending that week with all of our family and playing with the grandbabies. Then the week after that we will be doing major decluttering and taking lots of stuff to Goodwill and  waiting for the moving crew. Makes me tired just thinking about all of it.

The new house is progressing towards completion. We have the skirting on, the propane tank has been delivered, the front and back steps are in progress and the deck has been built. The sidewalks on the front and side of the house are poured and that's just what we can see on the outside. We've been told the inside trim work is also in progress. I'm so excited to see it in person!

Progress!

Our new home adventure took a gigantic step forward on Monday, when it was finally moved onto our lot. Yay! Tad drove out to see it Wednesday afternoon, and this is what he found...

Yeah, I know the resolution isn't great, but still, it's very nice to see this in place. It's all felt like a dream until now, because I've only ever seen the house on the sales lot. I look at this and it makes me happy--and sad. Happy about the house, sad because of all the yard work that is ahead of us, and I HATE yardwork. *Sigh* We are still on track for a mid-June closing date. :)

In other news, lest anyone think that I've ceased to be the Crafty Genius, in the last month or so I've made 5 baby crib sheets for my 2 dear sisters who are expecting babies this summer, remade my June wreath from last summer (pix to follow, since I'm still learning how to use my new camera), sewed Evie's birthday present, which was a pink monkey polar fleece bathrobe and slippers (which she had to show me the last time I skyped with her--she's tickled with them), painted a cute birdhouse to put in my new craft room (again,  pix to follow later) and I'm sure there are other crafty things I've been working on. I've also done a fair bit of decluttering in preparation for moving. I still have a few things that need to be done before I can have the craft room packed up to move, and other projects that are long-term enough to be able to work on after I move. One thing I do know--the next month and a half are going to be crazy hectic.

Waiting, and not very patiently, either!

I'm waiting for lots of things...
Spring (check!)
Summer Clothes (check!)
Sunshine
Green Grass
Blossoms and buds on trees
Warm days
Fabric at JoAnn
Closing on our...
...New Home
Baby Nephew
Hailey's Graduation
Having the Grand-girls come to visit
Moving
Setting up housekeeping
Baby Nephew/Niece
Braces off (this is almost too far off to contemplate, but my mouth hurts today and I'm over all the hardware in it.)

Lots of exciting things in the offing, so I am having to practice patience.

Yay for Sunshine!

Sunshine! Ahhhh, beautiful sunshine!

This hasn't been the worst winter in history, by any stretch, and we haven't had the horrible weather that the east coast and the Midwest have had, but we've had our days and weeks of cold and drear, and I'm ready for spring. Of course, in Idaho, spring can mean anything from sunshine to 2 feet of snow. I want to look out the window and see green and crocus--even weeds would look good right now. There is hope, though. The aspen in the front yard is bulging with buds and the woolly boogers will be here soon!

I'm making Evie's birthday present today. She will be 3 years old next week. When I asked her who said she could turn three, she proudly informed me that "I Did!". I asked her if she was the boss. She said her mommy was the boss, then asked me, "Nona, are you the boss?" I answered that I was the Big Boss, and everybody has to listen to me. If I said she could turn 3, then it was OK. She is such a smart and funny kiddo, and her little sister is right behind her, just as smart and funny. Elizabeth is learning to tell jokes. When her mommy asked her how old she was, she answered, "5!, 6!, 8!, 12!, 18! I funny!"

(and the birthday present? Well, it's a secret! Shhhh. When Evie gets it and opens the package, then I can do the reveal.)

I got my North Dakota license plates in the mail yesterday, and I wired money for the construction loan on Monday, so I guess it's official, I'm moving to North Dakota!  Even with all the negative comments I've gotten from people (and I haven't gotten a single positive comment, ever), I'm still excited to go and start a new life there with my sweetheart.

Still, still here, but not for long!

That sounds worse than the reality. The reality is that I will be moving within the next 3 months or so. My sweetie has been working in North Dakota for the last three years, rotating home for a week every two weeks. We had chosen to have me stay in Idaho until all our children were out of the house, because they still need a mom. Scott married last summer, and Hailey is set to graduate from high school this June, so there was and is nothing holding me to this house and this geographically-separated lifestyle.

We spent a week in North Dakota in January, looking for housing, and miracle of miracles, found something. Housing is hard to come by up there, and there was nothing in the way of real estate in our price range, and renting is prohibitively expensive. Our final option was a land/home package in a tiny rural community about 15 miles away from where Tad works. I've been spoiled by living in town for the last 8 1/2 years, so it will be a little bit of a culture shock to live outside of town again, but it will be worth it to have our own home on our own little piece of land. We will be getting a brand new home to be able to put together the way we want it, and best of all, my sweetheart will be home every night and there will be no more weeks spent apart. After these three years of travel rotations, that is sounding pretty sweet!

It's good to be back with the blog, after this year of being away. It's been  a year of mixed blessings and adventures. I probably won't be able to get completely caught up, but I can move forward, so the future of this blog will deal with my new, upcoming adventures, rockin' the Bakken.

Also I want to acknowledge my parents today on their 51st wedding anniversary. They are an inspiration to me and I love them very much.