I know something was up

as soon as I heard our computer printer make noise and the ceiling fan become quiet. Sure enough...6:30 am the power went out this morning. It came back on long enough for my husband to take a shower and the coffee pot to start perking. Then it was off again for most of the morning. It seemed to affect the whole town except for hubby's work (darn anyway!).

So this is how I spent my morning...

making coasters for the church sale. Last night I dragged myself to craft night (I was so lazy about going. I, of all people, should know that that is a poor excuse...last year we burned the midnight oil many nights trying to get ready for the sale, only to hear people's "interesting" excuses why they couldn't help out). I was glad I went because it gave me the jump start I needed to pull my stuff back out.

Now I have to wait for the sealer to dry so I better get my tennis shoes on and get this place cleaned up before the school kids get home!

I was going to update last night...

after we got home from a couples evening. Then my husband muttered something about me being an Internet Junkie. I got the hint and went to bed instead.

Craft night on Tuesday turned out to be a little bit of a joke. First I went to the wrong house...part of the "growning pains" of moving to a new place...sometimes people forget to tell you the change in plans. Oh well. When I showed up at the house were everyone else was at, it turned out to be a meeting about the details of the sale itself. I shouldn't have gone...I ended up getting roped into the sale more than I want to. It's not that I'm scared of the work, I'm more worried about stepping on toes. I've been here a whole two weeks and I'm not super comfortable with making suggestions about how they should do things for the sale. Just because I've done it before in MN doesn't mean it's the right way, the only way, the best way or that it'll work down here. Whatever...guess I'll just have to go with the flow!

Sister K finally got her Etsy store up and running! I've been telling her forever to get something going. She currently only has one item listed. I was thrilled when she called me and told me she sold it after having it listed for only a day or two!

I bought her 2008 wall calendar last year and absolutely loved it! I hung all the months in a line on my office wall so I could see the whole year at a glance. She'll also do it in a bound planner style if you so choose...

I heard rumblings that my in-laws may be coming over sometime today so I better get rolling on my cleaning!!! You all have a great day!

Ahhh! We're back on track!

Life is returning to "normal" around here. Or at least once we figure out what normal is. We finally got our internet working last night. I won't tell you how late I stayed up "catching up" on things. Let's just say that our company (my in-laws from MN, my huband's neice and nephew came over) didn't leave until about 11pm, so I didn't get started until after that...(yawn!)

Here is the gorgeous view I get to wake up to every morning. I took this standing on our back patio at about 8:30 am. Every morning I open the blinds and admire the view. Quite different from the lonesome prairie view we had in our MN house. The kids are in their glory playing on the hill. They can't wait until the snow flies and the sleds come out.



Tomorrow I'm hoping to work on some able mabel stuff. I have the itch to start creating again! As a matter of fact, I'm heading out the door in an hour to go to craft night. It didn't take long for me to get roped into that end of things at our church down here! At least I can just show up and work and not have to worry about the nitty gritty details of project night and the sale itself! I'm looking forward to going, it's a great way to get to know the ladies down here. I think I'll swing thru Starbucks on my way there. (much to the relief of my husband, there aren't any Caribou Coffee joints here...oh well, Starbucks will have to do!) Just a little treat to myself. (like I really need it!)

I have not fallen off

The face of the earth. We made it to beautiful colorado safe and sound.
I'll update more once we get our internet hooked up. I'm using my husbands blackberry (he's moving up in this world! Actually it was "strongly recommended" by his boss that he get one) right now and it's very tedious...

She's swooped in

just in time to save me from a major meltdown!

This morning I sent my little kids over to JB's for the day so I could get some cleaning done. The clock is ticking! I had assumed I could get the upstairs done this morning and then focus on the main level this afternoon. I got the first bedroom done and was on my second when I started feeling very overwhelmed! It was awful! It didn't help that the night before we hadn't gotten any sleep (stayed out too late). I just couldn't stop thinking about all I still had to get done. My husband came in to talk to me and I broke down in tears. It lasted about 2.5 seconds and then I went back to work...just a short pity party!

It was about 5 minutes later that the front door opened and in walked....MOM! I didn't know she was going to come! All of a sudden my day looked so much brighter! She had her cleaning gloves and lunch for all of us in tow. She took over my floor scrubbing and sent me off to do something else. I was telling my husband how grateful I was for her showing up and he said "After I left that bedroom and saw your mom pull up, I knew it was all going to be okay."

Whew! Saved by the mother!

Honestly, we could not be doing this major of a move in such a short amount of time if it wasn't for family and friends! My in-laws have been over here working like dogs, others have watched the kids and helped out in other ways. I will be forever grateful!

He's singing a different tune

and I kinda like it!

My husband and I have has this ongoing "conversation" over the years. It all started when we needed to buy a bed for our oldest daughter.

She says: Buy a new mattress (the thought of sleeping on a used mattress is nasty!), and look for a used headboard to fix up.

He says: Why spend the money on new when used will do just fine. We did it growning up and lived to tell about it.

Around and around we'd go until I'd finally give in and we'd get a used mattress. My solution was to immediately run to the store and buy one of those zip-up mattress covers. It made me feel a little bit better. This has happened three times now. To me, it's not a major battle worth fighting and I figured that some day he'd come around to my way of thinking. I just have to be patient until he decides it's his idea to buy new.

A few months ago as we were tucking the kids into bed, he commented on how the girls' room had a funny smell and has since shortly after we moved in. It wasn't a month later (when we got our son a bed) that he said the boys' room smelled the same way. Ding, ding!!...He finally realized it was the used beds! Most likely the headboards since we hadn't gotten around to painting them.

Now that we're moving, he's getting rid of the old beds (gotta love craigslist!) and we'll get new ones once we get into our new house. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering about us yesterday when the third story window opened and a headboard came flying out, heading for the burn pile!! I secretly smirked at the change of heart but resisted the urge to say "I told you so" because I've learned over the years that that doesn't get my anywhere.

This train of thought has gone beyond more than just the beds...We have (well, had) an old computer desk, a rocker recliner, a broken wood cabinet (small entertainment type thing), an end table...(you get the picture) that we were hanging onto "because someday we may need them and if we got rid of them we'd have to go out and spend money on new ones". Never mind the fact that they were just sitting there and not being used. Just taking up space. Now as we're moving into a smaller house with no basement and a smaller garage, things are getting pitched left and right! He's deciding he's tired of this "junk laying around"! Once again, I silently rejoiced at the new tune he's singing!

It's a beehive of activity

around here. We are started our moving sale today and will continue tomorrow. After that, the rest of this stuff is going to Goodwill.

My father-in-law and sister-in-law were over here for most of the day today helping out. It's awesome to have such willing help but sometimes it's hard for me to let others do the work that I "should be doing". (washing windows, etc) Yet, at this stage of the game (week 32 in my pregnancy), I can't physically do everything without killing myself.

The moving truck is now parked in our driveway. We have until Monday to fill it up. As I sit here, roosting on my rump, my husband and his brother are filling it with the heavy items. We actually don't have much "big stuff". Good thing JB has some spare furniture we can borrow until our house sells since our couch and one of our chairs are now in the truck. I was teasing my husband that he should quit being so efficient or else he's going to have to help me with "my work" (cleaning out cupboards and washing walls).

This afternoon a lady (I'm guessing she was in her 60's) stopped by the sale and bought, much to my amazement, a box of nails and a bat of insulation (lesson to self: Never judge a book by it's cover!). As she was paying for her items, we had the following conversation...

• Lady Jane: "You have a nice house here."
• Preggo Mamma: "Thanks!"
• Lady Jane: "You're moving."
• Preggo Mamma: "Yep." (woman of many words today)
• Lady Jane: "Guess you can't afford to live here anymore?"
• Preggo Mamma: (very much taken aback) "Actually it's a job transfer."
• Lady Jane: "You're expecting."
• Preggo Mamma: "That's right."
• Lady Jane: "Is this your first?"
• Preggo Mamma: "Nope." (Sometimes I have a really hard time "fessing up" to what number this is for us, especially when I'm not sure if their reaction is going to be positive or negative. Today was one of those days.)

At that point we got interrupted by something else and that was the end of it.

Initally, I was so suprised at the fact she assumed our house was being foreclosed. Then when I think about it, I should be. Here we are; a young family, living in a nice house, in a development with nice houses, all you hear about nowadays are people getting in over their heads with their huge mortgages and foreclosing...I can see why she would think that. If we were being foreclosed, there would be no way we'd be dumping all this time, money and energy into this place to get everything done before we leave! But there was no way for her to know that...

(There goes another chair past the window.)

I got to dig thru the able mabel boxes again today! Fun! Go figure though, it always happens that the item(s) I'm looking for are in the very last box I look in. I have to write myself a big note to tell my husband to pack those boxes last! There will be about a week, maybe a week and a half, where any orders won't be able to be shipped out. Just one of the not-so-pleasant facts of moving.

Now that I've filled this post with run on sentences and ramblings...I'm going to waddle out to the living room and check on the progress.

Everyday I think about

updating this blog but for some reason I never get around to it. Life has been crazy busy, to say the least!

Last week one day I went over to JB's house to drop something off and caught a glimpse of the items they've been working on for the church craft sale. Awesome, awesome, awesome! It made me so "lonesome" for what was our humble studio in my basement. I have had zero time to work on anything and besides it's pretty much all packed up. JB and I still have to go thru our jewelry supplies and make an attempt at sorting those out.

I can't even tell you when the last time I pulled out the camera was! I know I should be snapping pictures left and right of our last days in MN but I don't think about it until it's too late!

Times awasting this morning! I'll try to update tomorrow!