Wipeout

It's Thursday afternoon.

By this time of the week, I'm wiped out. 

W-I-P-E-D. 

Maybe it's just me. 

The alarm goes off every morning at 5 and I'm usually--er, most generally--up and at 'em by 5:30.  On workout mornings I'm on my way to the gym or already there by 5:30. 

Today I had a big work meeting, so that meant going to the gym earlier to get in my normal workout and still make it home in time to look halfway jerked up and presentable for today's events.  Thankfully, my dear husband martialed the troops this morning and they were mostly ready to go by 7:10.  I know I shouldn't have to, but current arrangements mean I have to run roughshod over them most mornings to keep them on task. 

It's a parenting issue.  We're working on it.  Or, it's on the list to work on.  Wouldn't be as much of an issue if we had a little more space.  We don't.  We live with it. 

Occasionally I can eek out 20 minutes on the couch on Thursdays.  Not today. 

Had to eek out a run to the eye doctor instead for a contact lens fitting.  I always forget what a royal pain it is to get a new contact lens prescription.  After three visits, I think we now have the right thing on order.  Yay for being able to see.  It had been at least 3 years since my last visit, so I was well overdue.  When I couldn't read the clock across the small rental kitchen I knew something had to be done. 

Ran from my morning of meetings to the eye doc, home to change, sort laundry (not enough to run any today, yippee), respond to a couple messages, update a Facebook page for the PIE (PTA) group and then scoot to school for kiddie pickup. 

My Diet Pepsi and the La-Z-Boy are looking awfully good right about now.  Knowing a nap is not in the cards, bedtime can't get here soon enough. 

Back In The Blogging Saddle

I'm almost inspired to blog again.

After reading some great posts from friends Hayley and Liz, and discovering that I enjoy the blog of my friend Chris, it may be time to go back to recounting the humor and happenings around the household. 

I gave it up for a number of reasons.  Laziness.  Nothing to say (no, the house still hasn't sold...).  No time.  You know, all the same old reasons.  None of them good.  None of them valid. 

It's so fun to see what others have to say, that I feel a little guilty taking from the blog world and not giving back anything.

And besides that, sometimes I have these really brilliant thoughts that are too long for a Facebook post or Tweet. 

Yeah.  Right.

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So the thirty second update on us is that we're in our new town, the house hasn't sold and we're (sometimes) patiently waiting on that aspect of life.  There are things we'd buy if we had a sold property, but since we don't, we're not actively looking.  We keep an eye on the listings but it's hard to look and maintain the right perspective.  It's a balance I'm still working on. 

In other areas, life continues on at its normal frenetic pace:  5 AM alarm for exercise.  School for the kids, with me making more runs to drop off forgotten items than I'd like.  My little part-time job three hours a day.  Noon hour spinning class when I can make it.  (Went 13.5 miles in 29 minutes today, yay me!)  Mike's full-time (plus) job, which he's loving.  Throw in a helping of swimming lessons, a scoop of church stuff, and what's looking like a full slate of summer activities and camps.

(Can you believe they have a sailing camp up here in the summer at the Okoboji Yacht Club?  How cool is that?  We are definitely not in southeast Iowa anymore.)

Some things, though, never change.  At the end of the day, I still like to eat a chocolate chip cookie and enjoy a glass of milk. 

This weakness is the reason I have to get up at 5 AM for exercise.

It's a vicious cycle, no matter where we are or what we live in. 

August Report

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't posted in a month.

Time has flown.

We've been here almost four weeks now, and are fairly well established in our condo. I have developed systems and processes for most of our stuff, even if they are rudimentary, like hats and umbrellas live in a cardboard box on a shelf. We're making it work.

Actually, a couple of times I've been struck by how much "stuff" we are able to live without. I have about 75% of my kitchen here and I'm making it just fine without the other 25%. We left behind a lot of furniture, clothes, toys, etc. and no one has died from boredom or had to go naked yet. I'm wondering if we should just sell everything in Muscatine when the time comes. Part of me thinks it would be incredibly freeing to do that.

There are definite advantages in not being encumbered by piles of "stuff". There are also advantages to not being in a large home. I'm finding lots of free time to spend out and about now that we don't have the associated work a large house requires. We frittered away all of last weekend since I had the housework and laundry done Friday. The housework takes about 30 minutes total and the laundry took just a couple of loads, since it's easy to keep on top of when you've got few other responsibilities.

I've actually read three books in the last two weeks and cannot remember the last time I did that. I enjoyed Laura Bush's autobiography very much and picked up the book "Mount Pleasant" because of its title. Both were good reads.

In terms of the house, we continue to wait for news. We had a fairly successful open house yesterday that generated a number of new leads. We continue to have interest from a local party who needs to sell their home in order to purchase ours. We're waiting, and it's ok. We're becoming regulars at Sunday afternoon open houses here, as we work to rule homes in or out of our list. We remain confident that we will be able to find something suitable when God brings the right buyer for our Muscatine home. Hopefully the interest rates are still so low when that happens. (Does God read blogs?? ) :)

We've done a lot of the tourist things this month, including Arnold's Park, playing at the beach, eating dinner by the lake, visiting touristy stores and more. Soon I must stop doing touristy things and start visiting the Y to lose some of my touristy-food induced weight! :)

Owen has finally become a proficient bike rider and with a new bike, he is learning to explore the town that way. We are glad to see him making these steps, as bike riding has been a challenge for him to this point. Some of it certainly stems from his vision. He's been spurred on by two kids in our new neighborhood and that has been one of the best things that could have happened to him. We are pleased.


With day one of school under their belt, the kids seem to be making the transition well. We will all feel more settled when we have a house, but for now, we're doing just fine and we're grateful for that.

Arrival!

We're here, and we're mostly settled.

We'll feel more complete when the children arrive tomorrow afternoon for the first time. I recycled some of the boxes and wrap today and have saved the majority for some day in the future when we move on to a more permanent living arrangment.

For now, we're settled and we'll be together. We have plenty of room and should be able to bring more things next time we visit our "vacation home" down south.

The house hasn't sold, but we continue to have showings. That's ok, because the longer we can't buy something here, the more the prices seem to come down. Drove by one we love last night that only needs to come down about 100,000 dollars to be in our budget. LOL!

The move was killer. We made it, but only due in large part to some amazing Muscatine friends who helped us on one of the hottest afternoons of the year. Lugging a washer and dryer down three floors is a true testament to friendship.

After a mix-up with our U-Haul reservation, we were able to get loaded Saturday, Sunday and pull out Monday at Noon. We arrived about 6:45 PM and by 8:45 PM we had 80% of the work done, though the heavy washer, dryer and several dressers had to wait for the morning when we weren't completely zapped. The unload was far easier than the loading up, mostly because if it was on the truck it had to come off. As we were loading there was so much thinking involved....what did we need, what could we live without for a month, etc.

Tuesday morning we slept in a a bit, which was well-deserved after a 17+ hour day on Monday. We still managed to finish unloading the truck and return it to the rental place by 10:30 AM. The cable and Internet installer was actually on time and by 1 PM we were unloaded and reconnected to the outside world. :)

We had a great "God Moment" when, Tuesday afternoon, we were debating how the two of us were going to tackle getting the last two heavy dressers up the stairs to the bedrooms. A knock at the door surprised us. Two angels from the Faith Church heard we'd moved in and came to see if they could be of any help. Wow, could they! And at just the moment when we weren't sure how we were going to get those heavy pieces moved. What a neat sighting of God at work in our circumstances.

Mike returned to work today and I spent the day doing what needed to be done: returning pop cans, running cardboard to recycling and hitting the grocery store. I also got a chance to meet our next door duplex-neighbor when I inadvertently locked myself out of the condo this morning. OOPS!! Thankfully she is a nice young mother and teaches music at the elementary school here. O and M will both have her. I was even more thankful that she had a cell phone with the landlord's phone number in it and allowed me to use it. He came in about 20 minutes and let me back in, but needless to say, he and I both will probably always remember our first meeting! Yipes stripes.

So, things are good. We'll see how it goes with the children here, but I really think we'll be fine. It's not nearly the space we are used to, but it's also not near the separation we've become accustomed to over the last 4 months.

I'll happily take togetherness, even if it means it's in a small space. :)

Checking In....

So, we're about to the point when I have to change my mindset and focus from selling the house to getting moved.

But oye, today is HOT! I've done some things along the lines of getting ready but honestly, they've mostly been items that can be crossed off the to-do list from the comfort of the air conditioning. :) TV, landline phone and Internet are set to disconnect, newspaper is set to be cancelled, and more. I even managed to get most of the children's school supplies gathered from my stockpile here, though there are some things we still need to buy.

On the house front, we've still got the three parties out there. Last Thursday's party needs to sell in their current location. Word from their realtor is that he "thinks" they're leaning to the other house, but said it was very hard to know. One time it's us, the next it's the other place. Another party returns next week to do more looking and we were their favorite older home, though they are also considering (and perhaps leaning toward) newer properties. Our local folks still have interest but remain unwilling to do any marketing of their current house, so it would seem as though they are not a viable prospect barring some great miracle.

I will leave it in God's hands. Mine are kind of full right now getting geared up, packed and organized for the next part of our adventure.

Thursday Showing

Our third party came back for a second showing this week.

The report is that they are considering two properties, us and one other. The competition is smaller and more expensive, but has zoned central air conditioning and heating.

Of course, at our price, they could put that system in our house and still be under the price of the other property they're considering.

Whether we're the bride or a bridesmaid has yet to be seen. The agent seems to have no idea which way the buyers will go.

Fingers crossed that maybe we'll hear something good soon.

Update

No showings since last Monday, but we continue to have hope that one of the two parties who have now looked twice will choose us.

One party will ready to make a decision at the end of July. We know they want our school district, have a larger family and love our attic space. Sounds hopeful, doesn't it??

The other party we know has interest (these are the people who "love" the house) but as far as we know, hasn't done anything about trying to sell their home, which would have to happen before they can buy ours.

We may (??) have a second showing this week to a party that has been here once. We will see if that pans out.

Having THREE second showings would be spectacular.

The price of a house I really like in the new town has dropped 10% in the last month. If we only had an offer here.....sigh. Maybe God's holding out on giving us a buyer here until that house drops one or two more times, since it's really outside our price range.

Think they'll drop it another 10%? ;) If they do, I'm going to be REALLY tempted.

It will be fun to see how He works this all out in the coming months. We, thankfully, know that He will....one way or the other.