My blog post about my lack of blog posts

Hey guys... Remember me? I'm still alive. I didn't get buried under office clutter and my husband didn't murder me because I left dishes in the sink.

These past couple of months have been crazy. I don't even really know where to begin... You might wanna go ahead and use the potty, cuz you're gonna be here for a while....

So.... we have this house. It's different, which is why we like it. Over the past ten years we made it OURS. We fixed up every room (except one) and we poured love (more like blood, sweat, and tears) into it.

But with two growing kids and a big dog, this girl was starting to feel a little claustrophobic.  The girls were also starting to express their wishes for their own space.  I hardly invited anyone over, especially kids for sleepovers, because I felt we didn't have enough space.  My parents had to sleep on a sofa bed because we didn't have space for a real one. Finally, the husband and I decided that it's time to look for our "forever home." The home we will be retiring in. The last home we buy (hopefully). So we got started a long time ago, getting prepared for it. Prepping and staging our house for showing, which involved a LOT of painting and cleaning. Also, de-cluttering, which I wanted to do anyway. Of course, not all of us emerged from it unscathed. I managed to get myself a nice case of tennis AND golf elbow from all the painting (my husband made me do it. It's his fault!). The husband got the typical case of sore back and exhaustion. But we got it done. Enough that we could confidently put it on the market and see if it sells. We weren't expecting much from it. After all, we did buy it in a hurry, right before the housing bubble burst so I'm sure we paid too much for it. I said I would be happy to get at least what we originally paid. We got ourselves a realtor with a pretty good track record, followed her advice for getting it ready, and threw it out there with our fingers crossed that we end up with a decent amount for a down payment on a new house.

It just so happens that the very same day we put our house on the market, we were on our way to a family vacay to Disney! The kids had been dying to go so the plan was to spend a couple days in the parks (Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Universal Studios) and go on a 4 day Disney cruise to the Bahamas. It had been 20 years since I had been to Disney and although there were some new things, a few oldies (but goodies) stayed the same. We discovered our youngest kid (7) wasn't ready for roller coasters. We got confirmation that our oldest daughter (9) can still scream loud enough to break glass. We also discovered the necessity of a good pair of shoes. And let me just say... I could ride Avatar all day. The kids had a blast at the park and although I was sad that they don't do the electric light parade anymore, the fireworks and laser shows were awesome. Oh, and after hours tickets... SOOOOOOOOO worth it. You get all the ice cream and popcorn you want, there are virtually no lines for rides, it's not hotter than Hades, and you have room around you to breathe. If we ever go again, I'm totally getting after hours tickets again. There were high points and there was a lot of frustration, but we made it... we experienced it... and we paid for it dearly. I hope it was everything my kids hoped for.

Now, what about the cruise, you are probably asking? I think we had a great experience. The ship was breathtaking, the food delicious, the staff friendly, and they had all you can eat soft serve ice cream. The shows were amazing, the kids club was the best (according to the kids), the stateroom was even nice (we had a balcony too) though we didn't spend too much time in it. Did I mention that there was all you can eat ice cream?

I was soooooo worried about the kids getting motion sickness both on the rides at the parks and on the cruise, so as a precaution (and the advice of their pediatrician), I gave them kids dramamine daily. Luckily it didn't make them sleepy and I only gave them half doses. The whole fam said they couldn't even feel the ship moving, but dang I could feel it every minute of the day. It didn't bother me, but I sure felt it. The last night of the cruise was especially strong with the rocking, but we got to see the Captain Marvel movie in 3-D the night before it was released in the U.S. Booyah!!

The only drag was that it was chilly the day we got to Castaway Cay. As a result, our stingray experience got cancelled and we were so disappointed. The kids still seemed to have a good time so not all was lost. Thought I know they would've crapped a brick at swimming with stingrays. It was my first cruise and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind doing it again.

Now, back to the house... Our house sold... In two days.... ACK! SO gears had to shift into overdrive for finding a new house. We looked everywhere. I think we viewed close to 30 houses. All the ones that we really liked either sold before we got a chance, sold before we were actually ready to buy (we honestly had been looking for a couple of years), was too far away, or was in a crappy area. Sigh... I was beginning to think we were NEVER going to find "the one." Honestly, we still haven't, but we needed a house STAT or we were going to be homeless! So we picked the one with the most potential to be a great house. Unfortunately, that means more renovating and customizing for us. Hopefully it won't take ten years like the last one. I'll post more about the new house once the deal is done, but I will say that the girls get their own room, I get my own craft room/office, there's a spare bedroom that can actually remain a bedroom, an area that would work great as a play area, Drew get's his pool that he wanted, and it's in a great neighborhood. Stay tuned for more on the house....

So basically my life the past two months has been consumed with house hunting, buying/selling, and packing. I've been under so much stress, I'm sure it's affecting my health. Can you believe that I'm MORE stressed now than I was 2 months ago and I had a 1.5 week vacation in the middle of it! I really need to get my "Wosahhhh" back.

Project 2020 posts will resume once we've moved and are settled in. Don't give up on me yet!