still no internet at our new house

apparently no one serves that area. its the no mans land or soemthing. but the house is good and getting well organised and plenty of cooking going on with no internet! will take photos soon. all of us are fine but really miss our internet friends! The kids miss their language lesson too! I cant believe we lived in a town of 700 and dsl and we now live in a town of 90,000 and cant get anything but dial up! but what can ya do? cody and chrysta and ethan come home from summer camp today. looking forward to seeing them. missed them this week. hope to have some sort of internet but who knows when or what! kids are doing pretty well but Andre has already wandered off! that was my mother of the year moment. two cars and a ups truck pulled in our driveway and I was thinking what the heck?? and then andre ran in and locked the door and burst into tears. When I said whats wrong?? he said they're gonna tell you! they're gonna tell you! well tell me they did. he walked all the way down the looooooooooooooooooong and twisty driveway to the main road and was IN THE ROAD and then when they said they would come tell his mom he ran ahead of them throwing rocks at their cars saying you cant come down here! he cried and cried and I made him apologise and told them that yes he had boundries but clearly he didnt adhere to them. they kept saying he's too little to be out there. I was like he is almost 8 for heavens sake! no he shouldnt be in the road but dont tell me how to take care of my kids. he has stayed close to home since then. I cant just never let him outside! he has paired up with ben this week and ben cant walk far so they stay close to the house. well not much else is new and I have to go since I am at my mom's on her internet.

we are in! almost unpacked!

I so love our big new house! the doggie door is great except only one of three dogs will use it. mocha goes in and out at will. fabio and tera not so much. tera will go if you hold the flap for them but whats the point then? Sophie is loving rollin all over in her chair. Boys are out chopping wood with eric. Natasha says we need a fire in the fireplace its so chilly. cody ethan and chrysta go to summer camp tomorrow. oh dang I guess I better go pack for EThan! he will pack like a pair of shorts and nothin else. hope I can find everything I need. mostly we are unpacked. a few boxes left upstairs but the main living area is pretty done except the empties and the wrapping papers all over. living room is all set up. washer guy hooked the washer up and it is leakin all over. tv guy is coming monday. I am finding strange things in the basement. Strange like boxes marked master bath. or toiletries. I think they just got lazy at the end. oh well we are happy to be out there. mike and jen came by one night. that was fun. no internet though. I am at my moms house. heading home again shortly.

update on moving!

ALOTTA stuff is gone. ALOTTA stuff to go but mostly furniture. and a few more boxes. Basement is pretty well cleared out except beds. sheds pretty well cleared out. Living room that was filled with boxes is again empty except furniture and dogs(and kids) boys room down to beds and I think their dresser. Deep freezer gone. garage mostly cleared out. kitchen is not fully packed yet. have to do dishes before we go to bed tonight. sandwiches and cookies for dinner, doughnuts for breakfast tomorrow and THEN...THEN! We should be able to head up and close tomorrow after all!!
and all our stuff should arrive Weds! The dogs are so hot, so are we. Ethan is being a brat. Ben is being a whiner. Andre is at Alonzo's house. Sophie is being bossy and demanding. Jaeger is happily watching looney toons. status quo. I do love looney toons! I am have been going and going since 7am and I am ready for a break!

ok

so its hotter than Haides here right now. we dont know how long until we can close. we dont know how long we have to stay here among boxes living like vagrants. We dont know what will happen tomorrow with packers/movers. will they move it all anyways? to where? will they show up before they get the voicemail? because we didnt find out until close of business friday that it wasnt gonna happen. but then our friend stopped by the house and said it looked like it was done so did they work the weekend? We dont know. I have sent 3 girls and one dog to my moms. Thanks mom and dad for taking some of the pressure off. I miss my girls and my little puppy boy who keeps me company every night but I have too much to do and he doesnt like strangers and wants to always be afoot if no one is here or has to be in his crate if they are here. I am supposed to take dog to vet at 930 but I dont think that can happen. If I can get them there I will try and take them to boarding. its hard enough here in the heat without having to worry about them coming in and going out and barking every time the door opens.

I do NOT LIKE TO FLY BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS! how many times have I said this? and yet, once again I am forced to do just that. I DO NOT LIKE IT! I like a well thought out plan and things go according to it. I do not like unknowns. and yet this week is fraught with them. Andre is clingy as ever. its too dang hot to snuggle! but I know he needs reassurance. Ethan and Ben are up at night screwing around. Im exhausted. My husband is living at my brothers instead of with me. and have I mentioned I DONT LIKE THIS?

so thats everything I know. which is nothing.

damn!

we cant move. yet. we cant close as scheduled tuesday. septic not done. weather interefering.

so far

so far today the boys picked all the tiny apples off the tree so they wont become big apples. even though both daddy and myself have told them not to. they were all out picking raspberries even though THEY arent ripe and were told by dad not to pick them. went in the road(this is an ongoing problem, no matter what we do it doesnt register in their heads to stay out of the road). Talked to a stranger who didnt know where they belonged and was telling the police who came by that she didnt know where they belonged. Cody went and got them when he saw them saying they belong here. Andre took off in the woods and doesnt hear well so we panicked when he didnt answer. he has a history of taking off. Natasha got herself stung by a black wasp. Maia put a green marker in her mouth(but it didnt work mom!)and now has green teeth and mouth. Ethan keeps screaming about everything stomping his feet. Diana is hovering just to make sure she doesnt miss out on anything.

yesterday Mocha broke her leash and ran off. Thankfully Jaeger the dog catcher(seriously he is gooooood at this job, better than anyone) was hot on her tail and brought her home before I could slip my birkies on and go after her. Bens straps are missing. we are about to be buried in boxes and the packers come tomorrow to pack the rest of it.

yeah just an ordinary day at home. but they win. This time they win. I put on a movie. I cant get anything done if I have to keep running out after this one or that one.

I did manage to clean out the fridge of old food. cody worked on some dishes and his room. I packed the two night tables(really end tables so fairly big and piled high with stuff. I cleaned behind the bed where the dust bunnies were so big I was almost afraid to go back there. at least it isnt 100 degrees.

tomorrow we go to Pine grove park and zoo. friday to the movies. Saturday to the pool. sunday at home doing not much I suppose since everything should be packed by then. monday the truck comes. tuesday we close. wednesday our stuff comes to new house.

OH! and before I forget, SOPHIE has a date for her osteotomies! Oct 11! this suits my schedule VERY well. she WILL miss some school but it must be done. and better for everyone else if its during school year so no daycare needed.

EXHAUSTED!

and a week to go! cleaning like crazy. packing. organising. making plans and making calls. tomorrow is last day on our own. then the packers come. sssoooooo tired. I just go go go from morning till night. tonight we had what will likely be our last nice meal here. TOmorrow is pizza and then the packing starts and I dont know what we will eat but we wont be making dirty dishes very much. I cant spent the time to wash them all. I have too many other things to do. Eric pulled the bed out so I can clean behind it. and under it. my room is the catch all. so now off to bed so tomorrow I can do it all again. come next tuesday we will sign papers, weds our stuff starts arriving!

the time is drawing near.

movers should be her thursday to start packing. packing ths fri mon. loading mon tues weds. delivery thurs fri. I have a million things to do. a million kids afoot to work around(minus one who is off at band camp) and one week after we move 3 kids go to summer camp. and did I mention my husband is already working up north? so I am on my own here. thank goodness Cody is here. I can sure use a pair of hands. we are going to take the kids to pinegrove zoo ths. movies fri. to try and keep them out of the way. monday I dont know yet. Tuesday we close so we all have to drive up and then I have to come back and finish up.

whew Im tired just thinking about it. I have been working really hard to organise/pack/clean. 2 bathrooms are clean. well one is very clean and one is clean minus the laundry on the floor. one bathroom to go. packed some books from bookshelves so that remaining books will stay put andnot be all over the floor. packed some toys to take with us. laundry laundry laundry. working really hard in my room which is a disaster. cleaned the closet before we went camping for fourth of july. the kids rooms have been cleaned and cleaned and cleaned again but they sure dont stay that way for long. Cody is working on his room.

The 3 girls went to sleepover at grammas. this is their first sleepover. I didnt get any late night calls about I miss you mama. good thing because I couldnt very well drive up to get them! they will be back this evening with Eric. it was very quiet at dinner with only 6 kids and me. We had some soup out of the freezer and ate the ice cream cake that was in there as well. The boys were put out because the girls were going to grammas so I made it special for them to stay home.

We had big storms last night. the wind was hellacious. I wonder if any of the trees out back came down. I didnt see too much damage when I took the dogs out. I expected to see trash everywhere as our trashcan was full on saturday(trash day is friday!) as we are cleaning out so much stuff. but only a lampshade skittered onto the lawn. everything else stayed put. its much cooler today. WHEW! yesterday it was too hot to put clothes on. we did of course anyways, but we wished we had a pool! I guess I better go serve breakfast. the boys will be raiding cabinets soon.

looks like we have a new close day of July 19. I have to call moving co. neighbor will sign easement. yay! septic should begin tomorrow or monday. YAY!

because I dont want to wallow in self pity

I am working to find joy in my journey, an attitude of gratitude.

so here are some good things, some things making me happy.

The warbling verio who has taken up residence outside my bedroom window sings me a beautiful song every morning and twitters all day. sometimes it seems he is saying pretty bird pretty bird. he has a most unique song and we never heard it before he showed up. We know its a male because the males stake out territory and then the female comes. there is only one so it must be a male. I love listening to him.

Its already Wednesday! that means Eric will be home in two more days.

I got to have a great vacation over the fourth with a lot of fun and friends.

I set the kids up to talk to their old friend Dima from Ukraine. I am looking forward to hearing their excited voices telling him all about their lives here. even if I dont understand what they say since they speak to each other in Ukrainian.

The IRS wants more documentation. but it appears I can get that documentation so thats a good thing. some people are having to scramble for canceled checks from many years back.

I promised the kids ice cream today. that means I get ice cream too. that is always a good thing.

The living room is clean. that makes me feel calmer. chaos around me leads to chaos within me. I dont understand it. but it does. the kids all take one chore and its done in a matter of minutes. so now its clean and tidy and calming.

My little Andre is all loves today.

nobody got extreme sunburn on our vacation.

wow! my darling teenaged daughter is up before noon!

our house closing, while likely delayed, doesnt look to be delayed as much as I thought it would be. Our realtor/friend went to the house and checked things out and windows open so thats good. and she left all the calling cards from realtors on the counter for me. she knows I want to sweep them into the trash can myself!

it is not hotter than the sun outside today. a very good thing.

so there are some of my joys. I feel better now. dont you?

ps I thought of a great title for my book when I get around to writing it.

Braids Before Breakfast

well Eric left...

It isnt looking like we are gonna be closing on the house any time soon. the septic isnt in yet. no digging even. and now there is another problem to deal with. The driveway goes across the corner of someone else's land. no easement. so we have to get that settled before we can close. Tomorrow Eric starts his new job. He is staying at my brother's place. We are staying here in our old house. Tonight was our first dinner alone. Ethan had a tantrum when it was time for dishes. I maintained my calm and sent him to bed. I know he was feeling his dad's absence. Andre really really loves hanging with daddy and kept saying I miss daddy. I miss my daddy. I miss him too. Maia kept going back to the car for one more hug and kiss so he couldnt get out of the driveway. Natasha pouted through dinner. Diana didnt eat dinner(her choice). Sophie wasn't very hungry either. Guess everyone is missing Daddy. I have Fabio to keep me warm at night but no one to listen to my warbling verio with. no one to wake up with and talk about the day, or some crazy dream I had. I sure am gonna miss him. Its only for 3 days this week then he will be home again. but it feels like forever.