Oh How I Hate Moving!!!

Any move is hard... it represents an unknown, if you will. It is change in environment, social circles, and location. In most cases it makes people both excited and uncomfortable. Its definitely  not settling to move. 
As of right now, we're beginning the packing process. I have stacks of boxes in the living room, just waiting for my families belongings. 
I am packing books today - hopefully with some form of organization... If I don't get overly frustrated, I will try to get some other things packed as well. But there are so many books in my house!!!! 

This is just one completely stuffed bookcase. Please note that both the top and bottom shelves are also totally stacked full as well. I have a full cabinet in the bedroom... and two more bookshelves in the hall, as well as one more in the living room. It's insane how many books we have. People say "well get rid of the ones you've read"... sorry... not gonna happen! 
I'm one of those that rereads books, over and over again. I cannot tell you how many time's I've read VC Andrews first series of books - and every subsequent series! Or Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. Or Harry Potter, or Patricia Cornwell, or Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Tim Lahay, HOLY CRAP MAN! I got a lot of books!!!! 
I have ALL of the books ever written by some of the authors listed above, and that's just nuts. BUT I am not willing to part with them. Therefore I will be packing books all day. 


I just want to let everyone know that your kind and wonderful comments have been greatly appreciated. I feel like I have a "family" on the web with my supporters and frequent visitors - kind of an extended support system. Which is what I'm loving about the move - I get to take all of you with me!!!! 
It's my "stability" in my changing world. No matter where I am - you guys will always be there as long as I have my computer and wifi! YAY Internets!


Well, it's off to throw  gently place some books in boxes.
Happy Friday!!
PS: I forgot to show ya'll what Our Girl drew me for Mother's Day: 

I just adore the vibe of this picture! It's free and bright and happy, and it makes me smile. It's currently on the wall above my desk along with some other things she's done for me. I'm so blessed with wonderful children!!! Ok - NOW I'm really going to pack (I'm not stalling, really)!
PPS: Please don't forget that starting Monday, we'll be over at WordPress!!! You can head on over there now, and check things out - everything from here has already been transferred! Including your lovely comments, thanks so much! 

Stress and stuff

Its started... the stress that comes with moving and packing and clearing out the clutter... 
It is funny how we thought we would buy this house, settle in this town, and stay here forever just two years ago. The house was too full then... and now, 2 years later we have even MORE stuff to deal with. I don't know what we'll do with all the stuff we're getting rid of - I guess we'll have to sell it. There is too much to take with us, it's just not going to be possible. 
Then I worry about our dogs - we have 5 and we love every one of them like family... two of them are huge, three are tiny... finding a rental willing to take on that many dogs isn't going to be an easy task... hopefully something will come up and be right for us. 
I'm worried that I won't find a job, and that I won't be able to get to and from work when and if I do find a job. Now that PJ has changed schools, we have to take her and pick her up every day, so me taking the car and going to look for work isn't going to be possible until the kids are out of school in late May... but that should still give me plenty of time to get the things I need to do around here done, so that maybe, just maybe we can sell our house. 
Of course, if the house doesn't sell, we're going to have to stay here and tough it out anyway, and I'm not sure how that's going to happen. We can't find jobs here, and the unemployment going to stop in a few weeks, and when it does, we're pretty well screwed. 
SIGH.... 
I hate thinking too much - it makes me crazy
For tonight, I think I'll go eat one of these: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/lucky-four-leaf-clover-rolls/ and forget about it for a while!

Opportunity

Opportunity - 1 : a favorable juncture of circumstances 
2 : a good chance for advancement or progress *Merriman-Webster Dictionary Online

I like that, a good chance for advancement or progress, yes - I really like that. 

In this economy, in this age, we have little opportunity for advancement in our normal course of life. Oh, there are the raises, the perks of our jobs, if we are so lucky as to have jobs. There are the milestones that keep us going, children growing, having birthday's, dates, proms, graduations... those things sustain us... but an Opportunity for true change and the cosmic do-over it implies, does not come often. 

Our family has chosen to make one such opportunity for ourselves. We have decided to pull up the stakes of our comfortably paid for home, in a town with little or no work, to return to the precarious life of renting in a town with at the very least 7% more work than where we currently live. 

7% really doesn't sound like much - but it's a chance we are willing to take. It is a chance for us to start over in a new place, with new surroundings, and with old friends and family for support, and that's what makes the difference. 

Where we live now is drying up, not only economically, but emotionally for us as well. Everyone who supported us here, everyone we were truly 'friends' with were related to the job I formerly held. Those tenuous friendships have held, but barely, through the ensuing ten months since I left the company. I connected with the mother of my daughters friends, and at one time we were inseparable, but our kids don't see eye-to-eye anymore... and our parenting styles seem to be so different now that the girls are older... that it's just not as close as it once was. 

We are truly ready to accept this challenge, and move to the next stage of life in these challenging times. We will hope for the best, and work to meet the challenge with open hearts and open minds! 

Much to do... little time to do it in

Hmm... looks like a typical to do list doesn't it? Well, in a way it is - it's the Spring Cleaning list... and something more too: 

That's the other list... the one that clearly defines what this is really all about.

We're moving...

View Larger Map

Yep - to Chattanooga, Tennessee!

You see, I grew up there - well in a suburb called Harrison Bay. It was God's country to me, and somewhere I have missed with all my heart and soul. For years I've gone and visited and cried every time I had to leave. This was always home to me - I think in a way it's because that was the last place I had my Daddy alive. That's where we lived when he died - to me he's real when I'm there. That comforts me. 

It also puts me closer still to my mother and aunt. Not a whole lot closer, but closer nonetheless. 

Shawn's sister is there, and my best friend since childhood too. Along with a lot of special memories. Things I want desperately to share with my children. So... we're putting the house on the market - and we're moving as soon as the kids get out for summer break... 

The next chapter in my blog will be the wonderfully insane process of packing up six years of living... Things will have to be pared down, and weeded out - we brought so much junk with us to Georgia, simply because we had to move so quickly. This time, we're going to weed things out, get rid of stuff that we don't need and keep only the necessities and stuff we absolutely cannot live without. 

The kids took the decision very well, and are actually excited about the prospect of moving to the mountains!