Strawberry picking

College bound

And speaking of babies growing up (from previous post)…. Julie started college this week. Yes, I said college! She has been accepted into a program that starts college transition and classes during the Jr. year of high school. This program is designed to help ease students into college and keep them on the collegiate path. I’m still working on getting a photo of her looking all smart and sassy now that she is a college student. Stay tuned…

Baby baby

As I was organizing and packing for my latest move, I went through my photo box. I went through all the pictures of Helena when she was first born and reminisced about having a little tiny baby. Then I came to the pictures of me in labor and any thoughts of having another have gone out the window. Still my heart sinks a little when I think about Helena’s fourth birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was crying all night and keeping me awake. Oh yeah, it was yesterday. Well, she has grown into a sweet little girl who I love and adore but I do miss her as a little baby. The little baby that needed me for everything and never said, “Get away!” or “I do it!” The little baby that weighed 10 lbs instead of 40. The little baby that smelled like soft sweet rose petals instead of a mixture sweat, dirt, and candy. Okay, she didn’t always smell like roses but reminiscing is never accurate.

Happy Birthday Helena. You will always ALWAYS be my baby!

moving day

I plan on making several blog updates but wanted to start with a bit of a rant. I’ve spent the last week moving all my and my children’s crap from one apartment to another half a mile away. In principle, this should be simple or at least I thought it would be simple. I spent a week cleaning stuff out and was so proud that I was organized and really getting rid of a lot of excess stuff I didn’t need. Since I was able to move into the new apartment early, I thought that would also make the process easier. The plan was simple and straight forward. Friday, take a couple loads over in Elton’s van. Saturday, take as much as possible in Elton’s van. Sunday, get a small crew and a rented truck to take the big and heavy stuff and then spend the evening cleaning. Monday, finish cleaning the old apartment. Well, of course, moving never goes as smoothly as planned.

On Friday, Elton and I loaded up the van and took it to the new apartment. When we got there the key cards to the building entrance didn’t work. Fortunately there was someone who let us in but I wasn’t going to risk bringing another load over and not being able to get back in. On Saturday, I woke up early and started loading the van. Helena was a good helper with opening doors and carrying small things. I let Julie sleep in a little. I had loaded up the van for the second trip when it wouldn’t start. I was really worried (and almost hoping) that the van wouldn’t start again. My neighbor jump started the battery and I was able to get it up and going. I took three full loads over on Saturday. While I was hauling, Julie was busy packing up the remainder of our stuff and watching Helena. By 4pm I was exhausted. It felt more like midnight. Still I was feeling confident about my progress and really felt like Sunday’s big haul wouldn’t take long at all.

Sunday came along and my body was so sore from the day before. I planned on getting up early and making one last trip with the van before everyone came over. But my body just said no. I finally managed to get out of bed around 9am. Helena actually slept in that late too which was a miracle. I picked up the truck and just made it back by 10am before moving help was to arrive. Elton arrived first and we started hauling stuff to the truck. Then Stacy and Lisa came. In all my plan had worked, we were able to get the heavy stuff over in two loads and I had the truck back by 1:15pm. Unfortunately, there was still a ton of stuff to finish packing up and take over. Actually spread out through the apartment, it didn’t look like a ton of stuff but it was. By 4pm, my volunteers decided their service was done. I too was exhausted but knew that there was much more to do. So I took a short break and went back to clean. Sunday night I continued packing up the items that remained and started cleaning. At 6:30pm the electricity went out. Again, I was worried (and almost hoping) that it wouldn’t come back on. An hour later it came back on. By 9pm I had finished only my bedroom and bathroom but I was exhausted and went to my new home which was in a state of chaos (and still is).

Monday morning I was so thankful to go to work. I was exhausted and sore. Very rarely do you look forward to going to work on Monday and even more rarely do you pray that the work day would not end. I knew that I had a long night of hauling and cleaning ahead of me. That night Elton came over to help and even with his help, I was there until 1am. I took two car loads of stuff over to the new place and Elton still has some stuff in his van.

Last night I cam home and did nothing. I spent time with my kids who had been abandoned throughout this process. I went to bed at 8pm. I’m still sore, bruised, and tired but I am moved. I’m blogging this so that when I get the idea to move again, I can go back and read this and decide to stay put.