House pics

I can only get 5 pics to a post. Top to bottom: family room in basement, Shay on stairs from deck off 1st floor to patio at basement, back of the house, deck off living room, lake in backyard.

The new house

From top to bottom is Christian's room, kitchen, living room, view from Shay's window, front of house.

Stressed

Ay-yi-yi! I am overwhelmed by life at the moment. Just when I'd thought things were falling into place nicely, they all fell apart! Luckily I'm a fatalist...I always expect things to go wrong :) Then whenever they do go well, I'm incredibly surprised! LOL!
Our landlord has family members moving into the place we're currently renting on January 1st. We had found a house but it fell through. We've now found a bigger and better house and are waiting to hear back on our application. We have to be out of here in 2 weeks and at the moment we don't know for sure where we'll be going. If we don't know before this Friday, the kids will leave their old school without knowing which new school they'll be attending.
My not working for 2 months combined with my not receiving any child support in 4 months has made for a difficult financial situation. The kids are wonderful and understanding. They know this won't be a typical Christmas and they won't be getting much from us. We still haven't been able to take son's puppy or daughter's kitten to the vet for their shots and to be fixed. To top off the financial woes, my car is making really bad noises. When it rains it pours, eh?
I do have some comic relief. Right now Frisky the kitten is in heat and driving us all batty. My 10 yr old FIXED male cat Moe keeps trying to shut her up by humping her. He was fixed at 6 months and has no clue what he's trying to do, and it is hilarious to watch! Frisky & Moe both look so confused afterwards. Their instincts didn't come with any instruction manuals! LOL!
Keep us all in your Upward thoughts as we try to make this move as easy as possible on the kids. So far it's not going so hot! Which means it HAS to get better!

I should be packing!

I've been busy! Since my last post we have found a house and started packing and cleaning ...plus decorated for C-mas! We're doing our family C-mas on the 21st. Then the kids will go to their dad's on the 23rd and spend the week. I will pack the kids' rooms while they are away. Snow shovel & wide boxes :)
Next week I have to get the kids' school info and medical & dental records gathered up. Our first week in the new town will be hectic as I get the kids into school and find places we can hang out and meet people. Just thinkin' about my massive to~do list is wearin' me out!
It's getting colder and darker every morning. This has encouraged field mice to come in and play with the cats. JoJo and Frisky are like siblings fighting over a toy when they have a mouse. Frisky figured out how to put the mouse in a box and play with it longer. I triple~checked all my boxes before I sealed them LOL! My walls are so bare, shelves are emptied, no moose in sight! The C-mas tree looks great though!
Gotta get motivated and into the shower. Doing lunch with a friend today. Been a while since I had a girls date!

For real this time! A FINAL date!

Okay. Hubby's boss has given him a "move by" date. We've notified the landlord and I've made final appointments for the kids with all their doctors so I can fill out paperwork to move records with us. They'll be done with all that by January 13th and I can start finding new doctors! Always fun! At least we aren't moving out of Kentucky so their insurance will remain the same. They both have to get braces started as soon as we move. As of February 1st we will be in our new place! Now to FIND a new place..... LOL!
Changing schools should be pretty painless IEP wise. (Individual Education Plan, for Christian) My little brother's wife works in the school system and has a friend who worked in the school system where we're moving to. She's going to help us make sure that Christian gets the right placement.
Next Monday we're letting the kids skip school so we can take them house hunting and to check out the schools and stuff. We have to figure out where the parks and trails are. Sharayah and I will miss Freeman Lake and the hiking trails. Plus we have to find the shortcut to Wal-Mart :)
But now it's time to snuggle up with hubby and watch some TV. I'd like to leave you with a thought. But I haven't got one.

Charquil is now 6 months old!

My sweet baby boy is now about 65 lbs! LOL! He's still loveable and exciteable and suffers from ADHD, as do all puppies. The only reason that green couch still has intact cushions is because they're attached. Charquil ate the 8 cushions off the other 2 couches and a loveseat. No wonder he's HUGE, he eats furniture, basketballs, a volleyball and aluminum cans.

The move......and moving on

We move after Christmas. Two months to find a place and do what we can to move over C-mas break. I wish I could take my landlord with me. And my parents. And Stef. A new opportunity awaits, I shall try and be positive!

I guess I'll cut back to 2 days a week at work. I'll need the extra time to get things re-packed (didn't I JUST get UNpacked?!?) And I gotta figure out how to fix the Angel-damage to the doorframes that she's shredded. I am going through one of my cycles of "my job really sucks and I don't get paid enough for this crap" lately. Maybe I should go ahead and cut back to ZERO days a week! LOL! I'm looking forward to seeing more of my hubby once we move! I could start easing into that now.

Tomorrow I'll start packing up things we won't need until after C-mas. And figure out how to move 6 cats and a ginormous dog. Maybe rent a van and each animal gets its own cage? Or maybe the 3 feral cats move to Mom & Dad's to finish out their lives? Can the dog be fed-exed? Of course in another 2 months Charquil may be big enough to pull a trailer!

The cats have declared that it's bedtime. My baby is in her usual spot (on my laptop and my arm), Frisky is sprawled out along the back of the laptop, Moe is beside the bed and Angel is guarding the bedroom door. All four are snoozin' happily. Two of them are snoring :) Hard work to be a cat! They killed a 2nd mouse this morning. They deserve their slumber. As do I!