I have arrived! Well, that's what my GPS said. We've arrived at our new home safe and sound. Unpacked the moving truck, and had the internet installed already. and we just got her yesterday. Boy am I tired. 2 days on the road, right into unpacking the truck and moving boxes and furniture. Next time I move, I'm hiring someone else to do all the heavy lifting!!!!

OK, keeping this one short, a lot to do still.

Until next time,

The Blogoholic

Freak Out Avoided

OK, breathing easier now. Totally blew the issue with the house out of proportion. Rental Agent had me freaking out with her comments. All is well and we move into our new place in less than 2 weeks.

My son has just graduated 8th grade, and will be starting high school in the fall. In a new city, in a new state. He's looking forward to it, but I don't think he is fully aware of how hard it is going to be moving away from the family. He's been surrounded by family all his life (as have I), and this is a big change for us all. It's a good thing, but kinda scary at the same time.

Add that to the fact that he's been home schooled for the last 3 1/2 years, and he's got one more hurdle to overcome this year. We're going to be trying a couple programs for him to do some studying and improving over the summer in hopes that he will be more mentally prepared for the new school. I'll be doing a review for one of them that we will be starting shortly and will write about our experiences with it here.

In the mean time, we still have a lot of packing to do. Need to pack up the truck in 9 days.

Until next time,

The Blogoholic

We're Moving! . . . maybe

That's right, we're moving. Not the blog, I mean really moving. Like many people out there, we've been struggling financially and for the last couple months haven't been able to keep up with our mortgage payment. So, we've put the place on the market for a short sale. We'll be moving out of state and fulfilling our dream.

So, we've been scouring rental websites, my husband has been spending a lot of time on the phone to various rental management companies, and we've found several places we like. The other day we found one that was just about perfect, so we jumped on it and sent our application right in. It's a lovely place on a court, 4 bedrooms, about 500 sq ft bigger than the place we have now. There's a huge backyard perfect for our girls (the 4 legged kind that bark). Got the call yesterday that we were approved and needed to send in the security deposit. Getting ready to run to the bank for a cashier's check I got another call. "Oops, wait a sec, what about this mortgage payment we see?" Well, that's the house we're selling through a Short Sale process. "Oh, I didn't know that. Can you call *** at our main office and tell her that and make sure that is still ok?" WHAT!!! We stopped even considering any other places. I told my friends and family that we got the place. Showed them pictures. Posted it to my FaceBook account, and now they tell me "fooled ya, ha, ha, neener, neener, neener. You don't really have the house yet." Is it just me or is that totally ****** up? Not fair to tell us yes, then say "well maybe not." And of course the lady at their main office isn't there when I call. Her message says to give her 24 hours to call back. My sanity won't hold on for 24 hours! I'm going to lose my freaking mind by then. It's bad enough we lost all the equity we had in our house, that we have to move out on short notice, and I'm stressing out about that. A 2 day drive, with me, my son and our girls in my SUV and my husband in the moving truck driving half way across the country. Trying to find a hotel half way through that will let 2 big dogs stay in the room, and another in town since we'll arrive late on a Sunday. Stretching the money we've managed to save not paying the mortgage for a couple months plus my tax returns to pay the security deposit, 1st month's rent, the moving truck, and all the necessities we'll have to get as soon as we arrive. No, that's not enough stress to pile on one person. Don't be silly. Lets taunt you with the possibility of not getting the rental house we already told you that you have. I hope they're getting a good laugh out of this.

If I wasn't so against using alcohol to self-medicate, I'd go get a bottle of coconut rum and get schnockered! But that little voice in my head that tells me alcoholism is hereditary just won't let me drink to feel better. I'll get into that another time.

This is so frustrating. It's affecting my work, I can't convince myself to finish packing and getting the house ready to show. I have a short temper and keep snapping at my son (sorry kiddo). I feel tears burning the back of my eyes that won't fall, which is giving me a headache. I can hardly eat even though I'm hungry. And I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep for a week until it's all over. I don't feel like myself. For the first time that I can ever remember my mind isn't churning thought after thought. In fact, I can hardly keep a coherent thought in my mind at all.

I am trying to convince myself that I'm worrying over nothing. But what better to worry about than the future of my family? The very roof over our heads? Not quite ready to live in my car thank you very much. It's not like we can't afford the place. I make almost 5 times what the rent is on the place we're getting. I budgeted it so that we'd be able to put at least $400 in savings every month, and that's just my salary! Doesn't include anything my husband makes from whatever job he manages to get. Doesn't include anything I make off my home based business. I don't see the problem? The rent is $650 less a month than our mortgage. Come on people! Cut us a little slack, we're trying!

I'd like to say that's the end of my personal pity party, but I think I'll sit around and feel sorry for myself a little longer. At least for a couple more hours, I'll shake it off before my son's 8th grade graduation tonight. No point in feeling like this during such an important time for him. So I'll take all the sorry, worry, stress, and anger and tuck it into a tight little ball to store in a tightly locked box in the back of my mind, and give him the proud mama he deserves to have at his graduation. After all, you only graduate from 8th grade once.

So I'll go take a few deep breaths and maybe go grab a Starbucks coffee or a chocolate candy bar. And try not to totally go off the deep end until I hear back. Wish me luck.

Until next time,

The Blogoholic

Telecommuter

OK, I won't complain about being underpaid anymore. I talked to my boss about my impending move and the possibility of telecommuting. Here's how it went.

We were in his office with several other people having a meeting. The meeting ended and everyone else left. We were going to step right into another meeting with the new department Executive Assistant, when I said "Before you pull her in, can I talk to you?" His face reflected a little concern when he said sure and motioned for me to sit at the conference table. I took a deep breath not knowing how he would react to what I was about to say.

Not sure how to start, I just came out with it. "I'm moving." His face dropped. Shock at the suddenness was evident, as well as a minor freaking out knowing that I'm the only person in the company familiar enough with the system I manage, to actually manage it. Seeing his dismay, I felt it might work out. So I threw in, "and I'd like to talk to you about working from home full time instead of part time."

Relief flooded his face, and I almost smiled. He was more than happy to allow me to work from home full time. His only question was where was I moving to to be sure I was at least close to one of our locations (there's actually 3 in the city we're moving to, so no worries.)

One problem down, now I just need to get the house on a short sale, get out of it, and make the 2 day drive half way across the country. Not to mention finding a place to rent, and getting approved. and the hardest part, telling my family that we're actually moving. after 10 years of telling them we would be in the future, I don't think they believe it would ever happen.

Luckily DB & GB are excited about the idea and can't wait. Now that we've made the decision and finalized the difficult stuff, I feel like a load has been lifted from my shoulders. I'm happier and more relaxed than I have been in a long time.

Until next time,

The Blogoholic

Give-It-Away Linky Day

I love giveaways, don't you? Well, here's a great place to find them or list your own. Here's the next edition of the Sunday link up. Come back often, check out the giveaways to enter and list your new ones.

Until next time,

The Blogoholic