So, there it is folks: the reason I’ve been MIA the past 2 months. I have missed writing, I have missed seeing posts from friends, I have missed taking lunch breaks or actually getting to spend a weekend at home doing nothing. In general, I feel like I have been missing LIFE these past months! While most were busy trimming the tree and enjoying Christmas parties, Mike and I have been assembling boxes of our life to be moved into storage in just 3 days. Needless to say, the end of this year has just been chaotic.
Now that the rumors as to why I disappeared for so long have been put to rest, I’m sure you are wondering why on earth Mike and I would make the decision to move at Christmas. With a toddler. And speaking of those rumors, my favorites were:
1. We were tied up in our garage and couldn’t communicate with the world. Thank you, Carolynn for reaching out to make sure this one wasn’t true. At least ONE of you tried to make sure we were still alive. ;)
2. We were getting ready for another baby. If this one were true, this post would be more about how my husband had had a stroke over the mere mention of another Miniature Milligan and I would be including an address where you could send meals or checks.
Okay, so here’s the why behind all of this and in order to tell it, I need to back up just a bit:
About four months ago, I got a REAL JOB. For the first time in about 5 years, I started reporting into an office where I have set hours and a boss that sees to it that I keep those hours. The job change was my choice and it was one I was happy to make. After spending some time in the non-profit sector, I was ready to take on Corporate America again. BUT, that meant a big change for me. I haven’t had to really report in in quite some time and my previous jobs have allowed me a lot of flexibility. Up until August of this year, I have been able to take care of nearly all of our household activities (making sure that groceries were bought, birthday gifts wrapped, doctor appointments made, dinner ready, etc.). With this new gig, all of that came to nearly a screeching halt.
The first big hurdle is that my new office is 25 miles away from home. That equates to about 45 minutes here in DFW. The second is that Mike was also commuting nearly 40 miles away from home. The poor man has done that for more than 2 years and it wouldn’t have been a huge deal if I also had not had to be away from home so much. Here’s a little sample of our schedule for the last four months:
5:00 a.m. Alarm goes off. Curse at alarm. Wonder if I will ever feel rested ever again.
5:15 a.m. I go to the gym, Mike gets ready for work
6:30 a.m. I get home from the gym, Mike leaves for work
6:30-7:30 a.m. I get ready for work, praying that I have 5 minutes of solitude in the shower before The Boss Lady signals me.
7:30-9:00 a.m. Make breakfast for me and The Boss Lady, read books, play with baby dolls, do laundry, morning errands, get dinner prepped, etc.
9:00 a.m. Leave for work and Oli’s daycare
9:40 a.m. Drop Oli off
10:00 a.m. Start work (I work a 10-7 shift)
5:00 p.m. Mike gets off
5:30 p.m. Mike picks Oli up from daycare
6:30—7 p.m. Mike and Oli get home and start dinner
7:00 p.m. I leave work
7:45 p.m. I get home and we eat
8:30 p.m. Mike gives Oli a bath while I clean the kitchen
9:00 p.m. We beg The Boss Lady to PLEASE go to sleep
9:00 p.m. Mike leaves for the gym
10-11 p.m. We crawl/stumble/fall into bed
About 2 months into this complete INSANITY, I told Mike at dinner that I thought we should consider putting the house up for sale and moving closer to work and family. I wasn’t sure how this would go over. I mean the poor guy had been doing this for 2 years without a single complaint and here I had only been doing it for 2 months and I was about to fall over dead. He looked relieved though and said he had been thinking about it too.
We got a realtor, put a nifty For Sale sign in the front yard and waited. That was around the first of October. We fully anticipated being in this waiting mode for about 6 months, possibly even a year. We were shocked when we received a call from our realtor on November 20 that we had an offer. And the offer was in line with what we were asking for the house! We were cautious at first because we weren’t quite sure this was all really going to happen.
We spent Thanksgiving weekend packing and moving furniture to accommodate our ever growing stack of boxes. We’ve been packing every weekend since. And the pile keeps growing. Do you have any idea how much CRAP you accumulate in a house after 8 years??
Oh, and can you imagine the fun of packing with a 16 month old?? Olivia has actually been a really good sport about all of this but the poor kid just cannot understand why she’s not allowed to climb the new Box Jungle Gym we’ve installed in the dining room. She did really well looking at homes and she’s been a champ but I’m ready to be able to spend mornings relaxing with my girl instead of packing or running moving related errands. This morning, she kept trying to hand me books and bubbles as I was packing up her room and I just felt like crying because I couldn’t stop to spend time with her.
And, oh, yes, the BIGGEST holiday of the year was going on the whole time. Every year since Mike and I have been together, we have decorated our home from top to bottom and really made Christmas great. This year, our house looked like a bomb exploded. Where there is normally a Christmas tree in my dining room, there is now a mountain of boxes. Instead of lights on the outside of the house we still have our flippin’ fall décor out. Seriously this season has just not been the same. Luckily, Oli doesn’t have a clue what day it is so I guess it’s better that this all happened this year than in a year where she knows how this whole Christmas gig works.
Amid all of the excitement of packing, we were also anxious to find another place to live. The second weekend in December, we started looking for homes and at the end of the third weekend, we found the one we wanted, put down and offer, and signed a contract. Though we didn’t set out for this, the home is actually kind of our dream home. We initially just wanted a place we could be comfortable in for the next 10 years but we ended up finding a home that we LOVE and that can grow with us (this is NOT a clue about another baby!).
The only downside is that we don’t close on the new home until the end of January and we have to be out of our current home by January 2. We’ll be keeping our belongings in storage and spending the month of January in the Bahamas. Ha ha, yeah right. We’ll be staying with my sister, Michelle and bro-in-law Michael, who to my delight (and I’m pretty sure theirs), live just 3 miles from our new house! We are so thankful to them for opening their home to us and we are especially thankful that this time next week, we’ll no longer have these ridiculous commutes!
So, here we are, less than 24 hours from us signing the title of our home over to a new owner (Her closing date is December 29 but we don’t have to be out until January 2). I am nervous, excited, and a tiny bit sad about leaving the place I have called home for nearly 7 years. It is the place where my husband proposed and where we brought our daughter home. It is the place where we have hosted 6 years of Thanksgiving dinners, a multitude of cook outs, patio parties, and Sunday Fundays. It is the place that has been my comfort zone, my safe haven, my HOME.
Tomorrow we begin a new journey. A journey that includes a month of homelessness (ha!) and a new home in a new neighborhood with new memories waiting for us. Since our new digs come complete with a swimming pool (American Dream, anyone?), we plan to re-start Sunday Funday beginning February 5.
I’m still reeling a little from all of this and the crazy isn’t over yet but I can’t believe I GOT A FRIGGIN’ HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS!!! Pretty cool, right?? I’ll be honest though. I’m a little at the end of my rope with all of this moving nonsense. It’s a good thing we found our dream home because I am NEVER MOVING AGAIN!! This morning I actually cried because I am just maxed out.
The good news is that this will all be over on Saturday when the movers get our stuff and take it into storage. Well, at least it’ll be over for a month until we do it all again moving into the new place! No worries though, Sunday Funday is just around the corner. I can taste the margaritas already...
