Wordless Wednesday: Racoon traversing the lake

stress is not fun

The members of this house are obviously picking up on my lack of sleep, caffiene and increasing levels of stress as move day approaches.

Bean has spent the morning running around and randomly throwing whatever she can into boxes to help Momma pack. She's obvioously stressing that her possessions will be left behind, which I can deal with. It's just that my sorting tasks have reached an exponential level, what with having to finish cleaning out the attic, garage, purging, and now, cleaning up and re-sorting whatever the Bean has decided to "pack" throughout the house.

SO, I'm not liking how I'm not fun Momma and have degraded to making the kids sit infront of the telly while I cross things off my to-do lists.

OK, pity party over. Kids abed and I need to begin re-cleaning the kitchen, livingroom and playroom.

Tranqulity will resume after the move, right?

Doll Beds, T-Shirt Dresses and the Bean as a Gas Passer

I was looking back at my meagre attempt at blogging last night and realized that the whole point for this blog was originally to keep me honest about the stuff I make. Sadly, it hasn't worked. So, here I am, fessing up, with pictures!

The Bean had tubes put in her ears today and desperately wanted to take her Little Einstein figurines with her (the girls only) and pulled out a tiny "treasure" basket that I had given her to play with. Creative little legume that my daughter is, she placed Annie and June in either side of the basket and told them to go "night-night" and the doctor would make the "boo-boo in the ear" all better. Running with her imagination, I pulled out my scrap bin and the two of us dug in and made actual beds.

Now, she's asking me to make a tent and sleeping bag for her Leo figure.

It's officially time to make with the two t-shirt dresses I've completed. The Redbird dress was created for the Bean to wear to her buddy G's baseball games. Unfortunately, due to Bean's crappy ears, we never made it to a game, but the mascot dress was created.

The boat dress was completely inspired by the applique - which I can't take any credit for. Naughty me, I bought it. But the ribbon waves was all me!

Bean's third dress, is currently in progress and I really can't find a valid excuse to not pack for the move and work on it... SO, if anyone out there can help me justify an afternoon off so I can finish the dang thing during the kids' naps, please, let me know. Packing is terribly tedious.

And the final thing to tell you, dear reader, is that the Bean successfully underwent the dreaded "tubes in the ear" procedure. Due to our "proximity" (rolling eyes) to the hospital, we were up at 4 this morning (after being kept awake by the fawn baying at her Momma in the back yard at 2 am). I woke Bean up, changed her out of her jams and put her in the car seat... she sang the ABC Song to "wake the sun up" the entire hour drive to the hospital. She loved the hospital gown (picture coming - once I get it off my phone) and how the blood pressure cuff was "a balloon that give the arm hugs." The ride on my lap in the wheelchair was par-excellence. When it came time to go into the operating room with me, Bean started getting anxious. The operating lights freaked her out and there was no way that she was getting on that table - smart kid! But with some coaxing (and her arms around my neck) she eased herself off my lap and sat on the table. The anesthesiologist gave her special "stickers" (heart monitor leads) and brought out the mask. The gas mask was one of the things the Bean was prepared for. She took it from the anesthesiologist and placed it over her face and said "Bean do it all by my self!"

As her ENT escorted me out of the operating room, he actually offered me a job - educating families and preparing children for surgeries. He said he's never seen a child more eager for anesthesia in his life.

Perfect summer evening

Our summer welcome?

A family walk picking blueberries along the way - that is, after we stripped the bushes in the back yard. It is also a good way to begin our farewell to our current home.

Along the way this evening, the kids picked flowers and threw stones in the lake behind the house.

After gorging on blueberries (for the second time today!), we meandered back home and ran into a Momma deer and her two nursing fawns. It is going to be hard to transition from this to 4,000 square feet of yard.

Moving, Purging and Adventures Ahead

The Bean's dress(es) are currently on hold - yet one more project on the back burner - but this time it is not by choice. Papa Bear and I just returned from house hunting in the Bay Area of San Francisco! It was my first time apart from the kids, which in and of its self is a *huge* milestone. It was also my first time exploring the Bay Area as an adult. What a cool place! But my gosh, it is going to be a HUGE change for us all.

The short of the situation is this: I have less than a month before the movers come, the house isn't even on the market yet, and we haven't yet finished the remodeling projects we initiated 3+ years ago. Needless to say, the stress level is high here. I'm in the process of sorting through my teaching materials (which were never unpacked from our move east 5 years ago), purging *everything* and trying to prioritize what is going with us to our corporate housing (for 2 months), what will arrive in our temporary rental and what can wait until we buy a house (once our current home sells). To top it all off, our normal life is supposed to continue as normal = the Bean is getting tubes in her ears on Tuesday and our IEP meeting is conveniently scheduled for the second (of three) days the movers are here.

I'm trying my best not to think about the good friends that we're leaving behind, or my flowers, the Bean's innumerable plans she started this winter as seeds or our breathtaking property and all of its resident bears, fox, coyote, eagles and myriad of songbirds. Not to mention the heart break of finishing up my dream playroom/office, pantry/laundry room and fireplace the week before we leave.

Instead, I'm attempting to focus on all that the bay area has to offer our young family. Attempting.