What's Up Friday Night?

Ugh, I'm such a mom. In my pajamas, sitting at the computer while both kids are mini-napping on the couch. Spotify is playing ( Spotlight by Leagues, check it out, it's good stuff). Facebook is apparently broken for the minute.

Facebook is broken?!?!?!

Yeah, so anyway. 7 more days until we are in Seattle. I cannot wait. I am so ready to go. I'm looking at pictures of Pike's, and Puget Sound....I am just....AGH! Excited as hell. Especially because we just had this winter storm and it's still snowing outside. Looking at the weather for WA, yeah, no snow. EVEN BETTER. 

I Have an Announcement

Look, I'm just going to throw this out there. Feel free to catch it if you want, you don't have to. All I am saying is....

Han Solo is a total babe. I mean seriously, look at this face...

And in Empire Strikes Back when he and Leia are all like:

Han Solo: You're trembling. 

Princess Leia: I'm not trembling. 

[Han moves in closer] 
Han Solo: You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life. 
Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men. 
Han Solo: I'm nice men. 
Princess Leia: No, you're not. You're... 
[they kiss] 

You're all like screaming inside and wanting your husband to be all smooth and scoundrelly....if that's a word.  Pretty sure it isn't, but I don't care. Because Han Solo is a babe. 

Scruffy is sexy....

Okay, one more than I am done. 

Boom.

Greetings!

Okay, okay I know. I haven't updated in awhile. I've been busy with goodbyes and trying to pull down decorations around the home before we get moving. So I woke up to this scene this morning:

Hey Mother Nature, You Suck.

More snow! Yippee. The weather forecast last Friday stated we would be 50 in Wednesday and snow this coming Friday. Then it turns into "Winter Storm Wanda" or whatever, and we have 8-12 inches of snow predicted. Effffff. So anyways, we were supposed to have the moving assessment today at 11, but they of course cancelled. I guess we are supposed to do that over the phone now, which I find odd, but oh well. We had to have a plumbing inspection at 1 though, and my drive-way was blocked at the end because of the snow plow that came through. So I thought, I'll go get the shovel, take MJ out and try to shovel the end of the drive. Nope. This snow is soooooooo heavy. So then I decided to go ahead and try the snow blower. In the back of my mind I thought that maybe I shouldn't. What if it breaks? What if I do something to it, and it stops working? Husband will be mad. And then I was like, you know, screw it. This will be my last major snowfall for a couple of years, just do it. 

So I did.

I actually get the machine started, and I'm pumped. Start moving the thing ( and holy hell cats is it ever heavy) and then it stalls. WTF?!? Start pulling the thingie back ( you like my technical words? LOL.) and nothing. One more time....nothing. Okay, one more time. NOTHING. I'm half way down the drive with the massive machine and I have to pull it back in the garage by myself. At this point I'm completely exhausted. So the plumber guy comes and I apologize about my drive way. As he walks around the house and does his thing, I decide to read up on the monster of a snow blower. I decided to give it one more try. Both of the kids were napping at this point, so I got dressed and headed outside. Added more gas, just in case, pushed some magic button on the side and then did the pull thingie again and Voilà IT WORKS! And that was it. I actually used a snow blower for the first time in my life. Didn't bust it, don't break anything on my body or anyone else's. 

I'm really proud. Go ahead and make fun of me, it's okay. Things like this mean a lot to me though just because I've never been the type of person to ever go out and do stuff like that. Having my husband so far away has presented a lot more challenges to me. The first time we moved from SD to MN, he was only four hours away and could come home on the weekends, or even during the week if need be. Since Seattle is obviously quite far away, we don't have that option. That and I also have another kid added to the equation. 

The first 2-3 weeks I fully admit I was a huge baby. It was actually pretty pathetic. I was angry at him, I was angry at the railroad for making him leave us for this new job. I was a brat, and I really gave my husband a hard time. But as the weeks went on, I realized how silly I was acting, and how I should really take this as a learning experience. I feel very accomplished, both with the kids and chores around and outside the house. Yesterday I had both kids with me when I had to take our 65 pound German Shepherd and our cat to the vet for their shots/check-ups. Talk about a trip. Luckily they helped me get everyone packed in at the end, but it was a circus. I thought GSD's were supposed to be bad asses, but mine appears to be a big baby. 

It's hard to believe that Monday everything for our move begins. 

HOLY CRAP WE ARE FINALLY MOVING

How the Eff do these work?!?!

Sometimes I feel stupid because I don't know how to wear one of these. But now...I have 40 ways!

Friday Funny

I would like to be here, please.

Take Me Away, Please. 

HAHAHAHAHA

Rapunzel & Jasmine

Moving Update

We sold our house.
We bought a house.

Our 2nd Home Inspection ( for the buyer) will be next Wednesday. The moving assessment is on the 11th, and then the movers come to get us packed up on April 16,17 & 18. So we should be on our way by either the 18th or 19th, not sure yet.

So many mixed emotions right now. I am really happy to finally be on our way. My family will be together again which will be a God send. I have missed my husband so much, and I know the boys have too. (And the dog.) Moving to the Pacific Northwest is going to be a huge change for this family. Both of my boys have never seen the ocean, or mountain ranges. MJ keeps talking about seeing squids, LOL. It's so funny. Not to mention the new house we purchased is so beautiful. The two most exciting aspects: 1) I have a bath tub in my bathroom. I haven't had my own tub in 5 years. 2) a garbage disposal! LOL!!!! AGH!!!! It is also nice that the laundry room is on the top floor. I may actually get more laundry down now because I don't have to worry about lugging it up two sets of stairs anymore. And although the back yard is small, it is fenced in, which also makes me very happy.

When I asked MJ if he was excited about moving into a new house, he said " No, I want to take this house with us mommy."
That totally broke my heart. Just thinking about how wonderful this home has been to us brings me to tears. It's just a truly amazing home. Looking back on the two years we have been here, yes, we have had some rough spots. But compared to the bigger things in our lives ( the children, our family, our friends, our neighborhood, this town, etc) we have been incredibly blessed. So many great memories have been made in this home, one of them being our little Beans, who was born last January. This home has created so much comfort for this family, and everything about it will be missed so much. When DH had told me that we would be moving to Minnesota, I was mortified. I didn't want to go. A few years beforehand when we moved to South Dakota, we had to take a trip to MN for a meeting of his. Little did we know that the town we were visiting would be our home a few years down the road. I swear to you I have never seen a blizzard like the one we endured on the way there. I thought we were going to die! We were driving 35 on the highway during a ground blizzard, and you would see cars & semi's fly right past us like nothing. I never wanted to go back. And when we did go to look for houses, and we had to trudge through 10 feet of snow to reach a front door of a house, I remember thinking....I can't live in this. I hate snow!
Turns out, it's worth every inch of snow. This town is so beautiful both winter, spring, summer and fall time. The lakes that surround you are so beautiful to look at. We spent time on a number of them, fishing, swimming or just scanning their waters. We've camped, we've hiked. It's just been a wonderful experience. I will miss this place. The winters....ehhhhhh, not so much.

Because we move so much, it's been hard for me to make any friendships. When we moved to SD, I didn't friend anyone. I was scared for a number of reasons. One, I knew we wouldn't be there for long ( even though it was almost for three years). Two, I was horribly awkward at making friends with people. I never used to be that way, but after years being trapped in a really bad relationship and losing myself, I had to build everything back up to where it was and it was difficult. I spent the first year here without any friends either. During last summer though, I ran into one of our neighbors who also has two little ones, both girls. She invited me to join MOPs ( Mothers of Preschoolers)  And it was the best decision I ever made. I made friends, the boys made friends. I learned so much more about myself, my faith, and that I'm too hard on myself as a mother. It was great to learn that I'm not alone when it comes to being frustrated or screwing little things up as a mom. I've met so many wonderful women through this group, and I am very proud to call them my friends. I wish I had known about the group sooner, life has it's reasons. I will miss each and every one of them and their kids. I do plan on joining a local MOPs group when we move out there.

I guess that's it for now. I might be back later today, we'll see. Hope everyone has a great day! It's almost the weekend!!!

Truth for the Day

Soon....

I will be seeing you soon Seattle.

Very soon.

We could very well be in Seattle before May. I am so excited, because I am soooooo sick of the weather here. 

Thanks to Carrie for the photo

It is supposed to be 52 here tomorrow. That's bathing suit weather for my town, LOL. When it hits 30, people are already in shorts. And if you think I'm joking, you are sadly mistaken. My neighbor was walking her dog the other day, it was 37 degrees out, and she was wearing a t-shirt and capri pants. I have no much cleaning to do, and it mostly consists of getting rid of stuff we can't ( okay, that I don't want to) take with us. So much junk accumulated over the two years of living here. We are going to go from a 3900 sq.ft. house to a 2900 sq.ft. home. First world problems, yes I know, but we have too much furniture for this next house ( if it's the one we settle on). 

Hopefully should be hearing news about the house we put an offer on by the end of the night. I hope we get it, because although I want to get out of here, I don't want to be stuck in a one bedroom rental with two toddlers for more than a week without our belongings. 

I felt better today. Yesterday was so rough. I miss my husband so, so,so much. And I know both of the kids do too. I'm thinking it is part of the reason MJ has been acting out so much. When I finally got to talk to my husband last night ( 11:00 my time) I sat on the phone and just cried for about 20 minutes, explaining to him how I my day was and how I am feeling about having no one in this house, including the dog, listening to me. The dog is my biggest problem. I can deal with the kids being crazy. But the dog...whole other ball game. We've had him since October, and I have no connection with him whatsoever. He's a German Shepherd and probably one of the dumbest animals I have ever encountered. Yes, I know he's a puppy still and hopefully by the time he's an adult he will be better. But for now, it has been too much stress on me to train him along with raising two little guys. My biggest issue with him is how he constantly goes after the cat. This is not a small dog. 8 months old and he's a giant. But like most big dogs, his brain doesn't tell him that he's a big boy. He still thinks he's this mini shepherd. So whenever the cat so much as flinches, he's up and at her like a maniac. Knocking over end tables, sliding into my China hutch and knocking glasses off of there. I've had to put so many of my decorations/lamps in to storage because they would be busted too. I have tried every trick in the book to get him to stop, and he just won't. She's been around 4 dogs in her 8 years of life. And none of them ( one of them bigger than him) has ever acted like this with her. He will need training, or I am going to go gray before I'm 35. The only upside to him, is that the boys absolutely adore him, and he loves them right back. They use him as a pillow, as a chair, they hug & kiss him and he protects them like they were his own. And they pretty much are. He and I just don't see eye to eye. 

Justified is on tonight. 

Cross your fingers for good news. 

Frustrated.

Sometimes I feel like all I do is repeat myself to my children. That nothing ever gets done the first time I ask them to do something. When I get frustrated, Or even mad...I feel like the worst person on earth. Not having my husband around to help keep the peace makes it even worse. And I'm stuck wondering again how single parents do it. I'm about to lose my.mind.
I don't want to have my children look back at their mother and think " all she did was yell." I just don't. And I know I'm not alone in this, but when it is happening it makes me feel like I'm the worst mother on earth because 1) my kids don't listen at all 2) all I do is yell or tell them no or get frustrated.
I know they are young and being defiant comes with the territory. But my gosh, I can't even count how many times I asked MJ to stop jumping on the couch, or just stop for five minutes and relax while I am trying to feed his brother or even get dinner made for us. Right now I'm in bed and he is next to me and he still isn't stopping. Quiet time for me is non-existant. Sleep has been non-existant. I'm pissed that I haven't even talked to my husband tonight and I just want to have an adult conversation that doesn't deal with Max & Ruby or Star Wars.
I'm sure some of you probably feel like I'm whining, and I know that I am. This is parenthood: ding,ding,ding. Welcome to the crazy world.that you created...literally. I would never, ever change it or ask to.change it. But that doesn't mean it won't drive me bonkers once in awhile.