Moving....

It's getting closer to the time that Nicole and I are going to have to pack up our house for the move. I'm dreading it. I keep trying to look at the bright side, that we will get the chance to declutter and start fresh. That we will have a smaller home, which seems easier to keep clean (at least in my mind), that we will get rid of all the things we don't need. But moving is such a stressful undertaking. I almost wish we could find the perfect house, move what we want to move and throw everything else in a giant dumpster and be done with it. I'm hoping to have a garage sale to rid of some things, and make some money for the move. I'll be donating a lot of stuff to Goodwill because I have a lot of clothes that don't fit me and if I were to ever actually lose the weight I want to lose, the clothes wouldn't really be in style anymore. There's no need to move them. I have some things I'd like to freecycle or give away and there are a lot of things that just need to be thrown away. Bill has taken most of his things to Oregon, but there are still many things in the house that belong to him that we have to either have him take, or have him store. I don't want to have a house full of unnecessary stuff. I want it to be clean and organized!

I guess the best we can do is start slow and move forward and hope that it all goes as smootly as it can.

Shooting Stars...

Last night, my daughter went for a walk with a BOY! They went up and sat on the levee and watched the meteor shower. Dear God...When did my daughter start liking boys!? I'm doomed.

I Wonder......

I wonder how my husband got to be 56 years old without managing to become self-sufficient? It's interesting that when he was planning his move to Oregon, he was really concerned about how Nicole and I would do without him. He put off leaving for several days because he feared we would not be OK. I kept assuring him that we would be just fine. We have, in fact, been just fine. I've managed to get on with my daily life, even without his constant nagging and complaining and the complete absence of nasty-grams left on post-it notes in various places around the house. Bill however.....he seems to be having a tough time. Let's go over a sampling of some of the things he has either called, emailed or text me about:

He couldn't remember where he left his wallet from the night before.
I think this was the part where I was supposed to magically know where he left it, even from 500 miles away.

He decided he wanted to get goats so he wouldn't have to mow the meadow, or hire someone else to mow it. He wanted me to check craigslist because he had no idea how much goats cost. He figured he would just tie them to a tree with a long rope and they would eat the meadow and life would be wonderful.
This is the part where I suggested he go to the library (he doesn't have Internet access at the house yet) and research goats before he goes out and buys a few. I also told him, that my limited amount of knowledge on the subject of goats, was that they would eat ANYTHING, including the "ropes" he intended to tie them to. I don't think goat farming is as easy as picking up a cat to get rid of your mice.

He couldn't figure out how to get his margin right on a Word document and wanted me to give him step-by-step instructions on how to get his entire document to line up the way he wanted it.
First...I have been using Word 2003 for a long time. He was using Word 2007. which I also have, but I hate it. Why can't Microsoft just leave stuff alone? Anyway...I tried to help him, but I was at work at the time and I didn't have a ton of time to walk him through it and try to get a document (that I couldn't even see) to look like he wanted it to look. He got mad, and said "FINE". Like I really did know how to fix it but just wanted him to suffer.

Every night when we talk he has to get his "Julie List" with a list of things he's thought of throughout the day that he either needs to tell me or needs me to do for him.
I'm still working 40 hours a week, raising a teenage daughter, taking care of the house and the dogs. Seriously, the man is retired. Why is he still so much work??

Remember When Summer Meant Vacation?

So here we are in August. I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly and it seems like I haven't seen much of Nicole. She's off doing fun summer stuff with her friends. Remember those days? When summer meant 3 whole months of just playing around with friends? Nicole went to Orlando for 10 days and had a great time with her BFF and family. She liked Epcot Center best. She tried all new kinds of foods and didn't do the vegan thing while she was there. She came home late on Thursday of last week and left Friday morning to spend some time with her Dad. She'll be home tomorrow and then she's going to Lake Tahoe for the weekend with the same BFF that she went to Orlando with. That's the way summer should be. Carefree and fun!

Still Nothing.....

It's been almost a month since my last blog. There isn't really anything interesting going on in my life but I'll do a quick update, just so i don't forget to keep blogging away....

1. Bill finally left for Oregon on the 16th of June. He left a BUNCH of his stuff and the house is still in complete disarray! My plan of getting it all cleaned up seems to have been put on the back burner in favor of doing absolutely nothing.

2. Nicole finished out her Freshman year of high school and her grades were great! She is now going to a voluntary summer school program for 4 weeks designed to prep the incoming Sophomores for AP World History next year. The worst part about this is that the class is being held at the University and it's a pain in the butt to get her there and back for the 9:00 - 2:00 class every day. Seems like all the stay at home Moms got carpools together and we couldn't find a ride buddy for Nicole. So she comes to work with me at 7:30, we leave work at 8:30 to take her to class and then I wait to take my lunch break until 2:00 so I can pick her up, take her home, and get back to work by 3:00. It's killing me in gas costs! Luckily we only have 4 days left after today.

3. Nicole is leaving on the 20th to go to Disney world for 10 days! She's going with her BFF and her family and I know she's going to have LOADS of fun!

4. My cousin Nick and his girlfriend, who were living in Portland, OR, are staying with us until the middle or end of August. They also brought their chihuahua. They're also vegan. Yeah....VEGAN! No meat, dairy, eggs not even HONEY! Haven't they seen The Bee Movie?? Do you know what happens when the bees stop making honey? The health of the whole world is at stake here! Anyway....they cook every night and have made some really awesome vegan meals. I can't complain about any of the cooking, it's fabulous! The only problems...I personally am an omnivore, as it turns out and my daughter has decided that she is Vegan. I'm pushing extra vitamins and calcium on her like a crack dealer. I'm also trying to convince her that she should switch to vegetarian when Nick and Rose leave because I NEED MEAT AND CHEESE! The chihuahua and my pit bull do add hours of free entertainment for us, however. That tiny dog walked into our house, laid down the law and the pit bull has obeyed her ever since. It's quite comical. My black lab could really care less about either of the other dogs and just wants to be left alone.

5. I cut off almost all of my hair, about 10 inches. I donated the bulk of it to Locks of Love I figured, since I'm quickly closing in on 40 years old, I just looked silly with such long hair. I really like it!

6. In 10 days I'm going to Vegas and I can't wait to have a 4 day weekend of fun with my friends! I'm so ready to have a vacation!! I've been working my butt off at work to get everything caught up by then.

I think that's all the goods on us for now.

Getting Closer

The UHaul has been picked up and moved into the driveway. I think that means my husband is getting closer to his departure date, but it's hard to tell with him. It doesn't seem like he's packed near enough stuff, yet the house is starting to look empty. I don't ask when he plans to leave because he always accuses me of nagging when I do. And I'm am the least naggy spouse EVER!

I've put off cleaning lately because cleaning while someone is moving just doesn't work. This weekend I plan to completely clean the house! Reorganize, re-arrange, dust, vacuum.....Just the thought of a completely clean house makes me giddy!

Nicole will be going to stay with her Dad this weekend, we bought his Father's Day gifts yesterday. So I could, conceivably, have the whole weekend completely alone! I can't wait to bask in the silence. Now if I can just stay awake!

The Long Haul

My husband is officially retired. After 30 years in public education, both as a teacher and a school counselor, he has finished his career. I can't even begin to imagine the number of children, whose lives he touched. And now, at the relatively young age of 56 he gets to begin his life again.

Last year around this time we bought a house on the Oregon Coast. It's such a beautiful pieces of property. Twelve acres of forest and grass and you can hear the ocean from the deck, even if we can't actually see it from there. It's so quiet, magnificent and peaceful. It's cool in the summer and not too cold in the winter. We bought this house so that my husband could move there when he retired. We made this plan years ago. Knowing he would retire before my daughter would graduate from high school, we knew that he would go alone, until Nicole was ready to go to college.

So, here we are....My husband is moving to Oregon soon. He was planning to leave on Monday, but he has never been on time in his life. When he said the 7th of June my daughter and I started making bets....I said the 10th, Nicole said the 14th. Suffice it to say that he hasn't even started packing yet, so the 7th is clearly not the day. Nicole may have even been giving the benefit of the doubt when she gave him an entire week more than he had planned.

I wonder what the house will look like with of all his things gone. We have lived in our house for 8 years and a family can accumulate a lot of stuff in 8 years that really isn't necessary. Since Nicole and I will be moving to a smaller house soon, we really will have to downsize. I'm actually looking forward to the major purge of stuff. It's times like this that I find myself wishing I were Bewitched, and I could just wiggle my nose and it would all be done. Packing and moving is so stressful and having to do it alone is probably going to be even worse.

So we start the long haul....