At last

It has been a lot (and I mean a lot) of work but we are finally moved into our new home.  I am so happy to say it was worth the wait.  I have a peace (and a piece) about me that’s been missing over the past several months.  I feel refreshed, even though there are boxes to unpacked.  I feel refreshed, even though I have hiked flights and flights of stairs.  I feel refreshed, even though we’re going to bed late and waking early.  I feel refreshed, even though nearly every muscle is still aching.  I feel refreshed.

After a day full of unpacking we headed to a beach that is very (and I mean very) close to us.  What a perfect way to unwind a bit.  Walking on the sand was like my own personal foot massage… ahhhhh.

This pretty much sums up how we are all feeling!!

Thanks for all of your well wishes.

I’m off to unpack more boxes.  Refreshed, that’s me.

Breaking his heart

He holds a place dear to Lineman's and my heart. He's always been something. My mom used to say he was an old soul. He is wise beyond his years when it comes to matters of the heart. Matters of the soul. He can brighten your day with the kindest words. He knows when you need a hug. He knows when to give you that smile. His timing is always perfect. I don't know where it comes from. Deep in his soul? Was he just born this way? I can't take credit for this. It is all him. Rather I should say it is all Him.

His heart is huge. But sometimes that very same heart is hard on him. The other night at supper he just broke down crying because he didn't want to leave his friend Isaac. He has plenty of friends at school but Isaac just has a special place in his heart. As the tears rolled down his face and he buried his head in Lineman's arms I couldn't help but choke back the tears too. I feel so bad that he is hurting right now. It will take time to heal his pain.

And until then, we will be the ones giving hugs at the right moments. Saying the things to brighten him up. Being there for him as he is always there for us.

We love you son.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear....

what do you see?
I see a frozen dog looking at me. Frozen dog, frozen dog, what do you see?
I see a snow drift looking at me.

Snow dirft, snow drift what do you see?

I see a baby looking at me.

Baby, baby what do you see?

I see buffalo looking at me.

Buffalo, buffalo, what do you see?

I see a pile up looking at me.

Pile up, pile up...

YIKES!!

The good news is that the blizzard is over! It was fun while it lasted as long as one didn't have to go out into it. I went to the neighbors for the afternoon Thursday to just get out of the house. Good company and a roaring fire are pretty hard to beat!

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The kids are outside now enjoying the wonderful snow. Yes, the snow went half way up our sliding glass door. We just had a fun snowball fight and now the kids are still out building snow forts.....

Probably the last time until next fall.

************

Things are getting pretty busy here. Lineman made it home in the blizzard and is FINALLY HOME! YEE -HAAA!

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We are getting ready for the movers and there is LOTS to do. I will have posts up about every day during our move but I probably won't be able to comment on your blogs for a couple weeks. I will still have 52 Weeks up and hopefully the Mr. Linky will be working.

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I look forward to your great comments and checking in on you all when we are settled in at our new town.

Getting Ready

We are getting closer to spending more days like this one. We have been waiting for such a long time, it's hard to believe it's within sight now.

Extra Extra read all about it

We are under contract!!!!What exciting news to share. I realize there are some of you that could care less but this is HUGE news! We are moving back to Montana!

I have steered away from things too personal here, but hey, what the heck why don't I share a little with ya. We're all friends here right? Right!

Well, let me just tell you a little about Lineman's job. It requires him to travel. A lot. In the month of February he was home for one weekend. In January he left for work after the new year and came home for one weekend that month. So on and so forth. It has been like this for months and months and months. Imagine me here with these three boys. Adorable yes. Hand fulls, yes. I struggle to take care of them and keep the house in running order. Taking care of them, worried about the move, and keeping the house in perfect show condition has had it's toll on me. Just recently I had to go into the doctor because I was having chest pain. I would go to sleep at night not knowing if I would wake in the morning. It was scary. I went to the doctor, did blood tests, had an EKG, the works. Guess what my chest pain was? Nope, not a heart attack. It was stress. Stress. And here I thought I was handling things pretty well. Apparently my body was telling me a totally different story.

Now while I've had a hard go of it, I know Lineman has had an equally tough time. Though his stress was the complete opposite of mine, I believe. I may be putting words in his mouth, but these are my thoughts on it. He is gone from us and unable to do the things a father and a husband needs to do. Unable to take care of the house. Unable to play with his kids, read to them, work in the shop with them. Unable to tuck them in, help with homework. Unable to hug and kiss them and love them. I know the emotional stress of this alone has been nearly unbearable. (yes, Lineman, I know).

I know he has dearly missed doing the dishes, sweeping and vacuuming. Cleaning the toilets and picking up toys. Oh, and how he loves to change diapers. Just ask him, it makes him cry when he thinks of how many diapers he has missed changing.

So, while his job will still be the same job, a LOT will be different! A lot!!! I am so excited for this move now and what it means to our family. If there's something going on at school, Lineman will be able to make it. Sports games, Sunday mornings, reading books, playing games, you name it, he will be able to do those things much easier now. We will see his parents and family more. We will see my mom even more. We can take the kids up to the farm. I see the boys fishing for hours and hours on end. Oh, and I think I may even get to sleep in once in a while. The quality of family life will be so greatly improved and for that I am feeling truly blessed.

So, while I will miss many things about our life here, I look forward to this new chapter in our life and what it means for our family.

I am in love with another....

I am in love with another... and I think the time has come to tell my husband.

I have been thinking of this since we first learned we would be moving. I knew then that I would have to say good bye to my love. I thought it was only right and proper of me to tell my husband before we moved on.

I have also been contemplating whether or not my husband knows of this love. I think he may. I'm almost certain he has me figured out on this one. The more I think of this, I think it's very possible and even probable that my own mother knows. My own mother!

The reason I think my mother knows is because she is already trying to set me up with another in her own town. Was I that obvious in front of her. Was I that transparent. But for her to step in and already have something in mind to fill the void I will have.

I wasn't sure if I should say much more. I mean, I've already said so much. I might as well just come out and say it so all know and I no longer must hide in the shadows.

I am in love...... with.......




Sam's Club.

I mean, their milk prices are incredible! Oh, the milk I go through. And eggs. And dog food, and cat food. The chips are almost like buy one get one free. The pricing on books is exceptional. I love to just browse through the middle isles, the books, exercise equipment, clothes, toys... ah the middle isles. Stuff I just look at and rarely buy.

Sam's Club is so good to me. On my last visit with Sam's I went in for milk and left with a new pair of snow shoes.... Sometimes Sam's just lures me in.

My mom has told me that I can have this same relationship with Costco when I come to visit her. How thoughtful of her. My in laws have a Sam's there so at least I will not have to go cold turkey.

There you have it. Now my secret is out. When I have moved to our tiny town and you are shopping in bulk.... please think of me ...... and buy and extra gallon of milk.

Drat that wind!

These next pictures were taken on New Years Day. Uhggg, New Years Eve was SO windy, I wrote about that already. Anyway, we awoke with not much damage and I was quite surprised. This is the roof of the garage, not too bad really. If ripped off several and then there were the shingles just pulled up. Lineman used about 500 gallons of tar on it and all the shingles seem to be holding now.

Ahhhh, my log swing! The wind picked up the swing, threw it against the house, then threw it against the fence.

It broke one of the legs so now the swing is in it's final resting place, at the dump. Too bad we don't have a fire place or we could have cremated it.

Yesterday our house had it's first showing. I was pretty excited but that buyer isn't going to work out. I got an e-mail from our real estate agent and here is an excerpt from it:

Talked to the agent that came out yesterday and they loved your home and the agent said to compliment you because your home showed beautifully, but he said as windy as it was it made the buyers decide they did not want to live rural, not much we can do about that. Keep in mind when they start looking in town and realize the disadvantages of it they might decide the wind is not so bad.

A little disappointing for sure. Funny thing is that the wind had slowed down quite a bit during the showing. Lineman said don't get too disappointed because if we knew what we know now we may not have chose to live at this location. But really it is windy everywhere around here, just worse at our house. Bummer to that. We do have a lot of positives to our house, the incredible view is one of them, sure hope the view will really help to sell the place.

Still crossing fingers here.

Crossing my fingers

Our house is "officially" listed as of today.

It's on the MLS and the sign went up today. Only 15 minutes after they guy put the sign up I had to leave the house for a showing.

And get this........ the wind has been blowing so hard today, probably gusts of 65 or so. When I left the house the wind had died down considerably, probably only gusting to 40. Now that the showing is over the wind has picked back up.....

Hmmmmmm........

Crossing my fingers here!

Would chocolate help?

I usually handle stress pretty good. Most of the time. However, this is the first time I have encountered this particular stress: Trying to move, during Christmas and the New Year. I have been told that moving is one of the most stressful things a person can do. Closely following that is a new baby or pregnancy. Hmmmm, No I am NOT pregnant, but I do have a little one.

Little Man is still sick. I feel so bad for him. Okay, let's face it. I feel bad for me too. Sorry, I said it out loud, but what can I do. He is so clingy, though I do like clingy since in a house full of boys it's mostly just wrestling around here. He is soooo clingy though. I can't get a single thing done around here. I know, I know, that's not a bad thing. But I did choose to stay awake until midnight last night so I could get some cleaning done. Doesn't everyone clean late into the night?

I have even taken him into the bathroom with me. I feel bad to hear his pitiful cry so it's just easier to take him everywhere with me.

Not that his cry is really loud, it's just the opposite. He has completely lost his voice and so crying sounds something like a muffled duck quaking. Don't ask. I can barely hear him crying on the monitor during the night because he can't make very much noise. The wheezing seems to be getting worse though. When I went to the doctor on Sunday he said the croup usually clears in three days. Well, we are now on day FIVE.

With all of this stress would chocolate help?

Oh, and back to the moving stress. We do have help from his company for relocating but I have to make choices as to what I think is the best choice for our family and situation. I spoke with someone Monday who recommended I choose Choice #1. She couldn't answer all of my questions so she referred me to someone else. That person called today from DC and said she would strongly recommend Choice #2 in our situation. Problem is Lineman already filled out the paperwork for Choice #1. Ugh. You know I'm not good at making decisions. So I finally make a decision and it might be the wrong one. Apparently this is a lesson in faith for me.

With all of this stress would chocolate help?

We are also trying to put in an offer on a small piece of property in the town we will move to. It seems that the price is now higher than what it was originally. Hmmm, that's awfully convenient, isn't it? The realtor kept asking if we wanted one of the houses she showed us. Hmmm, incidentally it was the most expensive house they had. I told her it was not in our price range but she wanted to show it anyway. When I told her we were going to put an offer in on the land she was trying to pursuade me to put an offer in on that house. Hmmmm, maybe I should get her hearing aids for a Christmas present. There really isn't much for real estate there so I think she needs a good sale and a little acreage probably isn't what she would like to sell right now.

So, I keep thinking. With all of this stress, would chocolate help?

I don't have any chocolate in the house right now so I guess I will just have to adore these little cheeks for now.

Yes, It's true

Yes, we are moving. It is bitter sweet..... Lineman is transferring with his job.

First of all, we will miss all of our wonderful friends here. I could go on about that but I'd rather not start crying all over the keyboard. Next thing you know the keyboard shorts out, sparks a little bit, starts a minor fire, I have to get the fire extinguisher and a major mess ensues. So, lets just say I will miss all of my wonderful friends and leave it at that.

We will also miss our home and the wonderful view I have always enjoyed from here. We will miss the school, the town. Oh, let me tell you what I am REALLY going to miss.... Sam's Club. How will I get by without it????!!!! HELP! And let me tell you what I won't miss. Ahhh, come on, you can guess it, can't you?? Try to guess at least. . .. .. .. the wind of course.

So, let me back up. I took the oldest kid out of school early on Tuesday and we drove to my mom's house near Billings. Wednesday I drove to pick up Lineman at a substation about an hour away. Thursday it was a low key Thanksgiving day, just our family and Gramma. The boys played some football, we played some Scrabble and ate a ton. Friday was buuuussssy. We woke up super early, and headed back to the substation to get Lineman's truck. Then we were off driving to see the town that we will soon call home.

This is a small town with not a lot of businesses as compared to Cheyenne. There is a grocery store so everyone start sending me your good and easy recipes now as there won't be much eating out. We drove by the school and the oldest boy was pretty excited to see they had swings as his school doesn't have any.

We met with a realtor and saw about all of their listings...... yeah, about all of them. One of our concerns is housing but we think we may have found a little acreage that we can build on. Another real concern is that if we build we will need to rent while we build and there aren't any rentals. So that may mean renting in another town.

So many questions at this point. Such a good reminder to have faith.

One thing is certain though and here are the positives! We will be closer to family, only 4 hours from my mom and 4 hours from Lineman's folks. Only 2 hours from one sister and an hour and a half from Lineman's fun and crazy uncles. That right there is a huge positive. The rest will all work itself out I am sure.

I have to tell you though that it feels really good to get this all out. I have been holding this all in. All of this knowledge of a possible move. All of the emotional stress it has put on me. If you didn't know, I'm pretty good at holding things in (at least I try anyhow). It has really been a rough road for me for some time and it feels good to just finally let it out, let you all know what is happening with us right now.

Thanks for listening.

We will return to regular broadcasting now.