There's a new kid on the block

Are you just disgusted with post after post of moving house stories?
Yeah, me neither.

Actually, you remember that big, beautiful house with the miles of beautiful countryside we traded in for half the size in a near-by village?

Well I hate that house. I never want to see it or it's miles and miles of newly dusted base boards or it's SEVEN clean toilets and four shower stalls and two over-sized tubs ever again, but you know what? I will. I will see it again when I go back tonight to mop the 3000 sq feet of sausilito-style tile.
And then I'm done.


Holy hairy coos, I'm tired.






And do you know what happened to The Sexy Guy's schedule for this past week? They up'd him to 10-hour days (with one hour drive each way makes him practically deployed again), so I have been finishing that house with kids in tow.
Have you ever cleaned a house while kids are running through it?
Me neither. Who would be so stupid?

Dog formerly known as Jake and then Fenni and then Sir Pup is now answering to.... yeah, Jake.
It's alright really, we had our Sparky who sometimes got called Farmer John, Mildred, Oaf and others. It's really the sentiment in which you say whatever it is you're gonna say, isn't it?

Which brings me to a post I read earlier.
Kathryn is celebrating 7 blissful years of marriage and wrote the loveliest tribute to her Hunny. Now Kathryn strikes me as the type who sees the positive in everything. She adores her husband (and her profile describes him as the "always scrumptious...Todd"), and her children are obviously her world.
I've been thinking about her attitude all day now. And how her family must feel seeing themselves through her eyes. How it all comes full circle and she must feel adored in return.
(I hope this is one of those days she's skipping my blog so I don't embarrass her).

Once in my past,
my bonbon eating, tv watching, because-I-only-had-one-toddler-at-home-that-napped past, Oprah was doing a series about rediscovering what dreams you gave up, and how important it is to pursue them as a mother. Who wants to be the poster child for "This is how you give up on all you dreamt as a child" for their children?

I had one of those "lightbulb" moments when I realized that along with the dreams of being on stage, I wanted to be a mom-- of six children.
I was living one of my dreams and whinging all the way through it. I decided then, that I would live my dreams. I would be happy with my role as a SAHM, and pursue other dreams as well.

I bought a violin because I've always loved violins. Itzhak Perlman? My hero. (You're listening to him as you read this).
I danced with J2 and spent hours just watching him breathe. I began taking photos of every precious moment. I was J1's Den Leader. You know, the overly excited, extremely annoying one.

I've had that same light bulb moment several times since then.

And here I am today. Tired, disgruntled, sarcastic (sometime caustic) with too many photos on my computer and in my Power Sort boxes and my violin is now propped up against a new wall where it will stay until the next move (which will be NEVER or over my dead body, if you recall).

How do we lose track of things so easily? Why do I need to be reminded that I have so much, so many times?

The news coming out of China is killing me. Seriously, the thought of what those people are going through is so overwhelming for me to think about, the minute I try to concentrate on what they could possibly be experiencing, my mind flips to something else. Like there's a kid in charge of the remote control to my brain looking for a better channel.

So, I am picking up my "Thankful" journal again. The one I put down almost two years ago because my list of things I was thankful for became a list of things to take with me when I would leave my ungrateful family.

New house, new neighborhood, new beginnings. Great time for a new attitude as well, right?