Currently residing in Iowa!

We arrived a day early, by way of lots of painful pushing through the drive to have it be done with.
I have no pictures yet, only due to being overwhelmed by boxes and boxes to be unpacked and places for it all to be placed.
I am really glad to be back with S. I hated being so far a way for such a long time. Yes! A week is a long time in my book!
There is so much to do! We need shelving units and such to help in the unpacking process, so while I rip through boxes unloading stuff everywhere to see what I have and what storage space I need, we are also learning how to get around to find our local hardware stores.
Little by little it is coming along and we are settling in to the new house. This house we are renting, but the lovely landlord has given us permission to do most anything to make it our own. The house is big and has lots of room for the kids to play and hide. They are just happy there is a finished basement that includes a pool table.
I look forward to starting up our routine and getting some school work done. Only then will I feel I am truly settled in.
We are already making lots of friends! I have met a wonderful family that homeschools and lives nearby. I look forward to meeting up with several other homeschooling moms for a Moms-Night-Out shortly after the 25th. I plan on meeting up with several spinners and knitters in the near future. There are four yarn/fiber stores that I get to check out. I am super excited.
Major drawback to the move, is that I have no built in support system ie. babysitters, like I had in NY. My parents were so integral to my sanity and I am going to miss that. There is nothing that could ever replace what my parents gave me.
Hopefully we will soon find the appropriate services for T. so our family can live slightly more peaceful lives.
The snow has come down pretty often this December and I do hope that will slow down. Roads are not cleared well around my neighborhood and many others like my rural area. It makes travel challenging and a little scary sometimes. I think I will have to be more attentive to the weather here and begin purchasing food and such for the likelihood of hibernation during the winter months as it seems most folks do around here. Since, I am well practiced at that, I don’t think it will be too different from what I have done in the past, just upscaled a little.
Well, it’s getting late, not that I can figure out the time change thing so am not sure what the actual time is, but I have to get moving and unpacking and making phone calls galore.
We are here! I live in Iowa now!!!

Moving Moving Moving….Rawhide!!

Today is the Day!!  The packers and movers are here and my entire house is filling up with huge boxes, filled with all my possessions.  Boy, I have a lot of s**t!!

T. is at the grandparents, this morning.  This will keep him outta my hair and the movers way.  B. is hanging out here and when I have to run errands, he stays with the packers to supervise.  Later they will go to my super friends, the Rayne family for the afternoon, then we will have dinner with them tonight.  It will be nice.

I have already gone to the dump four times this week, including a run this morning.  Loews has been visited more times than I have done in a years time living here.

Sunday night and Monday, my dear friends and professional cleaners, come in to clean up the house to have it show ready.  Then if I can hand over the key to a real estate agent, I will be on my outta town by that evening or Tuesday morning at the very latest.

I am not fond of being here with out S. and I really hate feeling as though I am homeless.  It is weird staying in a house that I have already emotionally disconnected from and have gotten ready for someone else to live in.  Even though we are renting a house on the other end of this trip, I still feel it’s  my new home already.  I haven’t even been there, ever!  But this in between feeling is driving me crazy.  I need to settle in to my new house pronto, so I can relax.  It feels like its been months and months since I have truly rested and relaxed.

Well, once everything is gone I will begin loading up my car and take pictures of my empty house.

Anyone want to buy a lovely 3 bedroom house in upstate ny?? 

My Man the Fire Man!!!

His last day on the Local Volunteer Fire Fighter Department.    He will miss this, but thankfully there are local volunteer stations in the Cedar Rapids, IA area and he will join one of them as soon as possible.  Isn’t he the cutest!!!!!!!

Preparing for the Move.

Throughout the week of Thanksgiving and then some we found ourselves painting each and every room in the house.  While this process was proceeding, we were also half-assed packing stuff up and moving it outta the way, to make way for new Carpets that were put down on the 30th.  It has bee a mad house around here!  I am very thankful to Jacqui and Robert Rayne and their lovely girls that came over to spend an entire day painting the walls in my house with us.  They worked themselves into a puddle of mud.  I know we went to bed every night achy and dead tired.  I am so incredibly lucky to have them in my lives.  They understand what it means to be friends and be in a community.  Their isn’t a whole lot out there I could think of that I wouldn’t do for those folks and I am pretty sure they feel that way about most folks they meet and know.  It is going to be the most difficult thing, leaving them behind.  With so much still needing to be done to ensure their home and health, it is going to be so hard to be so far away and helpless.  Not my favorite feeling!

A BIG Thank you to the Rayne Family for Helping us Paint!!

Now I must clean up messes of paint spots, clean floors, replace caulking, and separate all we are going to storage and all that is going in the car/airplane with us to the hotel.  Much work to be done.  S. leaves tomorrow and that makes me anxious and sad.  I don’t know how I am going to get out there or when.  All I know is all my stuff is being picked up on the 12th by packers and then I don’t know what. <shrugs>  We’ll see, I guess.  I feel sorry for the dogs.  The trip is going to be rough on them.  Staying in hotels with dogs isn’t so easy.  they usually have to be kenneled until you get home from work, if you are not in the room, so we have their cages.  Snoopy won’t mind so much, but Fiona will loose her mind!!  She is usually out roaming her acreage lazily all day long.  Days will be long stuffy and small.  My poor baby.

But when I arrive it will all be better since, I will be their and be taking her out for walkies often!!!  That means no time in the kennel unless I must go out, if that.    I don’t mind us needing to be out there and think it will be a pretty neat adventure.  I hope for the best, but its the actually process of moving that just bites!!  I need someone to point to some shiney bright spot I am missing about the process of moving.  I would really appreciate it.  End results are going to be wonderful, but what is wonderful about this particular climb?  Anyone???

Thanksgiving!

I am very fortunate.  I have a lot to give thanks for.  I have a family that loves me and supports me.  I can legally homeschool my children.  I have food on our table, with much to spare.  My family has clothes on their backs.  I am able to stay home with my children and meet their needs.  I have incredible friends who reach out to lend a hand or an open heart whenever I have need.  My man loves me so much he gives me chocolate regularly!  My man has a job.

This last one listed is such a blessing to us right now.  He was laid off in Oct. and he was so fortunate enough to have found himself torn between several available options all vying for him.  We aren’t quite their yet, but it makes me feel a lot better knowing that there is a job waiting upon our arrival in Iowa.  Making it to Iowa and surviving with no money until S.’s first paycheck will be interesting.  We purchase the hotel, transportation, meals and all that jazz while finding a new home, and then Steve receives reimbursement.  We don’t have the money upfront, so this should be very interesting.  This wasn’t how it worked when we moved to NY.  That was all taken care of by the company, but this one is very much do for yourself.  I don’t even get to go out to Iowa with Steve initially.  I have to stay behind with the boys, while packers come and real estate people interview.  I am so overwhelmed with all that needs to be taken care of prior to  move, that I am about catatonic.

We have painted for over 6 days straight, pretty much messing up every wall we came to.   And prepared the biggest Thanksgiving Dinner for only 9 people.    My dear friends the Rayne Family from Wild Acorn Farm, gave me a 30 pound piglet for my suckling pig dinner this year.  We also purchase(and I slaughtered and processed) an 18-20 lb turkey for dinner.  We had enough meat to feed over forty people!!  We had too many pies to count for dessert!  Too many sides to even recall!!  We had two tables set up for all this food and we still ran out of room.  We were very blessed by my Sister-in-law, Carrie, and her two boys, that joined us for Thanksgiving.  My parents were there, of course, as well.  My brother, David, is once again(4th time) in Iraq.  Knowing this was our last Thanksgiving or any kind of holiday in this house, I thought we gave it a pretty good send off.  Great food, fun conversation, and loving family.  Oh and don’t forget the Football.  Good games all around.

All this, while prepping the house for New Carpets coming in two days from then.  It was slightly crazy, but its done.  Now off to fix all the messes I made of the woodwork.  Doh!!!

T, B, Casey, and Dale

My Mothers Wedding China

Harvest is Bountiful this year!!!

Next!!

Playing Catch up.

Well, many hard decisions were made and we have concluded we are moving to Cedar Rapids Iowa.  This is a huge change for us.  I have never lived outside New England, so I am more nervous than S. whom grew up not too far from our new destination.  The boys are excited for only one reason.  We will be within 4 hours of my dearest and best friend Lynnie.  We all love!!!! her, so I am excited to finally get to live near her as well.

Before I get to caught up in the now…let me back track a little and show these fine examples of our Samhain celebrations this year.  For those whom might not know, Samhain is the Pagan Sabbath, that falls upon All Hollows Eve, or Halloween!!!  It is one of my all time favorite holidays.  We invited my parents over for our Dumb Supper(eating in silence in honor of our ancestors, leaving a table setting and plate full of goodness for them, afterward leaving it outside for the animals to enjoy or wandering spirits;).  Afterward, the boys bobbed for donuts hanging from a string attached to the ceiling.  This could go on for hours and the laughter never ends!!  We held no rites this year, which felt very weird especially as we had so many recent deaths in our family, but I was able to personally take some time to remember and “talk to them” and it was incredibly uplifting for me.  Then came the onslaught of Halloween Movie Marathon!!  Our tradition.

Earlier in the week, the boys attended a fun Halloween party at our UU Church.  We carved our pumpkins early so we could enter them into the contest.  All were really great.  I loved mine the best.  It just made me laugh everytime I saw it.

S.’s cooky self portrait. :P

B.’s Dragon, got most smiley!!! LOL

Most Worty!!

Agh!! Help!!! It’s a Cannibal!!

Now onto the next post!

Trying not to Freak!

Actually, its not working. I am totally freaking out.
In three weeks we are moving to Cedar Rapids Iowa. Crazy fast!! I have no idea how long it will take to sell the house. At least, we won’t be in it, which would mean me constantly cleaning up after the boys and the dogs. Yah, it would never sell!!
I now have to organize our stuff. I have to figure out what I am going to need for school supplies and clothing and such for the next couple months while living in a hotel, until we can find a home. Crazy!!
I hope the relocation agency contacts us soon cause I am freaking out with worry as to what I am supposed to do next.
I have to ready myself for baseline testing for the children once in Cedar Rapids, as per regulations for the state. And find a Supervising teacher!! This is going to bite. I will also need to make sure SSI and medications and doctors files and such are transferred too!! We have a huge freezer stocked with frozen meats and a half pig waiting for pick up. That just isnt going to happen. It will have to be donated, we can’t take it with us.
Can I just say I hate moving!! I really do.
On the homeschooling front, T. is making progress with his cursive still and continues to complete at least three pages from each language sub-subject each day he wants to earn computer time. I hate kids on the computer but it does motivate him, so I will deal. B. is continuing his online studies and since its online I have no idea what he is learning. Weird!! Not my style at all, but this is our trial run. We’ll see how it goes. Should be interesting. He is constantly playing his music while studying, I wonder if that ends up being a bad thing or a good one.
Agh!! I have to ready my house for sale in three weeks!! One bedroom only needs one more coat of paint, but the rest of the house is untouched. So much needs to be done. Hopefully it will sell soon and for a price that will at least payoff our mortgage.

Crazy!!! going!!

Good to be Home…or not!

Me and the boys arrived home safely.  I was ready to get myself pulled together and forge on with the many projects lined up as fundraising events for Jacqui Rayne and Fam.  Still emotionally fragile but with hope for a quite but eventful month ahead.  We had some serious catching up to do.

Then I was reminded of a report I saw in the local newspaper the first week of September regarding layoff announcements for local businesses to happen shortly.  With S.’s job in full swing and his experience, we thought he was safe.  Every one he worked with thought he was safe from this all.

I left to attend an Opera for children and came home to find S. home from work.  Half day??  Nope, he got laidoff.  We were stunned.  I immediately panicked and my emotional fragility came crashing in upon itself.  I knew once again that I couldn’t fall apart the way I really needed to, so I plowed into this head on.  I researched jobs like crazy and formatted his resume and started sending them out that very day.  We are lucky he is so talented and his talents unique for the time being.

I have not wanted to make plans to do anything, or get involved with anything new, and have been distancing myself from my community.  We aren’t going to find a job around here.  We are moving and possibly across country.  This scares the crap out of me.   What timing!!  I don’t do change well and I after living here for 4 years I had finally begun to feel as this was my home.  Figures!!

One door opens, another one opens.  At least this is what I keep telling myself.  It doesn’t exactly make me feel better but it does give me hope.  Hope is so incredibly important to me.  Without it, I am lost.  I have been so frazzled I have not found a rhythm for our school days, nor had much ambition to do much of anything.  I realize this is major depression setting in and high anxiety will kill me.  I am just trying to get by.  I am happy to see so many new opportunities for S. come our way.  That has been exciting.

He’s gone to Los Angeles and now is off to Cedar Rapids.  Next hes off to Mississippi.  Interviews are all going very well and he is having fun meeting new people.  There are pros and cons for each situation, so until we get all the facts, we just don’t know where we will be going yet.  That is a scary thought, but we are trying to prepare.  Packing clutter, getting the house ready for sale.  That sort of thing.

I sold my goats and rabbit hutches and cages.   A nice chest freezer, an old bed frame and goat kidding pens.  Little by little.

 

I think this last post catches me up.  I will post more about homeschooling escapades and such as I have energy to do so.  There is progress with T. on that end, but it is slow.  B. using Keystone National HS online is interesting and his weaknesses and strengths are showing through his work.

I will post when we know where we are going to be.  Hopefully by mid month.  Well, I kinda feel accomplished…..

Births and Deaths

B.’s 14th birthday was coming up and after a brief discussion he opted to donate his funds for his party to our dear friends the Rayne family.  Not even a hour later I got a very upsetting phone call.  My ex-husband informed me that my sister-in-law, Sharon, had suddenly passed away.  After not being able to attend the funeral services last month for my nieces husband, I wasn’t going to let money stop me this time.  Sharon had been very ill from a really bad fall down a flight of stairs two years ago, that put her in a coma for three months after the incident.  She had never been the same from that point on and was practically unrecognizable.   She had a very hard life but always had a smile on her face.  She had finally found a great husband and her life was finally joyable on all aspects, then this happened.

I was close to her oldest son, Michael and worried for him greatly.  He is very sensitive and has gone down many wrong paths in his youth.  I wanted to be there to support him.  I may not be best friends with my ex-husband but this was his sister and that makes her my sister.  I was devastated.

As soon as I heard word as to when any services were taking place I headed out the door with not even enough gas and food money to get me there and back.  I was welcomed back in Brian’s home and he was overly generous and helped with expenses while I was there.  It was almost two weeks before all the services were completed before we returned home.

In the meantime, I was able to reconnect with family that I had not seen in a very long time and the boys got to spend an enormous amount of time with their father.  Unprecedented really!  I even let my Ex take the boys hiking up Mount Washington, while I drove up with my car to prepare a filling lunch and relax a little.   The views were great!  We hadn’t been up there since Bradley was tiny.  Everyone had a nice time.

My dearest friend Lynnie had come out to MA to join me and the boys for few days before returning to her vacation in MA with her family.  I was overjoyed!! to see her.  It had been such a very long time and Brian, even let her stay with us while I was there.  I tell you, I am so blessed by these two.  I couldn’t ask for better, more supportive, loving, generous, thoughtful, friends.

My dear friend Kara, was having a birthday for her 4 yr old daughter.  I love this little girl, so I was fortunate enough to be back in MA for her special day.

Just to make things a little more tragic, Bradley’s birthday fell on the day of the Memorial service.  I couldn’t just let the day go by without having him feel special.  Well, not only was it special but he received a very special gift from Brian.  A little backstory:  While out in MA in July for our vacation Brian had been incredibly generous with his time and effort and helped fine tune Bradley’s guitar playing while using one of his electric guitars.  This day, Brian had gone out and purchased Bradley his very own electric guitar.  It was so incredibly special to have both Brian and Lynn to celebrate this day.  Lynn had given Bradley his acoustic guitar a couple years ago.  He was totally surprised and in awe!!  We had cake and ice cream and Bradley received money from Lynn, which was amazing for Bradley.   He thought he was rich!!   I had given him tickets to his very first concert, to be held Oct. 1 in Ithaca.  “They Might Be Giants”  It was their first stop on the new concert tour.  Totally awesome!  It was small, but he made out and hopefully the mornings events of the day didn’t taint his special day.

Stress made me crazy and I really just felt catatonic but was forced to deal with many challenges, especially T. who was totally agitated the entire trip making things very hard on everyone.  It was an emotionally exhausting trip.  I am glad to be home.

 

My Fathers birthday and a nice surprise.

September 6th is my Fathers birthday.  My brother D., who lives in the same state but we rarely see decided he was going to join us for a little party. My brother is a fulltime Army Soldier.  Currently he is on his fourth tour in Iraq.  His battalion is the most sent out Army Squad in the country.  He has been in the Army since highschool, so we are kind of used to him being deployed for war missions a year at a time.

My family went to a neat Gluten Free Bakery downtown to see if they had any cakes and goodies that we would like to try.  It was nearing the end of the work day for them so we got our yummies discounted and we got a lot of them.  Pricey but oh soooo yummmers!

I picked up a little cake and some lovely flower cookies and decided that is what we would have for dessert after our birthday dinner at my folks.  It was an excellent day getting caught up with my brother and celebrating my dads birthday.  My brother even stopped by our house on the way out of town for a while, since he had never once seen my home.  I heard he liked it.   I got some nice pics of my parents with him, since it is so rare.