Ten on Tuesday

1.  Moving day is Thursday!  This means the movers will come and take our washer/dryer, refrigerators, and china cabinet.  We have already moved the beds and are sleeping on mattresses on the floor.  This is very exciting and very stressful.  Jason has basically made painting and moving his after work job for weeks.  This means I have been a single mom.  I have great respect for single moms because I am about to lose my mind.  This is the fourth time we have moved in our almost 14 years of marriage.  Each time we have more stuff and more kids.  I forgot how hard it is to cook when you are moving.  I am typing this at my mom's house and she is cooking dinner.  All of the kids are playing in the back of the truck in the driveway (Jay is watching SpongeBob).  I am tired.
2.  The toys in my house are shaking in their boots. They get fearful when all of the kids go to Tybee but they are really feeling the heat now.  If they don't have some kind of function or emotional significance they don't stand a chance of making it to the new house.  I am by no means a minimalist but I recognize that my family has way too much stuff and stuff suffocates me.  So if you haven't been used in a few months, you are expired, or I registered for you at Belk's in 1996, you are probably going into the Goodwill pile that is growing behind the couch.
3.  Last week I had metal on metal grinding resulting in a new rotor and new brake pads, I lost my phone (and you know I don't have an upgrade until the end of the summer), and Jason had his debit card number lifted from someone in Athens.  Stop. Breathe. Keep moving.  These are just life annoyances, not tragedies.
4.  I went to Atlanta on Saturday to continue my credenza search.  After looking at a great store in Decatur and another in Virginia Highlands and coming up empty handed I went back to the first store I went to a month ago.  The first credenza that I really liked was still there (I already knew it would be because I obsessively looked at it online) and after staring at it for about 10 minutes the lady asked me if I was OK.  I told her that I was not OK.  She gave me the old "let me see what i can do" and after a 15% discount she loaded the credenza up and put it in my car.  I am so relieved that the search is over.  If you come over to my house and see the credenza and wonder to yourself how I could put so much effort into it, just bite your tongue or fake it.  I love it.
5.  After my big credenza purchase, I went to IKEA.  IKEA on Saturday is crazy busy.  I had a list so I wasn't totally lost but this place is big.  I made the mistake of being hungry when I got there and went straight to the cafeteria.  Big mistake.  Swedish meatballs, mac and cheese, and chocolate mousse cake sounded so good.  And don't let me forget the Mountain Dew.  (Mountain Dew?  I haven't had one of those in a couple of years but I needed a soda and all they carry is Pepsi products.  I hate Pepsi and all of their products.)  So I woofed down the food eating a bite of each item (including the cake) and drinking some Dew each round until I knew it not the best move.  I don't really like shopping.  It makes me anxious.  Driving around Atlanta by myself also makes me anxious.  Anxious, adrenaline rush, and Swedish meatballs are a bad mix.  I survived but I was in pain.
6.  The other reason I was in Atlanta was to pick up mom and Josie.  She is here and she is having so much fun playing with the big kids.   Only one recorded injury.  She learned quickly that my people fight back.
 7.  I am totally out of my routine but I am doing the best I can.  I need spiritual, physical, and emotional feeding every day and since I haven't had it in a few weeks I am hanging on by a thread.  (Really, i am close to bat s&*% crazy but I am trying really hard to keep it together.)
8.  I happy that TLC's line up has Extreme Hoarding following Extreme Couponing.  There really is a fine line separating these two groups of people.  The couponers are super organized but still a tad on the crazy side when it comes to stuff.  I don't want so many groceries that I have to keep them in my closet with my clothes.  I also don't want to spend 5 hours at the grocery store and come home with 62 bottles of mustard.  It would take me a lifetime to eat that much and mustard is my favorite condiment. A great deal is great but these people spend way too much time planning how to get some free shampoo.  I'd rather just buy it. 

9.  I am trying really hard to not have "new house, new life" expectations.  In my head, our new house means I will be super organized, our kids will be super neat, and everyone will get along.  Ha!  The problem with that scenario is that we are taking US with us to the new house.  Us are the problem.  So, I can appreciate a fresh start, some serious spring cleaning, but I know that a new location is not a magic solution to all of our struggles.
10.  Along those lines, I have decided that my kids would fight over a piece of dog poop.  The sibling rivalry ramps up when a cousin is around,  She played with her longer than me.  She sat by her last time.  This is in addition to our usual fighting over who looked at me too long, who laughed when anything happened, who went in my room, and on and on and on.  And then there are the games.  Whoever touches ________ first wins is the game that makes me want to run down the road waving a surrender flag while crying and screaming.  I have totally banned the copying game because that can send me into a rage.  My people know if they copy, they are asking for it.  The school sent home some helpful hints last week to deal with sibling rivalry.  Thanks.  Here is another situation that I have to realize is a process.  One day they will love each other.  One day they will want to hang out together.  One day they will appreciate that God put together the family He wanted just for them.  Won't they?