Mass of Ketchup

Here is a rundown of our move/road trip:
8/6: Pouring rain, which is of course ideal weather for loading a moving truck. Luckily, by the time the rain slowed down the truck showed up {4 hours late}. So we loaded until we could no longer see, stand up or think strait. H.L. who is now on my list of Saints had the kids all day. And night. They ended up sleeping over…

8/7: To summarize, here is what Missletoe said when she came to pick up her airbeds, “I was driving around the corner thinking how sad it would be to drive up to your house with you guys gone. Then I got here and decided it is WAY WORSE that you are still here!” I guess it was unrealistic of me to think we would leave town at 6am. Yes, I should know better. After our life-saving neighbors filled us up with KFC and Pokemon cards we finally got on the road a little after 3. Only 6 hours late…Drove to Palmyra {we were supposed to stop there for lunch and then sleep in OH}.

8/8: It was pouring rain in Palmyra so we didn’t see any sights, and we only stopped in Kirtland for 1 hour instead of 3, but we made up some time and got to our hotel in Indiana. Only had to pull over on the side of the freeway twice. Had a headache all day; whether it was from the stress or the screaming is anyone’s guess…Did I mention I was in the car with the kids while the Professor was all by his lonesome in the van listening to his Stephenie Meyers audio books??

8/9: Let the kids swim at the hotel so they could pretend like they were having fun and then we hit the road. Here is some advice: DO NOT drive through Chicago. Even on a Saturday. Or at least factor in an extra 3 hours. Here is an actual quote from Easy, “Oh, not another toll!” *Finally* got through to the west side of Chicago and thought the worst was over. But then, somehow we were in the left lane of course and the sign said “cars right lane.” So we were trying to get over, well a semi was blocking me, but The Professor got over to the toll lanes on the right. But there was not a toll booth on the left lanes. OK, I’ve been through my share of toll booths but this one completely eluded me. So at this point I thought we were now on separate freeways and I’m freaking out and screaming into my walkie-talkie {!!!!!!!} Not a happy moment…He says he’ll catch up to me. O….K…. So I drive along, slowing down and now I’m in the right lane going the minimum speed and feeling dazed and confused. Turns out, those left lanes were for the EZ Pass or whatever, but I’ve never seen anything like them before--and I know tolls! Of course it felt like an eternity until I finally saw a sign telling me I was still on I-90 West and then The Professor caught up to me. So, seriously stay as far away from Chicago as you possibly can, unless you are going there on purpose. But it was smooth sailing from there into Minnesota where we stayed with my little bro and his fam for the weekend.

8/10: Aunt Cake made delicious German pancakes and we went to church. I don’t know all the details, but we were told that Cuddles had a little altercation in his Primary class…we’re all just a little stressed out right now.

8/11: Hung out and watched the kids fight over the toys. We could look down the stairs at the playroom and see Cuddles run past with a certain prized toy in hand and then a distressed cousin following close behind. This happened at regular and frequent intervals. Ah, good times! But we got to go see a free movie {Horton Hears a Who} and to dinner at a fun pizza buffet.

8/12: Watched the rain and the Olympics and hit the mall soft play area.

8/13: On the road again. Drove to North Platte, Nebraska. The dvd player finally died and then the hotel pool was closed. But we uncovered a gem in that little town: they have this park where they have old carnival rides for super cheap and super cheap ice cream cones. Severe weather hit just as we were finishing up our ice cream. I was thinking how this would be a fabulous time to have golf ball sized hail through our windshields in the hotel parking lot!! Luckily it didn’t get to that point. But we did hear Easy talking in her sleep, {and I kid you not}: “No, don’t make me get in the car!”

8/14: Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ out of Nebraska, through Wyoming. I didn’t think it looked as bleak as they say. Cuddles noticed a lot of corn {I guess that was beginning back in Indiana}. He kept asking when we could stop and pick some. We got into Utah at 7-ish. Ate dinner and slept in Heber. The hotel was nice and we enjoyed some late-night swimming…and then almost set off the fire alarm/sprinkler system. Needless to say I was out of the room while other un-named individuals were reheating leftover morsels from their dinner. In Styrofoam cups. In the microwave.

8/15: Got up, ate breakfast and headed to our apartment. YAHOO!

So, when people ask me, “How was the move?” what do you think I should say??

Dying to know

I’m sure that you are all just on the edge of your seats wondering how things finally turned out with selling our house. Well, me too!
We do have someone looking at the house right now who seems pretty interested. But it’s not like that hasn’t happened before… We've had one ridiculous offer {but I guess it never hurts to ask} and one offer that was really close, but they changed their minds in the middle.
As if this whole ordeal weren’t already enough to drive me bonkers, someone has apparently swiped our “For Sale” sign *and* someone was running a scam ad of our house for rent on craigslist. {I have a love/hate relationship with craigslist at the moment…}
Here is the phrase that keeps coming to my mind when I pray: “Thou art not yet as Job.” OK, I guess that is true. But I’m finding out I’m no Pollyanna either.