It was truly hell, but in the words of Karin, . . . I did it!!! There were other things that simply furthered my exasperation, though. Are you ready for the list? The realtor called a couple of days before closing and said that the courthouse refused to verify our buyer's POA (because her husband was in Iraq). A week before closing, our dishwasher leaked, flooded UNDER our wood floor, and WARPED it!!! . . . assuring that I would spend the days packing the kitchen (a horrid job in itself) and tripping over the following . . . .
. . . amid these crazy machines that were supposed to fix our warped floor (it didn't) and hope that the owner didn't notice it during the walkthrough (she didn't). (Not to mention that I had this horrible Christian guilt about how to do the right thing in this situation where our own closing was on the line. At least we tried to fix it, that's all I can say. Also, it was one of the very few times that I can remember when I called BOTH my parents and my in-laws in a panic about what to do.) On a lesser note, it rained on moving day (and filled the bed of the truck with all of our stuff). There was no way to get the new house painted & carpeted (in that order) before we moved in. Our move-in date was delayed to the very day that Karin was having her special birthday party and, because I misjudged the time by 45 minutes, I missed the party. The day after we moved in, both the girls and I got a horrible stomach virus which put us out of commission for days, . . . while the painters were painting. And finally, a PIG tore up our entire yard looking for wild mushrooms, and when I should have been unpacking, I was actually out in the yard on my hands and knees for hours turning snout-shaped sod divots back right-side-up. *sigh*
You add all of this tragedy together and you get these: my first age spots!!! : (
Just thank GOD for friends like Sarah & Laurie who were always there to help with the girls when I was unable to give them one iota of attention, . . . and for the blessing of Mrs. Tench who allowed Leia Rose to attend Artgarden right up until the end (including moving day), . . . on which day I remembered everything, . . . EXCEPT MY CHILD, who was left standing 15 minutes after pickup with no mom there. It was at that moment that I realized what was happening, called the school, and rushed on over. And in my mind the whole time I was thinking that, if that were me, I would have been scarred for life. Totally. No question about it. But MY child, the independent little love that she is, just rushed over, gave me a hug, and said, "MOM, I've been sitting here FOREVER!!! What made you so LATE?!?" I was speechless.
However, the move did affect the girls in negative ways (not the least of which was me having to use the TV as a babysitter for much of the time, . . . including this horrible new show called Yo, Gabba, Gabba that I'm convinced was created by someone on acid, . . . & even when I wasn't letting them watch too much TV, I was yelling at the girls for no apparent reason). It certainly sent Annie into the throws of the Terrible Twos, culminating not long after we moved in with the hitting of Leia (again and again). This was solved by doing, instead of The Thinking Chair, The Thinking TUB, . . . because Annie wouldn't yet sit in a chair for two minutes and still needed to be confined. I had to do this four times on two days, . . . and then Annie never did it again!!! As for Leia Rose, it was little Leia who was affected most, I think. The first sign was one afternoon before we moved when Leia Rose was watching a show and I said, "Leia Rose, I'm going to the mailbox to get the mail, would you like to come?" She answered no, and kept watching the show. And in the time it took me to walk down to the mailbox, get our mail, and walk back up, . . . Leia Rose was pacing around the house in an absolute panic. When I saw her face through the door, it looked as though someone had died in front of her. I grabbed her and said, "Leia!!!!! What's wrong!!??!!" And her response was, "I thought I was lost!!!" Poor little love! : ( Then the excitement of her "purple kitty room" (which she kept calling her vision of her new room) was destroyed when she found out that it WAS painted purple, but without kitties. And at Leia's new school, among some "crotchie" problems that Leia Rose often has at the start of school (and that I needed Oma's help with handling), she reverted totally to both thumb-sucking and bed-wetting. Poor little dear. : (
Long story short, I have learned a lot about myself during this process. First, I learned that I am not a very good Mamma when I am in the middle of tumult (or in a rush) when I truly have to concentrate. (I feel the same way about shopping. Ha!) Second, I feel panicked and not able to focus on anything else, unable to live life until I am totally settled into a new home. And more recently, I learned that I feel very invaded when people are working on my home in any way. But most importantly, I learned that focus on my girls is truly God's reason for our move and that my calling as a Mamma should be my main focus in life. What a nice revelation! : )
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