I Am Finally Home

Ahhhhh...ahhhrrrgghhhhhh!

(Translation:  Contented sigh turned into cry of frustration).

See, it all started out great. Woke up Saturday morning and my first thought?

MOVING DAY! 

Our friends came to help us move and things went smoothly. I forgot Ella's diaper bag 602 times and finally gave up trying to make my memory function. I dropped off the girls with a friend (where Cati learned to pump on the swing for the first time!  I was SOOOOO EXCITED FOR HER!) and I went ahead to the house to start unpacking and moving stuff around that was already there.  We had everything piled in the living room because we had new carpet installed.  See?

 Ahhh...love new things.

And we grunted, inflicted bodily harm, tore off a glass door on one of our book shelves, and nicked the tar out of every piece of furniture I prayed would come out unscathed. 

Dang.

But all in all...a good day.

But then came when I picked the girls up and ran to the grocery store. That is when things began to go awry.  To the point where I began having superstitious thoughts (I am soooo not superstitious...I mean, hello? That would be weird if I claim Jesus and then panic if I step on a crack and start calling Mom to see if her back is OK).  Like, what if this house is cursed or jinxed?  Nonsense type thoughts that I would scoff at someone else if they said them out loud.  Because I am compassionate like that. Here is how it went down.

On the way home, I encounter rain that made it impossible to see.  I am thinking it was a monsoon that had been held off for my move.  Thank You Lord for this kind mercy. Later, I come home from the grocery store and as I am turning into my development, the light starts blinking and the telephone pole pops and a transformer blows right before my eyes. All the neighbors on my street are coming out to find out why we have lost power and conveniently we meet the next door neighbors. They have 3 dogs, one that is a beautiful Great Dane.  This sweet horse of a dog is excited to say hi and wants to say hello to my girls.  Thankfully, they are not afraid of dogs.  Well sadly, in this dogs excitement, it wraps around his owner, then around Cati and spun her around with him.  My Cati was dragged around the sidewalk and the leash was caught under her arm.

This was probably one of the most frightening things I have seen in a long time and it took 5 full minutes for my heart to beat normally. She is pretty bruised up. My poor Cati was terrified and my neighbors were so upset. They even visited later to check on her which was so kind. Fortunately, I was a dog trainer a lifetime ago and I have had a dog or two take me out.  I just pray Cati is not fearful of dogs now. But I would understand COMPLETELY. She was certainly brave.

Then, we come inside and it starts getting dark.  The whole point of the grocery store was to make dinner.  And dinner took the form of PB & J, crackers, and grapes.  YUMMY! But peril lies in wait around the corner.  As I step into the kitchen looking through boxes and trying to find candles, I run smack into Ella sending her sailing face first into the base of the fridge.

Was this really happening?  Are we without power our first night in the house with a promising possibility of visiting our nearest Urgent Care?

Oh wait.  I am so not done.

So the power comes back on (CHEER!) and now it is time to take baths.  It now dawns on me that we have nothing on our windows and are in essence, a family in a fish bowl.  So I make my poor tired husband put up curtain rods and curtains at 9:30 at night.  But Ella has this funky corner window and our hardware won't work.  So what do I do?  To the complete horror of my husband?

Oh yeah, baby.  I made sure our neighbors knew the Family from Hicksville moved in.  Because I put wrapping paper on the windows.  Christmas wrapping paper.  No wait, it says HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  I put POLITICALLY CORRECT wrapping paper on the windows!  And you read it right.  We taped it up there with blue painters tape, right on the window. And I ripped it. Not even nicely. It looks like I tore it off with my teeth.  Hubster is completely horrified and believes we have now been "labeled" within our new hood.

I am going to go in her bedroom now and take a quick pic so you can see my ghetto fix on the windows.  She won't wake up...I promise...

HAHAHA!  I just stuck my arm in there and hoped for the best! And I totally forgot I used packaging paper too.  That is so awesome.

So you all know it is a temporary fix, right? But I believe hubby thinks I am leaving it up there for awhile.  I should really feel bad about the immense joy this brings me.  I think I will change out the wrapping paper to different ones just to mess with him.

Anyway.  The night closed with my poor daughters utterly baffled about why they are getting into their familiar beds in a very unfamiliar place.  I wish I could hold them close all night but sadly, those two chatty things would be trying to tickle me and stick things up my nostrils. I know this from experience.

But guys.  Guess what?

I'm finally home.  Praise God and say it with me...Hallelujah.