Tomorrow's moving day

Well we pick the moving truck up tomorrow morning. I have James coming down tonight and tomorrow a neighbor kid and Bobbi's oldest boy are coming over to help us load the truck. This will probably be my last post for a while. We are staying in a hotel here tomorrow night. Although my mom is bringing her laptop and I think at least one of the KOA sites has WiFi so I can check in. Wish me luck and safe driving. I still have some packing to finish up today and last minute laundry to do. Talk to you all from Washington!

Just about done!

Well I'm just about done with packing up what I can. I only have a few odds and ends in the living room, the stereo, my computer and printer and then my clothes to pack. I packed some of Jordan's clothes last night and left a weeks worth in her dresser. I started measuring the couch, the chair, the table and stuff last night and just don't think I'm going to be able to fit the entertainment center and the king bed in the truck. The truck dimensions are 15'3" long X 7'8" wide by 6'2" tall. I have about 25-30 boxes packed right now that need to go in the truck plus the furniture. It's going to be a very full!

I only have 4 more full nights at work and then Mon. night I'm only working 3 hours. My mom is coming over on Mon. and so is James. I've had some people flake out on my on the things I had posted on Craigslist and on Freecycle. I may just end up putting stuff on the curb and marking it "Free" and be done with it. I did that last week with a plastic bookshelf and an old dog kennel that was falling apart and they were gone quickly.

Very disappointing day

I was sooooo very disappointed at the awards ceremony at Jordan's school today. They herded the kids through the awards like they were cattle. No time for pictures or anything. It was total chaos. I was the first parent there and there were chairs up near the front but I was told those were for the staff members and parents had to sit in the back at the lunch tables. Well before the program started only about 5 staff members sat in the chairs, the rest were filled in with parents. I was so mad because the zoom on my camera does not work well enough to get way up front. So the few pictures I did get didn't turn out that well. Jordan got her certificate for completing kindergarten and one for citizenship. I missed her getting her citizenship certificate because the kids were all just clustered up there waiting to get theirs. The principal just rattled off the names and the staff members handed out the certificates. Then for the picnic it turns out the girl that was supposed to ride with me rode with her grandpa instead so it was just me and Jordan in the car. When we got to the park Jordan only sat with me for about 3 minutes, took a few bites of her lunch said she was done and was off playing for the next 2 hours. It was a waste of my day. I could have been here packing and cleaning. Here's a few pics from the day though.

Before School

Enough pictures already mom. Let's just go to school

Waiting for the program to start. (see how grainy my camera gets when I have to zoom in)

The kindergarteners sang "There was an old woman who swallowed a lego." LOL

Getting her Kindergarten Certificate

After she got her citizenship certificate

At the park

Most of the kindergarteners played in the sand. That's Noah getting buried in the background

Looking at the cows in the farm below.

I am BEAT!

In the last 32 hours I've had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I got alot done today but I always felt like I was taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back. It started out with my going to 4 different grocery stores only to get 2 boxes. Normally these stores have all kinds of boxes stacked up. Then I stopped at Target to get some flip flops and decided to treat myself to the new Starbucks Mocha Mint Chip Frappuccino. Only to accidentally dump half of it all over my kitchen floor when I knocked it while packing. UGGH! It was so yummy too :) I got most of my kitchen dishes and pots and pans packed. Just need to run the dishwasher one more time with the rest. I got Jordan's DVD's and player packed as well as her books and a few odds and ends boxes. I cleaned and swept the laundry room. I still need to go through the junk drawers and the linen closet. The last thing will be packing the food that's left over next Tues. for Jim and Leon to take home. My mom is coming over on Mon. and so is James. Luckily someone took the last half of my shift Mon. night so I only need to work until 2 am. We pick up the moving truck at 9 on Tues. and I have the neighbor boys lined up to come over at noon. Mom and I will load the boxes and leave the furniture to the boys :) I'm still not sure how much of this stuff I will actually be able to fit in the truck. I've already decided if they won't fit I will leave behind my dining table and chairs and my entertainment center. I love them both but they are replaceable. Also if the king bed won't fit it won't be going.

Tomorrow is Jordan's kindergarten graduation and the all school awards ceremony at 10 and then right after that we are going to a park for an all school picnic and play time. We will be there from 11-2:30 and I am driving part of the kindergarteners. Tomorrow evening I have to run up to work for a BBQ (I don't have to be its the NYC hotels hosting it and they always give away goodies). We also are going up to our old neighborhood tomorrow to tell Bobbi and her family goodbye. Then it will be back here for more packing. Someone is supposed to be coming over tomorrow to look at the safe we have in the basement. Hopefully they will buy it. I've had 3 people bugger out on me that were supposed to come look at it. Tomorrow I'm hoping to clean the car inside and out, finish packing up the kitchen, pack the bathrooms, pack our clothes and most of the linen closet and make a list of what needs to be packed in the car as opposed to the truck. Everything that's going with us to Grandma's needs to be in the car so I don't have to sort through it at my dads. And all of that will have to be done after I'm done with her school outing. UGGH!

Please pray for my family as the stress of all this is really starting to get to us. Jordan is REALLY acting out and it's putting a strain on Jim and me. That is on top of the stress and strain we are feeling from knowing we will be separated for a while. I know we will get through this with the Lord's help. I'm trying to stay strong through this but I feel like I may hit my breaking point soon. I probably just need a good cry :) It's almost midnight now so I'm going to head to bed. I have to be up with Jordie at 7:15 and start all over with another busy, busy day.

Packing Day

Well I'm hoping to get most things packed up. I'm going to stay up as long as I can today to get things done. I'm very tired though so I'm going to have to load up on pepsi and turn music up real loud. :) It's only 7 days until I pick up the moving truck and this is my only real day off. I'm off tomorrow too but will be up at Jordan's school for most of the day.

Got a job! Almost for sure

Well I pretty much have the job at the Courtyard in Richland. I have to go in and interview with them as a "formality" but he told me I pretty much have the job. I'm going in to interview on the 4th of June. Sooooooo....as you can see we are moving 3 weeks sooner than planned! I have 12 days to get everything together--eeekk! My mom, Jordan and I are still taking our trip to Rapid City, SD on the 28th and then Jordan and I will just leave from there and drive out to my dad's to drop my moving truck stuff off and to drop off Kelly (one of our dogs). We will spend a couple days with my dad and then go down to grandma's on Tues. June 3rd. I'm very excited. I'm not sure what shift I will be working at the hotel so I'm going to see if my grandma or my aunts can watch Jordie until I have a schedule for sure and can get childcare arranged. Because I will busy for the next 12 days I may not post too much on here between now and then. It will be a while till I get internet set up at grandma's too. I haven't even talked to her about taking up a phone line for that. My aunt has a computer though and I can always go to the library so I will be checking in.
Just wanted to post my exciting news!

Move Updates

Well we are closing in on our move now. Only 5 1/2 more weeks! We have decided to get a moving truck and take most of our stuff out now when Jordie and I go. We will store things at my dad's place. We were going to get a storage unit here so our house doesn't look so cluttered but we can store it at my dad's house for free so we will do it that way instead. We will be using our stimulus check to pay for the truck. I will be towing my car behind the 16 foot truck. Pray for safe travel :) We'll leave a bed, a TV, the recliner, a computer and the kitchen stuff here for Jim. Hopefully the house will sell fast and he can join us in Washington (I know I say that all the time).

I put a bunch of stuff on Craigslist today and have had several replies. We'll see if people actually show up to buy the stuff though. We are going to get down to just the bare minimums and start from scratch in Washington. We'll have a bed and dresser for each bedroom and our couch and recliner. We may keep the dining room table or may not. It just depends. I really like my table but it would take up alot of space so I don't know if I will keep it. We end up eatting at the TV trays half the time anyway. The washer and dryer will stay at the house to sell with it as well as the dishwasher. The only other big things we will take with us would be the entertainment center and the computer desks.

Well I'm rambling, guess I'm tired again :) Actually I'm at work and trying to stay awake.

Update on Job Search

Well I called the Courtyard in Richland and the manager there told me I could have the job if I could come out right away. I respectfully declined. I'm not going to pull Jordan out of school 2 weeks before it is over. The manager understood and he told me to contact him when it was closed to my move date and he would see if he had anything else open. So it's still a possiblity I could work for Marriott.

Plus mom, Jordan and I have a little trip planned for the weekend after memorial day. And Jordan and I are taking the train over to my mom's for the weekend before we move.

10th Anniversary

Today was our 10th anniversary. We kept it quiet here at home. We worked together to make a nice dinner: smoked porkchops on the grill, grilled corn on the cob, rice a roni, mac and cheese and bread. Then Jim scrounged together enough money to buy ice cream! It was a nice quiet night at home.

We have some issues that we are dealing with lately but things are definately looking up and we are looking forward to our new start in Washington state.

Another Tooth

Jordan lost her other top tooth tonight. We'll see how she does eatting her lunch tomorrow :)

Jordan lost her 4th tooth

We are growing her bangs out and they are at the ackward stage now where they get in her eyes.

Jordan lost her 4th tooth today. It's one of her top ones. It's been VERY loose for a couple days. She had a birthday party to go to today and I tried to get her to wiggle it out before she went but she wouldn't do it. Well, sure enough she lost it at the party while she was eatting a cupcake! Her other top one is loose too and one on the bottom was loose but now it's kind of scrunched between two others so it's not as loose now.

A Marriott Is Hiring!

The Courtyard by Marriott in Richland, WA is hiring. I sent my app. and resume into them. I'm going to call them today to follow up on it. It would be GREAT if I could stay with the same company. Keep me in your prayers

Job Applications

I've been busy putting in job apps. online. So far I have applied at:
Rite Aid (worked at the one in Bainbridge Island before moving to NE)
Toys-R-Us
JCPenny
Savers/Value Village
Kindercare (2 different sites)
Red Robin
Sears
AAA
Edward Jones
Petco (2 different sites--I think I would be in trouble if I got a job here. I love animals too much)

Trying to excercise daily

I'm going to try to walk each day after work. I walked a mile on Sat. but didn't get it done Sun. I did walk around the building at work on my break Sun. though. Monday I walked about 3/4 of a mile. I'm taking one of the dogs with me each morning. They are loving the walks. I just have to keep myself motivated for this. I have got to loose some weight because I can't fit into alot of my dress clothes and I have to be able to for interviews.

Moving Countdown

Jordan and I have counted on the calendar and marked off the days until we move. It's 2 months from today. I've added a counter to my blog. We are both getting very excited about going to Washington. Jim is sad because he will miss us but as soon as he gets his things done in and around this house he can get it up on the market. Hopefully it will sell fast and he can be joining us in Washington before fall.

Snow in mid-April????

You never know about the weather in Nebraska! The western and central part of the state got up to 7 inches of snow this week. This picture is from North Platte. We got wet snow here in Omaha but nothing really stuck. It's supposed to get back up near 70 this coming week. I am so looking forward to moving to Washington. :)

Productive weekend

James came down to visit this weekend. Jordan was so excited for him to be here. He helped Jim out alot while he was here. they got the car and the motorcycle washed and leaves cleaned up out of the driveway. I got leaves cleaned up out of the back yard. With what I had raked up last week and what we got done this weekend we have about 20 yard waste bags to go out with the trash this week. I have been going through all out file cabinets and paperwork and have so far shredded 3 bags of paper. I still have more to do though. I've taken 3 car loads of stuff to the thrift store to donate. We are slowly but surely getting ready to move. I've got a few boxes packed up too. We will be getting a storage unit before we put the house on the market so we can get some of the clutter out of here.

Jordan is on springbreak this week so I'm only working until 4 am instead of 6 so I can get a little sleep before she gets up each morning. We are planning to go to the zoo on Wed.

Low key birthday

I had a pretty low key birthday. I drove Jordie to school this morning, then came home and ate a little breakfast and layed down around 9:30. I got up around 12:30 and went to run some errands with Jim. When we got back I rested for just a little bit and then got up at 4 to get Jordan from the bus. We went out to the Marriott hotel for dinner tonight. I had gift checks from being associate of the month last month so it only cost us $5 for our dinner tonight. We came home and Jordan and I shared the piece of cake we had gotten to go. I got her ready for bed, watched Big Brother and now I'm just relaxing, playing with my bird and checking my emails. I guess 37 isn't that bad. :)

Jordan's 6th birthday party

We had Jordan's birthday party today. It was a Littlest Petshop theme. She had a great time. She had 3 kids from her school and my friend Alyssa's 4 kids come. We colored Littlest Petshop pictures, played "musical lillypads (like musical chairs), pin the bow on the puppy and Littlest Petshop Go Fish. The kids had mini corn dogs, tater tots and carrot sticks for lunch and then chocolate cake and chocolate chip ice cream before they went home. Everyone got to take a Littlest Petshop toy home plus their goodie bags and a Littlest Petshop poster to color. I was very discouraged because one little girl stayed longer than the rest and when I looked in her goodie bag there was 4 Littlest Petshop toys plus a few accessories in there. Each child was told they could have one toy. She claims she didn't put them in there but I don't know. I took them out and gave her the one she had chosen from the box when I passed them out. Jordan and I were playing with her Littlest Petshops tonight and we noticed a few are missing. I'm hoping that they turn up somewhere and that same little girl didn't pocket them.


Tayla, Jordan, Noelle, Annabelle and Mia coloring while lunch finishes up


Listening to the kids sing Happy Birthday to her


One of her new Littlest Petshop T-shirts

My friend Alyssa made her this dress and headband. After she put it on she didn't want to take it off at all. She wore it for a few hours before bed and then told me she could sleep in it since she didn't wear it all day :) I didn't let her sleep in it though, I told her she could wear it tomorrow.

Her #6 bunny from daddy. He gets her a new bunny every year

Jordan and I counted tonight and she now has 82 Littlest Petshop characters!

The rest of the birthday pictures can be seen here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=59978105905.200157133605.1206854308031&UV=489069375593_552077133605&UV=489069375593_552077133605

Moving Plans and Reservations Made

Well I have made all our reservations for our trip out to Washington this summer. The first night (June 21)we will spend in Kennebec, SD which is only about 5 hours from here but Jim will ride his motorcycle up there and spend the night with us in the tipi. We will have a nice day and night together at the KOA campground before Jordan and I head out. We will be spending our second night in Sheridan, WY at another KOA in a cabin and then on to Missoula, MT for the 3rd night. We will be at my dad's on the 24th and spend a day or two there before going on down to grandma's. We are taking Kelly one of our pomeranians out there with us. My dad is going to dog sit for us until Jim moves out and we get an apartment. I got to thinking that there is no way we are going to be able to have 3 dogs and two adults in the U-haul when we do move stuff out so I asked dad to keep one of the dogs for me.

Now I just need to focus on getting things packed up and getting the house ready for the market. We need to paint the extra bedroom and Jordan's room (it's purple and has a blue ceiling with clouds on it--don't think that will sell well). We also need to repaint a wall in the livingroom where the plumber had to cut a huge whole to fix a pipe a couple years ago. I went to two grocery stores this morning to get more boxes but one didn't have any and the other one only had 3. Guess it was the wrong day to go look.

The weather is warming up so that means I need to get the outside stuff cleaned up too. There's alot of leaves that fell after the yard waste recycling was done for the fall that will now have to bagged up and saved for when the recycling starts again this spring. We have a couple of big limbs that fell out of the trees this winter that need to be cut up to go out with the yard waste recycling too.

Ok, I'm rambling because I'm tired. I have the night off so I suppose I should get some sleep. Will post again soon.