Cute Pic

Report Card for Day Three of Travel

Today we left Iowa, traveled through some of Minnesota and across most of South Dakota.
The grades for today are as follows:
Children--A
Stopping early yesterday seemed to do the trick. We all had a break from traveling and were much better today.
Animals--A
The animals are catching on. They were so good today. I think it might have taken them 10 minutes to calm down.
Vehicles--A
Another day of no breakdowns or accidents!! A slight issue with the windshield washer fluid freezing, but all in all not a bad day at all.
Traffic--A+
Traffic? What's that? We were lucky if we were not the only vehicles on the road, coming or going.
Weather--B
Lot's of snow on the ground. Some on the road in spots. Cold, cold, cold.
Motel--B+
This one is definitely closer in grade to the one last night. Just not quite as nice.
I think today was actually a better travel day than yesterday. Tomorrow we will reach our destination. Get settled into our temporary home and as soon as it warms up a few degrees (it is 6 degrees outside right now) we will be exploring.

Travel Buddies

Report Card for Day Two of Travel

Today we left Ohio and traveled through Kentucky (for just a few minutes), Indiana, Illinois, and stopped in Iowa.
The grades for today are as follows:
Children--B
I think they are getting tired traveling already. Today was not as good as yesterday. At this rate they will have a D by the time we get to our destination. We stopped earlier today to allow more down time. Prayerfully this will make for a better day tomorrow.
Animals--C
The animals are definitely getting tired of traveling. They were anxious all morning while driving and finally settled down after lunch. Snickers is one LOUD cat. Oh my goodness. If I had had a tranquilizer gun with me she would have been in trouble. (Our vet told us to dose the cats with Benedryl, but they are too smart to eat the pill no matter what I do with it and they either throw up the liquid or basically foam at the mouth until they get the taste out of their mouths.) So not the best day for the animals either.
Vehicles--A+
Another day of no breakdowns or accidents!!
Traffic--A
Hardly any traffic today. The only traffic we encountered was when we came into Iowa. But even then it wasn't bad. Another good day to travel.
Weather--A
Was overcast all day, but it didn't rain. So that is a good thing for me. The sun even poked through the clouds once or twice, but not for long. We actually saw our first little bit of snow in Indiana. Illinois also had just a bit of snow. Iowa had patches of snow here and there but nothing significant. So overall the children were not impressed with the snow. We will probably see more tomorrow.
Motel--A+ (so far)
Much newer motel. Much cleaner and does not smell of smoke. Obviously has internet so I can make this blog post. I feel much safer. And for entertainment, we could look out the window and watch a herd of deer grazing. Pretty cool.
Overall, a good day of traveling, showing some signs of just wanting to get to our destination but still doing pretty well. Praise God that our second day went as well as it did and is now over.

Report Card for Day One of Travel

We left North Carolina and traveled through Virginia and West Virginia and stopped for the night in Ohio.
So the grades are as follows:
Children--A+
Three of the children rode with me and one rode with Kurt. The best purchase we have made in a long time was the portable DVD players that we bought for the trip. I could not have asked for more from the children. They even helped with the animals when asked. They did great!!
Animals--B
The first 45 minutes of the trip were chaotic to say the least. J expressed that he would rather walk to South Dakota than ride with the cats. Jake did great but the cats were very curious and stressed about being in the van. But after about 45 minutes they calmed down and were purr-fect the rest of the way. ; )
Vehicles--A+
No breakdowns!! No accidents (inside or out). Considering that I am a nervous driver and had three children, one dog and three cats in the van with me I think that is pretty good!!
Traffic--A+
Hardly any traffic. Great day to travel.
Weather--C
Started out wonderful. Overcast enough that no one was complaining about the sun being in their eyes. Then the rain started. Not good for a nervous driver like me.
Motel--D
It was old and not very clean. Even the non-smoking rooms reeked of smoke. Didn't feel all that safe. The boy's room was not even in the same building as mine. The only reason it wasn't an F was that it did in fact allow pets. It didn't even have internet service so I could write this post. : (
My Garmin (GPS)--C
It did pretty good except taking us on Hwy 73 (in Ohio I think). Praise God it stopped raining on this stretch of road. It twisted and turned and was up and down, it was rough. I would have been going about 20 MPH if it would have been raining. : (
So overall we had an awesome first day of traveling. Praise God for such a pleasant way to start this journey.

Moving Day

This is a picture of the truck we are taking with all the things we will need over the next few months while we stay in our temporary house while we try to sell this house in North Carolina.

This is the truck that is taking 90% of everything we own to storage.
The next several days are going to be quite a trip as we travel across many states with a dog and three cats plus three children in my minivan. One child will ride along with Kurt in the moving truck. Should be interesting.

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

Well, things are definitely chaotic around here. There are boxes everywhere you look. There is no turning back now. We are finally moving.
Yesterday was a rough day for me. We were not as prepared for the packers as we thought we were. There were three of them and they were all business. They came in and got to work. I was not prepared for how quick they were. I had a few moments of feeling very overwhelmed by the task at hand.
You see, because we will be staying in a temporary house for as long as it takes us to sell our house here in NC, we are taking certain items with us in a small moving truck and the movers are taking everything else to storage. So I was trying to hurry and separate the things that we would need so the packers would not pack it. There were a few moments where I just wanted to find my cat and sit and cuddle her instead of dealing with anything having to do with moving.

In our effort to de-clutter the house for showings we boxed up a lot of stuff and stored it in the garage. The packers packed everything that was left inside the house in one day. They showed up ready to work!! I was impressed. They are back today to repack what was in the garage and to inventory everything. Then the movers will be here tomorrow to load everything and store it until we need it.

Finally Moving!!!!

The packing date is set!!! The movers will be here March 1st through 4th and then we will be on our way to South Dakota!!
We have been trying to sell our house so we could get moved, but we have been offered an incredible blessing. We have been offered a house to stay in in South Dakota rent free!!! So we can move while our house will remain on the market here in North Carolina. We are so blessed by this opportunity to get our family back together.

My goal when we get moved is to blog every day for the first year we are in South Dakota. We have lived in North Carolina for 11 years so it will be a pretty big change for our family. So stay tuned to see what this new adventure brings!!!

Moving Stinks!!!!!

I guess I should have said trying to sell a house right now STINKS!!! Especially when you still have to live in the house until you get it sold.
Every time the phone rings one side of me thinks, "OH PLEASE let it be someone who wants to see the house." Then the other side of me, the side that has to turn into a crazy women to get the house prepared for a showing, says, "OH PLEASE don't let them come right now!"
The house has been on the market since May and we have not had many showings. It is so frustrating!! Half of our "stuff" has been packed away in boxes in the garage. We rarely leave the house because we might miss a call about a showing. I feel like I am being held hostage in this house that I once loved and am beginning to hate because we can't sell it. And to top it all off Kurt has been in South Dakota working at his new job since May so I don't even have him here to share in the frustration. Not that it is not frustrating for him, I know it is. It is just different.
I want to decorate for fall but I really can't. First everything is packed away and then I can't have too much clutter around the house.
Thank you all for listening to me vent. I am just having a difficult time right now. I long to sell this house so that the actual moving can begin. I look forward to the day that we are all moved into a new home in SD and can begin the next chapter of our lives. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for us to still be her in NC, I just wish that I could be in on it.
; )

With Change Comes Sadness

I am sad--we no longer have a purple room.

Let me explain. When we moved into this house over 6 years ago we let the children pick the colors they wanted their rooms to be painted. K picked a very nice shade of purple. J picked a rather bright shade of green and C picked a nice blue. We have had many changes in the years we have lived here and moved rooms around many times but have always referred to the rooms by their colors. First the purple room was K's, then it was A's and for the past few years it has been a craft/art room. But it still remained the purple room.
As we prepare to sell our house we are having the three bedrooms painted a neutral color. Today the painter came and started with the purple room.
So this explains my above statement. It really isn't the color of the room as much as it is the feeling that we are really doing this. We are really going to leave this home. We have spent more time in this house than we have in any home we have lived in since we got married. It will be sad to leave this house, but we are looking forward to the adventure that moving to South Dakota brings.

BIG NEWS!!!

We are moving!!!
Since we visited Kurt's family in South Dakota in August, Kurt has been looking for a job there. He has now found one!!! Kurt leaves in May and the kids and I will follow when we sell the house. Most of us are still very excited about the move. Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

I am sure that anyone who follows my blog probably figured that I have fallen off the face of the earth since it has been so long since I have posted anything to my blog. But I am planning to post everyday the first year that we are in South Dakota. I anticipate many changes in our lives when we move and I will be writing all about it. I promise. LOL