Just the Ball I Needed For My Grand Slam!!

Thank you, life, for pitching this ball to me.  Are you ready for this??

Talk about my whirlwind life as of late.  I got a call on Thursday afternoon from our landlord saying the woman who looked at our house Monday liked what she saw and is supposed to sign the application and cough up the dough at 3 pm tomorrow (being Friday).  Of course, I freak out, start shaking, smile, scream a little, and get "the look" from Mike.  "Now hun, you can't get that excited yet.  This means nothing until it's a signed done deal."  He is right, but it's SO SO SO hard for me to refrain from excitement.  I was 24 hours away from knowing where I will deliver Baby B and having the ability to live in the same city/time zone/house as my husband after too many months of being long distance.

I tell the family...and we go to pizza as per their typical Thursday tradition.  Lou Malnati's = yum!  Can't help but think of our rehearsal dinner (even though it was a different location altogether) and many, many memories over the years.  Great time with the family...I laughed so hard, I cried...and almost peed my pants!  I love our family...we are truly so very lucky.  Friday we spent the day apartment searching.  Come to find out, you can't find anything relatively close to my sister-in-law for less than $1,000 a month built within the last 20 years or bigger than a pea.  No joke.  A 900 square foot, 2 bedroom apartment, built 40 years ago is $995 (ie. the ghetto).  I have to laugh b/c it's not that bad and very temporary (18 months-tops).  But we currently rent a 3 bedroom, 1800ish square foot home with a fenced backyard for $870.  A dagger in my heart...I had no idea how well we were living, I guess.  Everyone starts out somewhere and more likely than not, it's not as nice as where they end up.  So, I am keeping life in perspective.  I've got reality in check.  And I get the phone call promptly at 4 pm Chicago time letting me know that our house is in fact rented...SIGNED, PAID FOR, AND DONE.  Then I hear "How soon can you be out?"  "Feburary first, " I say confidently.  "Perfect.  They'd like to move in on the 3rd."  WHOA!

Then I go into planning mode.  HOW ARE WE GOING TO PULL THIS OFF???  Lol.  Final walk through is Feb. 1 at 10:30 am.  Carpets get black lighted at 6 pm on Thursday the 27th (routine when there's a dog in the house) and cleaned on Friday the 28th.  All furniture must be out of the house.  Sweet- that gives me a few days to come back in and make sure it's spotless.  But when and how will we get our stuff out before the 27th?  Mike luckily has 3 days off ending the 28th...he will fly to AZ, load the truck with some friends, and head out for his very long drive to our new home.  Yayyyy!!!  He's taking one for the team.  The poor man has been driving (and flying for that matter) all over the country...although that was his choice, it's never fun.  In the meantime, I am homebound packing until all I see are full boxes :)

SO SO SO many emotions get caught up in moves.  I have moved several times in my 27 [side note: when I was 26, I always said 27...now I say 26. Unconscious denial?!?!?] years of life.  I am a pro at moving, being the new girl, and find my niche in a strange place.  However, I'm older now.  Finding a new job, being a first time mom, and moving to the area where we plan to raise our family, therefore, we are talking several years of residency is weird.  Exciting.  So, there are tears...both happy and sad ones...lots of tears considering my hormones are all out of whack.

Just taking it one day at a time...I think I can, I think I can :)

I love O'Hare...they have those handy dandy toilet rotating toilet seat covers.  Although ppl always tell me they're just reused over and over and over again...I like to think not :)  And I like their public bathrooms.  I can't help but think of my little sister, Caitlin, when we were traveling as kids.  She hates germs, being in the inside of a booth and airplane aisle kills her, so a bathroom is off the charts. She LOVED these and talked about them for years...love you Caitor!

Nothing like HOMEMADE carmel corn on a Saturday night.  It was such fun night with my sister-in-law, Kim, and her kids.  I can't wait to live close to them and become a betty homemaker myself! lol!