ELO

Robby and Scott had a great time at the ELO concert last night. I received a few photos before the show where their excitement was obvious. Scott sent me a quick text mid show to relay Robby's enthusiasm and enjoyment. They rolled into he driveway around midnight and went straight to bed, although I know that at least Scott had a difficult time unwinding and completely relaxing. 

This morning we have to drive Robby back to campus for his afternoon lecture. Scott and I are going to take the remainder of the day and look at some neighborhoods that have piqued our interest although the heavy rain may delay our plans. With the house getting readied for the move and our new home search intensifying, it is starting to feel like our WV dream may become a reality.

Okay, perhaps referring to living in WV as a dream may be an overreach, but it is definitely our goal at the moment. Neither Scott nor I are viewing West Virginia as our dream location and we don't intend to live there until death. We are planning to stay until Timmy is done with high school. We aren't looking for our forever home. Instead, we are actively seeking our 7-10 year home.

Wish us luck!

Completion

 Yesterday I was slammed. I woke up around 4:30 and immediately began to finalize a project I've been developing for work. After successfully presenting the project that afternoon I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. Although I'll still be busy with work, I no longer have to juggle the stress of a time sensitive project ready to implode.  To celebrate, I logged off in the afternoon and helped Scott finish the bathrooms.

Can I just say, I'm amazed about the amount of stuff I managed to fit into my bathroom vanity cabinet? Yikes! In an effort to clear the space, I packed up no less than 15 gallons of assorted chemical household cleaners. Our new house will smell lemony fresh for the next decade.

 This experience has taught me that buying cleaners in bulk packs does not work for our family. While I had good intentions, I don't have any convenient way to store 2 gallons of PineSol cleaner easily. The huge bottle was tucked away with the intention of refilling the smaller bottle. By the time each small bottle was empty, I had forgotten where I stashed the bulk pack and assumed that I had used it all. After 18 years of this cycle, we have accumulated quite a stockpile. 

Today Scott is heading to pick up Robby before the pair rock out at an ELO concert this evening. Robby adores ELO and was ecstatic to receive the tickets for his graduation. We didn't know his course schedule when I bought the tickets, but thankfully it all worked perfectly. Robby won't miss any classes and the pair won't have to worry about a timeline. Hopefully they have fun, although the weather is miserable for the long drive.

Motivated

What began as a desire to bake a red velvet cake cascaded into my purging, organizing and cleaning my entire kitchen. I became frustrated on Saturday morning when I couldn't find the cocoa powder in my pantry. I decided to clean the shelf, which quickly turned into the entire pantry being unloaded. After the pantry was finished I felt motivated to continue the efforts.  

All together it took me about 10 hours to declutter and organize my kitchen. I've accumulated 10 contractor trash bags of trash, broken items and expired food which Scott will take to the dump this afternoon. Five boxes for donation will be picked up tomorrow and the four boxes I packed for the move have been stowed downstairs. At this point, the kitchen is ready for the move. 

I feel like Scott and I have transitioned from talking about what we need to do to move to actually putting action behind those words. Things are getting exciting and overwhelming. I'm going to lean into the excitement because it will hopefully continue my motivation to get the house packed.  

Talking about exciting- I would be remiss if I didn't mention Timmy's amazing day at school on Friday. His class zoomed with an astronaut on the International Space Station. He was absolutely amazed and talked about it nonstop throughout the weekend. He can't wait to log into school today to discover what else might happen.