NOW WHAT!?!?!

OMG this crap just keeps getting better & better. I seriously don't even believe it's true myself anymore! (Insert crazy laughs here. Hey, it's better than crying!).

So we've been working our asses off in this crazy heat lately to get all of the construction stuff out of the garage and get it cleaned up so that we can actually get our belongings back from ServPro. Plan was to get our stuff, go through it all, sell the stuff we don't need and/or give stuff to goodwill & get the hell outta Dodge. Meanwhile, finishing touches were being made to get the last doors & windows in, making the exterior of the house completely secure so that we can finally get the rough-in inspection. Things are looking up right? Of COURSE they don't ever play out that way for us! lol Two things happened today that are making us want to run for the hills:

1. We called ServPro to arrange for a time to get our stuff delivered. Thinking it will probably take a week tops. I mean, our stuff has been sitting there for almost a year & a half, right? Nope. Six weeks. Six weeks!! They need time for processing. What the hell does that even mean?! What have they been doing with our belongings for all of that time in the first place!? Meanwhile, we're getting emails from our oh-so-very-wonderful insurance agent (can you feel the dripping sarcasm?) that we have thirty more days for them to inspect our damaged property or they won't pay us for any of it. But ServPro won't release our stuff to us for 45! Not to mention, ServPro is telling said insurance agent that none of our stuff is damaged. At all. WHAT!? We have photos to prove how gawd-awfully damaged many items were before they even took them! And let's not forget, we want to get moved to Vermont like, yesterday if possible so we can get settled somewhere around the time that school starts. How in the hell are we supposed to do that without our belongings? GAHHH!!
2. Oh wait. There's more! We finally got that inspection today. Structural rough-in inspection so that we can proceed with putting up the insulation & drywall and, you know, live there someday. Does it pass? Of course not! Is it because it's incorrect or unsafe? Nope. It's because they used the wrong piece of wood here, & metal instead of wood there, or the plans don't match exactly what you did here, blah blah blah. Are you kidding me? This bureaucratic bull**** is just beyond me. So our choices are to rip a whole bunch of stuff out & redo it exactly as the plans dictate (so not happening), or get ahold of the damn architecht again and have him inspect what's done to ensure that it's sound, write up a new report that will again take two months for him to actually complete plus a measly thousand or two dollars that we do. not. have. Either way, we can do nothing more to this god-forsaken house until that is all settled.

Meanwhile, we sit in a hotel. (Trying not to let the expletives fly... children present... must remain calm... !@#$%^&*!!!!)

So now our choices have shifted a little. Either I get that job in NH & we move immediately & rent a house in VT, or we absolutely have to rent a place here for God knows how long. We can't keep doing this hotel thing anymore & we now know for sure that it'll be at least two months until we can go back to that house. Matt's more optimistic, but hell, he thought we'd be home by Christmas. Let's be real here. I have no idea what the hell we're gunna do!!

BUT.......... in two more days we're going on a very nice, very long vacation. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE deserves a vacation from life more than we do right now! lol We're going to see some family in St. Louis, hang at the beach in South Carolina, spend a day or two checking out DC, then it's a week in VT. All pretending Kansas does NOT exist! :) And PS, while I'm up there, I have an official interview with Dartmouth on my birthday! I guess we'll just let that decide where life will take us. Ugh. I'm ready for life to be boring again! ;)

Kansas House

Here is a picture of our house as it stands now:

Awesome huh? lmao! It's quite the mess. It truly will be beautiful when it's all done, but right now it looks like the whole property has gone to hell in a handbasket. This is what the inside looks like right now:

The boys look thrilled to be there don't they? lol It's so bad. I don't know how in the hell they think we'll be able to live there any time soon. We try to go there every day, sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn't. But I can guarantee you that when we do, the kids get filthy!!! Check out Natalie after seriously 5 minutes of being at the house today:

He he! She's lucky she's cute. ;) Thank you puppy dog for attacking her as soon as we got there too! lol

So... anyone want to buy an almost-finished house? ;)

It's All About Perspective

I'm seriously looking forward to the day that we can look back on all of this & laugh. Everyone keeps telling me that the day will come. I'm starting to think they're lying ;) But seriously, I know that it will, so I'm trying my hardest when we have bad days to remember that it's really not all that bad. Yesterday was a bad day. Most days I can handle it all pretty well but yesterday the "ugly cries" took over. I couldn't help the tears from flowing. And it was over something stupid too! We went to our friend's house to do laundry & had to dig through some boxes to find some things we needed (in one of the many places our things are being stored). Two simple things I needed: my makeup & Natalie's swimming suit. Both items I packed away thinking that I would be back in my home LONG before I'd need them. And we dug through our stuff for over an hour & they were nowhere to be found. I just started bawling about the goddamn trainwreck that our life has become. Such simple things I want that I can't have, like my own belongings back & a home to put them in. So again I have to pay money to replace things I already own because I simply can't get to them.

And I listen to my friends complain about how their life is turned upside down because of how dreadful (insert trivial problem here) is, or how the world has ended because of blah blah blah & I just want to scream You people have no friggin' clue!!! But then I take a step back & remember that not too long ago I would be devastated at such trivial things because that's all I knew. And I go to work & I'm constantly reminded that my problems are nothing compared to these sick kids, and I can't tell you guys how grateful I am that God is constantly reminding me of that. I'm constantly remembering that we are so incredibly blessed and that even though our life is a great big challenge right now, we are all healthy & fine & we'll get through it all with flying colors. That's all that matters. So I'm taking a deep breath & putting one foot in front of the other & moving forward. We. Can. Do this.

So: updates. FINALLY got a part in that we were missing, so things will finally start to pick up the pace with our house in KS starting tomorrow. I'll post some progress pictures soon. Hopefully that will get completed soon so that we can get inspections done, then start putting walls back up & get home. Or, ya know, run far far away & start a whole different project in another state! lol (God, we're insane! He he!)
Had my phone interview on Thursday & it went incredibly well. I guess I look really good on paper, so that helps! lol We're going on vacation here soon & plan to be back in VT the second week of August, so we're trying to coordinate a formal interview then. Fingers crossed! While we're there, we'll officially close on the house too, so I'll post some pictures of that too once it's all officially ours. (Fair warning though, it needs A LOT of love! lol)
So that's all I've got for now. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Vermont = Heaven, Kansas = Hell!

First off, I do need to say that Mathew & I realize how truly blessed we are to have such amazing kids & such a strong & fabulous marriage. Most people wouldn't be able to get through all that we've been through in our life together & make it through intact let alone everything we've endured these past 15 months. We're grateful for that much.



But WE. HAVE. LOST IT!



We're now beginning week 6 of living in a one-room hotel and after a day of screaming & crying (mostly myself...) we had to have a "Come to Jesus Talk" with the kids as Mathew says (I still don't understand what that means! lol). We sat down with them and talked about how we all have to work on how we interact with each other right now. That even though we're one of the strongest families I know, we've all let the stress get to us & have forgotten how to show each other respect. The kids have forgetten how to listen, they've started to fight like cats & dogs, Mathew & I have jumped to yelling & frustration waaaay faster than we ever have before, and basically we're just not handling all of this very well anymore. So we hugged & we cried & we doled out the love, & all breathed a sigh of relief. And the boys even decided to sign "contracts" detailing their own expectations of themselves (I'll listen to Mom & Dad the first time, I'll be respectful & kind to my brother, things like that. Super cute by the way). So everything should be better for a little while now right? WRONG! Within 20 minutes my son completely lost his mind because we asked him to put his pajamas on & not sleep in his swimming trunks. This is what he looked like:

Well... so much for that. Looks like we're all going to just be in hell until we get to finally escape.

Kansas has pretty much been craptastic for us. It always seems like things just fall apart for us here. And right now, with all of this god-awful heat, absolutely nothing is moving forward with our house here & that's really adding to our frustration. But right now, everything seems to just flow really well as we make moves toward Vermont. It seems like God really is pushing us in that direction; like that's where we belong. We're headed back there in a couple of weeks for part of our vacation & to close on the house & we've been making some calls on figuring out the details on how Vermont works. First of all, they want to put the purchase of our house in the paper because apparently the town will be really interested to see that someone is finally going to rescue that (potentially) beautiful house on the corner. How funny! I guess they always publish home sales, but when we asked to not make ours public she discouraged it since we would be the town heroes! lmao! ;) We also have been making calls about how to transfer our businesses, tag our cars, and handle all of the other state stuff, & everything there is so much easier than it is here & everyone is so willing to help you. It's just really refreshing. So for right now, it seems to us that any interaction we have regarding Kansas has been pure hell. But Vermont has been so great! I think someone's trying to tell us something, don't you? ;)

And on that note, I do have a phone interview with Dartmouth Hospital tomorrow afternoon. I'm really nervous! Wish me luck! :)

Things are becoming Real

Even though we've been living with practically nothing these past several months, picking up & just going isn't as simple as it would seem. We've been planning it all out & the timing of our crazy move is all dependent on so many things (hence why only you precious few know for right now. Yes I just used the word hence lol). I think we've narrowed it down to two different time periods: RIGHT NOW (OMG!) or December when the kids are between semesters. Waiting until June when the kids are done with this school year is enough to make Mathew have a panic attack, so this is what we're going with.

So... do we apply for the school in VT for the kids? Do we renew our enrollment to the boys' current school? Do we request our belongings from ServPro, even though our house is nowhere near ready for it, just to start packing for a potential move? Just to name a few of the panic-inducing questions on our minds. So to make the decision for us, I decided to look into jobs. I figure we can't go anywhere if we don't have the income to continue to pay the bills, right? ;)

So I looked into all of my options & it looks like working in the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth would be my best bet. As many of you know, working with kids is most definitely where my heart is, & oncology is what I know & love. Well, whaddaya know! Job postings for Dartmouth show two potential opportunities: PICU, & Heme/Onc critical care!! Sweet! I think though, (from what I'm reading on the listings) that that means I will have to follow either one or the other of my passions: kids, or oncology. But I think I'm okay with that. I mean, both would be an amazing learning opportunity, and hello: I could work at Dartmouth! Wow! So I bit the bullet & submitted my resume & started the ridiculous process of transferring my nursing license to NH (again, major tummy butterflies on how *real* this is all becoming!).

Within an hour, I was contacted by their nurse recruiter requesting a phone interview!! Holy cow! We haven't set up a time yet due to phone tag (I worked W, Th, & Fr), but it looks like the ball is rolling... and picking up speed... Ahh! lol

Some prayers would be appreciated that all of this works out in His timing. It seems like everything is falling into place so far, so we're trying to just let go & let God as they say. I'm excited, and admittedly really nervous, to see where all of this takes us!

You Must Be In on the Secret ;)

Welcome to my new blog my beautiful friends! :)
If you're viewing this post now, you are one of the precious few who are in on our humongous, ginormous, life-changing secret (and you know how hard it is for me to keep secrets!) We are picking up and starting a whole new life nearly 1500 miles away in a small village in Vermont!!! Yikes! :S It's scary & exciting and overwhelming and wonderful all at once. The truth is, we have just been through entirely too much for one little family to handle, and while we want to be stubborn & stick it out till the bitter end, we also have to decide what our breaking point is; at what point do we say enough is enough. We're putting our feet down & taking control & putting what's best for our family FIRST. Yes, we most certainly will finish that rediculous house in Kansas. We're just not going to let it cause us suffering anymore. (You try living in one hotel room with your three kids for a while & tell me how great it is! lol) How & when we're going to do it from the other side of the country? Hell, I don't know! lol But we will because we're not quitters (and letting it go is just plain dumb).

In the mean time though, we're going to focus on doing something productive that will be good for our family. What does that mean to my insane husband? "Hey, let's buy a run-down 150 year-old house in Vermont & rehab THAT!" Awesome. Just what we need! lol Truthfully though, Mathew has wanted to live in Vermont for the last 10+ years. He just feels at home there for some strange reason. I joke with him that he must have lived there in a previous life. ;) And he's wanted this particular house for the last 8+ years. Why? Couldn't tell ya. But even I've got to admit that it does have a certain charm to it, and I can see that it can become a beautiful home if given a TON of love. So it kind of fell into our laps at a time when we most needed something to work in our favor, & we decided to pay attention to God's gentle push forward & go for it!

What this blog is going to turn out to be, I'm not quite sure yet. It may be a blog about our progress on the VT house and/or the KS house, it may be a blog about our day to day lives in a whole new world to us, or it may just be me venting about what a saint my husband has for a wife for going along with this whole crazy scheme! lol Whichever direction it takes, I hope you'll join me for the ride!