New chapter

Wow, I haven't blogged since October. So much has happened since then. I haven't had time to write a decent blog, and now there is so much to write about that I'm not sure where to begin.

I guess I'll start with the big news. We have moved to Texas, and some, but not all, things are really different here. (I know, Duh.) I'm tempted to stop there. When I start talking about all that has happened in the past year, I start to sound whiny, and that is not the tone I want for this blog. It hasn't all been bad, not by a long shot, but it's difficult to explain the good without mentioning the bad. I'll say this, "all is well that ends well." We have ended one chapter of our lives and begun another.

Our new chapter begins the day after Christmas. We packed two vehicles to the ceiling with belongings we had taken to Heber Springs, Arkansas from our old house in Benton. Most of our stuff was being stored in Irving, Texas. It had been there almost 4 weeks as we waited to close on our new house in Saginaw. I'll talk about life in Heber some other time. Our time there deserves its own blog.

The good thing about traveling on a long trip (7 hours in this case) the day after Christmas is the kids had new stuff to keep them entertained. We also had the added benefit of putting one kid in each car so they couldn't fight...except when we stopped to eat, then you would think they had been cooped up together for hours.

It was cold that day, even in Texas. Trey and Mason reached the house first, and called to warn me that the last homeowner had left the sprinkler system timer on, so the driveway had ice on it(more about that in the next blog). Other than that, everything was great. Our savvy realtor suggested we make the seller have the house and carpets professionally cleaned before we moved in. I'll remember that next time I buy a house. It was wonderful. She had also come in before we got there, turned on the heat and left us a sweet note and some Chili's gift cards. There was even toilet paper in the bathrooms. When you've just been on a long trip and have two kids and you're a mom whose bladder isn't what it used to be, that's important.

I had only been in the house two times before, so I had to go exploring. It was better than I remembered, maybe because now the seller's stuff wasn't in it. It was easier to imagine us and our things there.

We unloaded the two cars, and left for some supper at a nearby Genghis Grill. That's when we found out everything is close to us...in multiples. You want a Wal-Mart? There are at least 4 within a 15 minute drive. You want Target? Well not so many, just 2 within 15 minutes. Grocery stores? Restaurants? Try any category, multiply by four or five, drive 15 to 20 minutes. They are all there. For those of you who live in or near a truly large city, this may not seem unusual. To us? Unbelievable.

This new access to so many shopping areas is a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because if you need something, you can find it. A curse, because there are waaaayyy too many places to spend money. The budget is going to have to be strict.

Giddy from so many options and places to explore in the future, we headed back to our new home. We would be on air beds for the night, because the furniture wouldn't be delivered until the next day. I couldn't imagine putting the kids in separate empty rooms on an airbed in a strange place, so we all camped out in the den. We got everyone settled and went to sleep.

Sometime during the night, I thought I heard a vague sound of a train whistle (more on that later, too), but other than that we slept well in our new home.

Coming up: movers