We live a half of a mile from the school, and yet I spent an hour each day dropping Max off and picking him up. UGH. If it weren’t a thousand degrees outside I would just walk to get him. Hmm. Maybe I will just suck it up.\
ETA- Virginia, kids, and old age has turned me into a sissy, I admit. Back in Arizona, before Virginia, kids, and old age, I would walk 4 times as much in much hotter heat. Sigh.\
I decided to walk to get Max and it took just as long as driving and is a helluva lot further than a half of a mile. But by walking to drop off/pick up Max, Brian and I don’t need other walking time. So, I just gained an extra hour in my day! YAY! Except, now I have to find something else to occupy Brian for an hour. Drat. Next year, when he starts school full time again, I am going on a cruise. For a whole week. Maybe even two.
Category: Jen
Raspberries the world
My parents live in southern Miss. I was telling a friend that I am not worried about them though. I went on to say that around their town, you can see roofs with blue tarps from where they still haven’t been fixed since Katrina. And then I was like, “And why am I not scared again?” Kevin was like, “Yea, why aren’t you scared? They are pretty much right in Gustav’s path.” Gee, thanks a lot, Kev.\
Hanna is heading straight for us. Is this what the whole Fall is going to be like?\
Our landlord is going through bankruptcy and is desperately trying to short sell the house we are currently renting so the bank won’t foreclose. This means that we will probably be moving again. Booo. Remind me next time we rent to check the credit of the homeowner, ok? The worst part (as of right now, when I am not packing/unpacking again) is the uncertainty and the unclear time line. How long does a foreclosure take, if it comes to that? How does his bankruptcy affect ownership of the house? If he’s asking less than the market price, what is the liklihood of it selling quickly, to someone who actually wants to live here? (If it sold to someone who wanted to rent it out, we’d stay.)\
So, Palin, huh? Yea, no thanks.\
In happier news, Max was placed in the advanced class of his grade. We didn’t have to wait for testing because I had the standardized test results from last Spring. YAY! He is really excited about school. There are all sorts of clubs he can join too. Savannah has 5 magnet elementary schools, so I was worried that the neighborhood elementary schools would suffer. So far, so good though. I’ll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the school actually will be as awesome as it seems. When I told a friend of mine that this school seems better than the one we left in No Va, she was shocked. Cuz yea, No Va schools have a great rep and Ga schools not so much. But we’ll see!
Life in Ga
Kevin is working way too much. He’s up everyday before the alarm and is even out of the house before I wake up.\
I am not sure if it is because we are new here, because we are renting, or maybe just due to it being summer, but I feel like I am on vacation with no to do list. Wheeee. The boys and I just goof around all day until it’s time for me to make dinner. And I actually have been cooking, even breakfast! (The boys got used to having a hot breakfast after a week at Babb’s house and a week in a hotel. Boo. No more cold, continental ones for them. Ha.) Last night I made enchiladas and tortilla soup for the first time and they turned out fabulously!! Sadly, Kevin worked really late and missed the first presentation.\
The house is nice, but the kitchen is a bit small. Everything is a mess, but a functioning one. I am not even bothering to unpack everything. There are still boxes everywhere and I don’t really plan to change that, since we don’t have any visitors coming soon :(. The boys are sharing a room, one room is a play room that no one uses- but it’s pretty, one room is full of food storage, and that leaves the master for us and K’s not-yet-set-up office.\
The boys seem to be happy but miss Kevin. Max has been alternating between playing on the computer and reading Harry Potter. Brian flits from toy to toy. He likes to run and scoot around the circle of the house (living room to dining room to kitchen to family room to entry way to living room, etc). We also play in the sprinklers a lot and then he hops in the shower to get his feet clean. We don’t have tv yet, so in the wee morning when I am not ready to be awake and in the afternoon before Brian crashes for a nap, we watch the same 4 videos. The other day I splurged and bought Flushed Away, so make that 5 videos.\
That’s pretty much our life so far!
We have internet!
Now I can occupy you with all of the trivial details of my life. Joy!! No tv yet, which I am mostly happy about. Why bother when everything worth watching, save football, is easily available elsewhere?\
The house is still a mess of boxes, but I am dying for some company. And, we were planning a getting-to-know-the-neighbors/coworkers/fellow church goers party, but I don’t think I am up for the work of unboxing the house in a timely manner. Oh well.
Update: Ga is rainy
We’re on our second hotel room, cuz the movers got lost. Or just skipped us. I don’t know where my meds are or where my personal toiletries are. Kevin’s deodorant was not made for me.\
The first day we were here, we explored downtown Savannah, the shopping areas, the area around our house, and the beach! The journey from our house to the beach took 18 minutes! Wheeee. I can totally go everyday if I want!!!! Kevin posted a few pics from the beach. Click the “photos” link above.\
The second day, we waited around a bunch, went shopping a little, checked out the local library, and sought refuge from the humidity in a movie theater. We tried to see Wall-E, but ended up at the wrong theater, so we saw Get Smart. Max’s grandpa had taken him to see it earlier in the week, but Max was up for it again. I was shocked to learn it’s a pg-13 movie. Oy! Not only did Max see it, but so did Brian. He alternated between, “I love this movie” and “I hate this movie!” I think the [SPOILER WARNING] naked butt at the end won him back over.\
I’ve been blow drying my hair lately, which is a huge deal for me, but 20 minutes later, it’s wet again. I think I will go back to air-drying. Which could mean it’ll be wet until sometime in Nov. It’s rained every afternoon we’ve been here. Is this normal?\
Kevin gets a huge A+ for the house. It is larger than our townhouse in Va, but feels smaller because everything is just a few steps away (plus, there is actually less living space, but the kids’ bigger rooms make up for that.) We not only have a garage, but also have an attic and a shed! We don’t have anything that could go in the shed, but I am thinking about buying some stuff just to put things in it! There is also a fire pit in the backyard that I fully intend to use, as soon as it stops raining every day.\
Last night I had a dream in which I was dreaming, but knew it, about going to Babba’s house for dinner. I knew it was a dream since it now takes 10 hours instead of 10 minutes to get to her house, but no one believed that that they were in a dream. It was sad and I felt guilty for taking the kids away from Babba. Waaaaah.\
That’s all from here. Wish the movers luck that they will get their act together soon!!
Status report
Kevin found us a house to rent in Savannah. Yay! Along with the necessities, it has a big backyard for the kids, a 2-car garage to fulfill my storage desires, and a guest room. (Only 15 minutes to the beach, people!)\
I’ve been mourning Wegman’s, our fabulous grocery store. Maybe Savannah will have a great grocery store, but I am not holding my breath. My parents, who live in So Miss, only have two shopping options: a Super Walmart with a bad produce section and a small corner store with a bad produce section. This is why I am not expecting much in Savannah. (Anybody from there and can tell me I’m wrong?)\
Even though we’re moving in a couple of weeks, the kids still want to eat everyday! I had to go to the grocery store for basics like milk and cereal and Popsicles. Apparently canned green beans don’t work well for breakfast or dessert.\
I’ve done the first and second stage of packing- things we don’t use often and things we can do without. I even started on the third stage- stuff that fall under Kevin’s purview and I have no idea what it is, what it does, and whether it is actually worth keeping. I need to move on to the fourth stage now: oddly-shaped, fragile objects. Ugh. But, you know, I am kind of anti-stuff right now, so if it all breaks- oh well.\
Brian has become a little stand-up comedian. “Why did the car drive on the airplane?” Why? “To get to the airport.” There are lots of variations of this- car, boat, airplane, motorcycle. They are all silly, but Brian’s delivery is FAB! I am really sorry Kevin is missing this.\
That’s all folks!
Words!
I labeled a box of books today, “Grown up books.” I was afraid to use the word, “Adult.” I am not sure who would be looking at my boxes, but whoever it is, I don’t want them to get the wrong idea about me.\
After the new show Swingtown premiered, I am sort of afraid to move to the swanky, suburban house we picked. And if you don’t know why I am afraid… Well, that’s probably a good thing.
Last day
Today is Kevin’s last day at AOL. He’d been there for 13 years. Can you imagine? That is the same amount of time spent in school. AOL helped him find his passion, meet like-minded people, travel the world, pay off my student debt (hey, super thanks for that), and develop into an awesome web dude. Over 100 people went to his goodbye party. Which, wow. Thanks, AOL. You’ve been awesome to us, which we’ll always appreciate. Bye now. Have a great summer. Keep in touch!\
ETA- Oh noes! Kevin doesn’t have the internet attached to his hip anymore. I am going through withdrawal already.
La la la
Amazing what a good window cleaning does to the view. Yes, the cleaners are here and totally worth every penny for doing the jobs I couldn’t/wouldn’t. Whatever house we decide on in Georgia, we must factor in the “Jen is a bad housekeeper” into the budget. Even just twice a year would be awesome, for stuff like behind the washer and dryer. Being able to afford things like this, even though I don’t work, is why I don’t mind Kevin being gone on the occasional anniversary: cuz I’m treated like a princess everyday. 🙂 (Excuse me while I go puke from my cheesiness.)\
Speaking of which, Brian is sick again. I hope that his leaving the AWESOME AOL school means that he won’t be sick as often. I can hope, right? He got better for awhile, keeping food down and everything, while I got sick. Ugh. Kevin came home early and doctored me right on up. I was much better by the time Brian started bouts number 2, 3, and 4. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he will be all the way better so he can go to school tomorrow, which is his last day. I want him to say goodbye to everyone, plus they are having a goodbye party for him.\
Call me slow, but I just realized that by renting a house in Savannah, I am going to have to move again, and soon. Waaaah. Maybe I will keep some things boxed up until we get to the “real” house.\
I still love freecycle, but having to choose which person with their “please pick me” story to give the item to is so… icky. I always thought I wanted to run a charity/foundation/scholarship thingy after we made our first several hundred million (ha), but I kind of take that back. Maybe I should just hire someone to do the picking for my future-imaginary charity, yes?
Kevin? Mommy? Dr A?
Brian gave me the icky stomach bug. I just can’t cope with this type of illness. Give me a cold, a sprained ankle, a headache, something other than this, please.