Get A Move On

Unlike most people, I love moving! I like the change, the new place, and most of all the re-decorating! The only thing I don't like is the packing. I would be perfectly happy leaving everything and starting over. New clothes, new furniture, and of course new shoes. But that's not very practical. At least that's what my husband tells me.

A few years ago I learned my lesson about complaining (especially about moving) while at the dog park. We were moving back to Utah the next day and I was taking Jed to get some extra energy out. I had met a few girls who were there regularly and we had become pretty friendly. One of them asked me how the packing was going and I told her I was at the point where it's just the little stuff left.

I said something like "I'm ready to just set a fire and start over."
Her response- "Oh, don't say that. My house burned down last year."
In my mind- "I am an idiot. An absolute idiot."

Since then, I will never complain about moving again. And it was probably a good thing I learned that lesson that day. It was the year we moved four times and even slept on a family member's basement floor for three weeks and lived in a hotel for almost three months.

I remember the day we "moved" into the hotel. John and I thought it was hilarious. You know the bus benches with the Rent a Bench painted on them? We always joked about renting one and then just setting a tent up over it. It really wasn't that bad. We'd tell people we had 100 room house and a maid service, which was partially true. Mind you we did this with a Weimaraner puppy. If we can do that, we can live anywhere. As Pumba says, "home is where your rump rests." (I seriously want to cross stitch that.)

I'm grateful now that we don't live in a hotel but it was one of our grand adventures. Three weeks from today we will be off on another one. I wish is was to the other side of the world (i.e. Isreal), but we will see. This puts us one step closer to being able to just pick up an leave should the opportunity arise. For now I will continue packing up a little at a time. Today I packed Little Miss' room. I took the picture to prove to myself that I am making progress.


For some reason she doesn't look too pleased. She is ready for a morning snack and a nap.


She has a wider range of facial expressions now. She even giggled for the first time yesterday. I was thrilled! I had been jealous all week that she was smiling more at John than at me. It had become this big thing to see who could get her to smile more. Don't get me wrong, I love that she loves her Papa and that he adores her, but it was getting to be a bit much. He would walk into the room and she'd immediately 'coo' and 'ahh' and get all smiley. For me it was just the "hey, what's up? Where's my food?" look. But now I know she loves me too because she laughed.