It's almost time!

Tomorrow's the big day! It's been a little hectic trying to pack while Doug's gone, as I'm packing up most of the apartment by myself. I've had some help, thank goodness for my sisters-in-law!!

I'd take a picture of the chaos that is my apartment, but I've packed the camera. Amidst the boxes, and the mess, the disorganization, and all the phone calls I'm supposed to remember to make, the kids are driving me insane...to say the LEAST. It's like the day before Christmas and they simply can't contain themselves. I spend my days yelling at them, mostly because Jared tries his hardest to make the most annoying high pitch-deep-throated-blood-curdling "monster roar" he can make (and if it isn't loud enough, he'll make it louder). He'll chase Jade around the apartment making this ear defiling noise (I'm telling you it's enough to want to lock the kid in the closet). She runs screaming at the top her lungs (of course) and attaches herself to my leg. Her scream is even worse because it's like 12 octaves higher. So, they scream, I yell. That's pretty much been our interaction for the past week.

Doug's coming home tonight though, and by tomorrow at least they'll have a backyard to scream in. Hopefully we'll have nice neighbors. Doug's sis and her hubby are helping us and they're staying the weekend out there. Hopefully we can get some fun activities in Saturday night so they won't be spending their entire vacation time moving us. Anyway, that's my update. Screaming kids and boxes. Sounds like fun right?

a slight dilemma - my little guilt trip.

When Doug and I decided to move to Anthem, I got in contact with several property management companies. One of them was VERY helpful and found an entire list of properites with our criteria. When Doug came out to view them, the husband and wife team of said property management took him around the entire town, and showed him a dozen or so houses as well as the local ammenities. This took HOURS out of their busy schedule, and probably cost them a small bundle's worth of gas.

The problem? We didn't really like any of the houses. I mean, we DID like them, but they just weren't really fit for us. The really nice ones were a little too big for us, and a little more then we wanted to spend. The house in my previous post was a waaaay better deal price-wise, and the floor plan was more "us". Unfortunately we are going through a different PM company. Soooooo, now I feel just a little guilty about not renting from the husband and wife team. I mean, what should I say? We've been e-mailing back and forth and I told her we were still in the process of deciding (because we haven't been approved yet for the house we really want). Last night she sent me an e-mail saying something like "I'm assuming you won't be renting from us, and that's just fine. Let me know if you need any help moving in, we can find people to lend a hand. Also, our kids are the same age, so if you want to set up a playdate, contact me". Okay, isn't she just the sweetest? I'm thinking I want to give her a little thank-you card with a gift certificate to a restaurant or something just to let her know how much we appreciated their time and effort. I mean, they really went above and beyond the duties of your average management company. I hope they're not too mad at us. I hate dealing with stuff like this.

We've found our house

I know the pictures are a little dark, because Doug didn't open all the blinds before he took these. But, here's our house (most likely). We'll find out for sure either today or Monday. But, there's pretty much no way we'll be denied. It's 1633 square feet, and it was built between 2002-2004 so it's fairly new. I'm excited. There's a laundry room!! That means I no longer have to carry the laundry basket full of 5 loads of nasty clothes across the parking lot to the communal cat pee-smelling laundry room! That also means I'm done cleaning other peoples' bodily hair out of the lint trap! Yay for upgrades!! The house is in Anthem, and located across from the community park. I don't care how small the kitchen is at this point. It's $5 a month LESS than what we're paying for this craphole. Now, you all MUST get excited with me about that!!

Ah, family get togethers

are so much fun, especially when the mother-in-law storms out in a teary-eyed huff. This time it was my fault - sort of.

Everything was going well. She actually showed up this time to her grandchild's birthday party, which these days is a rarity. To be fair, her health is failing and she has a really hard time getting out of bed most days. So anyway, to our surprise she shows up, and after dinner she and my sister-in-law Mandi, and I were sitting together discussing an estranged family member. Mandi and I were defending said family member against mother-in-law's accusations about her. I have been getting VERY tired of the way this person has been portrayed by mother-in-law for YEARS. Now she's back on the warpath again, spewing venom about her very own daughter, which for the LIFE of me I don't understand. I ended up getting a little too emotional about the whole thing and opened my big mouth - basically contradicting every rotten thing coming out of mother-in-law's mouth. I tried doing this in a "nice" way, I guess to show her the error of her thoughts, and explain to her that this family member (her own daughter, remember?) has really tried to make a change in her life, and if she could just meet her in the middle, think of how great it would be to have so-and-so back in the family again. She wouldn't have it. ANY of it. She got really pissy when we didn't side with her, and at this point, Mandi brilliantly left the conversation. I should have followed her lead. I stayed, and it got worse. Much worse. She brought up something that happened years ago, which DID NOT happen the way she said it did. I called her on it, (nicely, I promise) and told her it didn't exactly happen that way - and that was the end of it. She couldn't handle it, and off she went crying into the bathroom. Dad came into the living room and made excuses for her telling everyone she wasn't feeling well - something about her ankle being swollen, so they had to leave. After about 5 minutes she exits the bathroom and makes a b-line to the front door without a word to anyone. How's that for drama?

Now, the reason I'm blogging about it, is I really can't let it go. It's upsetting to me. I'm upset because SHE's upset....because she acts like a 5 year old tantrum-thrower if she doesn't get her way. We were having an ADULT discussion, we were debating both sides of certain issues, and because I didn't agree with her she gets to act like a baby. I love my mother-in-law, in fact we are very close, like mother and daughter. We always have been close. I hope our relationship isn't damaged, but I'm sure she'll always hold this little episode against me. To be honest though, it was bound to happen. I'm so appalled at the way she speaks of her own daughter I couldn't hold it in anymore. Something had to be said. So, in that respect, I don't feel it was my fault. At least one thing's certain, it'll make saying goodbye a little easier when we move.

Our last lunch date.

Ursula was the first person I met out here besides Doug's family. She's been cutting his hair since he was 16. Doug figured she wouldn't like me because she really wanted him for her daughter. He was wrong! She liked me immediately because "I looked so German"--which is a good thing because she's from Germany. Over the years we've developed a friendship over pasta lunches at Olive Garden. Her husband hates the place, and so does Doug. So, we escape every now and then and stuff ourselves on breadsticks and salad, and gossip about our husbands. She adores the kids so much she jokes about banking Doug's sperm so her daughter can have beautiful blue-eyed babies like mine. Europeans can be a little forward.

I love her dearly, and I'll miss her very much. We'll meet up again in Sedona in a few months while they're there on vacation.