5 and 12

5...  days until school starts. This part of summer is like the end of a marathon. My kids are bored out of their skulls and I'm at my wits' end. I know the relief is only temporary. Soon we'll begin the homework battle, the whining over reading, the exhausted meltdowns. But at least they won't be home all day, changing clothes 100 times, dirtying every dish in the house and getting into everything they shouldn't.

12...  days until we close on our new house. Yes. That again. I really wanted to wait. But, as with most of this process, what I wanted didn't amount to much.

Do I sound bitter?

It's not that I don't like the house. I do. I think I'll feel perfectly at home. But it's not what I wanted. Trying to find what both of us wanted in our price range was impossible. I somehow ended up doing all the compromising.

You'll have to cut me a little slack. I'm so stressed. It's not over til it's over, and there's a week and a half for something to go wrong still. Everything has gone better than last time, far better. I should be happily packing and daydreaming about decorating. But I just can't. The last house traumatized me.

Anyway. It's a 3 bedroom house, 1800 Sq feet, on 6+acres.  It's roomy and peaceful. Once we are moved in, I'll be excited, I'm sure. It's close to where I work. It's an older house and will need some updates, but it's in very good shape. I wanted 4 bedrooms, but this will do. The bathrooms have been updated with a jetted tub in the main bathroom and a very roomy shower in the master bath. There's even a hot tub on a large screened in back porch. My husband will have a very large shop and there's an additional building that he wants to turn into a chicken coop.

I'll finally have a dishwasher. The fridge is huge. There's a central vac system, which is exciting. Carpet. I've missed carpet. Huge kitchen. Huge everything, really. Most of the house has wood paneling, which I detest, so I'll be painting walls for a while. Eventually we'll sheetrock the walls, but I do like the look of painted paneling so there is no rush. There is a big fireplace. I'll be painting, or rather white washing, that. Huge closets, lots of cabinets. Everything will have a place.

I'm ready to be out of this house. The walls seem to be closing in on me daily. There's no where for me to put boxes out of the way for me to even pack right now, so it will be a slow process moving out.

I'm sorry that I'm not peppier about all this. Like I said, I'm under so much stress and I probably am not dealing with it as best I could. I have always had the majority of the responsibilities on my shoulders, and the house buying process is a lot of work. Money is tight while we take care of all of this, and there is the added expense of back to school factored in, too, and it has highlighted the fact that I have three very spoiled children. And work...  everyone is taking turns going on vacation and guess who has to take up the slack.... Plus my coworkers are Mean Girls on a normal day, but when the boss is gone (like this week) is just nasty up there. I need a break.

Thanks for the vent. I hope to bring you more cheerful posts soon!