Moving on up....

After months of of painting, cleaning, and frustration, I think we are finally making the big move this weekend.

I say I think because my darling husband has found more reasons to put off this move than there is tea in China. I'm hoping that the knowledge that while we will have friends to help us move *this* weekend, and they'll all be off partying in Cancun without US next weekend will keep him focused.

We finally got the house bricked. We have a pretty brand spankin new fridge with a water and ice dispenser in the door! Which makes me feel just so uptown, let me tell ya. M is laying some sod down this morning, so the dog will have something to relieve herself on (do not ask me why my cocker will not water dirt. She will only water vegetation. She is a weird dog. Cute and lovable, but weird.) We have a ton of stuff already moved in and unpacked. Unfortunately, we have a lot more stuff to move. I'll be packing dishes and breakable baking dishes tonight. As well as the getting the boys to pack the rest of their stuff in their rooms. I've packed most of my clothes, so we *better* move this weekend, or I'll be running around nekkid next week, which won't be a pretty sight, let me tell you. I've managed to gain TEN POUNDS in the last 6 months, although how I did that while working my tail off I have no idea. So that too should keep M motivated to move this weekend.

Of course, the boys will be less than thrilled, as we probably won't have our phone bundled with DishNetwork hooked up for a week or so, so they will be limited to the ridiculous collection of kid friendly DVDs we own as well as *gasp* - local TV. No Nik, no Cartoon Network. Poor things. I'd feel bad for them if they didn't try to take over the TV every single day. Hmph. *I* won't be going into TV withdrawals, because sweet Lord who watches over us all and meets every need, the Stanley Cup playoffs move from Versus to NBC on Saturday. Muahahahahahahahaha. Perfect. Now if Ottawa would just learn how to score a freakin goal in Anaheim!!!

The boys ended up doing very well in school this year, with both of them getting commended on all but one of their TAKS tests. And they came very close to getting commended on the other ones, but J missed by one question, and I think E missed by 2. Close enough. We are very very proud of how well the did academically this year. J was blessed with a wonderful teacher in Hicksville, and E does even better in small classes out there.

We started a garden. Just a little one, M said - we don't want to overwhelm ourselves with so much to do still on the property. Uh huh.

Someone explain to me how SIXTEEN TOMATO PLANTS constitute "a little garden"? And he won't plant peppers. I'm sorry, but if I'm going to do something with the tomatos from 16 plants, then by golly, there better be some peppers because I'm going to be making hot sauce, and while I'm willing to buy onions, we need PEPPERS!!!

Men. Love 'em, but sheesh. Besides the 16 tomato plants, we also planted cucumbers, yellow squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. Which is good because I love me some watermelon and cantaloupe. As soon as I get moved, we will be adding radishes and peppers. Both bell and jalepeno. But not so much jalepeno. Because those things are HOT.

Y'all keep us in your thoughts as we move this weekend. Primarily, pray that it will not rain another 5 inches, because seriously - having over 13 inches of rain this year already is so beyond weird, when our normal average rainfall is 5 1/2 inches.

Semi arid my hiney.

Breakin In to Hicksville

One of the things I really looked forward to about moving to a smaller town was getting to know my neighbors. I was convinced that folks in small towns were infinitely friendlier than those in the big towns, and that I would be welcomed into the fold via my homegrown family members that had lived in Hicksville all their lives.

Umm. Not so much. After a year of having my kids in school in Hicksville, and attending a variety of school events, I still only know my 2nd cousin and his family, the gal I went to high school with that also moved out to Hicksville this last year and .... well. That's it. I've met a couple of others. They've smiled politely when introduced. But other than that, I don't really exist to them.

Luckily, I have a great group of friends here in the big town, so it's not something I dwell on. It's not like I don't have people to hang out with. But I'm sure Daddy found it a little weird when he came to the boys' spring concert, and I didn't have a single person to introduce him to. I forget that we haven't really made any friends out there until I arrive to one of these school events (spring concert, track meet, etc) and see everyone else greeting each other. Then I realize that I really am the "outsider" still. And my kids probably still are as well.

When did small towns get so exclusive?

When I was in junior high, we moved around for about 3 years with my dad. We lived in small little towns all over the western part of the US. And I was always welcomed. I was new. Fresh meat, so to speak. I wasn't drop dead gorgeous, so the girls didn't feel threatened, and didn't hesitate to reach out to me. I wasn't butt ugly, so the boys were intrigued, and wanted to date me. I loved smalled towns. My folks loved small towns. My husband grew up in a small town. Why wouldn't I want to move my family to one and have my kids enjoy that lifestyle?

Now I have to admit - I'm a bit shy. I'm not the gal that will immediately walk over to you and talk you up, unless of course, I'm in "my element" - then I will definitely try to reach out and make you feel welcome. So maybe it's my own fault, for not finding someway to connect with the people of Hicksville. Maybe once we move, and are living out there full time instead of being commuters, we'll manage to make some friends. Maybe once we start going to church out there, it will give us more of a chance to interact, and the Hicksvillians will realize what fun, witty, fascinating people we are.

Or maybe not. What if we end up being the outsiders forever? For myself, it would make me a bit sad, but wouldn't kill me. As I said - I have real friends in the big town that I will continue to be friends with. We're not that far out, and we've already discussed what a great place the new house will be to gather and drink and eat and laugh, etc. For my husband? Pfft. He's not that social anyway.

But for my kids? THAT'S what I really worry about. Just how long will my boys be considered the new kids? When do they become locals? After a year? Two? Five? It doesn't help that the local bully brothers are in the same grades as my kids, and my kids are their latest targets. Or that the BB's (as I shall call them now, because heaven knows, I don't want them discovering this blog out of nowhere and threatening to sue ME because I've dared to say what everyone else tells us about their darling boys. And believe me - I wouldn't put it past them to run a daily google search on themselves, their boys, and Hicksville just to make sure proper respect is being shown to them. Pfft.) have learned their interaction skills from their folks. Yes - because if you dare to assign consequences to these kids, their parents are more than willing to bribe or threaten until the administration backs down.

I'd like to sic them on Osama. Trust me - dude would be TOAST.

Oh dear. This has turned into a whiny "why don't they like my kids?" post, hasn't it? Actually, my kids seem to get along with the other Hicksvillians well enough, but they haven't really made friends with anyone. We've yet to get a call from anyone out there. That makes me so sad. While not a popular kid growing up, I always had a group of friends. And I think that my oldest would like to be that way, but he hasn't yet learned how to do that. After years of being bullied at his big town school, he just lost all confidence in himself. He doesn't know how to be a friend anymore, because those punks never let him have any. And I don't have a clue how to teach him that. I didn't learn those skills, I just "was".

I just wish it were easier.

I just thought it would be easier for them. And it's not. And that sucketh.

Slowly but surely

Goodness - imagine that. A whole month and still my house has not been bricked. To be fair, they were supposed to start that today. Before it started raining. And raining. And I'm pretty sure it's still raining out there. It's just bizarre. Technically we are in a semi-arid zone. At some point this last year, the "arid" part seems to have disappeared.

Despite all that - we are making some progress. We're moving things into the house. We're unpacking. I've ordered - and received - the cutest drapes ever which I will hang in the living room soon. Our new bedroom furniture has been delivered and arranged and is entirely too big for the current master bedroom - I've reassured M that once we re-do the old garage, it will look PERFECT in that room. We have two new couches which are much larger than M thought, and I've managed to not say even once "I told you we should have bought a love seat and a couch" or "YOU wanted two couches." We've planted trees, our brick has been delivered to our property, and each time we are out there we just count our blessings. It won't be much longer. And we just can't WAIT.

Some day. Maybe even before summer!