Three Words: Sold, Packing, Excitement

Okay, where to begin? It's been quite a while, but I have plenty of news to share.

Charles has been gone now for two months and that time has been very hard for all of us. We've gone to New Bern to visit (a whole week in April) and he's flown down here to visit us a couple of times, which makes all this a bit easier to handle. The good news is that the "count-down" is on and things are going to change completely near the end of May!

The house is sold! I thought it would take months, but we only had it on the market for a little over three weeks before someone put a contract on it. We closed on April 29th and are now "renting" the house back from the buyer for the remainder of May so that Riley can finish up the school year.

School ends on May 21st and we are making our big move on May 23rd. We cannot wait! A PODS unit will arive on the 20th and we'll frantically pack all weekend and make the final drive to New Bern that Sunday. We'll then stay in Charles in his apartment for a week (unfortunately, the cats will have to be in a kennel those days) until we can move into our rental house on June 1st.

The rental is very nice and in the subdivision we'd like to buy a house in. The owners are military (of course) and he's a pilot being temporarily transferred to Washington state for the next two or three years. They've done amazing work on the house and we've promised to take good care of it for them while we are there. Best of all? The house is maybe three miles from Riley's new school--one of the best in the area. I so won't miss the 45 minute drive (twice a day) to her school now.

We still have plenty of packing to do, but I don't mind--all the extra activity just means we're that much closer to being together as a family again!!

Molly & McGee (and, now, Max!)

Want to see something really cool? Riley's school has been carefully monitoring The Owl Box--a Webcam set up by a family in California. The camera is inside an owl box and I just watched the first little owl come out of it's shell just a few moments ago! It's not too late to check in though--Molly the owl still has four eggs left to hatch.

Moving On

Exciting news this week: We're moving to New Bern, North Carolina! Charles just accepted a job offer at a law firm there and starts his new position on March 8. Riley and I will hang out here until the school year is finished and join him as soon as we can.

Unfortunately, we desperately need to sell our house--not an easy feat during these iffy economic times. We've found plenty of good options in New Bern, but we really need to sell the house we're in now! We need all the luck we can get.

We spent Sunday through Wednesday in New Bern, touring the area and looking at houses. It's a great area and only a 30-minute drive from the beach--a big plus for Riley. The downtown area is so neat--buildings, churches, etc. are 100 to 200 years old...amazing.

We're excited overall, but I'm a bit terrified of how much needs to be done in such a short amount of time--send positive thoughts my way!

Not a Good Day...

I'm feeling really depressed. Had a terrible afternoon which ended with my one-and-only aunt calling me "trash" and telling me to "go gain 20 more pounds, leave Riley motherless" because, as she texted, "its all about food and you." She then told me to "call your Mom and cry." All because I wouldn't jump in my car, drive an hour south and check on some friend of hers she hasn't heard from in two weeks.

Things have got to get better soon. Hopefully, good news is just around the corner and we, as a family, can make a fresh start! Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, please.

Happy Birthday to Me...

I woke up to this lovely decorating job from Charles and Riley this morning! They decided to decorate the space where I spend most of my days--my "home office" in the corner of the living room.

It's also a snow day here in Atlanta. Riley's out of school and the roads are incredibly icy. Our temperature is currently 16 degrees with a wind chill of 2 degrees...brrrr!

This is CNN

I feel so cool. I got a shout-out on CNN this week from the man himself, Tony Harris. Now, if I could only win a Beat 360 t-shirt, I'd be in heaven!

An Early Birthday

We had an early birthday party for Riley today at Jump 4 Joey so that would not interfere with the holidays--many of her friends from school were able to come. They had a blast!!

She had pizza, lemonade, an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery (devil's food cake with chocolate ice cream mixed with Kit Kats) and I made "magic wands" (pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with colored sugar) to go with her Harry Potter cake.

Our friend George took a couple of videos:

Alex, Riley and Paul in the birthday chair.

Riley really focusing on blowing out the candles...

Charles took quite a few pictures and I'll upload them later.