Home Free!

What a busy weekend! The kids and I are getting set up in the new house, and I LOVE IT!!! It is such a great house. The kids are so happy and love exploring every corner. It is my ex's weekend to have them, but we agreed to keep them with me so they can get settled in. Today, however, I very, very foolishly took on a last minute volunteer shift, so X is picking them up later this morning. (Okay, my thought process in taking on the extra shift was that I have been derelict in working shifts the last several months; I figured I would need a break from unpacking; it might feel good to have a "forced break" in all the moving hulabaloo; (whispering: the shift is working with a handsome man and that didn't hurt in my decision process); etc. All those things are still true: I am looking forward to getting out of the house and getting away from this mountain of boxes and piles of stuff. While this home is big - I have two completely empty rooms, purposes as yet undesignated - the kitchen lacks storage space. I had to haul in a gnarly rubbermaid-type cabinet I generally keep on the patio for storage. It looks out of place in the kitchen, but it will do for now. This morning, I will cook the inaugural meal in the house! (ummm, cereal and milk? No, maybe eggs and bacon with toast.) That is cause for celebration because it means I got the kitchen cleared out and can actually find most things.

Two pounds!! Wowsa, have I ever fought for those two pounds this month. Errr, they are the only two pounds I've lost this month. Yipes. I am chalking it up to stress, my body revelling in it's new "less than 200 pounds" status, and just reason for me to kick it back into high gear now that we've moved into the new place. The first time I stepped on the scale this morning, it actually gave me the 75 pound loss I'm looking for (but had completely given up expecting, haha, after this slow month). However, the second and third times I weighed it refused to show me any more love. Neurotic, anyone? Yes, I did say the second and third times I weighed. And if I go back in that bathroom to take a shower and step on that scale and pick up the 75 pound loss, you can damn well bet I'll come back and change this blog. ;)

Okay! Lots of pictures coming later today or tomorrow. I've got the camera charging up because I am going to have X take our picture in front of the house before he takes the kids. This occurred to me simply because he was a handy photographer - I meant to have our nanny take the picture yesterday, but it slipped my mind. As I've been putzing around the house this morning, it occurred to me that it's a little bittersweet to have X take our family portrait without him in it. Not that I want him in it, I mean, it's just a little "thumb in your eye" to him. Oh well. That wasn't my intention and I really just want a picture of me and the kids in front of our new home, so I will ask him to take it. He was very kind, getting us all moved in here and getting my KING SIZED BED (YAY! Angels singing...) and the boys' bunk bed set up for me, my absolute nemesis tasks. He hired a mover friend to help, and he even paid for the truck and the friend. This was very cool. I am not sure how I will pay for it later. He mentioned taking it off what he owes me, and I didn't dare remind him to pay his share of our nanny this week, after he had worked so hard. We will sort it out later. I didn't want to spoil what was a very nice amicable-divorce day for all of us.

Oh! I took the training wheels off my five-year-old's bike yesterday! It has been a big weekend! He has not needed the wheels forever - I had those suckers adjusted as high as they go, and one of them was even bent where it wouldn't touch the ground. But he clung to them like a howler monkey, refusing to allow me to take them off. Yesterday, he told me "Mom, I need my training wheels off so I can race Blake." He asked me to come push him to get started, and never looked back from there. Later, he summed it up best, "Oh yeah, I'm awesome!" True dat.

I just have to say, this is a brand new chapter in my life. I am nervous about handling it all on my own: higher rent, increased expenses, YARD WORK...but I am beyond excited. It is just such an amazing feeling. The kids have been all over me this weekend with hugs and kisses...everyone feels the positive change in our direction.