it's been pretty quiet lately, mostly because we're in the waiting stage of things. there's not much more we can do until certain other things happen, none of which is pressing quite yet. we're waiting for the last couple of days to pack the last few things - the computers probably won't be boxed up until the 30th, maybe even the 1st. we're waiting for the money for the truck and the van. the van is the biggest concern since that money has to be on the credit card when we pick it up, but there's time for that. the money for the rental truck can wait till the day we leave since we don't need to pay it till then. we're waiting for an address so we can start setting up the mail forwarding, but again, that can wait till the last week with no problem. we're waiting for school to be out so we can pick up kids records. gypsy gets shaved next week, and we set dates for utility disconnects and pick up dmv records after the 25th. all we've really got left to do right now, other than waiting, is the last yard sale, which we're holding this saturday. heck, we were even waiting for the guy who bought the washer and drier to come and pick them up, which he did this morning.

the funny thing is i'm finally in a place of calm. everything will come together when it should and i'm trusting in that. we've been doing what we can to prepare - even bought some of the foods that can keep that we'll be eating on the trip, and we're really doing good. there's very little left for us to worry about. and as it's all pulled together i've become calmer. the rest of the household, however, seems to be losing it, right down to the animals. saxy's trying to plan every little step of the way on the trip and worrying about things. i suppose it's to be expected with his disability, but i think it's kind of funny that we're being so completely opposite. lol the cats are really weirded out - their dining room table was taken this weekend and now their washer and drier are gone too. roro in particular was completely stressed out during the yard sale. and jhenna has finally expressed her unhappiness about moving out of familiar places and seeing things get sold. i told her it's a nice place we're going to, a place where she can make friends and play outside and not have me worrying about it the way we do here.

apparently my brother is having some trouble locating a house in our affordability range, at least with 3 bedrooms. he called about it and i told him a 2 bedroom would be fine. saxy and i can take either the living room or the "great room" and make that our bedroom and would have no problems with it. we checked into section 8 out there and they have a 3-5 year waiting period with no way to transfer from here to the top of the list there. kinda figured as much, but it was worth a shot.

i did pull out my resume and polish it up a little. i was quite surprised to discover that through tsf, net sisters, and dii i have about 5 years of leadership experience. and between dii, fm, and net sisters, plus peer tutoring and a summer program, i have been teaching on and off in one form or another since 1996! i also have editing experience and years upon years of web design and development experience (although i did revise the resume to reduce the amount of web stuff since that's not the kind of job i'll be looking for out there). i'm not sure how much this will count since it was almost all online, almost all volunteer, and none of it earned me any kind of certification or anything, but i did list it all. it may be primarily from online volunteering, but it still garnered me some skills and experience. i also added my publication credits. the articles in particular should give me a little credibility. i wanted to add the dean position i have for the soon forthcoming business of writing school, but i haven't done any work there yet, so i didn't. all i really have left to do on it is to contact my references and replace a couple of them.

beyond that, we wait. we pack a little here and there, take care of the few little things that come up and that can be taken care of, but primarily we wait. the strange thing is that it's not driving me crazy to wait the way waiting usually does to me. maybe it's knowing the last week will be crazy so i'm enjoying the peace while i can. or maybe i'm finally listening to my brother and letting the stress about it all go. or maybe it's the fact that everyone else is starting to freak out and someone in this house has to be calm. lol

TWO MORE WEEKS! :)