I'm Back

As to fill in the last few months of what may seem adventurous, I shall give you a brief history.

The kids and I moved to North Dakota to be with my family while Kevin was in training with the Air Force.  All was well and we enjoyed a lovely winter until I got sick...really sick.  I stayed in the hospital for a week with pancreatitis and still wasn't better.  Wonderful friends filled in as "mom" for me with the kids and my and sister really stepped up their roles. 

I saw doctor after doctor and was in serious pain for about two months.  I lost 25 pounds (yay - but not the way any of us want to lose the weight).  No one really knew what the heck was wrong with me, just that something was wrong and needed fixing.  Kev ended up leaving school to bring us all back to North Carolina to our brother's hospital where I would be treated like a queen.

After another round of doctors and tests, I got a surgical consult to get my gallbladder taken out.  It was a long shot, but everyone was confident that it was going to work, including me.  To make a treacherously long story short - I had my gallbladder removed, recovered, and am now back to normal.  Woo!

Exactly one week ago, we packed up the cars and moved cross-country to New Mexico for Kev to finish his schooling.  I am back to going to school full-time and we are all adjusting to our temporary life in New Mexico.  Tuscon is still on the horizon and we are all awaiting some serious relaxation.

Many friends and family helped us during this time and we could not be any more grateful for the love, support, and prayers; not to mention the families that let us into their homes for months on end.  You guys are truly the best.  xoxo

that box marked creativity

Do you ever have that feeling of everything turning upside down and you are still right side up?  I swear I'm stuck in Inception.  We just got orders to Tucson, Arizona.  I feel excited, unsure, crazy, absolute, relieved, and exhausted all at once, but mostly ecstatic.  I am also full of dread.  I know what lies ahead.  Those brown boxes are looming over me right now - waiting to be filled with all my treasures and stored in a lonely garage for months before our actual move date next year.  You see, we have a move before a move.  Yep - Kev goes off to gunner school in New Mexico and the kids and I make a trek across the Midwest to North Dakota until he is finished with school.  We are talking at least six months in between moves.

Amidst all this, I find myself caught with the obsessive attitude of just getting everything packed and cleaned, but have six more weeks of living in this house to accomplish first.  It's a catch 22.  In a fit of adrenaline I took all the photos off the living room walls only to find the echo of my own voice bouncing off those very walls was too haneous to bear!  Since that moment, I have tried to gain perspective, slow down a bit, and allow everyone to adjust to the idea of moving. 

Needless to say, the creative flair I want to prosper has been burried in the craftroom under a mountain of labeled boxes.  I have ideas bumping around in my brain and am inspired by what I see and the new toy I picked up at the Expo - a Pazzle's Inspiration!  (I know right?)  I suppose this will make for an intersting entry in my summer of love journal.  I have to promise myself a moment to be creative or I just might burst.  And who wants to clean up that kind of mess?  Not me - I already have enough to do.