My moods are swinging between panic and calm. One moment I think I have a handle on everything (the move, my son's anxiety, friggin Halloween) and the next I feel as though everything is about the come crumbling down on top of me.

I sent out an email to about 50 people to let them know we were moving and what our new address will be. I wrote "effecting November 1" instead of "effective November 1" which is a very stupid mistake. But then to top it off, I typed the wrong telephone number. DOH!

And I forgot to call back the handyman who we arranged to move the climber this weekend to let him know that we hired someone else to do it yesterday and today. And he showed up at the new house today because he is repairing some nail pops in the ceiling that the roofer did not fix.

I feel like I am missing some HUGE part of this move. I have arranged for all of the utilities to be transferred yet I still have this nagging feeling that I have forgotten something. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Coming down to the wire. Tomorrow evening we get possession of the new house. Finally!

My mom arrived late last night. She did not sleep last night because she says she felt tremendously guilty about not being able to drive to get Cars from school tomorrow. I did finally find a friend who will pick him up so my mom should sleep well tonight.

And I will sleep well because our climber is down and will be reassembled tomorrow at the new house. All for a reasonable about of money. Actually, the guy doing it is only 19 and he works for my realtor's neighbour who is a contractor. I think he did not ask for enough money to move the thing but if it gets put back up right and on time I will give him a huge bonus because now I have one less thing to worry about!

Jax decided tonight (TONIGHT!) that he did not want to wear his costume to school because he is not allowed to wear a "scary" mask so his costume would then be lame. So I spent an hour my evening making a clone trooper mask out of cardboard for him. He LOVES it. Dex cannot wear his scary mask either (Dementor) so he has kind of a smilie-face mask to wear with it. He is too funny.

Still more packing to be done but I am feeling less stressed. I figured that I am paying the movers by the hour so we will concentrate on having them take the heavy, awkward or bulky items and we'll move as many of the boxes ourselves on Thursday. And also if things do not get moved until Saturday it is ok (well, I am thinking of bikes and nets and Christmas decorations). We can easily pack those in the van or our neighbour's pickup truck. One less thing to worry about.

Ok, off to watch "Boston Legal" then to bed. Long days ahead...

My maple trees (and bush) are in full fall colour and look beautiful. I took some pictures of them but I seem to have misplaced (perhaps packed?) my cable so I cannot download them to show off these pictures. I will miss these trees (and the japanese maple bush). Last spring, Costco had the bushes for $59.99. If they have them again this spring I am going to buy one to plant at the new house. No maples of any sort there.

Each of my children have all had a little crying time about leaving this house. Cars' was short-lived. Dex seems to be having the hardest time. Jax has had his moments too but he seems the most eager to move. He is really looking forward to skateboarding in the cul-de-sac. I am happy that we will be moving to one for them to play in. Especially since our road is so busy at certain times of the day (when school lets out and between 5-6pm and cars are ~speeding~ by).

Our house is mostly packed up now. What's left is the kitchen (about 1/2 packed), the bathrooms and I need to remove the clothes from Jax and Dex's dressers since they are just pressboard IKEA dressers and the mover said they would not withstand the move if they were filled with clothes. The other dressers are fine because they are real wood. :)

We had the walk-through for the house today and it went well. It needs to be cleaned but apparently a cleaning service was going through later in the afternoon. There have been a lot of people through the house since the owners moved out (Home Depot to install a garage door opener, someone to repair the hot water tank, the roofer to fix nail pops, and a painter to cover the nail pop repairs so there are a lot of leaves and debris in the house. I guess the cleaners would take care of it all this afternoon.

We went to Costco today to get another moving pack of boxes but they were out! Stephen is going to drive to the Seattle Costco tomorrow to get another pack (it includes 30 boxes, bubble wrap, tape, markers and the little foam stuff that you put between glass dishes for $47.99! That is a great deal considering the boxes are $2 each at Home Depot.

Ok, I am worried about my committment to NaBloPoMo. I hope I can post everyday!!

Moving our climber/swing set is becoming a problem. I am trying to stay positive about this move but it is getting hard to do so. I think my optimism has disappear with the recurrence of my neck pain. *pout*

One of my friends came to help me pack today and we did a good job working on stuff in the garage. We have a lot of junk to go to the dump but I will most likely call 1-800-GOT-JUNK again because it is easier and at this point all we want is easier.

I have scheduled an appointment to talk to Jax's ped. about Jax's anxiety over his peanut allergy. Of course, today my anxiety was heightened after I read this article Dead in 20 minutes from hidden peanuts. The video was sad too. :'(

Mindless ramblings...

My neck is still hurting but not as much as it was on Monday. I think I need to go to a massage therapist and get that knot worked out.

It was supposed to be rainy with sunny breaks today. So far we have had torrential downpour with rainy breaks.

I need to step away from the halloween candy.

I made sure that Cars' class halloween party did not include parents before I committed to the time for Jax's (11:30-noon). I found out today that because of the party in Cars' class on halloween, they are canceling "lunch bunch" so I need to pick him up at 11:45am. Aargh! Of course my mother is going to be here that day and if she weren't such a wuss, she could drive over and get him. But she is afraid to drive "down your mountain" and so I am scrambling trying to figure out what to do. Cars' one good friend from preschool is away that day so I cannot ask his mom to bring him home. The rest of my friends will be attending their children's halloween parties themselves at the same time so no help there. F*ckity-f*ck-f*ck!

I am never going through the moving process again.

I have somehow managed to hurt my back/neck and so I am off to bed with a muscle relaxant and my book. I hope to be feeling better in the morning. ~pout~

My online chat with Comcast support stemming from the lovely Red X's you have been seeing on my blog for the past week or so:

Pez: I cannot access my files on my personal webpages and my hosted files are not showing
Comcast: I apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused you
Comcast: The personal web pages is currently not available because of some upgrades to it as well as the migration that is happening to the new Comcast site.
Pez: how long will they be unavailable?
Comcast: Once it is available, Comcast will notify you through email.
Comcast: We do not know when will it becomes available but you will be notified by Comcast once is it up and running (I am thinking here Nice grammar/language!)
Pez: so a week? a day? a month? no one knows?
Pez: that seems unreasonable to me that "we do not know..."
Pez: it is most inconvenient that i cannot access my files nor upload new files and some photos are fine (with one id) whereas the photos on the others are not showing
Comcast: A week. We have many customers reporting said issue too
Pez: ok, a week gives me an expectation
Comcast: I have already escalated and reported this issue
Comcast: Your reference number is a eleventy billion
Comcast: Thank you for choosing Comcast. It has been a pleasure assisting you today!

:\ I wonder if I am making a mistake continuing with Comcast when we move AND giving them my home phone service too.

Against my better judgement, I have signed up to do NaBloPoMo. If I can manage to post the first couple of days, I will be just fine. I might have to take my laptop to Starbucks to get internet access during the move but I will try.

And you can too!

Comcast is bugging the crap out of me again today. Where are my pictures?! I just signed up for their cable phone service (when we move). I hope I haven't made a mistake.

Our power went out this morning for about 20 minutes. The kids were delighted because they were thinking they would not have to go to school. Fortunately for my sanity, the power was back shortly after 7am so school was ON!

Today was the last Cosmo Friday at my house. ~sniff~ I am going to miss it here (but of course I am looking forward to my new house). Ash was not here today because she had surgery to fix a torn cartiledge in her knee - the same knee where she had the ACL surgery a few months ago. The doctor was able to take out the HUGE screw that was in her shin this time. It is HUGE. Anyway, she is doing well but will be on crutches for 12 weeks. She has had rock star parking (or wheelchair or handicapped - insert you own term here) parking since February and will have it another 3-5 months depending on her recovery.

This weekend we will be figuring out how to move the swingset/climber and also taking down mirrors and paintings from the walls and patching holes. Oh, and packing. Always packing.

The wind storm has hit. A tree branch hit a transformer near the school just as the kids were getting out. Fire ensued and we had to take a long, long way home (about a 3 mile detour). The lights are flickering and the kids are excited that we might be without power.

Later...the power did go out for only for a very short while here but some of my friends have been without power for hours. I hope the next wind storm does not happen until after we move.

My email has been down for over 2 hours and it is bugging me! Aargh! Comcast has been doing some upgrades lately and my hosted pictures keep disappearing too. Mostly I want to send this particular email and it won't go. Well, at least I still have a connection to the internet.

My mother is coming to stay with us during the move. She is going to help out with the kids, getting them to school and getting breakfast for them each morning and whatever else. It will be a big help.

There is a big wind storm in the forecast for tomorrow evening. They say that even though it will not be as big as the big blow out in December, it has the potential to be destructive because of the trees that are already weakened from that storm.

Hmmm...that reminds me that when I went to see a psychic in August while I was in Toronto, she said something about a tree. I wonder if she meant a tree here or at the new house will fall? There is one tree close to the front door at the new house and another near the garage. Here, we have a lot of smaller trees but none that can cause damage to the house. Guess I will have to wait to find out. In the meantime, I am off to Safeway shortly to buy some groceries and stock up just a little bit in case we are out of power for any length of time.

Cars has his 4 yr appointment (only 2 months late!) tomorrow so I will ask the pediatrician about scheduling some time with her to discuss Jax's anxiety issues. Another friend of mine who was a psychologist told me that 9 year olds often are anxious because they are coming to realize more about bad things that could happen so part of his problem is probably developmental but she also said it would not hurt to talk to his ped. I feel a little better today once I made this decision because we do need to handle it. I will let Stephen know after I talk to the ped about it.

A long-lost friend and former co-worker contacted me via facebook (I am up to 37 friends!) a couple of weeks ago. She is now living in Bermuda with her dh and two kids. She called me today and we had a chat - it was so fun. She is funny and interesting and it was so good to catch up.

So, if you are thinking about looking up an old friend, do it! I am sure they would love to hear from you!

Jax had some issues today at a birthday party regarding peanuts - well,there were not actually any peanuts there but he refused to eat the pizza then was freaking out when people were eating the birthday cake around him. I think I need to get him some help but Stephen is against it for the moment. He thinks we can handle it but I am not so sure. I feel like such a failure as a parent that I cannot ease Jax's worry, anxiety and pain. It was so sad to see him at the party when I went to pick him up. He was sitting there with a blank face and cringing slightly when anyone came near him in case they touched him because they ate a cake that was "manufactured on the same line as peanuts". It really breaks my heart. Frig, I hate this!

This week we had three agents tell ours that they were interested in our house (one was ready to put in a back-up offer today) but of course it went "subject to inspection" on Tuesday evening. Our agent called the buyer's agent to let her know and to make sure they considered this and the difference between the asking and selling price when they came back with their inspection information.

So, the inspection was today and the buyer came back with accepting the house as it is. So, it is SOLD!!!! I can finally get excited about this whole thing. Yeah!

We are now "subject to inspection". The inspection is on Saturday morning. I am excited and scared and a little overwhelmed. So much to do!

Cars has his speech evaluation with the school district today. Actually, they called it an "assessment" rather than evaluation. Anyway, they told me that he did not meet their criteria to qualify with them for speech. However, they said that I "might have heard that the school district bar is pretty high for qualifying" so I might want to contact Cars' ped and get a referral for private speech. So what are they saying? He has a problem but not bad enough that they want to pay for it and I should get him speech therapy in a private setting?! What? Does he need it or doesn't he? So frustrating!

Jax had a good day today. He did not exhibit any peanut-related anxiety and he told me that he felt better about it today too. We'll see how things go.

I am irritated with comcast because all of my pictures are showing red x's. I received a message saying they were updating things but it should be done by now. Hrmph!

And I will whisper the next part:

We have an offer on the house. We have sent back our counter-offer. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it all works out. Thanks!

My son is having a hard time managing his anxiety around his peanut allergies. I am just sick for him because he is now making up stuff to worry about. Today, he was wondering if he should not eat his lunch because he touched the hand of someone who had eaten peanut butter for breakfast. Both Jax and the other kid had washed their hands (the boy before he even touched Jax) but Jax still could not shake the idea that he might have peanut protein on his hands. The teacher finally convinced him to eat his lunch by holding his bagel with a napkin and eating his grapes and carrots with a fork. He even brought home his Smarties because he could not figure out a way to eat them without touching them. *sigh*

I have some ideas about how to work with him to try to overcome this and also to alleviate his fears. I pray it does not get worse. It breaks my heart to know he is so worried about it.

Still no offers! *pout*

Today there was an open house and 9 couples came through (three with agents). Our realtor said that was a lot and two seemed ~very~ interested. We'll see. We also have two more people scheduled to come tomorrow morning then there is another open house in the afternoon. Please let someone love my house enough to buy it!

Today we bought Halloween costumes for the boys. Cars is going to be Jango Fett, Dex will be a Dementor and Jax will re-use this costume from a couple of years ago but we bought him a double-sided axe to carry around.

Tomorrow is the first day of R.E. classes for the boys for this year. Funny enough, the other Dex is in Dex's class. They moved a few miles away so that Dex no longer goes to the same elementary school as my Dex so they never did get to be in the same class.

I am hoping that Cars stays in his Sunday School class. I guess it will depend on who is teaching. Fortunately, it will no be in the same class as his preschool class because I think that is what really caused the problem last year (that and the mean Sunday school teacher!).

Ok, off to bed. It is late and I must be up early to get the house ready for someone to fall in love with it!

No offers yet!

On Wednesday, I was to take snack in for Cars' class. I totally and completely forgot. I did not even realize until I picked him up and there was a little note "You were supposed to bring in snack today". Aargh! Fortunately, they have a little stash of snacks so the kids had something to eat. Today, I took in some apple juice and cheez-its to replenish their stash.

I also nearly forgot to pick up Jax and Dex on time on Wednesday. School is dismissed 1.5 hours early every Wednesday. After I picked Cars up (and was feeling abashed for forgetting snack), I decided to head off to run some errands. I was sitting at the red light and saw a parade of school buses coming from the area of the middle school and I thought "Wow, must have been some big field trip". The light turned green and I drove off and then realized that it was Wednesday and early dismissal. I still had a few moments before they got out so I had plenty of time to get there, but I realized that if I had not noticed the school buses, I would be off shopping at Target when I was supposed to be picking them up. And, no one could get a hold of me because my stupid cell phone service sucks. Anyway, I did realize on time and the crisis was averted.

A lot of my problem stems from the fact that I had to take down my calendar for the "staging" to make the house less personal (and to keep nosy people out of my business). I live by my calendar. I have used the same kind for about about 5 years now. The squares are big so lots of room to write on it. And I colour-code the kids activities. And I am lost without it! :(

Ok, I am just waiting to see our listing on the MLS before I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow, Cars and I are going to do something fun for a couple of hours (well, after we return items to Fred Meyer and Home Depot) since he is clearly acting up from lack of attention. The other kids will have to wait to have some attention. This weekend...