Kickin' it into high gear

Our Thanksgiving was awesome. We drove down on Thursday am and hit not a lick of traffic. Yes! We spent 3 days with my family, eating, shopping, playing with Moses the big doggie, and fighting over which movie to watch. Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday. My only regret is that I didn't eat enough of my mom's world famous pecan pie. But I bet if I ask her to, she'll make me one in January when we move there.

It was very strange thinking that next time we are at my parent's house, we'll only drive 20 minutes to get home. Or that our trip back to NYC will likely be our last. It felt so good to arrive home on Saturday night, but that made me sad, knowing that soon it won't be our home anymore. I'm doing ok with it, really. But that did give me a twinge of sadness.

So we have a month to get ready for packout. Not stressing or worrying yet. But aware that it's time to get busy.

I was very productive last Wednesday when I was home alone.

• finalized and sent my State new hire forms
• prepared and sent my Mexico wedding photos to be scanned at ScanMyPhotos . I will leave one CD in storage and take one with me. I will probably make a Shutterfly photo book so that people can actually LOOK at the photos without my stressing about ruining my perfect, handmade, one of a kind album.
• prepared my home inventory and started discussing with my husband

I hope to share my thoughts on property insurance and inventories at some point, but for now, I just want to list some tasks for the next 2 weeks:

• get ready for Hanukkah which starts Wed!
• start clearing out various drawers/closets which have gotten messy again (or were never cleaned)
• order more file storage boxes and continue to empty my old photo albums
• finalize holiday shopping- people will be getting their gifts early this year!
• hopefully get our holiday cards ordered, if I can manage this task this year

That is probably enough, since most nights I can barely stay awake long enough to tuck my kids into bed. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, too.

Thankful

So many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

There's this guy, my best friend. I love this picture because he looks so relaxed. We were on Caye Caulker, an island in Belize, visiting my brother Jake and having the most relaxing time. I am thankful that soon he will be able to say goodbye to the job that does NOT make him look like this, and forge his own path. And I am thankful that he is taking this amazing leap of faith with me, though we know not where it will lead.

And then of course, there are these small people, my pride and joy. I am so grateful to have two healthy, smart, endearing, beautiful, kind children to light up my life.

And then there are also, oh, I don't know....

• my parents, in-laws, siblings, and extended family, whose love and support is unquestionable and unmatchable;
• my amazing network of friends, new and old, near and far, in person and through cyberspace;
• the fact that we both have jobs, allowing us to have a roof over our heads, food to eat, and money to buy the things that we need;
• our good health, which is never something I take for granted; 
• and this year, the incredible chance to join the Department of State and serve my country in interesting places around the world.

There is much to be thankful for this year, indeed.

Fall photos

Some pictures from our recent adventures near home. My little brother Jake came to visit after returning from Peace Corps Belize. He brought his big doggie Moses.

And today Daddy spent the morning raking leaves in preparation for our first appointment to show the house. The kids decided to help.

Uncle Jake reading to his niece. Aw.

Doggie Beach in Larchmont- it's awesome!

Moses came home with Jake from Belize. He's not sure about the cold. Isn't he pretty?

Autumn fun

It really doesn't get much better than this.

Another Flag Day!

I kept thinking about the 157th A-100 class yesterday- it was their Flag Day! So far, I know about assignments to Tashkent, Monterrey, Kathmandu, Bridgetown, Nuevo Laredo, Kampala, Bratislava, Shenyang,  and that's it. Looking forward to hearing from a few more bloggers and cyber friends.

I can't believe that the next Flag Day I'll be eagerly anticipating will be mine.

To do this week

Nothing too earth-shattering to report over here. Random thoughts running through my head include:

It's so depressing to go down to the basement! It looks SO nice just with a freakin coat of paint on the floor (oh, and all the stuff cleared out)! I could have been doing laundry in this nice bright space (hey, it's all relative, folks) for years!

The rest of the house looks really nice, too. We have been keeping it clean and organized and while it seems to get "crapped up" (as we like to say in the B household) in a minute, the cleanup doesn't take as long as it used to.

It's time to get back on the ball with all my tasks, such as:
1) calling insurance companies re transit insurance
2) finishing the kids' moving books
3) scheduling my pre-move survey (received my orders, which was exciting!)
4) booking a hotel for a few days during/after packout
5) finishing those ridiculous State pre-hire forms
6) figuring out health insurance
7) requesting charts from MDs
8) continuing my house inventory (argh...)
9) setting up help with the kids during our packout, which of course coincides with the daycare being closed (no way around that one...)
10) selling all those lingering items on Craig's list or begging someone to take them on freecycle

So yea, I guess I have some things to do.

Feeling better

I think it may be a little secret of the Foreign Service that many people have some ambivalence or fear after getting/accepting the offer. My concerns are mostly kid-related, but everyone has issues they worry about. Not that I want others to feel what I've been feeling, but this knowledge that I am not alone has helped me move to the other side of the apprehension (for now, anyway).

I am excited again. I can't WAIT to see that bid list. I am looking forward to the next month passing quickly so we can get this show on the road, literally.

The hard work of preparing our house for market is almost behind us- whew. Now we just have to maintain the beautiful uncluttered environment. It feels so good to see the house like this that it's not hard to find the time to keep it that way. Our sweet little house is just waiting for her new owners to come along, hopefully very soon!

And now we get to enjoy some playtime. For the next few weekends, we are scheduling lots of time with friends & family since it's better to be out of the house. My little brother is home from Peace Corps Belize and coming to see us this weekend with his big Belizean hounddog, Moses. Can't wait!

I am so touched by all the thoughtful comments from many of you- thank you!

Thoughts this week

Two days ago, I drafted a blog post sharing how stressed, scared, and sad I've been feeling lately (only S feelings allowed) about everything that's going on. But I just wasn't ready to publish it yet. And it turns out that the act of writing about it was once again a salve, as it always has been in my life. I am feeling much more serene (there's an S again...), despite the fact that today I not only wrangled the kids to daycare alone on time, but also did so while leaving the house in (mostly) immaculate condition for the realtor to take photos of it!! Ta da! I will accept the Superwoman award now.

It's been hard for me to write lately, as I struggle with how much to share. I think of the different audiences that read this blog, and it's hard to know how honest to be. The candidates who would give a lot to be in my shoes, the family members who are wondering what we are thinking, the friends who are rooting us on...for each group I would write a bit differently.

But I'm the daughter of two shrinks, and I think of the blogs I read that were painfully honest and helped me realistically weigh this life, so I'm opting for sharing my feelings right now.

I'm sad about leaving New Rochelle and our cute little street. Which is ironic and somewhat frustrating, because I also remember writing here about how miserable I was at the thought of staying in New Rochelle and our 'boring NY life' indefinitely. And I realize that I am purposefully entering a lifestyle in which I'm going to do this to myself and my children over and over again. I've been working to reframe this feeling and just be grateful for the time that I spent here. I'm trying to accept that the sadness means that I lived somewhere special that I loved. There are other beautiful places in the world waiting for me to call them home, but I can't do that until I leave New Rochelle.

I've been sad about seeing our house all fixed up and looking prettier. We did our best, but never found the time/energy/money to really make it look nice. I will especially miss our backyard and patio. I couldn't have asked for a better outdoor space, and I feel like we didn't use it enough. But I know at least some of my future homes will have wonderful outdoor spaces, too.

I'm scared and sad about what my children are about to experience in the next few months. 4yo M is so sweet and vulnerable. He is gobbling up news about our move, but I know in his head, he's moving from one "home" to another. Whereas the reality is that this next home might be just for a month. Or 3 mos. Or 12. I mean, who on earth knows? While I understand the rationale behind not telling him too much, especially when I don't really have information to share, I also don't want him to be blindsided when we ship out to Kolkata, for example. I've mentioned that we don't know how long we'll live in VA and it might be for a short time, and he tells me he wants to stay in VA for a long time. Thoughts on handling information sharing at this age would be helpful indeed.

There are definitely other stressors, but those are the ones I can share right now. I am trying to take it just one day at a time. And I am very grateful to be starting this journey, despite the scariness of it all.

NYC meetup

Last night I had dinner with 3 of my January A-100 classmates. We are all so different- lawyer, media professional, teacher, and health care administrator. Different ages and life stages, definitely. Fellow blogger Career Diplomat is about to buy a house in Florida (perfect for home leave rentals!). S. is about to get married and hasn't had much time to think about A-100 prep. N. is teaching in a Long Island school and working on the forms. I'm the only parent in this group. But we had a terrific time. I am really going to enjoy getting to know my A-100 classmates. Everyone has such fascinating experiences to share and an interest in the world.

But meeting up with them also made it more real. We were talking about Istanbul, and suddenly, I just had to duck my head and take a few deep breaths for a minute. It's one thing to be doing this by myself. But when I think about taking my kids around the world, every once in a while, I freak out. I wish I could describe what I feel, but I can't seem to put it into words. I just want to snatch them up tight and hold them. I can only imagine what I'm going to be feeling on Flag Day or departure day.

Of course, I had to get a picture for the blog! Forgot my camera, but luckily CD's phone saved the day.

Career Diplomat, N, Bfiles, S

4th and last Halloween (sniff, sniff)

I'm a little late, but wanted to document our fourth and last Halloween in our little house in New Rochelle. I am grateful that my mom was able to continue her tradition of joining us for Halloween, which allowed us to go trick or treating as a family and generally have fun with Grammy and her fabulous costumes.

Our neighborhood wasn't quite as mobbed as Halloweens past, as it turned quite cold over the weekend. But we still distributed nearly 7 Costco bags of candy. Yes, 7 bags!!  It's insane.

And now, of course, some pictures of the B family. This year, L was having nothing to do with her costume, until I bribed her with not only a glowstick, but also some M&Ms. Did I mention she is 2 years old? She had no clue what was going on, but soon realized people were giving her candy and she decided to cooperate.

And here is our annual Halloween family picture. We've been really lucky to get a cute one for 3 years in a row. Or maybe tenacious is more like it. My mom does not give up!

Here's last year's shot!

And 2008! My, how we've grown!

We have no 2007 because 1) mom wasn't here and 2) little M fell trying to check out the trick or treaters and cut his forehead, so we spent the evening in the ER. 

This concludes my show and tell!
Hope you all had a great Halloween!