Anxiety creeps in...

Our little idyllic existence kinda crashed over the weekend.

Inferno-like temps. Too much whining. Too many short tempers. Too much "new stuff" for the kids. They're on complete overload - shots, new dentist, new church, off to VBS with another new church building and not one person they know.

DaHubby's on overload as well. After 6 months of constant 40 hr/week schooling and training (basically like jamming one's junior and senior yrs of college in 6 months), he FINALLY got to start his on-the-job training which will last another 6 months. This includes a very thick notebook filled with stuff he needs to learn and then perform in front of someone knowledgeable and eventually obtain their signature. As if it wasn't overwhelming enough, there's literally HUNDREDS of procedures he needs to get signatures for.

And, as the CEO of the VikingHus, I'm still trying to manage schedules, put out fires, complete the move, unpack, set up new banking and insurance accts, and get the STACKS of documents, appointments, and paperwork organized and completed to get the Vikings into school. It'll be $200 to register them and needs to be done before the end of this month or there are additional late fees. School also starts 3 weeks earlier here than in Michigan so I'm heading for a time crunch.

The peaceful, vacation-like feel of the last three weeks has slowly crept away. And, there's so much change left to deal with and sort out. :P Momma's back to stress-induced eating but haven't lost my new fingernails...yet! LOL

The kids are in VBS each morning this week so I'm trying to take that time to chill, plan, organize, and make phone calls so the rest of the day can just be spent with them. The new house should be ready soon. In the meantime, trying to take one day (and one hour) at a time.

Cutting a little slack

I'm sure Martha Stewart would be horrified at my housekeeping skills. To be honest, I think my in-laws are as well.

I've always liked the "lived in but not cluttered" kind of approach but I've been known to be missing SEVERAL parts of the cleaning genes it seems most housekeepers pick up naturally.

With all the recent changes around the Viking Hus, pretty much everything has gotten an overhaul. But, it's made me really think about things like how much underlying structure do we really need as a family and does a break from some arguably good intentions really wash away any positive results?

One thing that continues to prick my sensibilities is recycling.

Exciting, eh?

Moving to a new environs, it obviously takes some research to see what the local expectations are. And, being in a rental as opposed to an owner puts another twist on it. Being a lifelong Michigander (with bottle returns and curbside recycling) makes it very hard to throw stuff away lately. LOL

Illinois does not have a returnable fee on soft drink cans and bottles and it is killin' me to toss them. And, all the cans, glass, cardboard, paper, and newspaper that comes into the apartment? KILLIN' me, I tell ya!

In Michigan, on a good week, we wouldn't even fill 2 large trash bags. Most Wednesdays, I was rolling the garbage can to the curb with one bag in the bottom. And, every other week for recycling? I had more recycling bin'd up than all the trash I'd accumulated in that 2 weeks.

"Well, you can still recycle them" you say? Yea, well. I'm still getting turned around going from this little town to the next one down the road so finding the local recycling center across the county? Not darn likely.

This is where the slack comes in.

Every little bit helps - at least that's what the media and experts say. But, is my 4-6 weeks on non-conformist non-recycling gonna to bring down Western Civilization?

Gosh, I hope not.

And, recycling is the least of our worries right now with duplicate bills in two states.

So, slack!

And, a solid understanding that everything will NOT go smoothly and accidents happen, things get forgotten, stuff falls through the cracks. Do your best but step up and be ready to take care of any consequences. We're only human. Late fees still apply even if you didn't intended to. Keep up the best you can and sort the rest out later.

Preaching to myself here but can anyone else relate?

Our line in the sand

Very few things have been written in stone for us lately. All of us at the Viking Hus have learned the value of "going with the flow" and "letting go and letting God" in recent years.

But, when it comes to coordinating a cross-region/three-state move, at some point you have to (poop) or get off the pot! LOL

After sitting down with all the respective calendars (his work, Flicka's school, summer camps, etc), DaHubby and I finally put a stamp on Fourth of July weekend as the weekend we are leaving our home state of Michigan and heading to Illinois for whatever new adventure God is setting up for us there.

And, it causing me some heart break.

I found myself tearing up at church today when I considered this will be our last Easter there.

And, our favorite children's church worker today announced to the congregation that he's leaving his "day job" as a middle school principal and going into the ministry full time! Praise God - but we won't be able to see his move from teaching to Pastor of Children's Ministry.

I've started a local "bucket list" of things I want to do (alone, with DaHubby, and with the kids) before we leave this area.

Seventy-six days and counting...

Seventy-six days to see additional way God will move in our lives to bring this plan of His to completion.

Seventy-six days until we are living as a family under one roof again.

And, for that and more, I say "PRAISE GOD"!

Walking Away

I tend to talk...a lot. LOL And, I tend to work things out in my head by talking them through with someone. I've learned this about myself and I am blessed to have a couple trusted friends and family I talk to when coming up on big decisions.

Then, due to my ADD, I tend to speak first and think later. LOL And, because of that, I tend to obsess about losing friends due to my ADD due to interrupting/impulse problems, forgetfulness of details, and just generally socially awkward.

But, sometimes the ADD is a blessing...and my brain surprises me with some raw insight.

I was chatting with someone from church tonight about our current living situation with the kids and I here and DaHubby in Illinois. It's been a rough week here at the Viking Hus - we've hit a type of wall with regards to missing DaHubby. We were running pretty smoothly until the last few days when everything kinda fell apart.

I described my surprise at how much harder this season is than I expected and my frustration and how anxious I am to get over there to DaHubby. Then, I surprised myself by saying "y'know, I don't even wanna pack. There's nothing really in the house I can't do without. I'm tempted to just leave it all there and just GO!"

And, my brain went "WHOA" for a second.

If there were no negative consequences to DaHubby's new employment or our combined financial lives, I'm really tempted to just walk away from this house and all its STUFF!

My latest Bible study has been a book called "Becoming a Woman of Simplicity." We've had conversations about our schedules, our kids' schedules, our homes, etc. We've talked about our goals and our dreams about what "simplicity" would look like for each of us but this comment really caught me unawares about what is really going on in my head. LOL

So, now I ponder what it all really means.