Preparation for the Big Move

Can you believe it??

We are about 3 weeks away from the big move. Everything is going so fast and I havent really had a chance to let it all sink in. There are so many things to think about, plan, get done. Finding a place to live was on the top of the list. I was able to travel to Greenville for 3 days and see just about all there was to see in terms of rentals. I was terrified by a few places and fell in love with a few but none of them ended up working out. Instead one last house came available for rent a week after I had visited. It was difficult making the decision from a far with limited pictures and information, but it seems like a nice place and should do fine for the 1st year at least. Its a 3 bedroom ranch, all hardwood floors with a very large yard surrounding it just a walk from the park and school. (and I dont have to mow it! it is on two lots of beautiful grass and trees and I just get to enjoy it... yay for delaying learning how to use a lawnmower) It is also 4 miles from work! I will be able to turn some world records with that kind of commute. (as it stands I live 20 min from work and have made it to work, showered and having dropped of Judah first in 45 minutes.)

Here is a photo from the front.Here are a few other photos of the town I took while I was there:

This is the only movie theatre in town. 3 movies, only on Fridays and Saturdays wooee!Bentleys Country Kitchen: A little country diner in the center of town

Judah's new day care-- a ministry of First Christian Church (one of the largest in the town)
Lots of little shops

They have all kinds of cute shops, antique places, and odds and ends places. Will be fun to explore or take my visitors to... (hint, hint)


The public library, I cant wait to get in there... looks pretty cool. I plan to take Judah there regularly so we can get our read on. (and hopefully so he doesnt forget everything he learned this year!)

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In all the chaos, I did find sometime this weekend to dream about how I would decorate my new house. I am inspired by this painting by Vincent Van Gogh, Almond Blossoms and will be building a color scheme from it. I also wandered into Garden Ridge and spontaneously decided I needed a birdcage. I just love them. They make me feel whimsical (if that is at all possible).

I still have a lot of packing to do, but I did make some progress this weekend. I have most of the living room knick knacks packed and my room sorted and mostly packed. Judah is even packed (just need to tape up those boxes he keeps getting into!) I have thrown a lot away but still I have so much crap! I even gave most of my clothes away or donated them and still have these huge boxes and a ridiculous pile of laundry as well.
I will try to finish the kitchen this week and then I wont have much else to do other than get it in a truck and clean the apartment.

The moving plan:
I have decided to save some money and instead of just hiring a moving company to do everything for me, I am going to hire a 2 hour crew to pack a Uhaul in Columbus, drive it to Greenville myself (Thank you Kari and Tom for volunteering to ride along!) and then hire some additional help to unload. Hopefully it will all run smoothly as planned.

Things left to do:

• Pack the rest of my clothes
• Pack the kitchen
• Pack the odds ends that are every where
• Pack the random stuff I bought this weekend
• Clean
• Get a copy of Judah's birth certificate
• Buy a webcam for parents
• Teach them how to use it (we will try to do skype or g-chat so Judah doesnt look like a grown man the next time they seem him, you how bad I am at sending pictures!)
• Find out the electric, gas, and cable company for Greenville, IL
• Say good bye to all my friends and family : (
  

Things left to do at work:

• Train my replacement - ( i only have 7 days to train her!!)
• clean up all the files so she doesnt know how unorganized I can be
• do all my back work that gets pushed down the list of priorities
• and juggle all of my new responsibilities (kansas city, st. louis, and greenville) at the same time!!!!
• To complicate things more, traveling to Chicago for two days for train the trainer training...as if I dont have enough to do!
  

PRAY. FOR. US!

(thanks!)

Love,
Katrina