10 for the first half of 2010

I have missed all sorts of months for 10 lists, so I'm doing a catch-me-up.  Let's go!

10 things I don't want to forget about the last few months:

1. Moving.
2. Switching wards. That was hard. I was very fond of my old ward, and it was hard to say good-bye to it. I'm still in the same stake, but each ward has it's own flavor, and I'm still getting used to the new one.  We are in a ward building that we went to when Thomas was little, and when I was pregnant with Ben. I know I spent copious amounts of time there, but it still feels strange.  I think we changed buildings back in 2007; funny how much you forget.  One of the most vivid memories I have of our the building we now go to is when I was pregnant with Ben.  Thomas and I showed up for sacrament meeting, and right after we took the sacrament (I think the deacons were still collecting water trays), I got up and walked out.  I just couldn't do church that day, I guess.
3. Shane changing jobs. It has been so strange and has changed a lot of our patterns.  I still miss driving with him.  I'm still getting used the whole thing.
4. Ben graduating from preschool on Friday. I can't believe that he is going to be a kindergartener.  I couldn't really say a lot to his teacher when we left; I am sad that I don't have anyone else to go to her anymore.  Sniff.  He is growing up.  How did this happen?
5. Getting a texting plan on my phone.  It used to seem so....unnecessary, but now I'm catching on to the beauty of saying what you need to say to the person who who need to say it to without a formal phone call.
6. Cleaning out my mom's garage.  Wow.  Who knew it could echo in there?
7. Getting ready for 2 different relay races.  One I've already done, the other is a little one called Ragnar that I've been salivating over for a year now.  So excited!!
8. Finally figuring out how to find what I want at Ikea.  Thankfully I had a good trainer (thanks, Mel!)
9. Finding out that living for a month without blinds sucks.  They will be here tomorrow, finally!
10. Getting a new great nephew and niece.  So glad Kaison and Lucy got here safely!

9 things moving taught me:

1. It takes a lot of faith to make changes in your life.  I don't think I've ever prayed so often or so sincerely as I did when we were going through the process of buying and selling homes.  It is so humbling to know that you are taking such a leap of faith, even when you are only moving down the street.
2. When you are selling or buying, nothing is beyond interest to your mortgage lender.  They will know everything about you, eventually.
3. It sucks to feel like every person and their brother has their hands in your pockets.  Between paying closing costs for ourselves AND our seller, commissions, repairs, and appliances for our new house, it starts to feel overwhelming.
4. That there has to be a lot of luck and/or fate involved in making all things go well.  Even when you are dealing with a decent buyer, things still come up that make seem insurmountable.  If it's supposed to happen, all hurdles will eventually be cleared.  See my #1 of this list.
5. You have to feel really, really, really comfortable with your real estate agent.  And even then you still feel a little like you are on your own.
6. Don't ever change jobs in the middle of buying a house.  Just don't.  Trust me.
7. Finally feeling at home in a new house is a good, good feeling.
8. Try to take care of the cats first on moving day, rather than as an afterthought once most of the furniture has left.  The cats will thank you, and you won't be known by local missionaries as the Crazy Cat Lady.
9. The places we live in feel the way we do because they are ours.  You take the feeling of your house with you along with your toaster oven and bathrobe.  It is comforting realizing that.

8 people I should thank:

1. Miss Barbara for teaching my children how to write their names.  I don't know what I would have done without this sweet lady who taught both Thomas and Ben for preschool.  I get a little teary just thinking of how grateful I am for her talents with 3 and 4 year olds.
2. Shane for putting up with my crazy, waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night episodes.  Yep, I do it here, too.  But I'm getting better at identifying the strange room I wake up in as my own.  It's only taken me a month.
3. My kids for putting up with me being on the phone for a month straight.  So glad that is over.
4. The Bells, for moving us and helping us move rocks and being our friends.  You guys are the best.
5. Salt Lake county waste for bring me garbage and recycling cans.  Oh, the amount of garbage moving engenders!!
6. The person who is coming tomorrow to install my blinds.  Sigh, it will be so nice to not feel like I'm living in a fishbowl.
7. My new bishop's wife who came and sat by me today.  Her husband just got called last week as a bishop.  She still was thoughful enough to sit by me during our combined meeting today.  I guess I'm starting to make new friends in my new ward.  But it's hard, since the memories I have of the building are full of my old ward friends.  It is strange to look around a familiar room and only see strangers.  So I was very grateful to this good sister for sitting by me today.
8. The guy who lives on my street who sold us rocks for our front yard.  Rocks from the garden center were 10 cents per POUND.  Yeah, the guy down the street sold us enough rocks to build a short wall in our front yard for less than it would have cost me to buy 2 rocks.  I love good deals!  And we didn't even have to drive anywhere.  It was meant to be...

7 places that I've frequented far too frequently of late...

1. Ikea.  I bought some awesome bookcases there.  Oh and some tall floor lamps for $7 a piece.  Oh and glasses. Oh and....you get the idea.
2. Walmart, Home Depot, and Budget Blinds.  Furnishing our windows has kind of gone in stages.  I'm glad it almost over.
3. Chili's.  I love that place.  It seems that we cannot go a week without dining there.  I'm not sure that's such a good thing...
4. Lowes.  This one will be my friend for a long time, because I have to put in a yard.  I'm getting old to still be playing with sprinklers, I tell you.
5. McDonalds.  Damn you and your $1 drinks.  Damn you I say.
6. Cafe Rio.  I can finally eat their pork salads again after an unfortunate wire incident last October.  I still cringe a little bit when I think about it.
7. Sorry, I can't come up with a 7th.  But in my defense, #2 did list 3 places, so I think I'm covered.

6 things I have to do in the next few weeks:

1. Go to my niece's wedding.  Only 2 weeks!
2. Run Ragnar.  Oh I'm excited.  I am running leg 2. 
3. Visit my dad.  He will turn 68 in June, sigh.
4. Find a sewing table.  Maybe it will improve my sewing.  That's a big maybe.
5. Put in a yard.  We are getting trenched for sprinklers on Wednesday.
6. Go to a wedding shower.

5 books I want to read (thanks to a trip to Barnes and Noble)

1. World from Rough Stones
2. Private Life
3. Girl who Chased the Moon
4. Girl who Fell from the Sky
5. Solar

4 thoughts I have about the series finale of Lost:

1. It was perfect.  Perfect.  Those writers are so clever. 
2. I love that the whole last season showed us the life that the Losties would have lived if they could have.  Sawyer would have been good (but still want revenge.)  Kate would have been the same.  She didn't regret killing her father.  Jack would have had the relationship with his son that he never had with his father.
3. I cried when Sun and Jin saw their baby, when Sayid and Shannon found each other again, when Juliet and Sawyer remembered each other, and when Jack walked in to the church at the end.
4. I loved the last moment when Christian opened the door to the church.  To me, it meant that they were all free to move on to the afterlife, together.  They could all go towards the light together.

3 things I want to do today:

1. Run twice (once this morning and again later tonight). I need to get used to multiple runs in a short time.
2. Return the extra pavers we bought to build a path next to our driveway.  It looks so nice!  I can't wait to get grass.
3. Take a nap.

2 things I want:

1. A pair of black capris for work.  Can you ever have enough work pants I ask you?
2. Some cereal.  I'm hungry!

1 thing I like about Memorial Day Weekend:

1. That Sunday night didn't inspire the anxiety of having to go to work the next day. I love Monday holidays!!

Tuning in...

So Amy is talking about all the great songs that make up her mp3 player of late.  I took about half a second after reading her post and decided to join her in talking about the music that I enjoy while I'm huffing and puffing up my neighborhood's hills.

• Crack the Shutters by Snow Patrol.  That band cannot make a song that doesn't fill me with teenage longing and angst.  I love it when songs remind me of how it felt to be a teenager. Maybe I will still be able to relate when my sons get to that age.
• The End, by the Doors.  I recently downloaded this song after I heard a snippet of it on the tail part of a Lost episode.  The first time I listened to it after downloading was while I was running by a mountain lake during my leg of the Ogden Marathon Relay.  This was a mistake because if I would have listened to the song before, I might have known that it was the version where Jim Morrison goes off and starts repeating the f-word over and over mid-song.  I would have downloaded a different version had I known. So, despite the fact that I can't listen to half of it, I enjoy listening to it all the same.
• Hey Soul Sister, by Train. I love the phrase "Where you can cut a rug/watching you is my only drug/I need some gangsta, I'm so thug/You're the only one I'm dreaming of."  I love the phrasing Train uses in their songs.  They are so creative.  Also, Thomas has been begging me for months to download this song. 
• Who's gonna ride your Wild Horses? by U2.  I love U2 (and am severly annoyed at them cancelling their show.  Of course the year I buy tickets, they will cancel. Hmph.)  My favorite line is "Who's gonna taste your salt-water kisses?"  It reminds me of when Amy and I used to email each other while I was in in Virginia.  We used to write song lyrics that we liked in our emails, and I know this is one we both agreed on that we loved.
• This is a song that I don't have yet, but I really want to download All the Single Ladies by Beyonce.  I feel a little guilty liking it (there is an Amy-meter that I use to judge most songs [because my older sister somehow became my inner-music-critic voice], and everything about it screams "Amy would hate this song!" but I still want it.)  I think I might have to go and download it now, as a matter of fact!

So that is just a smattering of my favorite tunes lately.  It changes every couple of months, but these are songs that usually get me through no matter how many times I've heard them.  Thanks, Amy; that was fun!

Where is a good religious holiday when you need one?

Remember last year when I did Lent?  It was the perfect opportunity to give up soda.  I had a goal date to begin and a possible end in sight should I restart the bad habit I gave up (my beloved Dr. Pepper.)

Well, I started drinking soda last month during the height of my selling-one-house-while-buying-another induced stress.  I thought when I moved into my new house I would give it up again but I only made it a week.  Now I'm wanting to give it up, but I need a motivator.

Does anyone out there know of a good reason I should give up soda?  I need some sort of motivator beyond my half-hearted knowledge that it just isn't that good for me.  Give me your ideas please, smart readers.

Oh, and don't you just LOVE the changes to my blog template?  Yeah, I guess I'll be trawling the internet for a new one tonight.

Thought for the day...

I bought some new hair bands at the Walmarts today (don't you love it when old people call it "the Walmarts?" Me too!)  It was a little revelation last Saturday while running the Ogden Marathon Relay that maybe I could maybe look decent at the end of a run if I wore a hair band (seriously, how do girls run a half or full marathon and still look like they've stepped out of a salon?  Curse my flyaway hair.)  My friend who ran with me on Saturday wore one, and I know my sis Amy wears one too, and they both look good at the end of a run. And, maybe with a hair band, I can look like those perky girls I saw at the finish line.  (Snort.)

So the head bands I bought weren't anything special but they were guaranteed to be no slip. However, I must have an abnormally large head because I fought the one I wore today all. day. long.  It flipped off, fell off, and eased itself off my head in excess of 156 times.  Or so it felt.

So, now you know. You are reading the blog of an abnormally large headed person.  I applaud your ability to look past other's deformities.

Maybe I should start introducing myself this way: "Hi, I'm Becky, and I have a giant head that cannot accomodate a one-size fits all hair band.  Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Dang the Walmarts.  Dang the one size fits all hair bands.  Dang my giant head.

Context...

"The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective."

Author: Al Neuharth

Our new house is in the same neighborhood I've lived in for over 10 years, and the street I now live on is very familiar to me.  I once ran down it on while it was still hard, rocky dirt.  Shane and I once stole borrowed obtained some "free" sand from its abandoned corner in a desperate moment while trying to finish our back patio.  I often admired the beautiful sunflowers growing in its empty lots on evening walks with the kids last fall.  It is somewhere I thought I was very familiar with.  I thought I knew what it looked like.

Similarily, I had an idea of what my house would look like when we lived there.  We probably toured our house 7 times before we actually bought it.  I spent 2 hours there on our final walk through, mentioning nicks in the paint and drawers that were sticky.  During those times, I had mentally moved in, placing a couch in the family room, a TV on the mantle (except at Christmas time, when it was covered in pine boughs and stocking hangers), the piano in the front room.  I thought I knew what my house and my street and my life would look like.

But over the last few weeks, the look of my new street and my new house  (even the old church building that houses my new ward) has changed.  They have gone from generic, impersonal rooms and streets and empty lots to something different, something familiar.  I have to remind myself to see them the way I used to see them.  Sometimes I can't do it.  I have to think really hard, picturing our realtor standing in the hall near the back door, telling us we probably wouldn't be quick enough to get that house.  Then, when I can remember, I am shocked at how different it looks now, how the context of my possessions, cats, family, cars, and calendars have changed it.  The once-familiar street that was a part of the path to my real life is now my life's destination.  The context of the path up the hill to my old house has changed because I'm driving away now instead of toward. 

Which takes me back to my opening quote.  The difference we perceive in our street, our path, our house, our lives comes from the difference in our perspective.  The house and the street I used to run by and pilfer from are now mine, rather than someone else's.  I have imposed a bit of my reality on them which has changed the way they look to me forever.  It is impossible for it to be any other way.  But I wasn't expecting it.  When I first detected it, I tried to fight it, to keep trying to see it the way I used to, but I've realized I can't.  I have to allow the magic that makes houses into homes to transform my reality.  I have to allow my eyes to see the once familiar places with the freshness that comes from that reality.  I think I can enjoy and be grateful for this gift that my new perspective has given me now that I can recognize it.

Randomalities

• Granite is not forgiving.  Good think IKEA has cheap glasses, I think we will be going through a lot of them.
• 6:15 on my day off is really. super. early.  But helping out my cousin with his cute 2 year-old is worth it.
• I forgot how many people talk to little kids in the store.  Especially when the kid has a copper-colored mohawk (not curently spiked, I might add. I'll let his dad do that.)
• I also forgot how fun it can be taking a 2 year-old in the store (when there aren't any other children around; that needed a qualifier!) They don't ask for stuff or whine, just ask "What's that?" about everything and sit semi-contendly in the cart.  I think I miss having a little one around....
• It is possible to clean a bathroom before 7:30 am.  Who knew?
• Running a cool marathon relay tomorrow.  Shane and I are both running the 5 mile leg of the Ogden Marathon.  There are 5 legs: 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3.  So excited.  I hope that the fact that I haven't ran 5 miles for 9 months won't hamper me too much.  Distance is mostly in your head, right?
• I'm loving KSL lately. I got two new-to-me barstools for $40.  Those things are a dime a dozen on that site, I swear.  Yay for me!
• I've entered the world of texting.  Who knew it could be so fun?
• I've never had access to the backyard from my house before. Now I do. And I also realize why they invented glass cleaner.
• Two-year-olds take naps.  I'd forgotten.  Blessed naps!!!
• I'm not really looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn to go and run.  That is the least-enjoyed aspect of races for me.  Seriously, can't they start at 10:30 or something?
• Crushed ice is a gift from heaven.  Mmmmm....

So what random thoughts do you have today?

Bliss....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think I can come up with a few more than a thousand for this one.

I think I love my new kitchen....but only slightly less than I'm loving strawberry cake (Melanie, your baking has ruined me!)

A few more pictures of the new house.

Another view of the kitchen

Ben on the stairs

Living room

My closet. I've never had a walk-in closet in my life.

Shane's closet.  Yay, we don't have to share.

Family room.

Stairs.

New (to me, they were my grandmother's, we think!) plates I got from my mom's garage last week.  Thanks, Amy, for letting me take them.

First self-portrait in my new digs.

I still keep waiting for the real owners to come and kick me out.  It's going to take a while, I think.  But I love living here!

Stuff about moving that I want to remember.

It's done.  We are officially in our new house.  I can't believe we really moved.  Who knew people who never have anything change in their life could change things so drastically.

I never dreamed I would get this house.  When we first saw it, it had been 90% complete for a few weeks.  They had just lowered the price by a significant amount, and it was expected to go fast.  Despite this, we decided to go for it.  I put my house up for sale on a Tuesday and expected every. single. day. for them to call me and tell me the house we wanted had gone under contract with someone else (because I couldn't deal with putting my house up for sale at the same time as putting a contingency offer on the new one).  We ending up waiting 4 days before we finally made our offer.  Even then, I thought it would be sold out from under us.  After only another week, we our offer on the house we were selling.  3 days later, someone else put an offer on the house we wanted to buy, so I had to scramble to get things squared away.  The entire time, I never dreamed we would actually end up with it. I hoped, but didn't expect it to really work.

I'm so glad it did.  I don't think I could have handled jumping any more hurdles.  The inspection nearly killed me.  Worrying over financing filled my nights with sleepless tossing and turning only to be followed by anxiety dreams about people wanting money from me or spending my money without asking me.  For me, the actual buying/selling of the houses was much more stressful than moving from one to another.

But we finally moved.  Saturday night found us with a garage full of possessions that we didn't know we owned.  I am embarrassed at how unprepared we were.  I *thought* we were prepared, but we weren't.  The morning of our move, I had an entire basement that was mostly intact, except for the books that I packed.  The TV was still hooked up, the DVD player and DVR still plugged in and functioning.  I did pack the remote (which took me until monday to find because I didn't remember packing it!) and 3 DVDs, but that was it.  We had food storage still under the stairs, laundry soap sitting on shelves, clean clothes hanging on racks.  I just didn't realize that it would all really need to go, and therefore should have been packed.

But somehow, with a lot of help from friends and neighbors, we got out of our house.  As we were moving, my mother-in-law Vonnay was vacuuming my upstairs carpet.  After everything and everyone had left, my friend Melanie came over to the old house to help me clean it.  I don't know what I would have done without her.  She vacuumed downstairs while I swept the basement and mopped the floors.  After we were done, I found myself alone in my house for a moment.  With as much composure as I could muster, I asked Mel to leave me alone at the house.  I burst into tears, filled with sadness that I was saying goodbye to this house. I found myself in Thomas' room, exactly where I always sat to nurse him when he was a baby.  I wanted some further confirmation that what we were doing wasn't crazy, wasn't wrong.  I stood up and noticed that something was on the shelf in Thomas' closet.  It was only an old hockey stick, but behind it was a hospital ID tag from Shriners hospital from when Thomas had his tendon lenthening surgery at 4 months.  When I found it, I knew that it was my confirmation.  It was the little token, the tender mercy I needed at the time to say it's ok, you are doing the right thing.  I still felt sad, but my heart was peaceful and my tears started to wane. 

Some moments I want to remember are:

• Shane and his friend John toting our outside canopy down to the new house on top of our rented U-Haul.
• Trying to coax one of our cats from out from the ceiling in the basement where she hid when I tried to secure her in a cat carrier.
• Wrestling the other cat into the cat carrier without letting the first cat out.  Every time a new person would walk by, she would start to try to escape.  I must have spent 20 minutes fighting cats.
• Our last old fat cat who calmly rode on Vonnay's lap to the new house, meowing all the time while her friends sat in the cat carrier, scared for their lives.
• The fact that my old bishop/home teacher ended up carrying my underwear drawer to the garage.  Special.
• Missing the delivery of our fridge, which meant that we couldn't get a fridge until Sunday morning.  We had to put all our cold food in coolers on the back porch and send our frozen food home with Vonnay.  She was so sweet to make 2 extra trips up to get my food and then later deliver it.  I don't know what we would have done without her.
• Sweeping and mopping my kitchen floor in the old house for the last time.
• Eating at Olive Garden Saturday night.
• Having a picnic dinner with Vonnay, Shane and the boys on the living room floor on Friday night.
• Unpacking the kitchen with Vonnay Friday night while the boys went to get Five Guys and McDonalds.
• Feeling all warm and fuzzy at the service that our home teacher, neighbors, friends, family, and a couple of missionaries gave us by helping us move.
• Having to let the new owner of our old house in because he nor his 2 grown male friends could figure out how to work the key.  I then gave him a tour, showing him where to turn on and off the water and sprinklers. I showed him all the leftover paint so he could do touch-ups, and told him the types of all my beautiful trees.  Sniff. 
• I'm excited: he's being really cool and letting me come back and split the iris in the back yard later this spring.  Score.

We have spent the last 3 days getting moved in.  The garage is now able to accomodate a single car, and once we have our garbage day on Friday, we will be able to park both cars.  All our rooms are unpacked except for the living room, which is covered in boxes and books and pictures (I can't even get in the door.) I still need blinds everywhere in the basement.  It still feels a little weird, but we really live here now.  Tomorrow we will stop paying rent (because we had to wait to close until Shane could get paid from his new job) and we will finally close.  It feels like I have spent every moment of this year worrying about moving.  I don't remember what I did before.

So this is my last whiney post about leaving my old house.  I know that it will take some time, but soon this house will feel as much like home as our old house.  It's feeling more and more like home with every box we unpack and every random item we put away.