Weekly Wrap-Up: Moving In!

Well, I’m tired. REALLY tired. Even when I sleep I don’t sleep. Does that ever happen to you? It’s been just over a week since we moved. It’s been exactly a week since the movers came and delivered all of our stuff. Yet here I am still surrounded by boxes. I’m trying not to be hard on myself because really, it is progress. The day after the movers dropped off our stuff my husband had to go back to Fort Hood to finish clearing the house on post as well as his out processing paperwork. So, it’s just the kids and me unpacking – mostly me.
Most of the clothes need to be washed, so I have to do at least 2 loads of laundry each day. The dishwasher doesn’t work (which I discovered right AFTER I sent the list of “issues” to the leasing office), so I’ve had to hand wash the dishes. I’ve had the stress of worry that my husband may not even be able to come back here when planned due to the government shut down (and he has our only vehicle!!). I don’t even want to go into the financial thing. Even without the possible upcoming issues we’re a mess just from the move! I’ve been battling with Fibro flare-ups from all of this.
Plus, I’ve been trying to stay in our homeschool routine as much as possible. The kids are all out of sorts, though. Moving makes any child a little off kilter. Throw together our combination of one child on the Autism Spectrum and two with SPD, and it’s quite a mess! Our preschooler in particular has been a WRECK. It’s making ME a wreck. Friday I just stopped everything I was doing and took him to the couch, wrapped my arms around him tightly and let him nap on me for over two hours. He needed it, and I needed both the physical and emotional break as well!
But you know what? I look back on this week, and I look at what I DID accomplish. The kitchen is almost done, which was really challenging because I lost A LOT of kitchen space. It was really hard trying to work around the lack of space. The computer and internet are set up, which is obviously nice for both homeschool and my website! I’ve also been able to do necessary things like changes of address. Half of the living room boxes have been emptied. The back patio is done. Plus, despite being tedious, I am keeping up with laundry and dishes, homeschool, “work” (a.k.a. this website), general tidying, etc. while unpacking as well!
So instead of focusing on the boxes that AREN’T unpacked yet, I’m choosing to be grateful for the boxes that ARE unpacked! I am grateful for family that has come over and helped. I am grateful for my friend who dropped off a phone charger because ours broke and my husband has the only other cords that work! I am grateful for those I haven’t met in person that have reached out to help in other ways. I am grateful that there is progress, and we are able to start on this new adventure!
I’m going to be sharing progress pictures as we “make our house a home.” I plan on doing a lot of decorating projects myself that I will be sharing as well! Some projects may have to wait due to finances, but I am going to share progress along the way from empty house to moving in with what we have to redecorating, revamping, or replacing some things! One thing will definitely be a bunk bed in the boys’ room because both of their beds barely fit! Anyway, here is a peek of a corner of our living room before our furniture and boxes arrived:

OK, time to wrap it up!

Highlights in Our Life:

• We moved! LOL As if you couldn’t tell from the long intro to this post!
• To be more detailed: We moved back to the Houston area! We’re so excited to be back and especially to be living near family and friends again!

Homeschool Highlights:

• We started THREE new things this week! I know it seems like a crazy time to start anything new, but as I said, we want to stay in our routine. In fact, we NEED to. Our kids need as much consistency as possible! I’m really excited for these reviews as well!
• In addition to the new curricula (one of them being a French curriculum), we also received a children’s French songs CD to review, and the kids have been LOVING it!
• My original plan of ending this school year at the end of October and starting the new school year in January may have to change. I am not sure yet, but I think it’s possible we may need a couple more weeks, so we might make this year stretch right up until just before Thanksgiving and then break until January. I’m still trying to figure it all out, but I don’t think now is a good time to make any solid decisions!

Blog Highlights:

• I’m back! Well, I’m mostly back, and I technically never completely left. I’m slowly getting back on track and have been keeping up with things as much as possible without overtaxing myself.
• I have received 3 new products for review at the new house! It’s so fun getting mail at our new address. A couple of review packages were caught in the mail forwarding limbo, though, so I am still waiting on them. Long story, but basically our former housing office took it upon themselves to take all the mail out of our box and forward it even though my husband hadn’t cleared the house yet! He went to get it, and it was gone! *Sigh*
• I will be starting my “Winner’s Circle” album on my Facebook Page this week! If you have won a prize on Pea of Sweetness be sure to share your picture on my Facebook page so I can add it to the Winner’s Circle!
• I will be adding at least 3 new Blogger Opps this week!
• Now that we’re living in the Houston area again I will be able to cover more Houston events and share them!

Goals This Week:

• Keep unpacking and work on getting settled!
• Set dates for all other upcoming reviews.
• Start my 2013 Holiday Gift Guide.
• Make a decision on my website’s Ad Space.
• Decide if I’m going to start my “deals blog” soon.
• Get information on local homeschool groups as well as any other local groups, organizations, etc. of interest.
• Finish address updates!

How have you been? Weigh in – what do you think I should I put on the shelves in the living room – decorative stuff or the movies and such?