the home stretch!

...Or one of them at least!

Dave leaves Seattle FOREVER on Saturday morning. The reality that we are moving has not fully set in yet. At this point, I'm just doing all these TIME SENSITIVE tasks. Most of which, appear to be DONE! YAY!

I will be sad to be away from Dave for our longest stretch ever. He comes back to Seattle on Friday, May 30, and we depart for our cross-country trip because we will no longer have a HOME. At least in Seattle. We have 2 homes waiting for us in DC. But still. At this moment I am deeply entrenched in our Redmond home.

Our sale is proceeding smoothly. The inspection contingency clears tomorrow. Yadda, yadda. It's all good.

We decided to take the "HIGH ROAD" and go I-90 instead of I-40 for our trip. We will miss the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, and instead, get to visit the world's only Corn Palace, hometown wonder of the world. My only regret is that we will miss the Hometown Stampede Rodeo because it happens in August. Apparently this, and Mount Rushmore are the big attractions on this route.

I was bummed. We miss seeing a lot of friends and family with this route, but, I realize, we are a bit constrained for time and money, and shaving off 1000 miles makes practical sense. Plus, I am a huge heffalump, and my ankles are starting to swell every night. It will be nicer to just GET THERE.

More soon! We miss you! Email us at schleiferkin@gmail.com.

geez louise!

OK--I am officially one pound beyond the recommendations for how much I should weigh at my 7-month mark. Though, people still do not notice that I'm pregnant unless I say something about it. They must just think I'm 'Big Boned.' I can deal with that.

Everything is rolling along with our move. I guess today Dave and I are officially occupying 3 residences. Our condo here in Redmond, our temporary apartment in Manassas, VA and our house in construction in Haymarket, VA. Weird!

That will all change soon enough. All I know is come June 1st, I'm not making any more decisions, arrangments or plans. I'm taking a mental vacation and enjoying the last precious moments of freedom before becoming SOMEONE'S MOM. It's a much bigger deal to be SOMEONE'S MOM than to just be yourself.

In random silly news, I managed to spill an entire gallon of paint in our brand new car on the way to the Haz-Mats drop-off location. That was fun. Did you know that for every bit of paint you wipe up, there is a river just waiting to flood toward you? It's nice. We managed to clean all the upholstery, but the plastic bits in the car look like we just played softball or visited the desert or something. I'm still working on those.

And, I swear, I'm not making this up, Dave and I had to NOTARIZE every signature on our multi-page apartment lease--it was like 12 signatures in all--just to rent our temporary apartment for 4 months. It was a much bigger deal than committing the next 30 years of our life to a mortgage which was twice the money. The builder people were like, yeah, whatever. We know you're good for it. Here's a ton of money and incentives if you'll just buy our house.

We didn't know if every apartment in Manassas is like that, or if it's because our complex is brand new, or if we live with terrorists and con-artists. I guess we will find out soon!

K. The moving ESTIMATOR guy is here! More soon!

We miss you, please email us at schleiferkin@gmail.com!

nutrition is serious business!

Last night after a SALT FESTIVAL at 10:00 pm, I slept in blissful comfort for a full 9 hours! And, I was so comfortable. What a difference.

Geez! OK, I think I GET now that my insomnia is mostly due to muscle spasms and cramps and discomfort, because I mainly have dealt with the heartburn and anemia. Though, anemia itself can cause muscle spasms--again, all things point to proper nutrition.

I totally took my health for granted before being pregnant. I am sure I taxed my body's reserves with all-night working sessions a lot as a graphic designer, and running for marathons and triathlons, and just eating randomly. Recently I've TRIED to be more cognizant of my diet with the baby and all. I say TRIED because apparently I can only change one thing at a time with any real consistency or success. And, with the move planning and tasks, my nutrition takes a back seat a lot.

I've already changed over to whole grains, I take vitamins and supplements religiously and most days drink enough water. And, I'm much better with the dairy/calcium thing. But OK--I get it now with the SALT. Wow--what a difference. I can actually sleep. Bliss!

But--scratch the surface a little and you find muscle health and proper function is a very complicated interplay between calcium, folate, magnesium, sodium and all kinds of other things. So you can't just go for the McDonald's french fries.

So--there you have it. You can't break the rules, you can only break YOURSELF against the rules. :(

the last piece of the puzzle :)

WE SOLD THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We close on May 28th, perfect timing for an end of May move date :) It's like we planned it or something!

How classically Northern Virginia-esque is THIS!!! I just found out we have 10 acres of forested land and trails in front of our house with THESE GUYS walking around. Again, I'm really into this edge of rural, close to major metropolitan areas. So I think this is really cool! Thanksgiving will be so picturesque if, when we look out the window, we see actual, real live turkeys :)

And, they break ground at our new house any moment now. They will be done in mid-July!! :)

More soon:)

a.d.d.--I laugh in your face

At the risk of TMI---I have LONG thought I suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder. Not little boy style which is Attention Deficit and HYPERACTIVITY Disorder, this is girl style and now grown-up lady style A.D.D.

As much as you all care for me, I am sure you have been on the receiving end of what seemed like rudeness or flakey-ness from me and been so confused by it because to you it seems like I have my act together.

You think I'm creative, and non-linear, and silly and surprising. That's the good side. But the bad side...

It's a paradox--and WHEW--a frustrating,embarrasing and expensive one for me--FOR SURE. The bad side that you might have noticed is my missing appointments with you, forgetting important details, seeming pre-occupied, not remembering what you just told me 2 seconds ago. I may have made a joke like "I drank too much as a pre-teen" (eeek) or told you some sort of self-deprecating, but true--and probably FUNNY story that was worse. And then the endless APOLOGIES!

What you didn't see or hear about was the piles of paper log jams, the boxes of unexamined things--all the way from junk mail and stuff to throw away to uncashed CHECKS and important documents gathering up in the basement. It was NOT FUN. It was downright SCARY. And not to mention the chronic chaos and sense of overwhelm that messiness feels like. It's tiring and icky. Why live like that? And, more importantly, how do you turn it around when you have a full-load of responsibilities? I was destined to be like the lady on Oprah who had gathered 75 tons of randomness in her home. Except it's doubtful that Oprah would come rescue me!!

Let's not even start on the damage to my relationships with friends and family or my career from having to cancel plans at the last minute to deal with some immediate crisis (from not having dealt with things in a timely fashion to begin with) for example. Or the problems and expense I created from my forgetfulness. The damage ripples far and wide. And I won't say a word about the money we've wasted from not being able to find things or from paying late fees.

I seriously don't know how people can handle so much on their plates without simultaneously generating a mess. I admire them. It also seems like it's effortless and the majority of their time is spent visiting with friends and family. On the phone, or at events. How do they do it?! Taking pictures and making calls seems like things I can never focus on because of the exponential difficulty of what should be ordinary things.

So--I said NO. No, I will not give birth to a child under these circumstances. And no, I will not pay extra dollars to move this chaos and perpetuate this lifestyle in DC. No. No. No. No. No. I am changing this pattern from now on.

And--you saw the pictures of my house now--SEE I can keep it clean and beautiful everyday! (Notice you didn't see pictures of the garage--- yet.)

And--you hear about all the logistics I'm coordinating. SEE--I can keep it together and be on top of the details of this huge project.

But now, I think I am just very thorough and detailed, and when I am balancing a career on top of a private life, the world is full of TOO-MUCH-NESS. I become twitchy from not getting to do everything as deeply and completely as it truly requires--which leads to sadness and tiredness and a sense of being out of control. Which can become a hopelessness at times--like this sucks, why keep doing this? Or, when does it get easier?

Getting to stay at home is W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. All the balls are in the air and very few get dropped. Sanity is restored. I begin to believe I really AM competent and not brain-damaged. It affords me the luxury of getting our affairs in super-order, having a clean, tranquil space to live in and the ability to manage a multi-faceted move--with NO FLAKEOUTS. The feeling of calm, pervasive, tranquility is absolutely wonderful. And priceless. I always tell Dave I'm the luckiest girl in the world. :)

Is it possible A.D.D. is like Trench Mouth? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_mouth
I had that once from being under SERIOUS stress, and the hygenist just gave me a regular 6 month teeth cleaning and problem-solved. SEE why an earlier post was bragging about my Hall of Fame dental hygeine?

Could it be so easy as getting the TIME to get organized and get your affairs in order and process the phases of your life before moving on to the next one--that CURES A.D.D? I don't know. Cross your fingers for me.

But maybe now, I can handle more than before because I took a step back and got organized....? It feels like it might just be.

THANKS FOR HANGING IN WITH ME despite everything.

We miss you. Please write to us at schleiferkin@gmail.com.

the light at the end of the tunnel

Hi everyone--sorry my blogs have become novellas! This one is no different.

Lurkers--I miss you--please tell me what's the latest with your life--you guys tell me what you've read on my site, but I don't know how YOU'RE doing!!

Fellow bloggers--I feel really bad that I'm not able to absorb any information right now--I am sorry :(--I promise to read your blogs after this is all resolved. I will have time after June 10th :)

Mr. P came over the other night and asked 1,000,000 detailed questions. He then told me he was going to make an offer yesterday. Yesterday came and went. Today came and went. I'm hoping because he's a lawyer that he's just being extra cautious and thorough and just getting himself together. He said he would tell me regardless of what he decided, and I thought "I'm making an offer tomorrow" meant he was making an offer! What up?!!

We rented a temporary apartment today and arranged to have one of our cars shipped for when Dave gets to DC. Dave will get to experience our new neighborhood first hand while we wait for our actual house to be built. More importantly, he'll experience the commute before we're totally financially bound to buy the new house. Check it out!




In pregnancy news, I have invested in more maternity clothes. Dave went with me, and he was teasing me that the sizes I was picking (medium) would be too small now. We were like "Ha, ha" until I got them home, and he was right. I was very sad, shocked really, and demoralized to be in "large" maternity clothes--you're supposed to keep your same size in the maternity versions of clothes.

I used to wonder why older people wanted the seats of their cars and couches to be super soft. It seemed like the cushions offered no support. Sadly, I now understand. In the last few weeks it's seemed like any surface I've come in contact with is uncomfortable--couch, car, bed. Now I know the secret. Fluffy, squishy marshmallow pillows are beyond wonderful--like the seats in Grampa's Oldsmobile. When you are just in continuous physical discomfort, pillows everywhere are a godsend.

I felt like I was becoming the Wicked Witch of the West--I may have mentioned my weird muscle spasms and cramps in my hands and forearms. Today my doctor said to eat more SALT! How weird is that!? I can do that. What a relief!

In moving news it seems like from the moment I wake up (easy when you can't sleep anyway!) to like now--11:48 pm, I have a constant stream of time-sensitive things that have to happen for the move. I can't imagine trying to do this and work at the same time. It would get done very badly. Before when I worked, I just felt like everything was TOO-MUCH-NESS all the time. Too demanding of the amount of energy I actually had. It's totally OK now that I don't work. It's still alot, but it's manageable now.

In Dave news, he is much happier than he has been in the last few weeks. He likes to know the plan and to have stability and a solid routine. The idea of getting to DC and leaving things up in the air is not really his style. He's very grateful that I've arranged everything for us. And, he's very excited to start his new job. I can't believe it will be just 9 short days until he leaves. He comes back on May 31st and we begin our cross-country trek on June 1st.

Here are some actual photos of the new home site with other people's homes that are already built. I promise to put the rest on the shutterfly site. More about that soon!

really, truly?

Hi again!!

The guy who asked for the blank purchase and sale is coming here in 3 hours! I pray that he is bringing me the papers back with a signature!!!! This would ROCK as we would save 6%--two-thirds of a year of law school!!!!!

Of course, Daisy, my sweet puppy, who has NEVER thrown up in her life, (unusual for a puppy) threw up last night. And it wasn't just a little bit of throw-up, in a not-so-noticable location, it was like a gallon of throw-up right by the front door. She's still on the small-side, at least for a lab, but MAN-O-MAN, she puts out a lot of volume of everything. I don't know how that's possible. So, of course, I steam cleaned it out yesterday night, but it's still discolored and weird. Great!

And, of course, we've had our washer and dryer forever, and they've been great, and a couple of days ago the dryer just stopped working all together, even though it's still plugged in and everything. Double-great. Did you know that drying ONE LOAD of clothes is $4.00 at the laundromat (and that it's really hard to find a laundromat these days)? One load.

It's great to be moving to a huge metropolis where our money will go tons further or something. How weird is that?

OK, I have some serious cleaning to do--more soon after Mr. P comes to visit.

Ciao.