Adventure Girls and Ferd

Things are moving along and falling into place. For the most part.  We've accepted an offer on the house.  The van has been sold.  T. signed a lease for a townhouse in Germany.  Plane tickets have been purchased.  To say it has been extremely stressful would be an understatement. Most conversations with T. involve us trading lists of stressors and hopes for some peace when we are all reunited.  Outstanding stressors include: -Closing on the house -Getting house packed and shipped (and the movers told us it could take to two months to get our HHG!) -B. getting an admission offer at her potential school -Getting through the airport with luggage, two cats, a dog, and a heavy heart.  Here is a beautiful water color done by my friend and artist Cathy Hartung. It will be a cherished reminder of our happy home. 

7-8 weeks. That is the estimated transit time for out household items once they are shipped. Cue panic attack. I was expecting perhaps a month but with Covid, Suez Canal issues, and general fuckery we are looking at 7-8 weeks.  7-8 weeks is a long time to live in a place with no chairs, beds, mattresses, clothes, glasses, utensils, mini-cupcake pans! We were planning on purchasing some items, like a couch, a bed for the guest room, but not general day-to-day items. It seems wasteful to purchase duplicate items because your colander, sports bras, and board games are stuck in a cardboard box, inside a wooden crate, in a metal container, on a cargo ship, somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean.  Help. Feeling overwhelmed. 

B. cried tonight. She was upset that she wouldn't be able to wear her pajamas to sleep in while on the plane. I tried to tell her that was all part of the adventure but I am not sure the promise of adventure will work much longer to ease her fears.  I have to remind myself that she is still little and immature. She is a child and I want her to enjoy being a child for as long as she can. We are asking her to deal with lots of big life changes with which T. and I are barely adequately coping.  Tonight in the middle of her meltdown I had to remind myself that when little people have big feelings and big outbursts they need their people to help them navigate their feelings, not add to the chaos. That can be a challenge when you are stressed, tired, and watching your child in distress.  This move is not going to be easy on any of us. I still question whether we are doing the right thing or not. Being an adult making adult decisions is tough.  Photo of the last link of our co

It has been a busy week. On Tuesday the photographer came to photograph the house for the real estate listing. On Wednesday the house went on the market. On Thursday I had a MS Teams interview for a nursing position in Germany. On Friday I worked and we had two house showings. Saturday we rested and on Sunday we had two more house showings.   Now we wait for an offer. A good offer. An above listing offer. We hope. While we would like the best and highest offer possible, I will just be happy when the whole ordeal is over. I don't know how many times I can scrub the kitchen floor and polish the door knobs. Poor B. hasn't been able to play with most of her toys for fear of making a mess.  This entire relocation process has been a hurry-up-and-wait game. It is a challenge to try to live in the present when you there are so many life-changing decisions out there. Where to live, sell the house, sell the car, get a job, school for B. Relocating across the globe is not for the faint of

T. went to look at a house today. It has lots of great features and only one or two negatives. The deciding factor maybe whether or not hedgehogs make visits to the yard. T. kindly humors me when I make such declarations.  For almost as long as I can remember I have been a fan of hedgehogs. Mrs. Tiggywinkle was my introduction to hedgies and I have been enamored since. Being in the US the only chance I have had to interact with them has been at some petting zoo or what.  In Germany the European Hedgehog is a wild animal. So while I won't be having any as a pet, the fact that I could have a wild one in my backyard is thrilling!  I think I found a way to spend my days: hedgehog observing! Perhaps I'll build them a little town to inhabit in our back garden. Maybe sew them some little hats and provide boots for the wet weather.  Here is our potential backyard. I think Hedgehog Hollow or Hedgehog Hill? Tiggy's Town? Winkle Woods? would look quite nice here. 

How many is too many? 5? 10? 20? I have a tote crammed full of reusable shopping bags and I need to decide how many to keep. Help! I love them all.