Moving to a house that does not require a key.......

Technology!!!

Mood.....

When we tell the neighbors we are officially moving....

Its that time again......

You know it is a small world when.......

people you have known for over ten years buy the house you used to live in even though you stated repeatedly NOT to buy that dump!!!!

The folks that bought the house at the foreclosure auction to flip it and sale it, cleaned that dump up in a week to resell it as quickly as they could, and I can guarantee it was the biggest Band-Aid ever used to make a house "look" like something it is not.

I have no doubt that the desperately needed repairs were not even done!  I guess people just have to live and learn the hard way like we did.  Stinks!!

Apartment living update, on cloud nine...........

I could really get used to this apartment thing!

Everything is completely amazing, and I mean everything.

The other day I told the girls technically we are not homeschooling, we are now apartment schooling and their response to that was perfect.
They said we are home even in this apartment because we are here, and we are a family (awwww)!

This was the best week ever in our new place because it was spring break.  We had spend-the-night parties and groups of friends over a couple of days to help us break in the apartment, and they did a great job with that!

The girls were so proud of their new rooms and of the apartment.  They have already made several new friends, teenage girls, who they hang out with a lot.

This move got us out from underneath a crappy situation.  We have endured a lot so to see them as happy as they are right now is priceless!

Thanks friends and families!  You have all played an integral role in our new start.  We could not have done it without you (and the judge, LOL).

The apartment life suits Smokey and Shadow very well.

Smokey spends most of his time in A14's room.

While Shadow prefers to hang out in C16's room.

Smokey is waiting for someone to throw that mousey mouse.

Apartment life.........

There are so many families living in apartments!  I had no idea.

There are so many kids around us which is great for my girls.  They are literally kid magnets!

Every time they go outside, someone comes running over to them.  They get a lot of attention gliding through the complex too.

It is so nice to get a fresh start.  They deserve it!

These two love apartment living!

Moving tip #29....

Always, always, always wear shoes while moving boxes, otherwise, you could end up with a broken toe or two............Not fun at all!

Spring.......

Spring cleaning our brand new immaculate apartment, done!

Love the farmhouse look! Reminds me of my grandmother......

Apartment life is a dream come true!

As most of you already know, the girls and I just recently moved from a house we lived in for over 11 years to an apartment.  I will be the first to admit that even though the apartment complex we moved to is amazing, I was a little scared, at first, but not any more.  I worried the girls would not like living in an apartment since they have only ever lived in a house and how am I going to pay for everything, etc....probably all the normal fears that single moms have when they are raising their kids alone 97.5% of the time but really what is not to love?  We have a pool, a playground, a dog park, an exercise room, a media center, 24 hours a day maintenance service, a meeting center/events center, 24 hours a day security on the property, a big gate to keep out the riffraff, a 3 bedroom apartment (1419 square feet with is only roughly 500 square feet smaller than the house), and they will even do your laundry for you, what?  I know!  What a dream come true!

We have only met a few of the neighbors in our building so far and a few from just around outside while the girls glide all over the parking lot, and they all seem fantastic!  We also discovered we have TWD fans living in our building, and they already invited us for a TWD party.  There is an extremely nice single dad with a daughter, two families with lots of kids, a really cool, outgoing guy with a very shy wife that does not go out a lot, and a few 20-something roommates that slip in and out without anyone noticing.

There are a few interesting dogs breeds around here too.  We saw a young guy walking two beautiful dogs so I asked him what they were since I had never seen a dog like that before.  They are Leopard dogs, aka leopard hounds, aka Catahoula hog dog, aka Catahoula Cur.  This is the state dog of Louisana.  I learn something new every day.

It is also a lot quieter than I thought it would be.  I worry because one of my girls is very loud and likes to jump around nonstop until she passes out, and I too am also very loud!!  No one seems to hear us or they are being really nice but at the same time, I have never heard anyone making noise of any kind in the apartments adjacent to ours, and I was told they are well-insulated.  Lucky for my neighbors!

Another benefit is that since we are so high up, the noise we make is headed that way too.  It is also great exercise since we are running up and down a total of 36 stairs every time we come and go.  We are on the go all the time so we might not even use the exercise room.

The best part of all of this is that my girls are happy!  I am happy, and I would not trade it for anything in the world.  They are getting to see firsthand what to do when the going gets tough.  You get knocked down but you get back up.  They see me working like crazy and doing a million other things without blinking an eye.  That is good for them to see that a mom can do anything and everything and since they are totally worth it, I don't mind at all.  A parent has to take care of their children no matter what.

Smokey is taking a nap in the new place..........

First day of school in the new place. So far, so good!!!

Misadventures of moving....

For the last few months we have been trying to pack up and move out of our house of over 11 years due to poor choices on the part of another.  I think there should be a new law on the books.  Whomever is responsible for the family losing their home should have to pay for the moving and packing of the rest of the family because let me tell you, packing up 11 years in boxes is no fun task, no fun task indeed!

I do want to thank our amazing friends and family that helped us over the last week and never complained even though there certainly was good reason to.  We could have never done it without them!  Everyone graciously moved furniture and box after box after box, you get the picture.  So many boxes!  Did I mention we moved to the third floor of an apartment building?  Yeah, there is that.  Three flights of stairs.  It was a pain to move everything up to the top but it sure is nice being up here.  Did I mention it was raining most of the time?  And there was a broken bone, bruises, and a skinned up knee as well.  Oh and a few things flew out of one of the trucks.  Oops!

The moving crew was made up of several adults (two former college wrestling champs and a basketball coach) and wait for it.......12 kids!  I think that is why it was so much fun for everyone!  Having all the kids made the apartment feel more like home.  I honestly was not thinking the kids would be doing much more than playing around but they were an amazing help.  They had a relay race going; one from the truck/trailer to the first flight of steps, then another at the second flight of steps, and you guessed it up to the top!  They also helped take apart certain pieces of furniture and help put it back together again.  We are so blessed to have such a good support system in place.

I did a blog post about moving and superstitions, you can read about that here.  It is fun to read back through that now and see which applied to us.

We brought our loaf of bread even though it was passed the expiration date.  I had a brand new container of salt but there was no way I was going to throw it all over the floor.  The broom, I elected to leave our broom behind but somehow a broom showed up here and has been sitting outside, and I have no idea where it came from, weird!  There was a little hammering but not after the sunset.  And it did rain on Saturday when we started to move.

I do not consider myself a superstitious person but it is fun learning about the different things that are considered good luck or bad luck during a move. I think we have had our share of bad luck, and there is nothing but good waiting ahead of us.  We are off to an excellent start!

Whoo hoo!!

Lets talk moving superstitions and fun..........

Since we are moving soon, I thought it would be fun to research traditions/superstitions as they relate to moving into a new place, and I learned some pretty interesting stuff.

When you move, leave your broom behind and buy a new one for the new place.  Turns out that brooms carry negative energy (dirt) from different aspects of your life, a new broom gives you a fresh start.  I certainly do not want any negative energies from the past going with me when I move!  So a new broom is on the list.  I will burn the other one.

It is bad luck to carry a garden hoe into your new place but hey if you forget and bring your hoe in, just walk back out the door backwards carrying the hoe and problem solved.  Remember, no hoes in the house the first night!

Don't forget to bring a loaf of bread and carry it in with you the first time you cross the threshold of your new place.

If you have had a problem with witches in the past, no problem.  Take some fennel and stuff it in the keyhole or hang it over your door and poof, no more witches!

Got ghosts?  Paint your porch blue.  According to southern traditions, ghosts cannot cross over water, and I guess they are easily fooled by blue paint.

Bring your salt too so you can sprinkle it at the front door.  This will keep away the evil spirits.  It is also suggested that the only way to truly cleanse your new place is by spreading salt all over the floors and leave it for hours or all day.  Just in case the salt at the front door did not prevent those evil spirits from hanging around.

You might want to tone down your hammering activities after the sun sets, you wouldn't want to wake up the tree gods now would you?

Don't want to be struck by lightening?  Just go outside and grab an acorn and place it on the windowsill.  This is what the Norse believed.

Old Native American superstitions suggest not moving into your new place on Friday, Saturday, or when it is raining.  They believed these were unlucky days to move in.

Burning dried sage (native American tradition) on your first night in your new home will ward off spirits but no worries if you are fresh out of sage, just burn a candle instead.

If you live in Thailand and want to bless your new house, invite an odd number of monks over for a visit.  There has to be an odd number, not even, and you also need to feed them while they are there.

In Italy, they pour salt in all four corners of every room in the house.

Live in India?  Head outside, grab a cow, place a garland wreath around its neck, and bring that cow right on in the house.  It doesn't say how long to keep the cow inside but this is supposed to somehow bless your new place.  Glad we are not moving to India at the moment.

According to Jewish, Indians, Chinese, Persian, and Armenians, planting a pomegranate tree or eating pomegranates will ensure fertility.  Note to self, never, ever, ever eat anything with pomegranate in the new place.

If you can possibly manage to hold one more thing on your way in, make it a full bowl of rice.  This is for prosperity.

Scattering coins all over the floor is also supposed to bring prosperity.  At this point, coins are the only form of money I have left so that will not be a problem for me.

Don't want the ghosts from your current residence to follow you to your new place?  Just move on a Thursday.

There are so many more superstitions about moving but I thought these were the best.

If you see me walking around with a loaf of bread, salt, a broom, or a cow, it is probably moving day!

Great moving checklist.......

Find this checklist here.