In the midst of crazy, it's wonderful

The last couple weeks: a whirlwind. We have been working so hard to get the house ready to list and I'm exhausted. Dave and I have different styles, though. Dave's routine looks something like this: go to work all day, come home and eat, calmly work on projects. I look more like a freak spinning in circles bouncing from room to room unable to complete my current task before deciding that something else is more important, and so on. More spinning. I have to say, once again, his patience, encouragement and reassurance that I'm working really hard and getting stuff done has been critical. Because in my mind I'm not efficient at this. Because I'm not. He is so sweet. Or fears a total meltdown. Regardless, I must give credit where credit is due.

Newsflash: selling a house is 100% less fun than buying a house.

The first phase was just going through boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff and purging.  You know, the impossible for me.  Then I slowly entered the cleaning phase and really thinking about staging.  I love actually cleaning because I can quickly see the results of the work :) But the less stuff we had in the house and the more I looked around, the more dirt I saw. Then I came up with a growing list of things to clean. 

Somewhere in the middle of all this we took a trip to Vegas. Long story short, we decided to go because we had flight reservations to use from a trip we previously had to cancel and, AND we got a "deal" on a hotel through the Holiday Inn for their Desert Club Resort because Dave has been a rewards member for so long.  So we decided it would be an anniversary trip...one last U.S. fling before moving to England. This deal included a 3 hour presentation about how we should invest in Vacation Ownership (like a timeshare, but SO MUCH BETTER, our shady presenter tried to convince us).  So, turned out we had to go on this tour/presentation or we owed $641 (the original deal was $199 for 3 nights and $100 cash back for attending the tour).   We found out about this ridiculous $641 when we missed our original appointment (we thought it was the next day).  They rescheduled us later in the afternoon.  So we showed up to the appointment a little annoyed.  $641? Really? That's a bit overboard. They called us after our first appointment to see if we attended, but they couldn't bother calling us before to remind us of the time? I smelled scam.

Caveat: I'm going through some of this to serve as a warning to others of what you might face if you decide something like this is a good idea.    

It began with smooth-talking I could see right through but I kept an open mind.  It ended with Mr. Business Man basically telling us we are not taking care of our marriage if we don't get this timeshare, and that it will end in divorce and, ultimately, him being pissed off and telling us that he doesn't get paid if we don't buy (oh no he didn't!).  So. Professional.  This is just a small summary of the obnoxious things said to us. Of course in the beginning he told us there would be no pressure at the end..........yeah, after saying no about 20 times while he continuously asked us how we would like to make the down payment for this $21, 000 investment, we took our $100 cash from one of the girls in the administrative office and ran.  It was hardly enough compensation for the torture.  But it did buy us a nice dinner before Le Reve.   

I really have to do a better job of doing official reviews of experiences and businesses, both good and bad.  This was just so unbelievable and, like I said, hopefully me sharing it is enough to serve as a warning to others who may get pitched the same or similar deal in the future.  Even if it saves one poor soul. In the end Dave tells me he sort of knew what we were getting ourselves into by taking the deal....ha! Oh man, I wish he would have enlightened me before we accepted.  The location of this hotel wasn't even that great and there are great deals right on the strip. 

Ok, that was a long story kind of long.  I planned on doing a Vegas Feedback Sandwich post about how our trip started and ended great with seeing some wonderful friends and awesome Vegas shows, with this rancid piece of meat in the middle.  So that was mostly the negative.  Here are the awesome buns:

Vegas Jump

Terminator

LOVE this lady

Beatles "LOVE" Cirque show

:)

Le Reve 

Le Reve

Who doesn't come home from Vegas a little exhausted? But we got back to cleaning and staging, with a few days left before our realtor, Todd, came over to take the pictures for the listing. Fast forward through a busy weekend seeing friends and watching some important football games, and there I was Monday morning at 0800, a sweaty freak who had been running around the house for a couple hours scrambling before Todd pulled up. I threw a hat on my head, the dogs in the car and asked Todd if I was any kind of normal for someone about to list their house. Of course he laughed and said I was "normal." What a nice guy. But really, we have been so happy with him during the buying and selling processes. If you ever find yourself looking to buy a house in Wichita, you'd be silly to not ask me for his info.  

Even after he took the pictures, I continued to deep clean (I started feeling like I was participating in a competition to be the best house on the market. I mean, that is pretty much what this is...).  But time is up.  We will put the sale sign up this morning at 0800. The house isn't really ours anymore. Time to stop the constant cleaning madness, at least at this pace. As we've worked so hard to get the house in top shape and closer to tomorrow, we've gotten sad about selling our first home. We've created so many memories here as a family. (It's amazing, I think our marriage has even gotten stronger in the last few years, even without holiday inn vacation ownership! Sorry, just a splash of my sarcasm. For now, I still love their regular hotels and they've been good to us during all of our travels around the states).

While we still have some great friends here who we will miss, many of the friends we made over the last 4.5 years have already moved away. Today, we said goodbye to some of the last Air Force friends who got here about the same time as us as they move on to their next duty station. I feel like we're next in the queue....it really is time to go. It is weird to be leaving, but a big part of this lifestyle is moving around and meeting great people everywhere. I am grateful to have good friends here and in so many places...it provides comfort in the process of constant change. And when we're living across the ocean in England, we will become friends with others who are also missing their best friends back home. The ones who can't just drive 4 hours from L.A. to Vegas to visit you for a day anymore. They call this the Air Force Family and I'm cherishing it more and more over time. 

This chapter of our lives is starting to close and it feels surreal.  

the post where I tell a story and then link to other bloggers who write a funnier version

I'm fully aware that title is too long.

My husband literally does everything. He flies planes. He fixes stuff around the house. He calms down his wife who might start having a panic attack about life at any given moment. He can even do that from another state. It's impressive. He's superman, really.

In general I'm pretty used to him being away. But with the whole being-an-adult-and-trying-to-sell-our- first-house-and-move-to-England thing, I really miss my partner. Maybe more so because there is so much to do, and in my head I have "plenty of time" because I'm not working right now....somehow that adds to the pressure.  No Excuses, housewife! But it doesn't change the fact that the to-do list is a little overwhelming and sometimes confusing and things in the house seem to be breaking right about when we're trying to leave and blah blah blah.

Sometimes I wonder...how did I get here? I wasn't supposed to be a housewife.  What is going on? HOW DO I ESCAPE? WHY IS DAVE ALWAYS FLYING HIS PLANE TO FAR AWAY PLACES???

Buuuut, I know the answer. I chose it. It's hard to remember why sometimes, but I chose to be where I am right now.  I so do not regret the decisions I have made. Sometimes I do have to rewind a little and remind myself, otherwise I spiral into labeling myself as a quitter or something else terrible, untrue and useless.

I fell in love with superman at age 21 and never looked back. I went into the Air Force super blue and in love.....oh, how perfect. Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...But 4 years later superman was still by my side when I wanted to rip my hair out daily. I so wanted to hang on to the Air Force for all the reasons I wanted to join in the first place, but life is not about being miserable at a job where you don't feel like you are making a difference. Many argued I was....but that's another internal battle in my mind :) I was definitely overly-confident about how "easy" it was going to be to have my own career in the civilian world with that whole moving around part, but I think it was good I had those blinders on. Dave is always a voice of reason and a source of endless support....good qualities to have in a spouse. And that is why I feel content with where I am & how I got here. I am excited for the near future....we finally get to go on our European honeymoon. For 3 years, woot! I have seen so little of the world. And we've had so much fun so far that I'm even fairly confident that the more distant future will be fun as well...whether that means housewife, mom and/or super career woman when Dave is retired at age 42.  I'm keeping my options open, haha.      

So when I read this post by one of the most hilarious bloggers I follow, it was pretty amazing. Seriously, if you took the time to read my post, you'll appreciate this comic relief (caution: do not drink liquids while reading).  No kiddos yet, but that moment in life when you wonder "How did I get here?" and then realize you are actually happy at the same time....

While I'm referencing blog posts that I love, this one about letting go is also worth a read if you are in some sort of "oh-my-god-how-did-I-get-here" stage in your life.  I love her closing remarks.  

Superman flies back home today.  Win.

My mouth is cleared to move to England. Progress.

I've been out of the Air Force for almost 2 years now. I'm starting to forget my own SSN. #dependentproblems

At the same time, the Air Force still won't accept me as a dependent. For medical appointments I don't come up as Dave's dependent, I come up as a Reserve Captain. Perfect.

Also, without "complaining" too much about fraud, waste and abuse, I'm going to mention that it is something that really irritates me. It always did when I was on Active Duty but now I still see it as "the spouse" in the very few encounters I actually have directly with the base. And we have no room for fraud, waste or abuse anywhere in this country or in the military.  

Ever since I left the Air Force, I've felt fortunate to get to see off-base providers for my eye and dental exams. Yeah, I'll say it. My exams have been the most thorough since they were when I was still under my Dad's insurance before coming into the Air Force. Heck I get two cleanings per year now instead of one. In December I had the little wing x-rays at the dentist. Last month, I got the full x-ray. Now that we are PCSing overseas to England, I have to get medically cleared by the base to go, which is fine. But instead of recognizing that dependents aren't seen on base for things like eyes and dental and asking when I was at the dentist last, if/when I had x-rays, and possibly just requesting them from the off-base provider (seriously, even the place we board our dogs is this "advanced" and pulls records from our vet), they have me come in and tell me I'm overdue for a dental exam. Uh, well yeah. In YOUR antiquated way of doing things. But my teeth and eyes are spectacular, if you're wondering. So I take up a half hour appointment to get x-rays I just had to hear "your teeth look great.  you are good to go." Yeah. I know. I'm sorry, but this is not the first or second or third time I've felt one of my appointments is just a complete waste. Of my time, yes. But more importantly the dentist's and his crew.

We should have been proactive and asked questions about what the appointment was all about and prevented it ourselves. I forgot, that's the only option in being efficient.

This isolated incident is not that big of a deal in itself, but it's the fact that I think there are some critical thinking skills missing and this has to be affecting other processes and operations.

Maybe I will call them and tell them. I won't get into how I think that would go.

But my mouth is cleared for overseas travel, so that's good. I just hope my sarcasm fits in perfectly with the dry humor.

And although fraud, waste and abuse ticks me off, the only thing really stressing me out and bringing me to tears about once a week is trying to figure out how the hell to get the dogs to the UK (really, more trying to coordinate with our travel as well). I'm still finding new and different information all the time, and you can only go in circles for so long before you get dizzy and fall down.

I'm less worried about the vet and health certificates...that is pretty clear. Travel logistics is the horrendous part. But I'll get my puppies there as scary and nervewracking as the process may be. Too much love for them.

Flash that healthy bright smile...we're moving to England, we're moving to England.....

My Knickers are about to be in a TWIST

Because I literally have no idea how to get ready to move overseas.

I thought I'd write some of this frustration out in hopes that it will help ease the pain.

I am, simply put, a pack rat.  It's quite annoying.  I want to be free from everything I'm hanging on to from every phase of my life.  I want to be lighter.  I already had this plan before we moved again but now it is even MORE important going over the ocean.

But for now this means I also have no idea how to sort things into different categories or "piles."  What I have come up with so far is...

1) Stuff we're taking with us.  To England.  I figure I will start with making a list of what we will want to have when we are there and work backwards.  If it isn't on my list it doesn't go.  In theory I think this is good.  In reality I will come across the things not on the list and justify why they should be on the list... We MIGHT need that thing....whatever it is...
2) Stuff going in storage
3) Stuff that Dad will be "happy" to hear I plan on adding to the collection of my shit already in his basement
4) Stuff I'm getting rid of (the impossible part)
a) Stuff I'm going to sell.  Or give away? I don't know.  Am I having a garage sale?? I don't know. Let's face it that probably won't happen.  Good Will it is.  But still....for things to make it into this category it will probably take someone blindfolding me and locking me in a closet so I don't know what I'm "losing."  Because ya know, everything you get rid of you eventually end up wanting to use.  Like the next day.
b) Stuff I'm throwing out

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OPTIONS???

Input welcome. Wanted.  Needed.

Also, a cocktail.