No side car for me thank you

Since we live closer to family we decided to take advantage of the holiday and visit some of them this weekend. We left after church on Sunday and came back this evening. We shamefully had not seen Joe's sister who normally lives in another country but is doing a brief stint here since Christmas. And she is pregnant!!! So exciting. We got to see the ultrasound video--very cool! Although John said on the way home that it looked like it should be scary. It wasn't scary he said--it just looked like it should be. As I thought about it, I guess it would be kind of scary if you didn't know what you were looking at. Anyway, I have extremely digressed, we left after church on Sunday and took the interstate the whole way to our relatives. You ALWAYS see interesting things on the interstate if you are on it long enough. I was not disappointed on Sunday. The first thing that caught my attention was a motorcyclist that was going at least 90mph and was helmetless. (like a helmet will help when you are going that fast) It was at this point that we discussed the craziness of that and what (in much too precise terms) exactly would happen if he hit a rock the wrong way. Not too long after that a motorcycle carrying two passengers with a side car passed us. The side car was carrying their belongings--not a person. This brought an even more interesting conversation. Now you have to understand (okay, wait, I have to share this--my husband just gave me his socks because my feet were cold. And they are nice and warm because they were on his feet. How sweet is that!) Okay, so one thing you have to understand about me is that since I left the big city of Dallas about 6 years ago I have somehow develop a fear of semis. I used to drive amongst them in my little Saturn every single day going 60mph bumper to bumper and they didn't bother me at all. Now if there is one a mile away and he looks like he might be going to move into my lane and "cut me off" I freak out. And so, as we watched this motorcycle with the side car drive by, I began thinking about what it might be like to ride in the side car on the interstate. People would think I was an absolute crazy person because if I was riding in the side car I would either a.) be totally ducked into the side car like a turtle screaming my head off or b.) standing in the side car waving my hands to make sure mister semi truck driver could see me and not hit me. I used to think it would be a really cool thing for Joe to own a motorcycle and I still kind of do, but if that were to ever happen we would definitely not ever be getting a side car for me to ride in....

Our celebration

WOW! I did not realize that it had been that long ago since I had posted. I can't even really remember everything that has happened since last Wednesday. But what I do remember is that our former house closed in Iowa on Friday! YEAH!!!!! We went out and celebrated on Friday night and bought a new dining room table for this house. I can't tell you how excited I am. We've been looking at this table for about 3 years. We will be able to have seating for 10! This is rather important when just your own family takes up 6 seats. They had to order the chairs so it will be a couple of weeks before we get it. Yes, then you will definitely get to see a picture of it!

Where am I????

I fell asleep on the couch last night while I was watching TV. If you've read many of my posts you know that this is not unusual for me. I was watching House and it was almost over. They were just about to reveal the mysterious disease that this girl had. The last thing I remembered was them going to the commercial and me thinking to myself that I would go to bed as soon as I found out what was making the girl sick. As soon as the commercials started, I was out. I don't even remember what the first one was. What happened next was unusual for me. Joe walked in the front door of our new house (he had been at a meeting), I jumped to an immediate sitting position (I was laying down) and I could not for the life of me figure out where in the world I was. For awhile I thought I was dreaming, but then I realized that my heart doesn't usually beat this fast when I am dreaming. Then I thought I was in an apartment--for a brief moment I thought I was back in Dallas. Finally, my brain kicked in and I remembered where I had moved to. All of the moments after that are rather a blur. I think once I figured it out my brain went back to sleep. So hopefully tomorrow morning when I wake up I won't walk into my kitchen thinking it is the bathroom...

This is the last comment on the DMV--I just couldn't resist

We now have license plates on both vehicles from our new state. All I will say in closing about it is it took a total of 7 trips between Joe and I and a call to India. Joe left the office with the ominous last words of the clerk ringing in his ears "Well, let's just hope the computer took all the information so you don't have to come back."

What I've been up to...

Obviously since we have moved I have done more than just hang out at the DMV branch. While I hate doing bullet points because they are boring, I think that is what I will do to sum it all up and move on. And so here is what I've been up to the last couple of weeks. Each one has a story of its own--you can use your imagination or feel free to ask me to elaborate if you are really curious.

• We moved into our new house. The guys from our new church had our truck unloaded in forty-five minutes and everything that required a tool was put together by the end of the afternoon.
• I had flashbacks of a mean elementary school principal when we went to our closing for our new house.
• We were pounded by our church last Friday night. It's not as bad as it sounds--everyone brought stuff to fill our pantry. It was great!
• The girls are full swing into school. Ashley has decided that she is not fond of kindergarten since "All we ever do is work!"
• Nathan is now in a big boy bed. Since we moved him to a bed he has grasped an understanding of independence and he has tried to exercise his believed right to it. The will of a 22 month old is fairly amazing.
• John gets to sleep in his new bedroom and bed. Ooops--let me correct that as he did me this morning. It is not his "new" bedroom now; it is just his bedroom.
• I LOVE my new kitchen floor.
• I'm probably going to become friends with our Maytag repair man. Again, it is a long story...
• We locked ourselves out of our house our first Sunday here. Then we had to somehow prove to the locksmith that we really lived there. We had moved our stuff in the day before. I found it a little more funny than Joe did.
• We LOVE our yard and trees--really, really big trees.
• We LOVE our non-creaky house
• We are really excited that our basement didn't leak with all the rain we had last week. It wasn't suppose too, but you never know until you move into the house.
• Our house in our last state is suppose to close this Friday--pray that it does!!!
• I had to take down some of the funkiest curtains ever in my new house. But that is okay because it means I get to buy new ones! :)
• They have some serious homework in the 1st grade so Sara & I have been trying to figure that out--like when do we do it??

I'm sure I left some stuff out. I'll have to pass it on to you when I remember--if I ever do remember. I'm fairly convinced I would forget my brain these days if it wasn't attached.

Sara's long summer

Sara had to write a paper on what she did over the summer. I asked her what she said she did in her paper. She said “pack”. So I think she wrote her paper about packing. Then, feeling like a very lame parent, I started listing all the other things that she did over the summer—this included going to Grandpa and Grandma Horn’s for a week. As I reminded her of this, she said “That was this year?”. It has obviously been a long summer of packing.

I think the stress is taking its toll

Sara said to me the other day "Mommy, who was born first in our family?"
I replied "I was"
Sara responded "I thought so. You look A LOT older than Daddy"
Now Daddy's birthday is tomorrow and I am only 3 months older than Daddy. I tried to explain this to Sara, but she just stared at me suspiciously. I think she thought I was lying. I think the stress is starting to take its toll on my body. That has to be it...

Warning-the following post may have a slightly bitter tone

I now have my driver's license for my new state. However, I was informed that it was completely unacceptable that my social security card had my maiden name on it and that in 4 years when it was time to renew I would probably have a hard time unless my social security card was changed. So it's okay for me to have it now, but I can't renew it in 4 years? (BTW, I did have it changed when I was married. I just couldn't track down the newest card.) She also told me that I would have a hard time if I ever needed to collect social security benefits. Do I look that old? I was beginning to understand the sign that said absolutely no inappropriate language would be tolerated. We also left without the plates for our vehicles. I guess we have to take our loan documentation in for one of them and our car title in for the other. Yes, we have to retitle our truck in order to get plates. I informed Joe that he could get the plates because I refuse to make 5 trips to the DMV. I must admit I lost my patience today and hopefully wasn't a horrible witness to the lady. I almost started crying but I was afraid the lady would call me a wimp. As a point of really good news, I passed my test with flying colors! I didn't miss any. And I think that is a feat considering it was 20 multiple choice questions AND 15 signs. However, just as I was feeling relief I found out that they randomly select people to have to retake the test to renew their licenses so in another four years I may be experiencing the same jitters. And so I am determined to leave this topic behind me for now--even though I will be reminded of it everytime I see my signature on my license which is completely unreadable--that is a whole other story in and of itself.

When the third time is not a charm..

This is what I learned today on my third and not final trip to the license branch. I didn't read well enough yesterday. In case you were wondering this is what you need to get a driver's license for the state that I now live in:

My current license from a different state
My social security card
My birth certificate or passport
Some official paperwork with my address to prove my residency
AND I have to take the written driving test!

I haven't taken the test since I was 16! And since I found out I have to retake it I feel the same kind of anticipation that I felt when I was 16. It is that jittery, semi-excited anticipation. This could go really, really well or it could go really, really bad. I mean--what if I fail???!!! How embarassing would that be and it would also put me in a pickle on getting my kids to school each day. I keep telling myself that if a 16 year old can pass it surely someone who has been driving for almost 20 years could pass it. As I glanced through the manual I discovered that I need to catch up on my law--is drunk driving 3 times considered a felony or a misdemeanor??? And so my light nighttime reading tonight will be the driver's manual.

Mission not accomplished...

I don't have my driver's license yet. (Oh, BTW, I am back online now. So good to be back...) Anyway, I don't have my new license yet even though I've already made two trips to the branch. I woke up Monday and that was the number one item on my agenda after I took the girls to school. (The boys were still with Grandma and Grandpa.) I was thinking through my agenda after I got out of the shower and looked at my face in the mirror. Sure enough there on the end of my nose was a bright red blemish--okay, pimple. "Perfect!" I said to Joe. Joe said "It could be worse. Like what if you had to be naked for your picture." I conceded that he was right and decided to persevere. So I drove the 20 minutes over the river to the nearest branch. As I pulled up I was feeling really good because the parking lot was empty. Then I realized it was empty because they were closed. So I turned around and went home. The next day I determined that I was going to get my driver's license. I arrived took my number (10 to be exact), took my seat and quickly learned that they were now serving number 5. I settled in waiting for my turn and began to look around for some entertainment. I was not disappointed. The first point of entertainment was a lady who was clearly addicted to her Bluetooth ear piece and her cell phone. At one point she was in the bathroom--a one room stall right next to the waiting seats--and her phone rang--or should I say sang. It was at this point she answered the phone--yes--while she was in the bathroom--and then proceeded to ask the caller if they could please hold. Then she stepped out of the bathroom, set her phone on a chair, went back into the bathroom, flushed, washed her hands, and then returned to phone and began apologizing for the wait. I'm not sure which was more entertaining--listening to the lady who thought she was almighty phone woman or watching the lady next to me roll her eyes everytime the other lady's phone rang. After watching her my attention was directed to the counter. One of the attendants was commenting to an older lady that she was the first driver all day that had passed her driver's test. None of the other three passed because their cars wouldn't work. As I was glancing at the counter I started thinking about getting my new license and was wondering how they would know my old Iowa license was really mine. At that point I read the sign that listed all the other forms of ID that you would need if you were applying for this state's license for the first time. I, of course, did not have any of the above said items, and so I turned in my number 10 and left. Maybe I will get back sometime later this week for more entertainment...