Where am I?

I have been without a computer for weeks during this move to Arizona. I've kept up on facebook (sort of) on my phone, and looked at MFW's message board a few times so that I wouldn't feel completely disengaged, but now I feel lost. And I don't actually have my own computer back yet, as it is still in a box in the garage, so I'm using my newly inherited laptop. You should have seen us last night . . . T on his laptop, M on her's, and me on this one. Actually, a few nights prior to that was even more funny -- we were at Starbuck's down the road, all on our own laptops! LOL! (We decided to not care what people must be saying about us.) I think it was quite entertaining to watch Princess M playing on Webkinz and registering her pet-of-the-month for February that she's been saving since November. I think the coffee patrons all enjoyed it. Even the ladies that were trying to have some kind of meeting at the table next to her.

All that to say, I don't have my personal settings or favorites or anything handy. Not to mention the keyboard is radically different. But I received an e-mail from a wonderful friend of mine this morning mentioning my blogs, and it prompted me to log on and look around. I have a LOT of catching up to do. Some people might just say, oh dear, a month's worth of other people's posts to read, I think I'll just skip them and start from here -- but I can't do that. I love the blogs I follow too much to skip anything. Some are too funny, one is far too encouraging, and my cousin's devotions are too amazing to just ignore. I wish I would have thought of that last night and had some good reading instead of the "surfing" I was doing after my family went to bed.

*short break to clean up the yogurt that just exploded all over the floor when M dropped it trying to get one out of the fridge - at least it was on tile*

This house is a whole blog on its own. A novel. We are renting a place in order to be together while we sell our home in Spokane. It was such a long story in such a short amount of time that I decided to take a bloggy break and not even try to explain what was going on. Besides, I was bawling my eyes out and living off of encouraging notes from cyber buddies. I think I'm over the emotional breakdown now and too stunned to cry anymore. I left my beautiful home and my extended family and I'm still in one piece.

I am a bit frustrated that my health is wavering, though. I don't know if it's from stress, diet, allergies, or a combo. My healed ear has started roaring and buzzing and I feel a tad bit dizzy on occasion. That is not good. I'm still claiming my healing. I do need to take better care of myself. I also really need a solution to this house situation. When I arrived to view the rental house for the first time, I was overwhelmed with the stench of urine. My husband had chosen the rental (it's only for 6 months) on his own, and had viewed the house with the power off and apparently many air fresheners placed throughout. Once the lights were turned on and T saw the house again, he had the carpets cleaned and hoped for the best. The best did not happen. There is an incredible stench in the house and I have taped off areas that M is not allowed to walk through. Yes, it's that bad. The windows must be opened and the fans turned on to avoid getting sick. I wake up every morning to the most offensive odor, as a large majority of the spots are in the master bedroom. We are working with the landlord/management company to try to fix the issue, but they are truly not concerned. Did I mention that I'm a Melancholy clean freak? OCD. With major allergies. All of the chemicals and enzymes, whatever, that have been put on the carpet have done nothing to eliminate the pet urine, but have definitely affected my sinuses and eyes and ears, and M's sensitive skin. We are praying, begging actually, that we can get out of this lease and find another place to live.

I did quite a bit of unpacking the first few days to find enough dishes, toys, clothes, etc., to get by, but I have stopped unpacking hoping that things will change soon. A good friend has offered to help us in a very unique way, and we may be able to purchase a brand new, small, cheap house to live in while we can get things settled and sell our place in Spokane. There's even a chance to purchase 2 of these houses so that we won't have to store half of our things and will have a place for my parents to live if and when they come down here. Doesn't that sound amazing? It does to me - and as an alternative to staying in this rental, it sounds downright heavenly.

I didn't set out to dump all of this into a blog post, but trust me - that's not even the whole story. Thankfully, that's not the whole story of all the blessings, either - we have reconnected with some incredible friends in AZ, and feel embraced and loved. Princess M has had friends to play with, and has made a wonderful new friend in our neighborhood even. And the drive down was amazing - the weather was perfect, the gluten-free meals we found were awesome, the hotels were clean and comfortable. It was great. Our very non-road trip family really enjoyed it. I even drove part of the way through California, and it was just beautiful.

There's still many things that need to be worked out, but thankfully God is in control and I don't have to be.

I guess this wasn't much of a homeschool post. Maybe I'll come back and delete it later. Sometimes writing is just for therapy . . .