Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Stress free moving? (And pictures of the house)

I am moving.

You would think this would be stress inducing, but you forget that I am the sort of woman who can handle stress and glides through life without any trouble. After all, I am the same person who showed up at church dressed like this:


Remember that post? Good times.

Anyway, Peter and I have done everything we can to ensure our move across the continent is as stress-free as possible. That is why we decided to move in the middle of the school year. In fact, to ensure as little stress as possible, we will be arriving in our new hometown two days before Christmas.


We are geniuses.

I know, I know, you want me to plan your next move. I seem to be so good at it. Let me tell you, we must be allergic to adrenaline, the way we avoid stress at all costs.

That is why we decided, when moving two days before Christmas in the middle of the school year across the Northern portion of the country in winter snow season, to build a new house. And my husband is picking all the finishes.**

**You see, when I chose the place I wanted to live I sold my soul made a deal with my husband that he got to pick the house we lived in. For some of you that may mean agreeing to live in a shack, but for me it meant living in a golf course neighborhood and spending 50% more on a house. After Peter started talking about the finishes of his dream home, I decided he better chose them and leave me in the dark about the cost of the upgrades. Which would have worked, if I wasn't required to sign all the work order changes. So anyway, I know we have the same taste and he has picked great finishes so far, and so this hasn't added to the stress at all ...um, not really, but it makes me feel better to say it hasn't .**

To summarize:


  • I am moving into a house that my husband has chosen everything for and is still under construction a month from our move.

  • I have not seen said house since it was an undeveloped piece of land.

  • My life, it is like a calming stroll on the beach.

Did I mention that we will be living closer to family than we have lived in 12 years, since my oldest was a toddler? And that, to make it even easier, we are moving ourselves instead of using movers?




So, anyway...

I'm dealing with the stress really well.
  • As long as you ignore the eye twitching.

  • And the nightmares about living in a house that is just made of sticks.

  • Oh, and the 3 pounds of chocolate I'm eating everyday. It goes well with the 100 books a week I check out of the library to supplement the 100 I've bought.

  • Not to mention the fast food we're consuming at 50% of our meals.

See, I handle stress well. Twitch, twitch, twitch ....



Photobucket 



Special thanks to my sister, who lives in town and takes pictures of my house so I have something to look at and calm myself when the stress gets to be a bit much.

40 comments:

  1. Our last move, though not across the country, was pretty similar to yours. Only in our case it wasn't a brand new house, it was an old, old house that had the (mis)fortune of having all of its innards ripped out during the summer. We needed to move the first week of school, but our house wasn't ready (and when I say wasn't ready, I mean the two bedrooms we planned to live in while the rest of the house was finished still didn't have sheet rock, we didn't have a toilet installed and there was no electricity). We ended up staying in a hotel for a week and driving back and forth to have the kids catch bus and check on progress at the house. It was lovely. Now, two months later, we're really looking forward to getting the sheet rock put up in the rest of the house and the floors redone. Then we can hook up the heat, put in a kitchen and move all of our stuff down from the attic.

    Here's hoping your move is smoother than you anticipate!

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  2. I can solve all your worries.

    Lady Ozma's 100% stress free move:

    Ingredients:
    Gasoline
    Match
    Copious amounts of alcohol... oh wait... darn it I'm Mormon. Make that sushi and chocolate - the ultimate comfort foods.

    I'm pretty sure the first two are self explanatory. :) After you load your car with your laptop, photographs, cameras, and books... you are good to go.

    This is how I plan to make move number 13.

    Can they extradite you for arson?

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  3. Ooh. Is that Lindt truffle? Excellent stress coping!

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  4. Wow! When you do stress you do it right! I'm sure it will all work out. At least you have family nearby to crash with if your house isn't done in time!

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  5. I love stress! I live for stress! That's why I was in the middle of my master's classes (24 credit hours/semester - I doubled during that semester) while working two jobs and decided to move the weekend the last chapter of my "thesis" was due! Too bad I wasn't moving very far away! That would've been perfect! Good luck with everything!

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  6. I highly approve of the chocolate therapy. :D

    The good news...your house is looking great! It will all be worth it.

    p.s. Is it bad that I laugh and laugh whenever I see that picture of your boots?

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  7. Holy gracious! I thought it was funny till you said you're moving yourself!

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  8. Hey, stress looks good on you!

    I want chocolate now...dang it...

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  9. Chocolate is definitely my coping strategy of choice. I'm sure I'd have a twitch like yours if I did anything similar - heck, my blood pressure elevated when we just went looking at a house last weekend (that was less than half the size of our current house albiet in a lovely community on 2-3 times the land). Good luck!

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  10. Chocolate definitely solves everything. Your house looks amazing!

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  11. From someone who has moved LOTS and LOTS in my lifetime, my eye was twitching just READING this. Hopefully it will all go well (and if not, hey, more to blog about, right?) and you'll be able to look back and say "Hey remember that time when we___? AND SURVIVED!"

    Good luck, bloggy friend!

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  12. You definitely seem to be dealing with the stress perfectly. You haven't yet dug a hole in the corner have you? That's what I would have done.

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  13. Charlotte, when you do things, you do them with flair! And lots of chocolate. That's why I like you. GOOD LUCK!

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  14. we once moved the day after Christmas... having changed destination cities sometime in October - and having NOWHERE to live upon arrival.

    eight years later and I think I have lost the eye twitch.

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  15. I hear you. Though we didn't have as many fun variables as you guys, moving makes me so....so...happy. And don't worry, my twitching is already starting to subside.
    (Your new house looks gorgeous!!)

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  16. First of all, you're leaving your waterfront home? I'll miss those pictures, Charlotte! Second of all, what fun to build a house from scratch. I know, I'm nuts, but I still have my own pictures of our house being built. That doesn't mean I haven't tried to move from it a million times, but it was exciting watching it being built! (And by the way, we had to REDO all the finishes about 12 years into the house!)

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  17. You are the very phrase "Go big or go home!" Yowza!

    I am thinking that the move is bringing you closer our way though so that's all good. And the house is going to be amazing. 6 months from now (when you've recovered and almost gotten the boxes empty) you'll be thrilled. You just have to survive until then!

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  18. I for one am glad you are moving closer. I hope to bump into you again. You totally make me smile! :)

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  19. May the force me with you! Moving is so stressful. Your home is gorgeous though!! We love that style. I hope the move goes as smoothly as possible.

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  20. Good luck! Your place looks fantastic so far. Ask me about the time my Dad thought it was a good idea to uproot us from AL on the last day of school and literally drive us to PA the next day...without a new job or a new house...which led us (3 kids, 2 adults, 1 dog) to living with our aunt (and her kid and my aunt's bf) in a DOUBLE WIDE TRAILER.

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  21. Wow! You DO handle stress well!

    At least you will be moving closer to family, right???

    (Did you get a haircut? I really adore your hair in those pictures!)

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  22. As one who just moved cross country My vote is that you can do it! you may feel like you have been run over by a truck and then thrown out with the bathwater- but you CAN do it.
    When does Peter start work? Do you at least have a while to put him to work before "DR Time" kicks in? Good Luck!! My best moving thoughts are with you!

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  23. Oh oh...good luck with the move. Our positive thoughts are with you. It looks lovely, but I laughed all the way through the post VERY thankful it is not me...

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  24. Your new almost house looks nice..

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  25. I can't imagine giving up that much control. :) A few years ago when we were building a house, I got to pick almost everything, giving a few decisions to my at that time husband. I designed it too. I loved that house. I guess now I wish I wouldn't have put so much of me and my love into it since now he's living there alone while I'm in a different house with the kids. Having a house built is sooooo stressful, but I'm sure you'll LOVE it when you get to move in and for years to come! Sure hope it's done on time. :)

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  26. Just have to say I aapprove of your chocolate since it appears to be Lindt balls. Yesssss. Best flavor: chocolate mint.

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  27. Wow. I feel quite neglected in your "living closer to family than you have in 12 years" comment considering I lived WITH you for several months on 2 seperate occasions. I'm glad I'm the memorable sister. :-) The house looks great. I can't wait to see finished products!

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  28. This just confirms it, you are a crazy person. With an addiction to chocolate. Which really isn't a bad thing to be addicted to.

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  29. Did you cut your hair again. It looks cute. Chocolate yum Wish we were eating it.

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  30. Oh, my gosh. You are wonder woman. I could never ever do it. Good luck! The house looks awesome, btw.

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  31. So, have you mentioned the town/state you are coming to?

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  32. Whoa!! Good luck with all of that! I can seriously say, I'd be pulling hair out along with the 3 lbs of chocolate. More power to ya!

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  33. "My life, it is like a calming stroll on the beach."

    This line struck me as sadly ironic, because the literal walk on the beach is what you are leaving behind. But the new house looks great!

    You guys sure like to create memorable Christmastime stories, don't you? At least you don't have to buy your kids any gifts because they are getting A NEW HOUSE! (I'm serious, I don't think you should worry about anything but the stockings.)

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  34. I love it! I stressed when my husband picked out the linoleum for our kitchen. I was sure it wouldn't work. It turned out to be the best!

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  35. Its meaningful and by some means sharing this to readers like me, can make me want to surf the web to be able to get extra fantastic ideas.

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  36. And now I love you and I'm totally obsessed with you... in a totally healthy, blogger to blogger type of way.
    robinchicks(at)gmail(dot)com

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  37. I seriously don't know how you are doing it. I think you are part super woman. Good luck on the rest of your prep.

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  38. It's been a while Charlotte! How exciting that you're moving. Your home looks beautiful!

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  39. It must be a Bodily girl thing. That's exactly how I handle stress. Eye twitching, chocolate and books. I think I could be really happy stressed if it wasn't for the eye twitching!

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