Oh Hi, Ohio!

Okay. So, we moved to Ohio.

I know, I know. I said I was going to blog more often. I said I was going to keep you guys in the loop.

But I mean ... I also said I wasn't going to eat cake any more and we all know how that turned out.

It's just that I kinda underestimated the strain I'd be under. I can say this now, since the situation has changed - but for a couple of months, it was just me and the boys. ALONE. Curtis left right after New Year's to start work in Ohio, leaving the dudes and myself to pack up the house and take care of bidness. Naturally, I didn't want to get on social media and be like HEY GUYS I'M ALONE!!! so I didn't say anything about it.

There was plenty to blog about, but it would have been a steady stream of self-pity and rambling "hats off to single moms" posts. So I kept quiet, and focused on packing up my entire house and keeping my four children alive.

It mostly looked like this:

Because holy hell, you guys, it's been eight long years since we've moved and I am significantly less motivated these days. Plus, every time I thought about leaving my house, I got all sorts of depressed.

I kept plugging away, though. Day after day. Packing up all the boxes.

I mean, you have to keep things well-categorized.

In the meantime, I saw my husband like once a month, I was trying to pick a new home without actually seeing it in person, and there were a couple of disappointing times when someone beat us to making an offer on a house we liked. It truly did suck. In the grand scheme of things I should just quit griping because there are INFINITELY worse scenarios than moving, but for a while there my life was just a constant stretch of "ugh."

Puggy was a huge help, though. Obviously.

Anyway, we finally found a house in Ohio - and on a fittingly gray, depressing day, we left the Iowa home I thought we'd be in forever.

*sniff*

The next couple of days were a blur of hauling and unpacking boxes, as evidenced by this lovely photo (with some kind of whack filter) that my three-year-old snapped:

We eventually got all the boxes and furniture unloaded, and Curtis was able to return the U-Haul truck - but not before accidentally swiping the side of our van with it. BECAUSE OF COURSE.

As if driving a minivan weren't uncool enough.

Other than that, though, it's been great so far. The people here are really. Really. REEEAALLLY nice. Within the first forty-eight hours, one neighbor had brought us a spaghetti casserole and a sheet cake; one came bearing a huge bag of bagels and cream cheese; someone else brought a huge pan of sloppy Joes (plus buns and plates and forks and napkins), and a pan of macaroni salad, and cookies and a set of plastic cups bearing the name of the kids' new school. Since then, we've gotten MORE cookies and an invitation to a neighborhood get-together.

The kids have been at their new schools for a week now, and much to my relief, it's going great. I was really worried about Colin, my fifth-grader, because he's in a different building than his brothers - the "intermediate" school, where, for the first time ever, he has to switch between classes and have his own locker and all that. I literally cried myself to sleep the night before he started, haunted by visions of him in the future, sobbing on a therapist's couch that the day his parents moved him to Ohio was the day his life started to go downhill. But I guess I underestimated his ability to adapt, because he seems to be doing just fine. WHEW.

And the best part? THEY RIDE THE BUS TO AND FROM SCHOOL.

THE BUS.

And it stops at our house.

No more school drop-off induced road rage or minor fiascos involving me in my pajamas. Just me, blissfully pushing sending my kids out the door with a cheerful, "See ya later, suckas!" "Have a great day!"

So all in all, Ohio is pretty decent so far. I miss my life in Iowa terribly, and all the people I had to leave behind, but I keep reminding myself that I was new there once, too.

I just hope Ohio is ready for the Templetons.