Spiders, and Chaos, and Moving, OH MY!

It's coming together ya'll. Life, that is. I think we're finally getting into a routine and things aren't nearly as hectic as they were a few weeks ago. Now don't get me wrong, I've embraced the fact that some level of chaos is always going to be a part of our lives and I'm sure that anyone else with three school-aged kids, a full-time job, and thousands of miles separating them from their husband can safely say the same thing. But we're making it work and enjoying the chaos one day at a time.

Speaking of craziness, guess who's moving? This girl and her three offspring.

Don't fret, those faces aren't because we're moving, although I'm sure we'll look like that halfway through moving day when we just want it to be over with. Instead, those are the faces of four terrified individuals that had to fight a spider to the death. Normally we'd all squeal then call for Daddy to come kill the spider, but Daddy is on the east coast flying multi-million dollar jets so he's kind of busy and dealing with things slightly more important than spider killing.

So who kills the spiders now? Ethan, of course. Hellooooo?! Don't judge me for using my child as our bug killer. I mean, if you think about it he's practically a grown man - let's not focus on the small fact that he has seven and a half more years before he's legally an adult in the state of Florida. Besides, I made that kid from scratch (In case you missed Health Ed class I started with only an egg ya'll, and nine months later out came a human) that's kind of a big deal and causes me to feel no remorse when asking him to take one for the team by killing bugs. Long story short - the little ones came barging in my bathroom screaming that there was a bug the other day - it seems that they only need me when I'm peeing, in the shower, or just sitting down on the couch after standing for four hours straight - I digress,  so I ran out to the dining area to see what all the fuss was about. The two little ones were full on yelling at this point, Ari was standing on the bench to our dining table and Owen was actually on the counter.

I just looked at them and said something like, "Simmer down, it cannot be that serious." Then Ari pointed to the floor and screamed, "Mommayyyyyyyyyyy! Look!" I looked down and...screamed at the top of my lungs, ran in circles before taking note from my two youngest children and jumped onto the dining room table. Ethan, all the while, was laughing. He grabs a shoe as we scream, "Get it!" over and over again.

Finally, the spider is got. Note the celebratory dance from Ariana and the grin from E. The kids were still freaking out slightly so I did what any good mom would do, I consoled them grabbed the camera to document their faces and I added effect by screaming as well. Hence the above photo...and the below photos...

But back to the purpose of this post, our upcoming move. I rented this tiny, over-priced apartment because it was supposed to be temporary. I thought I was going to PCS (which stands for: permanent change of station for all my lovely civilians out there) with Seth last month so that would've meant only 10 months living in said tiny apartment. But, as I explained a while ago that didn't happen. And my lease is up at the end of August, and the rent is raising, and my kids are cramped, and I'll be in this area for another year so Mama needs to find a newer, bigger, cheaper abode. And so began: Mission Impossible. There was no way I was going to find a bigger place here in Destin for any cheaper than what I'm paying now, it's a tourist town, with so much to do, the beach is literally across the street and there is no way I would find a place for less thaaaan saaaay $2000/mo to even simply rent a place the size I was hoping for. Bananas, right?! So I had to look in other nearby towns. Enter, Crestview. Or Crest-tucky as the locals call it. They give it its nickname because it's supposedly country as hell there (get it? Kentucky...Crest-tucky), but apparently none of these people that refer to Crestview as Crest-tucky have ever been to where I'm from, because lemme just tell ya'll, where I'm from, I got phone calls years after graduating high school and moving away informing me that they were building a Super Walmart there. Phone calls from people I hadn't talked to in years! To inform me that, "We're getting a Super Walmart!!!"  How's that for country? So I wasn't turned off of Crestucky for it's tucky-ness. In fact, I was turned on (too much info?) by the fact that you can get a nice sized home for super cheap. And so we did.

Ah, a huge burden off my back. I was so relieved to find a place I like, and that was a decent size for us, and for a low price. Especially since when I gave my current apartment my notice to vacate I didn't even having another place lined up for us to move in to. So now that I do, I am muy relieved.

The new digs has five bedrooms, one of which is downstairs. The master is upstairs so that left the three kids in the running for a bedroom downstairs. Owen was immediately out of the question, despite his desperate pleadings to bunk on the bottom floor, but the kid is six, and I'm his mom, and I have a need to have him close by me at that young of an age. Then Ariana and Ethan started vieing for the room. I explained to them that there were enough bedrooms upstairs for everyone to get one and that we could simply use the downstairs room as a playroom or guest bedroom. "But I need my own bathroom! And my own space! I'm a giiiiiiiirl," whined Ariana. Ethan's argument? "I'm the oldest. Boom.

I will admit that I agreed with Ethan initially, but I did give it some serious thought and I didn't want to make a final decision until closer to moving day so the other day I announced that E was, indeed, getting the downstairs bedroom. Of course that resulted, somehow, in me agreeing to Ariana getting two additional fish. As you know we currently have Salt and Pepper, our ninja-like goldfish that we unexpectedly won at a school carnival in 2010!!!!!!! Yeah, goldfish aren't supposed to live for two years but Salt and Pepper have proved that they are part ninja so pick your mouths up off the floor.

So there you have it, the reasoning for not so many house photos lately (it's half packed in boxes) and the reason why you only got a simple photo of Owen's new nightstand on Friday.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with immortal goldfish, or a brave soul of a spider killing son, or country so deep in my veins that even after being away from home for 12 years I still say 'ya'll' in every other sentence.

On another note, smile ya'll it's a happy, happy Monday!

Xoxo,

Lorri