Timeline of Insanity

I will start by saying that I am sorry to bore you but December was a crazy month. Actually, it started in November and hasn't stopped yet. This is the reason I have been so stressed out lately and have been biting people's heads off right and left. I have very few pictures from Christmas, which is sad since it was Chloe's first. I am hoping to get copies of photos from family members.







A Timeline of My Insanity

**Keep in mind that in addition to the things listed below, our normal routine consists of Anna Catherine going to preschool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 8 a.m.- noon. She also has dance class on Mondays 5:00-5:45 p.m.. We are at church every Wednesday night 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. These things had to continue throughout the "timeline of insanity". The kids and I also go to the gym Monday-Friday 8:30-10:00 a.m. Monday-Friday. However, we only went a few days during the month of December. We've been five days so far in January and hope our schedule will allow us to go five days a week soon. I'm not looking for sympathy; only hoping that venting will ease some of my tension/frustration.


Nov. 14th: Decided to move into my grandparents' house in Shady Grove (a community in Pontotoc). My grandparents' built the house 50 years ago and lived there until my parents moved in in 1993. They decided to downsize and offered the house to us.


Nov. 16th-25th: Vacation in Colorado (see previous blog). Due to this trip, we lost ten days of valuable packing and cleaning time.


Nov. 26th-29th: Week is spent packing, painting, and cleaning both houses before moving.


Nov. 30th-Dec. 02: Move as much as possible but still have 35% of belongings at other house. None of it is packed due to time crunch. We assume that we have until the end of the month to get all of our things out since we paid our rent for December. We will find out that is not the case.


Dec. 03-08: Along with the normal daily routine, I must make at least one trip to the other house to fetch our things. I put a movie on in the van for the kids while I go inside and pack. I pack a box, bring it to the van, check on the kids, and start all over until I have filled the van floor to ceiling with junk. That's what I've decided we have...JUNK!!! I try to unpack but usually the boxes are just thrown wherever we can find a place. I feel that I am living in Fred Sanford's junkyard! I also had a two hour dentist appointment on the 5th and then my face from the upper cheek down to my chin on both sides were numb for four hours. Fun, fun!


09th: Chloe starts throwing up.


10th: Chloe goes to the doctor and is told she has a stomach virus. Rick, Tracy, and Jackson begin to feel ill. Both toilets clog.


11th: Rick and Tracy are now dying from the stomach bug. Chloe and Jackson are still sick. AC essentially watches the younger ones for the day because Mommy and Daddy can't lift their heads off their pillows. This virus is brutal!! Toilets are still clogged and must now drive to Tracy's mom's house to use the restroom. Oh, the fun of a stomach virus with no indoor plumbing!


12th: Jackson and Chloe still sick and toilets still clogged. Rick and Tracy begin to recuperate.


13th: Jackson and Chloe still sick. Rick goes out of town for work. Plumber comes out and tells us that the pipes have rusted and broken off which means that anything going out the drains is actually being dumped under the house. He says not to use any water in the house until he can fix it...in 3 weeks!!! (like we can go without any plumbing in the house for that long).


14th: Rick still out of town and Jackson and Chloe are still sick. Insurance adjuster comes out to let us know that the plumbing will not be covered under homeowner's insurance but the damage caused by the broken pipes is covered. It seems that we now need new floors in three rooms of the house. Anna Catherine had a school Christmas program that evening. We went to dinner after the program and Chloe threw up three times at the restaurant on the table. The other customers loved us!


15th: Jackson and Chloe begin to feel better. Rick comes home. Variety of plumbers and construction crew managers come out to give estimates on repairs. Many of them were eager to rip us off. However, a new plumber comes out and fixes toilets; will be back on Monday to repair the kitchen pipes. Rick and Tracy go Christmas shopping for the first time and must quickly pick out new flooring!!!


16th: Pack as if we are going on vacation because we can't live in the house while the construction crew is here.


17th: Pack van with suitcases and all of our gear for the week because the floors are ripped out beginning at 9: 30 a.m. and the plumber finishes his work. Rick took off work to keep the kids and pack up things at the old house (yes, we still have things at the old house that haven't been moved). He must get AC to and from school as well as dance class. Tracy takes her dad to the hospital to have outpatient surgery at 5:45 a.m., which turns into an all day ordeal. We also had the pleasure of spending the night at the Pontotoc Inn (far from a nice hotel!!).


18th: Rick works and Tracy runs errands. We stay the night at a friend's parent's house in Oxford (his parents only live in Oxford six months out of the year and are currently in Washington). Have the pleasure of having dinner and hanging out with Julie, Molly, Katy, and Riley. (The Martinezes were on their way to Memphis and graciously agreed to visit for the evening.)


19th: Rick works. Tracy takes all three kids to the doctor for flu shots and then Christmas shopping. Construction guy calls to say they are finished and we can come home (thank GOD!!!!). They finished two days early. Our old landlord called this morning to say that he has new tenants moving in this weekend so we need to get our things out today or tomorrow (yes, still have things at old house).


20th: Begin putting things back where they belong and cleaning. The house looks as if a bomb went off in it due to the mess left by the construction crew. They moved things out of the rooms they were working in and had put them randomly throughout the house. It was like moving all over again! Like I needed more to rearrange and clean. We also move all of the remaining items from the old house.


21st: Continue to unpack and clean. All three kids go to a sitter so Mommy and Daddy can go to the church Sunday School party, which was quite fun.


22nd-25th: Trip to Ruston, Louisiana for Christmas. It was a wonderful holiday, visiting with family. The workers at the Hampton Inn are always excited to see us coming. Everyone remembers Jackson (haha). There was lots of food and merriment. The candlelight service at Temple Baptist Church was beautiful as always. It's also nice that our children didn't burn anyone's clothing, hair, the church, etc. Santa visited us in the hotel lobby. The kids were very excited. We arrived home at 9:30 p.m., only to unpack the van, open our presents to each other, and quickly rush the kids off to bed so Santa can come to our house (We have a deal with Santa. He knows we're out of town and can't leave all of the presents in Louisiana so he comes to our house a day late.)


26th: Wake up to find all the goodies Santa brought us. The kids got so many wonderful gifts over Christmas.


27th: Do a million loads of laundry and continue to unpack boxes.


28th: Mimi (Rick's mom) comes to visit until January 2. We all go to Southaven and meet up with Brady, Kevin, Heather, and Whitney for dinner at The Boiling Point before heading over to the Civic Center for the Ole Miss-Southern Miss basketball game. Rebs win and continue their unbeaten streak.


28th-29th: Toilets clog again. Plumber comes out to fix them late Saturday afternoon.


29th-Jan. 2nd: Hang out with Mimi, clean and unpack boxes, and watch lots of football.


Jan. 3rd-present: Still unpacking and trying to organize (only ten more boxes to go--woohoo!!). We still have to paint three rooms. Then we get to tackle the pile of stuff that covers the back porch. We still have to have Christmas with my family this weekend. That's right---I still have lights on my house and a tree in the living room. It was put off due to all of December's craziness (not only our schedule but other family members' schedules were booked for December). Anna Catherine and Jackson's birthdays are Jan. 22-23 as well as Chloe's surgeries on Jan. 28-29 and Feb. 5. Then Chloe's birthday is on Feb 20. Nicole's pageant is sometime in February as well. We hope things will calm down by March!!!