Snackers and Snookums

Has 2011 really only been 1 year? Having gone through so many changes in the last 12 months, I feel like I have aged a bit more than 1 year. I remember being more than happy saying goodbye to 2010 last New Year’s Eve, but I also looked forward to 2011 with much hope. 2011 hasn’t been a bad year, but it has certainly had it its ups and downs.

A year ago we knew that Rich had reached the next level in the hiring process for a job with the Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City, Nevada. This was HUGE!! If you’ve never applied for a government position, you may not know that filling out applications online is kind of like taking the SATs and sending them into a massive void where no human eyes ever see the test unless you use the exact right wording that a computer filters out. You could say that being unemployed is a full time job that is extremely unfulfilling. I felt hopeful for the first time in months that something was going to come out of this, however I didn’t want to get my hopes up. In January, Rich had several phone interviews that went very well, and I continued to get more hopeful. He eventually was flown out for a formal interview, and that’s when I started reciting Hail Marys obsessively. Luckily we didn’t have to wait very long before Rich got offered a job. I was so excited! Life was going to return to normal. Yeah, we were going to have to make a big move, say goodbye to dear family and friends, but I would address that emotion much later.

At first, the whole family was going to move out together, and we were going to have my sister-in-law Michelle stage our house with her furniture in order for us to sell it. After looking at that scenario financially, it didn’t make sense—it would be too expensive. It was more cost effective for Rich to rent a one bedroom apartment, while the kids and I remained in the Springs to sell the house. Michelle, my sister in-law, Ann, and my Rich’s mom helped get the house together, and it looked beautiful!

Meanwhile, Rich and the dogs settled into an apartment in Henderson, and lived a bachelor’s life. I know what you are thinking—Wow! That must have been quite the life he led, being a bachelor in Las Vegas. He’s living the dream!!! Yeah, that’s not what it was like it all. He was so lonely. He felt like he was missing out on the kids’ childhood—Jack got his first loose tooth while Rich was away. Even though it was less expensive for Rich to be living in Nevada on his own, it was still a financial burden to support 2 households. Therefore, he spent most of his free time in his shabby apartment with the beagles for company.

I was hanging in there ok, until my first visit to see him. Until that point, the longest we had gone from seeing each other was 2 weeks, and that had been 10 years ago. A month after he left, I was able to fly out (the kids stayed with Rich’s Dad and Cheryl) and spend a weekend with him. I don’t think I knew how much I missed him until I saw him leaning on a wall near baggage claim. My face hurt from smiling so much, and I hated for him to be out of my sight. I felt like we had stepped back in time to our college days where we had no responsibilities (aka kids) or money. I was so happy…until we entered some kind of crazy time warp where my time with him went 7.5 times faster than it normally does, and I found myself boarding a plane to go back to Colorado. Ok, so this situation we were in really kind of sucked!

From this point on, you could say that I was a little on edge. The house was on the market and looked fabulous, why hadn’t it sold? The feedback from other realtors was that it was the best house in the area on the market, but for whatever reason the buyers were going in a different direction. I became very cranky! Being a single mama is hard work!!

Right after Memorial Day, we did receive an offer on our house, and it was a fair offer. We of course accepted the deal. Now the process of moving had started, as did my panic attacks. It was now time to deal with my suppressed emotion of saying goodbye. Fun times. I came out to Henderson to go house hunting, and afterwards felt a little like I was going through post-traumatic stress (I’m being a bit melodramatic here). I thought the housing market in Colorado had been hit hard, but that was nothing to what we witnessed here in the Vegas area. Luckily we found a beautiful house that we could imagine ourselves actually sitting on the carpet and playing with the kids—a truly amazing feat (we saw 26 houses in 2 days, and there were only 3 that I could consider this, and the other 2 would need lots of work). Back to Colorado, we had to pack up the house, well ok, that wasn’t hard: we had movers. We did try to get in as many visits with our family, but when time was dragging in the spring, it had entered the warp again and sped up.

I finally came to terms with moving when my bestie, AnaLisa and I concocted a plan for her to drive out with me and the kids to our new house, and she would fly back. My whole perspective had changed and I was going on a ROAD TRIP!! Turns out, I really love a good road trip. We left the first Thursday of August, and stopped in Utah for the first night. I have to give a shout out to my amazing kids at this point, because they were PERFECT!! This is not just a biased mother bragging about her kids. I am serious, there was no whining, fighting, crying, or any other naughtiness that you would expect on a long road trip like that. The next day, we finished out the trip at my new house, and the kids were very good again—not as perfect this time, but nothing a stop to Dairy Queen couldn’t fix. As soon as we crossed the state line into Nevada, we made a big deal of it-- Paige asked where her daddy was. Apparently she had expected Rich to be waiting for us there. The same thing happened when we joyfully announced that we had arrived in Vegas. What a confusing time for her! It is kind of impressive when you catch your first glimpse of the strip, and being so excited ourselves, AnaLisa and I kept exclaiming, “Vegas, Baby!” pretty much until we arrived at our house. Consequently, my children think the official name of Las Vegas is actually Vegas Baby.

Now that the road trip was over, I felt really overwhelmed. Michelle and my other sister-in-law Julie had been out to the new house with Rich earlier in the week and gotten some painting done, appliances were purchased ( I will post a picture of my beautiful fridge later), and some decorating had been done. However there were so many boxes everywhere that needed to be unpacked. I could feel my insides seizing up at the amount of work that needed to be done. Plus it was hot. The “cold” water out of the tap was hot. Who’s crazy idea was it to settle this place? Our first electric bill was over $400! It takes 2 air conditioners to cool our house down. I could feel myself shutting down a bit.

Luckily, Rich introduced me to some of his coworkers (who are awesome, by the way), we met our neighbors and LOVE them, and I eventually stopped feeling sorry for myself and got the rest of the boxes unpacked. And then I started cooking. I haven’t mentioned my love for my kitchen yet. It is the best part of this house. I want to believe that it was because of our faulty dryer that my jeans aren’t fitting me anymore, but it really is because of my kitchen. I have also been informed that I am a bit of a food pusher.

Ok, so 3 weeks later, Jack started Kindergarten! The Nevada schools don’t have the best reputation—remember we don’t pay state income taxes, and with the economy being hit so much harder out here than in other parts of the country, the revenue from sales tax is even less, which means even less than normal resources for the public schools. Granted, not all the schools are bad. Rich gets all the credit for finding the best rated schools in the area, and therefore when we went house hunting, we only looked for homes that fed into the school we wanted Jack and Paige to go. Anyway, he loves school—he’s in the “afternoon” kindergarten (it begins at 11:40 am) and he takes it very seriously. He has a best friend named Charlie, who moved here from New Jersey 6 weeks before we did. I have to say that Kindergarten is a lot different than when I was kid. It’s much tougher, and they are expected to know so much more. As a parent, I feel so much pressure, and I can only imagine his stress. Because of the limited resources, he’s only in school for 2 ½ hours a day, yet that isn’t enough time for him to learn everything he needs to, and consequently much of it needs to be learned at home.

“Baby” Paige has started preschool this year, as well. GAHHH! My babies have entered an even crazier time warp where time is traveling at dangerous speeds. Slow it down! Her preschool is conveniently located 2 doors down from us at our neighbor’s house. She is learning to write her name, learn basic concepts, and most importantly how to interact with her peers (aka stop being the little cave-woman that she is and SHARE). She is such a different child than Jack was. Jack was somewhat anti-social in school, and very very serious. Paige on the other hand is much more assertive. She has no problem pushing another student out of her way. That isn’t to say that she’s a bully, she’s just assertive.

So I guess I should conclude my self-indulgent thoughts of 2011. I have some really good memories of this year, but I am glad to see it go. Hopefully 2012 won’t be quite so “exciting” for us—I don’t think I can handle another couple of years like we’ve had in the past for some time.

Oh, and one last thought, before I end: I don’t hold too much stock in New Year’s Resolutions, so that’s not what I am proclaiming. After looking back on the last 18 months, however, I regret that I haven’t recorded more of our memories via the blog or even taking pictures. Most of my photos have come from my phone, therefore the quality is not the best. Therefore I am committing to make more of an effort to share our memories, if not for myself, but for our family and friends who are missing the convenience of living close by, and want to be more connected with us. I will do my best to keep up with this blog so my ramblings won’t be quite so long winded!