I think I’ve been maintaining this blog for a decade. Ish.  That means I had five kids under five and still sat down at a computer routinely.

When did I ever have time to write posts when I had so many babies?

What was happening?

Oh, right, yes – for all their exhaustion, babies do actually sleep.  And take naps  And lie down where you put them – for a short while anyway.  And they go to bed unreasonably early.  Shoot – sometimes even at 7 pm.  It’s dreamy.  In retrospect, of course.

Now there’s no one sleeping at my house.  Not ever.  Do you know when teenagers want to talk?  Eleven.  Eleven o’clock at night. They want to share their heart and tell you the good stuff at like midnight or something.

What’s a momma to do?

When will I ever write again?

These are the questions I am asking.

Right. I know.  When they go to college.

(Other important factors to note might be that when I started this blog I had only one primary job – be a mother.  Looking back – what a luxury that was.  I wasn’t teaching school or writing professionally or running a business.  I wasn’t editing novels and I sure wasn’t a single mom.  So.  That might contribute a tad too.  Maybe.)

Things are getting out of control around here.  It’s cluttered and I threw away an entire textbook yesterday because I just don’t know what to do with things any longer.

Where did the entire last week go?

It was spent packing boxes and creating meals out of the recesses of our pantry because I don’t want to go to the grocery store.  No more things allowed IN this house.  All things must be going OUT of this house.

There were birthday shenanigans like a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the beautiful Craggy Gardens, a spot I have long been hoping to visit.  (And you can guess whose birthday wish THAT drive was.)  The trail said the hike was only a .8 mile walk to the top but since it was uphill and 45 is legit old, I’m calling it longer.  At the top, we spent hours just swinging in our hammocks and reading books and playing games or writing or drawing or climbing higher in the tree, depending on our personal interests.  At one point the mist came right up to us in this pseudo magical and creepy way that enthralled every one of us.  When I told the kids it was time to pack up their hammocks, London literally said, “What? Already? I don’t want to go yet.”  And it was a birthday miracle.

I sold the bunk beds from the boys’ room and every single one of us will have some sort of new sleeping situation in the new house so it’s bye bye to these beds and I guess I didn’t think through my timing all that clearly because my king sized bed also moved on along to its new home today so if you’re keeping track that’s only three beds remaining in our home but six bodies needing a space to sleep and we don’t move for another two weeks really and so don’t come over for a sleepover anytime soon without bringing your own bed.

Also.  Seems my Amazon subscribe and save feature is on the fritz or something because we keep being out of toilet paper and it’s annoying but also sort of funny that I have come to rely on an Amazon feature so heavily.  Also I decided I would just run into Spinx to buy toilet paper because I can’t stand stores some days and do you have any idea what Spinx thinks is a reasonable price to pay for four rolls of weirdly thin toilet paper???  Six dollars.  I’m not kidding.  Spinx thinks $6 is a fair price for toilet paper.  For. The. Love.

The move officially should be mid- August unless I just start sleeping in the yard of the new place this week because my bed is already gone so why not, right?  It’ll be fun to share photos and details.  For now, try to satisfy your curiosity with these two images of this fantastic light fixture and this beautiful mantle.

I don’t mind the actual packing taking place.  I do rather dislike living amongst boxes.

But I know for certain (ish) that in less than a month my head will be resting in a different home.  A home I OWN!  A home whose climate control will be beyond what we can imagine given the seven plus years we have lived in this old charmer.  It’s going to be good and it’s coming soon enough so as I crash on the one sofa remaining that I have not sold, I’ll think happy rearranging thoughts and embrace both what is and what is to come.

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