Where We Live

Seems that people are confused about where we live, so I wanted to do a post (or two) about where we have moved.

Let's start with where we have not moved:
Canada - you don't need a passport to get here, you know, if you want to visit
Michigan - it's just not that snowy here - well, not normally
Mexico - sorry, I don't like Dos Equis, so we opted for slightly more north

Where we did move to is Missouri. For those not currently studying maps for grades, let he show you:

(click on it for bigger map)

Basically, we are dead center of the country. Not in the snowy north. Not in the super-hot and deserty south. Right in the middle, map wise.

Folks have asked, more times than I can count, how much colder it is here than back in Maryland. If you look and draw a straight line, it would be practically horizontal! Same weather but two days earlier, that's always a good rule.

There are, of course, other factors like the Ocean for Maryland that brought about the Snowpocalypse effect last year, but more or less if we have rain today, you can expect it in a couple of days at your house. We packed for Thanksgiving that way, and totally nailed it weather wise.

We tell people that we have moved to Saint Louis (which is on the eastern side of Missouri, again just about in the middle). Saying that, though, is like saying that we moved from DC last year. Really, we moved from a town named Kirkwood, about ten miles outside of the city. On a clock we used to be at 2:00 and now we are at like 7:30.

Around here Kirkwood is sort of like Vienna, reputation and pricing wise. Probably not far off, from what I can tell. We were given a tip about an apartment complex that has spacious rooms and affordable costs. So glad we did! We spend a lot of time in and around Kirkwood, so the location could not have been better. Once the weather warms up a little bit more we will be able to walk places like the farmer's market, ice rink, the coffee shop, the train station, the Magic House and, on a really adventurous day, even to church!

So, that is part geography, part whys and hows of where we live. Hope it clears up some ideas - and maybe if you are doubting the weather folks now you know who to call!

Interview(s)

This week I had three interviews with the same company for the same position. I am hopeful to share with you soon that they have extended an offer of employment, but in case they do not and I want to apply for another position later there, I will withhold the company name.

The first of the interviews was REALLY fun! Strange, but fun. They went into strange office details, and even showed me a picture of a car that went through the glass about ten feet from where I would be sitting. I don't believe that it was intended to scare me, but it was clear that it is a significant part of the history of this particular building within the organization. Pretty crazy to see, though, considering the exterior of the building and the way the streets cross. Insanity.

The position that I have been trying for is as a receptionist. Several folks have pointed out that it seems a bit beneath my skills and history. That is, quite honestly, true. My priority right now is to secure a job and will work through advancing as I go along. Anny and I have talked about that, and it's a high priority for me that I be able to be around the house a bit more as we are getting settled into the new city/time zone/side of the Mississippi River. I don't want a high-stress, late nights job ever, but really do not want it at this time in our lives. The company has tracks for Admins (among others) to advance, and that knowledge is enough for me right now. Another huge bonus if I get this is that there is 100% tuition reimbursement. By golly, folks, I might be going back to school!

It would be a huge change for me to work at this place (sorry, the secrecy does indeed seem strange, especially for me!) in particular because of it's size. There are 400+ people working just in that particular facility. My last office had nine, and the one before that had three. Even combining both offices it would be about 400 short of the folks I would be working with! My extroverted side might just get completely giddy about this prospect! I would probably not see most of the folks most days, but wow, that is just a huge number.

I am hopeful, prayerful, that this job comes through. It's in a faith-based organization, which would make me happy. I am one that believes we work now for reward in heaven, or something like that. They did ask if I was comfortable with meetings that opened with prayer. I chuckled, since I have been leading prayer at meetings for 10+ years at this point!

Safe and Sound

Day two of driving was excellent, if not downright boring.  At one point I pulled up Bill Cosby and Jim Gaffigan because I knew that laughs would keep me more alert than just my normal "Monroe Weekend" play list on the iPod.  I will admit it was pretty fun when my Father in Law was jamming with me to Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers!  He complimented me on my generous mix of all sorts of music on the play list, which was nice.

Sever folks have asked how Abby did in the car - she did REALLY great.  She's a trooper.  She's a great car traveler.  Nana brought several treats - new books or stickers - and we had pulled some of her old-but-good toys into the mix so that she got to be excited by the "new" find all over again!  During the two days of traveling she only had one breakdown, and one potty "emergency" on the road - but it was even more luckily something that she was able to warn us about, so we managed to get pulled over off of the highway and got her on to her pink potty with success!  She's such a big girl - the best!

We did manage to have breakfast, lunch AND dinner at Cracker Barrel, which means Anny got what she wanted.  I highly suggest you look at their summer breakfast meals, it's a much lighter and filling and YUMMY! 
I was proud of my car - this is the first time that I know it has been out of the greater DC/Ocean City circuit, and it did really well.  I can not speak too highly of the folks at Johnny's Auto Service - they really like to bust my chops, but they keep the cars in tip top shape. I don't think I have put that much gas into my car in four months of combined driving!

All of our stuff from the car is just stuffed in our room, we will sort tomorrow at some point.  Tomorrow our plans also include setting up a PO Box, getting new cell numbers and just playing with the girls together.  I can't wait.  I have a job interview on Thursday afternoon, so please keep me in your prayers.

It Is Upon Us

It's 5:09 am where I am.  In two days it will be 4:09 am where I will be.  Where we will live.  We are excited about being in Saint Louis and being closer to our nieces and Anny's brother and his wife.  Between now and then, though, there is some logistical chaos of finishing packing the POD with odds and ends like "our beds" and such silly stuff.  They will go in after we have breakfast. 

Anny and I were noticing last night that we have culled and culled, and yet there are things we wanted to take that we can not.  Since our plan is to find a place that actually fits our family, rather than whatever is biggest, we don't need a lot of things.  Somehow we still have just a little too much, and some things are going to be left to my brother and neighbors.  (Congrats Erin on the new Ikea chairs that you don't know about yet...!)

We were once again overwhelmed with love this weekend - Saturday our neighbors had a picnic that was really relaxing and just nice and fun.  Sunday morning we went to church and went through the emotions that go along with leaving folks that have been such a big part of our spiritual health and life for the last five years.  There were tears shed, but many more prayers for our pastor as she is dealing with some health issues that prevented her from being with us on our last Sunday.  We missed seeing her greatly.

Last night we had dinner with the two boys that might as well be our nephews, and their parents, who I have been best friends with since freshman year of high school.  We will miss our family, and our church, but it was really hard to give out those hugs last night to the boys and Bryan and Charlene.  They are amazing parents and even better friends to us. 

I would be a terrible son-in-law, and a worse human being if I didn't express my appreciation for both their emotional support, and (maybe moreso right now) the copious amount of packing, cleaning and help they have done around the house for the last week.  I can never repay them, and know that I would be a fool to even try to.  I figure that such a public "THANK YOU!!" to Jim and Carol will be more than they ask.  (And since I know Carol is reading this, even better!)

This morning I am taking odds and ends to different places and picking up Starbucks for the coffee drinkers in the house, then we'll move some furniture next door, finish packing the POD and clean house.  After that we will load up two cars and start driving west.  Above all we are excited, but this morning - these two days - will be a long haul.

Even if you don't want us to be heading West, please wish us God Speed.  We will be back in the area later this fall.  I grew up here.  Even when we say goodbye, it's not for good.  This is the right time for the right move, and it's something we feel we need to do for us.  I know that some folks do not understand that, and I respect it. 

(Thanks will flow to Paul and Sarahlynn in the coming days, weeks and probably months! Promise!!)

Overwhelmed

Not blogging recently.  Everything is okay, just hard to make time to "journal" all that is going on.

I did want to take a moment to say how overwhelmed Anny and I are by the outpouring of love and support that we are getting from our friends and co-workers.

Anny's teacher-friends threw her a surprise party, complete with Rob-who-should-have-been-at-work!  When I walked in I was not greeted warmly - Anny had a large, sharp knife in her hand and she *might* have pointed it in my direction in retaliation for not spilling the beans on her.  A few tears.  Lots of hugs.  Lots of smiles.

My office had a lunch yesterday at Tower Oaks Lodge.  I think I'm STILL full from lunch yesterday, and it's almost time to eat breakfast.  I was given several gifts, including a book called "What Would Rob Do?" and a Desk Vacuum Zamboni.  I am looking forward to the book, and looking forward to the fun of the new office toy! 

On Sunday we will be overwhelmed again at church, I just know it.  There is a lot of emotion there right now as our pastor is ill, and that will make it just a little bit harder.  We have only been at LPC for five years, but it genuinely feels like a lifetime.  The people at our church are like family, and that is even more true for Abby than for us.

And to be completely honest, I'm overwhelmed at the idea of leaving my family and the house that I grew up in.  Special shout out of "thanks" to Miranda Lambert for releasing this song this spring:



I grew up in this house.  I lived in this house during crazy times and during incredibly sad times.  I lived in this house when I met Anny, and have lived here for other incredibly awesome times. 

I have always been close with my family - and that was even more emphasized when my brother and I moved in with my grandparents, father and aunt in 1991.  We now see my three aunts and my brother, sister-in-law and new niece weekly at Family Dinner.  It's been really fun, and I will miss having those connections the most. 

And that all of that is without acknowledging all of the valuable friendships that will change as we move from one side of the Mississippi River to the other.  Even though we know we will be back here two, three or more times a year, but that does mean we can't pop over with burgers and hot dogs on a random Sunday evening.  Or can't email at noon one day to set up an impromptu Ikea dinner.  (Side note - I am going to miss Ikea!)

Above all I am excited, but it would be unfair to not acknowledge that I am overwhelmed in both good and bad ways.  I am afraid that I'm only talking about the positives and excitement that I have, and that is tending toward overlooking the things that I will miss. 

Complete Randomness

I know that it's been too long since writing on my blog when my friend Bryan has noticed!  He gave me grief about it Tuesday night, and thus I will write something.  I think I filled him in on everything, but not the rest of you!

Abby:
She'll be three on Saturday.  THREE!  I'm already to the "what was there before Abby" point in her life, and I love it!  We have festivities planned to fill every minute of the weekend, or so it seems.  I am still amazed when she learns something new - or remembers something from months ago that we thought was since passed.

Abby is a little clueless on the whole move-thing.  We've talked with her a few times, but how much is a three year old really going to retain on that front?  She knows we are going to live with her cousins for a while, but has not made the leap that we won't be living here.  I'm a little worried about her, but not a whole lot.  She's smart, she will figure it out.

Post tomorrow about her take on the BP Oil Destruction.  (Sorry, it's not a spill, no matter how they say it.)

Anny:
Had her braces off on Monday!  She has not eaten an apple or chewed gum like she wanted to, but she got a congratulatory bottle of sparkling cider and three balloons from the office to celebrate!  She looks completely different, and I will share a story about Abby's take on it...

Monday afternoon I pointed out that mommy had her braces off, and it took a minute for Abby to really look and investigate.  She is very much a thinker.  She looked back to my teeth, to be sure I wasn't pulling a trick on her I guess.  She looked back at Anny and declared "Now Mommy's teeth match mine!"  You're right, sweetie!  She is very into matching things - colors, animals and apparently teeth!

Rob:
Doing alright, thanksforasking.  I had to work a long weekend retreat, but it was good to see some folks and have meals together.  I went out early on Friday afternoon and got in a good hike with my camera, and did the same on Saturday morning.  Here is one of my favorite shots:

On my way home Saturday, Anny called to see if we were going to try to make it out to Bowiefest (no) and what our dinner plan was.  Abby begged for the phone and said "Daddy, you need to come home to me, okay?"  Melted my damned heart.  I don't know if my meds are messing with me, but it hit me that it was the first morning that I had been away from Abby in at least a year, if not longer, and that is the part that really stunk about the retreat.  Good for the community, bad for my paternal-instincts.  I got home and she gave me the biggest hug ever - and she's a good hugger to start with!  Best ever.

I had a nephrologist appointment on Tuesday.  My protein is up, as well as my createnine.  Neither has shot up to levels of concern, but certainly levels of interest.  That being said - we are raising my medication levels and are going to test again in two weeks.  He has suggested that based on this info, I would be better off finding a new nephrologist to visit in late July, rather than waiting for the fall.  Bummer, but okay.

And that is a quick roundup.  I will do a post about the oil spill, and hope to put the finishing touches on a Third Birthday Video for Abby.  Kind of want to do a "dear Abby" letter to her for her big day, too.  Maybe.  Maybe. 

Artsy Fartsy

As parents of an almost-three year old we are blessed to have a child that loves to both get dirty and clean up messes.  We were such proud parents on Wednesday when Abby cleaned up her doctor kit before asking to play with her tea set, all without prompting. 

Her at home painting routine involves picking out two colors and two brushes and getting on her smock in preparation.  Painting involves the brushes for a few minutes, and almost always devolves into painting each hand and doing finger or hand painting before calling it quits.  She always makes sure to grab her paint cups and brushes and brings them to the sink to spend almost as much time cleaning as she did painting.  She will even "clean" other dishes if they are in the sink at the time.  This has led to more than one instance of paint brushes being found later by turning on the garbage disposal, though.  Working on a plan for that.

All of that is completely unrelated to what I wanted to share with this post.  We get lots of artwork sent home from school and are never sure what to do with it.  We decided early on this year that we will keep some of it, maybe three pieces a month, but most go right into the recycle bin after we ask Abby about it.  I decided this morning to take some with me to work to hang up, and I thought I should go ahead and scan them to share since I had brought them. 

Without further useless build-up -

She clearly likes bold colors.  In one she was going for lines, and on the other it was more free form. 

My question for you other parents-of-little-ones is: What do you do with your child's art?  Do you keep all of it?  None of it?  Where do you keep it? 

I kind of want to come up with a regular way to display it in our next home.  I don't mean frames, but I want to get out of trashing each one right away.  Do you have a good idea for keeping them short term and deciding what to keep? 

Moving Update

Anny and I are decent actors.  I have heard her tell someone the same things that I have been saying to other people, but we don't say it to each other.

"Yeah, I am getting nervous about not having a contract on the house and no job lined up yet..."

On the House Front
We have had one open house and at least a half a dozen showings at this point.  Our house is sloped inside so it is a harder sell, but I am getting frustrated with the process, and it has nothing to do with our Realtor, believe it or not.  I do not play games with real life very well.  Want to play a board game or a sport, I'm in.  Want me to keep my house in tip-top shape because some people can not envision the house without a toy Princess Castle on the floor?  Tell them to figure it out, I have better things to do with my life than move that stupid castle twice a day!

The other thing driving me crazy is the "game" of real-estate-showing windows.  We get a call saying that somoene wants to show the house in a one hour window - let's say 6-7 pm.  We get out of the house to grab some dinner, spending money we do not really have to spend on food and disrupting Abby's schedule beyond belief and come home at 7:30 to give the Realtor a half hour cushion.  Why, oh why, did they show up at 8:00?  I know that you're out seeing several houses in one trip, but you can't tell all of them that you will be there in a one hour frame, it's not fair to those of us who are trying to live a life.  One Realtor actually snapped back at me "you know how it is when you're looking at five houses."  I may have suggested that she be more considerate in the future.  I bet we don't hear from her again.  Oh well.

On the Job Front
Anny has entered her information into a big database for Missouri schools and has already had one interview!  It turns out that she did not get that job, but she has since gotten a little more attention from one of the school districts.  They asked her to do an online questionnaire, which she did on Wednesday.  Then she got a call yesterday that they want her to come in for an interview.  It seems that they can not do it over the phone, so we looked at our calendar and have been in contact with Paul and Sarahlynn about arranging a quick trip for Anny.  Once she sets up with that particular district she is going to call one or two others to see if she can set up interviews on the same day and do it in one trip.  So - Anny has progress made, but no job yet.

I on the other hand have nothing.  Nada.  I have applied for one job which turned out to be part time and thus I was disqualified.  I have been pretty calculated in not applying for jobs until we have Anny figured out.  It would be really nice if we can both work in the same area so that we can look for a house that would be close, too.  The "good" part of not having a bachelors (or higher) degree is that I am not going to be tied into a particular field, and that is cool with me.  I am completely open to anything! I have working in all sorts of places - my first job was driving a golf cart at a driving range, and since then I have worked retail, worked in a warehouse, worked in an office with three people and had my own office.  I won't work construction (I'll admit it, I'm weak) but outside of that I'm open to absolutely anything.  With that being said, I have made no progress and have no job yet. 

If Anny has nothing lined up by June 1 I will be freaked out pick up a job hunt and deal with a commute if I have to, but since we have some flexibility we are alright with how things are right now. 

The Current Plan
People ask us when we are actually planning to move and we kind of duck and weave.  We are not sure, but we do have a window available to us.  As a teacher, Anny will complete her contract here and will be ready to roll at her new school in August.  That is the bottom line.  That leaves us about a seven or eight week window to get to Saint Louis.  The best bet that I can give folks is that it will probably be between June 25 and the Fourth of July.  If someone swept in today and offered us a contract on the house and says they want to close on May 31, we will figure out temporary housing to finish out Anny's school year and take off shortly after that.  If we do not have the house sold by the end of June - well, that's where things get tricky.  We are hopeful.  We are prayerful.  We ask that you are hopeful and prayerful for us as well. 

The Listing
It seems silly to put up a blog post about our move and not include a link to the official listing for our home.  If you know someone who is looking for a house inside the DC Beltway, please send them here:

OUR LISTING

It lists four bedrooms, but there is a fifth that we can't include because it does not have a window.  New A/C, huge kitchen (big enough to be jealous of!) and a house-sized addition, too!