Things are improving exponentially.  We are in the house and tomorrow we will be able to move our things in.  We did our walk-through this morning with our great landlord and finally feel like the brutal part of the move is over.  Today is going to be spent cleaning the house before everything gets moved in, buying light bulbs and generally getting things ready to make this home.  I don’t know how long we will be here, but however long it is, I feel certain it is going to be happy and blessed.

We are in our new place… kinda sorta (a suitcase and two airbeds). Give me a bit and I will tell you the entire move story.  To say it was difficult would be speaking of it sweetly and kindly.

As of this morning, we still aren’t moved in - but were lucky enough to be able to crash the night in the house instead of at a motel again.

Oh, and just for the record, Amira has been nothing but awesome through this whole thing.

More soon…

The timing couldn’t be more perfect… right as we are preparing to move, I’ve sold three paintings. (Thank you, thank you N, M, and B!!) I’ve shipped them off (don’t have to move them, yay!) and gotten a little bit of money to help us with the $6K we are having to put out for this move. (Man, I had no idea it was going to be such a financial hit!)

(shameless self-promotion) The above is still available… or you can see the others currently for sale at my Etsy store: http://janecemoment.etsy.com. (/shameless self-promotion)

One of the reasons I’m excited to get done with this move is that I’m ready to take my painting into a real business for myself. I love painting and the idea of making a living for my family doing something I love — well, what can beat that? I mean, really. So keep an eye out for that in the coming months… I’ll be looking forward your feedback on my paintings and everything I set up around it. You guys have never led me astray. I’ll be sending out official notices to everyone in my address book… but for those folks that visit me here, our new mailing address is:

PO BOX 43
Port Gamble, WA 98364

Updates will probably be nil until we get into our new place, get the office and internet connection in place… so hopefully I’ll be back by Tuesday or Wednesday. Wish us luck!

and we, and all our things, will be ferried across and toward our new home. Paul hauled all the boxes I’ve packed out to the garage to begin staging it for when we need to put it in the moving van. Now what’s left in the house is the mish-mash, the…. what Paul & I call the cruft.

Both of us are overwhelmed that three people should have as much stuff as we do. I’m thinking another culling as we unpack is in order.

I’m tired - so this is short. In a nutshell, I got tons done.

“Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.”

- Irish saying

Today was spent, among other things, trying to keep my head above the boxes, my weekly coding of html pages, taking care of and loving a three year old girlie who feeling uncertain and a little scared about what the heck is happening around her and to her home, needing sleep, stepping outside and see a brilliant white moon and the stars so clear you could see their colors.

I’m ready to be done with moving out and ready to start moving in.

I miss painting.

I’m happy for Jen who is moving into her new place.

I’m ready for this week. As Linguini says in Ratatouille… LET’S DO THIS THING!

011808 * promise me, originally uploaded by janece.

“Promise me you’ll always remember:
You’re braver than you believe,
and stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.”

-Christopher Robin to Pooh

The boxes are rising like the tide.  The good news is that means I’m getting the packing done.  The bad news is the house is in chaos.  I told Paul today the house looks like it threw up onto itself.  Oof.

Now that we know where we are going, I’m sort of ready to just get there.  Finishing up the time left here and the details of making the transition feel, at the moment, too long and tedious.  I’m sure the closer the day comes, I’m going to want to swallow my words.

I’ve been talking to Amira about the upcoming move, but she still hasn’t gotten it.  Natalie gave me some wonderful (and I do mean wonderful) advice on how to minimize the anxiety and trauma of the move for Amira.  (Thank you, Natalie!!)

Amira is so into reading books right now, I’ve been wondering about finding a good book on moving.  I’m thinking she might take the concept in a bit more that way.  Anyone know of any that they could recommend?

Speaking of reading, Amira makes my and Paul’s faces beam.  She is reading words.  Lots of them.  She tackles sounding out words every chance she gets.  Listening to her work so hard on it, I realize just how many crazy exceptions to the rules we have in our language…. poor girl.  She loves to say and word and figure out how to spell it.  I love watching her do it.  It’s magical.  Oh Karen, she ADORES ‘If You Give a Pig a Pancake‘!!  Thank you again!

I have more to share, but for the next while, updates will be shorter and briefer than I would prefer and enjoy.  I’ll be here though, even if only briefly to share a photo, a quote or a snippet… you couldn’t keep me away. 

011708 * alive, originally uploaded by janece.

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable.

But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.”

– Madeleine L’Engle

011608 *, originally uploaded by janece.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

–Vincent Van Gogh

This will be our new home. It’s an incredible place with an amazing landlord. At risk of sounding woo-woo, something about this place felt right, fated even, from the first time I saw it, to my initial interactions with the owner, to when we met the owner and saw the house and property on Sunday. It felt like this is where we belong right now.

I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who whispered prayers, sent your best wishes and good luck, and generally kept us in your thoughts as we searched for a new place. I’m so grateful. I just told Natalie this too - but it has made all the difference!

Saying goodbye to Butternut Hollow has been hard. Though, the sting of it is lessened knowing where we are headed. This move is going to provide a bit of adventure too. Even though it isn’t that far away from where we are now - it is on “the other side of the pond” (a ferry ride away from the main Seattle corridor). It’s a different feel entirely. I’m excited and nervous both.

So, thanks again. And now, our faces are toward the future. Which would sound more grand if I weren’t, just now, headed back to the pile of boxes that need to be packed…

011308 *, originally uploaded by janece.

Why my smile was this big is beyond me. I was tired and nervous — but I took this without thinking about it and it looks and feels pretty natural.

I take it as a sign that, in my heart, I know that everything is going to be okay.

Sunrise on the Walla Walla, originally uploaded by janece.

My first sunrise out of ten from my 101 Things in 1001 Days. We hopped onto the ferry for Kitsap Peninsula this morning. It could not have been a more beautiful morning.

We found the place that I hope we live in. Hopefully the property owner liked us as much as we liked her and her amazing property.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The house inspection is complete. The condition of the house and any necessary repairs have been agreed upon. The signed, initialed, checked and cross-checked legal papers have been faxed. All that’s left to do now is…

1) Find a rental
2) Pack
3) Move

Easy enough, right?

Before Christmas, I took Amira in for a blood panel allergy test. I’ve known she is allergic to something, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. She has a rash on her checks that gets better, then worse, then better. I knew it was food related, but just hadn’t been able to to isolate it to one particular food or allergy. There were times that she would also complain of her tummy hurting. It’s the worst when your little girl says, “Mama. My tummy hurts.” and you know it is because of something you fed her, but you don’t know what!

I was both looking forward to and dreading getting the results back. The results arrived right before the New Year. Amira is allergic to wheat gluten, wheat gliadin, spelt, rye, eggs, and pineapple (and lightly to garlic). Because we found out that Paul is allergic to eggs a while back, I had already modified my cooking habits to eliminate eggs… but wheat is a new one. Now suddenly websites like WheatFree.org and magazines like Living Without are of immense interest.

There is some possibility that she might outgrow these allergies by her 5th or 6th birthday. I can hope and pray… but until then, I’ve got a lot to learn.

I am grateful for how much our diet has changed over the last 2-3 years. Making this change to a gluten-free diet will be much less traumatic because of it. I do like learning and researching, so I’ve decided to take this on as an adventure rather than a hardship. Wish me (and Amira) luck!

One of my 101 Things is to do an action item from WeAreWhatWeDo.org.  Here’s my action tracker, if you are curious.   It’s been fun to see these actions start to become a more regular part of my daily life.  The cool thing is as you practice them and track them, they become more and more habit.  That’s a good thing.