This summer has turned out to feel more crazy than I ever imagined. I'm not sure if it is due to the fact that I now have 4 kids . . . or if it has been the big family events . . . it is probably a little of both . . . but I can't wait for the day when I feel relaxed enough to sit down and breathe.
Where do I even begin? It is 4am in the morning . . . and I am awake. That is usually a pretty good indicator that I am completely stressed out. My mind starts thinking too much and then I can't sleep . . . and I would really rather be sleeping.
I guess I will just start with this week. Ben started his EMBA program at BYU. It is orientation/residency week. We are so excited that he is able to do this! But . . . I have only seen him for maybe a few hours this week so far. He has been pretty unavailable this week since orientation is during work hours, and his nights have been filled up with other things. Welcome to the next two years of my life I guess. I realized yesterday how often I call him while he is at work to talk about "stuff". You know . . . what do you want for dinner . . . what should I do about this or that . . . "stuff". It is different feeling like he is unavailable to talk to me about my "stuff." I am doing okay, it is just going to be an adjustment to be by myself so much.
Ben works during the day, but also often does other jobs on the side. With school starting, the side jobs are going to go for the most part. We love working off a budget and were trying to figure out how we could still maximize our savings with this strain of school. We had this crazy idea a month or two ago to just rent out our house (since it is a terrible time to sell) and find something cheaper to just rent while in school. We looked around a little bit, but didn't find anything. We weren't really that serious about it anyway. We really like where we live . . . and don't HAVE to move . . . so not much motivation.
A few weeks ago though, I was looking online at houses JUST FOR FUN. Not seriously thinking I would find anything. I just like to look every so often . . . you know . . . I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that. Anyway, I found something in a different city that was quite a bit smaller than our house, and not very cute on the outside, but the inside was okay, maybe even cute. I figured if we could rent out our house, then this other house would save us about 1/3 in housing costs. That seemed significant! But again, we don't HAVE to do this. I showed it to Ben just for fun, but didn't think we would act on it.
Ben scheduled a walk through. I like to look at houses and even walk through them, so this still didn't mean anything. We walked through, noted that it would be a downsize from our house, but kind of liked it anyway.
Well, it turns out that we decided to see if we could possibly find someone who we are comfortable with to rent our house before we commit to anything. We have had one application turned in so far . . . but once I checked out a reference, found that it is a person we will not rent to. Someone else came by last night and said they really liked the house and that they would turn in the application today. They want a 3 year contract. I think I am going to throw up.
I don't deal very well with change. It really is amazing that I have not yet had a heart attack and I often wonder if I should get ahold of some anti-anxiety medication. Maybe they won't turn in the application . . . but if they do . . . I have a feeling that we might be comfortable with them in our home. Which means . . . that we would actually move somewhere else next week before school starts for Abby and Halle. Are we absolutely nuts??????? Who moves when you don't have to? The savings would be significant, but at the same time, we are surviving without them. I was only looking at houses FOR FUN. I WAS NOT trying to turn my life upside down. But . . . SOMETIMES I feel good about it and then the other times I feel like throwing up. Ben seems to feel good about it ALL of the time.
What are we doing?
Well, it turns out that we actually moved! I was pretty traumatized by the whole idea the week before we did it, but was able to feel good about it enough times to keep moving forward. Now that we have done it though, I feel GREAT about our decision. But I have to say this has been one of THE HARDEST decisions for me. 
Halle started her soccer season last week . . . she has been looking forward to this for months! She scored two goals in her first game!
Halle started her soccer season last week . . . she has been looking forward to this for months! She scored two goals in her first game!
