WWWAAAHHHOOOOOO!

We finally know! We are headed to Houston. Hubby has a start date of October 15th! We have to sell our house, at least one of our cars, have a moving sale and pack up our stuff. We called the realtor and she is coming out tomorrow to take pictures, which means the house has to be in perfect shape. Why am I blogging? There is only so much chemical cleaner one can inhale! Hubby is still at work, or I should say at a restaurant eating with the bigwigs. We have very different ideas of fun, he hates eating with people at work, doesn't like to make small talk and doesn't care too much about what he eats. Me? A free dinner, that I don't have to make and I can pick whatever I want. Sign me up! Especially a child free dinner.
Which we should be having this weekend. It's our 11th anniversary and it should be better than our 10th. I spent the day and evening up at Children's and hubby took Buttercup to Supply night at her elementary. He was so out of it he forgot the teacher's name until he ran into Kate's mom and she remembered it. Hubby wants to go and watch Harry Potter #5 on IMAX and I want to eat at Chevy's. Luckily, my sisters will be in town, so we don't have to shell out a bunch of cash just for a sitter.
We should be flying down to Houston in September. I think I have hubby convinced it would be too mean to start the girls in one school and then pull them out a few weeks later when we find a house to buy. It will be fun to head down there and check stuff out and find a great house. Now, the stress of wondering is over and the stress of selling a house for the first time begins!

Here We Go again

So, I just finished posting about Buttercup and now Fiona is running a temperature. Children's Oncology has a policy where if you run a temperature of 100.5 you have to come in. Fiona has been flirting with that number. She feels fine, just that darn temperature. It's weird, in a way, I have been waiting for that to happen. All of our little friends have been admitted for some sort of sickness or another. It's really been a miracle that she has gone for over a year with a severely compromised immune system and not gotten sick. When I was doing chemo, I had three months of hard chemo and during that time, I developed a bleeding ulcer, a high fever of unknown origin and impetigo. That was just three months. Of course, I had 5 siblings at the time. So, part of me feels like fear of the unknown is just as bad as nothing happening. Then again, we don't want to be admitted.
She is sleeping now. I suppose we will have to wait and see how she is in the morning. Last summer she did this off and on when it got hot outside. I hope everything is back to normal in the morning. We have a playdate with friends from church tomorrow and both girls need to get out of the house.

Me and Hospitals

A year tomorrow, I was sitting in the hospital with Fiona desperately waiting for a definite diagnosis. The terror of the first night had receded, if they don't know what it is, but she is being taken care, we will just focus on taking care of her. I didn't cry again, until I was sitting with the doctor discussing her definitive diagnosis.
Today I was again in the hospital, this time with Buttercup hoping for a definitive diagnosis. She woke up early this morning, puked twice and then developed a fever. I figured it was just a bug until she started writhing in pain. Buttercup isn't a crybaby. When she says it hurts, she generally means it. So, I called the advice nurse and she recommended the ER. Sigh, I hate the ER. Fiona and I have been taking turns going to the ER since 2000. This was Buttercup's first trip as a patient. I worried that she was developing appendicitis. I left Fiona with Hubby, because the ER isn't the best place for an immuno-suppressed little girl. She insisted she could go because she goes to the hospital all of the time.
It turns out, she could have come. We have a new hospital, fairly close and it is so Quiet! What a joy, for an ER. There were only a few other patients. Buttercup got labs drawn. She hates, hates needles. I had to help her collect a urine sample. Oh, the things they never tell you when you talk about the joys of impending motherhood. She said it was pretty weird having your mom watch you pee. She got an ultrasound and they couldn't see her appendix. So, they thought she should get a CT. I hid in the technician box because I have gotten my fair share of radiation in the last year.
She got a shot of phenergen, this nice anti nausea medicine. It gave her some much needed rest. It also made her loopy. She slept through her trip down the hall to ultrasound and she woke up when the technician was applying the goop. She looked startled and said, aren't you going to give me some sleepy medicine. She thought they were just going to take the thing out already! Poor girl.
So, they sent us home. Her labs were fairly normal, and they couldn't find the appendix on the CT. Apparently she was too skinny to see it....which sounds weird. She is still running a fever now, but she seems better. They told us to come back in 8 hours for a recheck, but I don't think she needs it.
But, that was our Saturday. 5 hours getting her checked out. I should have brought a bigger book!

AAAHRRRGGGHHHH!

Sigh, we still don't know anything. People, that don't work in our office, are saying hubby is sure to get it. People in the office keep making noise about how they wanted him with regards to restructuring the office. Well, they should have been nicer before! He's had some real hard time with his boss, who is retiring at the end of the year ( no one knows that). She is the one promising him a job at the office here, but she's not entirely trustworthy. We want a sure fire thing, especially when it comes to our benefits and the health insurance. This would be a good move for Fiona. Hubby has passed that along, as well as what would be our disappointment if it weren't to come to pass.
I have disconnected from here! I am thoroughly excited for a new place to live. Not to mention, we have been spending money to stage the house, money that we can spend if we sell the house! If we don't sell the house, then it will just look fancy for a while.
Hubby's house has already sold! I knew it was too good to be true. The house I liked is too far from the office. We'd like to be no further than 10 miles out. I have found a couple of more houses. It's weird the things we have to worry about. I had to find a website that showed the flood plains and make sure we weren't there. Some good news, I was checking out sales in our neighborhood and it seems that most happen in the fall, which is great news, and there is only one house for sale in our neighborhood and it's not nearly as nice as ours and is on the market for more than the amount we were thinking of listing at. I am glad our neighborhood is still a hot spot with the housing market, since other places are slowing down.
So, once again we are waiting. Hubby is growing more grey hair and a stomach ulcer and I seem to be lethargic. It's not too interesting to make sure everything is clean and in it's proper place when it's going to have to be packed and everything practically sterilized to show the house.
So, we aren't expecting any official news before August 27th. But I keep telling hubby to ask when and where he can. I would like to know sooner! As soon as possible. The wait is insufferable!

Massage Envy

I like many of you, I am sure, suffer from Mom back. Mine started back in 2002 when I woke up one morning, very early and went to turn over. I actually felt/heard a rip. It did not feel good. I tore some weird muscle in my back. It was on the left hand side, the side where I carried Fiona constantly. After pain killers and muscle relaxers, I switched carrying Fiona to the other side. Thus, both of my sides, mainly the inside of each shoulder blade, are severely messed up. I wake up regularly with severe neck pain and I have been trying to use a muscle relaxer once a week.I am not very good at remembering and I don't like the way I feel in the morning if I take it too late.
Hubby has been harassing me for months to find a place to get myself a massage. That's something that has always seemed too decadent and too self absorbed. I am not saying it is, it just was something that seemed too selfish a thing to spend our money on. Then driving down hwy 99, I saw a sign that said massage for $39. Now, I am not an expert, but hubby sort of is. He has worked for an insurance company for 11 years year in the claims department, with bodily injuries and he knows a good deal when he sees it. He told me to call and get myself an appointment.
Well, I called yesterday and booked one. It was with a guy, which sounded kind of weird to begin with. I got there on time and filled out the questionnaire. I assured them that my low blood pressure wouldn't be a problem. I never seen any sort of problems from it (it's generally 90/70, a little lower during pregnancy).
Hubby said he didn't want to have a dude rubbing him because he would never be able to relax enough if some guy was giving him the good feelings. I thought he was nuts until the guy started rubbing my very sore neck and back. Then I understood the feelings he was talking about. An hour later, I got up and felt sooooo good. I was no longer clenching everywhere. I don't even have the ability to tense up my back right now.
If we don't move, I told hubby we will sign up for their monthly massage package when he gets his raise in March. If we move to Houston we will sign up for their franchise there. It's actually called Massage Envy. It's totally worth it. For all you Mom back sufferers out there, treat yourself. It's totally worth it and you definitely deserve it!

No News is not Necessarily Good News

I have been doing a lot of house shopping on the internet. I like one particular house and Dave likes another. Both are representative of what we could buy down there. Now, my friends here in Oregon can appreciate the deals we think we could be getting. Here's Dave's house..
http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?mindt=1%2f1%2f0001+12%3a00%3a00+AM&maxdt=12%2f31%2f9999+11%3a59%3a59+PM&ctid=4&ml=3&mnp=19&mxp=22&bd=5&bth=4&typ=1&sqft=10&pfbm=190101004&ofbm=402&sid=6f2c043c252847c2b53b1a5112f82358&lid=1083255885&lsn=2&srcnt=2239#Detail

And here's mine. Granted, we have more pictures on mine, which makes it a lot easier to love!
http://homes.realtor.com/prop/1077674130
The sale of our house should net us quite a bit of equity and make our mortgage payment in Texas smaller than it is now, with a house that is just about twice the size!
Hubby has been working with the guy who is definitely the second in command of the new office. That ought to help. He can get through the back channels. We aren't expecting to hear before the 24th of August. Sigh...
Still, life goes on, Fiona is back to the hospital for chemo on Thursday. She surprised me quite a bit on Tuesday. She got up, not so interested in breakfast, drank some strawberry milk and ate some saltines and then hurled. It's the first time she has hurled in years. She felt pretty good afterwards, I did have to make her lay down all day, which she didn't want to do. It's something she has been dreading since she was diagnosed last year. I told her, well, now you've done it, is it as bad as you thought it was? It wasn't as awful as she had dreamed up in her head, but she didn't want to do it again anytime soon.
So, I hate limbo. The house no longer seems like a haven, I feel like there is always something I could be doing, but why pack everything up if we don't have to move? I am collecting boxes and packing up my breakables. I made hubby take us out for dinner and then we took the girls out to play at the school playground. It was nice to get away from the house and responsibilities for a while.

Don't Mess with Texas

Things have been in a uproar over the past 36 hours. Dear Hubby called me on my cell, while I was on the way home from our weekly trip to Winco, and said I need to get home. So, when I got home he told me that they had decided his situation at work. For a while they have been testing a new computer program at his office and he could see the writing on the wall. Soon, they wouldn't need his group at work, the one he manages. Tuesday they told him he was right. They won't be needing his group. He got three choices, they could find him another job within their office (with a boss who isn't that fond of him but is retiring at the end of the year), give him severance pay, which would amount to 22 weeks and let him find another job, or thirdly, give him a promotion and send him to help start up the consolidation office in Houston, TX. After about 30 seconds of deliberation, we picked door number 3. It isn't a slam dunk, although it's fairly close, odds for us are about 80% of getting sent there. We couldn't tell anyone before they told people at work because both my dad and my sister work through his office.
Indecision is the worst thing. I can deal with good, I can even deal with bad, but the indecision is awful. We won't know for probably at least a couple of weeks if we are going to Houston. Then we will need to quickly sell the house and buy another one. That's one of the awesome things about moving there. We can have a massive house with lots of land and a pool with a smaller mortgage than we have now.
Right now I just want to start packing up half of the house and getting ready to sell. We have never sold a house before, which is kind of scary. The good news is that while the market has slown down in our area, our neighborhood is still getting snapped up quickly.
I had to go shopping with my sister last night and not say anything the entire time. It was the worst. I promised that I would call her at 11:15am, which is the safe time dear hubby promised me. I was buying a new sweatshirt and part of me was thinking, am I really going to need this?
The girls are pretty excited. They have seen some of the houses on the Internet. Buttercup wanted to know if we are going to buy the one with the rock waterfall into the pool...I wish. I told them they could start practicing saying Y'all. We do have some ties to Texas. My great grandma was born there.
Well, enough of my ramblings. It has been a really hard secret to keep. I can't wait to find out. PS, Liz this might mean we might need a place to stay one night on our way over!!! I hope our cat travels well.