Since my last post, we have learned that the government furlough is not going to be as devastating as was originally billed to us. Yes, Steve will still have to take mandatory unpaid leave, but it won't start until later, and it is going to be once a pay period instead of once a week. Whew!
In other news, the decluttering continues. Three truckloads to Goodwill, one scheduled pick-up to Salvation Army, one scheduled pick-up to Rainbow House (a local charity for brain-injured adults), and a donation to Habitat for Humanity. Oh, and a drop-off to Half Price Books. Not to mention that a ton of stuff has been sold or given to local friends.
And yet, somehow, I still feel like we're swimming in STUFF! Ack!
We made it through Easter, then took off the next day for Colorado Springs to give up our doggie to my niece Pam. Pam's mother Vicki (my sister, who lives in Mississippi) came along for the ride so she could visit with her daughter. So we made the trip: me, my sister Vicki, my two youngest children (Joseph and Jonny), and not ONE but THREE dogs. (Vicki brought along her two dogs.) What a trip!
We drove straight northwest through most of West Texas, ending the first day in Amarillo. (Sing it with me! "Amarillo by mornin'... up from... San Antone..." Anyone else a George Strait fan?) We stayed the night at a Motel 6 in Amarillo, then continued to Colorado Springs the next day.
We saw miles and miles and MILES of West Texas (and WINDMILLS - acres and acres of windmills!), strumbled across an extinct volcano in northeast New Mexico (Capulin National Monument - who woulda thought???), then arrived safe and sound in Colorado Springs.
We spent two fun days in Colorado Springs while Cocoa got acclimated to her new surroundings. Then, with many tears, we said our goodbyes to our doggie Cocoa.
We started the two-day trek back home again. This time we stopped to enjoy Capulin National Monument by eating a picnic lunch while there and by climbing to the top of the volcano. It's nearly 8000 feet up! I was huffing and puffing when I climbed out of the crater at the top! I'm not used to such thin air!
Then back to the same Motel 6 in Amarillo, then back to San Antonio the next day. (Oops! I forgot to mention that we took a wrong turn out of Lubbock and ended up taking an alternate route home again. No worries - we still got home.)
The only glitch along the way was that on the FIRST DAY of our trip, I lost my credit card. I think it slipped out of my sweatpants pocket when I got out of the car to move something around in the cargo area. It was super windy, and I think the wind caught my card and off it flew! So somewhere floating around the dusty roads of West Texas is a defunct credit card with my name on it. Thankfully Vicki had her credit card, and I could also still use my debit card as well. It worked out in the end.
Once we got home again, we spent a day resting, then took a day trip up to Austin to visit the state capitol building with our homeschool group. At the end of the day, we celebrated Jonny's birthday by having some Peter Piper Pizza fun (woo-hoo), then ice cream and cake at home.
And that brings me to today, and I'm bushed. Today we had our kitchen cabinets touched-up by the refinishers in preparation for selling the house.
Which brings me to our upcoming plans:
We hope to be moving into the RV this coming weekend! We need to get ourselves out of this house soon so we can clean it up, pack it up, and put it on the market. The plan is to have the house listed by the end of April. With eight people living in the house, it's just easier to sell the house with all of us OUT of the house.
So big changes are upon us, and they are quickly approaching. I miss having my furry little shadow near me all day long, but I know it's for the best for now. We have big changes quickly approaching!
