Pack it up, move 'em out

It never ceases to amaze me the things that can get a kid worked up.  Ryan lost 40 cents in the van yesterday (playing with his change after I told him to keep it in his pocket) and it was a major emergency.  I was about ready to pull over, thinking something serious had happened, when I realized he was fine and it was hardly a reason to come to a screeching halt on the shoulder of the road.  And my Dad wonders why I have a CD habit and play the music too loud...I just tell him it's music, my sanity; or no music, kill the grandchildren. 

He saw it my way, and even sprang for a couple of CDs the last time we were out.

But I digress.

It's spring, and I look around the house, thinking about projects that need to be tackled.  Audrey needs her bed set up (buy the mattress, do up the room for her and Ryan, kick 'em out of my room); I need to repaint the bathrooms, and get a new baseboard for my bathroom (yeah, that's been a to-do for 3 yrs now); blinds need to be replaced before they crumble into dust when someone touches them, not to mention the blinds my formerly fat cat has bent back in his quest to ogle the birds in the front yard; and general sprucing up in all the spots that get ignored but over time are well, untidy.

*sigh*

I hate doing this stuff, because I am forced to realize that we are squeezed in here pretty tight.  I like my house, and sure, it's little considering the whole of us, but I hardly think it's a horrible thing that the kids share their rooms.  I figure it's just preparing them for their future dorm/apartment lives when space is limited and close-quartered.  I'm also counting on them getting along with their sibling in such close proximity will make them better roomies for someone else.  Life skills, isn't that what I'm supposed to be teaching them? 

I was smarting recently because someone made a comment about how she thinks about "all of you crammed into that little house."  I ranted on to Mr W about it, telling him what I told her; that I'd love a bigger place, but don't want to move, I like our school, and a bigger place means I'd have to work more, which would cancel out my staying home for the kids...and that by the time Audrey is old enough to need her privacy, Nolan will be 21 and hopefully finishing up school/out of the house.  Mr W points out to me that perhaps we might even have two out of the house, as Ben would be 18 or 19 by then...and I clutched my hand over my heart.  "Stop it," I told him, "I have my mind wrapped around ONE of them being gone, not TWO!!" 

Yeah, for all my bitching and complaining about 'grow up, I need a break', I'm not nearly as ready as I'd like to believe to see anyone go.  I've got some  time to work through this, however, and I'm sure by the time I have 3 teenagers running around, I'll be begging for the relief of graduations.  That or I'll be quietly be attending a 12-step meeting of some kind at the local community center.

It hardly helps this restlessness about the house in general that it seems everyone is finding a new, fabulous place.  I've got Chantal talking about her farmhouse that she'll be moving into soon.  I imagine all that space for everyone to run around, and her giant rooms, and honestly can relate to her getting excited about the laundry room.  If you think getting hot and bothered about the size of your laundry room is odd, well, you haven't been stuck trying to figure out how the hell you will soak out that ugly yellow mustardy stain (if breastmilk is  so natural, why does the resultant poo stain worse than anything manmade?  So glad to be past that) in the hallway bathroom's sink without the kids "helping" and making it a project....the prospect of a laundry room with enough room for everything...it's worth some heavy breathing, I'm telling you. 

Then there's Tara, who has found the perfect location, location, location place for her and her roomie.  She's been fantasizing about fixing up her new beautiful  bedroom with lovely windows in a fabulous way.  I'm just trying to find a bedroom set that will look great and take the beating of everyone jumping and lounging on it.  Mom's bed is best for that, afterall, isn't it?

Laura's been repainting her house and I'm feeling lazy about not getting to my various repainting ideas....

And then there's the moves that are hitting closer to home.

My good friend Darin and his wife that live just a couple of miles away are moving back to Tucson.  I'm excited for them, they sold their house here rather quickly and for some serious moola, and I know relocating will work out well for them.  I'm trying to be reasonable about it...don't want them to go, what with them being so close, but honestly, with our schedules, I'll probably see more of them when they move to Tucson than I do now, lol. 

Another good friend of mine, Jane, and her family are also gonna move soon.  They will be moving further from us, and so her daughter won't be going to school with us anymore; but not so far away that I won't be able to visit often.  Her house-to-be sounds pretty cool, with a loft and everything.  "Someplace to throw the kids when they come over," she said.  They have a waterpad and pool in the community area there too, I think she mentioned.  Water fun is always a bonus in AZ in the summertime!  Wow, someplace to throw the kids that's not my bedroom or outside and water fun?  Sign me up, we may move in with her over the next heat wave!  (just kidding, Jane ;p)

I have to admit it's getting to me, and I'm wistfully looking at all the house ads in the paper. 

But this morning, I read Remo's entry.  I'm laughing, and suddenly I feel a bit better about staying in my own crowded little corner of the world.  I feel even better after Mr W reads it and says "Funny, and true."  Should your plan B not work out, Remo, you can always park the Airstream in our big unlandscaped backyard, lol.

Where's Audrey?

<deep breath> Well, there's an argument right here, behind me, for staying put until  the kids are older.

It seems the Princess was entertaining herself with "my painting".  I had given her watercolors while I was doing this...Mr W points it out to me as he's heading out the door.  She's spilled her little cup of dirty watercolor water on the carpet.  (I have predominately tile in my house, yet the kids and the cats always seem to make a mess on the carpet, go figure, Murphy's law, I guess--)  I gather up the cleanup supplies, and get to work.  I'm on my knees, blotting away, when I look up.  What's that on the wall?  Oh.  It seems she also "cleaned" the wall with her dirty watercolor water too.

Watercolor is a beautiful word.  It comes off of almost everything.  My carpet and wall are fine.

I'm not moving until the kids are bigger.  Will there still be messes?   Of course there will be.  They'll just be different ones, and I'll be able to enlist them to help clean them up without having to do it again behind them.

As for the space issue, well, I don't think that there's ever really enough space.  You find other things to fill it up, and wind up being crunched again.  This way, I'm forced to get rid of the peripheral, unimportant junk that follows us around (the papers!  the toys!), and focus on the important business of squeezing us together in what Ryan calls a "hug pile."

And a hug pile is absolutely worth the space it takes up.