Prize!

Steve stole my balaclava and wore it as a weird hat. Then he made creepy faces at me from across the room. This is what I'm dealing with:

This has been a pretty cool week - and a bit stressful too! Steve and I took Wednesday off and went to IKEA. That was glorious. But then, midway through, Wm called and said the power was out at Metro and we had to go get him. There is no easy way to get out of an IKEA!! You're trapped! Luckily, Guy was able to get him and deliver him home, so the crisis was averted!!

Then, on Friday, I won A Major Award at work. There is a cash prize, so I'm pretty excited! My mom came to the banquet and surprised me!! So she got to see my triumph. I also got a fancy award statue thing:

Steve worked all weekend, which sucks, because it's our last weekend before we take possession of the new house! So, I spent Saturday packing like a fiend. On Sunday, Mimi took Wm for his summer clothes shopping extravaganza! Every time we go, Wm always finds one weird thing to fixate on. And, of course, Mimi always gets it for him! This year, it was a straw fedora. He hasn't taken it off since he got it:

After shopping, I went out to lunch and to a movie with Suzanne. Then, Steve got home shortly after I did and we had to clean the house like mad. The final walk throughs (both ours of the new place and our buyer's) are today. So, we wanted the house to be clean for that!

Steve and I are both off again this Wednesday to go to closing. Then, we take possession on Friday!! Steve has to work all weekend again, so Wm and I plan to head to the new place, take a few loads, and clean. I told Wm I would give him $5 to scrub down the kitchen cabinets and he was all offended. He goes, "you don't have to pay me to clean my own house!"

The Official Move is next Wednesday!! Then, Wm turns 12 on Thursday!! His last year before hitting the teens!! WHUT!

COLD

It is winter again and we are all REALLY pissed off about it. It SNOWED yesterday. I think these weird temperature fluctuations are getting to Wm. He started feeling kind of run down this weekend and then felt super yucky on Sunday. He refused to talk and would only gesture with his hands because he said his throat hurt. If you asked him how he was feeling, he would just point and his throat and stare at you meanly. He had to miss school yesterday and felt pretty crumby, but he's already better and back in action today! We mostly spent the weekend packing and getting things ready for the move. This was the last weekend we had before the move in which Steve was not working! The pressure is on!!

Flip dealt with the cold snap appropriately:

I took him for a walk yesterday and we were attacked by a gang of street youths. Actually, a group of about 5 elementary school-aged boys were like, "CAN WE PET YOUR DOG?!?!" Flip loves kids, so I was like, "absolutely!" But then they circled around him in a tight group, stuffing their little hands in his face and pulling on various parts of his body. They got in so closely around him, I couldn't even see him anymore. I got a bit nervous that he was feeling trapped and scared, which could be a bad thing, so I maneuvered myself in such a way that I could catch a glimpse of him amidst the tiny, sticky hands. And, I should have known. Tail wagging crazily; big, happy grin on his face; licking any little hands he could get his tongue on; then, finally, reaching his ultimate goal and licking one kid inside the mouth. To which the kid yelled "DISGUSTING!" and went in for another kiss. Flip is a sweetie!! Unless you are the mailman. And then he wants you dead.

Tomorrow, Steve and I are both off and we are headed to IKEA to get a few things for the new place. My excitement knows no bounds. AND, it's club day at school, so we don't even have to be back to get Wm until 3:45! All the more IKEA-ing!! Then, we close in one week!

Plugging Along

Things are plugging right along. The closings on both houses are scheduled and we're just getting ready for the move now. I feel like we have a lot of packing and prep to do and Steve is very blase about it. I'm trying to channel his calm!! We close in 2 weeks!

Wm has been moved to Physics at school. He did a science pre-test and aced it.  Apparently the first day of class, some other kid in the class was like, "you're in 6th grade?" and then he goes, "Well, I know a 6th grader in ALGEBRA!" Wm asked who and the kid goes, "William." Of course, to that, he answered, "I'm William." The other kid was just like, "oh." Haha!! Wm is like King of Nerds. A nerd legend. Other nerds tell tales of Wm. Although, he still manages to be hilariously clueless sometimes. Just yesterday, he was talking about "Jack and the bean plant." I was like, "You mean Jack and the beanstalk?" Wm goes, "Oh...yeah." So, there's that.

Wm had a "showcase" at school yesterday. Steve and I went. I took a ton of pictures. Then Wm copped some major tween attitude and we left shortly after it began. So, it wasn't a good time. Wm has now been banned from screens this week. So he's all contrite. This will last approximately 30 seconds after screens are restored to him.

In other news, despite my best efforts, stupid Luna has grown on me. She's still annoying. But she's cute. And she's very sweet. And she and Flip are adorable best friends. Here is Luna being cute:

She and Flip both sleep in our bed every night

And here is a video of Luna shamelessly trying to get Flip to pay attention to her. And failing. But, this is when Flip wasn't feeling his best:


When Flip felt better, he did enjoy some light butt licking. I love when Wm shows up and the tails start wagging!


Then, I had to drag Steve out of bed this morning. He had ignored the alarm and the light being flipped on - AND Wm and I both getting ready. After he was finally up and about, I went back into the bedroom to grab something and discovered this happening:

Busted.

Poor Steve has his 2 tournaments in a row coming up, so this is his busiest time at work. And, on top of that, the move. If he can survive the next 3 weeks, he's home free!

Whirlwind

Well, the last couple weeks have been intense. It started when we discovered that our first buyer was insane. After the inspection, he made a stink about old wiring. He kept trying to get us to drop the price of the house nearly $15k. Finally, we figured out that he was scamming us (basically, his realtor "fired" him and called our realtor to clue us when we he smelled a rat). We DO have some old wiring, but that was just the start of this guy's Master Plan. It was REALLY stressful. But, luckily, we had a similar backup offer. So, we were only out of contract for 5 minutes. Our new buyer had her inspection yesterday, and we fully disclosed everything we knew and sent her the other inspection report, so there were no surprises. But, it was still super nerve-wracking. I heard from her last night that we are still a go! The appraisal is today and then, HOPEFULLY, smooth sailing until closing. But, this has definitely not been an easy sale!!

On top of the stress of this home sale, Flip has been sick for a week. He seemed to occasionally get better, then he'd be sick again. The day of the inspection, I came home to get him and do a final staging to discover he had diarrhea all over his crate. Which was...not a good surprise. Then, yesterday, I came home and he'd thrown up in there. So, to the vet he went. He has a bacterial infection - likely from eating something weird off the ground. He now has a whole pharmacy of medicine to take. The good news is, that after just a couple doses, he does seem a bit better. I have my fingers crossed that his improvement continues! How could anyone resist this face:

I am sick..but still beg for food!

Wm has been continuing to knock out school and is now in the final 8 weeks of 6th grade. He's getting really excited for the move. It's been unseasonably cold and we are all majorly annoyed. Wm goes, "I can't wait to be at the new house. Snuggled on the couch with a hot chocolate in front of the fire!" He also made me laugh really hard because everyone has been at the end of their tether recently, so Steve was short tempered with him about something and Wm texted me and said, "Pop is being salty." HAHA! Killed me. Honestly, though, Wm is the one who is salty more often than not!! And, likely why Steve was short tempered!!

A huuuuuuge shout out to Steve. Who has his 2 biggest tournaments of the year coming up at work, is dealing with all the this selling crap, and now a sick pup. I really don't know what I'd do without him. He's been my rock. Even if he's faking his calm, it's working.

Leaving The Ville isn't easy. We will miss this. Here is a nightly ritual - hanging out at the park with the neighbors and doggos. We also just found out they are putting in a great restaurant at the end of our street this year!! I will have to settle for a 2 car attached garage and my own bathroom, though. :) But, it's not without some serious mixed feelings that we head out...

April snows SUCK, but they sure are pretty! We will miss this view...