Day 8

The good news is I slept in until 7:30. The bad news is I tossed and turned all night. David was away with Bo and I just don't do an empty bed anymore. I guess that's what 14 years (as of August 2nd) of marriage will do to a gal!

I know you could correctly assume I didn't sleep simply because of stress and David's absence, however in addition, last night I conducted an interesting experiment worth mentioning so as to save y'all from the trouble. Here's what I learned: Two glasses of wine DO NOT contraindicate the caffeine from one glass of iced cappuccino. You can take that to the bank.

This morning I thoroughly organized and tidied up Bo and Vivi's bedrooms. When I get back home tomorrow, I am hoping I can get in a thorough cleaning of their rooms before dinner. I also managed to fit in my daily kitchen and dining room chores, pack for our overnight, and pack for the beach. Not bad for one morning.

The rest of the day today is a wash as far as preparations go. A trip to the lake and overnight with the kids and my uncle at my parents place will fill my time. David will be home though, just in case anyone's been casing the joint, reads this and thinks, "now's my chance." Haha. Truth be told, "Trip to the lake" IS on my "To-Do Before We Go" list. So, I WILL get to cross more stuff off today! Hooray!

(I am such a pathetic list-making freak!)

Nine Days to Go

Day nine started a SMIDGE earlier than I had planned. When Vivi fell out of bed at 5:15, I had already started to stir. Getting up to console her sealed the deal and I was downstairs by 5:30AM. By 9:00 I had already:

• Set up the new bookcase with all the books that had been piled in the living room for months. That felt so good. It looks great and feels great to toss cardboard boxes!
• Dusted the entire living room
• Washed all the light fixtures
• Cleaned out the computer desk and dusted it inside and out
• Washed all the living room windows
• Wiped down the living room walls
• Greeted my family for the day
• Ate breakfast
• Went over edits to the Home Manual with David
  
• Wrote yesterday's blog entry for "10 Days to Go."
• Began today's blog entry
  

If "Took a nap" doesn't appear in this entry sometime later today, I'm doomed.

The rest of the day kept going at that pace, other than a most enjoyable break consisting of snuggles with my son ( that's a nap sort of, right?):

• Boxed up our homeschooling supplies and records
• Played a game with the kids
• Made lunch
  
• Went through three MOUNDS of paperwork
• Swept the living room
  
• Washed all the doors and wood trim in the living room
  
• Helped David pack for an overnight camping trip with Bo
  
• Did 1/2 of my standard kitchen chores. It is days like today I really miss Meme, aka "the Kitchen Fairy."
• Did a load of laundry
• Helped Vivi with her shower
  
• Helped myself to a shower as well
  
• Repaired a pair of pants
• Repaired some wall art in the living room
  
• Made Fried Artichoke Blossoms, which I didn't cook long enough. I never cook artichokes long enough. It is infuriating.
  
• Visited with a dear friend for a couple hours that went by way too fast
  
• Went to an awesome Food N Flick night with 17+ of the most wonderful women in the world
• Fed Whitey the rat
• And now I think I will end my day with a glass of wine and another chapter of French In Action before I go to bed and sleep hopefully until WAY past 5:30.
  

Ten Days to Go

I thought it would be fun to keep an account of how I spend my final ten days of preparation before we leave. In theory I plan on chiming in every day. We'll see if I manage that one!

Yesterday was Ten Days To Go. Here's what I did:

• Played a board game with my daughter.
• Painted two coats on the finally completed built-in bookcase in the living room that my husband and father built. This was one of those projects on our list that I think has been completed simply because we're leaving. Who knows how much longer it would have taken had we been staying here. It looks AWESOME and I can't wait to come home and paint the whole living room now!
• Went to my amazing Friday women's group that meets weekly. My last meeting with them will be in a week. Lord, how I will miss these gals.
• Cleaned the Studio from top to bottom. It looks gorgeous now. My mom said I am going to get my house so clean and organized that I won't want to leave it. I think there might be some truth to that.
• Kept up with my daily kitchen tasks (dishes, cleaning the counters, meals, etc.). This has been one of the most challenging parts of getting ready. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the house work when we aren't trying to prepare to move for a year! Needless to say, the house looks like the Tasmanian Devil has whirled through when it needs to look "Real Estate Showing Ready" for our guests!
• Thoroughly cleaned the outside shelves and cabinets of the kitchen island (ran out of time to do the inside).
• Chatted with my dear Arizona friend for a bit on the phone, multi-tasking all the while.
  
• Made gingerbread. (From a mix, not from scratch!)
• Worked on our "Home Instructions" notebook for P&S (I should do a separate post about this mammoth. I have serious OCD issues.)
• Conducted my daily phone check-in with my two best friends. How on EARTH will I let go of this part of my routine, I wonder????!!!!!
  
• Watched Wild Kratts with my kids.
  
• Enjoyed a lovely dinner visit with some great friends. Thankfully, at their place, not ours!
• Read another lesson in French In Action. I think I'm up to Lesson 12 in Level One. Sadly, I am noticing my comprehension level is slipping.
• Mentally obsessed about a ton of other details and reminded myself, if it doesn't get done, Oh Well!

Insurance Issues

Most of today was spent dealing with insurance companies. Two months ago I initially contacted the holders of our home and auto insurance. They sweetly told me there would be no problem keeping coverage on both while P&S were here, but that I needed to give them X, Y and Z information.

Today I contacted same company with X, Y and Z information. Lo and behold this didn't suffice. Not only did it not suffice, but my call prompted an on-going rigamorole of shuffling me about from one rep to another while they all basically told me we were un-insurable.

WHAT?!

That led me to a smattering of home exchange sites to see what they recommended regarding home and auto insurance. Almost verbatim, each site politely states that you should "be sure to make it clear to your insurance company that they are non-paying guests in your home and you should be all set."

HA! Obviously, whomever writes for these websites has NOT attempted to maintain insurance for a long-term home exchange!

With the first call I was informed we would have to use Landlord's insurance. As that rep didn't process these types of applications, I was transferred to someone who did. This person explained to me that with renter's insurance, the state requires lead testing for the home (which is a mere $500). Of course, in an 1860's home the chances of testing positive for lead paint are about 100%. In which case, I was told, we would have to pay for lead abatement in order to qualify for insurance.

All of which, of course, would need to happen before the "renters" (in this case, P&S) took up residence in our home, which will be August 12th.

About three more phone calls to three different people and six hours later, here I am FINALLY with a quote for insurance for our home that won't require the $30,000 lead abatement. Phew! What a relief! On top of that, it will not be the original quoted price of over $2,000 for the year.

Thank God, because insurance fraud was starting to look pretty appealing!

On an even happier note, I was able to get a "vacation waiver" for our prescription drug coverage, which means we will be able to obtain a year's supply of the medications we take. No more having to figure out how to get our scripts filled in France! The reason I say this is happier than the insurance solution is it only took one phone call that only lasted about 45 minutes (during most of which I was on hold and could therefore multi-task).

So that's three "minor" details all cleared up today! Not bad for a Monday!

Preparations are Underway

The most common question I get these days is, "How are preparations going?" Up until this point I have laughed and scoffed, "What preparations? You mean, am I ready for what we have going on tomorrow? Yes. Next week, sort of. Beyond that? Wait, there is a 'beyond that?!'"

But, just like I anticipated, the smoke has cleared from our crazy schedule and reality is sinking in like a cinder block. Therefore, the real work of getting ready has to begin. Because I am mildly OCD, I have made separate to-do lists for every room of our house, the porch, basement, barn, workshop and yard. I had a dear friend walk through the house with me, pointing out things she noticed which she would have questions about or which she thought needed to be addressed/fixed before we go. That was a tremendous help and provided the focus I needed to feel like I could dig in and get started.

The lists are exhaustive - including deep cleaning chores (taken from www.flylady.com), organizing, removal of personal items, things to fix/replace, etc. David and I walked through with the 25 or so lists in hand and added or deleted things based on the practicality of whether we will get to it or not (sadly, none of the deep-cleaning items were axed). Now it is time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

This weekend I pruned our front hedges (what I wouldn't give for a few extra grand to install a maintenance-free fence in their place!), trimmed the lawn, mulched two beds, weeded two flower beds, harvested the end of the strawberries (then made a strawberry cream pie), cleaned Bo's entire room - including the DISASTER AREA of a closet, went through all Bo's clothes and set aside stuff I think P&S's son will be able to wear and stuff we might want to pack, rearranged two closets downstairs, took stock of all our pantry/freezer items and meal planned for the next 40 days, and did my regular chores of laundry and overall general housekeeping. God will have to infuse me with some serious Holy Spirit Power to keep me going at this pace!

Tomorrow we will take a "break" by getting up at oh-six hundred hours to go with David to the beach so he can play volleyball and we can play in the sand. Then more "down time" with a late night of fireworks. Sounds nice and relaxing, doesn't it?

I think I better go take a nap while I can.