Fourinarow.net

After complimenting my mom on her kick ass shoes, she bought me a pair of my own.

Cool, aren’t they? I feel so fashionable wearing them. Previously, my fanciest shoes were my Avia running shoes. No, I don’t run. But I wish I did. I do go to the gym occassionally. Not so much for the exercise, but for the free babysitting.

Which brings me to my point.

After being cooped up in the hotel room for waaaaaay too long yesterday, I rounded everyone one up for a trip to the Y. They needed to play. I needed a workout. We all needed a break from each other. Desperately.

As I was getting ready, I realized I was missing my Avias. In an effort to cut down on all the crap we’ve been hauling around from hotel room to hotel room, I had only allowed myself two pair of shoes on this trip. I left the rest in St. Louis. Including my Avias. What did I have with me? A pair of sandles (those are kick ass, too, by the way, and a gift from my fashionista sister Maggie) and my Merrells.

Now, although the Merrells are billed as “athletic” I don’t think the designers really intended them for the gym. Well, too bad. I was desperate and I couldn’t work out in sandles or go barefoot. Merrells it would have to be and Merrells it was.

I looked at no one as I walked through the gym and climbed aboard a cross trainer. Consumed with my music and my book, I ignored everyone else and worked out as if I was a normal person wearing the appropriate footwear.

And I’m doing it again today. Very soon. Like right now.

Last night I slept better than I have in quite some time - despite the stress, the pull-out couch, the cramped quarters, etc.

Until 2 a.m. When Cheerio licked Dan in the face and he woke me, demanding I take “my dog” out. I tried to pull the, “you’re going to send me, your wife, out in the dark night by herself in this dangerous world?” bit, but it didn’t work. I took her out. She peed.

Five minutes after I was snuggled back into bed, she started whining again. And again. And again. Back out we went, where she had the squirts. Yuck. Just what we need. Four kids, two adults and a dog in a hotel room isn’t enough. Someone has to have the squirts.

This morning, I had to take Sam for his yearly check up. Since Dan went into work at 3 a.m. - after not being able to get back to sleep - he was able to come back and help me juggle the kids.

Dan dropped Sam and me at the doc and with time to kill until Jack and Maria’s reading class, he took the other three to the park. Brilliant. I had suggested donuts. But, no, he took them to the park. Which might have been a good idea. If there hadn’t been a mud puddle for Jack to fall into 10 minutes before his reading class.

Dan stripped Jack of his shorts, rinsed them off using the leaking spigot (the same one that that had caused the mud puddle) and then dried them on the way to class using the car heater on max. (I probably would have hung them out the window, which was also Jack’s thought, but apparently the heater worked well enough).

With Jack and Maria in class, Dan and Luke came back to the doctor’s office to get Sam and me. Back to the hotel we went, where we dropped Dan at his car, and then I took the Little Boys and Cheerio back to get Jack and Maria from class and head to the vet…

…where the kids were louder than every (other) animal in the place. (Personally, I think the dog has the squirts due to stress. )

Armed with an anti-diahrreal and parasite killer (sorry, Cheerio, no Xanax), we headed back to the hotel. On the way I talked to Dan. Unfortunately.

Apparently, his boss isn’t too thrilled with the number of people she’s losing and the delay that will occur before replacements come in. Which means she may not let Dan leave for ANOTHER MONTH.

Now, I know we’re just moving from one hotel here in Tennessee to another in Chicago, but H-E-L-L-O! School starts in one month. And, um, the hotel up there is WAY bigger than the one down here.

The perfect house? The one that we didn’t get ’cause it already had an offer on it? Well, to make a long story short, there was a contengency on it, so we were able to throw our own offer on the table. Things were looking up…

Until the sellers took the house off the market.

The hits just keep on coming. And it’s only 12:52.

This morning we had a few storms which meant the Y kicked everyone out of the pool. Having only swam an hour, and still having a long day ahead of us, I took everyone to the barber shop. The boys were starting to look a little shaggy and we needed the diversion.

After some great cuts, we stopped off at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some play time. The kids were really great and no one spilled anything throughout the entire meal.

Then came ice cream.

I traded the kids’ meals freebies for ice cream and (having no will power) ordered myself a chocolate shake. Have you ever had a Chick-Fil-A shake? You wouldn’t think that’s the place to get the perfect shake, but it IS. Mmmmmmmm! They come topped off with whipped cream and a cherry.

It was the cherry that caused the problem. Jack met me at the counter to carry his cone to the table and, not wanting to wait, he pulled the cherry from my shake. As he was popping it into his mouth, the shake tumbled to the ground and with a loud POP! exploded all over the floor.

I wanted to cry. What a waste!

The wonderful server took good care of us - she replaced the shake and gave us a bowl full of cherries! What a sweetie.

Still, as I stepped over the mess, I felt my eyes tear at the thought of that wasted shake…

We’re all back together again.

Today we drove back to Tennessee for one more week before we head to Chicago for good.  It’s pretty sad when Lukie hollers out, “HOME SWEET HOME!” every time we arrive in a new hotel room.

Johnsonville, IL, by the way, has the nicest police officers.

Get your mind out of the gutter. Not that “it”.

And, no, we didn’t find a house. But, we did find an area! In all of Chicagoland, we finally found where we want to be. It’s a great area, not too far from downtown where Dan will be working. There are several Catholic churches and schools, lots of parks and an historic downtown area. It fits us.

Now. To find a house. Of course, tomorrow morning will be our last chance to look before we head back to Tennessee for a week. We’ve been here a looooong week now, have seen a gazillion houses, and have just now narrowed down the area. I’m exhausted and thrilled at the same time.

I did find a house that I think I really, really want. But - I’ve only seen it online so far. However. It looks perfect, and after having talked to my realtor, I think it IS perfect. BUT. An offer is already on the table AND there’s an open house there tomorrow. Oh, and it’s only been on the market 13 days. Everything else around here has been on the market for months. Not this one. Oh, and did I mention that it’s just a little over our price range? Yeah. It figures.

Well… wish us luck tomorrow. We need it.

So we arrived at the first house today ahead of our realtor.  It turned out she witnessed an accident on the way to meet us and the police wanted a statement from her.  Those damn cops.

Anyway, when we arrived at the house, we got the kids out so they could run a little while they had the chance.  Unfortunately, Sam (now used to the house touring process) ran right up to the front porch.  Then he picked up a plastic/ceramic/something frog and threw it down onto the walkway.  Breaking it into a million pieces.

Oh, shit.

We pushed the pieces out of the way, into the bushes.  Bad person I am, I probably would have left it at that, hoping the homeowners would never notice that their frog was missing.  Or see the pieces in the bushes.  Or the dark spot left behind on the porch from where the frog sat for probably 10 years.

Daniel-By-The-Manual, however, felt the need to let our realtor know about the dissected frog in the bushes. She laughed it off, God bless her, and said said things like that happen with kids around, and told us she’d let the listing agent know about it.

Whew.

p.s.  Come on.  I would have said something if Dan hadn’t.  Really.  I swear.

I think we’ve seen 40+ houses over the last three days. More to come. The Little Boys are really handling things pretty well, but it isn’t fun for any of us. Finally this morning they got a break and went swimming with Dan for a while. In a bit we’re heading out to look at more homes.

Luke has come to the point where he “hates” every house. Thankfully most homeowners aren’t around to hear his comments. We have seen a few “cool” homes - mostly ones with bigger yards and finished basements.

Today we’ll be heading out to Plainfield where the homes are grand but the commute is long. Not ideal, in my opinion. I’d rather have more husband than more square footage.

We have decided, at the suggestion of a future co-worker, to check out the possibilities closer to the city. I’m afraid we’ll be living in someone’s garage with our price range, but we’ll see. An agent I spoke with this morning gave me some hope.

The most frustrating thing is not having an area chosen yet. With no area picked out, I can’t do anything about school. And, school starts here on August 20th - right around the corner. If we choose Naperville, there is a wonderful, small, parish school I found. The principal spent an hour with me yesterday and I think it’s a place my children would love. (All depending on finances, of course). But, if we go south or north, who knows what I’ll find.

I wonder who the person was that decided 10 days in a city as big as Chicago was enough time to find a house. I mean, we’re going to be here for the foreseeable future… possibly the rest of Dan’s career. And we’re supposed to choose an area, find a house and school in 10 days? Yes, I know we could rent for a while, but moving AGAIN just isn’t an option for us. Plus, the cost would be on us. No can do.

Well… I’m off to buy a lottery ticket. Maybe that’ll help. I feel like everything is a gamble right now anyway, I might as well get in on it.

FINALLY!!!!! Dan has his assignment. He’ll be working in downtown Chicago, so that leaves us wide open as far as where to live. I think we’ve seen around 35 houses so far and more to come this afternoon and tomorrow!

So far, today’s house hunting adventure is going quite a bit better than yesterday.  We’re seeing more homes that we like and we’ve only had one accident.

Luke was playing around in the finished basement of a home and tripped, landing smack on the edge of a door with his face.  He now has two nice vertical lines running down his face.  Sad, but better than yesterday, when he did the poop dance and begged to use the bathroom.

Luke christened the hallway powder room of that house - with poop in the toilet (thank goodness) and pee on the floor.  And ALL OVER his pants.  Luckily his boxer briefs somehow made it through the event unscathed, so for the last two houses he was just slightly… under dressed.

We broke for lunch and to give Sam a short nap.  We’ll be back at it in less than an hour, though.

Of course, all of this may end up to be pointless - especially if Dan ends up working in Rolling Meadows or Rockford.  Not that anyone wants to tell us where he’s going to be working or anything.  Why would they want to do that?  It’s not like we’re in any kind of hurry to put hotel living behind us, find schools or get settled.

No.  Of course we don’t know WHERE yet.  I mean, why on earth would they want to tell us?

Finally, though, we’re in Chicago.  Not permanently.  And certainly not in a house, but still.  This is the beginning.  Finally.

The hotel here is bigger, newer, has a kick-ass free breakfast and is less expensive than the one in Clarksville.  It figures.  Oh, and it has a pool.  I think we’ll be getting a lot of swimming in once we’re back with the whole crew in a couple of weeks.

Well, we’re off to explore until we meet with the realtor at 11:00.