Movin', movin', movin'. Get those doggies movin'!

So. Today was the big day.

T got the new job. Yay!

We are moving. Hmmm. And not to where we thought we were. It is just the next town over from where we thought we would be, a mere 20 miles, but somehow I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. These two towns are where my extended family live, so I have some long formed opinions. In my opinion, the town we didn't get is much nicer than the one we did. Of course, that opinion was formed over 25 years ago and was based entirely on the location of my grandparents' houses. They were nice houses, but their neighborhoods did not age well.

I am sure our town has lovely areas. I am just not familiar with them yet. Also a bummer, my cousins with kids the same ages as Z and Q live in the other town. Again, it is only 20 miles - nothing! - but probably won't allow for spur of the moment play dates or having the kids on the same soccer teams. Wah.

T is very excited about his new job. He will be in commercial vehicle enforcement (big trucks). His hours will be more regular and his working hours less micro-managed. A husband happier at work is a husband happier at home. Yay! Also, our new town is only two hours from the ranch. T is over the moon about that. I am on the positive side of neutral. The ranch still won't be my favorite place in the world, but at least it won't take a full day to get there!

I have spent pretty much every minute since we found out we were moving obsessively looking at houses online. With the prices of oil what they are, west Texas is booming. Houses cost a lot more than I was expecting. T was hoping to get a place with some small acreage, but I haven't found anything like that in my searches. I want some place with good schools near parks and/or public pools. Chica's sis-in-law is a teacher in our new town, so hopefully she will give me the lowdown on the best schools. Greatschools.net does not think much of the schools there at. all. There are only a couple of schools that are rated better than six out of ten. Great.

We will head out there some time in the next week or two to meet T's new boss and co-workers, as well as to look at houses. In the mean time, I had our realtor come over today to give the current house the once over and tell us what she thinks we need to do before we get the house on the market. She was really positive, but the list is depressingly long: landscaping; paint/repair eaves; paint/replace shutters; minor touch-ups on dinged up interior paint; replace fogged/broken windows; DECLUTTER. Blah. It makes me wring my hands just to think about it.

The idea of making eleventy dozen trips back and forth to the ranch to store our "extra" stuff makes me cry a little. Not at the idea of being separated from my stuff, but that moving that way is slow and painful. Maybe I will get one of those portable storage deals. That would be sweet! Pack it up, they store it until we get a new house, then they deliver it there. This sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Z is excited about the idea of a new house. I don't think she understands that her BFF won't be living next door any more. That makes me a little sad. That and the fact that this house is my personal Bethlehem: the place I brought my babies home. I guess this small town will always have a piece of my heart because of that.