Still crazy busy here and every time we think we have 1 thing tackled a whole lot more fills our "to do right this very instant" list.

 Packing was insane and even though we tried to keep organized, near the end some boxes didn't get labeled and contain jumbled contents. Every square inch of the 26 foot truck was occupied even though we donated many many things including a lot of furniture!

 Finished packing at 3am, grabbed breakfast and got ready to go when... the truck wouldn't start. It was too cold and the diesel truck was as dead as a doornail. Got it jumped and were on the road several hours later. Spent the night in Des Moines and woke up to a blizzard. Drove the rest of the way on ice covered, white out, unplowed roads... white knuckle driving. It was treacherous and a very long drive when going 40mph is too fast.

 The farm we were to stay at... not an option to go to as it was snowed in. The little house in town is on a hill and there was no way to get the truck there.. so off to the 20 acre farm we went. My car just barely was able to make it because the snow was so deep. 

 My Mom had flown back from NY to IL two days before we got there. My other sister in WI was watching my Mom's dogs.. and got back home from work one day to discover the older dog had raided the trash can. (The can was put in a closed room... but it has those lever handles. He figured out how to open the door.) He was sick... deathly ill. Despite rushing him to the vet and getting him on meds for pancreatitis.. after 2 weeks he had to be put down.. right before Christmas.

 We moved into the small house in town so it is easier for our daughter to get to and from school. The town is so small that kindergarten through 12th grade is all the same building! We met all of the teachers, who we like a lot.. and upon seeing my daughter, the gym teacher ran up and immediately asked "Do you play basketball?!?" She looked like she won the lottery... only to find out her ticket was for the wrong week. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. My daughter is tall.. but coordination is not one of her strong points. 

 My daughter sticks out like a sore thumb at the school. She likes that aspect and sees it as an admirable quality. One of her Christmas gifts was a English-Japanese dictionary... which she was and still is extremely excited about. She's tall, she's pretty... and she's a super geek.

 Well... I'd best get back to tackling things here. This is a quick list of what we are trying to attack 

• large farm house and small house in town.. pipes froze. Fixing the plumbing
• roof on small house was incorrectly done...major leak in the mud room
• roots and cracked sewer line...  oh this one is a gift that just keeps giving
• mold ... due to water in the basement
• 3 houses.. 2 washers are broken, all 3 dryers, furnace in the small farm, 2 water heaters
• cleaning and fixing the small house (was a rental property.. previous tenants were horrid.. all carpets are being replaced due to their pets)
• tracking down our tenant for our place as he moved in and didn't sign a contract
• 2 broken windows

 That's the cliff notes on this chaos. Even though it made the situation that we ended up having Christmas on the 26th and at my sister's house.. we are determined. I made a 24 pound turkey and all of the sides.. lol and my brother-in-law got called off to a fire.. my sister got called in to translate at the jail... both made it back just as I was pulling the bird out of the oven.


 Back to work I go. If anything.. this situation reminds me to not take a lot of things for granted!