Approaching our last night in "Chateau St. Peter," things are looking a little...well...lets just say I'd walk away with anything living and leave the rest to nature.

Although I did my best to make this hole look like home, when you pile it all up (just as fast as your three year old tears it apart) it looks like a bunch of junk.  Thats where I'm at.  Around eleven last night (way past my bedtime), I left things at this...hoping it would all make sense in the morning.

While a little brighter and THANK GOD without the snow predicted, the haphazard mountains remain, and it looks like I need one more trip to the grocery store to beg for free boxes.

We've been hitting up the produce employees hard this week.  Omar (wears a white shirt indicating management), is our usual box retriever.  He lets us roll right in to the bowels of the grocery store and practically get our own.  When Omar isn't there, Axel isn't afraid to announce, "Mom, thats not the right guy."  But, beggars can't be choosers and whatever Omar's substitute hands over, we're happy to fill with our...crap...ok, worldly possessions.

The movers come tomorrow.  Will I be ready?  Depends on Axel's agenda for the day.

Recognize this?  It's that pile that you're not really sure what to do with.  Call it the "junk drawer" exposed.

Sanity minus one month and I'll be moving into my new digs...my new stomping grounds... and christening a new kitchen.  While I love that this apartment allows me storage in the oven and sewing right on the counter top, I am looking forward to reinventing my culinary passions (or culinary frustrations if you will).  I may even buy myself a new apron to sweeten the deal (similar to buying new running shoes to get me on the streets...it lasts a few weeks at most).

So, as I'm sure that we'll ride into Sartell on a wave of take-out and frozen foods, soon the unpacking will be finished and I'll be cooking up Eggplant Parmesan and Fried Avocado Bites (yup, I've been thinking about those two for a while now).

Recent news would include Axel teaching himself to use the computer at the library.  Headphones and all, his tiny hands work the mouse and he follows the on-screen directions.  I have no idea how he learned such skills as he has never taken an interest in the home computer (just something he decided to do I guess).  Also, Jahred and I were suckered into a trip to "Build a Bear" (magically expensive I assure you), but we came home with another addition to the plush family named "Stuff"?  Maybe he chose the name because to add the "stuffing" to his friend he got to exhibit his mad sewing-machine-foot-pedal-action-moves.  It's almost like a game of chicken we play.  At random my little ankle biter sneaks under the sewing/kitchen table and adds a burst of pressure to the foot...my reflexes are improving!

As a final piece of interest, Oscar, the most ignored Beagle on the block, has waged a protest against all things material.  As in the past, once he notices the boxes, things disappearing, and furniture being rearranged (so that it's easier to hoist out the door), he starts to get all territorial.  Poor dog, he has no idea how green his own grass is on the other side!  Surely he'll be doing a little "christening" of his own.

An accepted purchase agreement means just one thing...time to sweet-talk the moving crew!

Jahred and I have been very blessed with a full team of movers who with little complaining have carried our things all over Minnesota.  We have yet another favor to ask!

For one of our first moves, we bought 40 large rubber tubs from a big-box store in hopes of using them again and again.  They have been a life saver...although with the addition of a dog and a child, 40 no longer does the trick.

A few bins have been added throughout the years, but as I'll be hanging my moving shoes up for a while, it's time to hit the local grocer for some complimentary cardboard.

I scored these just today...Apple boxes!

Whew...provided there are no delays, these babies will be unpacked May 5th, in a home thats new...at least to us!

Well, the offer is in, and the ball is in the hands of Mr. "606 Scenic Drive."

Trying to be vague on the details until all is final, we are really getting close to our new beginning in greater Minnesota.  Jahred is one-and-a-half weeks away from his debut as an RN with the Surgical Services Unit at Saint Cloud Hospital.  A large hospital with over 4300 employees, they offer outstanding benefits and seem to be such a friendly place to work (the gift shop is outstanding)!

Last week, Jahred, Axel and I spent a day in the area looking for what Axel calls a "garage house."  We trudged through 15 houses; enough is enough.  Today, while Jahred met with hospital administrators, I looked at our favorite house "one more time."

I am really feeling the "house number five" confidence as I now realize, it isn't our "dream home" I'm in search of; it's simply a place to store the things we gather while living our "dream life."

When we moved into our rental nearly one year ago, I discovered quickly that I had very few requests of our next home.  I need: four exterior walls of my own, a thermostat that we can control, toilets that flush more than one-out-of-five flushes, and a place for my boys to play.  The house we offered on today has those things and more.

I completely forgot to take pictures.  Here are a few defining characteristics...promises of photos to follow:
 - fenced, large yard
 - four bedrooms (one large enough for a king size bed...finally)
 - two bathrooms (one for boys and one for girls...haha, I'm the only girl)
 - two stall garage, with shop, that may be large enough for the bike Axel is coveting out of the Target catalog
 - a raised garden box in the back yard
 - a piano wall
 - plenty of boredom busters (wallpaper stripping)

So, the offer is in and hopefully we'll get the all clear soon.  I'm trying to be emotionally detached until we hear from the owner...emotional detachment has never been one of my strong points.

This little peanut was given to me (I'm afraid upon my seemingly desperate request) from a dear Mankato friend.  Plants seem to be the one possession not on the purging block lately.  Because I'm not quite ready to reveal where we'll be headed (for fear of jinxing it), I spend this post fully realizing what I will be leaving behind.

The last decade of my life, amounting to more than 1/3 of my total life, has been spent right here in Southern Minnesota.  If you are a follower of my blog you'll recall the love/hate relationship I have with this geographical region; I'm sure not unlike many of you, feeling trapped in the wrong city at the wrong time.  Is it always right before you leave that you realize you were in the exact right city during the exact right times?

With a few tears, I realize that it is here, where I became a wife, a mother and an ever-grateful pet owner.  In these county lines we've received priceless education that will carry us for careers and promotions to come.  Perhaps most importantly it was Saint Peter and then Mankato that introduced me to college friends who have watched my metamorphosis without judgement, and life friends that I never thought I could meet.

Because I never count my chickens before they hatch, I am now counting my blessings, that have hatched and never fled my nest.  To dear friends and places...what if I never would have met you?

Today could be the first day of a beautiful Minnesota spring.  +40 degrees makes this (formerly) Southern Minnesota girl real happy.  Axel and I shared the most lovely picnic under a blanket on our balcony for supper.  I'm not sure if he was ecstatic because his mom finally did something cool by him (it's been a long stressful winter), or if there's something Minnesota sun holds over Florida sunshine.

One of the biggest things I'll have to move this time around is my heart.  Good friends and times are hard to come by.  Despite pressure from the oil industry, my car will certainly have many "friend miles" in the future.  That's alright by me.  As for the plant?  She'll make the move.  Hopefully when restored to a radiant version of herself, I'll convince the original owner to come up for a visit to claim her.

Am I the only "grad school" wife to think that upon graduation all the struggles will end?  Could I have been so deluded to assume that a job would magically slap itself in front of us as he walked across the stage?  Wow, I've clearly not learned the lessons of "shit economy"/life.

So, for the last few weeks I've been scouting and Jahred has been applying.  I'm sorry to say that Mr. Job Wonderful has yet to arrive but with so many irons in the fire, eventually it should spark...right?

A special "shout out" and a HUGE "thank you" to our many helpers who are pounding the doors of human resource departments...please keep knocking!

Aside from all of that business, last weekend we took an Axel "time out" and got to some fun things we've been meaning to do.  For x-mas, we were given a membership to "Under Water World" at the Mall of America.  I have been dying to go...so Friday we took Axel to visit the sharks.  He bit...big time...and would have stayed all day.  Lucky for him, we have a whole year of aquatic fun ahead of us!

Also this weekend we took him to a pool.  We miss the summer pool at Grandpa and Grandmas so it was nice to see him jump right in and remember the beauty of water.  Wanting to capture the moment I busted out the camera, only to be shot down by a junior lifeguard.  Apparently, cameras are no longer allowed at the public pool since a pervert was taking pictures of kids.  WHAT THE HELL?  Sometimes I wonder what America is coming to.  The land of the free, and the home of "don't you dare take a picture of your own kid".  I understand the rule, but wonder with all the discreet picture taking devices how this can possibly be enforced.

So...for a change, only a small disappointment this weekend and this time not in hospital administration, but at society as a whole.  I find broad spectrum blame to be most helpful in these stressful situations, but I'm glad to say that our "weekend retreat" was helpful.

Monday morning, time to hop on the job sites.  Have a wonderful week...please pray for spring.