alternate reality

blogging got put on the back burner for a bit while we lived in that other dimension. not sure where that is, but it didn't feel like real life. i don't think we've quite made it back to the plane we used to be on, but i suspect there is some sort of progress in that direction. i just haven't been able to experience it visually yet.

i haven't thought of school or grocery shopping or blogging or cleaning house or paying bills or talking to recruiters or buying kid clothes or meal plans or weekly schedules or paperwork or birthdays or the upcoming holiday or editing/uploading photos or a MILLION other things i would normally be thinking about. the only thing i have been processing in my pea-sized brain is directions and hotel reservations. we spent 5 days on interstate 40. it was a breath of fresh air compared to the real life we left behind and the real life we will soon have to face. windows were rolled down, feet were on the dash, music was turned up loud, and kids were bee-boppin'. we discovered that cracker barrel can feed a family of six cheaper than anything we've ever found. and now that we're 'cracker-barreled out' i'm definitely looking forward to rediscovering all my kitchen items and finally cooking something again. eating out for 3 weeks is a bit much for my stomach. poor doc M has no kitchen is his abode for the time he's in indiana. but that's a whole separate blog entry in and of itself.

we raced across the 2867 miles to beat our moving truck here. we were told it was landing on sunday, and it pleasantly showed up on saturday afternoon instead. we were glad it was early for sure, but not at all happy that we had to rent a last-minute uhaul because the driver refused to bring the large truck into our development! we had lots of help unloading and the colored dots on all our boxes proved very helpful. i'm not sure where all our belongings will go. there definitely isn't enough space and i can hardly find the carpet anywhere in here, but i suppose we'll find somewhere for it all.

we attended church in our new ward for the first time today. everyone was very friendly and it's a plus that we met some people that completely understand our journey, as they have travelled it also. the doc and luigi will be arising SUPER early to head to the church tomorrow morning. they have to be there no later than 4am to meet everyone and carpool to the area where all the boys will catch the ferry to catalina island for their week of scout camp. after almost 4 months of planning and arranging, the time has finally come!

now eligible

scores came in the mail yesterday from the first round of boards - the written part. it's been a long wait. how fitting that they arrived on the day of the graduation dinner. HIP HIP HOORAY! we read passing scores! of course i never had any doubts. but for some reason doc macgyver was worried. he studied so hard all year, in the midst of everything else that was going on. the kind of discipline i could only dream of attaining. i used to talk of being a brain surgeon when i was in college. always loved that squishy, windy, brain matter. but no way would i have ever made i through all of this. SO proud of my man! now we're excited that we can pay a $100 fee to be eligible to pay another $1250 for the next part of the exam that takes place in boston in october. woohoo! we're so privileged!

"i'm doing my baby steps Dr. M"

i sure miss my movies. they've been packed for almost 3 months now. but i can finally visualize taking them out of their box and putting them on a shelf in our new home! we have an address in SD. hip hip hooray! o me of little faith. long story, but the place we wanted that we were told we didn't qualify for because of income... they changed their minds as a result of someone else's influence. in the same day we listed the house with a realtor and got a showing and found contract work for doc M for july. the following day we sold the accord (verbally - still need to get our money) and got a bunch of basement packing done with help from a friend. i've also done some initial research into the job options for 2010 and am now inundated with phone calls and emails from recruiters. i had no idea joint-trained surgeons were in such high demand. such a bummer i got so grumpy and forgot to have faith. small puzzle pieces are falling in front of us. we're finally being able to arrange them in their place.

chef E

our house has been overrun with homemade goodies the past few months. sweets are definitely NOT my fave. i much prefer a huge bowl of fresh popped popcorn over desserts. but the stuff that is made from scratch by my almost teenager is quite heavenly. we've had brownies, eclairs, pop tarts, raisin bread, cinnamon rolls, garlic bread sticks, pizza, and probably other things i'm forgetting. today he is making oreos from scratch. oreos? i had no idea you could make those naturally. we're hoping he's headed for culinary arts school in the future. i could definitely use an 'in' to the catering world once i start entertaining for doc macgyver!

down to the wire

so i'm curious... what's the minimum amount of time a person can pack up about 1900 sq ft plus garage and attic and basement and yard? and does blogging help the process? i'm just wondering. and what's the minimum amount of time someone can find a place to live for 6 people when they're about 3000 miles away? would 10 days cut it? i can picture myself faxing rental apps from hotels while we're on our drive to SD. who in the world has 3 times the rent in net income? we were told last night by one place that our current income wouldn't even be enough, let alone what we'll make when we get to SD. is this going to be the story from here on out? perhaps i can find a hotel room for us to live out of for 12 months.

HS: science curriculum faves

i thought perhaps i should post something semi-informative again, instead of continually reporting on our chaotics lives. so this is what we do for science around here...

when i first began, almost 3 years ago, (wow! has it been that long already?) i got a general science book that was arranged chronologically. the theory would be that it would follow the timeline of history studies and be more cohesive to the kids. well the general science book was teaching evolution and i just wasn't ready for that. it's not that i don't want them to know about evolution. i think it's good to know about all kinds of theories, even if i don't personally believe in them. but because i'm so limited in my actual scriptural knowledge, i knew i would not be able to explain away evolution with scripture references as support. so i quickly sold that book and found another.

i was VERY excited to find the APOLOGIA science books. they are creation-based and they have small activities and experiments already built in to each lesson! i was so glad i didn't have to go hunting for a science experiment book that matched each of our lesson topics! these books read right to the student, so the kids can even read them independently. each lesson is very thorough in what it covers, and this line of books can carry my kids all the way through high school. the kids love them. they have great colorful pictures and are easy to understand. i love that they talk about God and have scripture references occasionally. here are the ones we did this year:

there are just a few topics here and there that apologia doesn't cover. so i was on the hunt for something that would fill in the gaps. i wanted to at least brush on these other subjects before they hit high school science. i found another creation-based series called GOD'S DESIGN that i think will be just what we need. it's not as thorough as apologia, but the topics are good and the pictures are nice. each lesson can be as long or as short as you want, so i'm really excited about the flexibility. here's the one that we're starting next week:

check out the websites to see each line's full spectrum of books. hope you find something that will work for you!

more laughs

if i keep laughing, perhaps a new term could be created instead of the one called 'bad news'. i just awake each morning wondering what we'll hear of next. rentals are flying by quickly in san diego, now just as we're starting to look seriously. of course they've been sitting since march, but not now!! each time i call on a place, there are already applications in on it. and the CA licensing process is beginning ALL over again from scratch. more fingerprinting, more forms, more transcripts, more notaries. for some reason, neither the fellowship program nor the allopathic medical board in CA felt the need to explain to us that there are 2, YES TWO, medical boards in the state of CA. The wrong one had doc M's paperwork since february and didn't notify him until yesterday that they couldn't process it!!! and we have also been informed by the lender that holds our equiline, that they will NOT release the lien on our property and allow us to pay them the remaining balance later. they will force the short sale. since no one is interested in renting the place, i guess we'll be turning the house over to a realtor in less than 3 weeks. can everyone still hear me laughing?

minds made up?

decisions, decisions, decisions. do we sell? do we lower the price? do we use a realtor? do we short sell? do we stop making our payments? do we rent? how long of a lease should we require? do we offer a rent-to-own? do we split up until the house is sold or rented? do we fly luigi out to SD for camp?

it seems that we've been trying to answer all of these questions for weeks now. and not just once, but over and over again. we make one decision, and after that doesn't pan out, the questions have to be revisited and decisions have to be made once more. it's exhausting i tell you.

in re-evaluating yet again last week, we have decided that we should not separate. we have decided we will not fly luigi out for scout camp. we have decided that we will leave on june 20th regardless of the situation with the house. i haven't a clue how these decisions are going to work from a financial standpoint. well, the truth is, they won't. but we've finally made up our minds at least. or have we?