I hate getting too personal on my blog. I know there is so much room for problems to arise when I open up myself, but I just have to share/vent with you all about the last month of insanity in my life. It's so unbelievable I don't even know how to write about it without it sounding like a bad mini-series plot. But I will do my best...
...
You already know we decided to move. It was one of those completely random things that just popped up, and was too, too awesome of an opportunity to pass on. That's where it all started. Because of the timing and various other factors, we had about 12 days to pack our entire house and get this done. Okay. No big deal, right? It was stressful and insane, and I had NO IDEA we had SO MUCH CRAP.
So the packing continues... all the while I'm trying to plan guest blogs, finish up my etsy shop orders, close down my shop and pack up all my "Little Birdie" paraphernalia. Somewhere in this period of 12 days, I find out about 18 of my already shipped out orders have just disappeared. {INSERT PANIC ATTACK}
I'm emailing buyers, I'm calling the post office, I'm calling Paypal, I'm doing anything I can think of while I UNPACK my shop and try to re-make all of these orders to be re-sent out. Before we move. I am beside myself... completely.
Come to find out, our mail person has been stealing/stashing/doing who-knows-what with the mail for weeks. WEEKS. I had no idea that ACTUALLY happened in real life. Thankfully, there were others in our route who had the same problems, enabling the USPS to identify the problem, arrest the mail carrier and launch an investigation in hopes of tracking down all the "lost" mail and pressing federal fraud charges against her. All of my U.S. orders go out via carrier pick up, so I knew then I was totally screwed. More emailing, more phone calls...
Finally I have to re-pack all the Little Birdie stuff, keeping aside all the unfinished business of the previous predicament so I can jump right in when we land at our new home.
At last we reach the weekend of the big move...
FRIDAY: We move. YAY! {but there was only a short celebration...} The cable company screwed up the internet installation. Then they mis-charged us for what we ordered. {insert phone battle} 3 days later, all is well.
SATURDAY: rest
SUNDAY: more rest {seriously, it was like I was in a walking coma... too much work/stress leading to the move and I just could not go anymore.}
MONDAY: Finished tying up all the loose ends from the USPS fiasco. Luckily my buyers are all incredibly understanding about it all, but I send them free gifts anyway for not kicking me to the curb. :) Whew. Then.. Oh crap, we're all supposed to go out of town tomorrow. {insert frantic packing} Of course, never mind the fact that we've never made a road trip, or any kind of long distance/long time trip for that matter with the baby. Let alone BY MYSELF for 8 hours with the baby AND the dog.
TUESDAY: Load up the car and leave, 7:30AM
Now the next several days were not so bad. Surprisingly, the drive wasn't horrible and the baby was mellow and cool as always. I should never doubt her awesomeness. Also, I got to hang with my totally awesome parents, they got some great quality time with Baby A, and I got some MUCH NEEDED R&R while Grampa and GiGi took the reins.
We head back home about a week later, another easy trip with an angel baby. Thank you, Lord.
Once we're home, the in-laws decide to bestow an incredible gift upon us. A brand new set of front-loading washer/dryers! Absolutely incredible! They're ordered and expected to arrive in under 2 weeks. We unload the old set that is seriously on it's last thread, and wait excitedly.
FRIDAY: Delivery guys arrive. With TWO washing machines and no dryer. More phone calls... no one knows what happened. Also, no one knows how to fix it.
Many, many, MANY phone calls later the problem is resolved and a new dryer on order to arrive in about 2 more weeks. Ugh. Luckily, we were able to coerce Best Buy into loaning us a dryer in the meantime, as we had already been without laundry for 2 weeks waiting on the first set, and there was NO WAY we were going to make it another 2 weeks. Let' just say this: Don't mess with a chick and her laundry.
At this point, I'm thinking: "Okay, I'm going to start moving towards reopening my shop." I start unpacking and working, and start writing some blogs again just to get back in the swing of things.
YESTERDAY: New dryer has made it to the warehouse in town and is ready for delivery. Oh wait, they ahve the wrong address somehow!! Operator lady tells me it will take 2 WEEKS to fix the paperwork and submit the address change. Seriously? Changing a delivery address takes 2 weeks? Come on!! {More phone calls...}
TODAY: Best Buy finally has their act together, and tells the delivery company to get theirs together too. Delivery scheduled for Tuesday. Almost a month later.
Plus, there were alot of "little" things that happened too...
Old washer leaked all over the laundry room. Ruined baseboards.
Old dryer goes on the fritz, shrinks all of hubby's work clothes.
Printer stopped working. No idea why.
Dog got fleas. Trip to vet. Treated house and yard.
Baby's first birthday. Mommy frantically trying to put together a nice party. (Success! Pics to come!)
Oh yeah, did I mention that we are also in the middle of a HUGE drought in Texas? We are. Like, big red signs about getting-arrested-if-you're-even-seen-lighting-a-match, huge. As much as it's an inconvenience, it's not a big deal in day-to-day life. It does, however, affect the weather. It's literally too hot to rain. Instead, we get huge thunder bumping clouds, crazy lightning, and the best part... rolling black outs. When it's 100+ degrees outside. For days. Not cool... in more than one way.
Needless to say, shop opening is postponed while we figure out a way to deal with the heat, and the sporadic cutting in and out of electricity and subsequently, internet access. I'm really, REALLY starting to get down on myself because things just keep coming at us. I'm feeling like I'm never going to get my shop opened back up, my blog is all but abandoned, and the most ego-damaging part: I'm seeing my readership decline. :( I worked hours and hours a day {day and night really} to make my blog an interesting place to visit, now I feel like I'm having to start over.
Clearly we've had some issues in the past 6 weeks. Things I could have NEVER in my wildest dreams foreseen, and yet I am still optimistic. I suppose I am offering up this post as an apology. An apology for not getting it together sooner. An apology for letting life knock me down at your expense. However, this is also a promise. I'm posting it here so I am accountable. The following is my pledge to you all:
I am seriously pulling my sh*t together this weekend and getting things back on track.
Simple as that. I refuse to let anything else get in the way of allowing me to get back to doing what I love: creating. It's going to be a process for sure, and I have lots of ideas of how to be better, so I hope the 213 of you that are left here will stick around to see it. I miss you all terribly... Thanks for sticking it out with me. :)
For now I will leave you with this...
The night we moved in, I dug out these elements specifically to help us get off on the right foot in our new home. Love, Happiness, and some good smellin' Scentsy. ;) It's amazing what a pretty and meaningful vignette can do for your outlook every day. Even my sweet-but-usually-oblivious-to-decor hubby took notice right away. I'll spare you the details but sweet kisses ensued as he told me how much he loved me and was so happy to be starting the next phase of our lives together in our new home.
Me too. :)
XOXO
