You had to see me this morning before the realtor arrived for the open house. I was flying around the house, dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the floors of every room, unloading the dishwasher, making sure the laundry room was free of dirty laundry and making sure each room was in show room condition.

I began to feel my stress level increase as I slept in an extra hour. Bobby was volunteering to help with some of the things I was not able to do and we both whipped this place into shape and not a moment too soon. We had the nice soft classical music filling the air, candles were lit in the foyer and family room, cookies and drinks were provided and we were right on schedule. But it also left a very stressed out Debbie. (Sigh, praise, sigh, insert another praise, things were just the way I wanted before we left the house!)

By the time Bobby hollered up to let me know the realtor was here, I was not even dressed. I was literally flying by the seat of my pants and jumped into my jumpsuit as I was clearing the rest of my bathroom counter of all the things that I was using. I was shoving hairspray, toothpaste, the hand mirror, my comb and brush, flat iron, blow dryer and make-up into their designated cabinets and drawers. I made it downstairs in one piece but the stress must have been still hanging on. It was not even 5 min. of visiting with the realtor but what she could tell I was stressed. She calmly told me that it was time to relax and get out and enjoy the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

That is exactly what we did. Bobby took me out for a wonderful lunch in Arlington and we just chilled. It was so relaxing and as I sighed, I heard Bobby ask, “What would my soul mate like to do for the rest of the day?” I replied “I’m doing it, I’m with you and all I want to do is spend the rest of the day together.” Bobby could see my stress level melting away and I finally was able to chill. The rest of the day is ours to loaf and this evening we’re going to work on a project outside in the cool of the evening.

I’m making a mental reminder to never sleep in that extra hour on the day of open house!

I was so touched to get a call from my sweet neighbor Sadie this morning. She’s planning a little going away breakfast for me next Wednesday. She’s inviting all the neighbors surrounding our homes so there should at least be a few of us together to say goodbye.

We live in such a great neighborhood and we are friends with all our neighbors. When I stop to think about everyone I’m really going to miss, there are quite a few people. Bobby and I have been talking about having a “BIG” going away party to have all of our friends over. I have so many friends in my pottery circle, and Bobby has tons of friends too and then we have lots of friends in common. But when it comes right down to it, I don’t really know if we are going to get that party pulled off. There are just not enough weekends between now and the time we leave.

At this stage in the move, some of our wishes are plain and simple just going to have to drop off the list. The most important things rise to the top and we’ll get as much done as we possibly can.

All I know right now is this. Bobby’s first day of work in Owego, NY is on August 27th. And We are also planning a house hunting trip sometime around August 16th.

So, the first and second weekends in August we have our open house. The third weekend in August we will be in NY house hunting. And it looks like the 4th weekend in August will be spent flying to NY for our move at that time. That wraps up our next few weekends in a nut shell. My, oh my, oh my… That’s the first time I looked at it in that perspective and it’s beginning to feel like crunch time.

July 2007 quickly slipped away and it’s already the first day of August. I woke feeling so many emotions and its crazy the thoughts that zoom by. My first and foremost emotion must be EXCITEMENT. I’m so ready to get on with it this month as this is our last month in Texas, so hard to believe. We’re Excited about new beginnings in a brand new area. And it’s so good to finally feel the big wheels turning as Bobby and I are discussing the details daily.

A ‘little’ pang of anxiety here and there doesn’t hurt.

• The realtor scheduled our first “open house” this Saturday and another open house the following weekend.
• The repair man is here fixing the tile as I type, no big deal. But he does not take off his dirty shoes when he enters the house, nor does he use my mat outside to wipe them off. There is red mud tracked all the way up my white carpet stairs and all the way through my bedroom. Be still oh my soul!
• We’re moving everything from the attic to storage so we don’t have to deal with that on move day. Our movers have agreed to physically go to our storage unit (equivalent to a one car garage) and move everything there as well as all the contents in the house, so that helps.
• The rest of the week I plan to clean things completely out of the guest room closets to have them nice for the open house. Then all that stuff will be boxed and taken to storage.
• Bobby plans to take this Friday off so that we can get lots done before the weekend. That helps my anxiety level smooth to a more peaceful state.

The really strange thing I’m feeling right now is disbelief. We are going through all the motions but it’s just not sinking in. I have the feeling that we are going to wake up very soon in NY and not even know what hit us. Big Smiles, but is the day really coming? It sure doesn’t feel like it. We’re really looking forward to our new home sweet home.