We'll be moving, if you need my new address, well, you can e-mail me, but I wont see the e-mail for a few weeks. :-) hehe

Just thought I'd give all my faithful readers a heads up so you don't panic when I fall off the face of the Earth.

My nose is stuffy, my body is weak and tired, I have tons of packing left to do, and we're supposed to load up and move tomorrow. But I haven't even reserved a moving truck yet.

Oh, woe is me!

::cough, cough, hack, hack:: ::sniffle::

My family is out on a quest for a tin pan to heat our turkey in, so I get a brief break to relax. I'll do the cliche thing and blog about.... {drumroll} being Thankful! Stressed and moody as I am, life is pretty good for us just now. We have a roof over our head, we're all (relatively) healthy, plenty of food and good drink to fill our bellies. My children are amazing creatures. Energetic, creative, curious, thoughtful, inventive, caring.... The list goes on and on. My husband is incredible. We've only grown closer over the past 6 years. I feel blessed beyond measure. Though I miss my holiday celebrations with extended family, I haven't much to complain about. I'm busy, a bit tired, but it's all good. It's annoying to have our life so chaotic, but that's the way life goes, right?

One thing after another. I have 6 days to finish packing. Mind if I whine a bit? Lets see....

• We haven't signed our new lease yet. We do have a digital copy of it, but Nick "fixed" the computer, and now it wont print for me.
• The girls keep opening boxes and pulling out things with small parts, scattering them about the apartment. They must be weel mixed and scattered so mom can't easily dump them back in the box, they have to all be found and sorted first.
• I'm not sleeping very well. We seem to be playing musical beds rather often lately.
• The girls are not going to bed very well. Their bedtime is 8, but Jade was asleep at 10 and Nova around 10:30. I managed to get to bed around 11:30, but got us all up around 8 because I wasnted to get the girls up earlier- no more sleeping in (not napping) and then going to bed later.
• It's extremely difficult to plan a Thanksgiving meal and pack a kitchen. I'm planning to go buy a pre-made meal (if they aren't sold out!), but even so, I don't know what to pack and what to leave out. So my kitchen feels cluttered and disorganized.

I'm keeping very busy! Lets see if I can do an update.

We're moving in two weeks. We have to be 100% outta here by 6 pm on the 8th, but the theory is that we'll move the whole first week of December. Of course, we're still not totally certain where we'll be living. Which SUCKS. But, we've turned in our notice, and I'm working hard to get packed up. It doesn't help my progress that I have no vehicle (the Jeep's STILL broken) and my poor kids are starting to go stir crazy. I've succumbed to the "TV sitter." Jade is watching SO much TV, and I feel SO bad about it!

And then there were my trips to the San Francisco Superior Court and DMV this week. Why did I need to go up there? you ask... My liscense got suspended. You see, Nick failed to pay his vehicle registration fee on time, (in May, it's paid now). I unfortunately got ticketed for in in early June. I kept intending to take care of it, and somehow it never got done. And then I forgot about it. So I spent nearly 5 hours at the Courthouse on Monday (with Nick and the girls). Yesterday I took the "abstract" to the DMV while Jade was at her Math/ Science Nucleus class and had my driving priviledges reinstated.

Note to self: Pay vehicle registration ON TIME!!!

Side comment: Nick also has two tickets for non-registration still outstanding, both here in Alameda county. You'd think we'd learn our lesson the first time. Wanna bet he's next?

I got Nova to bed at 8:45, before I left to buy some milk and produce. I came back at 9:50 to silence. Nick is laying in bed with Jade, and they are both snoring gently. Hehe. I've got to do a bit of tidying up around here (we've got a "pre-walk-through" with the management tomorrow) and then I am off to bed. I hope everyone is having a blessed autumn!

You go to check out a potential new home and based your decision on that fact that you can "see yourself birthing there." :-) No, I'm not pregnant, but we did go check out a condo for rent last night and I LOVED it. I am praying that Mary decides to rent to us, because I love this place. It's bright and cheerful, the dinning area has laminate flooring, the bedrooms are spacious, and the best feature- it has a 60 inch oval "jacuzzi" bathtub. OMG, I feel in love. I actually climbed in the tub (empty) to check it out. I told Nick, "I want this condo." The whole place just felt homey to me. Most of the places that I've lived the past 5 years eventually felt like HOME, but never really homey. I could totally see myself living there for a good year or two, if not longer.

So this morning I turned in our 30 day notice and started packing and cleaning like a madwoman. My sink is clean and shiny, and my timer has been set for 15 minute intervals, but I'm got bare feet. ::wink, wink:: I pulled out a weeks worth of clothes for Jade and Nova and packed them in the small suitcase. As their other clothes come out of the wash, I'm either packing them in a box labeled "2T-5T," or "current, Jade/Nova." I'll do the same kind of thing for mine and Nick's clothes.

I feel crappy. I feel hungover. I am suffering cravings. I want pasta. Bread. Chocolate. Cookies. Anything sugary or starchy would do. I'm not actually hungry. I feel "satisfied." I just want sweets.

I was warned I might feel like this. Somehow, I was unprepared. I'm told that I will feel a LOT better soon- within a few days the cravings should subside, and within two weeks my blood chemistry should be much improved. I'll be able to start adding a few more yummy carbs into my diet. Just a few.

This better be worth it.

We're doing well, uh, mostly anyway. We're home from Michigan again. The wedding and reception were amazing and beautiful. We had a lot of fun with the family. The girls now have slight colds. Nothing serious. Nick is his normal goofy self. He's still working for Fantastic, and it looks like he's got a bit of job security for now. We're trying to decide whether or not to renew our lease. I'm NOT looking forward to another move.

I went and saw the doctor again yesterday. She went over the results of my blood tests with me. My glucose was great- 84. But my insulin was way too high- 24 when it should be 6. The way she explained it, my pancreas is working really hard to create insulin (which controls the glucose) because my body isn't responding to the insulin the way it should. Eventually, if I can't get the insulin under control with diet, exercise, and possibly medication, my pancreas will poop out, stop producing the insulin I need to control my blood sugar, and I'll be diabetic. This could happen very soon, or it could take years and years. We're lucky to have discovered it now, because it can be fixed/ managed.

She wants me to try the "South Beach Diet." I'm starting today. It focuses on GOOD carbs and GOOD fats. Moderate amounts of lean meats, eggs, dairy, and LOTS of veggies. But basically no wheat products, sugar, rice, or potatoes for the first 2 weeks. Ack! No fruit either. The idea is to jolt my blood chemistry back to normal. We'll see how I deal with it.

Today I had, for breakfast, 1 hard boiled egg. For brunch, thin cut grilled sirloin with cheese and mushrooms, and V8. For a late lunch, a huge salad with feta cheese, garbonzo beans, 1 tomato, celery, "salad servin's" nuts and baco-bits, and olive and flax oil dressing. Afternoon snacks included a string cheese and 15 pecan halves. Dinner was grilled veal and asparagus on a bed of watery squash. I had another serving of nuts and cheese for a before bed snack since I didn't do a dessert. If I break it into weight watchers POINTS, it's right where I ought to be as far as POINTS, but pretty different from my typical eating pattern. I manage to feel both more satisfied and less. I have a vague headache too, which I suspect is sugar withdrawl.