A Long Time Coming - Sustainable Motherhood Returns

It has been some time since I've posted...three months to be exact.  While I could probably write a book about the last few months, but for the time being, I've decided the best way to share it is through a brief time line.  Enjoy...

11/22/08

After four months of negotiations, inspections, repairs and waiting, we finally closed on the sale of our house in Greenwood Lake.  That same morning, after only a week of negotiations, I signed the contract on the job that I had arguably been working toward for ten years. 

11/27/08

We celebrated a great Thanksgiving in York, PA.

11/29/08

With the help of family and friends, we moved from Greenwood Lake to our new house in Warwick, that we were renting until the expected close in the middle of December.

12/2/08

I started my new job and joined my husband in the grind of the two hour commute to the city. 

12/5/08 

It snowed a lot.

12/8/08 

My commute home took four hours.

12/14/08 

Twelve inches of snow fell.

12/15/08

We didn't close on the house, but were told not to worry, as it would only be a matter of days.

12/19/08 

Holiday vacation began and I celebrated being off until 1/5.

12/22/08

We didn't close on the house and were told it would probably not happen until after the holidays.

12/25/08 

We celebrated a  great Christmas with our family.

12/26/08 

I celebrated a great birthday with my family.

12/29/08 

We installed all the new light fixtures,= and the custom black out shades, that we knew we shouldn't have bought just yet, but didn't care because we loved the house and we were staying no matter what.

12/30/08 

Despite offering market price for the house, having an approved mortgage, and being "excellent buyers", the bank still didn't approve the sellers' sale of the house. WTF

12/31/08

We celebrated a great New Years with friends at our new house.

1/1/09

We made good use of the black out shades on a very sunny New Years Day.

1/3/09 

We bought a snow blower.

1/5/09 

Back to school began with the Freen pulling my hair out in the morning when I dropped him off at school.

1/6/09 

The Freen cried and pulled my hair out when I left him at school again.  The head of the nursery school assured me this was normal.  I assured her that the Freen had been attending school for the last two years and that this in fact was NOT NORMAL.

1/7/09 

Another ice storm crystalized the fact we had actually moved to Narnia.

1/8/09 

50mph winds blew down the mountain and ripped through our yard, lifting our recycling through the air, spreading it all over our neighbor's ice covered yard at six in the morning, before we even started the commute.  I began to question our decision.

1/9/09 

Still no word from our sellers, so we called our lawyer just to see if we might be able to get out of the contract and he told us there wouldn't be an issue.

1/10/09 

We found a two bedroom, no fee, one month free apartment, on the 31st floor with river views just twenty blocks from my parents. 

1/11/09 

Our babysitter from before we moved out of the city called us to tell us she was looking for a job. 

1/12/09 

The repo man was on the front lawn looking for our sellers, who apparently owned a gray Ford Expedition along with the house we were living in.  I decided it was time to get the hell out of their house.

1/13/09 

Sears took the snow blower back and we got a full refund.

1/14/09 

It snowed 12 inches.  We stayed with my parents in the City for a few days.

1/18/09 

Flat Rate moved all our belongings into the City in the snow.

1/19/09

We unpacked all our belongings again.

1/22/09 - Now

We settled into our new, albeit significantly smaller digs, got the Freen enrolled in summer camp, swim lessons, t-ball and kindergarten (hopefully), and enjoyed a much deserved adjustment period.  

Needless to say December and January were a crazy couple of months and since then we've been catching our breath and wondering why the hell we ever left New York in the first place.  I wish I had been able to blog the whole time, however, priorities being as they are, I had to focus on our lives first.  That said, now I am back and I have the new perspective of living sustainably in the City, which while easier in many ways, also presents its own challenges like $7 half gallons of organic milk and a son who raises his arm for a taxi whenever we leave our building. So stay tuned and thanks for waiting.