Somehow, by the grace of God, in the midst of packing up the house, getting ready for the Alaska trip, and planning a surprise party for my youngest's belated birthday, I interviewed with a preschool, was offered a position teaching 2s two days a week, and just accepted! And get this, the job is one mile from our future home - is that cool or what?! God is sooo good!!

*continues packing with goofy grin*

I am amazed at how well some people respond to change.

The boys' piano teacher, I'd guess he's in his 60s, recently lost his job as worship leader at an area church. He's been having students pass out flyers in an effort to gain more students to replace some income. So this week we walk into the house to a double keyboard stand.

Me: What's this?
Teacher: Oh, that's for my new rock band.
Me: Your what?!
Teacher: My new rock band, I'm playing keyboards now in a rock band. (like it's the most normal thing in the world)

Whoa, OK. I run an errand and return, the boys finish their lesson, and as we're leaving, he asks if we'd like to hear one of the band's songs he's been practicing. Sure! Turns out the band had no sheet music to offer him, so he's been listening to their CD and charting the notes for each song, which in itself is amazing to me. He starts playing "Alone" by Heart. Flashback to the 80s. As the chorus starts, I lean over Lucas and whisper in his ear, "I could so embarrass you right now" because of course inside my head I was belting out the lyrics, as I could recall every one of them, and later proceeded to do so in the car to the chagrin of my children. Other songs on the playlist: Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, Van Halen's Jump, Bob Seeger's Old Time Rock and Roll, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, and many more.

You can catch the band here in Lewisville this weekend. The boys seriously want to go hear him play... if I promise not to sing!

We had our potential house inspected this weekend. The verdict: not too bad, aside from the 22 windows plus 2 skylights that need to be replaced, and one mystery plumbing issue. I'm trying to coordinate window people out to give us estimates so we can turn around and show that to owners for some $$ off the house. We have until midnight Thursday to back out.

I mentioned to some of you at VBS last week that someone was living in the house, even though we had been told it was unoccupied. Turns out they were Castle Keepers, people who live in homes on the market and take care of them, keeping them clean, lawns watered, utilities paid, etc. We met part of the family Saturday. He is a pastor at Northpoint Church in Plano. Sweet deal for them, really (except for the fact that we've only given them 2 weeks' notice to find another place to live!). They've been Castle Keepers a few years now; the program has helped them put their two daughters nearly through college at Baylor. He was able to share utilities and neighborhood info, even gave us the scoop that the boys could walk down the alley (just for garbage pickup) and come out at the elementary school - it would have taken me at least a month to figure that out!

I'm supposed to be packing this week. If all this really happens, we have to be out in 10 days. So what am I doing today? We're off to the lazy river and Hawaiian Falls!

... because if I type this out in paragraph form, it will overwhelm me, it has happened too fast. A list makes it seem possibly achievable in some alternate universe:

1. We got an offer on our house.
2. If the buyer has his druthers, we'll be out 25 days from now!
3. We have to pick a house Monday or Tuesday, because our realtor is closing on her old house/new house and moving later this week!!!

The freak-out, characterized by alternating moods of elation, fear and grief that are alienating me from my family, has begun!

*edit - Monday morning... I'd much rather be on my way to Hawaiian Falls and the lazy river than going to look for the house... something is wrong with me!*

So school's over for me, summer has arrived, and so far I have spent it mostly cleaning the house and going to physical therapy for my tendonitis.

The first day of therapy, it feels like months ago but is probably more like 6 or 7 weeks, I met a lady with the same condition, only she actually plays tennis. I remember her chatting with the therapists and techs and telling me therapy was akin to having coffee with your girlfriends. I thought she was insane. Therapy to me meant discomfort and inconvenience.

But in the course of therapy I've gotten to know a lot of people, there's not much else to do but talk or read People magazine. One of the techs, Lena, she's studying to be an occupational therapist, goes to school in Denton but lives in Carrollton, not too far from me. I discovered a week or so ago that she went to McKamy Elementary, where the boys go. Small world. Today we got into more detail:

Me: Do you remember any teachers you had at McKamy?
Lena: Just one. Mrs. Swain. *makes a face*
Me: You're kidding me? Both of my boys had her. She's really strict.
Lena: Not just strict, mean. She used to send me to Asia.
Me: What? She used to what?!
Lena: It was like time out. Each corner was a different continent. Antarctica was 5 minutes, South America was 10 minutes, Asia was like 15 minutes.
Me: You are kidding me! And you remember this?! (Lena's 25 I think)
Lena: Oh yeah. She'd say to me, "Lena, do you want to go to Asia?"

Wow, I guess certain teachers really make an impression. Any teacher in your life that left such a mark? I only remember the good ones, like Miss Bartell in first grade, loved her. Must have blocked out the unpleasant ones. Of course, maybe I'd remember them if they'd sent me to Asia...