Laundry running... Packing...cleaning Good-bye dinner out at another of our favorite local restaurants

We experienced a bit of that when we were home for 2 months in 2017. Grocery shopping (believe it or not) is the most stressful activity. Clothes shopping was much easier. June and July are going to be a blur... August will be the first time we have to just stop for a moment. And that is when it will hit. Thankfully, we have several people we know already in the area, and some friends moving there with us. We won't be completely alone, but it will still be a bit overwhelming. +

Honestly, this is how I feel right now. But, I've already gone through 2/3 of the stuff... the last 1/3 is killing me!

Swimming. I'm a swim coach 😄

I'm about 2 weeks away from hopping on a flight back to Virginia (assuming orders get cut, and flights get arranged). All signs point to eventual relocation to a home in Virginia Beach. We are bartering our labor in renovating a 30 year old home that is currently vacant. This will be a huge help, but I will still need to work. My husband is waiting for 2 promotions at his work to be announced. It would really help if he got one of these -- but I will still need to work. Please keep our family in your prayers as we go through this huge move. Initially, it will just be the girls and I, the boys will follow with our dog in 2-3 weeks, with my husband following about 3-4 weeks later. My oldest son and my husband will be living in VA Beach (hoping my son can get a summer job...as college costs are looming), with the dog. The four youngest kids will live with me in Fredericksburg for most of the summer. I will be interviewing for four (3) jobs at the end of May. These are all coaching positions. I have no idea what to expect regarding compensation. One job is most likely in Norfolk (one of the major assistants just left her head coaching position at a local university, not sure why -- not sure if there is something wrong and she's backing away from all coaching, or just the university position), another job is in VA Beach or Chesapeake, and the last one is a combination position which includes a head coaching job at a high school and then assistant work at the club level (in VA Beach & Chesapeake). The head coaching job may also involve teaching. It's a lot of change that will happen very quickly on top of everything else. I'm really nervous about the schedule, excited about having a paid coaching job -- but I also need some time to take care of me (which I really haven't had much of for 6 years, as I've done so much volunteering and fundraising to make the kids' activities here happen -- I'm out of shape, and need to get a better handle on school and home management). Thank you for being such a continued source of support these past 15 years -- I'm looking forward to being a more regular face here again.

As the east coast wakes up, it will be greeted by gibberish and clutter.

School Get clothing wherever it needs to go (now that it's cleaned out, some goes to the recycle bin, and some goes to new homes) Pack up winter clothes for household goods. Shoes for orphanage collection. Last 2 hand-me-down bins labeled and returned to storage area for packing. Laundry Kitchen Bathrooms Swimming

I feel the pain... it's been 3 years already for me (LEGOManiac's Junior/Senior year, then DD's Junior year, applications this fall taking us into her senior year -- and then PokeMan starts! At least I don't have NCAA mess with PokeMan!

Girls Clothes (from the basement) are all done now. We have one empty bin I'm packing their winter clothes for THIS fall (so it goes with our Household Goods (vs. on the plane, like we had to do moving here). Bin of Shoes (these will pretty much all go away) Take PonyGirl to base school to fill out AP work Take PokeMan to base to get paperwork done for part 2 of his Eagle Project Home -- collect rest of the family to go see Endgame No laundry today... I ran my one load. It'd done. Moving on 😄

PonyGirl got into USCGA's "AIM" summer program. While we wait on the scholarship decision, I need to look at driving, and possibly stopping by some colleges on the way there. Potential stops: Princeton Dartmouth College (yes, I know it's beyond where she's headed...but we have friends there) Swarthmore Smith Vassar Washington & Jefferson Anyone here live around these schools who might be willing to put up with 2-3 people for a night in July? Our HHG may have arrived, so I may be looking at campsites, too. Whoo-hoo for Coast Guard!

I only require MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Publisher, Adobe programs and coding are electives.

Just overseeing packing... I am pretty much all caught up with main laundry. The little girls' room is ready to pack into suitcases. The dressers are empty and ready to go to new homes in town. We start the bins of clothes tomorrow. Then, I get to wash, dry and fold untold pounds of clothing. We have four bags ready to leave to the bins for clothing recycling, and roughly the same amount leaving the house for others. Boys' room clothes (oldest's are done -- just the youngest). Note to self: remind son to take allergy medicine prior to cleaning under things. Swimming & Lifeguarding class (I'll be sitting on base until 8pm tonight) That's all she wrote today.

Laundry (I actually have empty baskets -- but I also have HUGE bags of clothes that we're selling/giving away that need to be washed. I'm thinking of just going to base to get it all done). Clean out my closet (I didn't get to this yesterday) Swim Scouts Commissary **Update** Closet mission accomplished. 1/2 my closet clothes are gone, I cleaned off 3 shelves, 2 bins from under my bed, and my dresser (which contains all of my clothes I wear regularly, because I'm at the pool all day). I did not get rid of many favorites I haven't worn here, mostly because I haven't had occasions to wear them. But, I'm satisfied. Now, to get my husband to get rid of half of his clothes! (I also got rid of 3 pair of shoes... considering I only own 10 pair, that's a significant number)

I was up at 0500. Not because I wanted to, or because I needed to. I'm blaming my age. Laundry (on load #6) Worked on my resume Sent emails w/resume to various teams Followed up on meet entries for meets in May and June Worked on Concessions Binder for Tiger Sharks Followed up on Naples Clinic Schedule with Clinician Took boys to Lifeguard Class on one base; Daughter to the other base, as she will be seeing Avenger later today with her friends). Make breakfast/ate/cleaned up, watched a movie with little girls. Worked on some more paperwork, delaying heading upstairs to work on clothing sort with little girls (they have to finish putting the clothes away from yesterday first) Go upstairs, hand my phone to younger daughter to photograph all of her outfits to attempt to sell; help middle daughter do her keep/pass down or sell/toss pile; make sure her pile is photographed. Bag up clothes to be sold. Put toss clothes in a bag to go to the giant orange bin. Go through my clothes... attempt to be ruthless. Put my toss clothes in a bag to go to the giant orange bin, or give away. (my goal is to empty 2 plastic bins and 2 plastic shelving units, and lose about 1/3 of the clothes in my closet. Shower/get ready for dinner out. If I'm lucky, I have time for a 1 hour cat nap. Late nights and early mornings just don't agree with me, and I'm currently very tired despite 2 cups of caffeine.

School Work on concessions binder for swim team (I've also been asked to coach the new coach a bit more actively -- I'm not sure how that will work) Swim Pick up oldest from work Go out to dinner with friends Saturday is a BIG day.

You keep calling me to tell me this is my LAST chance to consolidate my student loans, and that if I don't respond in 48 hours, the offer will be withdrawn. Well, Karen, I haven't had a student loan payment since I was 24. My husband never had a student loan, and my son doesn't have a student loan. I'm not interested in a lower payment plan (unless you would like to give me money instead). And, for the record, my 48 hours has been up for months. Please stop calling me.

Bionicles.. oh the Bionicles... we have the movies on our media server...the song is on my spotify account... my DOG is named after a Bionicle.

You'll have to pry LEGOManiac's out of his cold, dead hands. He still plays with his... My husband was upset his mom got rid of his. I'm not sure how PokeMan will feel. My girls would also be horrified if I got rid of theirs. So -- I will be keeping all of our LEGOs, at every age (Mega Blocks -- the big ones for the Toddler crowd; Duplos; and the small, foot-killing things that have littered my house for nearly 15 years.

School Swim Laundry, Pack & Clean... about a month to go until we're in VA again! Working on Concession Binder for the team Work on Swim Camp for the team

We were notified by the school here where she took the test. Online, it looks like anyone who had a score of 212 or better should be in the Commended range (compass prep article). We are 99.9% certain PonyGirl won't advance (probably needs a 222-223 in our area, has a 220)

We wore whatever was comfy, although tried to dress on the better side (no ripped jeans, holy t-s, short-shorts... etc.). Most of our tours involve a LOT of walking, comfortable shoes and clothes were a must (plus, we went in the heat of the summer... lightweight clothing was also a must!). I could see dressing differently if there were going to be interviews, smaller group, specialized tour or something (my kids did dress a bit more nicely when they were meeting with department chairs, or honors program advisers -- but we knew about those meetings in advance).

TWTMA offers a course that does portions of WWS1, 2 and 3 over the course of a year. It was excellent for my oldest son (All of my others have gone through 1-2-3 in 7th-9th). I'd say it's good that way, or 8-10th, too. If you're trying to get them to a particular place, you could continue WWS through the summer and consolidate the time as well.

We're finished with AP math and sciences. DD knows she will do AP Eng. Lit. We're trying to decide on the others (Gov't, Econ, Psych and German). Unfortunately, we know we have to decide much earlier (which is a real pain). We were hoping to see how things go and once she has a better idea of which school she'd be going to deciding on CLEP or AP at that point. Her math courses won't be altered (she's taking two not sure if it's DiffyQ or Linear Algebra or Discrete Math), but I also wanted her to have a bit of an easier load after this year, and have some more "fun" electives. We are absolutely done with science. I don't think any of the APs we might do are necessarily difficult ones, but it's more the whole process of preparing and studying. I think we are both burned out on APs at the moment (I do think she's going to crush all of them this year! About 4 weeks to test days!)

My daughter took it as a sophomore. If a student has the science and math background, and is motivated and interested, I could see doing it younger.