Waiting, and waiting, and waiting

So we are still waiting for the "official" offer from the Zurich office. Approval from the powers that be in Baltimore was just the first (or third, i've lost count) step in moving abroad. But don't you worry! The list pile is growing by the day and we have already started improvements on the house to get it ready to sell. So far we have touched up some paint, painted the windows (that we bought 3 years ago), painted the front door trim and the basement door, and started replacing the deck.

Sidenote- we should have done all of this years ago because it desperately needed to be done. But we had a kid instead.

On the Marion front, she decided she did not want her picture taken professionally for her 18 month portraits on Friday or Saturday. My mom and I tried two different places and she flipped out at each. We think she is scared of the big white disk used to do the flash. It is all very odd since she hammed it up less than 6 months ago! Anyway, her 18 month pics will have to be taken by myself and Brian and submitted into her baby book with a footnote.

So, pictures will be posted later this week of her in her Halloween costume. Until then, enjoy this little video of Little Miss and the Caddyshack Gopher.


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Purge Cycle #1

Well, we had a yard sale this past Saturday. I'm sure our first of many as we get ready to move. We collected an assortment of things from our home to prepare for this sale over the past month. And when I say "assortment", I mean anything in the house we could grab that we don't want to have to pack or move. This is what our living room and dining room looked like the week before the event:

How did we collect all of this stuff? How did we fit all of this in our house? Why does it feel like we haven't made a dent into anything? Truly, these are the mysteries of life.

Somehow we managed to get it all set up and ready to go before Brian had his coffee Saturday morning. About halfway through the yard sale I realized, "Hey! I've got a blog now! Where is my camera?" So here is most of our stuff set up and ready to be bought, to be shipped off to Salvation Army, or to be placed back into our basement to wait for the next purge cycle.

And what did we do with Marion during this crazy Saturday morning? Why, we locked her in toddler prison with a friend, some toys, and a pumpkin!

She had fun, trust me. She had even more fun when Grammie showed up to play with her! After all was said and done, I think we managed to sell almost half of our stuff. The other half was either donated to Salvation Army or packed away to await the next yard sale, most likely in the spring.

So, stay tuned for our spring moving/block yard sale. Something tells me it'll be a big one!

Waiting - Phase 2

Well, the good news is that we know we are going to Zurich. The not so good news is that we aren't going until June. That's way too much time- there is no telling how many lists I will have written and re-written by then!

So far I have a list for our yard sale next weekend, a list of housework to be completed before we put the house on the market in January, a list of places I want to visit with Marion while we are in Europe, and a list of christmas gift ideas to help us prepare for our trip and limit clutter that will only have to be moved shortly after the holidays.

Brian is rolling his eyes so bad I think they are stuck in the back of his head.

This is it!

Well, it has finally been decided. Sometime in late May/early June 2008 our little family will be off to Zurich!

While the details haven't been worked out yet, we have received the OK from the powers that be. So paperwork, here we come!

Picking up everything and moving across the globe, toddler in tow. Brian and I are beyond excited and can't wait to begin this little adventure! Time to start getting things in line and learning german... only 9 months to go!