Could Somebody Change That Station?!

In all honesty, our trip to the beach really was relaxing. As we were making our way back to Knoxville from China, I kept thinking..."We're nuts! We can't possibly come home for a day and then drive to Florida!" But we did it, and thank goodness! There's just something about barefoot walks in the sand and staring at an endless horizon. As Erin put it, the trip to the wedding and the stay on the condo in St. Pete. was the "reset" button that our family needed after the surreal craziness of the past month. We had a great time seeing Bill's family and the wedding...... it was a fairy-tale event complete with a princess bride. (Our niece Brittany, who is a corporate event planner by vocation, had every detail covered and was honestly one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen. Her Mom commented that she and her bridesmaid friends went to "Bride Bootcamp". Maybe I need to get re-married.....)



But, I digress. We returned from FL on a marathon drive on Monday. After several loads of laundry, Ellysa is nearly ready for her 2-night stay at a church camp near the Smoky Mtns. She leaves today with her forever pal, Isabella. As for me, I am plagued once again by those two pesky stations that I can't seem to shut down in my head. I think of them as "FRET", FM and "PLAN", AM. Despite my faith that everything will be fine, and despite the reassuring nature of our house and school and healthcare hunting trip, AND despite the fact that everything really has fallen into place so far, I can't "turn down the noise in my mind" (can you hear Carly Simon's voice?)



So, I wake before the dawn and mentally wander through the lists. It has become clear that we will need to get our furniture and selected possessions on a ship by the end of next week! This means we need to find a furninshed place to dwell until August 1st. This means we need to seriously sift and sort, make a run to Sams to but bulk quantities of items that we can't get in China (like deodorant and tampons that we would want to use, coffee, dishwasher detergent, and on and on if you're crazy like me) We need to start cancelling utilities, figure out what to do with the mail, the dog.....YIKES! Everyone also needs to get to the doctor, the dentist, the hairdresser. We need to order long=term supplies of medicines. We'd like to sell some furniture. Bill needs to take care of the items found on the home inspction for the sale of the house - we think we'll close before July 15 if the appraisal (done yesterday) goes well.

Oh, we also need to arrange for a furnished place in Shenzhen for a couple weeks after we arrive as it is likely our stuff will not be there August 1st, even if we DO ship it next week. So much for being settled in the house when school starts, but this appears to be a small hurdle.



Seriously, if someone doesn't find a better station, I'm gonna have to get rid of that radio!