Let the Freak Outs Begin

Since I have a spouse who likes to collect stuff and doesn't realize how much stuff he has, and I have a son who is no good at transitions, and I have a dog who is very protective and three cats who are stuck in their ways, I'm the person who has to keep the "crap" under control in our house. I think every household has this person, if there are more than one person in the house. The one who makes sure holy socks get thrown away (I guess in olden days they'd "darn" them, but now I just go buy new ones).

This week, MacTroll and I are giving away our king-sized bedframe to a friend of ours. X-man very rarely climbs into bed with the two of us, we instead walk him back to his bed and lay down with him. He's not a baby any more. There's no need for the extra space for the sometime visitors. And, honestly, sometimes I feel there's a giant canyon at night between MacTroll and I. The dog likes to fill in that space, but I don't what her there. I want the canyon to go away.

So, we moved our queen-sized bed frame into our bedroom this morning after walking X-man to school. I'm wiping down the old frame and carrying it down to the garage. This Saturday, I will transport it up to my friend and her husband and their two little girls.

The guest bed has a mattress that's a bit old, and it suffered in our move from Virginia to Illinois 10 years ago (ripped a bit). So, we're going to run out next week when MacTroll is home all week (he leaves today for California) and get a new one for it. We figured it would be cheaper on this end than on the other end.

But it also means that if I take three pictures off the wall, I can pretty much close the guest room door and never enter it again until we move. One room -- empty -- and ready to belong to the new family.

We close on this house on June 21, but the housing selection in California has been kind of slow in the neighborhood that is our first choice. We have schools identified that fit the bill for X-man, but we need to go out and drive around the neighborhoods again. So, MacTroll and I are headed out there on April 20-23. We'll likely have to go back again in May, but when we do, we're going to take X-man, because he's starting to have some issues with the transition. This is not to be expected. This is a major life change. It helps him to know that what is going on and when as much as he can. So he can repeat it to himself and get more comfortable with the idea, even though his acceptance last fall is starting to turn into anxiousness. And I admit, it's hard not knowing where you're going to sleep on the other side. But I want him to feel included when we go.

And we'll see where we land.