Category Archives: Moving

I’m Nervous and It Shows

Yep. Even though I had no idea -or wouldn’t allow myself to think- that I was nervous, my nerves apparently know.

I awoke on Wednesday morning with what I thought was a bee sting or spider bite beside my right ear. It itched and was swollen and felt almost like a big pimple. I just sort of ignored it and went about my work day. It got more and more painful throughout the day until Thursday when I started needing to put an ice pack on it and take multiple ibuprofens to dull the pain. I also noticed more “bites” spreading behind my ear and down my neck.

Britton and I thought it was maybe a reaction to sunflower pollen or spiders, so we thoroughly cleaned the bed and room and he pulled out all the sunflowers beside our bedroom window. The pain continued until last night at about 1am when I was in serious pain and considered going to the emergency room. We managed to wait it out with more analgesics and an antihistamine that, while it didn’t decrease the swelling, at least made me drowsy enough to sleep.

Finally this morning we decided to see a doctor. He took one look at me and pronounced I had…drumroll…shingles!

Shingles
Shingles

Shingles are most commonly found in the elderly or immunocompromised people…not in healthy people in their early 30’s like me! However, when it is found in younger people, it is usually a sign of prolonged stress. Shingles is an inflammation of the nerves/nerve endings that occurs when dormant chicken pox viruses reactivate. Basically, an obvious and visible case of the nerves!

I really don’t think I am stressed out, but probably underneath my cool exterior, I am actually dealing with a lot of stressors. Britton will be quitting work next Friday and we will be without health insurance, a phone or his paycheck. We have sold nearly all of our belongings and I need to close up all my work responsibilities and turn in my notice as well. I need to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row and we transition all of our other responsibilities like our rentals, bills, bank accounts, etc. We also want to have a going away party and make sure to say goodbye to everyone we will be leaving behind- all our co-workers, friends, and family.

We will then travel 3000 miles with a freaked out cat and without jobs to an area that is still somewhat foreign to us and a property that needs some serious work to start a life completely from scratch. So, yah, when I actually think about it, I probably AM a little nervous. My body just shows it and knows it better than I (consciously) do.

We are tremendously excited to start on this new life, but really we are a bit nervous about what’s to come. I think it is only natural in huge life changes. We are human after all. I am sure the stress will all settle down here in a few months, just as my shingles will just have to settle down and go away on their own. It is a good lesson to remember to listen to your body though. Sometimes it will tell you things that you didn’t even know to listen for and give you that wake up call to deal with it rather than just ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist. Life is good at this whole lesson-teaching/learning thing.

Any tips on how to get through these next few stressful months (or shingles)? We might need all the help we can get.

 

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Big Updates

Time is moving fast!  We have continued the selling, the gardens are once again brimming with food, we had an anniversary (ocho años!)….and I put in my 2 weeks notice at work.

Anniversary 8 years
On our anniversary

Spaghetti Squash out windowKitty and the greenhouse
Greenhouse is Full -Spaghetti Squash is flowing out the windows!

It seems kind of unreal and yet totally comfortable to be on our path at the pace we are taking it. A lot of the things in our lives have been taken on as challenges such as our jobs and our goals are coming to a close.  As those things wind down, we are entering into our next level.  It seems to be a pretty natural transition actually and that’s because I suppose we designed it that way.  This hasn’t been a fast process.

Peach row
Peaches Galore (from our peach tree)

We often say to each other that we want to have an “endless Saturday in summer” because we enjoy the nice weather, the laid back pace and the freedom that we have on our weekends here in Colorado on the weekends.  That of course changes to ice world here in a few months.

Adriana Jose BK
Our Friends Adriana and Jose took most of our furniture!

banana tree
Even the Banana Tree

The house is nearly empty!  Most everything that is left is either spoken for, or will be given away.  When I am off of work, I can spend more time with the remaining items and changing bills over to paperless/online and the small things. It feels like we are ready to go, but there is lots to be taken care of before we head onto our Puerto Rico adventure!

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***CONTEST: Guess our Move-to-PR Date!***

The biggest question we have been getting from friends and relatives is: WHEN IS THE BIG MOVE? Our standard answer has been: September or October. We haven’t yet bought our two tickets to paradise (plus one for Kitty), so the actual date is still nebulous.

contest

So, we thought this would be a perfect way to involve you! Presenting our first ever LifeTransPlanet Contest! Here are the details:

Guess the day and time that we will arrive at our property in Rincon by leaving a comment (with an email address that is visible only to us). One guess per person. Whoever is closest to the actual date and time that we arrive will win!

PRIZES:
1st place: A care package of a variety of Colorado and Puerto Rico goodies (valued at $40-50!)
2nd place: A Colorado and Puerto Rico postcard

If there is a tie, it will go to whoever commented first, so get guessing! If you win, you will be notified here as well as sent an email to the address you use in the comment.

The contest -and commenting guessing ability- will end the day we actually buy our tickets. Notification of winners will be made shortly after we arrive in Puerto Rico. Prizes are not redeemable for cash or anything like that and if you don’t respond to our email that you were the winner within a week, the runner-up will be contacted and your prize will be forfeited which would be a bummer, so stay tuned in and get a-guessing! This is open to anyone, anywhere, of any age that can receive mail (both prizes will be sent through the mail).

While we have put October 15 as our move date on the side bar, that is only a rough estimate that we chose over a year ago as a goal. Sort of like a baby due date. It may,or may not, help you in your guessing ability, so good luck!

Most contests say Void where Prohibited, so that too.

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There’s A Rat in the Kitchen

Time has been moving pretty fast!  We have almost all of our stuff sold most of our furniture spoken for, my Spanish class (clase de espanol) ends tomorrow.  Our garage sale is this weekend to clean out some of the items in the garage.  We are closing up some loopholes at work (training replacements; I am flying out to Chicago next week for that).  We have taken care of some medical mysteries and taken care of some financial goals.   As I write this I see our counter says 95 days to go!

house from pinapple knife rd

Sometimes when we talk about the wood house on the property we joke about the rats that are living in the walls.  Sometimes we tell Kitty that is going to be his job, to chase out all the rats.  The ratones have become a symbol for us that represents challenge that awaits us.  When we joke about it and frame it as an interesting and fun thing it becomes part of our lives in a positive and silly way!

We were sitting in the living room when the UB40 song “There’s a Rat in the Kitchen” came on and it made us laugh so I figured I’d post it:

There’s a rat in the kitchen.  What am I gonna do?
There’s a rat in the kitchen.  What am I gonna do?
Im gonna fix that rat that’s what im a gonna do.
Im gonna fix that rat that’s what im a gonna do.

You can look at the rats as a bad thing that has to be taken care of, or it can be one of the bugs that makes for an interesting chapter in your life’s story.  We prefer to tell interesting stories!

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