In keeping up with posting here is this weeks Friday Five, my first in a while.

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?

magazines by far, especially music and entertainment related magazines.

2. What is your favorite novel?

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)

Nope. Lyrics are my poetry although they should never be confused with actual poetry.

4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?

I'm not an avid book reader. Something I'd like to change, but i just don't have the time. I'm eagerly awaiting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

5. What are you currently reading?

The new Rolling Stone issue, it came in the mail today... LOL I just finished How To Be Good by Nick Hornby. I read it on my trip to Virginia. It was great until the last paragraph which lost me for some reason.

It's been 4 days now since Brie left, I'm finally starting to feel her absence. At first it just seemed like she was on another business trip, but that is changing and I can feel it. I'm doing my best to not focus on it. I have a new digital camera and a new flatbed scanner so I'm staying busy. As you may have noticed I completely redesigned our homepage. That kept my mind so busy I forgot to eat for nearly 24 hours. (yes, I did remember to feed the kids)

I'll be honest, this house is in bad shape, I just can't get myself to commit to cleaning. I've stayed ontop of the kitchen though, because even I think a lot of dirty dishes is just gross. It hasn't helped my motivation that it has been raining something fierce here on and off since Brie left. Tomorrow I must commit though because my sister will be over this weekend.

My first packing related goal is to go and get some good rubbermaid storage bins and sort through all of the storage stuff in the garage. I'm actually excited about that as I have 3 or 4 boxes of stuff I've saved since I was toddler. It will be nice to get that all in order and in a permanent storage container so I won't have to worry about it. I'll probably scan some of the more important things and share them through the site.

I get about 3 hours to myself at night, I get the kids asleep by 8:30 and then come and sit here at the computer for a few before heading back to bed before Maddy realizes I've got up. Tonight I have a headache though because I had a beer with dinner even though I was already tired. That always gives me a headache.

Started planning my roadtrip across this grand country of ours. I want to try to do a little sightseeing though it will be hard with the dogs. I wish I could find a website with information on "great places to stop on a roadtrip across the country with your two huge dogs". I mean I must stop at Graceland, but what do I do with the dogs. At least Disneyland has a kennel for guest use.

This has become entirely too large a post so I'm going to go now.

One last thought. This is the first time our country has become involved in a possible war where I have a personal stake. A good friend of ours shipped out on February 7th for Kuwait. He is a Cobra Helicopter pilot in the Marines and I worry about him. I was lucky enough to spend a few days with him before he left and we had some very honest conversations about how he felt. I have nothing but respect for him. He is truly one of the best people I've ever met. I am sorry I will not be here when he returns.

I'm trying to start piecing together the details of the move now. In particular who is going to be where, when. I've got to get the kids to Virginia, arrange my mom to get to Virginia to watch them, get the house packed up and moved (through a moving company thankfully) then get our dogs to Virginia. While doing that I've got to plan Sebastian's 9th Birthday party and since it's our last function in California I've got to coordinate all of the people who will be coming to see us then.

Don't get me wrong I love doing this, I actually am thrilled at being in charge of all of this, I'm a very good planner because I'm very detail oriented. There is just so much to be done and so many big pieces to find so that I can work on the small ones.

On another note today got off to a bad start. I had this dream, one of those dreams that you just know is your subconcious telling you something, or in this case freaking out about something I know isn't possible. Still even though the dream took place as if something had happened in the past and I know it's not true and I know that the plot of the dream actually came from something I saw on TV. I just couldn't shake it for most of the morning which made me frazzled.
How is that for being vague!

Tomorrow the real adventure begins. Up until now this move to Virginia has been all about planning and get ready, but tomorrow morning Brie leaves, first for Northern California for a week of orientation, then to Virginia. I am a lot calmer about it than I thought I would be. I know I can do this, though it's going to be hard. I just try to remember that there are a lot of single parents in this world and most of them don't have my advantage of not having to worry about holding down a job too. To be honest the hardest part for me will definitely be the lack of ... uhm ... intimacy with Brie. It won't be unusual to the kids to have me around, it is what they are use to, and as long as I can keep them from focusing on the fact that they won't see their mom for 27 days they will be fine.

Everything has been going just as we had planned (and hoped) the next real step is Brie finding us a house. Once that is secured the ball will be in my court and I can really get serious about getting things packed up around here, working with the relocation company, and helping my sister move into this house.

I hope to make a post every night while Brie is gone as a journal of what is happening around here and how I am feeling.

The stomach flu has spread it's way through our household. We are not sure where it began. Brie had some stomach issues when she was in Texas, when I got back from Virginia I had stomach issues, but then the kids really got hit with uncontrollable vomitting. Last night Brie got hit again this time as bad as the kids. I'm just hoping and praying the severe strain passes me by.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time. We have so much we need to be doing before Brie leaves next weekend and we've lost an entire weekend. Ugh!

No news on the Virginia front right now. We have some concerns that the house we are interested in is so far out in the midle of nowhere that it actually isn't serviced by any broadband internet companies. There is always the option of satellite broadband, but that is so much more expensive to get installed.

So as you know, if you read Brie's Blog, we have decided to move to Virginia. There was so much to take in on our trip, but my first impression was that the area was beautiful. It wasn't until I got back to California that I realized how densely populated an area we live in now. Everything in Virginia seemed so spread out and rural, but they are not missing any conviences like I had feared. That really put me at easy, all of the conviences I feel we need are there, broadband internet, the retail establishments we are use to, with the added bonus of only a 4.5% sales tax and cheaper gas prices. You combine those with great school systems and a comfortable cost of living and it all seems great.

Of course, my biggest apprehension is not being able to find a good rental home in the price range we want, that will also allow us to have our two dogs. Today however we got our first really good lead. Brie found a 4 bd. - 3 bath newer house on 9½ acres exacty in our price range. To add to our luck they said it wouldn't even be available until April 1st which would actually be perfect for us. I feel so much better now. I know I won't get really excited about moving until I know I have a home to move into.

Brie got her offer! We are still working out details, but it was the offer we expected. A great offer, just not an amazing offer which we secretly wished for ;) That means tomorrow I am off to Virginia, with a layover in Dallas to meet up with Brie (who is already in Dallas on business for her current job), to check out the lay of the land. It's going to be a quick trip; fly in Friday night - fly out Sunday evening. That should give us the time to check out some rental properties to see what we will be able to get with our budget.

While we are gone Brie's mom, Shirley, will be staying here with the kids. I'm a little nervous about that because she has never been here so she doesn't know the area or even the house, but I know she will figure it all out. I've been compiling information for her like phone numbers and driving directions to the store and fast food.

This is my first flight across the country and the longest flight I've ever taken. I'm a little nervous because I'm doing it by myself through an airport I've never been to. I'll need long term parking and have to jump through all the hoops of the new security procedures. I'd feel better if Brie was there to guide me. But, one of my hopes about this new experience in a new area is that I will learn to be more outgoing and more comfortable being alone.

Well, not much more to say until I get back. One last mention I'd like to make is that Sebastian lost another tooth this morning. and he has two more wigglers. He is by far my biggest concern with the move. I'm very nervous to be pulling him out of school 2½ months before he finishes the year and then putting him into a new school. I hope he can handle the stress.