Cracked tomatoes

At first, I praised the rain. I danced, laughed, gasped and held my breath as it poured down.

But that was about two weeks ago and the rain, maybe because of all the attention I gave to it, is still coming down.

For two years we don't get any rain and then we get two years of rain in one month.

My tomatoes are cracking, they don't know when to stop drinking the water and take in so much that their little fruits burst with watery-tomatoey substance. They look like they are smiling at me.

The situation on moving is moving along slowly. Chris has gotten a job offer with Sherman, but as it's not final yet (we are making it final on Monday), I won't blog about it like it's official yet. Just another step.

I have registered for classes. I am taking Gen Chem I, College Algebra, Geology and then a PE class because i just needed one more hour to be full time.

Work at Whole Foods is getting more tense as I am ready to be done working there. I"ve already checked out essentially...no pun intended, I guess.

Work at the vineyard is great! Everytime I go, I learn something new from Madeline, who is fabulous. I work there Friday, Sat and Sunday this week. And even though it's a drive aways, it's so worth it as I learn a lot and it refreshes me.

Packing and moving stinks. We haven't had to do this in about 3 years and we really enjoyed staying in one place. On the other hand, we have acquired so much junk that we have to purge lest we lug it around for years.

Must get ready for work now. Cheers,
Michelle

Updating...

Hello to all. If you are reading this, then you are a loyal and dear reader and my apologies if you have visited this blog several times only to find no update. Sadness, I know.

There is a lot going on, however.

Chris and I are preparing to move. And it's driving me crazy. More on that later.

First, the move.

Yes, we will be moving to North Texas so I might be able to go to school in pursuit of my winemaking degree (technically called viticulture and oenology). The school is called Grayson County College and I feel like it will be a good step in the right direction for getting into schools on the west coast.

Chris is looking for a teaching position in the area. We visited the county college this past weekend and on Tuesday morning, Chris had a job interview at this itty bitty town called Collinsville. The population is about 1000 and the school is 1A, but it just might work out for us. I don't want to jinx it yet (I might have already with the way I have been talking about it). The town is about 25 minutes from the college and hopefully, we would live in the little town so Chris could just walk or ride his bike to school.

We have decided to rent out our house and hold onto to it for a couple of more years. Ginny will still be here and a good friend Molly is moving in in a couple of weeks. We hope over the next couple of years to do some more renovation to the house, thus increasing its appraisal. We'll see. Because the job where Chris interviewed wouldn't be the best of pay. Small schools just can't afford to pay much more than the state minimum (WHICH IS RIDICULOUSLY LOW FOR THOSE WHO ARE EDUCATING OUR YOUTH AND FUTURE, sorry, that topic gets me all riled up. I mean, come on!). So, we would be on a very tight budget and I might have to get a part time job to hold us over for the first year...but I am getting ahead of myself again.

See, this is what is driving me crazy. Since we don't know where Chris will be working, since we don't know what town we will be living in, since we don't know if we can even find a house to rent, since we don't know all this vital information, I am left to imagining scenarios that might leave me disappointed when the future works itself out in an entirely different way.

Gah.

Here is what I am imagining though:
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Chris and I lead a very solitude and more disciplined (not in the bad way) life. I go to school and study from 8-5 on the weekdays and Chris works from 730-430. We get home from our schools and do chores around the house, work in the garden out back, etc. We prepare dinner and eat. We go for a walk through the neighborhoods.

On the weekends, we sleep in a little, work around the house and garden, I make yogurt, cheese, bread and experiment with more canning and preserving. Sundays, we find a nice church to go to, maybe go out to eat somewhere. I study as needed.

Once a month, we head into Austin on a Friday night. And that weekend will be spent with friends, checking up on the house and fixing things as needed, and Sunday I will work at Whole Foods so I can use my discount card to buy food for the next month.

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See what I mean? I have this little life all planned out and this is what trips me up in the past. I plan out this little life in my head and when things happen at random or not according to plan, I have a hard time handling it.

So, for right now, I am trying to just get things ready for the move. Whenever, wherever, however that might look...this involves renting a storage unit, moving items into storage so Molly can move in. Putting some more bamboo floors down, packing, and mentally taking deep breaths so I don't freak out.

One of the obvious perks about moving to north Texas is we will be closer to Chris' family and hopefully, will see much more of them than we have in the past. One of the obvious sad things is we will be moving away from our friends and my family and will see much less of them than we have in the past.

You win some, you lose some.

And you try not to freak out.

Gah!