Jennifer to Earth...I'm Still Here

Oh geeze, where to start. So much in the last two weeks...too much it seems. But it's all good, things are all starting to come together and slowly I'm starting to feel home. Okay, I'll start with today.

Ryleigh and I have been planning a mommy/Ryleigh day for a few weeks now and with Kindergarten just around the corner, I decided that we would spend the day shopping for clothes and supplies. We took off for Sugar Land this morning. And yes, I know next weekend is the tax free weekend, but yes, I will spend an extra $40 to avoid mass hysteria in the malls. And, with all the sales we hit today, I'm not sure that I didn't come out ahead....so there.

We hit Target first and loaded up on school supplies. And let me just say, I am so sick of hearing parents complain about how all the supplies get mixed up and redistributed to the kids. Knowing that Ryleigh would not necessarily get to keep the supplies I buy her made it so much easier to not buy the expensive stuff. And, what a great lesson in sharing I got to explain to her today and that she will get to learn when school starts. Good stuff if you ask me.

After Target we hit the mall, but it wasn't quite open yet so we grabbed some lunch and then set off for Gymboree where she got some adorable outfits. After Gymboree we started walking down the mall when I saw a store called Justice which seemed to carry girl's clothes, but maybe a little bit older girl's clothes. I asked a sales associate what size they started at and she said 6, exactly Ryleigh's size right now. We now have multiple "rock star" outfits and even daddy approved when we got home!

After some post-shopping gelatto we headed home where we picked up Daddy and Avery and drove on down to the Children's Museum followed by Star Pizza. All in all, a really awesome day. And, a nice break from all the craziness that has been the last two weeks.

Craziness which has included finding a cell phone, a house and a vehicle. The cell phone was easy, the house took a few days to hunt down, but we did find "the one" and it's everything that we wanted it to be. The vehicle took a little work and a lot of hunting, but we did finally find a deal we couldn't walk away from. Tomorrow I go get my new (to me) 06 Yukon. We're taking Dave Ramsey's advice and buying used after only buying new since college. And, I've never felt so good about closing a deal on a vehicle. We got my Yukon for over a thousand dollars under the trade-in value with a 12 month/12K mile warranty. Go us! Screw a bunch of new car smell and huge monthly paments. Gimme something paid for! (or really close to it)

This week we get to officially register Ryleigh for school and Jeramy leaves for the rig tomorrow evening for four days. It should be a pretty calm week for us, just hanging out and getting to know our new area. Katy isn't very far from Sugar Land, but it is a new city to learn.

I said that I'm starting to slowly feel at home. It's kind of weird to see my friends back in St. John's talking on Facebook and planning get togethers and playdates and not being able to be a part of it all. It's also kind of weird planning playdates and time together with my friends here. I kind of feel like I'm forcing my way back into a world I intentially backed out of...like a bad ex. I missed my friends here and it's so awesome being back close to all of them, but I still can't help feeling like I'm crashing back into their world which was probably just fine and dandy while I was gone. Okay, enough whining.

Time to iron some clothes and head to bed. I've gotta new (to me) car to go pick up tomorrow!