5 days and 5 hours...... !

As I sit here with my swollen mouth and my numb chin and lower lip, I can't help but think that we will be in Santiago, Chile this time next week. My TV viewing will be changed to watching and interpreting Spanish. My understanding of the world around me will vastly change as I grasp and cling to words that I can recognize. My lack of focus to study my new language will be brought front and center. I will no longer have a choice. Spanish will be surrounding me. But then again, I never was afraid of it. I actually love to hear it spoken. Mostly by my dh, because he sounds so smooth when he speaks. When he forces me to watch Univision or Telemundo I can actually follow along and understand the main ideas. It's in the details that I get lost.

Excuses no more. It's time to learn. I'm nervous a little about what kinds of foods we will be eating. My sweet little monkeys are going to be looking forward to some of their "usuals" and will be intrigued when I serve up something quite different. I feel like I am about to embark on a great adventure. I'm taking my babies and moving to Chile. I've been doing research on this place for months. We've been talking about it with such enthusiasm for what seems like the better part of a year. Has it really been that long at all? And now it's here.

We have to finish taking care of some details here in the states before we are all set and ready to go. Like paying for our hotel stay here, and delivering our last owned possession to it's new owner (our Jetta). And then there is that fun task of repacking our suitcases. I'm so excited for us all. I hope that the kids do well on both of the flights. For that matter, I hope dh and I do good too. I've never been on a flight that is 9 1/2 hours before. Wish me luck!

Now, as I am sitting here blogging, Eddie is jumping from sofa-pullout bed to chair-pullout bed and then back again. Alexa is watching as he leaps. She seems pleased with her big brother. I've told him not to jump. But he doesn't listen. If I truly needed him to stop, it would involve me getting out of this chair and physically stopping him. And forcefully standing near him and reiterating it with my stern voice. He doesn't easily take verbal instructions. So. He is still jumping. It's not hurting anything. Or him. Yet. And then there is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I don't want to wash them. Honestly they will be dirty again in 20 minutes. Especially since my 9 year old stepdaughter and 14 year old stepson seem to have an allergy to washing dishes. Or their mother and her boyfriend do not enforce the, "YOU DIRTY IT, YOU WASH IT" rule. In my house, that's what I say. But it seems that in an effort to make sure that the children are having a good time, dh overlooks this rule. He ends up just doing the dishes. Hence he is acting like a personal maid. Not good. So. I'm just waiting for my teenage acting (as Alyssa is a few years shy of being a teenager, yet she sleeps until noon just like the best of them) kids to wake up. And then they will attempt to make themselves some breakfast at lunch time. And there will be no dishes. Ah! The joy I will feel when they are left with the chore of but washing their one bowl and spoon for some cereal. Ah, it's the simple pleasures in life.

The maid just left. Not the maid who comes in and picks up all the junk in here (since I think that I am that person) but the one who is employed by these facilities where we stay. She left us some towels and took out our trash/recyclables and went on her way. I hear the dryer. It too has finished it's cycle. That means that there is work to be done. Folding and more folding.

While the kids run around and watch Aladdin and play on the couch and chair cushions which are now strategically placed like little lily pads around the living room floor area, I am going to go and do the laundry. You should see them hopping around on them. It's kind of cute actually. I should enjoy this. In a few short years they will be asking me to buy them Playstations and ipods and expensive stuff that I may or may not be able to even operate. Trying to enjoy the free stuff while they are young. I know it won't last.

Here's another free one. They are standing there in the kitchen with the door open. They've discovered the light. When you close the door the light goes off. Well they found the button that turns the light on and off. They are pressing it over and over again. Ouch. The actual light bulb was hot. (Eddie touched it, and recoiled quickly, LOL~) What fun it is to be 3 and 20 months! Eddie just brought me a Shasta cola. (a sad sad attempt to even qualify for a carbonated beverage) and he said, "I'm bringing you a Coke. These aren't for boys mommy." Laughing out loud. At least he knows that he shouldn't be drinking them!

Have to run, things to be done!