Houses here, houses there, houses everywhere!

Mr. Irony and I have been watching homes for sale through a couple of Internet sites for the past few months. About 3 weeks ago we started looking at the homes in person. Granted we haven't been to more than a handful yet, but I'm already approaching burnout. Our needs are not great but they are definite. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and AT LEAST 1400 square feet. You see, we are putting 6 people into one home and anything smaller than that will cause insanity and possibly mutiny (from the adults or kids, I don't know). Even though one of those six will be off to college the majority of the time, she still needs her space too...especially in the summer when she will be home full-time. So 4 kids + 2 adults + one tiny dog = a minimum of 1400 sq. ft.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to look at houses. So much so that I will attend open houses just for the fun of it. Yep, I'm that kind of geeky. However, I'm finding it hard this time around to be patient. Just hand me a house that meets the requirements and fits in our price range and I'll be good to go.

The question of how long I'll need to continue renting in our small town is beginning to peck away at me. Here's why: My three will leave for part of the summer to be with Mr. Ex halfway across the country. I would like to be moved before they leave, so that they know where exactly they are coming back to. I do not want them to leave with me still living here in our small town only to return in August to find me living in the big city (or a suburb thereof) with Mr. Irony and his daughter, with everything strange and different. Others around me think this is the perfect way to end the chapter of our life in this small town and would be potentially be easier on the kids to not be part of the moving process. Who's right? I don't know. I just don't want my three down south, wondering where they're coming back to. I also don't want to give Mr. Ex any reasons to think that the kids should stay with him and his fiancee.

There's something in me that really needs to have the changes in my life finished. I know that I can't rush it. Things will happen in their own time. But I can't help feeling that the longer I stay here, the more I'm going backwards. Even with reducing some of the jobs/events that were taking up my time I still can't keep up. Other events/activities keep popping up that have to be attended or taken care of. I refuse to miss any activity of my kids' that I can possibly attend and this time of year tends to be crazy. Plus, I never realized how much time Jr. High students sports can take up. We are all ready for the school year to be over. I have 14 days of work left and it's downright scary how much I need to finish up in that time. I'm guessing that I will most likely wind up working past those 14 days in order to have things/paperwork finished for the new person next year. Not to mention that I need to get my application packets finished and sent out for schools that are hiring in my field for next year.

Maybe I expect too much. One month ago I was experiencing severe burn-out and I thought that it wouldn't take long to overcome that. Boy was I wrong. One month later I still feel almost as burned-out as before. I guess it is a little better in that there has been at least one day per week lately that I feel I have energy to accomplish something beyond what is required to keep the house clean and all of us in clean clothes. Maybe I need to give myself a little more slack and not expect quite so much. Maybe. Maybe I'll get it all done at work. Maybe I'll eventually get caught up at home. Maybe we'll find a house within the next couple of weeks. Maybe I'll win tomorrow's powerball lottery (ha! good one).

Maybe I'll just be able to sleep through the night tonight. I'll start with that.