It's a girl! (Or, the winds of change be blowin'!)

Did that catch your attention? I've been wondering what to call this entry. It marks a change to my world -- my household just increased by one this week when a 14 year old niece moved in. She will be here at least through the end of the school year, and quite possibly longer. I haven't come up with a blog name for her yet, but will keep thinking on that. For those who know my family, this is my brother John's middle girl. I used to refer to her as my "mini-me", but I'm guessing she wouldn't like that to be her call sign here on my blog. :-)

Before she arrived, I emptied my former office and turned it back into a bedroom. Finally cleaning out the closet (it's been on my to-do list for YEARS) has led me to the conclusion that I have too much STUFF. I've already relocated some to the basement, sent some to DI (that's similar to Goodwill for those of you who are not locals), given some away, filled my big garbage can, and I'm nowhere near done with this sorting process. I tossed a bunch into my room (I now have to turn on the light before I dare walk from my bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night for fear of tripping on something), filled the guest room closet, and still have spillover in the kitchen, living room, and basement.

The amazing and wonderful parts of all of this? Neighbors and friends who just jumped in and helped. I am so grateful - I would never have been as ready as I was by moving day without them. A neighbor (and friend!) helped me pull off books and other treasures from 2 huge bookcases and stack them all in the living room. Then some men in my neighborhood came over to move the bookcases and a desk out to the living room. They also moved a dresser and an armoire. The next day, the neighbor who helped with the books returned and moved my CD collection from the niece's room to mine -- while I was at work! She came back again later that day and shampooed the carpet in the now empty room.

The next day I flew out to Kansas for a High School reunion and while I was gone, another friend moved all the books back to the bookcases because I simply ran out of time.

On Saturday when my SIL and niece arrived, two friends unloaded the van and one of them provided dinner on Saturday, the other on Sunday. In between, my neighbor (same one) invited them over for dessert Saturday night and her son came by to assemble the bed they had brought with them. All of this happened while I was still out of town. I am so very blessed to have fantastic friends who are always watching out for me and who extended their umbrella of watchfulness and care over my SIL and niece. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Stay tuned for the developing story! That's all I have time for now.