The house is sold...

Our house is sold. It went on the market on Saturday at noon and by Monday evening we had an official offer with a verbal commitment on both ends. (Due to the relocation company we can't sign anything until all of our paperwork clears.)

So, this makes me happy and sad all at the same time. I'm glad that we were so quickly able to sell our house - and to what appears to be a wonderful couple with a baby. (They wrote THE nicest letter with their offer...saying how they loved the way we decorated, how appreciative they were of all of the extras, and that they would take good care of the place.)

And, of course, I'm sad that we will be leaving this house and never coming back. This has been a fabulous house for our family. Lots of good times and many laughs have been had in this house. And, I've loved North Liberty, Iowa. (No, I did not say I love the Hawkeyes...just the area!)

Trying not to dwell and looking forward to enjoying our remaining weeks in this house. Need to find a non-rainy evening to open Group Therapy up for one final blowout session!

Long week...

Blaine comes home from Malaysia tomorrow night...and not a moment too soon! This single mom thing is for the birds! It's been a long week...and while the boys have been absolutely amazing - I'm ready for a break.

Realtor, photographer, appraiser, taekwondo, baseball, work, presentations at school. Did I mention - baseball?! Yeah...the week has been packed full of stuff!

Selling the house...

So this past weekend I completely busted my ass to get the house ready for our realtor today! (Yeah...don't look in the garage right now because there are bags and bags of trash, but, by Wednesday they'll
be gone!)

And, the good news is that besides a little touch up painting, picking up the storage room and moving a few minor things - the house is ready to rock! So let's sell this house and get ready to move to Malaysia!

Sell, store, ship, throw away...

Yup, let the big sell, store, ship, throw away party begin! I'm in massive cleaning and organizing mode!! I love it and hate it at the same time!

Yesterday and today was the kitchen! Wow! Does that Tupperware cupboard look good! Damn kids are not allowed to touch it until the house is sold! Laundry room is also cleaned and organized. Living room is good - just need to put a few pictures away as I know the realtor will come on Monday and ask me to "de-personalize" the space.

Tomorrow I will start to tackle the bedroom - mainly the closet and my dresser! What a freakin' disaster those two things are - blech! But, we don't have baseball this weekend, Blaine is back in Kuala Lumpur and what the hell else do I have to do.

This will leave just the basement...the storage area being the worst.This may wait until Blaine comes back even though the realtor comes on Monday! He needs to do some touch-up painting also.

So...that's where we're at...selling the house and the cars is my current priority.

And, now we wait...

Blaine returned from his global relocation meeting. Nothing too earth shattering was learned from that meeting. We're waiting to hear from the local relo people so we can get our house on the market.

I'm slowly, but surely, starting the process of sorting things. I soooooo HATE this part of moving. I appreciate it when it's done, but man, does it suck while you're doing it.

We also need to get our cars sold...another job I'm not looking forward to - especially since my car is only about 4 weeks old. Ah, hindsight...

I've been doing a ton of shopping in hopes of having everything we'll need to head to Malaysia. It looked like I was starting my own pharmacy (or perhaps, a meth lab) with the amount of drugs I bought at Wal-mart last night. Just hysterical to look in my cart.

All of our Apple tv boxes have arrived. I'm also thinking of doing Slingbox through American TV 2 Go - as it will allow us to have DirectTv in Malaysia...and essentially DVR all of our favorite programs and watch them when we want. (I'm a complete t.v. junkie and can't imagine life without "The Walking Dead" or "Survivor.")

Oooh, there was one good piece of information learned from Blaine's meeting yesterday. Essentially, I will receive $4000 within the first 3 months in Malaysia to be used for continuing ed credits (for my certifications) and for activities that get me out in the community. (i.e. gym memberships) So, it looks like this girl will be joining Crossfit Vidatha and Fitness First. I get an additional $4000 the first year we're there and then every year after. I'm kind of looking forward to getting some more continuing ed credits and I'm going to look for come cooking courses and other things.

Other than that, just getting back into the routine of things here. My coffee people said they missed me while I was gone. (Yeah, I drink a cheap gas station cappuccino/coffee/hot chocolate combo on a daily basis. I don't believe I will be able to replicate this while in Malaysia.) But, I may have found my replacement:

Bring on the caffeine!

Telling the boys...

We arrived home Monday afternoon...and I've never been so anxious to see my little monkeys. Boy, were they missed. And of course, dying to tell them what we were doing.

So...we sent Blaine's parents out for a drive so we could have some family time. It really wasn't too hard telling them. I could see some initial fear in Caleb's eyes (he's my sensitive one). And, then, surprise of all surprises, Grayson was the one who broke down and cried about leaving his friends. Then we all had a good cry about leaving our friends...yup, nothing like the entire family having a meltdown moment. We soon got it together and talked about all the cool new things we'll get to experience. Grayson was highly impressed by the fact that McDonald's delivers, that we can swim year round, and that he can take up tennis at his new school. Caleb was intrigued by the money (which is all different colors), by the number of activities available at his school, and by the fact that we will have domestic help. (Daron helped us hire Elizabeth who has been working for an Australian family next door, but they are leaving this summer and Daron says she is just fabulous!)

I brought some Malaysian bookmarks home so that the children could share with their classmates. We spent some time typing up some information to share with their friends. This was how they decided they wanted to tell everyone about their new adventure. It was just the perfect thing to do!

Tuesday I went in and told my job that I would be leaving. Wow! Harder than I imagined. I really love my job - all aspects of it. Each day I get to interact with amazing people - both colleagues and the members of our gym. It will be a tough few weeks as I tie up loose ends and phase out of my role as the fitness programs manager and give up my group fitness classes. Thankfully, these people also make me laugh on a daily basis and we've been keeping things very lighthearted.

So anyways...that's where we stand. Blaine is heading to Minneapolis on Monday to meet with the global relocation folks - and then the house will go on the market and the big task of sorting out our house will begin.

A few calm days...

The next few days in Kuala Lumpur were easy-breezy! Thursday we looked at a house in Duta Tropika and Villa Aseana. By this time we already knew that we wanted Jamie and Daron's house in Duta Tropika...so decision made.

We also made a quick trip over to meet the head master of Caleb and Grayson's new school. He is a charming man - who unfortunately is leaving before we arrive. But, he was a pleasure to talk to and made us feel even better about the school.

We had lunch at Fat Boy's Burgers in Publika...

One word - YUMMY!

Blaine and I headed back to the hotel and just had cocktails and hors d'oeuvres for dinner and went to bed early.

Friday morning Blaine headed to Malacca with Jamie and I slept in. I went to the pool for a little and napped a lot. When Blaine returned it was a quick trip back to Chinatown for some shopping. Blaine - my watch whore - had to get some great knockoffs - and I needed a few more purses to bring home!

We stopped at Tony Roma's for a bottomless diet Coke...er, I mean Coke light and we shared an appetizer before heading to the hotel. It was tough getting a cab this afternoon, but finally, someone stopped and took is back to the Hilton.

Dinner that evening was supposed to be at Marini's on 57 - but rain and a massive traffic jam left the Dolynchuks stuck in traffic. So bummed - was looking forward to spending the evening with them and thanking them for all of their help. Blaine and I ended up hitting the new steakhouse at the Hilton and celebrating our decision and the kids' official acceptance into their school - which we received via email earlier that day. It was a nice night...relaxing.

Saturday was a day of sleeping in, sitting by the pool, and hitting the spa. Ahhh...just what I needed.

Saturday night we went out to dinner with Beth and Brian Carlson. Just fabulous people. Beth is an HR manager for Cargill living in KL with her husband and two children. We got to see their amazing condo - which has an incredible view of downtown KL - just incredible. Brian was helpful beyond belief with all my tech/tv questions - and really helped paint a picture of what the "trailing spouse" needs to do to feel "relevant" while living abroad. He really helped drive home the point that I need to find what will bring relevance to my life in KL - since working will not be an option. So - will it be my blog, my connections at my children's school, what? I'm not sure at this point in time...I think for me, I want to put my focus back on my own fitness - and blogging. Anyways, I'm sure they'll be many more posts about "finding my relevance."

Dinner was at a local restaurant called Porto Romano. Delicious Italian food and a pretty decent beer selection which made me happy. Back to the hotel we went at about 9:45 p.m.

Sunday was even more relaxing. Breakfast, pool, room service. Yeah...tough life.

Sunday night we flew out - very late. Flight was at 11:45 p.m. so we headed over to the airport around 8:15 - because we were flying business class on Air Malaysia. So, once again we had access to their fabulous lounge . Yup, unlimited Coke light, some free and delicious food and a little Hagen Das ice cream before we boarded.

The flight home was ungodly long...that's all I can say about that. Ugh!

So there you have it...that was a brief synopsis of our trip to KL. Next time...telling the boys!

And the trip continues...

Let's continue on with our familiarization trip to Kuala Lumpur.

Our real estate agent/tour guide was a man named Darren. On Tuesday he took us to several condos...brand new, beautiful, spacious condos. But, they weren't the right fit for us. One of them was so new that it barely had any occupants. The other was nice and new, but I just don't picture us living in a huge skyscraper.

We took a tour of Publika, one of the local shopping centers. It is located directly across from Duta Tropika (where we will be living when we move.) Publika has lots of restaurants, a grocery store, shops, and Crossfit Vidatha. (Yup, thinking I might try drinking some of the Crossfit Kool-Aid when I get there!)

We also went and visited Mont Kiara International School. (This is the school we frantically worked to get our paperwork submitted to!) It's a great school and we met with the head of admissions and had a tour of the school. I am so happy we scrambled to get everything together because this is the place for our boys. The school has lots of activities, a pool, plenty of kids from all over the world and occasionally experiences monkey alerts. Yes, monkey alerts. This happens when several monkeys congregate during lunch/recess and attempt to steal parts of the kids' lunches. HILARIOUS!

After the school visit, we went back to the hotel as we were just exhausted. Room service and to bed for us! Blaine was heading to the plant on Wednesday with Jamie and I was heading shopping/touring with Daron (his wife). A good night's rest was in order!

Wednesday morning was breakfast at the hotel. Yeah, the waitstaff thought it was a little strange that I ordered "Coke Light" for breakfast.

By the end of our week at the hotel, the maitre d' said he would be sure to stock up on Coke Light for our return!

Blaine took off with Jamie for the day and I grabbed a quick nap before Daron picked me up. Daron has an established relationship with a local cab driver (which is quite the norm around here). His name is Shanilar and he drove us all over for the day! Daron showed me the local shopping centers, where she banks, local doctors, the post office, a gym (Fitness First) and many other places. We had lunch at Mid Valley Mega Mall - just a HUGE mall. Today was a holiday in Malaysia (Labor Day if I recall correctly.) - so everyplace was quite busy. We ended the afternoon with some shopping in Chinatown. Yup, knockoff heaven - knockoff watches, purses, running shoes, jewelry, all sorts of things! Quite fun to go and haggle! Picked up lots of fun things for the boys!

Shanilar dropped me back at the hotel. Time for another quick nap. (Jetlag sucks.) Blaine returned soon after I got back. We got ourselves ready to meet Daron and Jamie's kids.

The Dolynchuks live in Duta Tropika - a gated community in Mont Kiara. We had seen pictures online and were pretty sure this is where we wanted to live. And yes, it was confirmed when we saw their place - 5 bedrooms, wet kitchen and dry kitchen, very spacious (about 4500 square feet), community pool and playground, open field for playing soccer, and a small gym and clubhouse on site. Yup, this was our new home. And, we learned that it should be very easy to assume their lease as technically Cargill leases our home for us.

We met their children, Mitch and Ella. They're fabulous. They gave us the tour and talked to us a little bit about why they love Mont Kiara International School. It was so reassuring to hear from the kids that they are happy in KL.

We had dinner over at Publika...cute, little Italian place. So nice to eat outside. We joined some neighbors of the Dolynchuks - the husband is from Australia and the wife, I believe, is from Turkey, although they met while going to college in the U.S. That's what I'm going to love about life abroad - meeting new people from all over the globe.

Now, the beer is going to take some getting used to. The two main choices are Tiger and Carlsberg.

As long as the Tiger is ice cold - I think I can handle it!

We said goodnight to our gracious hosts and headed back to the hotel.

And...we're back...

We have returned from our trip to Malaysia...and what a trip it was. Surreal...that's the word that continuously comes to mind.

There's so much to talk about in regards to the trip - I'll try and hit the highlights.

We left here on Sunday April 28th. We flew to O'Hare...and from O'Hare we headed to London. The flight to London wasn't bad...slept, watched some movies, slept some more. We landed in London and had a couple of hours before our flight to Malaysia. Headed to the Malaysia Air lounge - as we were lucky enough to be in business class for this next leg of the trip. (Thank God! 12 hours from London to Kuala Lumpur - that's fu$kin' long!) In the Malaysian Air lounge you get free food and drinks - so we had a few, freshened up a bit and took a look at our next plane.

Yes, that Airbus 380 was our plane. Double decker - 500 person capacity - flying boat. I've never seen such a huge plane.

Now, I will say that business class on Malaysia Air is P-O-S-H! The seats fully recline for sleeping, the food was above average, free booze, and the flight attendants had the best uniforms. Watched some more movies and managed to get a little sleep - which was critical since we were arriving in KL at 7:30 a.m. and had a full day ahead of us.

We were very lucky to be greeted at the airport by Jamie Dolynchuk, who is the current managing director for Malaysia. He graciously drove us to our hotel (the Hilton) and gave us some great info.
 

We grabbed a quick shower at the hotel...said a brief hello to Beth Carlson, who is a Cargill HR manager in KL and also an ex-pat, and then we met Darren, out real estate agent/tour guide for the day.

To be continued...I'm too jetlagged tonight to write anymore!