VERY EXCITED!

I have worked for Albuquerque Public Schools for 25 years and will retire in July and then the whole family will move back to my home state of New Hampshire.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process of packing 54 boxes (Our house echos now.), selling my kitchen island and purple chair, taking 6 trips to GoodWill to donate items, having the handyman paint 2 rooms, and all the baseboards, moving 5 large pieces of furniture to storage and purging 5 bags of clothes. We've also had the house inspected and the stucco repaired.

In purging the house and packing to show it for sale (We will list the house on April 1st.), we have most of the packing done for the big move. It's amazing what you can live without and what you really NEED. It gives one a whole knew perspective.

We still have to have the yard cleaned up, stage the house and have listing pictures taken. That all happens next week, during spring break. I also have to OFFICIALLY file my retirement paperwork.

Then after the house sells and the school year ends, we will drive with 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 cats, 2500 miles to the home (pictured above) I grew up in, where we will live for the next year. We will set up house in Lincoln, New Hampshire (about 3 hours south of Canadian border) until we finally find our forever home. The population of my home town is only about 1600 people compared to Albuquerque, which is about 500,000. So, we will probably end up settling somewhere a little larger (for work opportunities) like Concord (population 42,000) or Manchester (population 110,000), which are farther south.