We are all going stir crazy

Cabin fever. It's here in a real way. It showed up over the weekend and grabbed us in it's nasty talons of irritation. I'm pretty sure that it is compounded by the mere fact that we really should have been moving this weekend instead of sitting on our thumbs.

Normally, when cabin fever hits we have a back up plan. I can do something creative like sewing, arts & crafts or baking. Mostly though, due to everyone having the same syndrome, we play a ton of cards.

Guess what? All the cards, board games, art supplies, crafts, baking supplies, winter sports equipment (sleds, tubes, sleigh, skis) are all packed away. There is absolutely nothing to do. Oh, and before you suggest that perhaps we watch TV, we haven't owned one in about 8 or 9 years.

All my journals, diaries, magazines, books are packed.

What a difficult place to be!

For those of you who are in a geographic area where you are snowed in often or it's simply too cold to get out, I suggest the following games to pass the time!

All of these are family favorites that we can literally spend hours and hours passing the cold January nights at home. We also like the classic Yahtzee game but after a while the tapping of the dice can get a little irritating.

We should know soon when our closing date was moved to.
Learning that patience is a virtue.

Until then, I'm texting the neighbor to see if she has some cards we can borrow!

Creating a life you don't need a vacation from

A few days ago I had a facebook image come across my feed that struck me straight in the gut. Someone spoke the language of my heart. I sat and stared at what it said, knowing that this person that created it, shared a common goal.

What an excellent goal! I absolutely want to build a life that I don't need a vacation from! How many times have I said to myself, or anyone around me "I need a vacation!" I am guilty of doing it often.

Today I am going to simply share some pictures of what I would like in life. I found all of these pictures on Facebook so unless they are watermarked, I can't give proper credit.

I think it's these images and ones like it that keep me encouraged to go forward and build that life. For any who are disheartened and weary from pursuing this path, be encouraged! Good things don't always come easily or quickly. This dream has been 19 years in the making and I still haven't arrived!

I hope that you enjoy each of these as much as I do and that you will take some time to create your own vision for a life you don't need a vacation from.

A Simple Saturday

Wouldn't it be great if we could all adopt a new viewpoint about the days of the week? I have been thinking about this a little bit today and this is what I have come up with so far:

• Amazing Monday
• Terrific Tuesday
• Winning Wednesdays
• Thoughtful Thursday
• Fun Friday
• Simple Saturday
• Sensational Sunday

What if we had a completely different viewpoint of each day of the week? Most people in our society only really appreciate Friday Night through Sunday evening, never looking forward to the five days in between. Somehow I don't think this is living life to the fullest. Not if we only trudge through the weekdays to get to the weekends. I think this goes along with the mindset of creating a life you love.

Lets dream a little bit about what a Simple Saturday would look like in a perfect world. I am sure that each of us would have a completely different vision for this day, which would often change depending on the season that you are in. For me, a simple Saturday would have some similar attributes.

1. Slower
2. Relaxing
3. Easy
4. Friendly
5. Pleasant
6. Creative
7. Enjoyable

I sit here and chuckle to myself just a little bit because in my "real" city life it's very hectic on the weekends. They absolutely fly by, jam packed with a plethora of child based activities. Realistically, the chances of us not being in a constant monsoon of activities is unlikely for several more years yet. I desire to make it my JOB to infuse my Saturday's with the above attributes. I long for a simple Saturday in which I can just live.

Is it possible to meet all seven of these goals realistically? Lets take a look at what a "typical" Saturday in the late winter and early spring looks like. Wake up, grab a cup of coffee while throwing a multitude of drinks and snacks into a bag or cooler, yelling and the princesses to hurry up and get themselves ready, encourage the toddler to eat a little quicker, grab diapers and baby "stuff" for a few hours of being out of the house, run to the car to check if the lawn chairs and stroller are accounted for, double check the soccer blankets, soccer balls, Ergo carrier. Run back inside and grab a second layer of clothing, umbrella, sunscreen, waterbottles. Top off the coffee, grab the kids and race out the door. Once you get in the car and everyone in seat belts, throw protein bars at all your children while discussing what field you are supposed to be on. Turn on the radio and pray that you get the kids to the field on time because you have been late to the previous 2 games.

After the game or games if you have more than one child, every one piles back into the car. Maybe I should think about what's for lunch? What's for dinner? I need more coffee. Good game. Did you have fun? Are you enjoying yourself? What was the best part?

After traveling a minimum of an hour you arrive home. Tired, hungry and windblown. Everyone wants fed. The baby needs a bath. The teens want to change their clothes and plan for another activity. Husband needs your help. The coffee pot is empty, your nerves are shot, the baby is fussy and you still don't know what is for lunch or dinner.

Stop... Just stop right there. I cannot tell you how many of my weekends have been spent in this cycle of craziness. That is NOT a simple Saturday. That is not any of the attributes that I yearn for.

My girls will continue to play soccer until they both graduate. I need a better plan. In the spring, they travel quite extensively. Sometimes we have two or three days in a row like this. I won't even go into what life was like when I had three playing soccer and two playing football, two doing track, one in basketball, one playing baseball...

In order to have a Simple Saturday you MUST plan better for it. Over the years we have made great strides to have a better handle on how the day will turn out. Dinner in the crockpot, everyone get up an hour early, the car has gas, diaper bags, soccer bags and equipment packed and by the door. Thermo's are filled to capacity. Lunches packed into a small cooler. Encouraging music streaming through the speakers. Bellies full of a nice hot breakfast. Plans made AHEAD of time for evening activities. House clean and organized so everything can get accessed at a moments notice (like last minute walking out the door). Does this happen all the time? No. We are still a work in progress. This is something that we will strive more to have in place with the new move. Actually, it will be imperative since we are moving an additional hour out both ways.

I have been playing around with how to change our landing zones and to go areas. I think that by setting up these stations we all could be a little less stressed about what is where and what is missing. I have combed Pinterest a lot and have a nice little board of great hacks I'd like to put in place. There is a lot I have learned from the Flylady over the years about zones and being prepared. This was a blessing to a mom who always seems to be a day or two behind-ALWAYS!

One of the best things about Simple Saturdays? Summer time. Weekends without games or activities. Those moments I look forward to as well. Ditching the obligations of organized activities and just living life. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

I leave you all with a quick update about the upcoming move. We were supposed to close in 3 days. That isn't going to happen now. It could be 5- 12 days from now. We are all pretty much living out of boxes and suitcases at this point. We still can't schedule the movers because these people don't feel it's important to give us an actual close date. Life has been full of surprises these last few days and it's all I can do to smile and count it all joy.

Mama's Boy

There is nothing wrong with being a mama's boy. Seriously, not one thing. The last few days have been really hard for me to blog because of the great tragedy happening within the USMC family. You see, when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. The Marine Corps is the smallest of the Armed services, but they are our front line of defense. These men and women are trained to kill a man with their bare hands. Not a lovely thought about your baby.

I make it no secret that I am the proud MoM to one who serves our country. With this territory comes many, many hours of prayer, trusting the Lord, trusting my Marine and long days of silence. There are secret  missions and times when we just can't talk. This is okay because it's what he signed up for. As a family, we were drafted into service. We skype on holidays, ship care packages, were red on Fridays and fly our flags proudly.

This became a part of our make-up, it's who we are. As a support family we lean on each other in good times and in bad. You might have heard of the catastrophic blow to our Corps family this week. Two helicopters carrying 12 of our finest Marines crashed into each other on a training mission, off the shores of Hawaii. They have not been found, have not been recovered. Their families are waiting for a word. They are hoping, praying and lighting a candle in the hopes that they will "Find their way home". The names were released yesterday. None of them are people we know. But we all are in the same support groups, we read their posts, we continue lifting them up in prayer. We in essence hold our breath as we wait for more news. When one hurts, we all hurt.

My heart cries with each MoM (Mom of a Marine), dad, sister, brother, wife, child... Their fear is real. It's something that all of us hold as a possibility in the back of our heads, hoping and praying that we will not be the unlucky family that gets a knock on the door with uniformed Marines and Chaplains sent to help us through dark days. My heart hurts when I think about all those moments each family will miss with the one who sacrificed it all for the sake of freedom. I stand with these families as we wait and watch. I will not give up hope in these dark days. I want them to know that they are in our constant thoughts and prayers.

 

Soon, the one who serves his country will be home on leave. My world literally stops and I do nothing but just soak him in. Things have changed these days and there is another bright beautiful smile that he looks forward to seeing. She is a beautiful one. She makes him happy. She gives him a reason to keep his head down and his feet fast. So now we both stop our worlds and soak him in. We both know this could be the last time to see his face, hug his neck, look into those smiling eyes... We give thanks each time we able to do so.

Dear USMC family, we stand by your side. We are deeply hurting for you and your Marine. We love you and we are sorry that you are going through so much pain right now.

Blessed are the Peacemakers: For they shall be called the children of God.

The countdown is on...

Today is a Government Holiday. No paperwork is pushed through, the mail doesn't run, the banks are closed. Heck, my insurance company isn't even answering the phone today. I am writing this blog a little bit earlier in the day because I know what this afternoon may look like and I am not sure if I can find the time to string a few sentences together.

Today we packs a little bit more. Most of it happened in the Kitchen. The lumberjack is slightly worried about boxes and doesn't want ANYTHING left out even if we plan to use it. Everything needs a box. So, the remaining food that I have in the kitchen is now boxed up and living on the counters. I managed to pack another box in baby lumberjacks room. Slowly but surely we are getting it all accounted for.

The planner in me is really having a most difficult time. I have a few loyal friends who have asked when we need help. I really wish we could answer that question. Best I can do is guess at this point. We did ask our Realtor to inquire on us renting the new farm a few days before closing so we can paint, shampoo and lay the invisible dog fence. We haven't heard anything back from them on it yet. Our official closing date is supposed to be next Tuesday. Naturally, that's not set in stone due to the USDA still needing to review the file and give us permission to close on the current house before we close on the old one. So that's a special exemption we are asking for. No guarantee there. Next up would be the chance that the buyers could move up their closing date to next Tuesday but our realtor that is selling this house doesn't think they will have all their ducks in a row to be able to do that.
The hardest part of this isn't even the scheduling of friends to help, it's the movers! We continue to believe we will have favor with them and the date of moving will just work out well.

Today we were able to get an updated 10 day weather outlook. Winter in January in a southern state might be nice to move in, however I live in NW Missouri.We are supposed to get about 2" of snow tomorrow. The weather between now and the day after closing will be high in the 30's and low in the 20's with the exception of this weekend when it dips back down into the single digits. Thankfully the snow chances are about 20%. We recognize that most of this move will be done all at once. We have two small moving trucks, two pickup trucks and trailers along with my little car, as well as the back of the International which isn't ideal because you have to lift everything over your head to get it in the back. The trip to the farm will be roughly an hour with vehicles weighed down and snow packed roads, so it's not like we will be able to make several small trips in the car.

The lumberjack asked if we were taking the kids out of school during the move. The youngest princess Co-Op's with our local homeschool group three days a week and the oldest princess is doing dual enrollment at the local community college. Neither of the girls want to miss a day so I might be scrambling to find rides for each of them.

My mind keeps bringing up different scenarios of things that can go wrong. I am trying my hardest to keep those lingering thoughts captive and not entertain them. I have been diffusing my oils and turning my cares over to the Lord as they come up.

There is no turning back now, the countdown is on!
Praying, packing, purging... 5 to 8 days to go!

Wrong side of the bed with cold feet...

This morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You know the side, the one in which leaves you tired and irritable. Not only did I wake up grumpy, I woke up with cold feet. Not literally, just emotionally. I woke up thinking I must be crazy to continue to pursue this move. I must be insane to keep hitting trial after trial and set back after setback and still try to go forward. It would be so much easier if I would just forget it all and stay put. Then slowly as the fog in my mind lifts, I realize that I have gone too far to back out now.

WHAT was I thinking?

City people in the country? I am NOT prepared for this. I don't even drive a pick up truck. What have I done? Why did I push for this? What if it all falls apart at the last minute? How many more times will I get short tempered or have to deal with someone else having a mini meltdown? Seriously, this morning I sat on the couch with my coffee in hand and came quickly to the realization that I have got cold feet.

Someone remind me why in the world we are doing this again? So I can have a mortgage almost six times bigger than the one I have now? So I can spend every Saturday afternoon mowing grass, only to have no one visit?

It might take me a year to unpack all of this stuff. I don't even know where the air vents are in the rooms (cause you know this might be a deal breaker). Why am I doing this? This is the definition of insanity.

I drank another cup of coffee. My head began to clear some more. I checked my emails. Opened one, followed the link, read today's devotion. Following God. Stepping into your calling. Faith walking. Believing God. Trusting in the Lord. Birthing the dreams within your heart.

That's right. I remember now why I am doing this.

I haven't been trusting, casting my cares on Him, believing Him to take care of us. I needed to read this today. My heart needed this reminder. I needed to be encouraged myself.

It's going to be alright. God's got this.
I'm trying to rest today and just spend time with the family since we got a nice little snow and I don't have any place to be.

Maybe 5 days, maybe 9... who knows?
Tomorrow I will be praying, packing, cleaning and breathing deeply.
But most importantly, trusting.

Paperwork Push

I am almost embarrassed to make this post. However, if someone else out there might gain some self love back by hearing that they are not alone, then writing this is worth it.

Papers! We all have lots and lots of papers that come into our homes. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if there wasn't email? I have friends who are totally and completely on top of this. Me on the other hand, yeah, not so much. Because we own a businesses almost every single bit of paper must be kept for accounting and taxes or some kind of formal record. Not only do we generate a great deal of paper ourselves taking note, making plans, doing budgets and running reports, we also have a gross amount that comes via the daily mail. I do try to keep all mail in one place, by the front door and go through it regularly. Before baby lumberjack was born, I kept a trash can under a little table designated just for mail. When the great purge started, the table left, the trash can left and  my working system broke down. It's okay, as I knew this would only be for a season. Only thing about it? That season actually has lasted now longer than seven months. The time has come for me to process SEVEN months of paperwork! The good news is that I have almost all of my bill filing completed and orderly. The bad news is that I really need to get stuff to the accountant that is helping me with books because these things have deadlines.

The lumberjack, in his kindness bought me one of those little Neat Desk receipt readers. These things are pretty cool, but they don't populate the fields like they claim. For now, it's one of the best products on the market for small businesses and it does keep a digital copy of all those receipts for easy recall. the down side is it will take more time to actually log every single receipt than it did actually to drive to the store and buy whatever was needed. Now, how's that for reality?

Once I have all the receipts scanned and entered, I can then pack away all the remaining of my office, which is my last holdout. The computers will be shut down, the printers, scanners and hard drives packed away. We will go mobile for a few days while making the final transition from home to home. I'm pretty sure that I am going to need a whole lot of coffee prayer and help over the next couple days as I whip these books into shape!

In other news, the appraisal STILL isn't back yet. We still have no concrete date for our move. We are locking our rate in today (3.75% which is excellent), finished some more paperwork underwriting requested, and the sellers of the farm asked if we wanted to close early... Which, while we would LOVE to, seems like an impossibility at this time.

I packed NOTHING today and I am okay with that. Bills are paid till the end of the month, my monthly planner is up to date, my notes have been updated, payroll has been calculated for this last year and the mountain of filing I had is barely nothing now.

I'm off to wash more laundry, pick up after the little lumberjack and find these people who know me as "mom", something to eat for dinner!

Roughly eleven more days to go!