Sunday - Day 175 - Footprint of the Future

We checked on the progress of the house today.  Unfortunately, it didn't look like much had changed since last week.  

(That load of trash isn't ours) 

We took all the kids with us and showed them how the foot print of the house had been outlined and elevated in the dirt.  You could stand in the "kitchen" or "living room" and use your imagination as to how everything would look. 

I'm making pasta in our future kitchen

I'm not sure how the kids felt, but I bet it seemed like a long time before an actual house would take the place of the empty lot.  

Each week we will visit the lot to check on progress and take a photo.  Jack offered to pull all the photos together when the house was complete and create a time lapse video.  That day will be the end of one era and the beginning of a new one for our family. 

At the end of this year James will have completed three months of kindergarten.  He will be a different child, living in a new home and understanding new things. 

We all will be in a different place, physically, emotionally and mentally.  It is a journey of personal growth, and in thought a spiritual time travel into our future. That new life feels very far way, yet it will be present sooner then we can think. 

Saturday - Day 174 - two room home

John and I met a couple while vacationing in Costa Rica a year ago.  We actually met many amazing couples honeymooning and vacationing together.  We all shared our love for Costa Rica. We were all in love with our significant others, but we also fell in love with the beautiful country we were sharing while on vacation. One couple in particular was so enamored with Costa Rica they began looking at property and ultimately purchased a small two room house while they were there.  John and I were intrigued.  Is it possible? Relocate your entire life into two rooms? An example of a two room home in Costa Rica We agreed we could move to Costa Rica in a heartbeat, but at the time we lived in a spacious, brand new apartment in Texas.  We just gained more space moving from our cabin in Georgia, two rooms sounded rough or was it? The couple who bought the home planned to sell their large square foot home on many acres, including horses, vehicles and equipment.  They had lived and traveled all over the world working for the U.S. military, but as retirees they could choose to live anywhere in the world. Costa Rica was their choice. I knew Costa Rica was an incredible destination, and I could envision living there, but after watching this couple quickly take a leap of faith, I knew without a doubt there was an infectious energy inhabiting the country.  An energy I would never forget. We were smitten with Costa Rica Looking back I now have a new perspective.  I would absolutely be able to live in a two room home.  After living in our RV, the cozy home size seems like a non issue.  I would suppose the experience of living in a small space is never a bad thing, it only allows for flexibly in making decisions going forward. Our preconceived notions of what we do or do NOT need evaporate.  Life transforms and becomes more about the current mission for the current life goals. Maybe one day I too will be looking at two room homes, maybe that home will be in the trees or on a cliff or by the beach.  It's nice to have options, because you never know where the road of life will lead. Treehouse in Costa Rica

Friday - Day 173 - Tiger Mom

I suggested to a friend recently that we should read "Tiger Mom" together per a friend's referral.  I didn't have a ton of background on the book, but was quickly informed how controversial the woman's parenting style was and my friend was not a supporter. Tiger Mom My friend's strong opinions intrigued me and even encouraged me to read the book a little bit more.  I only knew a little about the author prepping her child(ren) for an Ivy League college at an early age and having extremely strict patterning methods in order to keep her child(ren) focused on education.  I knew enough to have my curiosity sparked, but my friend's opinion was also important to me.  She shared this Today show link with me to help me be better informed.  I wrote this blog before I watched the interview. I personally feel having a good balance of school and other activities is key to contributing to a child's growth, but in my mind I will always have high expectations for my boys.  I intuitively want them to be good people at heart, well rounded and as stinking smart as their brains will allow them to be.  I do not consciously think they must have straight A's or be the best at sports and music, but I would never doubt their capabilities to excel. I simply believe my boys can be the best in anything they choose to do, which results in my expectations being high.  If they do fail, I do not consider it a bad thing, it will absolutely teach them how to be better. Failure is a learning tool, not a punishment. Their happiness is even more important and in my opinion also a learned behavior. If the boys are upset or sad, learning to cope with those emotions, through communicating is a life skill.  Respecting others, acting appropriately in certain situations, having proper manners and being socially comfortably are also important life skills that compliment all the hard work they will do in school. Regardless of parenting methods, it is a role with no rules or handbook.  We all do our best and hope our children grow up to be well adjusted, happy, loving adults who will live their lives to the fullest, at the very least. My most profound moment as a parent occurred tonight.  I watched James and Ty fall asleep next to one another on the bed.  James was holding Ty's hand, Ty was holding James', as they both drifted to sleep at the same time.  I had figured out, if I succeeded at one thing it was to teach my boys to love one another, their actions proved this.  Each day that passes, I watch them grow closer with love and care. This act of care made me wonder, is love a learned emotion, both accepting love and receiving it?  If so, it is our most important lesson in life that we all will learn.  One that is the hardest to master over our lifetime, our children will re-teach it to us again and again.

Thursday - Day 172 - Army of Ants

After we moved the camper earlier in the week, John reminded me I hadn't written about the Army of Ants that invaded our camper.  How could I forget about the ant brigade?

When we came home from moving the camper late Monday afternoon, John had a meeting in Orlando and left for a few hours.  James and I started to notice a few ants here and there, but we did not think much of it initially.  A few ants in the camper is normal and nothing to panic about.

I started a game with James.  He is always looking to earn money for the toy vending machines in the office. I give him little tasks and chores to do when he wants to help me around the RV for quarters.  When he began killing the few ants we saw with his shoe, I offered him .10 cents per ant.  Before I knew it, he had killed ten ants.

That was more then normal, I was slightly alarmed, but wasn't overly concerned until I heard him yell, "there are too many mom, so many, I can't kill them all!"

I went over to check and in the space where the RV slides out was a hidden hole.   John was planning to move the camper over a few inches in the morning away from a tree, because we could not completely extend our living room slide which created the hole.  The ants were now flowing inside faster then we could kill them.

We had already moved the vacuum inside to dispose of the ant carcass.  I was now using it to suck up live ants.  The more I removed, the more ants flowed inside.  Now I was panicked.  

John came home just in time to save us from the army of ants.  I was thoroughly skeeved out at this point, and scratching invisible ants from my arms and legs.  

My husband had a theory, we may have disturbed an ant mound pulling the camper back in or better yet, the ants had made a home in the basement of our camper, enjoying their newfound source of food and we shook them loose during the move.  

Either theory deeply disturbed me.  My fearless husband sprayed outside and in, vacuumed the dead ants, both on the carpet and inside a cabinet they were migrating to and he cleaned the vacuum which was swarming with live ants.  By the time he was done every last ant was gone.  My hero!

Dead Ant - Dead Ant - Dead Ant.....

I still get the heevey jeeveys, and tend to think something is crawling on me, but overall I am stable and close to being fully recovered.  Gotta love camping life! 

Wednesday - Day 171 - American Author

"Best Day of My Life" is a catchy tune from a Brooklyn based band. What if everyday was the best day of our lives?  What if each day was lived as the last?  What would we do? John and I watched "The Bucket List" last week. We each had seen it when it first came out, but watched it now with new found appreciation having each written our own bucket lists. Incredibly, our lists had a few parallel items with regards to travel destinations.  It was reassuring to know we would one day cross off our bucket list items together as a team.  We each had other goals which were more personal to our individual growth, and we would support one another on those as well. I have no doubt that when we are old (one day) we will look back with satisfaction on all we have accomplished.  We currently look back on our short seven years together and can not believe all we have achieved as a couple and how much we have grown together. If, however, I had only one day left to live and I wanted my last day to be the "Best Day of my Life" I would choose to spend the day with those I love and appreciate the most throughout my entire life.  American Authors would be playing in the background.  My favorite foods and drinks would be sprawled out on a blanket, while sitting on a tropical beach in perfect weather.   I would look at my husband and smile with knowing eyes.  It is simple, yet perfect.

Tuesday - Day 170 - angry woman

An angry woman once told a dear friend of mine, "That is YOUR choice!" and she blamed him for her own misfortune taking no responsibly for her own life choices.  

Today my friend is light hearted and happy.  The angry woman is not.  My friend looks and acts young for his age.  The angry woman, although a little less angry, is haggard and has not aged well.

Sometimes, I feel sorry for her, but then I think, she made her own life choices, and life always plays a different story in retrospect.

History may repeat itself, however, the future will aways allow the truth to be told.  Time has a funny way of showing everyone's true colors with age.

I share these thoughts to remind myself to be true to myself and live an honest life with no regrets, because life is unbelievably short.

We all have our own path to travel and our own choices to make.   The hard choices are always the ones worth making.  

 

Monday - Day 169 - Moving the house

We manage to back out of our spot on time today at 7am, give or take a few minutes.  It wasn't nearly as difficult as one would imagine.  

Off we go!

We left an empty, sad little space where our RV was once parked.  I'm sure half of our campground neighbors wondered where we went, noticing a huge hole in the trees where we occupied space.  Our hoses and stuff layed perfectly still, any curious neighbors would quickly realize  we'd return, the only question now was when? 

Our Lonely little, empty spot!

We drove at a reasonable pace, the RV much heavier today then when we initially purchased it, our personal belongings weighing it down.

We dropped the house off at Camping World and left to have an enjoyable family day at Coco Beach for John's Birthday (in between John's work calls and emails).

What we didn't anticipate was our RV purchase not being registered with the manufacturer, which makes getting warranty work done next to impossible.  Ironically, we had to make the appointment seven weeks in advance, verifying registration before hand is worth checking into and my best advice to fellow RVers.

John contacted Camping World in Georgia, where we made our purchase, a few times.  Our camper would not get looked at without proper registration.

Pre-approvals need to be authorized before parts can be ordered.

After a lot of back and forth phone calls and emails through the day with Camping World in Florida and Georgia, their computers were finally updated; an hour before we had to pick up the RV and head back to New Smyrna Beach.  I sensed they hustled to get our records in order.  

Incredibly, our punch list of items to be looked at was fully reviewed, repaired or had parts ordered for it.  A light switch, door lock and few other minor items were all on their way to being fixed.  We will still need to go back once our parts come in, but overall we were impressed with the professionalism and speed at which the  RV was serviced. 

John and I were both concerned the RV may not even get looked at after driving all that way and dealing with the hassle of unhooking and moving the camper. 

I laugh at our ease dealing with what could have potentially been a bad situation.  For some strange reason things always seem to work themselves out.  When we picked up our 'house', John revealed, to the girl helping us, that it was his Birthday and how much he appreciated everything they had done to get things in order in a timely fashion.  

Whether they were finished or not we were coming to get the camper at a specific time.  When we arrived they were done and the RV was ready to go. 

I think John had an especially nice birthday despite the issues, mainly because he was able to spend the day with his boys.   He was happy at the end of the day.  Sometimes it's the little things that make the day count.  

Ty liked the Class A buses at Camping World