Negative Nancy —

I have had so many run ins — with Negative Nancy —-

Especially about this past year and the (opportunity) to try something new, go somewhere completely unknown and teach a subject I wasn’t too familiar with almost 3000 miles away from what felt “comfortable”….

I heard the comment the other day… Someone who obviously has not travelled nor seen outside the 3 mile radius of their comfort zone said it was a “WASTE OF TIME” going all the way to Arizona to teach for a year when I need 3 years to certify (finalize) (officalize) (follow the rules-ize) my teaching certification…..

I however don’t see it as a waste whatsoever. Quite the opposite actually…. How many children can say they’ve travelled over 6,000 miles… visited 22 states already….. lived in an RV and were unschooled at museums, cities informational centers, national parks, and truly unique places all across the country????   (And I’m glad I’m at ease with the choices I’ve made for my children/myself/our specific situation/and our future).

“I thought it would be fun” “Why not” “It should be a good experience” “We’ve learned so much” “We’ve SEEN so much” “We’ve EXPERIENCED so much” “I would do it again in a heartbeat… but perhaps Montana next time”

I could go on for hours.

 

So to those who have a negative annotation to go with this past summer and last years summer of adventure…. please just keep your thoughts to yourself… This is a No Negative Comments Zone…. No Negative Nancy’s ALLOWED 🙂 🙂 😀

What Will We Accomplish Today!?

When I get the kids up some days… I ask them this….

— What are we going to accomplish today? What are we going to get done (together…. as a team)?

Some days my list of “To-Do” — is as simple as #1 – Relax, Breathe, Be Grateful, Laugh

I’m hoping that when they face adversity they can look at it and consider it something positive that has been laid in front of them. Trusting that it will all work out (whatever it may be) and continue to do the right thing (whatever that may be) at the time….

We do a lot of “HAPPY THOUGHTS” here….
We do a lot of praise.
We do a lot of “I’m sorry because I did _______ and Will you forgive me?”

I’m hoping when life knocks them down… they can get back up with a smile on their face and determination in their hearts/souls and keep on trucking with the best during the worst….

I think your attitude has a lot to do with what happens to you in your life.
If you are thrown a whole bunch of horrible things one after another and think woe is me…. then chances are likely you will not see the light that can come out of that experience…
If you look at it as a new challenge or learning opportunity then even in the worst of times you can power through to another day.

Travelling with kids. Travelling at all… Trying something new… Not having a clue about the future…. Putting everything on the line…. hoping for the best…..

No job lined up. No place to live figured out. No real PLAN for the future.. BAHAHAHAAA It’s Hilariously SCARY!

Some may say I’m crazy. I think I just put my trust in something and think no matter what everything will turn out okay in the end (or so I hope).

I know I have today though… and I know today counts… today is what matters.. and the next few weeks… the mornings… that turn into afternoons… which will inevitably become evenings leading into nights…. The sun will rise tomorrow… and to that I am grateful. Today is awesome. I just hope tomorrow is too!

I hope my children can take away some sort of road schooling education from this trip… something worth more than what textbooks can offer them…. A year ago they didn’t know desert, mountains, jet skis, pontoons, boathouses, etc…. But now…. They’ve seen the desert… They KNOW different animals, weather patterns, culture, plants like a cactus (And the girly girl knows it all too well as she had a needle in her rump a few months ago after leaning a little too close to a pretty one)…

They are so young still.. but I hope they learn how to speak their mind.. hope they learn how to face adversity as well as RESPECTFULLY face the education system (educators/administrators) that they are a part of….. I do not know how to INSTILL a desire to learn in them… TO INSTILL the mentality to readily use and take what you can from teachers, mentors, people at the market, or whoever you can (knowledge is so limitless)… Time. Time. Time….

********************* What will YOU accomplish today ?! **************************

Words that make me Feel Good About The Summer Of 2014

My Mother was Insane… :)

I think about the past 10 years of my life and consider it a complete turn around.

My mother passing away…. Getting married….. Having three AWESOME HAPPY HOOLIGAN CHILDREN…  Buying, fixing up, having a house fire, and selling a handful of houses…. Living in a 5th wheel for a y ear……   Getting divorced (filing for it.. trying to get divorced)……..   Going back to College full time while working full time while doing the SINGLE MOM thing full time……   Living in a travel trailer for a few months…….   Taking a job 3000 miles away and then moving with said 3 happy hooligans across the country to a city where I know no one……..  AND NOW… the trip back —–

WOW.  I am SO HAPPY to be where we are today.  Life is hectic and planning this trip BACK EAST is a bit stressful considering the chaos behind it all but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The kids are excited about living in a motor home… the kids are excited about seeing a couple new fun things along the way on the venture back east… and they are good.  Very GOOD…. compared to where they were only one year ago.  Educational experience overload. Yes.

What I hope to share with them someday is the foolishness that my mother instilled in me as a young woman.  My mother would embarrass me and poke fun at me in public all the time.  I realize now that it was her GOD GIVEN RIGHT as a MOTHER to do those things but at the time I completely (almost) hated her for doing those things to me.   She got a kick out of it and now I honestly can not wait to play fun games with my kids and be all sorts of insane in public in front of my own children just to embarrass them so they can remember me as the crazy lady just as I remember my mother as that same woman (unfortunately she passed away when I was 21 so she never got the opportunity to meet my children)… but oh man.. she would have LOVED to had known them and been a grandmother.

Basically I saw this other picture (below) and thought of my mother.. and a slight twinge of pain shot through me as I had felt sad because I will never know that feeling of being FOOLISH with my mother because I still had so many embarrassing moments with her (towards the end of her life I was just coming out of my shell of not wanting to be embarrassed and I too would act a fool in public with her around.. together we were insane.. they should have locked us up .. LOL)

Basically I know her personality was a bit off the path as most and I love that about what she was and who she helped me become….   I wish I could get on these little motorized carts now with her and just run amuck in public… terrorizing the “normal” people out and about… all the while LAUGHING at ourselves and our insanity….

I day remembering the good times brings back so many happy thoughts/memories.  🙂 Keep those who you love CLOSE to you and ALWAYS make sure you tell those who you love… that you LOVE THEM…  time is fleeting…  it really is…  and you never know when someone else’s or your time is going to run out.

Ready. Set. Go.

STEP 6 — Awning adventure, Strawberries, OUR MAP, and MOVIE NIGHT!

Leaving. Emotions. Whoa.

People keep asking me “Are you excited about your trip?” —

How can I answer that question….. My emotions are going haywire and have been for weeks… months… 🙂

I feel excited and thrilled.
I feel nervous and uncertain.
I feel scared and anxious.
I feel joy and gratitude.
I feel hesitant and cautious.
I feel content and blessed.
I feel timid and aware.
I feel hopeful and ready.

 

Nothing is better than seeing new things and having experiences though in my mind…. so the only way this whole trip could be categorized in a higher level…. is if I had a NEWER motor home that ran off earth friendly fuel/solar power and somehow had unlimited funds to do this sort of “fun” figuring it out as we go forever….

Cheers ~

STEP 3 — Packing STUFF in …..

When I stand and look at our house….. and spin around… looking at our new motorhome…. then back again at the house…. I once again have the surmounting feeling of having too much STUFF (how did we collect this much STUFF after coming 3000 miles across the country with hardly anything?!) *answer: almost everything was from donations and the rest of the things were on sale..

I need to fit all their “STUFF” into a teeny tiny space again…..

So basically have spent copious amounts of hours pawing through everything (again) to figure out what we are taking with us and what we will donate or sell back out to try and get some more spending money/gas money for the trip….

I took pictures along the way so I’ll share them as the changes unfold…. (basically I would put something in one spot and then realize NO… I need THAT spot for this other thing…) or I would pack something in and a day later, go and take it out because my gut says “DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT?!” The cabinets were full of the last guy’s stuff (who I bought it from) because he was so kind to leave all his things in it for me to handle (keep and use)…. I took everything out.. thought about what I wanted and what could be given away/sold and then put half of it back in…..

Making sure things don’t fall down/fall over/clink and clank/break/come loose while driving is another part of this adventure…. When I packed the crock pot… I stuck all the extra napkins I have inside it so it would keep the lid from banging…. likewise with my other ceramic dishes….

I have sleeping bags for all of us which have been moved around more times than I can count…… I have extra towels for all of us (and extra kitchen/wipe towels/cloth napkins) for all of us because when they get super dirty I can just toss them along the way and not have to worry about a mounting pile of dirty clothes every single day….. To follow up with that idea I am probably going to “let” the happy hooligans wear all of their FINEST PLAY CLOTHES (stains, holes, etc) and when they get messy this time… INTO THE TRASH they go (they’re not worthy of donating at this point but will serve an EXCELLENT purpose of clothing along a camping road trip across America… 🙂 🙂

I have packed in some of their good clothes too but unless we’re going out to a fancy park/dinner/event….. they’ll stay packed away……………

Selling or Giving Away EVERYTHING Again

We did this last year when we were leaving New York….

I had a yard sale. and another yard sale. And then got to the point where I wanted STUFF gone.

 

So GONE it went.

 

 

This year it is very different.  I did not actually buy most of the things around us….  I had so many things donated that I have tried to donate things back out and really am not asking for much when it comes to selling things….  Every single dollar counts but I don’t want to “make something” from nothing.   I appreciate all the generosity from this city…. the people here really helped us with the transition into the city.   I have one of the best landlords I have ever met and couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to surround myself with in the past 11 months…..    I am truly sad and have cried my fair share of tears about leaving a place where we can live in peace, feel safe, and comfortable.   Without a select few helping hands to reach out and say “What can I do to help?” — this year would have been VERY difficult.   The stress of trying to “make it” and be able to just get by would have overwhelmed me…..  But it didn’t…… The people in this city are willing to help when they see someone who needs a little lift up.   They have services here for families in need.  We fell into that category but I made too much money to qualify for any ‘assistance’.   We were blessed with help in more ways than I can count and no amount of THANK YOU will cover my gratitude.

The commute every single day was exhausting and I’m mostly GLAD that it is over….     WHO would have thought?!!!??  A school district without a school bus system….. (It wasn’t on my list of questions to ask when I started researching the area/schools).  I learned.  Oh, how I learned.  AND — I love learning… so all is well.

I look around our house right now and sigh a bit of relief.   More than half of our “STUFF” is gone….   I have packed up some brand new clothes (donated to us) and am sending them to New York so they’re there for us when we arrive……   I have packed up the motor home….  decorated it slightly with some dollar store stickers and homemade curtains from my Nana who wished me well on my way 11 months ago. She helped me ‘decorate’ the travel trailer that we drove all the way here… and put her heart and soul into the curtains we now have….. (I’m a “THROW IT TOGETHER AND JUST PUT IT UP” kind of person and she’s the “Let me measure this 10 times, cut it once, sew it… ooops the stitch is crooked… take stitch out… re-sew it…. and it’s PERFECTLY MADE” kind of person)

I look around and we no longer have chairs to sit at to eat dinner… (we’ve been having “picnics” on a blanket in the living room — or just going outside to eat — or going in the camper to giggle at our upcoming adventure)

I look around the bedrooms and only my bed is left (I have someone coming to take it the day we leave) — My kids have had BRAND NEW BEDS the entire time we were here… and it was WONDERFUL… but they usually didn’t sleep in their beds anyway… I’d put them to sleep in the beds but they’d end up on the floor in front of the fan or in the hallway or in the bathtub or in the closet or at the foot of my bed or in bed with me… etc….. I would find them all over in different places… OTHER THAN in their nice new beds. 🙂

I look around and see only a few toys lingering around. I see only a couple outfits. I no longer see decorations on the walls. I no longer see papers of artwork all over the place. I miss my pictures (obsessed with pictures only SLIGHTLY)……. I have to go out to the motor home to get my ‘picture fix’.

The garage is empty…. The back yard is empty….
The bathrooms are pretty much empty….. The cupboards are almost empty….

Living “Less Is More” — is my favorite way to live.

Cheers ~

Perfectly imperfect, gloriously messy, and happily chaotic little world

If I haven’t expressed how grateful I am for each and every day. Let me say it again today.

I appreciate the simple things.  I am truly happy for down time to soak in all the miracles going on around me.

My children are FULL of joy. Full of wonder.  Full of questions and inquisitive personalities.   They’re also full of chaos. Whining. Bickering. Screaming. Fighting. Pushing. Pulling. Teaching. Helping. Showing. and Learning how to act differently when something frusterating comes at them.  Practice is DAILY.  We repeat and then repeat some more.    Moments like this though make me freeze and just take it all in.  The music is playing.  They are all happy.  They are all sharing.  They are dancing.  They are singing.  They are OVERFLOWING with JOY.  And it’s contagious. And I love it.   Today was my perfectly imperfect, gloriously messy, and happily chaotic little world.

 

 

 

Do you ever have a moment when all is right with the world?

A private tea party for two,
A tender conversation between a girl and her dog,
A couchful of every single person you love, happily smushed against you.

…

In that moment, all is right with the world.

No fighting, no whining, no chaos—just peace.

No deadlines, no distractions, no demands—just freedom.

No yesterday, no tomorrow, no long-term agenda—just now.

No failings, no criticism, no guilt—just love.

In that moment, all is right with the world.

These moments are brief … they are rare … they can be easily missed. Believe me, I know. But I’m trying not to let them pass me by.

This is how:

Take pause in the busyness of your day—even a moment or two will do. And for a moment, pay attention. Notice. Listen. Stop. Breathe.

There’s a good chance you will catch one:

That moment when all is right in your perfectly imperfect, gloriously messy, and happily chaotic little world.

Peace, love, freedom, and joy right there at your fingertips.

The best moments of life are forever yours when you stop to take them in.

 

This was NOT written by me but I am in LOVE with everything she posts.  So very real and well said.   I have to repost but please give her the credit.  Check her out on FB too… She’s good stuff.

© Rachel Macy Stafford 2014  –  Hands Free Revolution

Living at a slower pace is something many of us want to do, but it’s easier than it sounds, right? I’ve learned to incorporate moments of pause throughout my day. Whether it’s a moment to connect with people I love, nature, or my own thoughts, those moments refuel me and help me focus on what matters. Wishing you a moment of pause in your perfectly imperfect world today!