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.

RVing with Kids (The human ones)

So the question is —- Am I an adrenaline junkie? Do I enjoy this? The planning is fun…. the stressful moments actually doing it all is not always so much fun. Travel with 3 kids. Driving with 3 kids. Camping with 3 kids. Hiking with 3 kids. Yes. (in hindsight) I loved every single planned/unplanned bit of chaos during the first time around (when we drove from New York to Arizona 11 months ago)…. and so far I love every second of it….. so I must be.

The first time we drove across America….. it was interesting to say the least.  I think NOTHING went as planned other than the route and the destination.  Kids loved seeing new things.  Kids hated sitting in the car for hours on end.  Meeting new people every time we stopped was part of the adventure. Mechanics are incredibly nice to you and talkative when they want your business… 😉 —– The first time we towed a 20 foot travel trailer and it took us almost 2 weeks….    People told me THEN that I was crazy for wanting to go on a long road trip with kids….

Now it’s time to make the trek back across America….  The kids have no concept of time (not REALLY) and can not fathom how long this trip is going to take us….  AGAIN.  I know they’re going to ask me (just as they did on the way to Arizona….) “ARE WE THERE YET?!  HOW MUCH LONGER?”   The second question isn’t possible to answer for them because they don’t understand when I tell them it’s only 25 more hours to drive (which might take a week)…. I will just keep telling them to look on the map and consider how far we’ve gone and how long it took us to get this far already….  maybe they can wrap their heads around the idea of time a little bit more by the time we get back to New York…..

They are excited about the trip again.  They are excited about their “NEW HOME” (temporary home on wheels) and they LOVE their new SPACES inside the motorhome.   They have already helped me put up the map (where we tracked our route last time) and they have spaces for their books, crayons, papers, toys, dolls, blankets, etc….   They make the trip exciting for me… but I know they’re going to lose the thrill of it all fairly quickly……

 

 

 

 

 

What you don’t see

Basically this is true for all pictures of anyone shared for the public to see…..

What you don’t hear is the constant laughter, running, chasing, and playful screaming from the kids.

What you don’t know is that moments before the picture was taken everyone was NOT listening and going their own way.

What you don’t hear is the yelling, pleading, re-directing, separating, time outs, consequences, and compromises being made in order to keep the peace.

What you don’t hear is the “DONT TOUCH EACH OTHER” and LEAVE HIM ALONE” or LEAVE HER ALONE” and my favorite : “IF YOU DO ___________ ONE MORE TIME YOU WILL BE FACING SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES” .

What you don’t see is how connected the younger two are and seem to be able to comfort each other with a simple touch.

What you don’t see or hear is the struggle the oldest has with a plethora of hurdles which he overcomes every day and feels the most proud when he accomplishes something in his school work.

What you don’t feel are the constant headaches from the non stop NOISE that occurs in our house.

What you don’t know about is the stress and uncertainty of the future that we all face every day due to the roller coaster ride of who knows what will happen next from the impending situation with unmentionables.

What you don’t hear is me asking them at least 10x a day “How much do I love you?” ((They always STOP what they’re doing and JUMP and wave their arms and say “THIS MUCH”)) — (I ask them because I need a reminder to myself to calm down and breathe before yelling for some silly reason because some days are harder than others to juggle it all).

What you don’t see are the hugs. The incredible, loveable, squeezable, fleeting, and non returnable hugs. The cuddles. The tears. The fears. The nightmares. The bleeding boo boos. The temper tantrums. The LOUD temper tantrum of a very over tired 2 year old in the middle of a very populated store.

What you don’t hear are the whispers in the night. The sweet “I love you” in the morning. The tip toeing of the youngest who goes on adventures in the tile floor kitchen with tap shoes at 2 am.

What you don’t feel is the frustrations of trying to make it in a world 3000 miles away from what we know. What you don’t see is the awesome thrilling excitement of learning something new EVERY SINGLE DAY. What you don’t understand is the culture, the sports, the people, the city, and the vibe we are embracing.

What you don’t see is the chore chart being accomplished. What you don’t see is the word list (homeschool word list) get highlighted little by little every single day. What you don’t hear is the oldest teaching the middle how to sound out words and how to do simple addition up to the number 5. What you don’t hear are the prayers they pray and the thoughtful ways they think of others first. What you don’t hear is the hysterical selfish breakdown that quickly follows where “IT’S NOT FAIR” and “BUT SHE/HE DOESN’T HAVE TO, SO WHY DO I HAVE TO?!”

What you don’t see is the laundry pile that USUALLY gets folded and put away but some weeks it stays in a heap, in the same spot… and we pick out the clean stuff as the days roll on. What you don’t see is how much they LOVE to help me COOK. What you don’t see is how messy the house can get in the matter of 20 minutes of them being awake.

What you don’t hear is the music. You don’t hear the singing. You don’t see the dancing. You don’t hear the whining and complaining but you also don’t hear the praise and secrets being told.

What you don’t hear is the begging and ultimately what are the threats that were given in order to produce a happy family photo.

What you don’t get from looking at a picture……

-vs-

What you do get… is a ‘happy image’ of a happy family.

And that’s exactly what we are. A very happy and grateful family.

Grateful for every minute of chaos.

Cheers ~

Ready. Set. Go.

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 ~

STEP 2 — Getting used to the rig… Checking out everything….

3 Happy Hooligans —- Incredibly happy to call this rig their new home….

We went to get our propane tank checked out and the nice gentleman there informed me that the gauge on my tank doesn’t actually WORK in the heat of Arizona… so I have a FULL TANK (blessing in disguise because propane is not cheap)….  He gave me a TON of pointers and offered to help me in any way in order to “get to know” my rig and make sure everything was working right…..  I thanked him for his time… and after chatting with him about our trip to Arizona… then our year in Havasu… and our new adventure ahead of us we were on our way… So off we go.

The motor home is now just a background figment in our lives.  We see it all the time and the kids are excited about naming the rig….  They had been throwing out all sorts of crazy names when they finally settled upon the name of “Stella Luna” based on a book that I read to them all the time… “Stella” for short.

The kids have been helpful at selling things and one day I caught the oldest happy hooligan by the road (he’s not ALLOWED near the road because it’s a busy street) — but there he was when I looked over… with his “FOR SALE” sign (and price tags on his hats because he wanted to help sell things for our trip to New York (bless his heart… he makes me happy). He did pitch his sale to a few people who came to buy other things ($90 for one hat and $100 for the other) but he had no buyers… I tried to suggest that those prices were a little high for the items he was selling but he said the right buyer will pay him.

We’ve just spent a lot of time looking in cabinets, under the hood, under the rig… and trying to sell things that we KNOW for sure we wouldn’t be taking with us on this trip…..

STEP 1 – Cleaning the Motorhome……

As soon as we got our new home on wheels home…. the kids wanted to PLAY in it…  The oldest helped me out quite a bit… cleaning…  fixing…. organizing…. unpacking what came with it… packing in what we are taking…..

Suddenly they have a new “FUN PLACE” to go hang out… eat snacks.. lay around… read their books… color pictures…. and have tea parties (more pictures to come)….