Sigh

It’s been a Monday, and a busy one. We are in the process of negotiating an offer on a home, and it’s been back and forth all day, with the realtor, Honey, the lender, the company, the insurance agent, Honey, the realtor, etc, etc, etc. I’ve made SO many phone calls! Hopefully, though, Lord willing, we’ll be done tonight and under contract for a house that’s bigger than our current, ahem, ‘home.’

Speaking of the current home…I was recently accused, by someone with whom I live (male, over 6 ft), of being whiny about our living situation, when in reality, I was just being funny. Or, trying to be, anyway. I thought I was, but, I always find myself funny, so that’s not a real good indicator. I was just posting odd little situations like… that it felt like an earthquake when someone (especially a CERTAIN someone) walks through the camper. Or, that I have to stand on someone’s bed to reach my scanner. (At least I HAVE a scanner in here!) They are really just amusing details of our weird life. I can add a couple more, too. How about…

Living in a camper means… we keep our filing cabinet (filebox) in the shower when it’s not in use.

Living in a camper means… having to get out a flashlight and get on all fours to find a pair of shoes.

Or, Living in a camper means… “No, we can’t get a gallon of ice cream. It won’t even fit in the freezer!”

That is not whining. It’s just appreciating the humor. If we can’t laugh about it, we’d go insane. Really.

It hasn’t been that bad, though. Aside from everyone being a little more irritable, having to go to the grocery three times a week, and the laundry room just as often, we’ve done surprisingly well. We rotate who has to sit on the couch at dinner, while the other four of us sit at the table, everyone has two rows in the over-door shoe holder to put their socks and undies in the little pouches, and we all have a spot on the closet shelf to put our clothes. We even have our school books in tidy magazine boxes lining the sides of the couch. It works.

However…. Once our offer is finalized on this house, and we make it through the option period, we won’t close until December 22. That’s another five weeks.

So, you’re thinking, “At least that’s before the holidays. It’ll be here before you know it.” Oh, but, wait… one of the owners has a surgery coming up, so they will continue to lease the home from us until January 22.

Yeah, that’s a different story. Now you’re thinking, “Ohhhh… bummer.”

We have over two more months until we can move out of the little camper into a REAL house. Wow.

As long as that seems, though, the weeks we’ve already been here have gone by pretty fast. We’ve made a few friends here in our park, we’ve only lost the dog three times, and we’ve only had one complaint lodged against us for said dog defecating in another yard. Oh, and I’ve only had one neighbor come over to complain about the kids, who did NOT, thankfully, defecate in the yard. THAT’S a plus! The dog and the kids are both now on a very short leash. The last thing we need is to be ejected from the RV park.

I did find out today that someone has our lot reserved next month, so we have to move our little camper and all of its Rubbermaid sattelites, grill, bikes, and whatever else is shoved underneath it to another, much less impressive spot this week. That’s not cool, but still, also livable.

We’re gonna make it. Really, we are. If only I could get over this little cold bug I’ve picked up. That would help.

On a more positive note, we’ve been doing pretty well cooking, and not just eating out all the time. We usually have cereal for breakfast, which is less than desirable, but adequate enough for now. For lunch, we eat leftovers or sandwiches, and for dinner, a whole array of meals that are either grilled or made in a crock pot. We’ve made a few normal things, like tacos, eggs, and quick soups on the stove, but I mostly try to use the grill or slow cooker. It’s really amazing how much you can do with those two things. We’ve had shrimp kabobs, grilled salmon, chicken, etc, off the grill, but found out that our smelt kabobs (like little minnows) just stuck to the grate. I’m not exactly a grill master.

From the crock pot, we’ve had spaghetti, smothered steak, baked potatoes, and beans. It’s just so nice to put something on in the morning, and not have to worry about it again until dinner. If we’re home all day, I just set it outside on the table, and let it cook. Tonight, we’re going to use the wok that came with our grill to cook some veggies. Yum!

Oh, yeah, I need to remember to empty that black water tank before I start cooking, too… mental note. Better yet, I’ll direct while the eldest SON does the dirty work. It’s always best to stay ahead of the black water, you know.

Last night, we had a good couple of hours of family card-playing (since the internet here is too slow to play a movie online, and we have no tv), and that was really good for us. Especially since I won most of the hands. That helps to make it more fun for everyone, I’m almost certain. We played “President,” which is a game of hierarchy, but we tweaked it so our social status could be King, Lord, Merchant, Peasant, or Slave. That made it tie in with our History studies, and actually worked out well, since we only have room for four at the table. The slave had to sit on the dog crate at the end.

All in all, I think this will be a positive experience. I’m pretty sure we’ll all come out of it alive, but I’ll keep checking back in, and we’ll see how the morale changes as time goes on. January is a long, long, long time from now… and I’m sure it will be here fast!

Oh, we’ll go ahead and give you a heads-up for a mass painting party sometime the week of January 22. We’ll do our best to cover the white carpet in the master bedroom before we paint over the PINK AND BABY BLUE walls. (No joke.) We’re going to be doing a little tile work, too, instead of just painting over the master bedroom fireplace that was SPONGE-PAINTED to match the aforementioned walls. So, just be prepared if you live near us. We will call you. We will work you to the bone, muhahahahahah! We might feed you, too, but only if you do a really good job, so you might want to ‘brush up’ on your painting skills. (I told you I was funny.) We’ll wait until February to plan the Winter Wonderland of Wallpaper Wemoval party, so you have a break in-between. I’m kind that way.

Okay, I’m getting into a weird mood that will make me regret things I write, so I’ll sign off for now. I think I'm done convincing myself, ahem, I mean, YOU, that we're having a grand time. Because we are.

All kidding aside, though, I am SO thankful that we have a place to stay, that our house sold, that we'll eventually get another one, and that I get to be with my beautiful family every day. And that we will be better for being in this place in life. The Lord is good.

Now, THAT is what whining looks like! Ggl.