Summertime activities

     We have been very busy around here. Since Mary's dance recital and she and Jeff's Pre-K graduation we have entered full blown summer mode. We are so thankful for Mary's Christian dance studio. After seeing some of the other 5 year olds' dances I was in shock. Our princess happily danced to My Fair Lady's "I could have danced all night."
      Progress on the house is going well. I have to remind myself of this on weeks I don't see anything happening. they are almost finished with the siding and brick on the outside. Then they will start on the little bit of rock around the garage. All that is left before insulation is the heating and air rough in. They have gone quick for two months worth of work. However two months in a camper can be a little rough.
Last week was one of our hardest to date. Alex was hit by a 17 year old girl who failed to yield to oncoming traffic as she turned left. She hit his front driver side and skid down the side of his truck. When she reached the back end he went a little airborne and hit an electrical pole. But thank you Jesus for that!

      The pole kept him from rolling into the gas station. He is doing surprisingly well considering. I don't think it really sunk in for me until I saw a picture of the backseat where my babies car-seats could have been. I would have lost one for sure. I am so thankful to God that Alex and the young girl are okay. We are in a predicament with the trailer and having no truck but that is a very small price to pay.
      On a much happier note we were able to spend Memorial weekend with dear friends and enjoy some much needed relaxation. I had fun helping my friend work her booth that the local farmer's market and then scouring the countryside for an antique vanity for Mary. We found lots of neat things but I held out and only purchased the vanity. I can't wait to get it all fixed up for her. Normally I am not a fan of painting antiques but this piece does need some work. I think it will look nice and feminine painted a nice cream. Now I can't wait to take her looking for some vintage accessories.

      I apologize for not being able to turn the picture. Don't you just love the round mirror! I just could not bring myself to buy a generic looking, cheaply made vanity. Even with the surface work that needs to be done we are just in love with this one. I found lots of great ones but was happy to find one that had a flat work surface all of the way across that a chair could fit under. I will be sure to post pictures of the finished product.
      Just a side note to say that this post has taken me over a week to get up. Living in the camper I have tried posting it from my Kindle and from my phone with no avail. If anyone has any tips for mobile blogging please let me know!
 

A Season of Change

I don't know about the rest of you gals but I am not big on change. Maybe that is why I find myself so drawn to the past. Sure I know not all change is bad, but for the most part I live by the motto, "If it ain't broken don't fix it." Now granted there is a lot that needs fixing. However as I look ahead to the next 6 months or so I am not sure how I feel about all the change staring back at me. Some is happy like the fact I am going to get to be an Aunt. Some is bittersweet as the kids will be going off to Kindergarten. And some is just scary. Maybe not so much scary as disheartening. 

You see I have worked for the same small company for 8 years now. I was blessed with a boss that went through infertility and IVF right along with me. He gave me full pay for two months of maternity leave and has aloud me to work around my children's schedule. I have been part time for 5 years now. To me it was more than worth it to cut my pay and be home with my kids. Lately work has been picking up. A lot. So my boss brought in a "marketing" person to help us here and there. He called this morning to inform me that he had just hired her along with another person full time. Now I really enjoyed our company of three and our growth to four was going very well. But I am not taking the expansion to six the way I had hoped. See I was very happy with our little mom and pop business. But it is not mine, it is his. My concern comes for his sudden reason for growth, money. This "marketing" person is pushing for me to come back to work more and all under the premiss that there is "so much money to be made." But for me it is not about the money. It is about family and doing a job I enjoy. So I ask what is it about money? Surely by now we know it doesn't buy happiness. Sure it is helping me get the new house and it pays for fill up my large red beast with gas. But do I really need "a lot" more than I already have? I don't think so. Or as Jeff would say, "for human's enough is never enough." (From one of his favorite movie, Over the Hedge.) 

So what are your thoughts? Sure money is good and can be used to help others. But is our pursuit of it really for the right reasons? Is it worth the time away from our families and the stress? I am just praying for God to help me to make the right moves and decisions for our family. And for him to help me to go through this season of change and test with grace and mercy.

Update

I am still alive. It has been three weeks of trailer life, interesting to say the least. It really hasn't been that bad just very strange. I will say it is a great way to simplify. All of the gadgets I thought I once needed I now realize I don't. Sure it is nice to have nice things, handy gadgets and pretty dishes but slowing down for family is even better. I don't think I ever really took the time to slow down before and enjoy all that my kids and husband had to offer. But with our beautiful weather we have been able to take nightly bike rides, do lots of puzzles and perfect our coloring abilities. Granted I am not sure how I will feel in 3 more months but I am trying to stay positive.
As for the house the first floor is frames and the trusses should be delivered tomorrow so they can start on the second floor. It is going pretty well considering all of the rain and storm delays we have had.
So if you were facing the next 4-6 months in a 200 square foot space with three other people what would you choose to take as a major necessity?

Update and a pin

Well we are packing! No turning back now. I must admit that I am not a fan of the house being so disheveled. It is kind of nice to get everything down and see all of my collections together though. I didn't realize some of them were so large. For example:

 

I think I had 4 boxes just between my Christmas china and Fall plates. I'm thankful we found a traditional plan with lots of storage in the kitchen and dinning room. I also had to take pictures of how I had some of my antiques displayed in cabinets and such so I will remember. I think when I get to open my boxes it is going to be like Christmas all over again! In September!

 

It is official we will be camping for the next 6 months! And no, that isn't Alex topless. This is a picture from a lake trip a few years back. I think it would be neat to have a vintage airstream of cute remodeled coach like Lucy's but I love my children to much to sell them into slavery. Although after 6 months of living in the Pioneer I may be ready to get rid of it! Another goal to save for. Some may think we are crazy for camping for 6 months but the housewife frugality kicked in and it is just the smartest option. I'm just thankful it is over the summer and not winter. Although we didn't really have a winter this year...
So I leave you with this pin I recently found. I think it is perfect no matter the size of cost of our homes.

Found on Pinterest, originally from The Rachel Berry Blog

A New Season of Life

I have been such a terrible blogger. I am sorry for my absence. Life has gotten a tad hectic around the Stone household. I am just so thankful for all that God is doing in our lives. As I mentioned in my last post we found a home and put ours on the market. After a week on the market we found out that what we hoped to be our future home had received another offer. Alex and I went ahead with our open house and had an astounding 14 families come through. We prayed for an offer so we could remove our contingency on the other home. But more importantly we prayed and told God that we knew he could see the future that we could not. And if he had something else in mind we were okay. As luck would have it we did not receive and offer and had to walk away from the home. We felt after much thought that it was best to leave our home on the market and keep searching. After two more weeks our home sold. So as of April 2nd we will be homeless. This brings us to the exciting part. My boss has mentioned numerous times that he would love to build us a home. I have never really entertained the idea because I did not want to take advantage of him. But with nothing we liked having come on the market we started to consider it. So in the last week we have sold our home, found a lot, perused through house plans and started all of the necessary bank business. This morning I got the call saying that we have the construction loan. So in honor of the craziness I would like to share with you the architects rendering of the front of our future home.

The room on the left side will be removed to save money and lower the square footage but I think it will be fine. I love all things traditional and classic and didn't want anything "modern." My mother informed me it looked like the "Father of the Bride" house. That is fine with me. It is one of Mary and I's favorite movies. Tomorrow we have our inspections and I am praying everything goes well. Then it will be time to start packing. Thanks to the Retro Homemaker I started using the Flylady system a few weeks back. I have been cleaning out some junk drawers and different areas. I hope that has at least given me a head start on what is to come. Everything will be packed and stored for a few months while we wait for the house to be completed. Modern Donna may end up as Lucy in The Long Long Trailer. Alex has decided to save money we should live in our travel trailer for the next 4 or 5 months. I think it will be wonderful for us all to really connect and focus on each other. I know we will appreciate the new home all the more after living in 200 ft2. I just hope we don't all go crazy!

Absence Excuse

I have not given up on the blogging experience. I think I just picked a crazy busy time to start. So after a year and a half of looking Alex and I have finally found a home we think really fits our family. With almost 2 acres it should be plenty of space for Jeff and Mary to run around. And I am also hoping there will be lots of space for chickens and an expanded garden. God truly has worked to bring this home into our reach. After much countering we have finally signed and agreed with the sellers on a contract. The hitch is that ours was a contingent offer, meaning that we need to sell our home before we can buy theirs. So we have been working like mad cleaning, finishing projects and getting everything ready. Our home hit the market Saturday morning. We are praying that it sells quickly so that we may begin this new journey. It is very bitter-sweet for me. We have put many hours of labor and love into this home. We fought infertility here and brought home our babies to this house. It is the only home they have ever known. Alex and I are not for moving around a bunch even though this will be our third home together. Both sets of our parents still live in the homes we grew up in. The move to our current home didn't bring about this emotion. I'm guessing because we didn't have children. But we hope that this move will be our forever home with lots of room for the kids and better schools. Being 5 we still look forward to the years we will still have them at home. Each day that passes just seems to fly by. Don't get me wrong there are lots of days that I am thankful for passing quickly but most of the time there is a little twinge of sadness when I put them to bed. One more day closer... Sorry to be a downer. Anyway any prayers for a quick sale would be very much appreciated. It seems like once you have made that resolve you are ready to just get going. I am already planning my garden layout!  

New Years Cleaning

Unlike most people who do spring cleaning I tend to do New Years and Fall cleaning. With my slight OCD I just can't bring myself to put up the Christmas decorations and then walk away. With Christmas down it is like an open slate that I am ready to make clean. For me the biggest part of this is dusting the walls before I hang back up our family pictures. Yes, I said dusting the walls, that is what happens when you have library paneling. But then that leads to curtain cleaning, more dusting and carpet shampooing. I do it all. And of course there is the de-cluttering of toys and other items since we have to make space for all of Mary and Jeff's Christmas gifts. And that brings me to my question. With New Years Resolutions and Pinterest is there a certain schedule or plan you like to follow? With Pinterest there are a bunch to choose from. By the way if you are not sure what Pinterest is, go there, fast. Click the link above. Go... Now.. But allow for some computer time. It is very addictive! I'm not sure how ladies from the 30-60's would of had time to spend on something like it. Maybe not sleep? So what are your tips and tricks? Do you have a cleaning schedule that works for you? Did you find it somewhere or make your own?