Our Staycation

Jimmy was off work last Thursday through yesterday (Monday). We have known about this little block of time off for a year (he has to request his days off one year in advance), but we had changed our plans for this vacation time more than once. As it finally turned out, we chose to stay home, but still treat the time as a vacation. We called it a staycation. We would stay at home, but we would not do school or go to any activities, and purpose to make it fun and different from our regular days.

Our local church congregation hosted Wilson Adams as the guest speaker for a Gospel Meeting all last week, so we had something on our calendars for the Thursday and Friday night of our staycation. (By the way, the series of lessons he presented was excellent!--I was convicted, encouraged, and motivated each night.) We decided to pick one fun/different-than-normal activity to do each day.

On Thursday, Jimmy took Sam fishing that morning. Then they came home for a quick lunch and also to get Leah and our tiny house pop-up camper. Spontaneous camping trip! They spent the early afternoon setting up the camper while I ran to the grocery store for camping groceries. We went to the 4:00 showing of A Wrinkle in Time (a theater movie is a rare treat for us....we go to the movies about once or maybe twice a year). A Wrinkle in Time was very weird and strange, and I loved it! I have read the book aloud to the children, and we listened to it a second time on Audible. Jimmy has not read the book, so he had no idea of the story line (and he may have napped on and off during the movie). After the movie we ate at the food court of the mall and then went on to our evening church service. Later we went to our camper, cooked smores over the campfire that Sam built, and turned in for the night.

On Friday, we spent most of the day at our campsite. Leah painted scenery, Sam fished, and they both explored the campground. I read a new cookbook (100 Days of Real Food) and made a weekly grocery list. It was relaxing to be outside (or inside the camper when it got too windy/chilly for me) and away from my home and my regular housework and chores. We ended our day by attending the last night of our Gospel Meeting.

On Saturday, I bought groceries at both Sam's and Kroger (in the rain!), and then we went to Corinth to work on Jimmy's parents' house. This was not exactly a fun staycation activity, but the day was pleasant--getting to spend time with Jimmy's siblings and their spouses. We got a lot of work done, and then we all enjoyed a meal together at Pepper's.

On Sunday afternoon, Sam attended a play with a friend, and Leah and I had the privilege of babysitting a sweet, precious 20 month old! She is our preacher and his wife's little girl, and we had a delightful time playing with her. (I can't wait to be a grandmother!)

And yesterday, we ended our staycation by going to Memphis for the day. Our first stop was Air Memphis, which is a trampoline/jumping kind of place. Leah and Sam jumped for a solid hour, while Jimmy and I watched them and did some reading. Next we ate lunch at the Whole Foods buffet, then we went to the Pink Palace Museum. We toured the museum and watched an IMAX movie (except it's not called IMAX anymore, and I can't remember the new name) about engineering.

We arrived home in time to eat a supper of whatever you kind find in the refrigerator or pantry, tidy up the house, and get ready for bed. I read a chapter of Little Women to Leah and Sam, Jimmy read a chapter of Proverbs to them, and we were ready for bed!

We start back to school today along with a week full of activities. The break was nice!

Our Tiny House Pop-Up Camper

We just got home for a spontaneous one night camping trip, and I realized that I don't think I have ever shared pictures of our cute little tiny house pop-up camper! I really like it! We bought it over a year ago, and it was decorated in brown and beige. Those colors do not make me happy, so I did a little online research on how to personalize and redecorate a camper. Of course, I found all kinds of ideas, so I got busy!

I have been camping in this little camper a total of four times since we bought it. (Including last night.) While it seems like it would be so easy to just take off for a night or two, as with everything else, it's just not that simple...due to Jimmy's work schedule and our activities. I am not sure where all our time goes! But when we do find the time to camp for a night or two, I am ready! I bought all kinds of things to keep in the camper so really all I have to plan for and pack is food. 

I am not completely done with my sewing for the camper, but I will share what I have done. These pictures are not in chronological order......so I will just comment on them in the order that they uploaded.

 I took this picture this morning. This is the side where Leah slept. She has her American Girl doll all set up!

This is the only bed or window curtain that I have made so far. I have the other five cut out, but I have to finish them. I cut the part that slides on the track off the original curtains, and I am sewing it to the back of the turquoise band at the top of each curtain panel. Then the entire curtain just slides on the tracks that go around the top of the camper.

 I did get the valances made for both sides of the camper. 

I also recovered the seat cushions for the dinette.

 Leah's bed again. 

I bought navy bedspreads, sheets, and pillow shams for both beds. I found these outdoor pillows at Sam's last year--they are the perfect color!

 This is what the dinette cushions looked like before I recovered them.

 The blank slate

 This is the old valance.

 Here is the tiny house all folded up and ready to be pulled.

 Another view of the other side of the camper.

 This picture was taken last spring before I sewed the valances or the one curtain.

 The other side...before cute curtains.

Here it is all popped up and ready for fun.

When I ever finish all the curtains, I will take some final pictures.

A Blog Post

So every day I put blog on my to-do list, and every day I never get to check it off.

Here goes......Last Thursday we went camping in our tiny house camper. The weather was perfect, and we had such a great time! We hiked many miles and cooked yummy food over the campfire. I am not through sewing curtains for the camper, but when I get them finished I plan to share pictures of our cute tiny house pop-up camper! So far I have only recovered the dinette cushions and bought color coordinated bedding, pillows, baskets, etc. I am using navy and turquoise (no pink because the boys said, "please, no pink!)

Wedding Update: not much

• ordered wedding memory books for both girls
• ordering hostess gifts for their showers today
• pondering when and where to buy a dress for me for both weddings
• planned an all day wedding planning extravaganza for tomorrow--Lynn, Leann, and I are meeting at 8:30 AM to get a lot of stuff done.
• most of the items we ordered during Spring Break have arrived

I am almost through reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I really like this book. It's my third time to read it, and I enjoy it more every time. We are reading this book in my senior English class. I am not sure they appreciate it as much as I do!  They are happy that I am not making them write a paper about it. We are doing business writing (business letters, resumes, and job applications) instead. And they have an 1800 word research paper due next week. 

We had our first track meet last Tuesday. It was Leah's first one, and she ran well. She and Clay both ran the 1 mile and the 800m, and Leah also ran the 4 x 800 relay. We got home around 11:00 PM. Fun.

I have gradually begun running again. (My CrossFit injury from many weeks ago has really slowed me down.) This week I have run 2 times!  2.5 miles on Monday and yesterday a long run with Leanna of 4 miles! Baby steps. I know that if I jump in too fast with too many miles I will get a running related injury in my knee or IT band. So, I am easing into the miles. I am running the Coke 10K on May 6, so my goal is to do that in under an hour. 

That's about all.

Oh. I haven't forgotten about Better Than Before. Keep reading! I'll blog about it soon.

Do Everything At Once

That's how I am feeling lately. I alternate between being stress paralyzed and doing five things all at once. I keep reminding myself how to eat an elephant.....one bite at a time.

Wedding Planning Update:

• I am entering the names and addresses online into a database for the outer and inner envelopes to be printed for Julie's wedding invitations. This is way more involved than I anticipated. I have done 15 so far. I have about 200 to go! I have already typed the guest list in a spreadsheet document with tabs for several different categories of guests. My columns include name, address, RSVP, and estimate. The estimate column is where I guessed how many, if any people from each family would attend the wedding. This is the number I used to determine how much food to order from the caterer. As I get RSVPs (and I really, really hope people will respond--I am including an email address and number to text for responses), I will adjust my estimate for a hopefully final accurate headcount for the caterer.  I thought I could use this same document and just email or upload it to the invitation website, but of course it has not been that simple. I have to type each entry on the invitation's website, one at a time! AND....it will not save them to use again for Olivia's invitations!  So I am going to price having them printed locally, if I can just give them my spreadsheet or upload it somehow, and if it is not too expensive.
• I printed out the wedding ideas photos. 
• I met with the caterer for Olivia's wedding and planned her reception.
• I decided I may want a different dress to wear for Olivia's wedding.
• I scheduled the alterations of Olivia's wedding dress while she is home for spring break.
• I researched and compiled options for Olivia's rehearsal dinner and sent them to Joy. (Believe it or not, this took almost four hours.)
• Julie's finance', Big Sam, has gotten all but one of the groomsmen/usher's measurements for the suit rentals. Yay Big Sam!  :)

My back/shoulder/neck is still bothering me. I tried to do some housework yesterday, and I simply could not. My house is getting really dirty! The kids are helping me clean, and I am so thankful for that. I am really hoping that by next Monday I will be as good as new and can spend the week catching up on housework. 

Camper Update:  I have bought all kinds of cute dishes, towels, bedding, and such for our tiny little camper. I also have bought pretty fabric to make curtains and cover the dinette cushions. However, I have not found the time to do any sewing. The kids are anxious for me to make our camper cute....maybe I can sew some today. 

Happy Thursday to you!

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about Better Than Before. I had to finish Huckleberry Finn for my English class, and I haven't made time to read the next chapter in Better Than Before.  I will this weekend. 

Three Things

1. We recently bought a pop-up camper, and as I organize and decorate it I will share pictures. I will also share our adventures in our new tiny house camper!

2. One of my soon to be sons-in-law (Olivia's finance', Brian) has a new blog. Here is the link.

3. I tweaked the subscribe feature to my blog. If you would like an email with a copy of my post each time I blog, just click on that box and enter your email address. I used my wedding planning email address to sign up and try it out, and there seems to be about a 24 hour delay from the time I post on my blog until I receive the email. Try it out!

I'll post tomorrow on Better Than Before. I will finish up discussing last week's chapter as well as delve into the next chapter. It's called, "Temporary Becomes Permanent".