Longest short week ever. That’s what this has been. Following the women’s event, there hasn’t been too much excitement around here.
1. Lock the doors and turn off all the lights. That’s about all I have wanted to do this week. But alas, there has been much to catch up on as many things have been neglected in the past several weeks between the event and other miscellaneous things. So, back to the job search and freelance work and errands around town we go.
2. Do you ever get a chill in the morning and just feel cold all day long? Well, I feel that way about being tired this week. I can’t seem to shake it no matter how early I intend to go to bed or how much I sit on the couch. I just feel a bit run down and likely need to take a night off officially. Unfortunately #1 and #2 seem to conflict a bit. There’s so much I need to do, yet so much I need to stop doing and haven’t been able to figure out which one trumps the other.
3. It is not Christmas time yet. Like it or not, that is not the season we are in right now. A visit to the mall will suggest otherwise, but it simply isn’t true. I think we do that in our own lives though, try to rush into one season or stay stuck in another. It’s worth embracing and living in the season we are currently in, regardless of if it is a good one, a hard one, a slow one or a fast one. Because seasons will come and go, so it’s worth taking the time to consider what this season is really means.
Oh, hello. It’s Thursday?! This week has gone SO fast! Three-day weekends are the best, but four-day work weeks are rough. Everything gets crammed into less time, and I just can’t quite keep up this week. It doesn’t help that some early mornings have been involved as every night for me is also a late night. When else is a girl to blog? You think these things just happen? Umm, no. But I love doing it, so it’s okay.
1. Our friends opened their coffee shop. (YEAH!!!) Speaking of things that don’t just happen…after months of hard work and planning, some of our good friends opened their very own coffee shop. There was a pre-party over the weekend and then the official first day on Labor Day. We had so much fun seeing all of their effort finally come to fruition and spent much of Monday just hanging out there as several other friends, neighbors and acquaintances trickled in and out to share in the opening day.
Look at that handsome guy. Could be a part-time model.
2. Old friends make great company. Over the weekend my friend Emily came for a visit. We’ve known each other since 6th grade softball and were good friends all through high school. She recently moved from Iowa to Georgia, meaning she is now only a few hours away. I loved having her stay with us as there’s something so natural about being with a friend you’ve known for so long. We didn’t really do anything too different from an ordinary Saturday, but it was nice to have another person to laugh with and someone to tell you if your outfit looks good or not. She saved me from buying a couple of doozies at the consignment store this weekend.
3. Too many conflicting thoughts make for a long day. I mentioned it, but the week has been crammed tight. With that comes different thoughts and feelings because with each new minute comes another thought or idea or emotion. A few days this week seemed so long (despite the short week) as there were so many different thoughts packed within them. One minute my life seems to be going in the right direction and the next it seems like I am completely behind on all of my to-dos and lose sight of who I am or what I am capable of. It’s amazing what a comment or success or failure can do to your perspective on something. At church right now we’re focusing on the big rocks vs. small rocks. Priorities vs. everything else. Before the series I thought I had a decent foundation on what was actually important. In the past two weeks alone it has become more clear that I am wearing myself too thin and not always focusing on the right things first. I’m trying to make adjustments, but in this time of scrambling to sort through job things while still wanting to be a great friend, hard worker, loving wife and everything else there is to be it’s hard to narrow it down. I don’t believe in glorifying busy, so I need to figure out a way to be less busy and that’s not easy.
I am so tired, and sore, and exhausted that I am struggling to lift my fork to eat this crepe (you read that correctly – there’s a crepe place where I live! And I can eat them!). My little arms are screaming at me but my brain is racing. The past 24 hours have been insane. I think I’d like to take a week-long nap followed by a day-long shower.
But as of this moment, we have a home. We live somewhere. And we slept in our own bed last night for the first time in over three weeks.
We also have too much stuff.
Taking all of our worldly possessions down from the storage unit, out to the truck, down the ramp and sidewalk stairs and then finally up the flight of stairs to our new apartment has left us with this realization. We have too much stuff. We aren’t sure how or why or when we acquired all of these things, but the new way of life is “less is more” from here on out. That or, next time we move we’ll sell everything we own and then buy it all back over time. With each step we questioned the worth of the items we spent so much time, money and physical pain to keep. Over a thousand dollars to rent a truck and drive it halfway across the country (Penske is the way to go), another hundred for a climate controlled storage unit for a month, a couple hundred dollars in boxes/tape/rope/blankets (even with the donation of boxes from friends)…it all adds up. And for what? A life lesson learned the hard way. Less is more.
We did have a garage sale beforehand though and felt we got rid of things, which freed us up to make some purchases that we are so glad we acquired here instead of lugging across the country. Before loading up the truck, we snagged some major craigslist deals. We bought our first washer and dryer, a nice couch set, a bike rack and the hubby upgraded his bike for his new daily commute. We left a car back in Iowa to sell and will try and live on just one car for awhile.
Everything went so quickly, and overall, so smoothly. We’ve really been blessed by that and all we’ve been given. We had great friends help us pack the truck, wonderful relatives providing us with a “home base” (and friendship, meals and muscles too) and have been blessed by the kindness of strangers as we pick up these miscellaneous items and navigate around town. As we made a midnight run to Walmart last night for cleaning supplies and ice cream, we looked at each other and said, We did it. We made it. It certainly wasn’t done alone, but we did it together. We drove across the country, just us. We packed the bulk of our house and moved the bulk of our things and will inevitably unpack all of those things – just us. Hubby said last night that he felt like we were newlyweds all over again. Just figuring things out with a fresh start. Stuff or no stuff, the best thing we’ve had on this move was each other. Call me cheesy, but I’m pretty thankful for my husband and getting to do this thing together, with him. This thing called life.
I think we’ve reached the point where I just want to give up and tell someone else to make it happen these next few days. When every hour counts, it’s disappointing to find myself trapped in some worthless ones. Running around town today nobody had the things I needed (Uhaul, Walmart, Uhaul #2) and to top it off I ran out of gas and had to be rescued. Just like that. Whoops.
My house is a total mess and by the end of the night I can’t figure out how I manage to push through packing until 11 p.m. when the Olympics are done before collapsing in bed. It’s all quite exhausting and as much as it seems we’re constantly packing and preparing, just one look around the corner confirms that we’re nowhere near close to being done.
Plenty of people have asked if there’s anything they can do to help. But we’ve reached the worst part of the packing bit. The better half of things have been packed like books, DVDs, dishes. What’s left is the odds and ends that I can’t figure out how to pack in the slightest (lamps, plants, clothes, miscellaneous junk drawer items) and the phone calls to change our address. Not exactly the time to pass on the torch. So just what is it that I can legitimately ask these volunteers to help me with?
