No Matter How It Turns Out...

Sometimes life is great and everything goes exactly to plan.  It is perfect, lovely and glorious and you pat yourself on the back and say "Well, this is easy.".

More often life will tap you on shoulder, spin you around three times,  punch you in the nose and steal your lunch money.

But, it could be worse.

That's how I've chosen to look at my life over the last year.  It's had its perfect and glorious moments and it's been so hard I couldn't imagine anything worse.

But I'm grateful for it no matter what.

Closing Day is now December 1st.  I'm excited, nervous and incredibly thankful.

Thankful For

• a home to rest in and walls to keep the weather out- whether it belongs to us (in 4 days) or those gracious enough to share theirs with us


• good food, clean water and warm clothes - the basic needs we take for granted


• a good, simple jobs that allow us to provide for those we love


• good marriages - my own and those that have set an example and shown us that it's not perfection that leads to happiness


• faith in a God who doesn't expect me to be perfect, but expects me to try none the less.


• the eye opening experience that comes from working in a children's hospital which means I come home more grateful each day and always have a mental list of those who need our prayers handy


• becoming a parent - the best present I've ever been given


• and for all the things, big and small, that I really don't deserve.

The Cool Table

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday or even just a wonderful regular ol' weekend for my non-USA folks.  I did, though I've work the 6 am - 2:30 Thursday, Friday and today and tomorrow.  The hubby took the baby to his folks for Thanksgiving and while I spent the rest of the day with my family I really missed my boys and by 6 p.m. I was demanding they get on the road pronto.

There are a ton of things I'm thankful for this year, but I'm going to save those for a little later because, well, I'm not in the mood and I don't want it to ruin my thanks.  Today was oddly frustrating.

I can't wrap my head around certain aspects of "human nature" -

• I don't understand the appeal of "Black Friday"... at all.


• I don't understand the view of ones children as a commodity and that you can hire someone to raise because the idea of more than a few hours with them makes you queasy - not to mention the mess they make and the time they detract from the "true purpose" of marriage, which is apparently lots of consequence-free sex with no old ladies looking down their nose at you.


• I don't understand the draw of certain pop culture norms - sparkly vampires in abusive relationships and celebrities who degrade the institution of marriage.


• I don't understand people who scoff, literally, when presented with the idea that happiness isn't related to more "stuff"


• I don't understand why it's cool to be trashy, not classy.

There are just some days when I don't understand 99% of the human population.

And there are just some days when I lack the desire and the energy to pretend that the list above makes sense to me.

And this my friends is exactly why I never get invited to sit at the cool table.

Still Here!

Hey folks, we're still here.  Plugging away at the finishing touches for closing in less than two weeks - we're just waiting for some missing W-2's to arrive in the mail; the inspections and all went well!.  It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks so pardon me if we're a little quiet - I'm still following my blog roll when I have a free moment and trying to get in a few quick words on the big thoughts and big announcements that are all around.

When I started this blog this spring I thought we had many more months, if not another year of making do in these shared quarters and oh how life has surprised us.  However, just because we've achieved a few goals doesn't mean we'll be throwing caution to the wind along with our credit card statements and credit scores; in fact now that we'll be completely on our own once again it's time to dig out and dust off a lot of the skills and things from the past.  I look forward to using this big change for us to be able to provide more real life examples of making do in the modern world.

A few posts (and perhaps a series) in the works once the ball gets rolling include:

• Simply, and affordably furnishing a home


• Decorating and celebrating meaningful holidays and other life celebrations


• Clothing care - homemade detergents, knowledgeable laundry care, etc.


• Groceries lists, pantry stocking and meal plans


• Reskilling - gardening, sewing, crafts, etc.


• Homemade products for the home


• And more on living simply and saying "No" to more!