Can I Speak Without Pictures? Maybe…

This past week I have been at a loss for words. Not because I didn’t have any to share but because I had no new pictures to go with them.

On a recent trip to Montana I lost the battery charger for my camera. I tried ordering another battery online but haven’t found anyone who stocks them. I thought it would be great to have a second charged up battery . I finally ordered a new charger for my camera but it was over a week ago and it’s not here yet so no new pictures with a dead battery in my camera.

Today has been a difficult day. I started loading up furniture and belongings of my two daughters and grandson into a pickup truck and trailer at 7am this morning. My daughters are starting the process of moving into their own apartment. We hit the road for the 45 minute drive to their apartment at 7:40am. By noon we had my truck, trailer and each of their cars unloaded into the second story apartment.

Our oldest has been in her own apartment for the past four years while she has attended college but home every summer to work. Our youngest who is 20 has never left home before and has a son that will be two next month.  They will be moving into the apartment full-time in about three weeks.

Tonight when I got home from work the house is a mess with things half packed, half sorted just the way we left it this morning but with a silence that is deafening remaining. I started picking things up and putting them away trying to keep a positive attitude. Thinking thoughts like the house will stay cleaner longer, there will be less dishes to do and less laundry for sure. Since I’ve done such a bad job in cooking meals lately I won’t mention less cooking to do.

The girls and my grandson will come home on the weekends they assure me to do laundry. My sons now both in their own homes have busy lives between their homes, work and other interests.  I struggle between feeling of wanting to put everything personal in the house away so I’m not reminded that they are not here or to start dragging out more pictures and stuff to fill the void.

On my livingroom walls I stencilled the words “There’s no place like home” many years ago, delighted that we were able to buy a home on a lake for our family to enjoy while our kids were growing up. Now it’s the last place I feel like being. If my husband said let’s go here or there…it wouldn’t matter where, I would go with him anywhere just to escape.

I’m excited for my kids to head out on their own. That’s the way it should be and I’m proud of them but does it have to hurt so much?

 

May Moving Mania: The Revolving Door

It’s that time of the year again. My home is bursting at the seams. College is done for the spring semester and my daughter is home until the middle of July.

Last evening my husband, daughter and I took the pickup truck and trailer and headed to St. Cloud after work. We needed to move her large things from her apartment home until she moves into her new apartment in July. She already brought a car load of items home after finals but needed help with the large stuff.

Her apartment is on the second floor but the apartment itself sits on the top of a hill above the parking lot so its like she is on the third floor by the time you carry everything in or out of the apartment.

As we were carrying out her box spring, mattress, TV, desk, refrigerator, chair, bookcase, shelving unit,couch and some smaller items I thought back to the past few years and just about every May has been a moving month along with August. This year is no different with one exception. When we move our son the end of this month it will be the last time for a very long time. He bought his own home.

I’m glad I don’t own an apartment building or rental property. The walls in the stairway and doors show wear from the constant moving of stuff in or out. We don’t own rental property but our home is also starting to show wear from moving kids in and out. Last evening we once again moved furniture in the family room to make room for the extra furniture until July.

Each time they move from one place to the next they seem to accumulate more furniture. This time my daughter added a couch to her stuff that a friend gave her for her next apartment. Last month my girls bought a table, set of four chairs, and a bakers rack for their new kitchen which now reside in my sun room.

My mom and dad updated their appliances last month and gave our son their old appliances which now reside in the garage until the end of the month. Great deal for him since appliance were not included in the house he bought. The timing is perfect except it would of been nice to be able to move them directly to his new home without a pit stop in the garage.

My mind is already rocketing forward to the end of this month, July and imagining the moving of more stuff. I hope my daughters’ new apartment has easy access and is on the main floor. I know my son’s new home will be an easy move in his front door just four steps up or four steps down and you can back right up to our front door and his.

I think a minimalist theme would be an excellent new choice for my life and children. I like traveling light maybe I could start living light, less stuff = more happiness

For your viewing enjoyment this morning, a slideshow of some the wildflowers I found yesterday morning.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.