Year 3, June 6th, 2018: We Did It!

The kids and I tackled the biggest part of the summer projects today!  It was the perfect weather, and I wanted to get it done before Benaiah wasn't available to do it with us.  I needed his muscle power.  This project was all about moving boxes around, not going through them, and needed to be done all in one day.  The other projects, which are mainly about going through boxes and me making decisions, can be done in smaller increments.  It was a perfect 78 degree day, sunny, with a bit of a breeze.  We emptied a good portion of the garage into categories.  Then Jared came home in the early afternoon to quickly put together a set of shelves that fit perfectly along the outer wall that we got for free from a fellow church member.  He went back to work, and Benaiah and I finished the job.  Keturah and Justin helped with the little stuff as we took things out of the garage.  Abishai helped, too!  And then, by God's grace, we got it all back inside in time for Jared to pull up and INTO the garage with his truck!  We had agreed last year that the truck is older and needs to be in the garage more.  Plus, I am not great at parking and it's a tough job to make sure there's enough room between the washer/dryer and the rest of the stuff we did put back.

A word about the stuff: I go through boxes by category.  I went through everything back in 2012, and most of everything in 2016.  This summer, I'm going through what I didn't go through in 2016, and also putting boxes where they should have gone last summer.  Then if I have time, or during the school year, I'll make sure everything fits on their storage space with more wiggle room.  Think: overstuffed bookshelves.  We have no more room for storage closets or shelves, etc. so we have to keep decluttering bit by bit.  But first we need to know what we do have, thus the rearrangement of boxes first.  I call myself an organized hoarder.  It's not the way a minimalist or even an average/normal person would go about doing it, but it's working for me.  Organizing stuff is the easy part mentally for me.  It's getting rid of stuff and making those decisions that are super hard.  So lots of patience is still needed.  Now I'm going to spend the rest of the week recovering because I lifted too much today, and knew that I shouldn't have.  But that's ok.  I am feeling incredible for actually pushing me through it, even when I lost my momentum right after lunch time when I was waiting for Jared to come do the shelves.

Which, by the way, he didn't have to do.  I'm super proud of him for a) taking the time yesterday during working hours to go get the shelves and b) for taking the time today during working hours to put them together.  I do worry that I take him away from work and deadlines, so I try to make these things optional for him so he can choose based on his stress level.  But instead of waiting days and weeks to do house projects, the man is on fire taking care of this house!  He likes to do house projects, but he didn't have the same urgency or motivation to get them done in my timeframe when we owned a house before.  But now he's outside nearly every night tending our baby trees, playing with Abishai, and doing this or that in his garage.  We had to just put all his tools randomly near their final resting spot on the inside wall of the garage next to the door, and I know it's his job to really organize them, but I'm going to go back through and stack them a bit better.  I'd love for him to build himself his only basic tool bench so his buckets could go underneath.  There's some cabinets there on top, and I might put some things in there.  He was pretty frustrated putting away the big plywood and drywall sheets behind the mess of tools tonight.  But, his truck is in the garage and that's something I promised him would happen this summer.  I don't make many promises, but this time I did, and it's such a huge victory and relief to accomplish it so quickly after school ended.  Praise the Lord!

Now, my harder work, more mentally challenging work, begins.  One box at a time, like I did in 2012 and 2016.  I can do this.  But let's rest up first tomorrow, start packing Justin for his Houstin mission trip with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday, and gear up for a busy Sunday on Saturday, as well as gear up for potty training next week.  Yup, I've earned a day of rest!  My step tracker counted 9,600 steps today!  That's DOUBLE my goal!  No wonder I was so hungry today!  But now the back is starting to scream, and my fibromyalgia will flare.  So I need to give myself grace as I recover.

And I'll say it again: all the kids pitched in today with very little grumbling!  I'm not paying them either.  I think about paying them from time to time because I understand that they need a reward for hard work, but at the same time, we all live here and they get treats all the time (we have gone to like 4 fast food places in the last week!).  So, 30 minutes worth of moving stuff or 30 minutes of watching Abishai isn't a whole lot.  I don't ask for a whole days worth and I make sure I rotate who is working and who is watching Abishai and who is getting a break.  Benaiah only worked for maybe a little over an hour.  Why? Because I had planned most of each step, where each category was going to land, and have been day dreaming it for 4 months.  Plus, I only called him in when I couldn't lift the boxes myself.  I did the little stuff before and after.  These are the days I'm very proud of my children and I love how we can all pitch in and get a project done quicker.  They all got to play on their own for most of the day, too, so I'm not ruining their summer.  They were glad to have a day at home, even when there was a little work involved.  I love homeschooling, but we all need the summer mental break and to focus on something else besides bookwork.  We still learn all the time, but let's learn some other things besides history dates and science concepts.

I'm just super thrilled with how today turned out.  And, if I don't get the rest perfectly accomplished the rest of the summer, I'll be happy. I still need to push and try though because I don't have mental space during the school year, and I will push myself of course.  I have goals and I typically reach them when I'm serious enough.  But they need to be attainable, measurable, etc. like they say in business.  I'm a great planner, but don't always have time or mental space to follow through with it.  I guess you can say I do daydream sometimes.  And it feels incredible when a 4 month or longer daydream comes to fruition.  Thanks, family, for getting it done!  Now, here's the pictures!

I love it when Little Man pitches in to help.

I almost forgot to take a before picture.  The reason this was like this was because we needed to put leftover cardboard boxes from storage (full of stuff) into the middle of the room so that the termite guys could do their work last year.  It's the last bits of moving from a year ago.

I thoroughly cleaned the window and vacuumed the wall and floor.  Then measured where the shelves were going to go.  I saw them on our church's Facebook page and I immediately contacted the lady.  The guys had to take them apart and reassemble them but they were free and they didn't have to cut them from raw materials.  Woot! Woot!

Everything from the middle is out!  Tools are in their approximate spot just to the left of this picture in front of the water treatment (which will need to be unearthed again because in our quickness, we buried it.  I knew we would temporarily.)  So this is what it looks like empty!  Remember, I didn't come down until midday on moving day so I never really saw the empty house nor did I get a chance to properly scrub it.

I was a great place to play for a little bit.

Someone was having a concrete driveway put in, so we got to see the concrete mixer from the comforts of our ball pit.  I meant to take some pictures of them, but Abishai and Justin were having a huge blast playing with the ball pit on the grass as Benaiah and I worked.  They screamed and played, and then Keturah switched with Justin and did the same thing.

I love having capable strong men around.

They had this thing put together and put in place within 30 minutes.

Simple yet it will make stacking boxes so much nicer!

 Keturah's neighborhood friend, Jenna, has begun to come every day again.  I don't mind because she keeps Keturah from begging for electronics.  However, Abishai likes to play the part of the annoying little brother and it drives the girls nuts!  See the video below:

Taking a break from helping.  I love that the kids have been able to use this chair that turns into a stool.  It was from my childhood and is still going strong.  It's one of my absolute favorite things that I will never give away.  I might let the kids borrow it for their kids or it might live at our house forever.

Tada!  The right side of the garage!  I even marked out where the table is going to go when it's put together.  The bikes are easy accessible, and so are the mowers.  The things we won't need to get into are in the way back of course, like the photographs.

Christmas and holiday boxes on the right. Empty box on dryer ready to receive the old Little People currently in use in the living room.  A tent I should probably put away.  And I had boxes in front of the A/C that I do want to go through sooner rather than later, but they had to move to the other side for now.  Sweet!

To the left are Jared's tools.  Benaiah's stuff for college and beyond are closest to the garage door.  And there's a bit of other things in between.

I couldn't wait until Jared came home and saw it!

This is the rest of the baby stuff I need to rebox until plastic tubs.  Yes, that means I'm going to buy more plastic tubs instead of getting rid of stuff already in plastic tubs somewhere else.  Don't worry, I will find better uses for tubs when I'm closer to being a minimalist.  But for now, I need new tubs and these in the shed by the end of August, hopefully sooner.

I'm finally not embarrassed when I open the garage door!  See the cabinets and tools in the back?  I also would like to get a "garage refrigerator" to go right beside the door.  I want a fridge and not a freezer so I can buy more produce, store cold drinks, etc. as well as have room for frozen pizzas and pre made muffins or veggies and fruits for smoothies, etc. etc.  And hopefully NOT a side by side either.  I want one where I can lay the pizzas flat and have room for casserole dishes, etc.  I'll be on the hunt over the next year.  It's not a top priority though at all, neither is the two pieces of furniture I still want for my room.  Those can wait another 6 months to a year as well.

Can you see her?  One of our cottontail bunnies Socks loves to chase.  They are so cute!  We left some wild strawberries in the garden just for them.  Yes, they've gnawed on the trees before Jared used fencing, but we still welcome them.

Stay safe little guy!

"I read.  I read tacos.  I go to restaurant and eat tacos."  He was looking for Taco coupons in Jared's glove box!

Trouble.

Taking his baby for a walk because he saw the stroller in the shed.

Let's go for a ride, baby.  But then he got frustrated at Daddy's pillow and kept growling about it.  He opened up the back window and threw it out!

I caught the boy dancing in his seat and singing.  Sweet!

Ta da!  Gary and Leah brought this table back from New Orleans!  I made sure I knew exactly where I was going to store it and use it before I said yes.  But isn't this the coolest picnic table?  Great Grandpa Cook and Uncle Bill designed and made this!  It comes apart and lays flat for storage with NO SCREWS NEEDED.  That's right, it's all tongue and groove!  Like who comes up with this stuff?  Aaron and Shauna said they didn't want it because the girls are getting too big for it.  Um, I'm not sure what their definition of small and big are but it fits us quite easily.  It fits me more comfortably than the newer foldable tables or regular picnic tables, where I always feel like I'm reaching up to the table.  Anyway, the top says, "Cook '94" and they used it at the Northman conference in Michigan, which was a meeting of Christians or something.  It's not treated so it must be stored inside.  Jared wants to sand it and put a clear coat on it.  I say to just clear coat it!  I want the Cook '94 to stay!

Isn't it incredible!  Way to go Cooks!

I chase you big brother!

Watch me use the penny board by riding it like I'm superman!  And he totally knew how to stop!

Abishai loves the penny board.

Whoops! It went under the car!

He's got the meanest, fiercest warrior face.

What?! Isn't this a normal place to find a child?

Ready for the hunt, like his namesake from the Bible. This one cracks me up!  He's got such a scowl when he's getting the bad guys!

Abishai, ready for battle, on his "tank."

We have so many birds!  And they love to make noise at night, as well as the morning.  We saw a momma duck and two ducklings waddle from our yard across the street to the other side.  I saw 3 robins flying and chasing each other.  So much wildlife in this quieter, well established neighborhood.  Newer and bigger is overrated.

Went in to work on some things and found Abishai doing some road work.  He had finished tearing up this patch which had already crumbled a ton.

He buried his car multiple times and he and the car were filthy when they were done.  Also, he never put on a shirt today. #savage as they say on Instagram.

Yes, Jared is helping.  We probably should tear up the driveway and start over. It's in pretty rough shape.  However, so was our one in Beech Grove and we never got around to fixing it, so who knows.  It's no a high priority right now.

Work, work, work.

You know you have a kid when.....

So busy, so dirty, so tired.

Good bye car!  Now it's time for a bath for both of you.

Again, the truck makes a great tank!

Ta da!  One truck all the way in the garage!

It fits!  I have to shimmy my way to the laundry machines, but it fits!

Mowers ready to go, picnic table inside at it's permanent location, bikes stacked properly.  Yeah!!

I love that it fits!  I don't care if I have to shimmy to the laundry!  I can do it during the day when he's gone instead of late at night.  No biggie.  But I tested it and it's not bad.  I still don't like the idea of the washer and then clean clothes being in a dirty garage but whatever.  The boxes on the right are all Christmas boxes.