RV Living

We moved in to the RV this past Friday.  All that day we had the RV hooked up and "on" to have the power on for heat.  We also had two space heaters going.  One was a tall ceramic heater, and the other was one of those little fire places.  We've used both these heaters with no problem in the past, but I still wanted them turned off when we left the RV.  I've heard bad stories about space heaters.  

That night we all pile in to get ready for bed, and Kevin started the fireplace heater.  It always smells like smoke when it first runs, and this time was no different.  Then Logan pointed out that it was smoking.  Again Kevin reassured him that it does this when it starts.  Then it burst into flames!  Logan lunged for the door and tried to get it open.  I screamed for someone to get the fire extinguisher but apparently, only I knew where it was.  Kevin picked up the heater and blew out the flames before he took it outside.  The smoke alarm went off, and Relic was not happy.  

That night Kevin had to go up to the house at 3a to use the bathroom.  He took the dog with him for some reason (we didn't have him in a crate yet).  He came back, and Relic whined for a bit but settled back to his bed.  The dog got up a couple times and walked around to see where everyone was, but Kevin would tell him to go back to bed, and he would.  The next night we had his crate.  I had a cover for it, so he couldn't see anything like Kevin going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  We went to bed, and he started crying.  I went and opened the flap thinking that would help.  He cried some more but finally went to sleep.  At 2a Rory wasn't feeling well, so Kevin took her up to the house.  Again he got Relic and took him too.  He thought that it would be better to take him because he would just cry while he was gone.  When they got back, he out Relic in his crate, and the @$^#* dog cried the rest of the night.  I finally got up at 6a and took the &$^#! up to the house, so everyone else could sleep.  I let the kids sleep in until 10a that morning.  

After that escapade we decided to only put the dog in his crate for when we leave the RV.  That night he slept ok until Logan had to go to the bathroom at 130a.  Kevin told Relic to stay, and Relic went back to his bed while Kevin took Logan.  Relic whined for maybe a minute.  When he came back, everyone went back to bed and the dog stayed quiet.  

The next morning was school.  We woke up to rain, and besides Logan's bathroom trip, everyone got a decent sleep that night.  I was so temped to call into school and tell them we weren't coming just so the kids could get some sleep.  I didn't, and we all got ready to go.  Logan was getting his coat out of the back bedroom closet and got upset because he stepped in a puddle and had to change his socks.  What puddle?  Kevin investigated and saw that the RV was leaking.  (Folks, I am not kidding.  This is my life.)  I stayed and helped, but we decided that we had to try and get it into the shop.  The first available appointment is on the same day next week when they're staging the house and taking pictures.  AHHHHHH!  For now Kevin has "fixed" the issue by leveling the RV wrong and having the back end higher than the front end in an effort to stop water from pooling over the leak spot.  We're expecting storms tonight, so Kevin suggested sleeping with the slide closed.  That means that Rory and Logan are going to be very "cozy" in their beds and have to worm themselves out if they need to get up.  I don't even want to think about them having to get out of those tight spaces for an emergency.  

Today is Ash Wednesday, and people have told me that they don't think I need to give up anything else for Lent, thinking the RV living is enough.  I tend to agree, but I'm still giving things up.  Happy Lent y'all!

The kids and Kevin worked their bottoms off cleaning this yard.  I don't think it's looked this nice since we moved in.

A girl on her phone in her empty old bedroom.

What that bedroom looks like now.

This is the front of the space heater after it caught on fire.

The living room

Logan's (K'lyn's old) room

Logan in his bed, and Rory not but still leaving her light on in true Rory form.  When the slide is closed, the wall on the left of the pic is butted up right against the beds.  They'll have to slide out feet first.

While Logan and Rory have their small beds, the loft is Marley's.  This is where her and Logan slept on the Big Bucy Bonanza, so she wanted to sleep here again even though Logan changed to a bunkbed.  The problem is that she has her stuff EVERYWHERE up here, and we need some of that space for things we actually need.  She has it set up like a full blown bedroom.  Something will have to change.

This is my favorite place of the RV.  I have all the kids school books that they don't need everyday and books that they'll need later hidden in this little compartment behind the TV in the bedroom.  It's lovely cuz they're out of site but organized.  It makes me happy!  I keep trying in vain to keep the rest of the place organized, but it is not working with this brood.  

My Last Night in this House

Kevin and I bought this house 15 years ago.  We moved in Memorial Day weekend.  Rory was just two years old.  We had just found out that I was pregnant  again.  It was a crazy time.  Tonight is my last night in this house.  
Originally there was already an offer on this house when we wanted to make an offer.  We cut our losses and started to look at other places.  Our realtor called one day and told us that if we offered more money, we could probably get the house.  We did, and we got it.  We've thought all this time that it was a mistake; It wasn't God's will; We should've waited. Looking back, I can see that this was His will for us all along.
This tiny little house grew with us and each baby.  We put up walls and took down walls.  We moved and changed rooms, painted a thousand times, redecorated, and the house changed with us, whatever we needed at the time.  Kevin and I complain that it's too small, but honestly, we could still fit fine in it now.  It might not be comfortable, but it's cozy.
I worry about the new house.  It'll be so big, anything would compared to this house.  We won't be in each other's faces all the time.  Will we grow apart with all that room?  Will we choose our own corners of the house instead of all convening in the living room together?  We'll probably have more than one living space in the next house.  
In the meantime, we'll be in an even smaller living space.  Maybe a big house will be more welcomed after whatever this experience brings.  I just know that today, I've paid more attention and been more aware of my "lasts" in this place.  I've thanked God for every one of them.  It's a little bittersweet that K'lyn isn't here to share this with us, but it's probably better.  The littles have only known this house, this place, this home.  They know and understand the enormity of this moment.  
Kevin's says he doesn't get emotionally attached to places and isn't to this house.  I think I'm attached enough for both of us.  I'll remember for him, building the room that was going to be the baby's room.  Listening to Kevin laughing hysterically while Logan slept on his chest.  The hallway to K'lyn's door when I would tell her dinner was ready or we were going to watch a show.  Swinging Rory and Logan around while singing for them to get them ready for bed.  Sneaking into Marley's room before bed to dreamfeed her, so she wouldn sleep through the night.  Playing Gin Rummy with K'lyn while the littles napped.  
It's all going with me, and luckily, I have this blog to help me remember this place.  

Are you sick of moving blogs yet? I am. I am also sick of cleaning.

    So this is going to be different. Yay! Lets get to it.  Hello I'm Marley and I will be your entertainment for the next 5 minutes that it will take to read this.  Lately I've been packing and crying (mostly crying) We have been packing a hole bunch and storing things as you read in Logan's blog, But we have also been cleaning out the garage.  Prop explanation:  My dad (Kevin) in hole hardly terrified of Mice, Rats, and anything else that has a long tail and looks like a hamster :)  Anyway the other night we (Read: Me, Logan, Mommy and Daddy) Were in the garage waiting for our contractor to come drop something of and we were cleaning.  There was a bag of bird feed and some mouse droppings near it (Its getting good eh?)  so Daddy went to throw away the bag and surprise a "Ten pound" rat leaped out you would of thought that by the way he screamed "Nora! and jumped it was a Black widow spider Female to be exact .  He walked (read: Ran) And started screaming"Get on something and give me something Long!!!!!!!!!!"  Imagine a full grown man screaming that Logan reached for his old Bat and handed it to dad who was circling the place were the rat was.  Now the way this story is going you would of thought that he killed it Nope he opened the big garage door and the rat ran out. I didn't get to see it:(  
So when daddy placed down traps I went with him to check them. No there was no dead or Alive Rats or Mice I was pretty upset but then again kinda happy I didn't see a dead rat or mouse.  Then again thats a little depressing so I'll leave you this. Smell ya later!! Maybe

                                              Before


                  

                                                

 

                                                 After 

                                    And for Good times sake
                                        Rory's prom dress

                                            

                                                                                    
                      

Moving Updates, Another Perspective

Hello! Today we have a special guest! If everyone could please rise and introduce... (all 4 people in the audience rise and clap as the guest walks onto the stage) Logan Bucy! (I walk onto the stage and grab the microphone. Thank you, all of you, for being here! Today I will be telling my side of the whole "Moving from the home you lived in all your life and having to leave all your friends at school and pack like we're moving tomorrow" story. Now if you would all please take a seat, I'll tell ye me tale of woe.

Ok so, now that the formal introduction is finished, I can tell my side of the story. If you didn't catch it in the title, I, Logan Bucy, will be your author for this post. So let's jump right into the moving updates and my perspective of moving.

Moving- adj. producing strong emotion of sadness or sympathy. If that didn't get you in the mood I don't know what will. I'm actually ok with moving. I mean, yeah it's a little sad moving from my childhood home, but I don't really have any feelings about this place like other people do (read-Rory and Marley). It's been hard trying to pack up a room that I just moved into a couple months ago because of all the stuff I had when I moved in. But going to the storage unit with daddy was fun because I got to sit in the front, push a trolly stacked with boxes and heavy objects, and break the gate to the storage place.

Ok so I should probably explain the Storage stories. On our first trip to the storage place, we typed in the code that we were given and entered, but when we parked and had finished moving our first load into the unit, the enter gate still hadn't closed and was beeping. "We broke it!" was the first thing that came out of our mouths. Daddy and I dropped off Mother and Marley and loaded up for our second run. About 2-ish hours later we arrived back at the storage unit, and it was still broken. We finished the second run and went home, packed up the third load to go, but it was to late and I had to get ready for bed. The next day me and Dad drove over. AND THE DOOR WAS STILL BROKEN!!! Even worse, if you stayed in the lobby where the trollies are, a giant alarm sounded that was like, WEO WEO WEO! The alarm would go off every 20 minutes or so. Because I was awful at maneuvering the trolly into the elevator with Daddy's trolly, I had to go into a separate elevator. I pushed in the trolly and hit the button to go down to the first floor (where the unit was) and the door closed. At that exact moment the big WEO WEO WEO alarm went off and gave me a heart attack. I literally jumped 5 feet into the air and thought that the elevator was going to collapse and i would go zooming down and get crushed by more than 80 pounds of garage equipment would crush me. So I screamed until the elevator hit the bottom floor safely. Not one of my proudest moments but I still put it here for informational purposes only. Then, when I got to the unit, Daddy said that he needed to get something and would be right back, hence leaving me in a dark corridor that looked like it was out of a horror movie. I opened the unit and started unpacking when I heard voices. They were coming from the elevators and out came the scariest thing this world has ever seen. A bunch of angry girls came storming out of the elevator arguing amongst themselves about how receptionists were always so rude and didn't complement their ten-million dollar clothes. (that last part was no true, but they were complaining about receptionists.) Then Daddy came down and it was all fine.

Ok this is getting a bit to long so i'm going to have to end this post. Thank you all for being such a supportive audience. Goodbye to you al- (notices that no one is in the audience anymore) oh... um... well... Goodbye I guess.

Updates

We were able to borrow a power washer from a friend.  Logan helped Kevin with it, and Marley said,"There's a blog called 'If you give Logan a powerwasher.'"  So here ya go.  My how times have changed.

I told Kevin to try and get a pic of his face, but he hooded it the whole time.  He likes power washing still, so that's good considering there's still a ton of it to do.
He's growing up so much.  We got a call last week that his new glasses were in, so we picked them up.  He only needs them to see far away, but he likes wearing them because he can see far away.  When we left the eye place, he was commenting on all the things he can see now.  I decided that it was a good time to get his haircut, so we went and did that too.

I told him to stand up in this pic because it looked like Marz was the same height as him.  He's definitely shooting up these days.

For Christmas he got The Lord of the Rings trilogy and set off to reading.  We figured he was old enough for the movies too, so we had a marathon.  It wasn't continuous except for that it was almost every evening for a week.  His sisters liked it too because they got to watch something on their tablets at the same time.  We had to think of something because I didn't want them seeing any of those images.  Logan's having trouble sleeping, go figure.

I did that in the wrong order because he doesn't have his haircut here.  Oh well.

We're still moving and grooving here.  We went to the store to get updated lights in places.  We haven't put them in yet because we have to ask the painter if he wants them in before or after.

"Lights, lights would be good here."

We have secured a storage unit and have been making numerous trips to fill it up.  The good news is that we think we can fit into a smaller one which saves money.  Yay!  The kids have been helping a lot and like going to the storage unit.  

In other news, Marz and I had breakfast together the other morning.  She served me like a waiter.  It was nice.  The other two (probably three) were still sleeping.

Then a miracle happened.  Marz and I started working on our valentines for school a whole four days early!  Normally these would be done the night before and last into the wee hours of the night, but we totally rocked them out.

We melted down ALL the extra crayons from years of homeschooling and made them into melted crayon hearts for Valentine's Day.  I don't even think this pic is all of them.  We're so excited to hand them out!

Stay tuned.  T-minus 10 days until we move into the RV.

So, how's moving going?

Fantastic!  NOT!  Remember that one time when Kevin and I moved nine times in three years?  Kevin says we didn't have as much stuff, which is true, but man, this is PAINFUL.  One of the most painful parts is trying to teach the kids how to pack.  They don't organize anything in the box.  They just throw it all in, trash and everything.  
Quotes are starting to come in for work, and I think we're going to spend more moving than we will get from selling the house.  It's that ridiculous.  We got the trees done, and that looks considerably better.  

This guy just started climbing trees.  The kids and I watched him almost the whole time.  The neighbors were upset that one of our branches was over their roof because it has those little helicopters every spring.  They clog up their gutters, so we made sure that branch was taken care of.  Oh, and almost every single one of them smoked.  Apparently they left our gate open and a couple days later, Relic got out.  A neighbor brought him back.  He had just had a bath too, so he didn't even have a collar on.  She just knows us.  Thank goodness!

Next up was trying to remove the little wallpaper border around the top of the bathroom.  It didn't go so well with the "do it yourself" helpful hints online, so we ended up renting the steamer from the hardware store.  I painstakingly burnt myself time and time again with the steam or the water.  First I would take off the outer layer, and then steam the paper underneath which would come right off.  On the last wall over the tub, Kevin had to do it because I couldn't reach.  He had it done in five minutes.  I should've just had him do the whole bathroom!  I was in a bad mood that day, so he didn't think I'd be too receptive to him saying that he could just do it and probably faster.  Lesson learned.  We'll be repainting and replacing the bathroom floor, vanity, and lighting.  I'll show you an after picture if we ever get it done.  

Then we had to choose carpet for the downstairs and master bedroom.  We went with creek bend because it's gray and tan, so the new buyer can use cool or warm tones and it'll match.  :)

While packing up the living room knick knacks, I found this frame that a student gifted me for Christmas two years ago.  I had our Christmas photo from this year on hand, and voila!  It's so cute!  I packed it up.

And then because Kevin said we couldn't work the kids like dogs and we had to let them play, Relic and I did some playing.  When he was trained as a puppy, we taught him how to ring a bell.  Well, it seems he still remembers!