Lucky

So, not much news. We've been dealing with an unbelievably awful stink from the septic lines (imagine the movie "RV"). Luckily (or unluckily?) it's been 50s and rainy most of the week, so we were stuck inside anyway. The kids complained endlessly about being cold. How was I supposed to know we would need blankets, in Maryland, in June? But anyway ... it's hard to sit outside and enjoy our new outdoor living room, so we need to get that taken care of soon. (Incidentally, I don't have a lot of faith in the plumber. I think he's an idiot).

Barry went out to level the dirt where the plumber had dug it up for the septic tie-in. He found this.



So, who knows. Maybe our luck IS about to change. ;-)

We've spent the weekend planning what to do with the house. This is one time when it's incredibly wonderful to be married to an architect. Barry measured and planned and planned and measured, and took a field trip to a huge auction warehouse where we hope to buy a lot of the items we'll need for the house. He was torturing me all day, sending photos of amazing kitchen cabinets and beautiful french-door, stainless-steel refrigerators. I'm planning to go with him next time so that we don't let all these beautiful things go to waste!

Barry and the kids had a blast taping out where the new cabinets and island will go.

I know it doesn't look like much, but imagine the possibilities. :)

I finally started running again this weekend. (Whether I will keep it up remains to be seen, but at least I started). Running is great alone, thinking time for me. Today, coming back up the last hill before our house, I was thinking about two things: One, how striking the fields and sky and sun and clouds. And how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. Two, that I hope to get only one thing from this experience and it isn't a new kitchen (though if it does all pan out, that would be great). I hope our kids take away a sense of adventure and possibility. I hope they learn that any experience can be what you make it. And I hope they look back when they are adults and say to each other, Do you guys remember the summer we all lived in the trailer? Wasn't that crazy? I can't believe we did that! And then, I hope, they all laugh like fools just thinking about it.

Moving In

So after about a week of delays, the trailer was finally delivered last Friday. Picture a 39' trailer, hitched to the back of a truck, pulling in to our little yard ... from Route 94. It was nerve-wracking for me and all I was doing was watching. That driver had nerves of steel.

He got the trailer all lined up for us and then the waiting began. Waiting for the plumber to hook up the septic. Waiting for the contractor to figure out where to get another extension for the electrical cord because the trailer (according to them) should have been facing the other way. Thing is, there's a big shade awning on the side of the trailer, and we had two choices: Have the awning facing Route 94, so that we could enjoy the sights and sounds of traffic all summer long ... or have it facing the back field where we could enjoy green fields and blue skies. I'm sure it's pretty obvious which option we chose. But it seemed to throw the contractor and plumber for a loop. Luckily for us, there was no way of turning the trailer around, so the guys did what they are presumably paid to do and figured it out.

In the midst of all this activity I was traveling back and forth from the hotel in Columbia, dealing with phone calls and messages and trying to pull all of our belongings out and pack it in my car (god bless Volvo and their massive cargo space) and after the contractor called me to tell me the trailer was facing in the wrong direction, I called Barry and proceeded to have a temper tantrum. Complete with tears. (Side note here: Has anyone else ever noticed that being told to "calm down" never actually helps matters?)

Finally, after what was a very long and exhausting day, we were pretty much moved in. The kids had the slide outs slid out and we were feeling like we could maybe handle this for a while. I even remembered the Smokey the Bear magnet that Barry stuck on the hotel fridge as a joke. (That guy). And our favorite bottle opener.

Best part so far: Our new backyard "living room" furniture.

The first night was ... interesting. In a way it feels like camping, especially with all the windows open and nature sounds coming in. My rooster started crowing his head off in the middle of the night. Apparently, roosters begin crowing a few hours before dawn according to their circadian rhythms. Paco's circadian rhythm apparently tells him to begin crowing at 3:30 a.m. The even crazier part is that at about 5:30 a.m., he abruptly stops. Abruptly. And doesn't crow all day. Until 3:30 the following morning.

But waking up on Saturday morning (even if it was at 5:45 a.m.), sliding off the end of the bed and reaching over to open the screen door was pretty cool and it did seem like being on vacation.

I mean, with a view like that, how bad can it be?

I spent most of the day Saturday finding places to put our clothes. Trailer storage is very strange. There appears to be more of it than you'd think, but it's not like a nice big closet you can just plunk a box into. It's more like tiny glass-fronted (why? so that the fine china can be displayed?) cabinets that are all in odd corners or way up high and difficult to reach. It's going to be interesting.

Sunday Clay and I set up the home theatre. I'm pretty pleased. Never had a home theatre before!

Tonight we are getting a massive rain storm. The kids and I are holed up in the house with the dogs at the moment. Cole decided to set up an air mattress in his bedroom upstairs so he's been holding down the fort inside. Kylie and I are trying to get up the nerve to run through this to get back to the trailer:

Wish us luck!