K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Stupid. My new motto.

I'm finding the older I get the less I want. There are very few things that I really value and none of them are "things": faith, family, friends, and travel. That's pretty much it. Once upon a time I aspired to having a big house and decorating it with cute things. I love our house, but it's too much. The upkeep is crazy time consuming, whether it be cleaning it or fixing something, and often expensive. And the chotchkies all over the place, aside from the ones we've gotten traveling or our personal photos, the rest is just stuff I have to dust. How often do I "treasure" that thing I found in Target 2 years ago? It may have spoken to me at the time, but now it sits on the shelf and the only time I look at it is when I have to clean it (and then it's with resentment). You should see my bathroom drawers and shelves, (actually NO that would be horrifying) filled with lotions and potions and makeup that I never use. I imagine most of it is bad at this point, those things have shelf lives I hear. My closet is filled with clothes, some are so old they are out of style (if they were ever in style, that's not really my thing either). If it's not jeans and t-shirts, it just hangs.

My retired mom decided a couple of years ago to throw all her stuff in storage and travel around in her motor home. She has had a blast! She spends a month here or there, travels to see her kids and grand kids and lives full time in that little house on wheels. Talk about having to simplify down to the basics. She cruises through her hometown to switch out summer to winter clothes or vice versa. I envy her being able to do that. Clearly, we are not in a place right now where that is possible. We have kids in school and Brian has a full time job, so that kind of travel is out for now. The simplifying is totally doable! We recently bought a camper and have gone camping a couple of times and had a great time. We essentially chose to leave our big house to stay in a TINY apartment for a few days and missed NOTHING. Obviously, living on top of each other like that would get old after a while, it's an extreme the other direction. However, it takes 5 minutes to clean the whole camper and the rest of the day is ours. We had so much more time to "play". I'm all about that!

My point, I suppose, is that I feel like I'm crazy busy doing things I'd rather not be doing... and I've done it to myself. Why have I created this high maintenance lifestyle? I didn't do spring cleaning this year, but I'm feeling a Fall dump run coming on... ;)

Until next time,
Julie

Balance...I have none!

It's been a while since I've blogged about anything. This summer has been fairly busy and (insert several other excuses here). I seem to be having a problem finding balance both figuratively and literally. I love that I'm not having to track anyone's grades or extracurricular mandatory activities, as I have to do during the school year, however things are still hectic for whatever reason. Brian and Keegan both work and finding opportunity to do things together is very difficult and somewhat discouraging. Brian has had to travel quite a bit and Keegan is in the food industry so his hours vary. James, one of our extra "sons", had to have surgery at the beginning of the summer and so has been in recoup mode for the last few weeks. I have had the annoying addition of bouts of vertigo and a fairly aggressive ear infection that doesn't seem to want to go away. I took some heavy duty meds for a couple of weeks, but as I sit here there is still quite a bit of pressure and the walls of my house occasionally jump out and get me. Let's hope that will end soon.

With everyone, except Kieran, being adults now finding opportunity to spend time together as a family has all but diminished. Our family meals which have always been opportunity to connect at the end of the day often include several empty chairs these days. I'm begrudgingly adjusting to this new lifestyle. I miss my babies, but I'm really proud of the men the are becoming. They are for the most part responsible productive members of our society as they should be. We, as parents, seem to be doing our job right.

All is not lost, though. In the midst of it all we find little pockets of time to be together. We have family nights watching a movie or playing games, even if we are missing someone. We just spent several days in our camper out at Spring Mill, IN. It was so nice and quiet. We spent our time playing games, walking the park, eating yummy food, and just generally stayed disconnected from our normal life. There was no wi-fi and very limited cell service and that was OK with us. Keegan is in Honduras on a mission trip so the only updates we really wanted were from their leader. It was hard to come back. I like my kids, I miss them because I really like them. I like to visit with them and cut up about silly stuff. I like having conversations with them whether it be in depth or nonsense. I like watching them interact with each other. I like that we are happy to be together when we can be. I like that Kevin wants to come home from college and hang out with us. It's not the quantity of time I hoped for, but I'm going to make sure the quality is there. Maybe we can't do everything with everyone, but the things we can do...we're all in!

Until next time,
Julie