Just Another Day In Paradise

Ta-Da!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:28:00 +0000

It's a post! And an awesome new blog look! The first one that I've actually REALLY, TRULY loved since I started the blog. It's the perfect mix of rustic and girly. *Happy Sigh*

Also, as I sat in Starbucks last night, able to think in the blissful quiet.......I managed to finally merge my blog and gmail account.

Blogger has also made some great upgrades to their features, and that pretty much completes my happy blogging experience.

Now I can just sit down and post.....ANYTIME. No toggling between google accounts. It's a novel thing.

I often wish there was a feature that let me connect my brain (wirelessly, of course) to blogger. Then I could compose posts easily while washing my dishes. Which is when all of my truly deep thinking occurs for some reason. It just never seems to make it onto the blog.

You'll notice that I also have cool new tabs at the top of the blog. Most of the pages are still blank, but they'll fill up as I have time :)

Check out the tab labeled "Never Miss A Post". Not that I think you lie in bed at night worried that you might miss a post from me. But I realize that my posts get so random that you grow tired of checking my blog. There's a link there to put my feed into your blog reader (if you don't use one, you should - they're awesome little tools!). And there's also an option to subscribe via email. Yah! Now you don't have to lie awake at night. Or be annoyed at me. Or miss out on my life ('cause THAT would of course be the ultimate tragedy.....hahahahahah...ahem).

Also, a note to all of my FB friends. I'm planning, after this post, on stopping my blogposts from feeding into Facebook (if I can remember how to do that!). It feels a bit obnoxious when my blogposts come across my Facebook feed, since they're generally like 500 pages long and I realize that, really? Nobody cares!!!! So, if you're among the 3 people who enjoy these rambling updates, then go here and subscribe via reader or email. Otherwise you can now commence being grateful that you'll never be plagued by useless details of my life again. Yah!

Oh, and if I actually have any readers left, go ahead, make my day. Comment on this post and threaten me with strange and weird punishments if I don't continue to post. Or just say Hi. That works too.

A random post in which I tell you how to get free stuff and make a random announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:25:00 +0000

No. I’m not pregnant. That is NOT the random announcement. In case you were wondering. Not like anyone else has been. While I enjoy this whole baby-having thing immensely, I’m pretty sure that if I produced a new deduction in 2008, 2009, AND 2010, I’d be flagged for audit. And that just doesn’t sound fun. Back to the post.

I’ve recently come across something that makes me immensely happy. Almost as happy as baby-having. The sad thing is….I’ve known about it for SO LONG. And I haven’t taken advantage of it until now. Maybe because I was skeptical, or lazy, or….I’m not sure. But I’ve recently discovered that it is SO worth it.

Now this would be the place for me to write something flowery about how beautiful life is, taking time out to enjoy it, blah, blah blah. But that’s not actually what I’ve discovered. It’s a bit more mercenary.

FREE AMAZON GIFT CARDS!!!!!!!!!

No gimmick. No joke. Don’t have to do ANYTHING out of the ordinary.

Ladies and Gentlemen (yeah, I’m sure there’s a lot of men reading this blog). May I introduce you to…..

SWAGBUCKS!!!!

Maybe you’ve heard of it? Maybe you’ve seen your friend’s annoying FB posts on it. Maybe you’ve thought it was an addictive form of online gambling, a strange multi-level company, or a cult (okay, so maybe that’d be close….free stuff is addictive ;)

But here’s the deal. Register. Use the SB search engine (powered by Google, and available as a toolbar, on the SB webpage, or as a FireFox search option). RANDOMLY get awarded “Swagbucks” in $10 increments. On any given search, you may get nothing. Or you may get 10 SB, or 50 SB, or if it’s Friday, something really crazy like 100 SB.

Your Swagbucks (SB) build up in a nice little pile, and you can redeem them for all sorts of nice things in the SB online store. My favorite being the $5 amazon gift card. It costs 450 SB. I’ve earned one in 2 weeks time. And NO, I have NOT had to sit in front of my computer doing random searches all day long. I’ve just used it for normal web browsing. If I’m headed to bloglines, I no longer type the bloglines address in my browser. I type “bloglines” in my SB search box and access it through the search. Do the math. That’s approx. $120 Amazon Giftcards per YEAR. Without doing anything different from your daily activities. Needless to say I highly recommend it.

It gets better! If you sign up and love it, you can tell your friends about it. And if they sign up through your referral link, YOU get a matching SB for EVERY SB they earn, up to 1000. That’s 2 more free Amazon gift cards. Yup. Awesome.

Why did I avoid this for so long? Because I thought it looked like a cheesy scheme. Because I thought I’d get spammed. Because I thought they would want my credit card number. Because it seemed too good to be true. I’m pleased to report, after careful investigation, that NONE of the above concerns are valid. Swagbucks is paid for by advertising. Just like the free blog your reading this on. Or the free bloglines/google reader you’re using to read this.

Obviously, if you sign up with the cute little banner ad above, or at this link, I’ll get extra SB for referring you. You won’t miss out on anything. But, if you happen to NOT use my link, I’ll still like you. Actually I’ll never know. But HOWEVER you sign up, I promise you, it’s totally worth it. I know several people who used SB to pay for Christmas last year. Others save for Ipods, Cameras, even computers (I don’t have that kind of patience….that person must have had a LOT of friends they got started on Swagbucks).

How’s that for a pitiful little sales pitch? Okay, actually, I forgot about the referral thing until very recently. As in when I was mentioning it to a friend, and suddenly realized I could profit from my niceness. I would have told you about swagbucks anyway. Really.

As I prepared to hit the “post” button, my husband arrived home with 10 baby chicks. The ensuing antics of my 19 month old were so priceless, I think I just vowed to use my swagbucks to get a video camera. Now off to stop her from offering every baby toy we own to the chicks. I have succeeded in convincing her that they can’t wear her PJ’s. Or Lilly’s.

How NOT to have a blog……

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:29:00 +0000

Hello? Anybody out there? Anybody at all?

Betcha thought I was never going to post again, didn’t you? I admit it. I’m a total looser as far as my blog is concerned. What can I say? Life happened.

At last posting, 2009 had just started. Ah, January, the month that was to be amazing. It was, in case you were wondering.

See, we moved into a nice farmhouse 2 weeks after Abby was born. I don’t recommend the timeframe. At. All. But, when you’ve been looking for a house for 3 months and everything you’ve looked at that’s available in your area frightens you, you do funny things. Especially when you happen upon a lovely rental, in your price range. One with new paint, new carpet, and a GORGEOUS landscape around you. You take it. And you move.

Then 2 weeks later you do a wedding cake. Because you’re crazy. And you really, really, really love your midwife, even if she is getting married and leaving you.

After this great event, you try to get your house setup. Except because you’ve been living in a travel trailer, you have lots of stuff and no furniture. Because all of your furniture is attached to your old house. This setting up takes a great deal of time. Especially if your infant then develops nursing problems that threaten to label her FTT. 6 weeks of your life. Gone. And you don’t even get to sleep during them. Then come the holidays.

Those are fun.

Mostly.

But THEN….come January. In January, you are amazing. Your house stays clean most of the time. You start to wade through the mountains of dirty clothes, you dig out from underneath the piles of boxes.

Life is good.

You tell your newfound friend, who has a 2, 3, and 4 year old, how excited you are with this new organized phase in your life. The little smart alech laughs at you and says “yeah, whenever I feel in control of life, 2 pink lines seem to follow close behind.” “Not all of us have the genetics of a bunny rabbit” you smart back.

And a few weeks later when you’re experiencing those pink lines, you conveniently leave town the same day so that you won’t have to listen to her snide remarks. Thanks to your husband’s winter employer, you get the trip of a lifetime. You spend 3 weeks on the East coast seeing old friends.

You even get to introduce your daughter to her Great-Grandaddy.

Upon arriving back home, you find yourself (thankfully) feeling good, but oh. so. tired. You spend the next 3 months of your life sleeping, and feeding your 6 month old. Your house starts to look like a barn again. Bummer.

The baby does all she can to help with the house, but falls a bit short. No pun intended.

Then, one day, you get your energy back. Just in time for you and your man to make a career-altering decision. Flight School. Not the kind for potential airline pilots, but the kind for CROPDUSTERS. Strangely enough, you’ve heard your husband talk about how great this is for so long, that you’re not even afraid for his safety. You’d just like him to shut up and find something new to talk about. (totally kidding by the way…about the shutting up part).

You find yourself giddy with excitement as he packs to leave….and so sad all at the same time.

You get your traditional one-and-only-belly-shot-of-the-whole-pregnancy-because-I’m-a-looser-mom picture taken.

During the 3 weeks you have until he comes back for you and the baby, you drag your sisters over to your house. You spend a solid week, cleaning, unpacking, decluttering, and redoing the nursery. You make lots of memories, and your sisters are even still speaking to you when it’s done.

You husband survives his first 3 weeks and returns home to get you. Just in time for the 4th of July. You attend your inlaws 50th wedding anniversary, feeling like something of a party-crasher as your amazing siblings-in-law do an insane amount of work, and YOU only pick up some rental items. And since you get to eat Chick-fil-a while doing so, it doesn’t really feel like work.

You spend 2.5 months in Georgia, having lots of adventures too lengthy to blog about here and now.

You arrive home 3 weeks before your due-date, and 30 days before your darling new daughter actually arrives.

Lillian Marie Emrich

10:23 PM

Friday, October 30,2009

8 lbs 9 oz

21.5 inches long.

You miss recording that darling scene when your 1st born meets your 2nd born, because you took the card out of the camera and forgot. You don’t want to talk about it. You settle for lesser quality pictures at a later time.

Your new addition, while she looks like her sister, acts completely different. Probably mostly due to the complex she’s developing because her parents keep calling her “Abby”, even though they KNOW that’s not her name.

Lillian Marie ~ 3 weeks old

Abby Grace ~ 4 weeks old

You travel to see your husband’s brother and his family for Thanksgiving. This involves a trip to Boston, Mass. (Bolton, Mass – to be more exact).

The trip is wonderful…except for one unfortunate fact. Your new addition to the family falls to pieces whenever she has to sleep away from home. This fact repeats itself over the Christmas Holidays, which fortunately only require 2 nights away.

Having started a new tradition of “make a wedding cake with a newborn baby”, you further shoot yourself in the foot by HELPING with the wedding of your one-and-only-favorite-photographer.

Just like that. In your insanity, you participate in the very event which will allow her to leave and go 1500 miles away from you. But, she seems downright giddy about the whole thing, so you’re glad you did it.

(A side note: Bethany is responsible for all of the really, really cute pictures on this post. The professional looking ones. Most of which remain un-blogged. Sob. SO ashamed. But, if it makes her feel any better, I frequently scroll through the on my computer with a huge grin on my face. Generally followed by an emotional breakdown as I am reminded that NO ONE takes pictures like her, and I will be FOREVER dissatisfied with pictures taken by portrait studios. Which is pretty much my only option. What can I say? She’s done my engagement pictures. My wedding pictures. Family pictures. Baby pictures. Isn’t this emotional trauma understandable? And aside from her amazing picture taking abilities, she’s a really sweet, wonderful person. I mean, she likes books and chocolate…..how could anyone NOT love her? :)

January rolls around, and with it – a new laptop loaded with Windows 7. Windows 7 comes with this great thing called Windows Live Writer. You now have no excuse not to blog, as you can compose off-line. And your husband happens to outside after dark freezing his butt off while disassembling a pivot line. This results in the longest blog post ever to be posted in the history of time. With lots of grammatical errors.

You loose the 2 readers you had left because they fell asleep reading your post.

But at least you have something to show for the last 90 minutes of your life. Yah for you.

You might be Self Employed AND ADD if.....

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:41:00 +0000

You find yourself amazed at the huge volume of beautiful, flowing blogposts about the New Year, Reflections on the Old Year, etc, etc, etc. that your friends have been composing. All the while, all YOU'VE been thinking about is how soon you can get the Balance sheet to the Accountant so he can do your taxes, and you can find out how much money you owe the government, and why doesn't the weather warm up so that we can actually MAKE some money to pay to the government, and that you are REALLY sick of your Christmas tree, and that right there is proof that you are ADD since it wasn't put up until a week before Christmas, and the dog really needs food, and what happened to my visions of a happy organized life that I once had? And further more, will my kitchen floor ever get mopped, my bathroom cleaned, and my clothes put away.

And since my husband just called and told me not to go out today because it's a solid sheet of ice outside, it must really be bad, because my husband NEVER tells me to stay home because of the weather. Probably because I drive a jeep with 4WD, and, according to the expert himself, I am a reasonably good driver. And the ice makes me feel so relieved because I can now put off until Monday everything I should have done today, errand-wise. Marvelous.

But I still wonder if there is anything I can do to improve focus in my life so that I can think of just one thing at a time, like a man. That last thought is to imply that men only think of one thing at a time. Not that I wish I could spend all my days thinking of a man. Because I would of course choose my favorite man to think about. And that would get me all dreamy eyed and I wouldn't get anything done as I would be lost in my own little world. Then my favorite man would come home and wonder what his favorite wife had done all day. And I might not be his favorite wife anymore. Which would be a bummer since he doesn't have any others to claim the title.

Now, any of my readers that have not removed me from their bloglines because they're frightened are at the very least rolling on the floor laughing at me. And Elizabeth is probably thinking that maybe Alatheia isn't really spastic at all, as I have just brought new meaning to the word. But I have no more time to reflect on whatever this blog post is about (I'm really not sure myself). Because I need to go fix lunch for me and my favorite man. And feed the baby. And the dog. And then plan out next week so that I can achieve a lot of stuff.....If I could get focused ever. Maybe THAT should be my New Years resolution. To focus. But I'm not sure that word is necessarily in the vocabulary of a mom. And certainly not an ADD mom. Is it Courtney?

This is kind of how I feel today.......

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:19:00 +0000

I'm just feeling a little typed out. And uninspired. So, after a long blogging run, I'm taking the weekend off. Check back Monday. My house should be clean then, my grocery list made, and hopefully I'll be inspired again.

And, in the meantime, checkout this website for a few laughs, or at least a grin.

You might be a mom if....

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:30:00 +0000

you find yourself carefully folding up your 5 day old subway wrapper, and placing it in the diaper bag, because it happens to be your 4 month old's new favorite toy.

Abby and Baxter

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:30:00 +0000

My daughter has a very special, furry friend. Who is slightly neurotic. His name is Sam. Ooops. Wrong post. That's tomorrows post. Let's start that over.

His name is Baxter. Baxter is our Border Collie/Lab Mix. Baxter would be different from Buster, our first BC/Lab mix who mysteriously disappeared last year. While he may at times lack tact and self control, he is not by any means lacking in personality. Baxter is one of those good dogs to have around. You know, the kind that you'd expect to pull your child from the pond as they were drowning? The one who woke you up when the house was burning down. Friendly to friends, and ferocious to dangerous types. That kind of Dog.

Abby and Baxter on Rag's BD

The day Abby was born, at 3 AM, Baxter had been kicked outside. Because obviously when you're trying to have a baby in a travel trailer, you get rid of any extra space-robbers. Baxter had been quiet as a mouse (or so I'm told, I was a little distracted and didn't really care if the dog was dead or alive, much as I love him), and was assumed to be asleep.

When Abby was born, she arrived screaming, as do most babies. The instant Baxter heard the sound, he went nuts because he was SURE he had missed something important. He dealt with his feelings of mixed joy and distress by running circles around the trailer at 3 AM barking his fool head off. Abby and Baxter have shared a very special bond ever since.

The day after she was born, her crying greatly concerned Baxter. Eveytime she let out a peep, he would rush over and survey the situation with a worried look on his face.

Baxter wishing he could do something to comfort Abby

We have tried desperately to convey to Baxter that Abby is NOT a Baby-sicle, provided for his slurping enjoyment. But he just can't resist. Sometimes he's just too quick for us. A few times I've turned my back for an instant, then looked upon my darling child to see what appears to be a baby with freshly-washed hair. Washed personally by Baxter himself.

Abby 2.5 Months

There is definitely an element of trust there, as you would think that someone Abby's size would have SOME degree of anxiety over a very large furry object 4 times her size. When she was very little she would just stare calmly and take it all in with wide, inquisitive eyes. Now, it's a very difficult task to even change a diaper with Baxter around, as she cranes her neck and wiggles to get a look at her favorite puppy dog.

Abby, 4 months

I look at the two of them and get visions of a Norman Rockwell type picture. My 3 year old holding out her ice cream cone so the dog can get a good lick. Every kid should have a dog. I have to say, my husband sure knows how to pick em. Even if he is a little neurotic (Baxter, nor Ragnar:).

How to live in a travel trailer with a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Now, this would be another post which most of you will benefit nothing from but pure entertainment. Because it's just not a normal situation. Are you tired of hearing that line yet? Just checking

The important thing to remember when living in 250-300 sq feet of space is that organization is key, and clutter is not your friend. Clutter in a travel trailer is anything that doesn't get used weekly. I am serious.

So, the week after the birth I quickly discovered something. My trailer would not hold all of the birth supplies, plus the new supplies aquired for Abby. In addition to those, I also had 2 full wardrobes - Maternity and Regular. Our home was on the verge of exploding.

While "letting the housework go" is recommended in pregnancy books, and might be a good idea in a normal size house, we were running out of places to sit. It was becoming non-functional. So the second week of Abby's life I gave the house a complete overhaul. Great way to rest and recuperate, let me tell you.

One thing that most definitely had to stay was the swing. Abby is addicted to movement, probably from all the traveling we did before she was born. The swing was definitely staying. Unfortunately, it was large. Very Large.

A short time later I found a "travel swing" on Craigslist. Best $25 I ever spent. The thing folds up, how cool is that? And it sits just a short distance from the floor so that the dog can walk by whenever he wants and cover my baby's face in slobber! My joy was complete.

There was also a sleeping place to consider. While co-sleeping is great, there wasn't much point to that after she started sleeping through the night. She did better in her own little bed. We had a bassinet which could be removed from it's stand. We placed this on the "table" on Ragnar's side of the bed.

It worked quite nicely as long as you were awake when removing her from it. She only got her head bonked twice, and both time it was my fault. Probably because if I asked my husband to get the baby, he would slide the bassinet out and pass it to my side of the bed. Smart Alec. He thought it was an impressive feat to accomplish all without getting up.

The maternity clothes were all removed. As were all the assorted birth supplies, including the labor pool. Yes, we not only had a baby in a trailer, we put a pool in said trailer for the occasion. Because it's America. And my husband said I could. I wish I could have kept that pool in the trailer. Because it was bigger than my bathtub. When we bought our trailer, one of the things that made us excited was that there wasn't a lot of wasted space in the bathroom. A lot of trailers are very bad about this, because they sell them to old people who want large bathrooms. We wanted more living space. Silly us. I took several baths after Abby was born, and each time I did, I felt like Mrs. Claus trying to survive in elf land.

I also removed all of the baby boy clothes, and the clothes that she had already outgrown at 2 weeks of age. My daughter, for some odd reason, was born very long. As in 22+ inches. And by 1.5 weeks she was too long for the 3 darling newborn sleepers I had bought her. The ones I paid full price for. Because they were so cute. And I couldn't find any at Goodwill. I didn't buy 0-3 months (which, did you know, is actually a size up from Newborn?) because I have this thing about baggy clothes on little babies. I wanted her to have at least one outfit that fit right so her newborn pictures would be oh so cute. So I bought 3, because there were a lot of oh so cute outfits.

I'm not really sure what purpose that served, as Abby never would keep her feet in her sleeper, from the day she was born. We now only buy sleepers with elastic in the feet. Which are very hard to find in sizes smaller than 12 months. But they can be found, I was pleased to discover. I'm just glad I didn't buy preemie size, as I was fulfilling my obsession for tailored baby clothes. Because I wasn't expecting a 8.5 lb baby. I was expecting a very small one. But when this one arrived, she was too cute to send back. And, yes, in case you were wondering, that first-time-mom-ism has been chucked. I am now convinced that babies grow too fast to buy them clothes that fit ;).

So, if you ever find yourself living in a travel trailer and about to have a baby, make plans to remove all unnecessary items the moment they become unnecessary. Because you'll get tired of sitting on stacks of clothing, and moving piles of stuff around every time you want to cook, eat, or sit down. And you'll get tired of pulling stuff out of the shower every time you want to use it. Walking all over stuff on the floor, because that's the only empty space left, will get old too. If you have a dog that's addicted to soft spaces though, he'll be overjoyed with the endless supply of soft bedding that he's sure was placed there especially for him.

After all of this sorting and stuffing was done, I placed all of the extra items in the back of my jeep. At this point, with the house-hunt looking dismal, we were considering renting a storage unit. Because we had now been storing stuff in my parent's basement, Ragnar's old room at his folks, and the closets at the Wissmann's office for a very long time. We really wanted these people to still like us. So, we thought a storage unit would be the way to go. But we never had to get one........

Abby and Her Daddy

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:00:00 +0000

1 day old

A common scene around our house, pretty much from the day Abby was born, is that of Abby and her Daddy sleeping. 2 nights into having a new baby, I found myself up at 2 AM trying desperately to console a baby who couldn't figure out how to eat. Thankfully our little fist-sucker was eating by day 3 but that's a whole 'nother long, sad story.

2 weeks old

As I sat up in bed, in tears myself due to lack of sleep and an overage of hormones, I handed the baby to Rag since I couldn't do anything for her anymore. Instant quiet. Partially due to the fact that there was no more stress to feed off of, and partially due to an absolute Daddy's girl. I'm not sure how long he held her that night before he finally got her out enough to put her down, but it was awhile. After one failed attempt, I heard him mumble " I'm not going to catch any more of our kids. I'm glad she's attached to me, but I don't think I can afford the resulting lack of sleep.". Made me grin, even in my groggy state.

2 months old

Abby is the best of friends with her Daddy, whether making faces, doing her "strengthening exercises", talking back and forth (as best she can), or just cuddling. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she's learning to ride horseback, milking her cow, fixing vehicles, running equipment, driving trucks, and all other manner of daddy-daughter activities. But for now, sleeping is one of their favorite activities to share.

Because we just weren't redneck enough already....

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:48:00 +0000

Haha. You thought I was going to miss today, didn't you? Well, for your information I've still got 12 mintues until the day is over. So there. I can't help it if no one is online checking blogs right now.

To refresh the memory of those who may have forgotten, at the time Abby was born I lived in a travel trailer. Not a trailer in a trailer park. Not a semi-truck trailer. A travel trailer. 30 ft long. With a slider, which helped a lot. The reason? Oh, we just wanted to be as redneck as possible. Okay, actually it was because we traveled so much, we wanted a house we could take with us. If you had read my first ever post on this blog, you would know that. Pay attention.

About May (2.5 months before Abby's arrival) my husband started doing less long-term travel. As in, he covered 3 states in one day and arrive home exhausted and not wanting to even hear the word "drive" or "truck".He was putting about 3000 miles on his truck.....every month. It was at this time that he also declared "There is NO WAY we are going to spend one more winter in this thing." This thing being the trailer, not the truck.

So we looked at houses. Not the kind you buy, which there seemed to be lots of. But the kind you borrow, ie; rent. Because since we still own a half finished ~~albatross~~ house in KS, we weren't real excited about owning 2 houses. Especially since no one wants to buy houses right now. You know what we discovered? Living in a travel trailer spoils you. That's what I said. See, I'm accustomed to everything being in perfect working order. Nice cherry cabinets in my kitchen. Windows that don't leak air. At least, that's what I've become accustomed to since we decided to do this travel trailer thing full time. The one we lived in for the first few months had…..ahem….character. It was also older than I was.

We looked lots...mostly from the outside, turning our noses up as we went. We just couldn't find that perfect house. So, we decided to wait. Because after all, we had a perfectly nice travel trailer. And I've become pretty good at making small spaces work.

And as long as we're on the subject, I thought you might enjoy a tour of our little house on wheels.

Our house while in NW Texas

The Bedroom, which is larger than it looks. You can even stand up all the way around in it (you couldn't do that in our first one:).

Our cozy living room

My adorable kitchen, which had all sorts of cool features not normally found in a trailer

that I won't bore you with 'cause you couldn't appreciate them.

There. So now you know what this mystical sounding thing we lived in looked like. But back to the story.

So July arrived, and with it, a baby girl. An interesting fact you may or may not have known: I'm a huge advocate of homebirth. I've spent years researching it. And falling in love with it. But of course, since we lived in a travel trailer when Abby was born, what we actually had was a trailer-birth. That's what I said. My daughter came into this world…..in a travel trailer. It wasn't traveling at the time though, it was sitting still. 'Cause that would just be redneck. And I'll go over the g-rated details of said birth in a later post. Which I don't expect anyone to actually care about, but I want to write it down for Abby to read someday. Before I forget the details. Because not everyone can say they were born in a travel trailer. And if she's gonna tell a wild story like that, she should have details to back it up. Good thing we're planning on homeshooling. She'd likely get sent home from school for making up stories about the early days of her life.

Remember when I said "More pictures to follow"?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:46:00 +0000

That was a really long time ago, I know. So, without further ado, here are some pictures from the early hours of Abby's life.

Abby got all bundled up in her duck towel after her nice warm bath.

I think all those hours of labor tired her out, too.

Abby had lots of visitors later that evening. Our little house was full to bursting with company.

Aunt Sarah

Aunt Julianna

Uncle Robert

Not pictured here is Aunt Christina, who has a general aversion to photos of herself, and was behind the camera in most of these pictures. Christina stayed with us for almost a week after Abby was born. She was marvelous to have around. Thanks, Teenie :)

Grandma and Grandpa Cabell

Grandma Emrich
(This is the only picture we have from the Emrich side that day, as all the others are on Grandma Emrich's camera)

Aunt Alatheia
(As if Abby's 7 real life Aunts weren't enough, she also a few adopted ones.)

My first week with a baby.

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

You may remember, by looking at the below picture, that Abby was born on July 25th.

Alright, still with me? While I have heard that some women stay home, in bed for a month after the baby arrives, this was not conducive to my personality or my surroundings. Remember, I spent 2 years constantly on the move with my husband? And also, remember, I lived in a 300 sq ft travel trailer. Yeah. Can we say, Cabin Fever? So, while I needed to recover, I all of a sudden was depressed beyond belief. Okay, maybe not beyond belief. I didn't want to throw myself off a building or anything. Which is good since the Hardware Store in Beaver is only tall enough to injure me, and I could have ended up a cripple for life. Okay, where was I?

You know how they tell you in pregnancy books that your husband may feel left out because you now spend all your time taking care of the baby? Didn't happen. What actually happened in our house is that MOMMY had a major emotional breakdown one morning because she wanted so badly to jump in the truck, and go to Lincoln with Daddy and that just couldn't happen anymore. This was 3 days into Motherhood, and I found myself wondering how long I was going to feel trapped by this little "bundle of adorableness" and what was wrong with me, and if I was ever going to see my husband again. Can we say, post-partum hormones? Right as I was having this major emotional breakdown, God must have smiled at me, if not outright laughed. Right then Ragnar came in and informed me that he might have to go down to TX (and I mean all the way down) to go after some equipment. And did I feel up to coming? Pointless question. By the next afternoon, we had packed up the baby (whom I was enjoying again), all of her stuff, some of our stuff, and had headed south.

But this trip was different, since we now had a baby to think of. We stopped overnight halfway down there, which normally we wouldn't have done. Abby had the pleasure of sleeping in her own Queen-Sized bed on the way down. On the way back, they were out of rooms with 2 queens and we got a room with one King. It was a VERY large bed. Abby looked a little lost in it.

Abby in the humogenous bed.

It was also so warm in TX that she got to wear something other than a sleeper. Unfortunately, I chose a green and yellow striped onesie to go under her jean jumper. This started an eternal problem…..that starts out "Awww, how old is HE?" The pink blanket seems to do nothing to help matters either. So we have given up and are considering referring to her as Abner while in public so that we don't make all the ~~morons~~ nice people feel awkward. And I'm just sure this is all a result of that one wardrobe mistake at the tender young age of 6 days. Hopefully she won't need therapy. I still think she was adorable, green shirt and all.

Abby, completely uninterested in having a photo shoot with her camera-happy new mommy.

Several more attempts at an adorable picture. Funny, but I really don't remember taking all these. At all.

Another great joy derived from this trip, aside from getting to spend a solid 2 days with my husband, was the food. You see, the south has a great and glorious restaurant chain called Chick-fil-A. I have an outright obsession with Chick-fil-A. If you have never eaten at Chick-fil-A you just won't understand. I would now tell you that I am convinced that there is a Chick-fil-A in heaven, but Allison already stole my line. She's always doing that….so annoying. Maybe if I blogged more often I could beat her to the punch. My husband has informed me multiple times after reading Allison's blogposts that she and I have GOT to be related somehow. I would like Allison to know, however, that while Chick-fil-A might be across the street from her mansion, it's going to be NEXT to mine. So there. And I would also like to inform Allison that I am sorry she has spent her last 6 pregnancies with out a Chick-fil-a, because in fact, there is one in the Mutual of Omaha building. And one in Sioux City Mall. And one in Des Moines. I keep up to date on important information like that.

But the point from the above paragraph is simply this. My name is Angela, and I like Chick-fil-A. A lot. So much so that each trip we take I get on my computer and enter our route into Chick-fil-a's website so that I can find out if we're going anywhere near one. You think I'm kidding? Ask my husband. It was a marvelous trip, as I got to eat there not once, but TWICE! Oh yeah.

Abby was a great little traveler for the whole trip. She has this thing for diesel engines. Probably because she spent so much time in utero riding around in Rag's truck. So, nothing could have made her happier then to spend 26 hours in Daddy's truck. And Mommy felt very much more…..human after aforementioned trip.

We added up and concluded that by the time we brought Abby to church at 8 days old, she already had over 2,000 miles on her.

Abby, all ready for her first time at church. Don't remember taking this picture either.

Ragnar's mother informed us that apparently we were NOT old enough to be having kids ;) Now, I definitely wouldn't recommend this for everyone…Actually probably not for anyone other than myself. But for me, it was just what I needed. In case you hadn't already gathered this from my post, I really really really love my husband. He's the best.

Excuses, Excuses

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:14:00 +0000

Yeah, I know. The last time this blog was updated is when my darling daughter was born…...almost over 4 months ago. And all of my promises to update the blog have gone unfulfilled….until now :)

The reasons? Well, I could blame the baby….except she's really easy going. She slept through the night at 1 week old. As long as her tummy is full and she's gotten her sleep, she's happy. No colic. No moodiness. Just smiles. And babytalk. And an occasional adorable laugh. And lately we have added growling and spit-bubble blowing to our repertoire.

One particular reason (though not a good one) is that when I did have a few spare seconds to blog, I never could bring myself to do it. Because after being pregnant, for some reason I have new quirks. One of which is a hatred of my blog appearance. Oh, I love the cowboy theme. But I can't stand the annoying background color or font or font color. So pretty much I just like the picture at the top. So, you will notice that our blog now sports a new look to deal with this strange issue I have. I didn't say it was a good reason.

Another reason? I haven't been quite sure how to continue blogging, now that I have a child, without sounding like an obnoxious, "the world revolves around my child", parent. So I have decided to give up. Since the real reason I have this blog is to Journal our life so we can look back on it when we're old and gray and loosing our memory. See, I can type about 80 wpm. And I can't write with a pen nearly that fast. So I get a better journal this way. So, be warned that you may find some posts slightly nauseating. You know, those posts that only the Grandparent's and Aunts could really appreciate? And even then, to say that they enjoy them is pushing it a little bit? Those kinds of posts. My apologies in advance.

You'll notice that the new blog design is nothing like the old. The reason for this is simple. I can't do HTML anymore. And the skills I once had were not that impressive anyway. While a custom blog template is very reasonably priced at $60, I just can't justify that. Even though I really, really want to. Maybe if it were summer. And that'd still be a very big maybe. Like maybe if I found $60 dollars on the sidewalk, or won money from Froggy 98 or 96 KZKX. Which I would have to call in to do. Which I don't do. Because when they asked me what station had just made me a winner, I would probably say the wrong station name. Which would be even more embarrassing if they phrased the question "What's your favorite station?". So, if anyone out there misses the cowboy as much as I do and has general knowledge about adorable, well done blog designs and wants to give me a really good rate, let me know. But I'm pretty sure I know all my friends well enough to know there are no hidden capabilities out there. Bummer for the cowboy.

What's been going on with us all this time? Well, I'm getting to that. I suppose the best way to explain, and entertain you would be to give you a timeline of life since Abby's arrival.

Here's the good news…. Instead of one massively long post that will take you most of your day to read, I've decided to make several different posts to complete this task.

That way Courtney's husband won't come home to a disastrous house and no dinner and 3 wild eyed children who have spent the day making the aforementioned house disastrous, because she has spent all day reading my captivating blog post and ignoring everything else. And if he does come home to such a scene, she can blame Facebook instead of my blog. (Stand by and wait for it…Courtney will now call me a "brat" either here or on Facebook).

And also, Alatheia will be able to graduate and not totally flunk all of her classes because she was reading my marvelous blog post that stretched into eternity.

See how considerate I am?

And blogger has this lovely feature called "auto-post" or something like that. This means, my dear blog readers (all 3 of you) that I will have a post up EVERY DAY for several days in a row. And if you really want me to continue all this? You should GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK. Because, for some reason, I have no motivation to blog to imaginary people who lurk on my blog (and I know you're there, because I have SiteMeter) and NEVER COMMENT. I can just file this all away in a word document somewhere if no one cares (note the extreme drama here, and picture some pathetic quivering lips, muffled sobs, and a general hormonal, pathetic appearance). So, consider this a delurking post. And picture my pitiful little face just begging for some comments. Pretend I have low self esteem (which I may if I still don't get any comments after this post :).

And keep checking back for the history of the last 4 months of the Emrich's lives. With lots of pictures. It's wild and crazy, as usual. And now I need to go. I think the dog is eating my wreath again.

It's a Girl!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:56:00 +0000

Announcing the arrival of

Abby Grace Emrich

Born on July 25, 2008 at 3:05 AM

8lbs, 7 oz

22 ¼ inches

Abby finally decided to grace us with her presence – 10 days past her “due date” and after almost 48 hours of labor (If you count from first consistent contractions J. )

She certainly has her Daddy’s laid-back personality!

More pictures to follow...when the internet connection stops throwing fits :)

Wow.....

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:31:00 +0000

As much as I react to the general views of the medical community on births, I am still SO very grateful that they are there for the serious medical situations that can sometimes be involved in pregnancy/birth. There is a REALLY cool story at the following link. Check it out!

When Chad and Keri McCartney say their infant daughter, Macie Hope, is born again, they aren’t referring to religion — the month-old miracle baby really was born twice.
The first “birth” was about six months into Keri McCartney’s pregnancy, when surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital took the tiny fetus from Keri’s womb to remove a tumor that would have killed Macie before she was born.
The second time was on May 3, when the McCartneys welcomed their surgically repaired — and perfectly healthy — baby girl into the world.

Read full article.

Isn't God's design of us amazing? That he could orchestrate every detail of a little life? And that he's designed the human brain in such a way that it can GRASP the details needed to perform an operation like this?

Look at that article and just try and make a case for a 6 month fetus not being a baby! I dare you.

As a side note though, I don't think I have any blogreaders at this point who would argue that point, period. But, just in case there are any liberals lurking here, thought I'd make the comment :).

Hat tip to Biblical Womanhood.

Guess what I've got?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:08:00 +0000

My Husband is simply the BEST. For lots of reasons. Reasons which I won't expound upon right now because I don't have time. But would you just LOOK at what he got for me with his hard earned money?

That's right, dear blog readers. Quickbooks Pro 2008! It was all I could do to keep from jumping up and down like a 5 year old who's just received one of those big, huge, dangerous, swirly lollipops that my mother would never let me have (smart lady, I sure won't be giving them to my kids either :).

Now, I realize that unless, you too, are self employed and doing your husband's books, you won't understand what the big deal is. But trust me. It's a big deal.

Especially if you've been nervously running QB Pro 2006 on a computer containing Microsoft's newest torture device - Windows Vista. See, QB Pro 06 doesn't like Vista (can't say I blame it, I don't either). And Vista doesn't like QB 2006 (Vista doesn't like ANYTHING or ANYBODY…..I think it's slightly demon possessed, personally). And that's made me kind of nervous, as my QB file is like number 2 on the list of things I would save in a fire or flood. Seriously. I mean, this IS a record of our entire livelihood we're talking about. I'm not sure what number 1 would be. But I thought it would be really pathetic if I put THAT down as number 1. You might think I need to get a life (if you don't already). But now, I don't have to bite my nails every time I open Quickbooks, wondering if it's all going to blow up. And yes, I do have backup copies. But I've even heard scary rumors of those corrupting due to the Vista issue.

I am SO glad my husband "made" me update now instead of later. Because I would have probably kept waiting and putting it off, and then one day my file would have corrupted. And I would have needed therapy to get over something like that. I'm married to a wise man :). Now, I'm going to go install my new toy. Which, incidentally, also has all kinds of cool new features that I can't wait to use. Oh yeah!

For your Entertainment

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:44:00 +0000

The You-Tube below will give you a glimpse into my husband's sense of humor. This had him in stitches. Probably because the safety of small cars is one of his pet peeves. This is why he "makes me" drive a jeep (not that I'm complaining), instead of a smaller something that would get better gas mileage. (Although I have to say, the jeep gets way better mileage then my Suburban did.) I think he has driven way too many miles, and seen way too many accidents. Side note: did you know my husband has actually pried car doors open to get people out on accident sites? This is something which amuses me. I mean do you KNOW how much you have to drive, statistically, to be on a severe accident site before emergency response just ONCE in your lifetime? Let alone how much you have to drive to have it happen MORE THEN ONCE. I'd like to ask God when I get to heaven just how many miles Ragnar has driven in his lifetime. Although the answer might depress me. And make the Liberals angry (not that it would be a bad thing :P)

So, enjoy this and know that we mean nothing personal to the many people out there who do in fact drive small cars. You car is probably still bigger then a Yugo. And if you do drive a Yugo, we promise to just laugh at you behind your back and not to your face.

Procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Okay, maybe that's not an accurate title for this post. Seeing as procrastination generally refers to something people put off because they DON'T want to do it. I have the opposite problem. That which I have no desire to do screams in my face and gets done in a timely manner because it is urgent. And that which is equally important, more enjoyable, and does not scream, doesn't seem to get done. Until now that is.

You see I'm enjoying all of that "free time" that everyone promised me was ahead when I got married. I have been informed that as a newlywed, you have all kinds of "free time" in between when you get married and when the babies start to come. During this free time, you are supposedly free to pursue your hobbies, as everyone knows it doesn't take a whole lot of time to cook and clean for two (supposedly). Thus, your time will be spent doing glorious things like scrapbooking you wedding photos, sewing, or whatever most delights your heart. Lies. All lies.

Now, I have TOTALLY enjoyed the phase of life I've been in up until now. The whole deal of traveling honestly never gets annoying. But up until now, my "spare time" has been consumed with bookkeeping for 2 companies, and the various additional tasks required by our lifestyle. Like packing. And unpacking. And doing it all over again. And trying to guess how many groceries we'll use that week. And then watching them rot away because we ended up on 1 day trips all week and our house didn't come with us. Weather….it can be so annoying. Ooops. Sorry, bunny trail. You get the idea.

BUT, as of last month, my husband "fired" me from "extra" bookkeeping for the company we sub to. And NOW, guess what. After spending the first few weeks playing catch up on various things….I have free time!!!!! And I've been spending it on 2 very delightful tasks.

For starters, I've been catching up on OUR company bookkeeping. Which has been a blast (and yes I'm serious). Because I just love watching our Quickbooks file get all caught up and organized.

Now, this one is totally embarrassing. Thank you notes! As in, WEDDING thank you notes. From when we were married. In September. Of 2006. I told you it was embarrassing. Worse then that, the postal rate has changed not once but TWICE in that time. Nothing like sending out a thank-you with TWO add-on stamps. Now realize, it's not that I've not sent ANY Thank-yous since we've been married. But there are about 200 total. And that's a lot. I HAVE been slowly hacking away at them for the last however many months. Now I'm just flat out attacking them. My husband is a lot of encouragement. He's suggested "why don't you just wait and send out the thank-yous with the birth announcements, it'll save postage". And I let him live, because I love him. But I did glare at him. And he looked back with his adorable smile and twinkling eyes. And ALMOST made me laugh. But not quite.

AND when I get these two tasks done, I just might have time to sew before Baby comes! Might. Which would be soooo much fun. And then, in 8 weeks or so, it will all end. Because I am NOT naïve enough to think that this will continue after Baby arrives. But it will have been a lovely 3 months. And I think I'll be quite happy to suddenly have my "free time" gone until retirement. I guess it won't really be "gone". Just filled up with something WAY more fun :).

As a side note: Maybe the title of this post was more appropriate then I thought. I typed this up Thursday May 15th…..notice the post date of today Sunday, May 25th. But I blame that on the fact that I don't have internet access 24/7. :)

And this is why I shouldn’t have a blog……

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Because what’s the point in a blog if you’re only going to post every 2 months?

For those of you who have been wondering what’s happened to me, when I’m going to post again, etc, etc…… I have come to offer elaborate excuses that I hope will provide you with entertainment.

See, the thing about my life is this. When we occasionally show up at church, after people remember WHO exactly we are, they proceed to ask about how we’re doing and what we’re up to. And what do I do? I stare blankly at them like I’ve just lost my last brain cell trying to figure out HOW to answer that question. Because, I usually can’t even recall the events of the past week, let alone update them on what we’re doing, because it all seems SO repetitive. And yet SO….random.

Take this week for example. Monday morning I took a good hard look at the week ahead of me. And I saw…..nothing. No idea what would be going on. So I asked my husband, who informed me that he was going to have a business meeting and then head to Menlo, IA to fix a compressor (near Des Moines). This gave me only a very vague idea of what groceries to buy (this is another complex area of my life that I’ll tell you all about sometime). When I got back to where our cute little house is currently parked, my husband was still close by TRYING to get out of there. But, whoops, one of the work trucks had broken down. Okay, so this was happy news for me. Because he was going to have to retrieve it, just past Council Bluffs. And that meant I could go with and spend 4 hours of time with my favorite person in all the world. We went after the truck and arrive home at 1 AM. First thing Tuesday morning, Ragnar headed off to Menlo to bring some needed materials, and fix the compressor. He said he’d be home yet that evening, and so I fixed a lovely roast for supper. That jinxed it. He called around 4 PM and told me that due to weather, he was headed to Dyersville, IA (up almost to Wisconsin) to finish up the work there. He might be a couple days. He was very sad, I think because he wanted to be home with me, and not just because he was missing out on a roast. He then called again just before midnight, ordering me to bed because he knows I stay up way too late when he’s gone. He also informed me that he had finished in Dyersville and was headed over to Hartley, IA (which is north-WEST, clear to the other end), and he would probably be coming home Thursday afternoon. Okay, great. Always happy to know where my husband is at. He called me Wednesday afternoon and told me that, due to weather, he was done in Hartley, and was headed down to Omaha to dig my parent’s basement. So, I hopped in my vehicle (after loading up some stuff for him) and headed to Omaha too. So, Thursday Morning, he proceeded to dig a basement. Except for a short break of running into Omaha to bid a sandblasting job. And I’m not sure where we’ll be Saturday. All depends on that magical word – weather!

Funny thing is, I honestly don’t mind any of the crazy-ness. Which, if you knew me before I got married, would probably surprise you. I was the girl who was NEVER without her planner and palm pilot. Yeah, that was me. Now, my planner is under the bed and my palm pilot sits packed away in the business cupboard of my little house. But, guess what? I’m enjoying life more then I ever have before!
And, someday, we’ll probably have a “normal” house (ie; non-moving) with abnormal children (let’s be realistic – look at their genetics :), an abnormal dog (we always end up with this kind) and life will be somewhat more scheduled. And I bet my planner will even get used again! But do you know my favorite part of this picture? My children will have the joy of getting to go work with their Daddy every now and then. My boys will learn to work, and work hard. My girls will even learn that there is no job inappropriate for a lady when done in the context of helping her Dad, Brothers, or Husband – and that attitude is the most important part of femininity. And once in a while, it won’t be out of the ordinary for my husband to walk through the door in the middle of the day and suggest that we put aside school and housework so we can all do something fun together. Just spur of the moment. For THIS is why my husband is Self-Employed. Not for the money that can be made, or the prestige of “Owning your own Business”. But simply because it’s what fits in with his vision for his family. And I am SO very blessed and spoiled by that – no matter what a week might hold :).

Oh wait. As I was finishing this post up, ironically enough, my husband called and asked me what I’d like to do for the rest of today. Ground is too wet to work. What a shame. See, there totally are perks to our lifestyle. Now, I’m going to figure out what I want to do today :).

Our Life: Fact and Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Emrich) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:54:00 +0000

I’ll be realistic. The “about me” section on this blog can only be so long. And, to be honest, I have not had the time, as of yet, to sum up our life in a short paragraph (ever notice how simplicity can be very complicated??). There seems to be a lot of confusion among our friends and relatives about WHAT exactly it is that those Emrich’s DO. So, without further adieu, I will attempt to educate the general public, and set straight some of the interesting and unique rumors circulating about us.
Be advised, some of the rumors ARE a bit embellished for fun. :)

Fact: Ragnar and Angela Emrich have been very happily married since September 9, 2006. This is the last event in their life that they planned in advance AND managed to attend. (A dear friend jokingly pointed this out….scary thing was, I realized, it was TRUE!)

Fiction: Ragnar is a “truck driver”.

Fact: While my husband DOES in fact drive trucks (semi and pickup), cars, dirt equipment, basically anything with an engine…he is NOT a full time (or even part time) “over the road” truck driver. Not that there is anything wrong with truck drivers. I have a great appreciation for people in that profession, as they keep our lives functioning in the normal, comfortable way we’ve grown accustomed to. That’s just not what my husband does full time. So, now all of you who have wondered if I get lonely, if I like our “rig“, or any other such situations may divert your minds from all related questions and find new areas of my life to wonder about :) .

Fiction: “The Emrich’s live at their house in Kansas City.”

Fact: While we ARE Kansas residents, our “house” is currently undergoing a long, drawn out remodeling project. While we thought this was a good thing to start, we didn’t realize we’d be traveling full time, thus making it difficult to work on a house that YOU are the Contractor for. Afore mentioned house is located in WHEATON, KS because - believe it or not - THERE ARE OTHER CITIES IN KANSAS. Seriously, I mean it, there’s like 627 cities OTHER then the famous KANSAS CITY. And you thought that there was nothing west of KC besides desolate wasteland and occasional farms. Hm…now I know how my relatives in New York STATE feel :).

Fiction: “I’m not really sure where the Emrich’s live. I’ve started to wonder if they’re poor, homeless gypsies who wander from place to place digging through garbage cans and mooching off people.”

~Variation 2 “I think the Emrich’s live in the back of Ragnar’s truck.”

~Variation 3 “Are the Emrich’s running from something? Bill Collectors, IRS, A Prison Sentence?”

~Variation 4 “Those poor Emrichs, they live in a (lower voice to whisper) “trailer home“. Like, one that moves. I guess they can‘t afford a house….or they‘re tightwads….or maybe they‘re just plain weird.”

Fact: We DO travel, FULL TIME, with Ragnar’s Business – Emrich Excavating. Currently, Ragnar is subbing full time to a Sandblasting and Painting Business in Beaver Crossing/Seward, NE. While his position is somewhat “indescribable”, in a nutshell, it might be called “Manager” or “Supervisor”. Basically, this means he runs the business for the owner. This also means that instead of spending all of his time for 2 weeks on one job site, he often travels to several jobsites within a short period of time. How short a period of time? Well, lets just say this. He puts about 3,000 miles on his truck in a MONTH. No, that is not a typo, or a tall tale. Our jobsites last year at any given time covered Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Texas. This didn’t count a quick run down to South Carolina (which there WAS a purpose to, but ended up being a very delightful “vacation” too).

We have no issues with the traditional lifestyle of living in a house that doesn’t move. We actually both grew up in this normal, healthy fashion. Thing is, we’ve got this weird quirk. If we were going to buy/rent a house….. We’d want to actually BE THERE once in a while. And, since we don’t stay in one place very long at this point in our lives, an actual house or apartment seemed like an expensive way to appear “normal” to other people. And besides, we have SO many other issues that have already gotten us the appropriate label of “weird” “radical” “strange”, even (gasp)…. Redneck, etc, etc, that we figured any attempt to appear “normal” was a lost cause.

While it is a delightful idea that we MUST be saving money by living so cheaply, this is, in fact not the case. Unfortunately it is a more expensive way to live then if we had a normal, non-moving house. But, there are tradeoffs of course. I’ll save all the details of these trade-offs and expenses for some other blogpost, because a lot of them are downright funny (or maybe it’s my twisted sense of humor).

Fact: While our life is strange, unusual, and quirky….we do LOVE it. While we don’t intend to do this forever, its where we want to be right now (yes want to, not have to :). The lessons learned from the events God has placed in our lives, and the rather "unusual" way we've seen His hand in things have been experiences we wouldn't trade for anything. And even just "everyday life" is an absolute blast! While our life is incredibly dependent on weather, jobsite catastrophes, and unplanned events….we do still occasionally make it out into the social circle. We have a great group of family and friends…..even if we do MAJORLY confuse them and make them pull their hair out at times.