TMOART:14 - Let's get this show on the road!

If you've been around these parts for any length of time, you'll recognize the 'TMOART' abbreviation - but just in case you don't know..... it's time, once again for *insert drum roll*

The Mother of All Road Trips: 2014 Edition!!!

I've been talking about it a little bit here and there on my facebook page, but I haven't really gone into great detail about where exactly we're going on the trip. I always try to maintain at least a little bit of privacy on here, mainly by not revealing our exact location at any given point in time. Because I use our real pictures of our real selves, I try to be careful - although I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I had any idea when this thing started that it would get as big as it has (ok, in the grand scheme of things it's still a baby blog, but it's way bigger than what I expected) I never would have used our pictures. But it blew up and our pictures were already there, so all I can do now is hope that none of you are crazy psychotic stalkers.

However..... I will say this about this trip....

We are leaving Thursday morning. We are stopping at a friend's house in Tennessee - and I can not wait to see her! Hopefully she'll let me post some pictures of her too, because honestly, she's the person who truly got me started on this blogging thing. There will be at least one more stop in Tennessee, and then on to my brother's house in North Carolina for a night, where I will also get to see my niece and her daughters and her new husband.

After that, we are heading north to Virginia to see some more friends and to spend a couple of nights in a tent, and then off to Washington, DC for a day or two where we will see at least one more friend (hopefully more). Once we leave DC, we will head up into the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania to see my parents for a few days, along with a day trip to visit Penn State and get our traditional family picture taken on the Lion Shrine.

Our final official stop will be "back home" for me, which is in the southcentral part of PA. We'll be camping out for a few days there and visiting with lots of people who have known me for a lot longer than I'd care to admit - and then we'll pack up and head back west again.

We've been slowly getting ready for this trip - I went ahead and rented a really big van to do it this time so that we have room for all of our stuff and the kids won't be on top of each other. Plus this time, if we lose our transmission on the way back, it won't (theoretically) be on our dime like it was the last time.

I've been doing laundry and cleaning the house and trying to get things organized so that when we come back, the house will be at least semi-clean (for a minute or two), and I've been making lists out the wazoo. I already stopped the mail delivery and notified the local police department that we'd be gone so they'll keep an eye on the house for me and notify me if anything happens.

Today though, I did something that was just so totally surreal - I took one of our spare keys over to my neighbor's house and asked her if they would mind keeping an eye on things for us while we're gone. You know, walk through the house occasionally, water the plants on the patio, help themselves to any of the peppers or tomatoes as they become ripe, stuff like that. Normal, right? Of course it is - until you realize that I was on the verge of being homeless less than 4 years ago, and today I handed my spare housekey to the wife of THE MAYOR who lives next door to me.

The mayor. I live next door to the mayor.

One of these days, I'll get used to all of this homeowner stuff, right?

Until then......it's time to get ready for a road trip.

Questions and answers

Every now and then, when I can't come up with anything to write about, I ask the people on my facebook page to ask me questions so that I can answer them in a blog post. We did that tonight, and here are the questions....and answers!

Wendi asked: Any advice for a mom and daughter who are going to do their first 5k?

Resting after a 5K is always important.
Just ask Emily.

Coming from someone who runs jogs occasionally gets out and walks as a hobby and not seriously, the best advice that I can give is to just get out there and do it. Don't worry about your speed or your pace or anything like that - get out there and have fun. Of course, you should train beforehand, but you have to do what works for you. There are lots of great websites and apps that can give you pointers, but for me, I found that the best thing to do was to get out and walk/jog as much as I could in the months/weeks leading up to a race. I tried to steadily increase my distance but haven't really worked on speed yet. Hopefully when life calms down a bit I can get out there and do it again.

Shannon asked: Do you watch any reality tv, like The Voice?

Honestly, I don't watch any TV. Shocking, huh? But, I don't have cable (another bill from my past life that needs to be paid off but it's not a priority) and although I have a converter box to get the local stations, it died. So I have a TV that is useless, other than for DVDs. I don't even watch anything online because my internet connection isn't good enough - and honestly, I don't miss it. Once The Dude and I get moved into our new place, we will have cable though - and really at that point the only shows that I plan to watch regularly again are Parenthood and The Biggest Loser.

I did watch the first(?) season of The Voice, and I really liked it!

Sherrie asked: What compelled you to blog? Do you regret it?

See that picture of my boots up there at the top of the page? A couple of years ago, I had posted that picture on my personal facebook with a caption that said something like "oh, my old ugly boots, how I missed you!" because it had just gotten cold and I had dug them out of the closet, and I love those boots. Anyway, my friend Kat over at High Heeled Country commented and said "you should start a blog!" Discussion ensued, and I was convinced to do it. I believe someone actually said "I bet you could get 30 followers in no time!"

As for regretting it, the only thing that I really regret is not staying totally anonymous. There are many more things in my life that I could write about, but without anonymity I won't do it. And because this has gotten so much bigger than I had ever planned, I do try very hard to keep some things private - like our last names and specific information about where we're located. I don't ever want my kids to be embarrassed by anything that I've ever written.

Brandon asked: If you were a woodchuck and were able to chuck wood, how much wood would you chuck? On average, of course...

Enough to build a dream house for me, The Dude, his mom, and all of the kids.

Bianca asked: You share so much already!! Ok. If you could go anywhere on vacation, with no worries about cashola or the logistics, where would you go and, if you don't mind sharing, why? 

Right now, that's an easy question to answer. I would without a doubt head back east to Pennsylvania to see family and friends, take the kids back to DC (for more than a few hours this time), and visit our friends in Virginia again. My parents can't really make the trip out here anymore due to their age and health so it's up to use to get out there to see them. We make an almost-annual trip to do that and had planned to do it this year for a family reunion and high school (not a) reunion, but finances won't allow it. We have to focus on moving instead. Sometimes being a grown-up stinks.

Pam asked:How awful or not as bad as one would think is working where you do?

It's both. Since it's fast food, when we're busy, we're busy. Today, I ran my butt off from 6:30am until 2:15pm without a moment to breathe. People are cranky, coworkers snap at each other, and there are times when I have to do so many dishes that I could be buried under the pile of them and no one would notice. But, at the same time, the vast majority of my coworkers are really cool (even if I have clothes older than some of them), most of the customers are decent, and when I'm on drive-thru first thing in the morning I get to see some amazing sunrises. And occasionally half-naked people. Or men in dresses.

Bruce asked: If they made a movie about your life...what actress would play you?

Oh, that's a good one. I think most of them are too glitzy for me.....but if I had to choose I'd have to say Sandra Bullock. She's one of my favorites and she just seems so down-to-earth and easy-going.

Gayle asked: What kind of work do you do?

In a nutshell, it's fast food. I can't say which one (not that I would anyway) but while I'm there I mainly run register, prep all of the food for the grill on the mornings when I open, clean the dining room, and do lots and lots of dishes. It started out as just a few hours here and there while the kids were in school, but it's kind of fun...... on the good days. So I work when I can, without taking too much time away from the kids.

Suni asked: How do you manage I stay sane, or semi sane with how you busy you are?

Ha! Sane?? You call this sane???? OK, seriously..... I don't know. This crazy life is just normal to me. I live by my datebook, which keeps me somewhat organized but for the most part it's just what I'm used to at this point. When I don't have anything to do, I go insane with boredom! Playing around online and blogging is a great stress reliever for me, as well as sewing and doing crafty stuff, so I have my outlets when things get to be too much.

Catching up

I know I've been totally neglecting the blog over the past few days. Things have been hectic, to say the least.

Between working and taking care of the house and spending time with The Dude and being sick and fixing vehicles and life in general, I just haven't really had time to sit down and breathe - and when I do, I instantly fall asleep.

And from what I found out tonight, it's only going to get worse. The girls are involved in basketball, volleyball, and weightlifting during the summer. Jared is going to be taking swimming lessons. Alex and Daniel are both in Scouts. It's crazy. If I thought that I was running non-stop before, it's only going to get worse now.

I found out today that some of the plans that we had already made for the summer are going to have to change for a multitude of reasons. It does appear that we are going to have to cancel TMOART:13, which makes me very unhappy but this is one of those times when I have to make the grown-up decision to focus more on the most important things - and right now our biggest priority is to get moved so that all of my kids are in the same school district before August. That has to take precedence over anything else.

Now, if we happen to win the lottery.....that could change. However, I'm not going to count on that happening anytime soon.

So over the next few days, I have a bunch of projects to work on around the house, and lots of things to get done so that I can feel like my head is on straight(ish) again.  Hopefully the remains of the allergy fog will lift and I'll be able to function a bit more efficiently and I can just get back into the swing of things again. I've been lazy for a few days and now it's time to get back to reality.

Right after I pass out for the night.

Totally random shot. Just thought that it was cool -
and not seen very often anymore.

Speedbumps

I'm not exactly sure what we did to deserve this.....

I blew out the head gasket in my van.
Then the water pump went out in The Dude's truck (while I was driving it).
My dishwasher crapped out on Mother's Day.
My lawnmower died the other day.

Then this evening, The Dude was out running a couple of errands, including picking up supper for us, and he called me to say that the truck had broken down. Again.

Anyway, it ended up being really minor. I took the boys, went and got him, we ran to the auto parts store and back to his house to get his tools, replaced the solenoid in the parking lot of the pizza place, and boom - back on our way again, all in less than an hour.

Still.... it's frustrating. It seems like just when we fix something - another thing breaks. Luckily this time, it was cheap and easy to fix. But I'm getting tired of fixing stuff. Besides the fact that it's generally really inconvenient, it's also getting really expensive.

We keep spending money on fixing stuff - and it's money that we're trying to put towards other stuff.

We're trying to figure out a way to make TMOART:13 happen (if you're new around here, that stands for The Mother Of All Road Trips: 2013 Edition) but at this rate - it looks like it might not. We want to rent a bigger van to do it so that the kids are more comfortable (and let's face it - if it's a rental and it breaks down, someone else has to pay to fix it) but from looking into that, a rental will easily tack another $1000-1500 to the total cost of the trip. We just might not be about to do it this year.

Even though we keep breaking stuff, we
have fun fixing it.

We're still trying to get moved so that we can have all of the kids in the same school district, and moving takes money too. Funny how that works.

But still, even though this is all so incredibly frustrating, we're still plugging along. We're still making plans (and adjusting them) and we're moving forward and we're looking into doing some other things that involve some really big steps (no, not THAT kind of a step) and all in all, no matter what, life is good. We might keep hitting speedbumps, but that's all they are - they might temporarily slow us down a bit, but they're not sending us off into some other direction.

I figure at this point that if we can deal with this much broken crap, we should be able to handle just about anything. We'll just keep going over the speedbumps, one by one.

We might lose what little bit of our minds that we have left.....but it'll just make the ride more interesting.

More vacation prep

For whatever reason, it really hit me today that we are leaving for TMOART:12 in 4 days. Four. Like, less than a week. Later this week, we are leaving to drive 4000+ miles.

Am I ready?

Uh, no.

You would think after making this trip, or trips similar to it, several times in the past, that I wouldn't panic so much. But I am quickly heading into full-out panic mode. I have managed to avoid the worst of the jitters that I went through last year, but they're starting to hit.

I've asked The Dude about 87 times today if he's sure that he wants to go with us. Call me silly, but I just have this horrible feeling that he's going to change his mind at the last minute. Of course, I know he's not going to do that....but still....

So all that means is that it's now time to run around like an idiot and clean the house and take care of absolutely everything that must be done before we leave the house.

Because you know, the chest freezer HAS to be defrosted before we go.





And the laundry room HAS to be cleaned up and organized.



Seriously though, I'm getting my new tires tomorrow morning (yes, that's a necessity) and we're going to get the oil changed in the van this week (another necessity), and of course I'll be finishing up all of the laundry and cleaning that I have to do. And packing. And repacking. And packing and repacking the van. I will probably balance the checkbooks 32 times between now and Thursday, mapquest everything 423 times (why? I have GPS on my phone...), ask The Dude on an hourly basis if he still wants to go, and chew my fingernails down to bloody nubs.

Oh yeah. I have to do my nails too. Gah!!!

This is a test....this is only a test...

So Daniel and I are on our own tonight while Alex is at his father's house. We came over to The Dude's to hang out and have a late supper. Unfortunately, in true Daniel style, he didn't last very long and passed out while watching a movie. I decided to take the opportunity to see if I can still blog from my phone so that I can work out any kinks before we leave for TMOART:12 on Thursday.

Forgive any typos....this screen and keyboard are small! Assuming that this still works, this is how I will be doing most of my blogging while we are on the road.

So let's see if this works, shall we?

Planning....

So....here we are. We are leaving for TMOART:12 in about 10 days.

For those of you who are scratching your heads saying "what in the ____ is TMOART:12?" it is officially defined as "The Mother of All Road Trips: 2012 Edition".

This all started 3 summers ago when the kids and I decided to head back to Pennsylvania. I loaded up all 5 kids and we drove. And drove. And drove. And we had a great time. When I got back to Kansas and started uploading the pictures to facebook, I called the photo albums "The Mother of All Road Trips". Then last year, we decided to do it again, and that trip became TMOART:11.

Hence, this year is TMOART:12. Nifty, huh?

Each year we end up going somewhere else. Last year involved a stop at a friend's house in Kentucky, a weekend with friends in Virginia, a day in Washington, DC, the mandated stops in Pennsylvania, and then stops in Indianapolis and St. Louis on the way back.

This year is going to be even more of an adventure. We have stops scheduled in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and of course Pennsylvania. The final leg of the trip is actually the main reason for going - my family reunion.

Oh, and don't ask about the order of the stops. We know it doesn't make much sense from looking at the map, but considering that we have to work around other peoples' schedules and some things that we kind of have to do (like the family reunion), it actually makes a lot of sense.

The biggest difference this year is that I don't have to do all of the driving myself. The Dude is going along with us and will share in the driving (well, as much as I'll let him). So he'll get to meet a bunch of my crazy friends, I'll get to meet at least one of his, AND he'll get to meet my family - I figure if he sticks around after this trip, he's definitely a keeper!

Considering that I had a dream nightmare last night that involved us being on the road before I realized that we hadn't packed any clothes, the list-making starts tonight in full force. And I'm quite sure that the next 10 days will be spent writing and re-writing more lists and going on a massive cleaning spree in the house like I did last year. I haven't completely hit "basketcase stage" yet, but I'm getting close, because this whole trip has kind of snuck up on me rather quickly...

Crap. That reminds me. I have to call tomorrow and schedule the appointment to get the new tires on the van. And make our reservation at the campground in PA.

Where's my list.....?

More of the day.....

We got some rain..... and it's been so long since we've seen any that I let the boys play in the puddles. And I might have joined in at one point....

Friends and neighbors came over for a cookout.... and some fireworks..... and firepit time. Everyone had a great time. The kids finally got to bed around midnight, and now a few of us are hanging out by the firepit, sharing stories while our hosts play guitar.

I have so many more pictures but my phone died and so I was using my camera - I might get those posted tomorrow. There might even be a video or two. ;)

And yes, I will be "introducing" our hosts tomorrow when I get some better pictures....

Happy birthday Emily!

Today is Emily's 10th birthday. :)

The kids started the day out in the pool.....Daniel enjoyed it for a while but then opted to relax on the deck with me.

The kids and I went for a little hike through the woods. We found a box turtle but his pictures are on my camera so I'll post those when I get to a computer.

Tonight includes a cookout, firepit, swimming, and who-knows-what-else........

I forgot what real humidity is like though. Ick.

We made it!

We have arrived at our friends' in VA. Took the kids about 30 seconds to be in the pool. 

Time for supper, then relaxation......

First travel day!

We made it to our first destination - Shelbyville, KY. We stopped at the arch in St. Louis for a spur-of-the-moment visit, ate meals at rest stops, and did a total of about 738 miles. We are staying with my friend Tom for the night and have been having a blast!

Tomorrow we continue our journey to Virginia, where we will stay for the weekend.

I need to get the kids off of the Wii and calmed down. Ha.

Oh, they did great in the van - I only had to pull over and lay the law down once. ;)

TMOART:2011 - Preparations have begun

For anyone who has been following along, we are in the final stages of preparations for The Mother of All Road Trips: 2011 Edition (TMOART:2011).

We did a similar trip 2 years ago. The kids and I drove from Kansas to Pennsylvania and back over the course of 12 days, and put a total of 2941 miles on the Mom-Mobile. This trip is a little more ambitious, with stops planned in Virginia to see friends and Washington, DC for some edumacational stuff.

We have all of our places lined up to stay, and it looks like out of the 12ish days that we'll be gone, we'll only have to stay in a hotel for one night *happy dance*. We're going to see friends and family that we haven't seen in at least 2 years, and some that I haven't seen since high school! And we're even going to meet some "new" friends too.

I'm excited, to say the least!

As of right now, we have enough money to do it. Barring any unforeseen disasters or unplanned expenses, the trip is officially ON. We have been stockpiling food so that we don't have to spend a lot of money while we're on the road - I want to see if we can do this without eating out at all. That might end up being unrealistic, but I think if we plan well enough we can do it. We have a big ice chest to keep food and drinks in, so we should be ok.

We have the route mapped out, with directions to get to the places that we haven't been to before, and I have GPS on my phone - something that I've never had for one of these trips in the past! Sarah has gotten pretty good at reading maps too, so she'll be my official co-pilot for most of the ride.

The van has already gotten 2 new tires and has been given the once-over by my garage. The oil needed to be changed a few weeks ago - I would have liked to have waited until closer to the time, but it needed to be done then. So it'll need to be done (technically) before we get back, but it'll be ok.

I'm doing another craft show on Saturday (once I firm up a sitter for the boys) so any extra money we get from that will go into the travel fund. And any extra that we get between now and then will also go into it.

July 21 is the day we leave.

Just over 3 weeks!

OMG. It's only 3 weeks away. I've been planning this for months.

Wow.

OK, just had to get that out. Now I have to go work on laundry some more.