Crazy Life Recap
Wow, I haven’t posted a thing since November. Crazy life has been going on, though, so here’s what we’ve been up to…no blogging because I was honestly too freaked out to even make the effort. And below I will explain why!
Last September we moved my husband’s mother to an assisted living center closer to us and had to help clean and sort fifty years worth of stuff from her place. That wrapped up for the most part in November.
Our older son interviewed with a company from out of state right before Thanksgiving and accepted an offer right before Christmas! So his last semester at college was difficult and crazy but at least he had a great job lined up…
Spring break was spent apartment hunting for him in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We did find him a great apartment close to the mountains! Of course, all this meant my firstborn child was moving far far away!
Meanwhile, our younger boy was wrapping up HIS senior year with us and preparing to go off to college in the fall…he was working on a service project build for his Trail Life Freedom Project all during the spring and summer on top of concurrent enrollment at a nearby college. Because we homeschooled him, it was up to us to plan and execute his graduation ceremony. He has a great friend that was graduating at the same time so we had a ceremony for the Venture Coop Class of 2019…with two graduates. They were tied for valedictorian. They opted out of making speeches. I don’t blame them. So planning and prepping for this was quite time consuming but worth it.
We scheduled his graduation for the first Saturday in May so we could fit in all the OTHER stuff in May, like Son #1 graduating from college the second Saturday in May,
rolling off to Washington, DC for a senior trip, then coming back for a couple days. Then we packed up older boy’s stuff and drove out to Albuquerque to get him moved into his first apartment. Once we got him more or less settled, we came home briefly, got Boy #2 enrolled at OSU, then went off to Lake of the Ozarks with some friends for a lake weekend…up to St. Louis so my husband could work for a few days, then home to Oklahoma. Whew! Younger boy was so glad to be in his own bed again instead of air mattresses!
Going to brag on him for a bit, he scored well enough on the ACT to get VERY good scholarships and we are super proud of him. He is going to Oklahoma State University to study Computer (and possibly) Electrical Engineering. He moves in early as part of a Bridge Program they have for these amazing CEAT freshman to help them get a jump start on their first semester.
All spring Oklahoma was basically storming and flooding so that added another layer of fun and excitement to everything we were doing. Fortunately, our house escaped any damage.
We took a week to go to Branson with my mother near the end of June, then went back to Albuquerque for the Fourth of July. Can I say, visiting is much more fun when moving is not involved.
Crunch time for Boy #2 and his build project; he has until he is 18 but really wanted/needed to get the build done before he moved off to college the last Sunday of July. So we all spent time in the shop finishing up the table kits so his work team could assemble them at the church.
Build day was HOT (but breezy, and after all, it is the end of July) and I spent some time running after hardware needs, but it went very well and after about three hours the church had two gorgeous octagonal picnic tables.
And so during all this time I am squirreling away things Boy #2 will need for his dorm room. Having done this before I know you want to keep it to a useful minimum. We finally did a shopping trip to get most of the last bits and pieces and loaded things into boxes for easy transport.
We moved him into the dorm last Sunday and it went amazingly well. His dorm is traditional style. We got his stuff inside with two loaded dolly trips and a couple of people carrying stuff trips. Still more to do but in those little cracker box rooms, less is often more. Trust me, we have moved Boy #1’s stuff in and out four times now. And less. is. better. I was amazed at the stuff I saw other families taking up to the rooms, I have no idea where they put it all.
Are we official empty nesters with our last one in college? I suppose we are.
After the mandatory parent/kid program meeting (“this program is super hard, follow the rules!”) his dad and I hopped in the car and headed to Austin, Texas for a manufacturing automation conference my husband is attending. I spent the first day in the hotel mostly sleeping and watching Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Ahhhh. Today I am finally blogging again and this really helps me understand why I am so. freaking. tired. We head home tonight and I am ready to start our home decluttering/ painting/remodeling projects.
And that is why I haven’t blogged since November.
The End.