What's something new going on in your life?
 

Just a general chat thread here! Anything new, and hopefully fun, in your life?

Summer activities just started here so the daily routine is in a free fall. [emoji38] I need to figure out a daily plan and then execute it rather than being on my phone!

My oldest and her husband are trying to move in a crazy real estate market and I'm freaking out a little that they are looking hours away.

dd16 just wrecked her car so I'm back on chauffer duty, which in her case is probably a good thing!

I just got some new clothes! And my mom got me a Vera Bradley purse for my birthday. It comes on Saturday!

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Next week is Dancing for Eternity's first ballet summer camp in Hope's memory!

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Oh this is exciting! Will you get to be a part of it in some way?

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Re: What's something new going on in your life?
 

June 1st started my sabbatical of a sorts. :woohoo as much of a sabbatical I can have while working full time LOL

Hoping to Do a lot of hiking this summer- starting this weekend weather permitting.

Sunday we get to meet my middle child’s girlfriend- she’s flying in from Texas!

We have two short family trips planned and I want to squish in a waterfall hike or camping trip early fall if possible.

What’s new for me this year that’s I’m already enjoying is my house in the spring/ summer for the first time. It feels luxurious to have such a large beautiful deck and I sit outside a lot!!!

Charla, so excited for your ministry!!!! :heart

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Nick and I will be there every day helping out, and we will present Hope's story at the showcase at the end the camp.

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I hope your sabbatical is rejuvenating!

Don't you just LOVE having a place up sit outside? My huge porch has changed my life. It sounds dumb but it's so true!

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This sounds perfect! I hope it's a sweet week for you.

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Re: What's something new going on in your life?
 

My ds just started his first job and even though he technically still has one more year of high school, my actual homeschool teaching days are over since he will be doing dual credit for school in the fall.

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I love sitting outside too. It's very grounding. I haven't been able to as much the last couple weeks because we've had so much rain which brought tons of mosquitoes. We went out to eat today at favorite burger place with outdoor seating and it was all nice. They must have sprayed for mosquitoes in that are because there weren't any.

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We're still waiting to be able to get back to our overseas home but at least we're not locked down in a tiny apartment during the hot hot HOT season (it was 114 there yesterday).`

My oldest starts his first university class on Tuesday. He's not quite 14 so he's just trying one over the summer before we decide what to do next fall.

My second is reading The Hobbit. Considering he was functionally illiterate 2 years ago this is huge!

And the little one is driving me kinda crazy. Thankfully we are in a spot with so much outside space for him to run and play and a bunch of people to make his little extrovert heart happy.

And the community pool opens soon!! Oh happy day!!

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Where is he working if you don't mind my asking? My kids are lifeguards and one is doing Door Dash.

The rain has made the mosquito population explode! It's awful!

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I'm impressed you have one doing a cc class so young! Way to go! And another one tackling The Hobbit! I love Tolkien's middle earth. How did you get him reading well enough for the Hobbit in the last two years?

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Not a lot new for me but I did buy 3 new shirts I really like. I am picky and it is hard to find stuff I like so I was happy.

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I'm happy that summer is here. We went camping last weekend in a beautiful location. Today, we went paddleboarding/kayaking and had so much fun.

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I can so relate! Shopping is not fun, and when you are rewarded with things you actually like, it feels like winning!

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How lovely! :heart

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Anyone else feed the birds or birdwatch? I have like 6 species in my backyard right this moment. Lots of bickering over the feeders going on!

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We are unexpectedly building a house. We have rented for the last seven years as we waited for dh to get tenure, which he did summer 2020. However, we still might make one more move before kids get to high school, so we were going to keep renting until we were sure where we were going to be. However, with the market sky rocketing, we won’t be able to save as fast as housing is going up plus interest rates are exceptionally low, so dh thinks we ought to get in now.

Inventory is so low in the area we would like to live, and God dropped an amazing lot with a builder from our church into our laps, along with one of our main pastors and his wife moving in next door to our new place!

I have loved our house (1450 sq feet for the six of us), but with homeschool and bigger kids the space is getting tight. I am beyond grateful and feel greatly blessed that our new house will have plenty of space for all of us. I’ve never lived in a new house and never expected that I would. It is all so unexpected and wonderful.

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He is at Chic Fil A.

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We bought a homestead in another state two weeks ago. Moved in same day. Bought a tractor.

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DS2 is just the sort of kid that once he decides he can do something he can. We went through Reading Reflex and now he's playing Nessy. He's still a struggling reader and The Hobbit is a stretch. He picked the book though and doesn't seem to care that it's taking him months to read (he started in March and just got to Beorn the shape shifter's house).

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I love birds! I spotted a new kind the other day and that was super fun! Cliff swallows. Their nests look like wasp nests and were on a church. Also saw baby ducks at sunrise beach yoga. I absolutely love baby ducks and sunrise beach yoga!

Oh that is amazing! I’ve always wanted to build a house!

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I started taking karate several months ago and was invited to be part of the black belt club last week (one rank sooner than they usually invite people!). So I'm officially working towards my black belt! I'm sooo excited!!

We're officially on summer break! Finished our first year of homeschooling yesterday. I might be more excited than E :shifty

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Wow! This sounds wonderful and exciting! Y'all will love all the extra space.


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I feel like this needs more details! [emoji38]

Do you drive the tractor?

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We have barn swallows nesting on our porch every year. They are similar to cliff swallows. The nests are more cup shaped but still made out of mud. The babies are precious! And apparently a cat comes and sits on our porch in the middle of the night looking up at it! We have multiple videos from our doorbell!

Also sunrise beach yoga paired with baby ducks sounds amazing! Except I'm never awake at sunrise! :laughtears

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As my kids have gotten older, I find myself thinking/speaking using curse words more than I ever used to. (Can anyone else relate to this? Or did I just admit something shameful here?) Anyway, what I wanted to say about your being in the black belt club at karate isn't GCM appropriate so I'll just say that's SO COOL.

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I was planning on adding more details but suddenly got really overwhelmed with an unexpectedly tightened schedule. I'm getting ready for a local event down town so I'm going to start getting into the community a bit then I'll add more info here later today

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What's something new going on in your life?
 

:laughtears not the only one! and thanks I'm so excited - I've wanted this since I was a tween/teen. I'm so glad DH encouraged me to go for it :heart

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I adore this thread and Desiree you are like our hostess. :heart I kept hitting multi quote to ask people more or answer :up and you already asked. Seriously awesome stuff happening in everyone’s lives.

I love birds!!! And squirrels. Dh made a squirrel picnic table and change the bird feeders around. It’s light and day different suburban vs city. We call our dog a country dog but we r totally not in the country. We have a lot of critters as we have trees surrounding our property and wild landscaping (by choice).

And yes, our house is like a consistent haven. I love love love our yard and deck. Due to our homes set up, it feels like an extension of our living space vs going outdoors. It’s in a corner so I can talk to people from 3 rooms of my house if they r on the deck and my windows are open :rockon. Yes it’s grounding. I go outside daily (I’m out right now). That’s a totally new dynamic for me ... I used to when kids were young but that waned. It’s a habit I’m intentionally pursuing for my own mental health.

I love all these fun things happening. I already am enjoying summer so so much!!!!

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LOVE!

I am always freezing indoors in the summer because of AC so I frequently go outside to warm up!

My middle child is turning 18 today. So now I have more adult children than minors. It's weird. I still feel like I'm in my 20s.

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Happy birthday to Joanna!!!!! :hb

It is weird to have more adults than minors :yes what’s wild to me is in 28 months I will have no minors. But I will have an additional 7 months of last new adult being in high school so :think

Now when I sit outside in the morning and hear the birds I think of my sweet GCM friends :gcm

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We got a new deck. Our old one was rotted and extremely dangerous.

It’s 14X 20 and ah May zing. We got a couch from best choice products dot com.

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Outdoor couch? I’m wanting this couch for our Family room. Our couch is falling apart and I joked we’d be sitting on the floor on pillows soon :doh
https://bestchoiceproducts.com/produ...-ottoman-bench

I want an outdoor couch but it’s not a priority right now. Just a want :O

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Yes, we got an outdoor couch.

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I love my outdoor couch. I got it from Walmart. The fabric is a little bit hot in July and August but the rest of the year it's perfect. I get cold really easily so this couch plus a blanket and I'm happy out there most of the year. I have been known to fall asleep on it. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7c7c9654fd.jpg

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Finally have a chance to sit down and expound.
Hubby and I have planned a homestead for over a decade. But debt and $$ situation has not allowed it. Well we paid off most things, my husband got a job at an amazing company and the Lord has just blessed us through this company.
We started looking for property in January. Our lease was to be up in Oct so that was our planned moving date. Where we lived has TONS of underground aquifers wonderful for wells but over ground water supply was less common and upped prices extravagantly. So we looked one state below us, it has much more above ground water, and much cheaper land prices. We looked in the North East Corner of the property so we could be close enough to easily visit my parents who lived only 45 min from our rental. We now live about 3 hours, but still a fairly easy distance. If I had to I could make it a day trip...a miserable day trip, but I've made it work several times during the buying process.
At the end of February we started looking in the new state and quickly found several properties that were gone by the time I found an agent to show them.
Then I found one and got an agent through realtor.com. He was such a gift from God. He talked me out of that property, he had just showed it twice and had very good reasons for talking us out of it. It was gorgeous though, I wish we could have gotten it. But a week later I sent a property to him and he was willing to show us that day, my husband was home so we made lunch with my parents like we had planned, and headed out. Met him at the property. It was smaller then we hoped but that house was so neat. He then pointed out another property that was more then 2x the sized and only 20k more.
We decided to go see it as it was only a 10 min drive. We get there and it was awesome. Talked to the owner, there was a creek at the back of the property that cut the last acre from the front 4, that was undisclosed on the advertisment!!!! The house and property were beautifully maintained and well loved.
we put an offer on the property 12hrs later. They buying process was long and anxiety ridden. We had a young, proud, inexperienced, unprofessional, and foolish appraiser who nearly doubled the time the buying process took.

But Three weeks ago today we packed up a Uhaul (the youth pastor decided to put his weight on an old and cheap shelving unit, it broke and he got a screw in his thigh :doh, that was awful. He's ok, healing great, thankfully with no hard feelings) Drove down to a hotel near the property. Stayed the night, got up the next morning and went to the property for the final walk through, then was at the lawyers for the signing by 9am :yawn signed paperwork, drove home and started unpacking.
It has been such a wonderful experience.
We are focusing on the house right now. Getting unpacked and settled in so that we can focus on the property and getting it ready for a full growing season next year. I'm hoping to have a small fall garden, Chickens, Rabbits, and maybe Pigs before the end of the year.
I'm happy to answer any questions! I'm destracted today so I'm sure this wasn't as comprehensive as I think it was.

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How wonderful! It sounds so well thought out and in God's perfect timing.

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I'm working part-time in a garden center, doing personal training & corrective exercise part-time, and working through my course to be certified in pregnancy & post-partum corrective exercise (PCES). I'm also working on getting certified to teach barre classes. After that I want to move into somatics.

Lots of hiking and gardening this summer.

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Your work sounds so interesting! My daughter who just graduated is looking into being a personal trainer.

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So many exciting things happening. Yay!

I am also more of a sweary mom than ever. I curb it as much as possible but I am not going to sweat it too much. God knows who and how I am *shrug*

I am currently winding down my career as a massage therapist. :( Not by choice either. The break to my hand last year is still not healed. The bone healed but the muscles contracted and now won't release all the way. So I will eventually have to have a surgery to 'release' {read: cut} the tendons. Yeah. In the mean time I can only handle a few hours a week of massage and even that is often painful due to the type of massage I practice. So I'm temporarily going to be working part time as an MT and part time as a front desk associate at my current spa. By the end of summer I will cease all MT hours and be part time at the spa desk and part time at an LTC doing activities, with the end goal of taking and passing the national certification course this winter and becoming a full time activities director/enrichment coordinator in a year or so when I feel I have enough experience to justify 'being the boss' I'm kind of sad but in other ways the steady pay, hours and work will be a nice change.

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Vipers princess that is so hard (((((hug)))))

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SewingGreenMama: That sounds amazing! I'm so happy for you all and hope you LOVE your new property!

Vipers Princess: I'm praying for your hand and for peace during all the transitions!

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I absolutely love it. My opinion is that the really good stuff comes in the CEUs. The PT education was definitely interesting but the specializations have been so exciting. CES was especially fascinating as the brain is a huge focus, working to develop new motor programs to replace damaging ones. And how where you feel pain is not likely to be the area that needs work.

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I've also been swearing recently. After having not used swear words since middle school. Pretty much only when I'm alone or just with DH, though.

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After about 2 years of looking we found the perfect house. At least it looks perfect. It's in the neighborhood we wanted, my 9 year old son's best friend moved there last fall, it has a small lake with swimming in the summer and ice skating in the winter. The house has everything on our list; an acre and half private yard, a mud room, a large kitchen with a pantry, a decent sized laundry room, 3 car garage, possible 5th bedroom (supposed to be an office), a nice basement with windows, a front porch, a living room and family room on the main level. It's huge! But, it's $50,000 more than very maximum that we wanted to spend, and our realtor told us we needed to offer MORE. So, we're kind of stressed out about it, but we put the offer in yesterday and we're waiting to find out if it's accepted. We're also about to go camping so I won't be able to update for 5 days or so.

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This is exciting! The whole house shopping/buying process is so stressful though! Have fun camping!

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My 19 year old son went on a date last night with a girl I think I actually like. :shifty

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Re: What's something new going on in your life?
 

Love the idea of the homestead! That sounds amazing.

And I love the outside couch... I had a covered porch at the last house I was in and had something similar. I loved it!

New for me ... I'm on vacation this up coming week!! Hubby and I are taking my bonus kids on vacation. My bio kids are at their dad's in PA, so we will do a vacation with them at the end of July.

I applied for a new position at work... it's looking good for me to get it, but I got a call from my current boss and he wants to know what it'll take to keep me in my position now. Sooo... we'll see what happens with that.

We had 2 girls graduate from high school last weekend!! So excited to see where they are headed. Also, it's weird that 3 out of 5 of my bio kids are now graduated from high school. I'm not old enough for that, am I?!

My daughter came out as pan to the whole family recently. I've been surprised at the family's positivity... I expected more shunning. They were harder on me in my divorce!! I'm glad they are being positive to her.

Not much else is new.

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Our offer was accepted on the house. It was kind of crazy trying to deal with all the paperwork over the phone while camping. I'm kind of excited and kind of sad. Also, overwhelmed at the thought of packing and moving everything. I wish our current house would have worked for us, I'm going to miss my backyard.