Pondering & Pictures

Wander 1. to ramble with out a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray: to wander over the earth. 2. to go aimlessly, indirectly, or casually; meander.



As we wander down south I can't help but feel a need for purpose, a need for a goal. Is my goal to be more eco-friendly? volunteering? finding the place I want to settle some day? learning to slow down? running six miles? what is this feeling, and what will fill my need?


We have been on the road for two weeks, we have seen awesome parks, met nice people, and loved the climate change, however we are wanting for something more. We are not sure what it is. What I do know is the journey so far has reminded me how strong our relationship is and how much fun Bill and I have together. Whether we are meeting some crazies, getting hurt moving around in the RV, flavoring soup w/ steak mix, or dancing in the rain we always seem to have a good time!

Adjusting

So I'm sitting in Panera like a real nomad hoping the internet connection doesn't fail me. It will be one week tomorrow since we departed our home town in Upstate NY. We stumbled along to LI to visit and unload more STUFF. I think stuff grows over night while your sleeping. You wake up and find another pair of jeans you love, and a chair you simply can't part with. However this past week was crunch week and it came down to space. The 22ft Rialta has less than 160 square feet of living space, which the two of us are sharing with our 50 lb dog...what were we thinking...we thought it would be easy- lol. Let's just say by move out day I was simply giving it away and by send off day I no longer cared if I had or had not packed something. If I forgot it, odds are I didn't need it, if I packed it I figure if I don't use it in the next two weeks I will again get rid of some more STUFF.

The pace at which we have gone from a two story house to an RV simply amazes me. I'm so glad that up to this point we both seem to be enjoying the experience. There are some down sides like hitting your head while doing the dishes, having the dog step in his water bowl all the time, bumping your knee on the kitchen counter while rolling over in bed, but as Bill has pointed out to me; all of these things are much better then sitting at a desk all day (at least for us)!

So we spent time with our Jersey cousins and the McGuiness cousins... which was awesome, having time to just simply decide to stick around longer and see family is great. Everyone asks; where are you going, what are you doing, how are you going to make money? Usually I give a quick run down of my answers, but really the honest truth is I don't have a definitive answer for any of these questions and I'm ok with that.

Nomad life takes adjusting to. Our first day that Bill and I had together with no plans simply felt odd for both of us. We felt out of sorts the whole first half of the day, like we were playing hookie, or should feel guilty for not being on the hampster wheel moving at lightning speed. We worked on the RV, spent time at the park with the dog, we to an art gallery, took a nap mid day, and picked up the cousins from school! We both felt weird, however today seems a bit more normal, not like 9-5 normal, but I didn't feel guilty today!

The idea of not knowing what I am doing tomorrow or next week is growing on me already. To be honest I'm crashing in some parking lot tonight for free and tomorrow I might take the dog to a park, go to the beach, sleep in, go for a hike, or eat some seafood or maybe I will do all of these things. When it is YOUR time to spend, you get alot more done, and enjoy doing it!

We are in Maryland its our first location south without any reason to visit other then we wanted to see it, we have no set place to stay and no family to visit, only new places to explore and interesting people to meet (so far the locals are very nice)!

For those family members reading; we are safe and happy and we have more first aid kits and fire extinguishers then I know what to do with, thanks for all the love!

Where the River Meets the Ocean

Have you ever seen where a river meets the ocean? The water is choppy and moving in many different directions. This is exactly how I felt last week. I was visiting my parents, checking up on my dog (who is currently living w/ them), and visiting other relatives. I loved spending time with the family, however it was bitter sweet, I knew it would be the last long visit I would have with them for quite awhile. I soaked up all the love, laughter, and quality time I could and it was a week I will never forget.

I prepared for one last yard sale at my parents house! I found a treasure chest of letters in the closet. These letters had not seen the light of day in years. What I found were the letters my mother had received from her mother, sister, and boyfriend (yes, my father) while away at college. These letters were side splittingly funny, emotionally touching, and provided insight into what each of these individuals was like "back in the day."

What do we get from a letter other then the content? We get-handwriting, dates, times, smells, cross-outs, doodles, and so much more!

Today most people don't send real mail, instead they use: email, text, facebook, and twitter to correspond. Today's technology doesn't require us to have patience, everything is instant and fleeting. Emails get deleted, text and facebook doesn't get archived. What will our kids have to look back on, read, or discover? When was the last time you printed pictures off of your computer? Most of us just leave them on the hard drive. I lost 3,ooo photo's in seconds a few years ago. The guy at the Apple store told me "they are floating out in the universe never to be seen again."

So... I have decided I will start writing more letters. Who knows if the recipients will tuck them away in a closet for safe keeping, but I like the idea of letters, there is something more personal and thoughtful about them.

"Keep your eye on the ball"

Not a big fan of baseball, but if my dad said it once he has said it 100 times...keep your eye on the ball...in other words-focus.

I haven't posted in 6 months, life has been hectic. We tried to sell the house but the market is rough here in NY just like everywhere else...so we rented it. Being landlords is something we have done in the past, it is pretty easy as long as you know how to find tenants. However this time around we need to find a good property manager/handy man as we now plan to hit the road in my in-laws RV! No they are not coming along for the ride.

See the original plan was to sell the house, buy a boat, sail off to sea, and then figure out how to make enough money to stay our there. NOT the most practical of plans, but hey why not? Well here is why-we couldn't sell the house, and though I personally don't value money other then to afford the necessities of food, shelter, and water, we need it to cover these basic needs. So with lemons in hand we found a new way to make lemonade!

We rented the house, sold or gave away most of our belongings (still working on downsizing even more now that I have seen how little storage I will have in the RV), and decided that it might be best to learn how to make money while working for our selves or in a fun industry before setting sail. See either way we both wanted out of our office jobs, no matter what the industry I simply hated being behind a desk. Unless I am working for myself or for enjoyment/satisfaction or a cause why do I care about being on time and pushing papers just so my boss can drive a nice car, golf during the day, and go on grand vacations...why not work for myself, toward making my own life more enjoyable! Lucky for me I don't feel the need to waste my money on silly things like fancy cars, or material items. I would like to spend my time and money on experiencing life! So we will work on our business, and/or in fields we truly enjoy!

So I quit my 9-5, I decided I can call myself "self employed" as long as I get out of bed my 9am each morning and work on my goals, our family goals, and business goals. I may not be getting paid in cash just yet, but my time will pay off when we get to embark on our journey sooner rather then later.

Bill will leave his job two weeks prior to our "send off", b/c lets face it as state before we need to eat, sleep, and afford to start our business. The business- selling frozen drinks at fairs and festivals across the country-turning lemons into lemonade! Vending will be long hours on our feet, but it will be something that allows us to travel, meet all different people all over the country, and in an environment that welcomes positive attitudes!

So plans have changed/rearranged, but life is a winding road, you have to keep an open mind, your eyes open for opportunities, and roll with the punches. Set goals and achieve them. I promised myself we would be out of our house by Sept. 1st. I wasn't sure how we would achieve this, I had hoped to sell it, however I realized the better option was to rent, found a renter, signed the lease, and they moved in on Aug. 31st. We were out!

Each morning I read two fortune cookies words of wisdom that I opened years ago, both of which inspire me each day. They read:

"Working hard will make you live a happy life."

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

Emotions and Ice Cream

I keep eating ice cream. I think it has become my comfort food, sometimes I have it before lunch on the weekend.

It is driving me a little crazy that we are finally getting all the odds 'n' ends done around the house, making it all nice only in hopes to have someone else fall in love with it. I must remind myself it is only a house, simply a structure providing shelter. Home on the other hand is where ever your loved ones are and it doesn't have to be one place, just places you simply love being. Living on a boat will let us have many homes over the course of a year.

I like to think that everyone who says they will come visit us actually will. Albany is a very lively city, a city I have very much enjoyed for the last 9 years and there will be a lot to miss, but most of all it will be our friends. We have great friends.

One thing I remember from when I was a kid in the Daisy's Troop- being a Daisy means your working your way up to become a Girl Scout. The sequence is; Daisy, Brownie, Girl Scout. I only made it to a Brownie, then bailed b/c it was way to girly-we weren't learning to camp or survive we were learning songs, arts and crafts (which at the time really bothered me). Even back then I was smart enough to know that singing "kum-by-ya" when I'm lost in the woods is not going to save me from a grizzly. But I did take away one valuable lesson- "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, and the other is gold" Albany will always be my gold, they simply rock!

We met our friend Maude and her daughter at the ice cream parlor the other night. Alana is 3 and watching her walk up to the ice cream parlor and upon seeing us her eyes light up, my heart just melts. This little girl may be one of the coolest kids/people I have ever met. Alana lights up a room. At her age the world is kind, people are friendly, laughter is often, and life is good. As Alana and Maude approached the door I couldn't help but think how much I would miss nights like this. What I love about Maude is that though she thinks we are a little crazy she supports our decision. K Family...you MUST come visit!

Ok so on the right here is the Daisy uniform...really do I need an apron, since when did anyone put on an apron before hiking into the woods? Even the girl in the sketch appears to be saying "Really, I have to wear-THIS?

Updates

Worms- doing great!
I recently started to harvest the nutrient soil they are producing. You simply move the soil and the worms to one side of the bin, and start to put the bedding (newspaper) and new fresh food on the other side of the bin. The worms will make their way over to the fresher food over a period of about a month and then I will be able to take the soil they produced and put it in my flower pots!

I don't like to let my exterior plants die off in the winter so my house is full of them and they could all use some healthy soil. I jumped the gun a little and sifted out about two cups of soil.

When researching composting I had learned that the worms lay eggs and they look like little yellow seeds, and guess what MY WORMS HAD BABIES!!! I carefully sorted throw my two cups of soil looking for the eggs as I did not want to harm any of them. Check out how small they are; it is the little yellow blob in the center of the spoon.

4 Hours of TV/Week- well it didn't go so well at first, b/c when I would feel bored and couldn't think of other things to do I would give up and click into TV land. However in the last week I don't think we even maxed out our 4 hours. What I had to realize was that I wasn't bored and it wasn't that there was nothing to do. I was simply so use to zoning out and forgetting all the other things I wanted to do. Now we spend our time reading more, cooking, going to the library, blogging, listening to music, eating dinner at the dining room table again! We have been going for more walks and spending more time working on our house as we prepare to sell it. Good bye TV, hello Life!

Purging

They crushed my couch, but I looked away. We are emotionally attached to so many objects, but why? I have been following other blogs about donating, recycling, and selling items, and what I have learned is it takes time to emotionally remove items from your life.

In the past I never could have thrown out pictures, but how many candid photos do you need? I have discovered that if I sort through some photos, make a pile of keeps and check back in a week or two I can eliminate a few more. I am now done eliminating. I have narrowed my photos down to three thin albums (not including my wedding photos, which have there own album). I think that three albums for 26 years of life is pretty good!

I saved photos from all stages of life, all different experiences, and ones that triggered strong meaningful memories and emotions. Quality vs. Quantity...now I have an outstanding collection of moments in my life!