We got moved in yesterday. Kind of. I don’t know that anybody knows where to find their clothing, but everyone has a bed to sleep on and at least one blanket to cover themselves with.
If you are trying to reach me and having trouble, it is because my phone broke yesterday. I set it in a window seal and it buzzed and fell out. When I picked it up it said I needed to reactivate it. It wouldn’t let me do that with cellular data, and with no internet I couldn’t get it done yesterday. I’m hoping today is the day!
This is only posting because we are back at Julie’s parents home for a family party and we brought the computer to look up some info that we needed (and to hopefully fix my phone. We will have our own internet again on Thursday next week.
We have packed up almost everything we own (it doesn’t fill up our van) and are ready to make the trek from PG to Bluffdale. We have made this trip daily for the last 2 months. But moving day is different in that it is the trip that officially “moves” us into my parents house. I don’t know that we’re ready for this.
I would love to tell you that I’ll me making regular updates about this stage of our journey, but my parents currently have no internet connection at their house. I’ll be remedying that as soon as possible, but in the mean time don’t expect to hear from us.
If you need to reach us the only available method will be by telephone.
It feels a bit odd making preparations to kick my own parents out of their bedroom in the house they built.
Awkward!!
With time running out before school starts, it has become depressing clear that they new space WILL NOT be ready for us to live in. It might be painted, but won’t have any flooring, bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets or appliances, etc. This means that we will be trying to live simultaneously in the space my parents currently occupy.
Julie and I figured we would just be “roughing it” for awhile and finishing things as we go. We’ve done it before and are happy to do it again. Some of our favorite memories are from such times.
My father however had different ideas. His plan is to move himself and Mom into the unfinished basement and turn the house’s master bedroom over to Julie and I. And he wants to do it soon. Before we move in. So that’s is what we are moving toward!
We knew this was the plan, and would eventually happen. But actually taking the steps to bring it to pass is rather… awkward. I’ve been jokingly telling people that we are “kicking my parents out and taking over” for a while, but it feels odd to have my parents working hard to kick themselves out.
The Steps Of Kicking Them Out
This week we gave up on the deck project (postponed it) and turned our attention to the basement. We spent just one day (Tuesday) cleaning out the space that is going to turn into my parents apartment. Yesterday we built the ‘exterior’ walls to trim out the cement walls. Today we almost completed laying down some subfloor particle board to strengthen up the flooring.
We will have to finish off the bathroom down there shortly, but I think when the flooring is done that Dad is planning on moving their bed down into the unfinished space. He says this is so that Julie and I can have a space to move into. I suspect that he is also secretly looking forward to living (and more importantly, sleeping) in the coolest part of the house – the basement.
My parents say that if the basement is too rough for them that they’ll just stay in the motorhome. They are taking it on vacation in just a few weeks anyway and so this is a very feasible and sensible plan. That’ll give us time to keep cleaning/organizing/building to improve the house space for all of us.
Hard To Do?
We’ve been witnessing how hard it has been for my parents to let go of some of the things they’ve collected/stored for years. As we make this transition I imagine it is going to be even harder to do. They’ve been living in a huge house for years all by themselves. To now try to downsize that into a small corner of the same house will stress the emotional limits I’m sure.
Thankfully we don’t actually have much to move into the house. All of the furniture and decorations will stay for the time being (hopefully without the kiddos breaking them). We don’t have dishes or appliances either. So moving/downsizing my parents is really a matter of condensing and moving clothing and a few mementos.
“What is that?” is the most common question the kids have asked while cleaning? This is the fourth installment and is the first photo edition. You can read the first three here and here, and here.
These pictures are from all over the house (Great Room, garage, basement, and main living area).
What Is That?
A mouse skeleton we found in some old insulation
A really old pair of snow shoes (possibly made by my Mom’s Dad?)
Two sets of deer horns from deer my Dad killed
Some type of shell my mother kept
Two old large pipe cutters
An old oil lantern (antique?) of unknown functionality
The Kawasaki motorcycle that I jumped into the canal behind my house
A bathroom sink of unknown origin
The Husqvarna motorcycle my Dad used to race up Widowmaker
A big pile of staples we found on the garage floor in a mess of spiderwebs
Three broken weed eaters (we threw others away before I can grab pics)
The tire from my Dad’s first car?
The watering jug that time forgot
An elk horn that my sons want to turn into a weapon (like a Klingon Bat’ leth)
A pair of chest waders that I wouldn’t trust to cross a rain gutter
A box of glass jars (this was repeated ad nauseam)
Roller skates that (hopefully) belonged to my sister
A gallon jar of brown sugar from the 20th century (does it ever go bad?)
A Kerosene heater we (only occasionally) used while I was growing up
A can green paint (I think 1963 is a code for the color, but could the purchase date)
A Garbage Can that is just happy that it can be helpful (unlike the kids)
a SMALL sampling of various tools
A canteen I’m going to pretend was Grandpa’s WWII companion (possible!)
A ceramic chicken that now greets us at the door each day
A really old fire extinguisher that I think Mom wants to turn into a lamp
And finally, my favorite find to date, a Yahtzee score card used by my good friend Darby Golub (circa 1985-88?). There was a time we spent every waking moment together. Darby was killed just a week after I got home from my mission and I never got to see him. I still have the program from his funeral in my personal hymnal. This find is special to me. RIP my friend!
At this point we really have transitioned from cleaning/organizing to construction. So don’t expect another installment of What Is That? anytime soon… but more will come at some point. We WILL finish cleaning out the basement AND the garage… And I’m sure that there are a ton of gems to be found in those places!
This is content first appeared on my Facebook page regarding my Scout, Joshua, and his most recent camping adventure. I’m reposting it here for saving.
Scout Camp 7/14/17-7/15/17
Joshua and his scout troop had a local campout last night. Josh came home exhausted and said it was great, and said the boys were up almost all night.
I later heard that some of the other parents were angry that their son had stayed up late and were subsequently tired all day today. Apparently this anger was directed at the Scoutmaster. If true, I think that it is misplaced.
I’ll talk in generalities because I don’t know which parents/child this story refers to. Those… names weren’t part of the telling that I heard. and it doesn’t really matter. Regardless, having been a 12-13 yr old scout, and having a 12 yr old son right now, in my opinion if blame is to be had for lack of sleep on the scouts part (including my own scout) the blame rests with the SCOUT.
Scouting and responsibility
As my scout relayed it to me, they were told of the curfew, and they were called in from their playing and told that they were past their curfew. Unless you think that a Scoutmaster should be tucking them all into bed, then I think he did his job just fine. The entire program is designed for the boys to be in charge and making the decisions.
I know not everyone parents the same, but I expect my Scout to be trained how to think and act for himself. To learn the relationship between responsibility and consequences. A Scoutmaster isn’t a babysitter, and Scouts aren’t babies. They should be allowed to make choices and be held accountable for them – good and bad.
If your scout is informed, and reminded, but chooses to ignore, then it is on them! Unless their behavior is in someway immoral or injurious, I would want a Scoutmaster to let the Scouts make their own decisions and live with the consequences. Staying up late isn’t injurious, and isn’t in any way immoral or inherently bad/wrong. So give the boys responsibilities and let them THEM be held accountable.
That seems like a good way to help these men who are young turn into men who are great! And I think our Scoutmaster is doing a GREAT job of helping make that happen.
This post got nothing but positive comments and “likes” on Facebook. I hope that is an indication that others are trying to raise their sons with the same sense of responsibility that I’m trying to raise mine with.
I hope it didn’t bring any embarrassment to our great Scoutmaster Greg. He does a great job with our boys. I know that my son for one really thinks highly of him.
