Togetherness

Some of you may be wondering how our transition into a house from the RV might be going. We've been asked few times if we're losing each other now that we're not stacked like sardines into a 35 foot trailer or if we're so used to all that togetherness that we're following each other from room to room as we go throughout the day. The answer is: yes.

This cat loves the togetherness,
but also hid in the garage for two nights
and scared the mess out of us.

It is wonderful to be able to get up in the morning and come downstairs and sit in a chair in an empty room and have a quiet time without worrying that the sounds of my coffee being made are going to wake up the whole family. But it was also wonderful last night curled up on the couch with Twinkle while the twins stretched out on the floor in front of me playing some joint twin version of solitaire (they call it "solitary") and the Man and the Bigs played rummy and UNO at the other end of the couch. I like the togetherness because I like them. With that said, I didn't love when the kids turned the house into a giant nerf war zone as it was just as loud as when they would do it in the RV, and I kept waiting for someone to come falling through the ceiling. Although I will say, I get caught in the cross fire way less now that we're in a house. Still, there's a front yard--and a back one!--and they aren't small. Take your warlike ways to the great outdoors.

I did think that the noise level would decrease upon being in a house. I was wrong. I was on a phone call with a friend the other day, and she commented on how quiet it was (you know, as opposed to the normal background chatter of "Mom! I need a snack!", "Mom! I stubbed my toe and my foot now needs to be amputated!", "Mom! So-and-so keeps putting the body bind curse on me!", "Mom! The twins are trying to sell me to gypsies again!"). I informed her it was quiet because I was hiding in a closet. Please note that I now have a closet large enough for me to sit in. When I got off the phone, though, I realized it wasn't just the closet buffering the noise: the Man had let the kids watch a movie. Screen time: the only way you can lull your children into silence until all five of them are capable of reading to themselves. That and sleep.

All that space: still sitting together on the window seat.

There are things that we are loving about being in a house, and things that we are missing about the RV. I miss the water view, but we have a hillside of beautiful trees right out our window. I miss how quickly I could be done with vacuuming, but this just means the kids are being put to good use for manual labor more often. I miss knowing our neighbors, but hopefully we will get to know these too (though COVID makes that a bit more challenging). I miss my little pallet garden, but we have house plants now. I miss all our Florida friends, of course, but there is texting and FaceTime and zoom calls and hopefully one day a guest room that's actually got furniture (instead of just boxes of books and empty mattresses) where they can stay when they come see us.

Happiness is green glasses,
napkin rings, and a real table.

I'm loving having everything in one place although I keep not finding things that I thought had made it through the move/hurricane (waffle iron, waffle iron, where did you go?). I'm loving having bookshelves again, even though it makes me want to buy more books, especially since the libraries here aren't open yet. I am loving (more than I can say) having a washer/dryer in the house so that I can do as much laundry as I want whenever I want--and not have to pay for anything other than the water bill. I am loving having a piano again--and it even got tuned yesterday!--and a place to play my flute without feeling like all of Fam Camp might be listening in. I am loving being able to put an entire meal's worth of food in the oven at one time (see last post about the pizza). I'm loving (for real) not having the cat litter underneath my daughter's bed (even if technically my daughter doesn't have a bed yet since it's taking five years to get here). I am loving having dinner at a table where we can look at each other (and not straight at a TV), where all the food fits on the table, where the water glasses don't spill if you accidentally bump the table by crossing your legs. I am loving that half of my kids can sleep in if they want to because the other half come downstairs to harass me into making breakfast instead of causing a racket pretty much on top of the sleeping children.

And speaking of, said children are now downstairs harassing me into making breakfast. So on that note: happy Wednesday!