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I posted that we got new tires on the Shelby.  Hubs said it looked like one could have had a blow out it was in such bad shape. The F-150 also needed new tires so he took care of that last week, too. He also replaced the side mirror on the F-150 because the mirror was cloudy and got a replacement emblem for the front since it’s from the generation that faded. I think he is happy to have the truck in good shape. The windshield is cracked and the bumper is scraped up on one corner. I am letting him decide how much effort he wants to put in to getting them fixed up. We will see how good of shape we get it into any time soon, but he does like vehicles to be nice. 

Both vehicles really just needed to be driven. They have been sitting for such a long time. He took the F-150 to get it inspected after we got the new tires so we could get it registered and titled to him, and they couldn’t get a reading in the O2 sensor because it hasn’t been driven in so long. They told him to drive 100 miles and bring it back. The registration on the F-150 expired in May. 

The Shelby is still registered in my FIL’s name through the end of the month. When hubs took it to the tire shop, the first guy didn’t know how to drive a stick, and at the end they asked him If he wanted to back it out of the bay. They must have not been able to handle the clutch. I think it’s harder to drive now than last time I drove it. The hubs has it down though. 

Once my son drives, we will decide which vehicle he and I each drive. The F-150 is a 2009, but it’s a king ranch so it’s much nicer inside. The Explorer is a 2013, but it’s a base model. He has only ever driven my car. The truck is bigger, but it has better visibility.  Of course I will let him drive whatever he feels more comfortable in even if it means more years for me in the Explorer. 

Before we went through the back to back deaths of my in-laws, the plan was for my son to drive my Explorer and for me to get a new vehicle. I went through a wave of sadness that it was not in my cards any time soon to get a new vehicle. We just can’t afford it right now. We still have a lot to deal with.  I was thinking the F-150 might trick me into thinking it’s something new for me. If I did drive it, I would want to take the bed cover off. I am not sure my hubs is on the same page, but that’s OK. He also wants to keep it in the garage so it and the Shelby are both garage kept right now. He’s definitely respecting the condition his parents liked to keep their vehicles in.  

We were planning to sell the Shelby to get a new roof for H2, but we are leaning towards keeping it for a while. We can always sell it later. We think that his dad would like if we enjoyed the car for a while. We are also trying to not rush into decisions.  Plus, for some reason, having a fun car makes me feel a little less bummed about driving my 13+ year old vehicle. Ok, the Shelby is actually the oldest vehicle we now have, but it’s a lot of fun!  I know my middle child would love it if we kept it!!  But yeah, owning it with 2 teenage boys might also be why we don’t want to keep it at some point. 

So yeah, the hubs is getting the inherited vehicles into good condition.  . 

Ok, I haven’t even gotten into the drama we had in my Explorer recently. Ha!  Might save that one for later…  Luckily, my hubs has been helping me with that, too. I will get into that next. 🤪

I am headed to DC for work this week. It should be good!  I am almost done with a 14-week leadership development program.  Woo hoo!

We actually had a really good weekend. The hubs got new tires on the Shelby on Friday, and then he and the boys got it cleaned up Saturday morning. He and I went on a lunch date to a local ice house in it. So much fun! The supercharger on that thing is 👌. 

My daughter had a double sleepover with her water polo friends so that was fun for them. She came home with a splinter yesterday, but the hubs got it out this morning. My boys both ranked up in scouts yesterday, too!  The older son achieved Life Scout, an award for 50 nights camping, and a couple of merit badges. My younger son achieved Star Scout, got the one-mile swim achievement, and earned a couple of merit badges. Great court of honor for our family!!  I was proud to see them advancing. I need to help more with the troop. I used to do everything I could for them, but I have been taking my daughter to meets and tournaments a lot lately. 

Since I am still on the plane, I am going to get some additional posts going. I love how I could just email post to livejournal. I need to set that up for this so maybe I will use it more. 

The kids have spent a lot of time at the in-laws house since they passed away for various reasons.  From taking care of cats to yard work to wanting a quiet place to do homework, we have spent time there.  I think having the house so close has helped us all to feel close to them still. 

We have told them they would be able to take whatever they wanted from the house.  The hubs and I met with the estate sale lady last week so on Friday I told the kids it was time to go to the house and get what they wanted.  It’s time to take the things that make us feel close and bring them over to our house.

My oldest wanted the globe and the computer from the office.  The globe is from 1938 – pre WWII!!  He also went into the front closet and got the Lincoln Logs out.  He took two boxes of them with him.  Later we were talking about him making muffins and he took the muffin tin and some muffin papers.

My middle kid ended up taking a German walking stick with badges on it. He took two of the beer steins my FIL collected and some lighters including one that was engraved with his name and rank. He took a commemorative discharge certificate and his wallet. 

My daughter took a couple of stuffed animals from her bed there. She took a jewelry set with silver and pearls. She took some small crystal kitties and some small wooden ones.  She found a baby pic charm and birth certificate card for my husband. She took her box of art supplies and some homemade magnets they have had on their fridge since I first met them.  She also took their glass coke bottle change jar.

For me, this past weekend was the transition for me to move from a joint house where we still had our connection with them to bringing everything we need to feel connected with them to our house adn start letting go of the other ‘things.’

I had a little bit different flavor of the things I took to our house.  I took a necklace I gave her – a James Avery mother’s love necklace.  It was still in the box and tarnished, but I took it and plan to get a new chain for it and will wear it and think of her.  I took a set of sterling silver stacking rings and some earrings.  She had a lot of holiday jewelry.  I ended up taking a Chirstmas charm bracelet, but it ended up breaking before I even got it home (old elastic string).  I took his picture of the first space shuttle landing that was signed by the crew.  I took a picture of our family.  I moved the flag they had in the living room from her dad’s funeral for his military service and put in my dining room on the display cabinet we have.  I took a glass butter dish and some pyrex measuring cups from the kitchen.  I took the mounted quail they have that my MIL and her dad raised (he raised game birds and this one was unique).  I grabbed the cookie jar my half BIL wanted.  Finally, I took their urns to my house.  They fit nicely on the hutch in my dining room.  I also took the little trinkets/memories my daughter had put around the urns so they could stay with them.

That was my first pass at getting the things we want over to our house to disconnect with the things that will have to be sold in their house.  

They have a chest full of pictures.  We plan to add the rest of the pictures around the house to it and bring the whole thing to our house.  I want one of their wagon wheels they have on the back fence.  They have had those there since they bought the house, and I want to put one in the location where the fence overlaps between our yards as another memory.  My hubs also wants some of the 1904 world fair stuff my MIL had collected.  We will also keep the 2009 F-150 since we will soon gain a new driver.  The rest will be sold.  Saying that is starting to give a little closure (although the whole process will still take a while).

Well, it’s Christmas Eve, and I placed an order at 4:30 am to finish my Christmas shopping for the family. Yep. It’s one of those years. Yes, the whole year has been crazy. It’s our first Christmas without my MIL so today will probably be pretty tough. 

I actually was doing pretty well kicking off Christmas in early November, but then life caught up. I just couldn’t do Christmas after my MIL passed. It was a block in my head. I am not even prepared for today. I want to start some new family traditions though.  Not entirely sure what that means. The things we normally do just won’t happen this year. 

Oh, and to seal the deal this being a crazy year – our A/C died on Thursday. It’s been a hot few days. But wait!  There is more!  Thursday I saw our cat looking at something in the dining room. Water was dripping from my the ceiling. My daughter had taken a shower and the liner was out (it was cleaning day) and water got a over the floor and leaked out into downstairs. Craziness. And to really not be outdone – the A/C tech stepped into the ceiling of my office over my desk when they were inspecting the A/C system in the attic.  Whew!

I have not enjoyed the number of people that have asked, “Are you ready for Christmas?,” this year. No. I am not ready. Not in any capacity. Is anyone ever that ready where they can confidently say yes???  I dunno. I hope we just love each other as a family today. 

My MIL is just completely worn out. I am sitting here with her and that’s all I can really do. I brought her to the ER last weekend and it turns out that she had the flu, but they did not admit her. She’s here again now and she is just weak and tired. 

Before I skip to the latest string of events, I should mention that she was recently diagnosed with leukemia (MDS) and was supposed to start chemo today. I was supposed to be in Aruba but stayed back to help with everything, such as taking her to her appointment this AM. 

I came back from urgent care yesterday afternoon (about 4pm) to find her sleeping on my couch. She was tired and weak. I gave her some peditye and she had some water, but the only thing she ate was maybe a cracker. She just is not feeling well. She asked how we were going to handle the morning and I told her that she could stay at my house and we could go from there. She did not have the energy to get up so that’s what she did. My daughter slept on the floor near her. She woke me a couple of times during the night to say grandma needed me. The last time was to tell me that grandma threw up. This was at 3:30 am. My MIL said she had diarrhea and wanted to go home. 

I drove her home where she had it a few more times. She then said she needed me to call an ambulance. I told her I would drive her but she wanted the ambulance. I ended up driving her about 5 am. 

I think she has had 2.5 bags of fluids. She was so dehydrated they could not find her vein. She feels like crap and wants to get admitted so they can help her feel better. 

But rewind – why was I at urgent care? My daughter broke her arm near the wrist yesterday. When it rains, it pours!! I was not able to get her into the doctor we wanted today so that is now a problem for tomorrow. Of course my big guy is also getting Invisalign tomorrow so I will have a big day hauling kids all over the place. And dealing with whatever my MIL has going on. 

I am still trying to deal with the emotions on the broken arm. That was completely avoidable. And now she will miss the swim meet where I expected her to do really well and I was excited about. I will probably have her miss a season of water polo at this point. I am just so frustrated over the whole thing. 

So yeah – that’s an update about all of the things I am dealing with right at this moment. 

I was supposed to go to Aruba on Thursday with my hubs. We were going to rent an AirBNB and a jeep with another couple for a long weekend, and then he had some stuff to do for work so I was planning to relax at the hotel or the beach. I downloaded a bunch of books to my kindle. It was planned to be a week-long trip. My first time to South America! 

But I didn’t get to go. My MIL ended up with some health stuff so I am staying behind with her. I am a little sad, but trying to make the most of it. I had fun with my kids Thursday night (the night I was supposed to leave). I bought some rum punch that I might try today to pretend I am being tropical. I also got a few different beach-scented body spray so I can mix scents on my faux vacay.

I bought a tray of fruit and a salad with avocado lime dressing. I have also been wearing the clothes and jewelry I bought for the trip.

So yeah, sad I am not in Aruba, but trying to enjoy what I do have here.

We are trying to figure out which vehicle we should take to Florida for our Thanksgiving trip.  We currently have two vehicles – a 2017 F-250 with probably about 190k miles on it and a 2013 Explorer with less than 89k miles on it.  A third option is to rent a vehicle.  

We plan to bring our family of 5 and our two dogs with us on this trip. It will be a very long drive, but we are really looking forward to spending time with family.  We plan to stay in a hotel that is close to my sister and accepts dogs including our 100 lb. lab.  

So how do we get there?  To take the big dog, we pretty much have to drive (my dog is small enough to fly, but we want to drive).  That leaves us with 3 options – truck, Explorer, or a rental (which is still cheaper than flying even if we leave the dogs out of equation).

Let’s look at these options:

The F-250 – this is a big truck and very spacious with great leg room.  The problem is that two of my kids are over 6′ tall and the big dog likes her butt on the seat when she rides so that probably won’t fit.  The adults will be very comfortable in front.  The kids, probably not as much.  Hubs wants to drive his truck for his comfort on the long drive, but recognizes it’s a lot of miles and doesn’t 100% fit the bill for space for the kids.

The Explorer – if we take the Explorer, we will put up the 3rd row seating option.  This will change our spread out space from leg room to more booty space (for kids and big dog).  It also reduces the cargo area.  It’s not as comfy for hubby to drive as his truck is.  Also, I had an incident with road debris last year that means my new windshield, which was poorly installed, has a weird buzzing sound it makes.  

The final option we are trading is renting an Expedition.  That will allow more space in all directions.  It will be a much nicer ride than the two vehicles we own.  The problem with this is that it’s a bunch of money to rent the Expedition.  

I have looked at this in a few ways.  First, it’s the cost of the trip to rent a vehicle that the whole family will fit in.  It will be nice and spacious and comfortable.  Renting an Expedition is cheaper than buying a new vehicle we can all fit in for a long ride.  Even recent trailer trips where we have had all of us have been in both vehicles.  

But…the cost to rent it could also help purchase an Expedition.  Why rent when we can apply that money to a purchase?  I looked to see what is out there at the nearby Ford dealer.  I found a used 2021 Expedition with 96k miles for $26,485.  It is newer and has more features than my 2013 base model Explorer, but clearly it has more miles than my vehicle.

We have been planning to have my son use the Explorer when he turns 16.  It’s better to have him in a used car we know the history of instead of getting something completely unknown.  I have been dreaming about my next vehicle and have been thinking about the Mach-E (and that’s a whole other discussion).  An Expedition is not something at the top of my list, but it is something the family needs?

I am not sure we should rush into a new vehicle purchase for our Thanksgiving ride.  My son doesn’t even have a permit yet.  I also think that it would be fun to rent the Expedition and have the most comfortable ride possible for our trip.  I feel weird because of the dog hair we will be dumping into the thing.  I think my car is cozy and comfy, but I will just have Pepper in my seat – the extra space will probably be much appreciated by the rest of the family.  I can also try driving the Expedition around to see if I like it.

I am guessing we would rent from Monday – Sunday since we are planning to travel Tuesday – Saturday.  We will see what we roll up in, but you know I like venting to think about decisions! 🙂

I had a great weekend as an aquatics mom!  First, my son’s high school team won the state water polo championship!  It was super awesome!!  The games were fun (and LOUD), and the boys really worked hard and earned it.  It was great!  What an awesome experience for him!  

I took off two days from work to have all of the experiences. I went to the send off at the high school and did the cheering and pictures. I got a room at the team hotel and the other parents used my room as the staging area to decorate the boys’ rooms. I went to the games and cheered!!  The finals game was on Saturday, and a bunch of the girls showed up, too!  We ended the weekend with a police escort for the bus back to the high school. People made signed and cheered, and it was just a whole lot of fun!!

My daughter also had an AMAZING swim meet this past weekend.  She made five BB times at the meet she did last month and got her 6th and 7th times in 100 back and 100 free. Yes, she was excited about the 6-7. Anyway, her final event of the meet was the 50 Fly. She had recently crushed a new PR so I wasn’t expecting much, but she took off another 2 seconds and got her first A time!!  I am super happy for her. Today we are planning to get sushi for lunch to celebrate!  🙂

We are spending the weekend at what I like to think of as my second home. We are at the property. We have friends with us, and we are staying in the shipping container. We have friends here for the day and friends staying in their camper. 

We had 5 vehicles here earlier! Busy weekend! Luckily we have lots of space. The guys are working on the trail to the creek right now and seeing if there is any water in the creek (nope). We have football playing on the TV, and we are making chicken on the grill tonight. 

I took the 4 wheeler out for a long ride this morning and have been doing a lot of reading. I finished my September Book of the Month subscription book (Play Nice) which I was saving for October since it’s about a haunted house. My October book is also a paranormal thriller so I will keep going this month with some Halloweenish reading. Well, I also need to read my book club book for the month. I am about to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. They have a good sign up deal right now, and they have the book I need for October. I think its time to join. I love the reads I have found on Amazon Prime, but this will greatly expand what’s available including a bunch of books I have on my list of books to read. 

The boys want to go home with our friend tonight instead of staying another night. I will probably let them although then we won’t have the extra hands in the morning. Maybe we can get them to help clean up tonight.😛

I finally switched purses this evening. Whew! It has been on my mind! Ha! First world problems…or distractions??

OK, seriously, one of the things I obsess over for fun is purses. I have a purse bestie (FOR REAL!) and we feed each other all the excitement. She has been my bestie since grad school, and our paths just keep crossing. The universe wants to make sure we stay friends!! 

So…I have been carrying a blue palm print MCM tote bag I found on clearance before my daughter and I went to the Junior Olympics this summer. It’s so cute and perfect for a trip to California. I went for it and have had a hard time getting out of it. I love it so much! The thing is, it’s past Labor Day now, and I want to use it (at least the pouch) for an upcoming tropical vacation. I have swapped out a daily carry bag, but I have been stuck in that tote!

So what bag do I use? Next obvious is my red MCM tote. It’s the color of my favorite football team, perfect for fall, and a power color for me for sure. But I wasn’t jumping into it. Then I realized I need to go straight to my favorite bag – my Speedy 35. I LOVE this bag. It’s classic, beautiful monogram print, and I have a bunch of charms on it to make it a little less serious. I even have handle covers on it that I found on Etsy.

It holds my MacBook Air (M2 if you are curious) and anything else I might need. It really is beautiful and the perfect bag to use as we transition into fall. My handbag bestie and I will be getting into PSLs soon, and we have been into Boston bags lately (Boston is also the area in which we met) so it just seems perfect right now.

This is the perfect bag for me, and I need to embrace and love it. Fall is a season for change, and I am all about the positive changes this fall can bring.