2021 Life & Plans

❤We moved this spring back to our old house and sold the little house we homesteaded at. 

The amount of projects we completed has been intense to say the least. 

Painted the entire house minus the bathroom. The bathroom will be gutted next year and completely redesigned & renovated. We refinished the original hardwood floors in two rooms. We still need to get carpet for the living room.

The screen porch had to be completely repaired. New screens, flooring, paint, screen door, and blinds. The deck needed repainted too. The front porch still needs finished: paint and railings and we are adding a second set of steps next to the driveway. 

We put up 320 ft of 6 ft privacy fence. Bought a large shed for a home gym & workshop space. The shed needs some finishing done and we need electric ran to it. 

I'm planning to set up one room as a home library/ hobby space for myself. I'm planning cabinets below and bookshelves to the ceiling on one wall. This is one of the rooms that has refinished hardwood floors and it should be absolutely gorgeous when it is finished. For now, I'm chilling in here typing this up surrounded by boxes of books, home decor we haven't hung, and crafty things that don't quite have homes yet.

We are buying a hot tub from my in laws so that's a whole project getting it set up and electric which will be done at the same time as the shed. 

❤After a year of pandemic homeschooling my kids are returning to public school this year and we are really looking forward to that. Excited but nervous best describes how everyone is feeling. While we are returning to a house we lived in before, it has been 5 years and my youngest never went to this school. So it is very much like a brand new school for all of them. 

My oldest is working and learning to drive now and that's a whole new world that makes me feel like time is slipping by just a little bit too fast. But he still gets icing all over his face when he eats cake and we had a good laugh about that at a birthday party a couple weeks ago. He will be 17 next month. He has been thinking about his future but is still unsure of what he wants to do.

My oldest daughter is now taller than me & surprisingly likes hanging out with her parents. We need to start figuring out how we want to set up her attic-bedroom which is massive but pretty bland. She adores animals and wants literally all the pets, haha! She will be 15 this fall. 

My youngest just turned 12 and she's full of attitude now. Still absolutely loves art and got some fancy markers for her birthday. She can't wait to start school and is hoping to make some new friends, she really struggled at our last school with peers. She is on the autism spectrum and as she is getting older it is harder socially. 

❤As for me, I'm trying to find joy despite being chronically ill. Managing my health is a full time job these days it seems and I often have to slow down more than I want to. But I am learning that it is necessary and it is ok. Rest doesn't have to be earned, sometimes you just need it and that's that. I'm trying to keep my jealousy in check, not let myself get bitter, not descend into depression. This is just life and I'm learning to take it all in stride. Though, I wish I knew of some better ways to distract myself from pain. My doctors are on the right track now with helping me. Though the appointments are exhausting and anxiety inducing... and I definitely need to call and make some more appointments unfortunately. 

❤We want to plan some fun activities for the remainder of the summer. I need to look at my "Summer Fun" list again in my phone and see what we can do in these coming weeks before summer ends and school begins and we're all on another schedule entirely.