2 Adults 2 Kids » fulltimer

13 (KJ)

KJ — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:07:39 +0000

That’s the number of days we have to get out of this apartment. Let me rephrase, that’s the number of days we have to finish separating our clothes, pack up the van full of the stuff we’re keeping, load the RV, get rid of the beds, dressers, tables, and desks, find a vacuum (because we sold ours) to help us seal the Space Bags we bought, take all of the clothes we’re not keeping to the charity drop off location (thanks for the tip, Janet), take all pictures off of the walls and send them to the grandparents, find a P.O. box/mail forwarding company, and repaint all five rooms of our apartment so that we can get our deposit back.

I don’t know what we’re going to do. I feel like we had been making steady progress, but the last week we have been at a virtual stand still. As I type this, I am negotiating with CM to go out for dinner because I just want to get away from all of the clutter.

I know you’re probably tired of reading about my purging troubles, but trust me, I’m tired of writing about them. It sounded so simple at the beginning: get rid of our stuff and move into an RV. I know I am making it harder than it has to be. This is just such a huge change for me.

Okay, here and now I’m making the decision to ….. nah, I can’t do it. I was going to say get rid of all the books and buy/borrow new ones as we need them, but the mere thought is disturbing. I’m going to think about this a little more and get back to you. Maybe I’m just thinking too much about this.

Focus on the big picture. Focus on the big picture. Focus on the big picture….

The Antagonist In Our Story (KJ)

KJ — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:13:52 +0000

We have just about sold all of our electronics. I’ve sent hundreds of emails and we’ve burned through nearly all of our AT&T rollover minutes trying to give people directions to our house, so they can pick stuff up. During these last couple of weeks, I’ve seen electronics that cost us $2000+ sell for less than $600. I was so fed up with all of it! Then today “he” spoke to us. He whispered voodoo into our ears and we were instantly hypnotized. “He” doesn’t want us to show our kids the world. He wants to throw us off our path of conservation and adventure.

“He” is Steve Jobs. It’s true. He unveiled the new iPhone today in his keynote speech and I just drooled the entire time. I have to be cool and uninterested when CM is raving about the latest and greatest product from Apple, but as soon as he turns his back I’m trying to figure out how we can fit it into our budget! Yesterday my phone was fine, but today it’s grossly deficient and I need a new one. Or so I think. To make matters worse, the new iPhone costs half of what we paid for ours in December. This is a prime example for why we need to buckle down and buy used.

What scares me is how will I be able to convince my children that new isn’t always better if I don’t practice it myself? Living in an RV will definitely keep us from buying a lot of new stuff. It will hopefully make us, as one fellow Craigslister put it, “aware of what we bring into our space”. So much of product marketing is built around making you feel like you’re missing something and then selling you a product that will fill that void and thus make you whole. That pattern/cycle has been etched into my brain. My hope is that this time in the RV will help me create new patterns that don’t involve buying things to make me feel better.

WANTED: Friends (KJ)

KJ — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:14:00 +0000

We’ve tried to keep Midget (our daughter) and Widget (our son) in the loop about our upcoming plans. (CM doesn’t like my nicknames for them, but I’m sticking with them since he hasn’t suggested an alternatives.) It’s really important to me that they enjoy this new direction we’re heading in. Recently, Widget has expressed concerns about making friends while we’re on the road. I never know how to respond; I just immediately panic.

Of course he’ll meet other kids on the road, right? I mean, I don’t really know. I’ve never done this before. Hell, I’m worried that I won’t make any friends on the road. CM and I are going to work really hard to get him around kids his age. I don’t want him to be sad about this. The thought of him feeling lonely/unhappy is pretty unbearable.

I’m going to have to take some time to think about how I plan to address in concerns. On a lighter note, Midget seemed really psyched about the move. She asks when we’re going to pick up the RV nearly every day.

It is what we don’t do that we regret, right?