Another blog inspired by a friend..

My friend is doing a post a day picture for every day of the year. Totally awesome. I don't have nearly that much dedication! Today she had an update along with the picture, and it had me thinking. They moved into their new place, and she blogged about finally being settled in.. Then it hit me, something I've been thinking about quite a lot recently. I haven't felt settled in at home anywhere since our very first place together in 2005. =o/

We lived in Texas for about 3 months, never totally unpacked. It did help that we had a storage unit though, but really, who could feel at home for just 3 months?! Then we moved to Utah, Jan 07 to Oct 07. Our bedroom was still the hub for boxes. Cali, Oct 07-08, kind of felt at home there, but stuff was still mostly in boxes. Guess what, almost 5 years later from that first move and we are STILL living out of boxes it seems!

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm sure I have, I'm a hoarder. Not NEARLY as bad as the people on tv and it didn't totally start until after my dad died and we accumulated a good chunk of his stuff. I have barely touched any of it. I haven't been able to "move on" and do anything with any of it. I think I'm finally ready. I threw out some stuff yesterday that has just been sitting in a box for a while and is completely useless. It felt GREAT!

I broke down yesterday while talking with the husband. I was telling him some grand plans I have for the next few days in order to rearrange some stuff and hopefully get our youngest into the 3rd bedroom, eventually. I told him I know we'll be here in this apartment for about another year and I'm just tired of looking at all the crap. Then I cried, and told him I think I'm finally ready to go through some of my dad's stuff. I told him how when I was home, I actually picked up my father's urn. Something I've never been able to do in the 5 years he's been deceased. Grief hurts, moving on hurts, but I'll tell you what, it feels so much better. It's almost like being a child again, and having a band aid ripped off by your father in one fell swoop ;o). The grief hurts the longest, but moving on is like the band aid... It may hurt for a moment, but in the end, you feel much better. You may still have a scar to remember it by, but it no longer hurts.

Finally Friday! 5QF

1. What is your favorite summer time activity?

- As a kid it used to be softball. Any more, I love taking the kids for a picnic in the park or a 4 hour long trip to Hogle Zoo. I pretty much love doing anything that can turn into a great opportunity to bust out my camera and take some pictures of my lovely little ladies.

2. Do you have one laundry soap you stick to, or do you buy whatever's on sale?

- I love the white container of All. I get it in the powder form, then I get the Tide for cold water. Although when we were pretty poor in May, I bought whatever the Great Value stuff was at Wal Mart that smelled decent lol.

3. What is your favorite dinner to make in the summer?

- Salad! Believe it or not, my kiddos actually eat it! The only thing they don't really like is celery, but can you blame them?! A salad is easy, mostly cheap, and virtually no calories.

4. Do you have any talents?

- I feel like I have less than I did growing up. I know it's not true, because unless something truly crippling happens, one still has those same talents. I'm sure I could still play softball, I just don't think I would be as awesome as I was in high school. My newest talent has been crocheting. I love it! It's relaxing and pretty low effort. I can actually sit and crochet all day if I was able! I'm pretty good with a shotgun. I love shooting trap and skeet. I probably have more talents than I'd like to give myself credit for.

5. If you could instantly be an expert in something, what would it be? Why?

- Organizing! I'm so not with it when it comes to organization. I'm the epitome of disorganized, functional chaos. And unfortunately I think it's a genetic trait..

http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/

Post Secret got me thinking...

No really, it did.. I was reading yesterday's Post Secret like I usually do every Sunday. This Sunday was about Father's Day. And there was one in particular that stood out to me. It was a headstone, and the person wrote "I don't remember his voice" on it. There are somedays when I honestly wonder if I still remember his voice, my father that is... I can think about it and it takes me a minute. Is there going to come a day when I just don't remember it at all?? This is what I'm afraid of.. I'm afraid of forgetting his voice. I'm afraid of forgetting certain memories.

Shortly after he died, I would call the house phone for as long as I could before it was shut off. I would call just to let the answering machine pick up so I could hear his voice. Sometimes once was enough, other times I'd call back and listen to it a few more times.

I usually write my titles at the end...

Nothing too new here. We went camping last Thursday/Friday, it was a blast! Well, considering we froze our butts off Thursday night and Erin was still a little under the weather. My body is finally starting to feel like it's back to normal. Two days out and about in nature pretty much did me in lol. We all turned a nice shade of red too.. poor Erin's nose has turned to scabs from blisters popping.

Husband went to MEPS on Thursday and passed, finally, thank God! Now we just have to wait for his eye waiver to go through, then he will finally get the uniform.. As long as his contract is written the way he wants it.

Okay, I kinda feel like I'm having a "Julie & Julia" moment here. I want to write, "Hello, is there anyone out there? Anyone at all?" Granted, I know I don't write my blogs for the purpose of people to write them. Sometimes it's just a journal, sometimes an outlet for rants or whatever other crazy nonsense is going through my head. Anyway.

Oh! I guess I did have some other news. I started working on family genealogy again yesterday. I entered in most all the direct relatives I knew of on my dad's side and have some of his grandparents in it well. I'm working pretty hard on my mom's side because I can call her up and tell her about all the fantastic stuff I find. Right now I'm into the Pioneer era of her family and I've found 1 or 2 interesting facts about some of my pioneer ancestors, one in particular is about my great-great-great grandmother. One of her younger brothers was kidnapped by Indians on the Oregon Trail, then later found alive. Way cool! Anyway.. I should really get off this computer. It's been for most of the last day and half..