Along for the Ride

I'm not sure what it is about Sundays, but I tend to get a bit reflective on Sunday afternoons.  Perhaps it's the preparation for the week ahead.  Perhaps it's the goal-setting and planning.  Perhaps it's the rare moment to sit back, relax, and unwind after a busy week and weekend.  Regardless, it seems like this time - these evening hours on Sundays - are when I find my mind wandering. I've always been a bit of a Pollyanna, but I have to admit that my outlook in the last few weeks has been more positive than it has been in a long, long time.  I try to stay positive most of the time, but this transplant business has really  lit a fire under my tail.  I gotta be honest.   I come from a long line of strong women, from "firm up, Mable," "put on your big girl panties," and "keep your chin up."  So I guess that tenacity, combined with my natural optimism, makes for a pretty strong "anything can happen" attitude.  So natu...

Shortly after buying our home, Mike and I started our homesteading tasks.  We borrowed equipment from my parents and spent Saturday afternoons mowing our yard.  I even bought beer for the occasion so we could proudly stand amidst the freshly cut lawn, drink a cold one, and admire our handy work.   On a trip to Borders, I had visited the home care section and purchased a (quite pricey) Martha Stewart book called the Homekeeping Handbook .  It was the pre-Pinterest resource, and I was thrilled to read it from cover to cover, learning how to make my own dish soap, plant and grow veggies, make a welcome basket for the guest room, and properly host a dinner party.  Those 752 pages were my ticket to becoming the best version of myself - a Bree Van de Kamp version of hospitality.   Well, it got old.  It got old really quickly.  I found myself spending all of my precious weekend days trying to clean, run errands, prepare meals, help mow, ...

Shortly after Mike and I got married, we started hunting for a house.  The plan was simple...  find "the perfect" home in our price range, close to work, modest, spacious enough for possible kids, big enough to not outgrow anytime soon, small enough to be manageable, and preferably new.  The hunt was hard.  Every weekend, week after week was spent searching, searching, searching for the perfect location, builder, and home.  Finally, the stars and planets aligned, and we put a deposit down on a new build in McKinney.  It had all that we had hoped for and more. I once said that the true test of a marriage was putting together something - like a grill (which we tackled the week after we got married) - without ripping each other's hair out.  Boy was I wrong.  That was small beans.  But to a newlywed, it was the first time that Mike and I had ever really "gotten cross" with each other, so I thought it was a test.  At that point, though, w...

As we near the end of July 2010, I feel compelled to reflect over the past year. I realize that it seems a bit strange to reflect in July. After all, January is typically the month for reflection and resolutions. But for us, July holds an important meaning. In July of 2009, my husband was laid off from his job as a graphic designer. The recession we had heard about and seen shaking our community suddenly became very personal. We found ourselves "shocked and awed" by the economy and job market, and that experience has led us to a year of greater enlightenment, personal growth, and understanding about ourselves, our marriage, and our beliefs. I suppose I should back up and start by explaining a few things. My husband had been through layoffs before – several, in fact. Layoffs are part and parcel of working in the IT field, which he had done for years. He had always been able to find a new job quickly. His resume is impressive, and he has a very broad set of skills...