Now the real work begins.

We’ve made it to our final destination and I’m pausing mid-week to assess what we’ve done and what we need to do to get this house feeling more like a home. Instead of bumbling through the rooms as I’ve been noticing myself doing I thought the sitting and writing it out just might be a better use of my time.

First in the mission accomplished column:

We moved to a whole other state! The drive was easier and quicker than we thought it would be aside from a really windy 100 mile stretch on I-70 in Utah. We’ll never have to pull our antique trailer that full through that part again. We pulled into Fayette around 4pm and immediately got to unloading my car, most of the trailer, and Zach’s dad’s truck which we used to pack odd sized things and for pulling the trailer.

On Monday Zach went to work and the kids and I stayed home to begin unpacking and getting things organized. The easy part is that since we sold most of our worldly possessions two plus years ago, there is not a surplus of unnecessary items. The hard part in this is we will have to begin acquiring necessary things again, you know, like furniture. We’ve been making do with a few antique chairs we saved, some of Zach’s apartment things, mattress on floors and the like. It still feels like we’re camping in some respects but that will change gradually as things come together and the budget allows.

We unearthed a few treasures in our barn that we’ll clean up and use for shelves. I’ve started scouring the marketplace listings as we prefer secondhand and antiques over buying new. It creates a more curated space and that’s what matters to us more than filling this place with less than awesome things. Also it’s cheaper and more earth friendly.

We’ve met a small handful of neighbors, and Jodi at the post office has been my favorite person so far, she’s been super helpful in explaining our P.O. Box and getting us set up, this after a lot of frustration with the USPS online system that doesn’t even recognize the change of address. Sometimes you just need a real human person. We got internet hooked up today, a trash bin delivered yesterday, and made our first run into Richfield (a 40 minute drive) for our first (of many I’m sure) Home Depot runs. Despite having a house with brand new insides it still needs work and a lot of general tidying as it sat empty for several months and prior to that had a lot of construction activity so there is still dust and dirt remnants from the remodeling.

Now for the to do list:

I’m terrible at to-do lists. Camden has been asking me for one every night before bed so he can wake up and start working right away. Good on him and I don’t know where he got that idea. I’m even hesitant to write one here because, I don’t know, bumbling around feels better? This is sarcasm, of course it doesn’t feel better, I guess when I boil it down and think about it, it really feels overwhelming. And I hate that feeling because of the trauma of the last year also held a lot of overwhelm, when I get overwhelmed I start to shut down and disconnect from every single thing in my life. I don’t want to go to that dark place again.

I look around and see so much work to do. Everyone is being very helpful and finding things whether I make a list for them or not and that’s very important and empowering especially for the kids. We’ve also had months of inactivity in regards to physical working on our own space, on something for ourselves, that I’m superior at survival work and that planning for the future work is not a muscle I’ve flexed in a very very long time.

Next right steps:

• Call town hall to get trash and water set up. DONE!
• Order washer and dryer (this is the first place we’ve ever moved that didn’t already have those things, gasp)
• place our big Sam’s Club order for Zach to pick up in Provo (the weekly shopping is going to look quite different from here on out)
• Place ikea order for Camden’s room and misc. house items
• Find furniture from estate sales, fb marketplace, etc. This will be a very much ongoing process
• Outdoor tidying and weekly watering of the trees
• Get the bus and unpack that beast (sometime in the next two weeks)
• Get Zach’s electric car and return truck to Thornton (coincides with bus pickup and car delivery)
• Keep unpacking as shelves and other furniture is acquired. This is the primary source of my anxiety right now, having boxes around with nowhere for their contents to land
• Gardening and scouring fb marketplace for farming implements
• install bathroom exhaust fan (Zach)
• Clean and refinish two barn shelves
• If you made it this far, you’re a champ and I appreciate you reading my mundane list! Somehow sharing it makes it more manageable.