Back to Normal - But for How Long?

Today my parents started their journey back to Virginia.  It's hard to believe they stayed with us for 4 of the last 5 weeks.  It certainly doesn't seem that long, until I realized some of the things I've been neglecting because they were around the house.

The poor hamsters were in need of a SERIOUS cage cleaning.  Yes, I've cleaned it while my parents were here, but I didn't do the serious scrubbing that was needed (till today).  Boy does it smell so much better now!

I also realized how long it's been since the whole house has been vacuumed at one time.  When you have visitors, there are lots of bodies who have very different schedules and it makes it hard to get that sort of thing done all at once.

I will say that having my parents around helped forced me to focus less on the to-do list and more on the let's find something fun to-do list.  I've visited a beach I've not visited before and took them to another that the kids and I enjoyed.  I live near lots of beaches now and the though of visiting them regularly just doesn't enter my mind because of all the "stuff" I need want to get done.  Hopefully, the last few weeks will change that.  At a minimum, I think I need to schedule one trip to the beach each month (starting after Spring break of course).

Now that my parent's have left, I am finding myself looking forward to getting back to some sort of routine again.  Then I wonder how long that routine will last.  After all, we are about to close on a house that we're going to need to fix up some before we move in.  That's going to involve some driving (an hour each way) as well as time spent working on  it, all mushed into the middle of our "routine."

But the routine we will have once we are in the new house will be sheer bliss.  At least till we have our first visitor(s).

Return to "Normal"

The last few weeks, things have seemed a bit out of kilter to me.  We've been going to so many different campgrounds and so many different tourist places, that it seems like I could never get settled.  In fact, the last few weeks have seemed more like a vacation and less like living in a camper.  I guess that's a good thing.  It makes living in a camper seem like less to be endured and more to be enjoyed.

We have been at the current campground for 3 days and considering we spent 28 days here the last time, it feels almost like we are home.  We've already gotten Chinese take out from a restaurant we found last time, we've gone grocery shopping, and the kids have even caught a lizard (which we've been feeding). 

We've also encountered some of the bad things of this campground (bad cell service, sporadic Internet, no cable, and early morning grounds maintenance), but for some reason I'm ok with it.  Perhaps it's because we know how things are going to be.  Perhaps it's because we know where everything is around here.  Perhaps it's because we've done just about all the touristy things we can, so now we can breathe and just get on with life. 

Whatever the case, the last 3 days have been very relaxing and I'm enjoying our return to the Manatee Hammock.

Normal

Today the kids and I are home for the 3rd day in a row.  I know I've done this before, but when it's not by choice it becomes old and annoying very quickly.  I've lived on a mountain where the snow stranded us for 4 days or more at a time.  That was annoying, but I think more annoying than that, is being stranded when the weather is not the reason.  You see, my daughter is not feeling well right now so we are stuck at home till she feels better.

As I sit here, I keep thinking that it would be nice if things were back to "normal."  But even that normal will not last for long.  In fact, we hope to be ready to leave Virginia in the next week or so.  Then we will have to create a new normal for ourselves.  I'm kind of looking forward to that, but I'm also wishing that our new normal would be a bit more permanent. 

I realize there is nothing normal about my life right now.  At this point, I'll just be happy if I can leave the house tomorrow to get a few errands done that have been waiting for a while.