Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

We have FINALLY reached the last day of summer camp!!! I am so excited to not do this drive anymore. The kids have had such a blast, but I am pretty sick of getting up early, getting everyone ready, and then being out of the house for an hour every morning. I did get to hang out with my friend Josie after drop off this morning and that was great. We haven't had a chance to catch up in months. It was just a short time, but worth it.  During the day, I spackled! Spackled and spackled and spackled. I am finally DONE. Tomorrow is sanding. Maybe? I am really tempted to do some other job before I sand, because I hate sanding so much. But it needs to be done and I think the hallway would feel so nice if it were painted and trimmed and just...complete. It might be time for a small win. We could get things moved into place and finally be done with that space.  The camp hosted an end-of-week dinner this evening, so we decided to go to that so we could meet Ruby's new friend Sadie's p...

Today was a bit of a mess. I met with Jenny this morning and it did not go well. I told her my actual feelings about things between us and likely ended our relationship. It was sad, but I also felt like I had to say what I said. I have no idea if I did the right thing or not! But what's done is done, at this point.  After she left, I grouted the bathroom tile. After many, many hours, I finally finished! It looks pretty great. I'm happy with it, but need to figure out my next project. Probably more spackling! I'm going to need to run out to Home Depot and get some stuff. Urgh.  I'm not feeling super well today, so I ended up skipping cooking dinner and just had the kids eat cereal. Bobbie Jo (our realtor) came this evening and talked to us about the house. It looks like market value is quite a bit lower than the Zestimate is, so that was super disappointing. BJ also thinks that the house will sell for 30-40k less if we don't empty it and paint it for showing, which i...

After dropping the kids off at camp, I got right to work on cutting the edge tiles for the bathroom. I've been avoiding this part, because it's a dozen or more tiny slivers of tile and grouting them is really tough. Alas, it's part of the job, so it had to be done! It took so long. In between tile work, the roofing guy came and looked at the leak. He basically said it's not their fault, but they did caulk up what they think is causing the problem. Not a bad experience, but nothing to write home about either.  I went for a run, got dinner ready, and then went to visit Brit and Tori in the hospital. They cannot wait to be able to feed her normally. She is acting hungry and it's stressing Brit out, but Tori is healing up great. Praying they'll be out of there in no time! 

Ahhh another week of driving all the way up to camp and back twice a day. Woo! It feels like we literally JUST got home from our trip and I am not ready for real life yet. After I dropped the kids off, I came back and started tiling right away. I got the bulk of it done today, but I'll have to finish the rest tomorrow.  I texted Rachel to tell her about our move today and, man, she did not react well. It took her hours to respond and when she did it was basically like, "I'm shocked." And when I explained further, she said something along the lines of she thought we were friends, but she tends to misjudge relationships and she's glad to know the truth now. I'm like, WTF??? What is going on? That text exchange definitely helped me to decide whether or not to go to HC tonight. I'm feeling like I never want to go to anything ever again. But I'm also pretty exhausted today. I'm hoping that I won't feel like this forever, because I don't actually...

Boy, I did NOT want to work this morning at all. I feel like we just pulled up to the house and then we were loading back into the darn van! It ended up going ok. We got all of the volunteers we needed, after some finagling, and there was a little drama with a kid, but that got figured out too. I'm really proud of that TNT teacher taking a stand and kicking that kid out when he was being disrespectful! I hate for volunteers to believe they just have to put up with terrible behavior when they do NOT.  This afternoon, I spent a lot of time on laundry and catching up on things. Not much else happened! I'm going to get back to work on the bathroom tomorrow. Scared, but looking forward to getting some stuff done and making progress in here. 

Ugh. The drive went on forever. We left around 7:15am and got home around 7:30pm. We didn't spend more than 15 minutes out of the car for the entire day. We grabbed all of our food to go and just ran into rest stops for potty breaks. Ben's pain is back really, really bad, so he was understandably extremely grumpy for most of the drive. I took over after about 8 1/2 hours and did the last leg myself so that he could rest. I usually prefer for him to do the driving, but the way he was yelling at everyone and freaking out about everything made it totally worth it for me to just drive while he slept.  I thought that I left the house in good shape when we left, but it did not look clean when we got home. That made me feel really sad and overwhelmed. There's so much to unpack and so much to clean, AND I have to be at CT tomorrow morning at 9! No rest for the wicked, I guess. 

This morning was really a lot of fun. Things started off pretty slow and then we went out to the pool for a while. We headed to the beach around lunch time and hung out for a couple of hours and the waves were finally PERFECT! It was a great time, just relaxing under my little tent at the beach, while the kids swam and played in the sand.  Once we got back, the panic started. I think that realizing how much work it would be to get everything packed up and clean the house finally set in, so all of the adults spent the next many hours packing and cleaning. We got some pizza for dinner and didn't have much to do after that, since we had spent the afternoon getting ready to leave. I just read for a couple of hours and Ben played cards with his dad and siblings. I got to talk to Kelly for a little while, and just thanked her for everything her and Bumper did for this trip. They found the place, paid for it up front, got everything organized, let us use a lot of their stuff, bought shirt...

There's a part of me that is ready for this trip to be over! I mean, I'm glad we're here and I am having a good time, but I think you reach a point during vacations when you just kind of want to be back in your own bed, in your own home. Also, Ben has pretty much ignored me the whole time. It feels like he prefers the company of everyone else, but I think that he's just trying to take advantage of this opportunity he has to build in with his siblings. Trying to not be a jerk about it! And I think I'm succeeding, but he came onto me today and it's like, dude. You've barely made eye contact with me in like 5 days. Do not expect anything romantic to happen between us today! I think he got the idea.  In the evening, I took the girls to the beach by myself, and Dawn ended up joining me. She was mad at everyone because Ben and I cooked dinner, but nobody told her it was time to eat. So everyone else was eating dinner and she was still waiting in her room. When she...

We just continued on our regular theme of swimming in the pool, going to the beach, and swimming in the pool again today. It was fun! After dinner, we did our family pictures and guess who was photographer?? Me! Haha I was so nervous that I was going to mess it up. I'm not good at directing people either, so that could have gone a lot better. Poor Laila was consistently in the shadow of other people! But the photos turned out pretty good, despite my lack of direction. I was also frustrated because I said I didn't want to start taking pictures until 7:45 or so, but Kelly sent everyone down to the beach at 7. The sun was harsher than I wanted it to be and we were blinded half the time. But, no matter! It's over now and the photos are fine.  In the evening, we went to a karaoke bar about 30 min away. It was a little nerve wracking leaving the kids, but Dawn orchestrated it so that Dennis and Hazel stayed at the house with them...our unwilling babysitters. The bar was fun for a...

Brittany had her baby today!!! Welcome to the world, baby Tori. I can't wait to meet you!  Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, we had a pretty good day...ended with a bit of a rough night. We got up and hung out at the pool for a couple of hours, then headed to the beach for a couple of hours, then hung out at the pool AGAIN for a couple of hours. The afternoon was pretty relaxing, and then we were back in the pool again! Erin and I went for a run first thing this morning and it was pretty fun to go running with someone else, although it's hard to run while you're talking. After dinner, we headed to the bay to go fishing. I loved it. Quiet, beautiful, the kids were occupied. It was the best. Other than the horseflies who kept attacking us, it was lovely.  In the evening, I told Ben I wanted to play Telestrations and he came upstairs and told his family I wanted to play. So then, everyone kind of steeled themselves to play a game they didn't really want to play, kind of a...

Thank God, things have calmed down since yesterday. Today was an entirely different story. It almost felt like people were licking their wounds after going so crazy. We still did stuff, but the day started a little later, and went a little slower. We went to the pool and the beach and hung out, but my favorite part of the day, by far, was going to the beach for a second time in the evening. It was just so chill and the sun was going down so it wasn't hot. It was just us and Patrick's family, so it was nice and quiet. The kids played in the sand and we had so much fun. It was wonderful. 

Man, today was crazy. I woke up around 7:40, thinking to myself that it was basically the perfect time to wake up. The kids weren't up yet and I was considering going out for a run. Ben comes in the room, dressed for a run and says he's heading out with Patrick. So I'm like, okay, I'll wait for the kids to get up and get them some breakfast. HOWEVER, when the kids woke up at 8 and we all come out of our bedrooms, we see that THERE ARE ALREADY PEOPLE SWIMMING IN THE POOL! So, the girls are absolutely panicked and need to get in their swimsuits immediately and are super resentful that I'm making them eat. We get down to the pool 20 minutes later and I find out that we were the last people to get up, aside from Kelly. Everyone else has visited the beach, watched the sunrise, eaten breakfast, and gone in the pool. I'm just going to say this again. It was 8am. 8AM.  That really set the trajectory for the day. It was go, go, go, go, go. Activities and games and all ki...

We got here today!!! So, there was this idea snaking through all of our minds that Kelly was telling us that check-in was 6pm, but it was really 4 and she was just trying to make sure she could get here and get settled in first. I don't know how much truth there was to that, but I do know that when we pulled up to the house at 4, just to check it out, Kelly and Bumper were already here. The cleaning people were still here too though, so it looks to me like she was being truthful. We went to the grocery store and about the time we were checking out, we were able to get into the house. So we were the second people here, got unpacked, and were just getting settled when Dawn and Ali got here. After they unpacked, Patrick and Dennis both got here. The staggered arrival thing did work pretty well, honestly. It would have been pretty chaotic, otherwise.  The kids got in the pool almost immediately. I cooked some pizza for dinner. We all hung out for hours and hours, drinking and laughing....

Our first day on the road was a success! We didn't actually leave the house until after noon, which was a very welcome change of plans. Ben had to work in the morning, since he felt like he had a stomach bug yesterday and took off most of the day to lay in bed. I feel like maybe it was stress/anxiety? Usually, Ben and I pick up stomach bugs from one of the kids and everyone else has been feeling great. Who knows?  Anyway, I managed to fit everything into the car...although it was seriously a tight squeeze, and we drove 6 1/2 hours to Charlottesville, VA. I'm not a huge fan of the hotel, although Ben is excited about how cheap it is. *eye roll* We all get to be in the same room, which doesn't happen very often. BUT the hotel didn't have many amenities and is missing soap and isn't very clean. But, alas, it is what it is and I think we're all going to sleep just fine here. 

Yesterday's work was spackle, today's is cleaning! I spent so many hours cleaning: sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, wiping down furniture and scrubbing walls, reorganizing spaces and putting things back where they belong. This was, of course, fractured by dropping Clem off and picking her up today. I also did a LOT of packing. I cannot believe we're leaving tomorrow! I'm feeling anxious for this trip. It's a long drive, I have no idea if everything will fit in the car, and I have no idea how it'll be being with Ben's family for a whole week. Praying everything goes smoothly! I went to group tonight, solely because we were having a sprinkle for Brit and baby girl. I was a little stressed going into it, knowing we are supposed to head out in the morning and how much is left undone, but it ended up being a nice time and lots of good time praying. Honestly, though, I felt out of place when I got there. It's likely all in my head. I recognize this! But it just f...

Today is the anniversary of Gabe's death. It's very sad to say, but I don't really miss him anymore. :( I still grieve him and wish he were here, but my life is so different now from what it was when he died 23 years ago that I can't really miss his place in it. I sure wish I could talk to him again though. How do some of us just get born with that propensity towards addiction and some of us get off scot-free? I'm thankful for it, in my case, but sometimes it really feels like Gabe was dealt an unfair hand in life. Haha I'm sure he would have agreed. He always felt like he was getting pooped on. Poor guy. Today was just work, work, work, work, work. Spackle, spackle, spackle, spackle, spackle. If dad could be here two or three more days, we'd be in good shape. As it is, I feel like it's going to take me a month to get it done by myself...unless I continue to block out the world just to work on it, which I don't know if I'll have the willpower to ...

I woke up way too early today, because Ollie crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night. She basically slept on top of me, but I can't complain too much, because she never does this anymore. Since I was up at 5:30am, I decided to go for a morning run. And afterwards, I worked on building a wall for almost the entire rest of the day. But, man, it is wearing on me driving Clemi a half hour to camp and a half hour home. She's having SUCH a great time, so I wouldn't actually stop her from going, but it is a lot of driving. And a lot of wasted time in the car - 2 hours a day! My wall looks great though. :) I'm a little worried about how much bathroom is going to be left undone. I don't know if they're going to plan to come out again or if I'm going to be expected to finish all of it by myself. Probably the latter. But it's a lot! It feels like I'm either going to be neglecting the project, or working way too much on it. I guess that's a probl...

I worked all day today. There's not a ton to say about it. Dad made me spackle from the time I got home from dropping Clem off at camp, until dinner. And after dinner, the work didn't stop! We still got the shower pan installed and THEN we called it quits. It was a long day. And I am tired. 

Today was a pretty good day at CT. We got there early, as always, and got set up. All of my volunteers showed up, although I still have too few of them. I talked to Nathan about what's going on with us and what's going to happen with Oasis in the future. We got some Cane's on the way home and dad worked on his truck. He realized that he will not be able to fix the problem with the tools he has here, so he is going to take it to Luke's tomorrow. He's pretty bummed about it. And it's tough for them to feel stranded too. He thinks it's going to be a very expensive fix.  I am SO ready for this bathroom to just be done already! It feels like there's so much more to do in there. How are we possibly going to get this done?? Using this very old photo of Ollie, since I did not take any pictures today. 

We got a new oven today! We went to the Appliance Factory and found a scratch & dent one in stock. We had to pay about $500, but I couldn't expect it to be much less than that. I feel like that's what we paid 15 years ago too. Not too bad! I think I'll feel a little differently when I get the credit card bill though. With all of the bathroom purchases and the oven, I'm going to be crying over that damn bill.  Otherwise, we didn't do much. We had our meeting with dad and MJ to make sure we're all on the same page...and we are! We are all happy to live on the same property, as long as the goal is for there to be two structures. We talked about budgets and monthly payments that we can all afford. We also talked about next steps, which I think we all needed to get a push to do. I need to talk to a mortgage lender and a realtor this week. Of course, the timeline for this is all contingent on what Ben's boss says about him working remotely. If he's actuall...