The one where I cram April-June 1 into one post.

You guys.  This post has been a long time coming, and I have my reasons for the delay but it is time to talk about our sudden changes!

During our Colorado trip we kind of made the choice to open up job searching to country wide. The travel bug hit us BAD.  I was in a crossroads with my job, which isn't important now in hindsight, but their decision made my decision concrete. Goose was at a crossroads with his job because the company wasn't the same company he signed on with in 2013. We knew the youngest Grill was about to start college and was most likely staying on Oklahoma (she did) and the oldest Grill had a pretty awesome handle on college life and could survive if it happened.  Around March Goose was put into a life altering career path. While he had applied at various other jobs with little to no interest, there was still the option of uprooting.  He was being looked at a company in Houston in corporate level with quick advancement or a job in Connecticut as a Contract Engineer. Long story short, neither company hired him though he was second place for both, but he had made his decision and we had come to an agreement on how we would live from here on out if something came along.

--I had become burnt out on the suburban life as much as Goose. I loved that house we picked out three years ago, knowing it was too big for us but plenty big for family and did it ever serve its purpose. So many fond family moments were gathered up into my heart in that home, but I was burnt out. Goose had become miserable at work and he was in physical pain from the stairs also. We both wanted a better quality of life for us and our children and nothing secured that thought more than taking our jeep trail trip to Colorado. We knew right then we wanted all of us to see the country before we were old, and we couldn't do that if we were living to maintain our house. We wanted to find HOME. --

And boy DID something come along so fast and furious and left me with no option but to go-go-go until it was over. Magically the stars aligned. Somewhere around early April things changed.  On a Wednesday, Goose was told a company liked him a lot. Thursday they sent him for drug testing and paperwork.  Dubious still, we didn't say anything in fear it was another letdown.  Friday he got his reporting address and boss' name in Alabama with a "Please come now we need you Monday". Our jaws dropped. This is actually happening. Goose walked into his boss' office and said, "well, I am quitting and I have to leave now".  Surprisingly they were quite understanding and had many nice things to say too little too late.  By this point, we had one day to pack Goose and send him out and find a place for him to stay for the duration. We tried a roommate situation but ended up at an inexpensive motel the time being.

Here's the kicker. He could either travel and pay for living expenses and me stay in St. Charles alone (basically not a true option), or we could go together. However we will be city hopping. Who wants to put a deposit down, non-refundable pet deposit, move furniture, and find a place with flexible month by month rental agreements? Not us. We ultimately decided that we wanted to be able to pick up and go when the job moved us, not be bound by house and moving costs. We chose the tiny house movement. Goose HATES when I call it the tiny house but it is that. We started window shopping just before this offer and knew what we were looking for, which sadly wasn't a tiny house on wheels after the frantic research I did, it would be RV life.  Once he was gone and had traded in his beloved Titan for a tougher truck, I was tasked with doing the rest.

Pretty, eh?

Fun Side Story Time: About a week or so into my temporary bachelorette lifestyle, I was headed down for work in a rush and had completely forgotten I left several towels rolled in the way on my STAIRS and tripped over them falling harder than I've ever fallen. I hit so hard my shoulder knocked out two spindles from my railing (which I would have to fix!) leaving me with a really messed up shoulder, jammed thumb from trying to catch myself, and a solid knot on my skull. I had no time to deal with it and somehow made it to work on time. I didn't get any chance to rest, however because packing, finding repairmen, getting the house sell-ready had to be done. It was such bad timing I didn't even have time to write a witty blog about it like last time!




We would end up spending our 15th anniversary apart. The following weekend, Goose came home and we picked out our new place.

I luckily had an AMAZING friend (and interestingly my boss for the last 5 months) who had just gotten into real estate and was willing to help me get things going. -quick plug, hire Becki Heinen for all your real estate needs!- We listed the house on Zillow as a Make Me Move option before we had begun the whole process. One day while I had the kids over at the house with me while interviewing sheetrock guys (remember the basement flooded over Christmas) I got a knock on my door. It was another realtor and I quickly told her I had someone already. She said, "No no, I have a buyer and this seems like the house they are looking for." I let her in to look around, she left, I thought nothing of it.

One week later while at the house with the kids cleaning and staging for a possible family walk through during the upcoming weekend I got a call from my realtor. She said, "Remember that realtor you talked to last week?"
"No?"  (this is became a common theme for anyone who talked to me the month of May)
"Yeah she came to the house and you let her walk through", she reminded me.
"Oh! Yeah, she just wanted to look around, whatever."
"Her buyers are ready to buy and would love to come look tonight, is that okay?"
*jaw drops*

I finished cleaning, de-cluttered, they came, I got my nails done, my realtor text me to come back home.

They loved the house, they wanted it BAD and were willing to close by June 1. It was no-brainer. This house was sold and under contract before it ever went on market! THANK GOODNESS this was the smoothest house sale known to man because I just didn't have time.

It's pallet time!

life without couches

I had a real race to run. I frantically listed furniture because we didn't want to store it. I posted it on buy/sell/trade FB groups, OfferUp, LetGo, and even craigslist. Somehow it was all sold two days before my personal deadline. We got the basement finished out in record time.  All utilities were set to shut off and mail forwarding was ready to go. It was grueling, daunting, and such a whirlwind and I actually am relieved it worked out that way because I had no time to process it. I didn't have time to worry or be upset or panic.






To wrap up a month of madness, we took time to hit pause so we could travel back to Oklahoma for my baby to graduate high school mid May. I had already jumped on the task of graduation dinner weekend way before we knew this was happening, and luckily I just did this last year and knew what to do this time. It ended up being a beautiful reception full of love and family and it was great timing for a slight pause in life to celebrate a huge milestone for our youngest, all grown up.

<3 

dinner

graduation 2016

My last day of work was May 25, and Memorial Weekend was upon us. Goose took off a couple days for the pre-closing (thank goodness they let us do that) and the picking up of our new tiny house.

{Disclaimer: To say when Goose walked in the house and saw all that was left, overwhelming is an understatement. Not to mention he had only been back to the house once while working in Alabama...I don't blame him one bit! But from my standpoint the house was empty. He had forgotten the storage capacity of the new house and that some furniture stayed for the new family.}

                                                 

RV skoo and our first night tiny living

We signed the paper work, went to RV school and started living in our tiny house right away on May 27. We spent the whole weekend at the dealer's lot loading things by car-load until we backed the RV to the driveway Sunday to load the final stuff and clean. All the neighbors came by to look and tell us "wow you are crazy for doing this but this is so cool!" at the same time. We had hoped to start taking off to Alabama Sunday May 29, but we just ran out of time.  Driving off for the last time from the house finally allowed me the reaction I had spent a month and a half not having time to deal with and we cried the whole way back to the dealership to hook up for the night before taking off the next day.  It was so bittersweet.

Tiny house in front of big house

goodbye sweet house, you served us well! 

We left for our first adventure on May 30. By this time Goose had been there a good 6 weeks ahead of me.

just hangin out with the big dudes
the back end of the rv is aligned with the semi :0

We named the RV Big Dan and the truck Little Ann
(bonus points for those that get it!)

Month in update: Both of us are so surprised at how comfortable we feel. We aren't cramped one bit, which is funny coming from living in a 5 bedroom house.  Not that this RV is tiny by any means, we do have to LIVE here. We just wanted to be comfortable and let's face it, I wasn't ready to dwindle my closet into 8 days worth of clothes. Nope. It's still a home to us, just a smaller one on wheels where if we don't like that guy's yapping dog *points*, we can just say BYE FELICIA and drive to a different place!

I will update all of my travel adventures with future blogs, including a tour of the grounds, and how I crammed a big house into this little beast.  Hope you look forward to it!