Long Weekend

It’s late, I know, but Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a fun yet safe holiday. I’ve been seeing on the news much of the country has, despite being told not to. My family and I went to a friend’s house to shoot off fireworks out in the country. Someone found some sparklers that were shaped like a rifle, they were pretty cool, I’ll try to share a video of the girls with them.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty social drinker, especially if everyone else is drinking. I know its not very Christian-like, but hey, we’re all bad Christians. I’m not gonna sit here and defend myself, and I wouldn’t even dare to think badly of anyone else’s little bad habits. I think its horrible that people are so scared of others in their greater social circles judging them, that they don’t admit to themselves when they’ve messed up.

Anyway, other than the Fourth celebrations, we got my step-daughter for the month, and we’re very excited about that. This weekend was a bit of a struggle, but it usually is when we get her. Our home is so much different that her mom’s, that its hard for her when she has to go back and forth. Our lives are much more structured and we have regular schedules, while her mom doesn’t. They work odd hours and there just isn’t regular structure in the house, which makes it really hard for us, and even harder on Shanna. Poor kid goes back and forth from rules to no rules, having to be ready at a certain time everyday to being able to sleep in until noon, from being restricted on snacks to having fewer restrictions, but not as many snack available.

We’ve tried talking to her mom about some of the structure and schedule keeping stuff, but since she doesn’t have a regular schedule, we really can’t expect the kids to. It’s rough for all of us, but I really do believe it’s hardest on Shanna. She has to go back and forth, she’s the one being confused and having such different rules at both places, but neither of us are willing/able to concede. Matt and I have structure in our lives because that’s what helps us (okay, mostly me) with our mental health issues, but her mom can’t have a more rigid schedule (like the kids are awake and ready for the day by 8:30) because she herself doesn’t have that.

Co-parenting is hard no matter what, but it’s even harder when the parents’ lives are so vastly different. In situations where the parents can have similar rules and structure at both homes, it makes it easier for the kids to adjust.

I don’t mean to talk bad about her mom, but to be honest, she does make it pretty easy.I won’t get into all of it here, this is neither the time nor the place to do so, but we’ve had more than our fair share of issues with Shanna’s mom. She’s childish and picks silly little fights for no reason to to try and start fights. Don’t get me wrong, I can be childish as well, but I’m 22, while she’s 27, plus she’s been a mother for almost 10 years, while I’ve been an almost step-mother for about 3 years.

Anyway, pray for our family while we navigate these trying times, and pray for Shanna’s mom and family, as well as Shanna. Poor kid has a lot to work through and unfortunately, she’s always had two families, and will likely always have two families that are very different in just about all ways.

Okay, enough drama, I know I told everyone about how we got a new house we can move into in a month. Packing is going well, we’ve got all of our decor and pictures packed, and I’ve started on the kitchen. Some of our extra cooking utensils(we have quite a few) and our nicer plates and bowls, and well as one of our crockpots and our air fryer. Yes, we’re bougie like that, we got 2 crockpots and an air fryer! I love crockpot meals, as an good southerner should, and the second one is for dips or in case the first one is still in the dishwasher.

We went through and put on our family calendar when we want certain things to be packed and done with. The living room we’ve got just about done, and this weekend it’ll be completely done, as well as most of my art supplies and music. The art supplies will stay in the apartment until moving day instead of going to storage, it’s too heat sensitive, and I really don’t want to ruin my paints. Extra linens and excess kitchen will be done the nest week, and the last week we’re here, we’ll be packing up the rest of the kitchen, a lot of the clothes, and the last day we’ll pack 2 day go bags with our daily use items, jammies and clothes for a couple days, and pack up whats left of the dressers and closets. We’ve got a plan, and we’re sticking to it so we can move quickly and efficiently.

Not too much else is going on in our household, it’s just going to be getting ready to move for a while. We’ve been very fortunate in that regard. None of us have gotten sick, none of us have anything serious going on besides the move.

I think I’m gonna end it here. It’s pretty long already and I’m starting to ramble. Remember to be kind to everyone you meet, and that you are loved more than you know!!