Yes, you read the title correctly, Moving….. Camping…. And Dishes in the Tub…..  So let’s see, where shall I start.  How about with the moving part!  So yes, we moved. YET AGAIN.  Not by choice, but rather by necessity.  That is not the point, the point is I HATE MOVING.  Rather, packing, I think I truly despise it.  Anyone else share my sentiments about the daunting chore?  All I know, well rather I don’t know, is how we accumulated so much STUFF.  Yes, stuff, like so much, like more than I care to admit, like an embarrassing amount of stuff.

Between when Spencer moved here, and I moved a year later from our home in California, somewhere along the way it feels as if the stuff doubled, tripled, heck quadrupled for that matter.  And when we would pack and take one load from the one place to the new place, it felt as if more STUFF would appear.  This felt like that Mad Hatter seen in Alice in Wonderland, it was something.  But thankfully it’s over now.  Did I mention- I am not unpacking anything while we are at the new place……  I literally only unpacked our clothes, about 3 kitchen boxes and that is IT.  The garage is nicely organized with walkable rows full of the rest of our JUNK, yes I called it junk.  Can you tell I am still bitter.  And as a recovering type A, OCD goon I had to have neat straight rows.  Bless the Cow Boss’s heart.  He humored my craziness through the whole ordeal.  Oh and I almost forgot to mention, that every single day  we took loads to the new house it rained, hailed, and thunderstormed.  Yup, AWESOME.

Now as for the camping, the house we are staying in, is just a pit stop until our next destination arrives.  Sometimes in life, I have learned it is best to stay flexible.  For then you won’t be bent out of shape.  The house WAS, in the stage of being remodeled, since it is the retirement home for my mom and her husband.  Well, when you live in a town the size of a map dot, sometimes finding a place to move into and rent can be tough when you only have 30 days.  So thankfully this was available to us.  But as I said it was in the remodel stage.  Well lets be real, it was in the beginning of the remodel stage, the completely gutted stage.  No floors, no sink, no stove, one toilet, one bath tub, no second bathroom, no lights or fixtures in the house, and the water was turned off…..  This is when you hear that creepy music in the horror movie you are watching play.  Which when you are going to retire, and have time to remodel, and have a fun retirement project, that sounds like no big deal.  But when you have about two weeks to GET OUT, insert CAMPING.  So yes, the first few days or weeks in the new humble abode was a bit of a camp site.  And we all know how much I love to camp.  And if you don’t know how much it thrills me let me remind you…… my idea of camping is a hotel without room service, with a view of the mountains.  Just kidding, well seriously.  So we camped.  And the house, well lets just say it kind of has a sick and twisted sense of humor.  Kind of like Pandora’s Box.  Not Funny, but I think we got er licked now.

Now as for the dishes in the tub, yup it happened.  Since the kitchen was first on the to-do list, I, Jessica Anderson, am guilty of washing dishes in the tub.  Everyone ought to try it once in their life.  It’s actually quite fun.   Very grounding, no pun intended.

Step 1. Put bath mat on the floor.

Step 2.  Turn tub water on and kneel, prayer style, down on the bath mat.

Step 3.  Wash dishes.  Being careful to not get a funky kink in your neck or back.

Step 4.  Walk dishes across house to dish strainer, that is set up on top of a plastic picnic table, where kitchen cabinets should be.

And that my friends is how you wash dishes in the tub.  For about the first month it was a lot of bbq, one plate wonders, microwave veggies, you know the easy stuff.  Actually made my ranch wife duties in the kitchen pretty simple.  Now, we have the newest fanciest kitchen I have ever had the chance to cook in.  Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.  But hey, it will make a great story to tell kids one day!

So friends, I am pleased to announce we are making our way from camping to the Ritz Carlton.  We have a kitchen, two working bathrooms, lights (some even have remotes- FANCY, I know), and running water.  No worries here.  In fact it has been a humbling and probably a much needed blessing.  I got rid of our satellite tv, just internet so I can work, plenty of old movies via DVD, and of course Netflix.  They say perspective is everything, and this chapter has definitely given us the opportunity to either embrace the suck, or whine about soggy cheerios.  We have decided to welcome the disconnect with open arms.  The breeze blows threw the house at night like you wouldn’t believe, its peaceful in the morning when I read my book, the pups can run around outside with no worries of the farm hands whizzing by, and the horses are just out the back door.  No more ranch housing for this outfit.  That’s a whole other chapter!  Things are actually really good.  Though moving is inconvenient, and camping is my least favorite, washing dishes in the tub has taught me that God really is good.  He gives us strength beyond what we can conceive and this is exactly where we need to be to get where he wants us to go.  Embrace the season you are in, because it too shall pass.  So friends, here’s to kneeling in prayer and being thankful there is at least a toilet and tub.  Stay in the middle, and don’t forget to smile.