I have been distracted . . .

I have spent the past week focused on getting our youngest son moved out of our house and into his apartment.  It was a sudden move decision as the right apartment at the right price became available so he snatched it right away.  The problem is that we weren’t quite ready for the move.  His plan was to move out in January.  

Being unprepared we had to come up with some furnishings, get the utilities hooked up, arrange to get things moved in, buy groceries, and so on.  Then, there is a disaster in his former bedroom.  He has left stuff behind that he doesn’t want – mostly papers and things from his closet, drawers and under the bed and well, if you have ever parented a boy, you know what I am talking about.  Then he was around 3 weeks behind in washing his clothes so while he was moving in to his new apartment, I was trying to get his laundry done.  It has been fun and I am playing catch up.

He is moved in now and is getting used to living on his own.  Tonight I fielded a few phone calls from him on how to cook his supper.  I had to take him one of my large skillets as the skillet he had wasn’t big enough for what he wanted to make.  I needed a new skillet anyway.

 

As we moved him in I marveled at the simple things that were making him happy.  He had his mattress and box springs from his old room.  We purchased a basic metal frame for him.  I refused to let him take the sleigh bed from his bedroom here at our house as that will now be a guest room.  So I paid $94.00 for a heavy duty bed frame for him.  Luckily that “$25.00 off a purchase of $49.99” or more coupon from a local furniture store came in handy.  I’m glad I hung onto it.  Now I will need to purchase a new mattress set for our “guest room.”  This can wait until January when mattresses are on sale at their lowest prices of the year. 

We gave him an old love seat, recliner, end table and desk that we had been saving for him.  He could use a table for his kitchen, but insists that he could get by with a card table.  I have a card table in our basement that I use to sort laundry on, but I could give it up for him to use. 

His grandparents gave him a set of Corelle dishes.  We purchased some other basic kitchen supplies along with a $20 set of 3 pots and 1 small skillet.  He has the basics.  

Again, I want to emphasize how happy he is to have a place of his own with the basics.  This has caused me to feel uncomfortable with the stuff in our house.  I need to donate more of the items we don’t need or use. 

The other thing I noticed was how conscious he is of money now.  His thermostat is set at the low range (he has electric heat).  He told me that he is taking shorter showers and get this, he yelled at me for keeping his freezer door open too long.  I was looking at the icemaker.   We don’t have an icemaker and it kind of intrigued me. 

It would seem that when you have to pay your own utilities you tend to become frugal.  What a great kid!  He has learned something from his mother. 

Now I can get back on track with my household chores, get that old room of his cleaned and made into a guest room and work on my new price book.  Except there is one more thing I am dealing with:   our old dog, Griffey, has cancer and is dying.  We found this out last week.  She has cancer, and is losing weight.  The vet prescribed a mild pain killer for her and it has made her disposition happier.  She is able to move and can be taken on walks, but the end result is that we will have to put her to sleep at some point.  This is sad but we have time to say our good byes to her.  I spend time petting her and stroking her and talking to her.  I am taking her on some short walks on the local recreation trail so that she can get out on the trails in the woods and enjoy all the smells that a dog enjoys.

I am making her homemade dog food per the vet’s advice.  Actually it looks pretty good.  The recipe calls for 1 can of green beans, 1 can of yellow wax beans, 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 1 can of carrots, cooked potatoes, some rice and some hamburger meat.  I have quadrupled this recipe and been freezing it in meal sized portions. 

I am going through a lot of changes in my life right now and it can be hard to see our youngest leave home, yet it is wonderful to see him thrive living on his own.  At the same time it is hard to say goodbye to our old beloved black lab and yet we have wonderful memories of her as a great family dog. 

Life can be happy and sad at the same time.  But I can honestly say at this moment, Life is good.