Work Worth Doing

So I've had this scripture rolling around in my head for a while: "Do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy" (2 Nephi 9:51). What is of worth, and what will satisfy? Where will my time and efforts be best spent?

I'm still figuring it all out, as I believe the answer changes depending on your circumstances and stage of life, but last weekend was very satisfying. A friend in the neighborhood offered us the cherries from her sour cherry tree, so we spend a couple hours picking a cooler full. I then spent the bulk of the day processing them: most went into cherry pie filling, and the rest were dried or frozen.

The work was long and tedious, but ultimately very satisfying in a way that's hard to describe without being trite. It felt real, and practical, and worthwhile. My family would not have starved or suffered if we had not done these things, but I like knowing how to do these things, how to be resourceful and self-sufficient.

Plus it was physical work. I spend so much of my time at a desk in what is a very mental work. Physical labor like gardening and yard work and pitting 20 lbs of cherries is a refreshing change from that. If my work were primarily physical, would I crave mental labors? Probably.

I feel very blessed that I have both options. Balance and variety makes for a happy Heidi.

Vacation Highlights

Cape Blanco Beach

We just got back from our first family vacation to the Redwoods and Cape Blanco. I was going to dump a lot of photos, but then I figured I'd just hit the highlights and focus on my favorite memories.

I was a little concerned about it being just the three of us. Would we get tired of each other? Would Atticus get too stir crazy in the car? Would we get tired of nature and regret staying out of the city? And I'm happy to report that the answer to all three is a resounding NO. Sure, we each had our grumpy moments, but notwithstanding it was a lovely trip.

Cheese Beaver

There was a LOT of driving, but we packed plenty of snacks and listened to Harry Potter audiobooks. I wasn't sure how long they'd keep Atticus's attention, but he was really interested. And he stayed in a good mood, playing with his toys and listening. In contrast, the day we let him watch videos on the iPad was his worst day. He was so grumpy when we had to pause the videos, and he stayed grumpy for a while afterward. Lesson learned: iPad is a last resort. We didn't use it at all on the way home.

Here was our route:
Day 1: Salt Lake to Reno
Day 2: Reno to Arcata, with a stop at Subway Cave
Day 3: Redwoods
Day 4: Arcata to Cape Blanco, with stops at "Trees of Mystery" and Ocean World
Day 5: Cape Blanco
Day 6: Cape Blanco to Reno (longest car day)
Day 7: Reno to Salt Lake

This is one tree, with the center burned out. 

Thoughts on the Redwoods: Lots and lots of big trees. The camera just can't capture the size of the trees and the beauty of the groves. We did the Tall Trees Grove, which is restricted to 50 cars a day and is one of the longer, more strenuous family-friendly hikes. I was a little worried about my ankle, but I wore my serious brace and had no problems. Later we did Fern Canyon, with lots of climbing over fallen tree trunks and jumping over streams.

I loved encouraging Atticus to explore and climb (within limits, of course). In Fern Canyon he said, "I'm a complicated dude. I like doing complicated things." I know what he means. I like doing complicated things, too. It thrills my little heart to do it and see it in Atticus.

"Trees of Mystery" Paul Bunyan kitsch. Fun for the kids. The sky ride is worth the price of admission.

Cape Blanco Beach

Not surprisingly, the beach was everyone's favorite. Even though it was cloudy and chilly most of the time. Give Atticus a shovel and some sand, and he's in heaven. The beach ball kept blowing away, but Atticus liked to chase it down.

We made a really impressive drip castle with an arch tunnel below, but it finally caved in. Atticus won for tiniest arch. He was pretty proud of that.

We walked down to the monolith, which was probably about a mile. Atticus and James raced, and Atticus biffed it pretty hard when he tried to trip James so he'd lose. Serves him right.... We collected shells and driftwood in Atticus's bucket on the way, and we brought a bunch of them home. We even found a bit of driftwood in the shape of an A, for Atticus.

 If you look closely you can see James and Atticus down there.

Most of the time we were alone on the beach. An older couple came down with a camera and a dog while we were making drip castles, but they walked to the monolith and back before we were done. When we got back to our stuff another family had come down, but then we left them alone on the beach. Beaches like that invite solitude: long and rugged and untamed. I would have felt crowded with other families near us.

On the other side of the cape. I was hoping for more tide pools, but we just got seaweed.

It was a little tricky to find the balance between encouraging adventure and keeping the boy safe. Lots of rocks to climb on, but also some pretty strong waves.

He stood here watching the waves for a long time. He'd play tag with them some, but mostly he just stood and watched. I think he gets it. He's a boy after my own heart.

Final thoughts: I don't think we'll do this trip like this again. As I kept reminding Atticus, this trip was to figure out what we liked so we can come back and do those things again. Next time I'd like to combine the Redwoods and the beach in one location. A lady at the hotel told us about Trinidad, a little coastal town just north of Arcata that has nice beaches and restaurants and tide pools. Great ocean views, but still close to the Redwoods. Less driving, more doing. I'm all for it. I've already looked into renting a beach house. Anyone want to come with?

Drama Week

We've had our fair share of drama this week. The most frightening being when our neighbor Kaden was hit by a car outside of school. He's ok, but it was still terrifying. We carpool with Kaden, a third grader, so Atticus was standing on the curb with Kaden's stepdad, Mick, when Kaden ran out into the crosswalk. The first car had seen Kaden holding a flag and stopped, but the second car didn't. And since Kaden was running, she didn't have time to stop. According to witnesses, he flew pretty far when he was hit, and then landed on his wrist. He has a broken wrist and road rash on his face, but no internal or brain injuries. Lucky, lucky, blessed boy.

Mick immediately ran to Kaden, leaving Atticus alone on the curb. Other adults there took care of my now-hysterical boy and started leading him to the office when a friend of ours from our last ward found him. She called me and stayed with him until I arrived.

Atticus had calmed down by the time I arrived and was acting normal, if a bit restless. He didn't want to talk about the accident, so I told him he could talk about it when he was ready. We drove home in silence, then picked up James and headed to the library. As we were walking in to the library, James said, "You don't need to talk about it now, but sometime tonight I'm going to want you to tell me what happened and what you saw." Atticus nodded. A minute later he said, "Dad, if you want to know what happened, I'm available now." So he told us about it. He'd thought Kaden was dead. He was scared and alone on the curb, but people helped him. He was visibly relieved when I got the report from the hospital that Kaden would be ok.

Whenever we talked to Mick, his first concern was for Atticus. He felt horrible that he'd had to leave him like that, but what choice did he have? We assured him he was fine. The school and his teachers were very kind to Atticus, too. When the school brought Kaden balloons and cards, they brought a big balloon for Atticus as well.

Oh, and all of this happened the day before I went in for surgery. Veronica, Kaden's mom, was going to take the boys to school, pick them up, and keep Atticus for us until I got home. Slight change of plans... But it all worked out perfectly. My surgery was scheduled later than expected, so I was able to take Atticus to school. James was able to leave early to pick him up. And my parents were already in Salt Lake with my sister who had also had surgery the day before, so they picked me up and took me home.

Now I'm hobbling around on a sore ankle (removed my hardware from the accident) and a tender tummy (gall bladder removal). Eating pudding and funeral potatoes. Could be a lot worse.

So that was our week. How was yours?

This week's Atticus-isms

Presented with minimal context:

"How much does it cost to change your name?" (he wants to be called Frodo James Bennett)

"Let's go to McDonalds. It has crap food."

"Mom! My butt looks like the eye of Sauron!"

They accepted our offer!!

Ours was actually the second offer they received, the first being from an investor with a low bid. I'm glad we moved as quickly as we did, and I wonder whether meeting the owner tipped the scales in our favor.

Clearly nothing's final, but they want to close by October 23rd. Unless we get someone eager to take over our jobs as managers here, we probably won't move until the end of November so we can take our time painting and moving stuff, deciding what to take and what to sell.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I sketched out a furniture arrangement for the living room. Of course it requires selling our current couches, so we'll see if James buys into my ideas. We could move in with what we have, though, and that's a nice feeling.

But first we have to inspect the house and actually get a loan. One step at a time, Heidi. :)

House Update 2

Long story short: we made an offer on a house. It feels a little sudden, but we and our realtor (Tim) feel good about it.

Long story long: I walked through the "cute but small and overpriced" house with Tim yesterday. (The previous contract fell through.) I promised James I'd go with a critical eye, and I did. It's small. It's old. The wallpaper is bubbling, and the bathroom is cramped and inconveniently located. I'm still in love with the dining room, but seeing the current residents' stuff crammed into every closet made me rethink the lack of storage space. Then last night we talked about our desire to stay in the ward. We have good friends here who seem like they'll be around for a while, but there is so much turnover here that it's a big risk to stay for people who very likely could leave in the next 10 years. 

After dinner we decided to drive by a house I've been looking at in Rose Park. It's been recently remodeled, but when Tim tried to make an appointment he found out that a break in the sprinkler line had flooded the basement, so the house is off the market until that gets fixed. A little further south on the same street was another house for sale, so James got out to get a flier. The man in the yard next door came over and told him that he had just put his house (this white one) on the market Thursday, and he asked us to consider it. Atticus was asleep in the car, so we didn't go inside, but I got the MLS # and called Tim. Standing on that street at dusk felt very comfortable, compared to how I felt on the other street with sketchy houses and big dogs. It could be nice to have actual neighbors.

This morning we all walked through the cute but small house so James could see it, then drove over to see this house. What a contrast! It's not huge, but it's a nice layout, and the basement is fully finished. It's listed as a 4 bedroom, but there are really only three that I'd consider bedrooms. The real clincher is the second bathroom downstairs and the price. The house we picked up a flier for has two bedrooms and 3/4 of a bath (shower, no tub) and a shelf basement for the same price. It has a newer roof and kitchen, but for our needs that doesn't compensate for the smaller house.

The back yard has three mature trees, one that looks great for climbing, and a nice-sized garden space. You can't tell very well in the photos, but the neighbors have an AMAZING garden. I wonder if they'd be willing to mentor us??

Tim was a little concerned that this was only the second house we'd looked at, but I've been watching real estate online for a couple years, so I know what houses generally cost and how much work a lower-cost house usually would need, even just cosmetically. But with this house, we wouldn't need to do anything before moving in. We'd want to repaint the pink bedroom, but that's really it. Everything else is lovely. I'd like to have a bigger dining space, but we will fit in the kitchen.

Anyway, we will know tomorrow night or Monday morning whether they accept our offer, and if all goes well we'll close by the end of October. It makes me giddy to think how low our mortgage will be compared to what we were willing to spend. And how we'll still have a good chunk of savings left over when we're done with all initial costs.

I keep reminding myself that they still have to accept our offer, and that this all may fall through pending inspection etc. I'm ok with that. There are other houses. And the next one might have a dining room. We're in no hurry, but this was too good to pass up. I'll keep you posted.

House update

So the house is under contract with another buyer. I wasn't overly confident we'd get it, but it was such a tantalizing option. The funny thing, though, is that I really really wanted it when it was available, but now that it's not, I'm not that upset about it.

We got preapproved from our lenders for $50K above our budget, so we do have some wiggle room if we can't find something we love in our price range. But there are plenty of homes in our price range, so I'm not concerned.

We're still not sure this is the time to buy, but we do have enough saved for a down payment. I guess we're in the more actively-looking phase.