It's midnight... June First.. Why am I awake? My bed is right behind me, my kids are snoring in their room, I'm yawning and listening to the soundtrack of The Hobbit.
I'm awake because I work. I'm not the shining example of a perfectly ordered, timeline-genius mom. If someone ever said that about me, assume I've been kidnapped and they're begging for help.
I stay up too late most nights, crawling into bed at two, three, sometimes even four in the morning. I'm awake by eight am, where I drink coffee like it's the only thing keeping me on my feet. (It normally is.) But when I can check my morning emails and see three or five different notifications about commissions I've made off my work the night before? WORTH. IT. Cause that means I can spend the day with my kiddos, skateboarding, watching cat videos on TikTok, or getting boba tea because we can.
Do I get commissions every single day? Nope. Do I work every single night? Also no. Are they directly linked? Also no. Some people love the hustle and grind. I'm not one of them. But I know I have to work, because I have financial goals to meet, for my own peace of mind. Because my kids deserve so much more. We haven't had an easy life, there's been a lot of moves, a lot of lost opportunities because of lack of finances, but you know what? We're finally able to fix that.
My biggest thing was I didn't want to have a job that demanded to be more important to me than my kids. Do I sometimes tell them I have to work and let them go do their own thing? Absolutely. They need to remember I have a life outside of them, and one day they will have a life outside of me. For now, when I need to work, they can go torment their sibling. It's why they have a sibling. Just Kidding! (...kinda...)
I am super excited to go to my version of CandyLand with the kids later today though. My mom is tagging along as well, cause we're going to Bass Pro.
Oh, I know that's not what you were expecting but for me? Home Depot, Lowes, Bass Pro, Cabela's, any gardening store, REI, Half-Price Books... Any of those stores? I should not be left unsupervised in any of the above named places, neither should my kids. It's a bad idea...
But I digress, we have to go scout out some new camping chairs and sleeping pads, and then we will either get them tomorrow or see if we can find them a bit cheaper online. Just because I have money to spend, doesn't mean I don't love my deals and discounts. The kids will want some new fishing lures, I will spend too much time going over recurve bows and bowie knives. (I love all things sharp and pointy, don't judge.) And my mom will get distracted by cast iron dutch ovens. It's just how we are.
I'm reading back over this and realize we sound absolutely insane, like a bunch of survivalists, and while we could survive quite easily, it's more that we just appreciate the old way of doing things. Another reason we're moving out of the city and towards the country. But to travel for a while with the kids, it's going to be amazing!
The kids are going to sit down with me and start plotting our road trip line, where they want to stop, what sites they want to see. First leg is heading to the coast, probably Florida, my youngest keeps talking about seeing manatees. So I guess we will do that!
If I find anything really good at the store tomorrow, I'll be sure to post it for you guys!
I'd say I'm off to get some sleep but I have time for a few more emails and such.
Till next time,
--Amie and The Boys