weekending

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. I hope you had a good weekend! Before I get started with today's post, I've noticed that some of you have said you're locked out of the comments. Does anyone know why this would be the case? Is it because you're using your phone to read my blog? Or are you using a lap or desk top? I'd love to know your thoughts; I haven't changed any settings on my end, and I make it to where anyone and everyone can comment, because if I ever receive spam comments, I just delete them as soon as I see them. Someone help, please! Thanks in advance. Now, back to the post for today...

I thought I'd talk about the very whirlwind of a trip that Todd and I took on Thursday to get Noah moved into his new (to him) apartment. 

Thursday morning I walked over to my neighbor's house to feed their dogs, and took these two pictures right below. 

This trailer was loaded the night before, and just waiting on us to leave that afternoon after work. I took this picture of Noah's car parked on the street on his last morning waking up in a bed while he still lived in our home. It's funny, how things hit you; I keep expecting to hear him coming home at night! It'll take some time for me to get used to the fact that not only does he not live at home anymore, but that he lives two states away. (He's about 7 hours away from us.) 

He posted this and I took a screenshot. As he drove outside of Memphis, he talked to my mom, and all of his brothers, making them promise to come for a visit sometime this summer. 

 

And this was my view as we drove. I cried as he said his goodbyes at home, and I needed to pull it together, so I put my earbuds in and listened to the latest Big Boo Cast. Nobody has the ability to make me laugh like Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson. 

For the rest of most of the drive, I listened to an Audible book, but I'll share about that next week in our Share Your Shelf link-up party that's all about books. 

We made it to Texas around seven that night, and I took the opportunity for some pictures.

Noah is our youngest son, born two minutes after his twin brother Jonah. He's so tall! He's 6'2 and I find it hilarious that our tallest son drives the smallest car. Noah has never wanted a truck, like the rest of his brothers. He's always been our son to march to his own drumbeat. I love this about him! I won't talk about the wretched Dallas traffic even at ten o'clock at night, but we did finally make it to our hotel just around eleven fifteen, and crashed. Noah had gone straight to the apartment after one last stop together for gas. Todd and I both took quick showers and almost immediately fell asleep once we hit the pillows. 

I was up by five something, so I had some time with Jesus while Todd slept in a bit more. Once he woke up, I made myself a cup of coffee and got dressed for the day. I dressed comfortably for the ride home that day. We were out of the hotel by 7:45 and at Noah's apartment fifteen minutes later. (Our hotel was in Plano, and he lives in Carrollton.)

Here's their apartment! His best friend is Jacob, whom he's been best friends with since about the ninth grade. They have matching tattoos on their wrists, of three crosses, which I find both really sweet and also funny. They'd lost touch for a while when Jacob started dating a girl that he ended up proposing to, and when he moved to the Dallas area. They ended up splitting up, though, and after a heartfelt apology on Jacob's end for dropping his friendship with Noah for a while (Noah never liked the girl he was dating), he invited Noah down for the weekend, and then also asked him to move in with him when Noah decided to move to that area. This was already Noah's plan, whether or not he knew anyone in Dallas, but I do think it definitely sped up the timing with which he was going to move. 

I completely understand this reasoning of Noah's, and we fully supported him, so long as he knew he had to have the money saved up to be out on his own. Noah wanted to do one last thing to his car that was expensive, so after he did that back in March, he started saving most of the money he made, with the exception of paying his bills. We feel confident that he had (has) enough to get him started on his own; it helps that he won't be paying much in rent for now until he gets on his feet again with his new job, which he starts this week. 

His job is for a valet company that will have him at one specific restaurant; our son Drew did this for a while as well, and there is really good money to be made in this kind of work. That is even more the case in Dallas, because it's such an affluent area. This is what Jacob does as well, and the company that he works for does withhold taxes, which makes Todd and me feel better. (Drew's company that he worked for did not withhold taxes, but instead he just put back about $20 for every $100 that he made so that he wouldn't be hit with any penalties.) 

Another big reason why Noah wanted to make this move is because he wants to start his own vinyl car wrap business. There is a huge market for this kind of thing in the Dallas area, and the more that time goes on, the more popular vinyl wraps are becoming. They're less expensive than painting a vehicle, they're more durable, and they're easier and more affordable to change. Noah already has some experience in this, in doing this for both his own vehicle and a few smaller jobs that other people paid him for. It helped us send him off, knowing that he has a plan like this. I am so proud of him for knowing what he wants to do and just going after it, and Todd is as well. 

Todd and I talked on the way home about how we're kind of envious of Noah for getting out of Memphis. We're stuck here for now, but we would love to live somewhere else someday. Back to Noah and his big move...

They had the trailer unloaded in thirty minutes. We spent another thirty minutes there afterward, so that Todd could help them put the futon back together and get the feet attached to Noah's tv, but we wanted to get started on our way back home. We also wanted to give Noah and Jacob the whole day to organize and figure out where his things would go, because their apartment is teeny tiny. 🤣

The little kitchen area...

... they have a great little patio! I gave them the idea of us giving them something as a type of housewarming gift like we did for Drew and like we'll do for Graham and Jonah someday. Patio chairs are a great idea, in my mind, for the times when it's cooler outside. I sent Noah a lot of ideas, and he said he would let me know what they need most. The good thing is that Jacob already had a lot of things, so Noah didn't have to take much with him. 

Here was the finished apartment after they spent the entire day organizing, cleaning, and decorating. Most of the things you see on the walls were Noah's from his room here at home. I'm so proud of him, though! I didn't know that decorating was anything he enjoyed, but he took great pride in showing me lots of pictures and videos. He's most proud of the closet they're sharing; his hoodies are his favorite clothing items, and they're hung neatly on nice hangers in rainbow order. He is definitely mine!

After hugs, goodbyes, and a few tears on my end (I have always hated saying goodbye to people and cry every time I have to say it to someone I love), we were back on the road heading out of the Dallas area. 

We stopped at Buc-ee's to top off our gas and for one last restroom break, then we stopped two more times before making it back home around 4:30 that afternoon. We were gone for twenty-five hours in total! Talk about a whirlwind of a trip; this is why I was falling asleep in my chair at 8 p.m. that night. Todd lost his mind and rode a shift with the sheriff's department that night! 

While we were gone...

Jonah painted his (new) room; he took over the bigger bedroom that Noah had been using. When we first moved into our home twenty years ago, Graham and Drew shared this room. Their twin beds went on that wall you see to the right of this bed, both beds along the walls with a nightstand in the middle. When Graham turned sixteen, he asked for a bigger bed, so that year both he and Drew got queen sized beds, and Graham went to the biggest room, which also used to be our playroom. (He was the oldest, so this was the reasoning behind that decision.) Drew had this room to himself until he moved out, and Jonah told Noah that he could have it, because for a long time, Jonah loved having the smallest bedroom in the house; he insisted that it was easier to keep it clean. 

Now that Noah has moved out, Jonah made the switch to this room, and his old room will be the mancave that belongs to my hubby. We put our treadmill (that used to live in our bedroom) in there, and Todd bought a small minimalistic desk and will add an office chair. He hung the tv on Saturday, and I cleaned our bedroom really well from top to bottom, and rearranged just a little, now that I have more space again.

It felt so good to work on cleaning the house on Saturday! I had decided to stay home on this day, because I was tired from being in a car for two days in a row. I'm so glad I decided this, because for the entire day, I either cleaned out cabinets or cleaned and organized things. I started the morning doing that in our laundry room, then I moved upstairs and vacuumed, then cleaned out my lingerie chest; I moved that back to the corner of our bedroom once the treadmill was out, then I cleaned our ceiling, the fan, our bedroom walls; I dusted all the furniture, cleaned our bathroom, and then vacuumed once more upstairs. Later that day, I also cleaned and vacuumed the downstairs. I loved having the whole house clean! I love it when each room gets done on the same day; those days are few and far between it seems like. 

Yesterday was church, then Todd rode a shift that night. While he was gone, I cleaned up in the backyard and then I did this:

...while I listened to this book on Audible. 

Are you familiar with Jennie Allen? I love her! She's been the co-host of Candace Cameron Bure's podcast this year, and is an author and Bible study teacher. Speaking of Bible study, I am taking this as an online Bible study over the summer. I cannot wait to dig into this subject more, but this is an excellent book. Consider if your sneak peak for all the books I've read this month and will share about next Thursday June 6th. Speaking of that, here's our graphic for that if you want to join in with us next week.

What did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I'll see you back here tomorrow! Love to all.

Jenn 💚

I'm linking up with Holly, Sarah, and Joanne for today's post.