Ireland Bound!

Y’all, in two weeks I am headed to Ireland!

As part of my sister’s college graduation, she’s the last one of us to graduate, my dad and stepmom have put together a family trip to Ireland. My dad, stepmom, my brother and his wife, my younger brother and sister, Hubs and myself are the travel party. My dad and stepmom have done this trip twice before, but it’s been about 20 years. They fully expect this third time to live up to their memories of their previous trips.

The plan is for us to fly to Shannon and then hike in Galway. The trip is a hiking trip! But, it’s the best kind! It’s the kind where your belongings are sent ahead and you hike through the Irish countryside, stopping for a picnic, then hike to the bed and breakfast. You get to bed and breakfast for teatime and then you have a few hours to clean up and relax in your room where your things are waiting for you. Then you head to the a local pub for dinner and a Guinness. Off to bed and then do it again the next day!

We will hike about 7-11 miles, about 4-6 hours, each day. We will do this for five days. Hubs and I are excited because we have been wanting to do a hiking trip like this since Machu Picchu. This one will be nice because we have learned a lot since then and we won’t have to carry so much. And bonus: no stairs! The Inca roads and stairs were amazing, but even now five years later my knees ache thinking about them.

I’ll be sure to post once we get back with some awesome stories and gorgeous pictures.

What are y’all doing this summer? Let me know in the comments below!
Whatever you do, please be safe and have fun!

-Sarah

Trailer Trash

This semester has been all go, go, go! I now have 3 jobs. I tutor a group of kids through the local tennis organization and I teach English online to kids in China. On top of that, Hubs and I have quite a few new projects happening. We have: the never-ending master bathroom remodel, the new 15 acre property we want to build on (and I mean WE build, more on that later), and lastly the 25 foot 2008 Pioneer camper.

This camper. Hubs found it on Facebook marketplace and texted me about it. I replied, “Cute!” He replied, “I’m going to buy it,” about 45 minutes later. He didn't mean eventually, he might he was on his way. It was for sale for $2,500 and looked to be a good shape. The owner said it had previous water damage but they fixed it. When I first walked inside it smelled a little musty, but everything has a fresh new coat of paint and was pretty clean. Hubs showed me in the bedroom where the water had leaked in causing the ceiling to bow a bit. That’s easy enough to replace. 

A few days later Hubs decides to tear out the warped piece of ceiling. Previous damage my butt! The insulation was soaked from the prior day’s rain. He ripped down more, soaked, Ripped down the wall to find rotted wood frame and dripping insulation. Following the dripping water we found water pooled under the flooring. Great. We rip it all out and find the source of the leak. It’s where it had been “fixed” along the front roof edge. 

Finding out it was not old damage

Water pooled under the floor

Over the course of the past few weeks Hubs has, with very little help from me or anyone else, reframed the floor, wall, and ceiling, replaced the front roof piece, insulated most of the flooring, and stripped the old, deteriorated sealant off the roof. I’m sure there has been a lot more work gone into this project, but i’m not really a detail person. My dad has been kind enough to allow us to park and renovate this trailer outside his barn.

Two roofers hard at work

Why even buy a camper? Well, we wanted something to travel in and take the dogs. The van trip from 2017 was a little cramped with all four of us. Our puppers are getting older and we want to explore places with them while we can. The main reason was to park on our new property so we had somewhere comfortable to stay for the weekend while we prepped the land for building and farming. It’s not a far drive, but we’d get a lot more accomplished by staying there. And a camper would be much easier than a tent with the dogs. 

Hello!

Our little piece of paradise

I'll keep you all updated on the camper's progress. In the meantime I'll see if Hubs and I can come up with a name for it (her?).  Until then!

-Sarah-

Real Connections

I think about this concept of "real connections" often. That thought process eventually leads me to some questions. Should I delete my social media? Should I focus on my life right here, and right now? Why am I on social media? Is it just for the attention? Is it to share the experiences I've having and to relate to those around me?

I see a lot on the news about people not having real connections. About this generation of Millennials and younger having trouble carrying on conversations talking on the phone talking to people face-to-face whatever it is. I used to be really good at that kind of stuff. Now, I avoid eye-contact and can't spell for anything without spellcheck. I have "friends" on these sites, but are they friends? I never feel the need to call or talk to friends because I know what they're up to thanks to social media. Is that considered friendship skills these days or just stalking?

It makes me think, what are real connections? Could I continue living the life I have now without my phone? Without Facebook? Without Instagram? Without this blog? If I got rid of those, how the people around me treat me? Does it matter? Is it bad that I worry about people's judgement over me on if I have those sites or not?

It's so expected for everyone to have social media. You hear all the time phrases like, "Didn't you see that on Facebook?" or, "Can you see that on Instagram?" "Didn't you read that on Twitter?" And sometimes I really want my answer to be no. I want to know what's going on because that person talks to me, not because I saw it on their page.

Then other times I think, "This picture is really great.  I want everyone to see it! I want everyone to know that I've been here, that I've done this thing!" But then my husband asked me, why? And that's really hard to answer. Is it just show off all that I'm doing? Is it to make those around me jealous? Is it just show that I can compete in this world were all these people are doing these great things? I have to constantly check myself and remember that people really don't want to know every thought in my head or see every picture I take of my dogs. I started this blog to focus on my travels.Those are the memories worth sharing. Not that I went out to dinner with Hubs.

You have to remember that people only post the highlights of their life. People don't post the crappy part. People don't post the failures. People don't post the personal revolutions unless it's something profound and life-changing. So, why am I out there? Why am I putting myself out there? Why does so much of my life depend on how many likes I get or how many loves I get or how many comments I get? I don't mind keeping a blog. It's almost like an online diary like Xanga was. Do you remember Xanga? Do you remember Myspace? Everything becomes so dated. Sometimes I find myself only keeping Facebook just because it is one of the only means I have to keep in touch with some people. But does it enhance my life? Does it really make those friendship stronger? I honestly don't think so.

I fully plan, that by the time I'm 30 I will be off of social media (aside from this blog and my Etsy page.) I like writing on here and posting about trips I take to whomever the audience is. It could just be me, my grandma, my mom. Those, to me, are the thoughts worth sharing and remembering. How can I have good friendships, a good marriage, and be a good dog mom if I'm always on my phone? I want to live my life for the moment, not for the question of how many "likes" I can get.

As always,

-Sarah-