February Musings

 This little life of mine here in middle Tennessee is moving all over the place. Okay, so the word moving is etched in my brain this year. ETCHED! It's been a year of moving. Moving us here, moving Jen and Serg into their new place, moving into my sister's house for a bit, moving Boo and Grady to their new place, moving back into this house, moving my dad in his new place, moving our stuff to and from storage, moving our stuff from the camper to the house and now back to the camper, just moving, so. much. moving! And it's not done yet.

 T and I are in the midst of a pretty big build/remodel. After looking at more than enough homes in town, we finalized that we ARE indeed staying put in our home, which led to how to make this sweet place suitable for us, which led to more conversations than I can count with the words "build and remodel" smattered in, which led to us meeting our son's friend who became our fabulous contractor, which led to all new flat work around the house and a new garage/shop, which led to remodeling the house here in the next 8 weeks, which led to this here post. 

Why you ask?  Cause as I sit in the sunroom that is either very cold or very hot but won't be, mind you, once this amazing room is torn down and redone, I'm looking outside at the snow on the ground pondering how much we have left to do before we say, "We are settled".  Oh those words... soon, just not super de duper soon. 

This is the garage and patio cover build. Both are coming along nicely. We can't wait to hang out outside this year with the family. Lots of bbqs to come! 

Miss Valerie! We facetime Bec, Brock and Miss Valerie often. Sweet girl!  This is her cute dino from Gma and Gpa this Valentine's Day. We miss them greatly and can't wait to meet little man soon!

This is me on the regular sending photos to T. "What about this?" Home Depot and Amazon love us right now. 😁

This picture↑ and this picture↓ are some of our favorite moments since we moved to Tennessee! And our Why. 💜

And this here... the JOY that fills our heart to see our son help build a place we call home with his own two hands. See, this one here, he's been good with his hands since he was a toddler, building something or fixing something and always smiling in the middle of it all. For a few years, Gabe and Sarahh asked, when are you moving here?  Are you moving here? When are you coming to Tennessee? And now that's it's a reality, and were finally here, to see our son as an integral part of what most likely will be our very last home- ever, WOW. Talk about big emotions. I may start singing Circle of Life. 

Like Grandfather, Like Father, Like Son. enough said. 💗

The Nashville Zoo and cousin time! We had a blast. If you come through the area, definitely worth seeing. 

These two pickles just make me laugh. Memaw and Poppa, that's us. 

Our first Tennessee Valentine's! Who would have thought 36 years after this man of mine proposed to me that we'd be taking a picture in our home in Tennessee. Not me! Yet here we are. T has said many times, The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Amen to that one. 

 

I have pictures of T teaching our own kiddos how to cook. He's patient and quite good in the kitchen. Here he is with our grandson doing the same thing. 💓

A new wine bar opened up in our town square called Hemispheres. We just discovered it! Super cool premise. They rotate wines to different hemispheres quarterly. This quarter was the Northern Hemisphere and next is the Southern. These kinds of finds make a town your town. A place to go and be. We took Cribbage and shared a glass of wine together away from the mess back in our home. Ahhhh. a moment of reprieve. 

And here is the photo that started this here post today. I'm working on little man's half-blanket, using a basket for an ottoman since ours is in storage, dreaming about what will be. 

Soon. 

We Are Home!

Just opened my laptop to work a bit on a few things and decided to hop over here for a quick update. HA! I realized I never posted after the alpacas!

Well, guess what? We made it back to Tennessee safe and sound. It was a busy travel week after the alpaca farm. So now that we're here, what's happening? I should say, what DID happen? 

SOO MUCH!

We lived in a sweet RV park for a few weeks figuring out what's next. We went to the Dominican Republic with my sister and her husband to celebrate her 60th and our 35th anniversary. That was awesome for sure. We moved in with my sister for a short bit, then back on our property in our 5th wheel for another short bit and then into our home with Boo and Grady for a short bit. They found a home they love so now it's just T and I. T's sports car got totaled. The drivers here are scary. And then there was traveling to WA to pick up our new car and getting covid while there. That was fun.😏 After we drove it home, it was Christmas and then the new year! 2025 was a welcome number. Last year had lots more life, and lots more emotion than these few words care to share. 

So moving forward...  Hello 2025! 

We are settling into our new Murfreesboro community. We have a while to go before it feels permanent but were moving that way. Having so many of our children, grands and extended family sure helps. We miss the ones not here, but God has them where they are, for now. 

So what does this year 2025 have to say for itself?

Let's see, we found a church that we are exploring. Waiting a bit longer before we commit to making it our home church, but the teaching is solid, the Spirit of Lord is present in and through the pastor and the people of the church, and folk are saying hello - actually stopping to get to know us. Welcome to the south! Three biggies for me. 

We have a plan for our home which is very good news. After searching tirelessly for another house, not finding anything that checked all our boxes, we truly felt settled in our hearts with our home here as our Tennessee forever home. We love the neighborhood and the yard. Especially the yard! We love the location.  And by golly, we are so done moving. Now to make the actual home something we love instead of something Gramma from the 1980's loved! The bones are good! We are changing things like where the laundry room will be, which wall should come down, all the flooring throughout, etc. So far we have completed things that don't make me feel the warm fuzzies but have been all too necessary. We have a new roof, heater/ac unit, all the hardscape from the driveway to the patio, trees came down, that kind of stuff. The projects that had to happen and before the rest of the remodel. This probably gives you a clear understanding of what we've been doing since we landed in Tennessee last September. I forget how busy we've been, all this planning until I type it on paper.  The big decision was building a garage so we can use the current garage as living space. That began in December. We have a great contractor. He happens to be a friend with our son so that's been fun too. Gabe is involved with the build when he can be, and it's been so wonderful to watch him in his element. Our son has always been good with his hands and now all these years later to see him use his gifting on our home, wow! We're hopeful all of this will be done by summer if not before. Stay tuned for pictures and progress!

2025 also holds more travel in our camper, hopefully mountain biking for T, and the very best of all- a new grandson! I'll be heading to Washington sometime in April to be with Bec, Brock and Valerie for a short while. Can't wait to snuggle with the newest babe! 

For me, well, I am excited to say I will be starting a garden for reals this year and raising chickens. I have so much to learn. I'm scouring the internet, calling people, reading books and have a gardener resource here locally which is my green-thumb brother-in-law Dave. I do hope I can make this happen. 

We are searching for all of the normal things still- favorite restaurants, places to have coffee, doctors, shopping. I am happy to say I don't have to use Maps all the time anymore. HUGE accomplishment for this directionally challenged individual. This part of moving, finding all your favorite haunts, is the part that makes a community become MY community. And this part takes time. A long time really. We became members of a winery here that gorgeous! That's a start. I secretly dream of opening a coffee house and am always on the lookout for a location. Now to find investors!

We are still on a health journey. I am not naive to think I can throw caution to the wind and stay cancer free. So, this month, January 2025, T and I are on a reset. Way too much goodness last fall and my clothes are showing it. Back to the discipline of choosing wisely what to put into our bodies each day. I have continued to purge all the crazy chemical laden products in our home.  We bought a whole house water filter that will be installed with the remodel, and I threw away all my Tupperware storage containers. Let me say, it is not cheap going to glass! That's taking a minute. 

And a bit closer to home, T has been a good sport with losing cycling like he had in Colorado. We are prayerful that God will show us how to include this again in his rhythm of life. And for me, walking the trails was more connected to my heart than I ever realized. The trail system was literally right out our back door. So that's been a huge heart hurt for both of us. And not seeing our friends and community group left a gap that has yet to be filled. I know and believe God fills in the gaps and holes, it just takes time.

So that's all for now. I'll keep writing and filling all y'all in all of our happenings. (How's that for my southern talk) It's not been peaches and creme moving this time around. We're older, we had built our forever home in Colorado and did I mention, we're older. Oy, that has made a big difference this time. We do see God in each step. We do see His goodness and plan unfolding. We do trust Him for his provision, even with friends. He is a good, good Father and said he will never leave us or forsake us. Amen to this. It's so true. 

That's my Reality Check,

Thanks for listening,                                                                                                                               Tina aka Tuna Jones💖

On our way home...Harvest Host

I'm a few weeks off from updating anyone on our trip. We're actually in Tennessee already and trying to sort our life but before I go there, let's rewind to our trip.  

From Park City, Utah to Murfreesboro, Tennessee is a drive. It's even more of a drive pulling a 40 foot RV home behind you. Just now, as I am typing this, am I realizing what we just did. That's a lot of miles for T to drive over a weekend. I took one turn driving for a few hours and that was it. T did the rest! 

We stayed at an alpaca farm one night, a brewery the next night and our friends house the next night.  

It was quite the adventure heading back. Ok that's all you get for this post. HAHA! Enjoy the pictures.

Park City, Utah

 

Sometimes all a girl needs is a McFlurry

Our view one way from the campsite

Our view the other way from the campsite

And here we are in another town. 

We're nearing the end of this part of our journey. Both of us are feeling like it's time to go home and then regroup. I've not been resting well. My emotions are all over the place right now. Processing the loss of Mom is coming in waves. I'm feeling this tsunami of emotions crashing down hard right now that really goes all the way back to my cancer diagnosis last May til now. Lots of life... lots of emotions. I want to call people to say hey but then I'm like, actually, I don't think I have it in me to do that. So there's that.

Park City is a cool town with great recreation. Last time we were here was for a vacation during Covid. T is getting in a few rides and tonight were going to hike. We're definitely missing our outside rec time. The site we're in is funny. It's gorgeous one way and turn 180 degrees and it's a car lot. No for reals. And it's next to Highway 80 so its LOUD. Moral of the story, don't believe the online pictures when your camping! Get on google maps and look where the place is located before booking. And stay away from highways. Our site is big and quite welcoming. But sleeping is hard when you hear traffic. We're learning! That's what this part of the journey's been all about, learning. So when we go back out next time for a stint, I'll know more of what to look for and how long to stay places. 

Until next time...

The In-Between

 

Oh, where to start. 

We left Washington after one more sweet day in Vancouver with our kids and baby Valerie and headed to Boise. My sister met me up there to close a final chapter. 

My folks have had storage units as long as I can remember, like seriously. that long. We tried to help them over the years get rid of the stuff but to no avail. Now that Momma's gone and Dad's in Tennessee full time, we decided it was time to close that chapter and be done. 

I have so many thoughts rolling around my brain. Trying to decide what to write about this finally being done. Some of its too painful to write as of yet, some if it so thankful we never have to go through this again, and some if it is saying goodbye to mom all over again. It's really hard on children to have to make decisions that should have been made by their parents. 

So listen up- don't leave this earth unprepared and don't leave this earth with a hot mess for your children to navigate. It's not that hard people.

Get a trust

Get a will

TALK to your children about what you want, write it down and have it ready for the time you die or get ill.

Give away those special family treasures while you're in your right mind.  Enjoy watching your kids wear that ring or open that book or use a favorite dish that they always wanted. GIVE IT TO THEM or it may find its way to Goodwill when they're having to quickly make decisions. 

I am so thankful for the few treasures I have from Mom and Dad. The beautiful white country dishes they gave me a few years back, the ring that Dad gave Mom on their 10th wedding anniversary, the deer print that hung up in our home when I was tiny. And I know good and well that I can't take any of it with me to heaven, and anyone who knows me, knows my motto is Simplicity. But I am also a person who loves deeply and some of this love is shared through a memory attached to something we physically own. It brings back to mind a sweet time in our life. So why not share that with your kids now and enjoy seeing them celebrate a memory that means something to you both. 

Have your financial house in order. Do not be foolish and think, "Oh they will be fine. They can do what they want when I die." It does not work that way. It's YOUR responsibility to be prepared, and then to SHARE that information with your children. Saying goodbye is already so hard, why on earth do people burden their kids with figuring out all the details to YOUR life?  The last gift you give your kids is gift of preparedness. So don't be lazy and do it. And don't think, "Oh that's private, they don't need to know about our finances." Umm, yes they do. And should. The good, the bad, the ugly. And I'm not just talking to the older people here. I'm talking to young families too. Be prepared.

We do a financial overview with our kids each year. We send them a document, so they know what and where to find everything. Now that we moved, it's time for a refresher. We will update everything and share that with them. Ta da. It's that easy. My husband is super organized, and this is one area he's gifted. If that's not you, then find someone who is and ask them to help you. Just do it, stop waiting for tomorrow. 

So this post is less about the hard time my sister and I had clearing out our folk's storage and more about how to do it right.

Don't be foolish, be prepared and then for God's sake, share it with your children. You will die one day, we all will. Make it a little easier on them. 

Thanks for listening,

Tuna Jones