Sweating Bullets

I am a city girl! There is just no if, ands or buts about it. I have NEVER been raised or lived in the country in any way, shape or form. Oh, I remember once, when we lived in Oklahoma, my dad putting in a garden. I remember him periodically watering it. But mostly, I remember it slowly shrivling up and dying before any fruit or veggies even produced!

Oh....and there was that time that we did actually have a horse. I was quite young so I don't remember it much but my mom says I LOVED to feed it. I would walk outside with carrot or apple in hand, very anxious to feed her, but according to my mom...the carrot was usually gone by the time I got to her. I have ALWAYS loved horses and have had opportunities to ride them off and on in my life. Wouldn't that be nice if that made me a country girl, but I'm thinking that doesn't really count. Oh well.

The reason for the monologue about me is, if you haven't noticed, we plan to move out into the country. We are moving to a tiny town in Texas. It does have 20,000 people I guess, but that's pretty tiny compared to where I have lived before. We're not WAY far out but it sure does feel that way. I must admit, I just am not used to this way of living...AT ALL! I don't even think I had heard the word "homestead" before a year ago or so.

I don't know if my issues are so much the country/city thing either, as it is realizing that I have NEVER been required to do anything hard in my life. REALLY!! I promise. My husband went on a 2 year Mormon mission to Portugal and learned quite a bit about personal sacrifice and with drawls from things you become used to. No, not me. If I wanted something, I just went to the closest store and bought. Or figured out how I could get it. I can't remember a time when I ever had to go without anything I absolutely felt I couldn't live without.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I spent years complaining like everyone else about what I still didn't have. When I am truly honest with myself though, I have lived the life of luxury. We've never had large sums of money, if fact....the contrary. I now recognize though that if I wanted it bad enough. I got it. That's it.

Well, here's the current battle I am having now. As I have stated before....we live in a 45 year old, 900 sq.ft., cockroach and termite infested, lake house with NO air conditioning. We live in East Texas where the temperatures can raise to well over 100 degrees with 90%+ humidity. I did spend some of my growing up years in Tx. but remember what I said above. I lived just like most everyone else in an air conditioned home with most anything I wanted. (If you are thinking....wait....I didn't get everything I wanted, if you are 50-60 years old or older than I might believe you....but if you are 40 or younger, I don't. We are the generation of convenience and ease. Let's be honest.) And let's face it, I was a child and truly resilient to most anything. I could sleep comfortably on a cement floor back then.

Living this way is NOT what I am used to. At all. I hoping you are understanding this now. Granted, Chris and I KNOW this change is meant for us. It is the IDEAL we have been wanting for some time for ourselves and our family. We still hold out hope and believe we can and will do it. Does that make it easier? Well, it hasn't yet. In fact, I am realizing my upbringing is actually making it harder.

I am not used to sweating ALL day long. Day in. Day out. It doesn't matter what time of day right now. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Unless, we walk into an air conditioned building. Which does happen a couple times a week. Let me tell you!! I have NEVER before been more grateful for air conditioning than I have been over the past 4 months.

I live in my frock at home because of the heat. When I awake in the morning, I put it on. I sweat. We work outside on the garden. I sweat. We come back in the house to cool off. I stand in front of the fan. I sweat. The funnest part of my day is standing in front of the stove during the absolute HOTTEST part of the day, making dinner. BOY, do I sweat! It really does feel like taking a shower sometimes. It is such a strange sensation to feel wetness running down your abdomen in such large quantities that your can't believe you even have that much liquid inside of you to be excreted.

Ok, you want to know the funny part now. My oldest son. He's 13. He will wear long sleeve shirts. I'm not kidding. Like I said above, resilient.

The blessing....the silver lining...the God send....we live on a lake. YEAH! When it's unbearable, we jump in. It cools us off and lifts us. We feel we can go on. Or we even have a hose. Talk about blessing. I never thought I would hear myself say how grateful I am for our outside hose. The water is VERY cool and feels HEAVENLY when you are that hot. Thank God! Seriously~ Also, in the evening when it does cool down to 95 degrees, we've been blessed with a ceiling fan that sucks in the cool air. HALLELUJAH!! Seriously. Sometimes it drops down to the 80's at night and we actually stop sweating and feel comfortable.

So, there's a tidbit into our daily life. Check back very soon. I plan on writing A LOT more often and next time will be about the cockroaches and my new found disgust toward them. I'll hopefully take pictures and go into detail of the creepy crawlies....moving on us at night. You don't want to miss it!!

Abundant peace to all (especially me),
Rachel

P.S. If you want to see pictures of our house, check HERE! A friend stated it looks alot nicer than she thought. Ya, she can't really smell it, can she? I will take more detailed pictures. We are grateful for it but OH....it's gross.