Monday Rundown- So What If It's Tuesday?!

Wow! This past week has been busy! Guess that’s why I’m posting our Monday Rundown post on Tuesday!

First, in case you missed it, I had a new Real Oilfield Wives post go live this past Tuesday about our Oilfield Camper Homeschool. Go check it out if you haven’t already.

On Wednesday the water went out AND the sewer line from the camper broke. Thankfully, the water came back on later the next day. As for the sewer line adventures, I will be posting about that this coming Wednesday. Yes, the sewer line is still a work in progress. Sigh.

Thursday Will and I spent the day enjoying ourselves at the North Dakota state fair with some friends from Kenmare, the Potters. They are a large part of the reason we ended up in North Dakota and I hope to soon interview Mr. Potter for a piece on this blog. Also, I feel

 the need to mention that yesterday was Mr. Potter’s birthday and I hope he had a great one!

But I digress, so back to the fair! It was huge! I could have gone several more times and still not seen all there was to see. Will got to ride his first fair rides, first one with me and then one all by himself.

Will and I really enjoyed the Fur Trapper’s Village which reminded me so much of Rendezvous back in Vincennes. Will was enthralled by the blacksmith and it made me want to take up re-enacting again.

I was also quite impressed with the The Conservation and Outdoor Skills Park as well. It was, as far as I could tell, pretty comprehensive and very well presented. Will got to pose with Herbie the Moose and we both really enjoyed checking out the fish tanks in the fishing exhibit.

On Friday Jacob only had a half day at work and our afternoon was spent working on the sewer line. It's turning out to be a much bigger project than we expected. 

Saturday we went out to the main office for Jacob’s company, which is a cute little cabin just outside of New Town, to fill out insurance paperwork and had the pleasure of seeing these beauties on a hill next to the cabin.

Sunday was spent having lunch with journalist Blaire Briody who is currently working on a multimedia project titled The Oil Men. It was a fun spending the afternoon with Blaire and her cousin and I hope I was able to help them out with the project a bit. Hopefully, if all works out you will soon be seeing a post here from Blaire about this project.

I think that sums up my week. It was a busy one for sure. Now I’m off to start my day and then we get to go into New Town and pick up our fall homeschool curriculum. I’m so excited about it being here and I can’t wait to share our homeschooling adventures with you! Have a great week!

Monday Rundown- Book Hoarding

Happy Monday, folks! Hope you all had a lovely weekend! If you’ve read my previous blog, you know that I like to do certain things on set days of the week. Since today is Monday that means that it’s laundry day. Laundry is one my least favorite chores so instead of gathering and sorting I’m using this moment of peace while Will is still in bed and Jacob has left for work to have some me time and to write this post.

We’ve spent this past week trying to get into a trying to get into our daily and weekly rhythm. Most of our activities have remained the same, but a few things have changed. We’ve added in a morning walk with the dog after our morning circle time. I find that if the dog gets his exercise early in the morning he behaves better throughout the day. We also switched gardening day out for library day since we can’t really spend an entire day fussing over a few pots of herbs. Other than that things pretty much remain the same, circle time in the morning, tea in the afternoon, post office day on Tuesday, movie night on Sunday and so on. I think that sticking to our schedules gives us all a sense of stability despite our periodic changes in living arrangements. I’m not always perfect with it, but if we happen to forget some important part of the day, Will quickly reminds me.

In addition to working on our rhythm, this past week Jacob has been trying to learn Spanish so he communicate more effectively with his co-workers. We have decided that we should make this a project for the whole family, so this weekend during my weekly trip to Minot I picked up some books on Spanish and I plan to make Spanish labels for our everyday items and stick them up around the camper.

Of course being the book hoarder that I am we couldn’t make it out with just those three Spanish books. Will got to pick out one book of his own, a Little Golden Book about the movie Cars 2, and I picked up a couple Frog and Toad books for him as well. I love the Frog and Toad stories and if we continue with the Oak Meadow Homeschool Curriculum they will later part of our lessons so they weren’t exactly a frivolous purchase.

For myself I purchased two books on North Dakota. One is called Spooky Creepy North Dakota and the other is Women of the Northern Plains. I’ve gotten through most of Spooky Creepy North Dakota and I’m really enjoying it so far. I think that learning about a state’s ghost stories is a great, albeit unconventional, way to become more familiar with it landmarks and customs.

Now, it’s time for me to cut this post short for today. There is much to do this week and I’ve got to get on it! Hope you all have a great week! 

Monday Rundown - We're Back!

It’s Monday again and we’re back in North Dakota! I’m always a bit nervous making a two day trip with a kid and a dog by myself, but our trip went incredibly smooth. Upon our return I found that I have a lot of work ahead of me to put into making the camper look like home again. As I figured, six weeks of feral Jacob has turned it into a man cave wreck. Once I get everything cleaned up and put away I’m going to begin working on some of the decorating projects that I have planned. I will make this trailer look nice!

I did manage to put together a meal plan for the week and we went into Minot to get groceries and a new coffee maker. Jacob failed to tell me that he hasn’t had a coffee maker for the last several weeks and has been getting his coffee at the Cenex every morning. This irks me greatly because we have two coffee makers at home and had I known I would have brought one.

Speaking of home we have had a new turn of events in our house selling saga. As in, we aren’t selling. Despite our realtor’s best efforts, the house just wasn’t getting the showings and listing views like we had hoped it would. Our realtor did everything right. It just wasn’t the right time for the house to sell. It actually works out better this way because it gives us a place to go to if we want to go home for the winter. While we are in North Dakota some friends of ours will be staying at the house in preparation for their new baby that’s due in December. It works out best for both parties as it allows us to keep the house, but it won’t sit empty and it gives them a place to prepare for and care for their new baby.

Now that we’ve made it back to North Dakota, tomorrow I am going to take some pictures of our trailer for Trailer Livin’ Tuesday. Don’t judge it too harshly. It may not be pretty, but it’s paid for!

Monday Rundown- Holidays and Visiting Family

Well folks, it’s Monday once again. We’ve spent most of this past week with family in Indiana just enjoying time in the country and celebrating the 4^th of July holiday. We got to set off fireworks on the 4^th of July which ended up being a lot of fun. I was unsure how Will would react to the noise, but he handled it beautifully.

So Peaceful!

Thor has been having a blast as well. This is the first time he’s ever really had a chance to be off leash to run around. We had a bit of a rocky start when we first got here, but after things settled down and he got into a rhythm of being off his leash with rest time on his tether he is doing well.

Thor

It’s been nice for me as well. I’ve had a chance to get things done and attend to the business of coordinating our return trip. We are planning on staying here a few more days and then it will be time to go back to Kentucky and gather our things together for our return to North Dakota. I am hoping to leave this coming Friday, but I have a feeling that it will be more like Saturday before we are actually able to get it all together. Wish me luck!

Monday Rundown - We're Going Back To North Dakota!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Will and I finally got a chance to visit the zoo. He had a wonderful time and I’m so glad we finally found the time to make the trip. It was simply magical watching his eyes light up when he saw all the animals. I have to admit though, while I enjoyed watching Will, I felt a bit sad for the animals. I think I must be getting more sensitive the older I get as I don’t remember having had that reaction before.

In other news, after a shaky start to Jacob’s job with a new company, things are finally starting to take off. Oilfield families, let this be a lesson to you, save every penny you can! The work may pay well and may be plentiful, but the down time and between time will drive you crazy if you’re not prepared!

Now that things are moving again, we are preparing for our return to North Dakota. It looks like we will be leaving on July 14^th or thereabouts. Will and I are both so very ready to get back to Jacob and we’re even ready to get back to our little camper on the prairie. So, it looks like the two weeks are going to be filled with packing and prepping. I’m hoping it will be easier this time than it was last time!

I think that covers everything for now. I've got a few more announcements for the coming days, but for the time being I wish you a great week!