Wednesday, we were leaving. Then Thursday. Really thought we’d be gone Saturday morning at the latest, working hard till after midnight every night this past week, to get the house and Sprinter ready for a new adventure, but it wasn’t until Sunday night all was finally ready, or so we thought.
Cupboards, cabinets, closets….all empty, sparkling clean and organized. The last 2 weeks have been spent fully decluttering, organizing and sanitizing our home from top to bottom for our Airbnb guests. Honestly, I became a bit obsessed. I had 3 piles working; stuff to store, stuff to pack, and stuff to give away. Although, admittedly, about half way through I realized this was taking entirely too much time, felt like I was waking in circles, and started just shoving everything in the “stuff to store” pile. It’s amazing how much you can accumulate when there’s space for it. I found pointless things that I’ve toted around through 3 states and nearly 10 moves over the last 8 years, somehow they always made the cut.
This is our first time hosting our home, and I wanted it to feel very welcoming and spa-like. Since the first time I saw a spa, (just 5 years ago) I sought to give our living space that same feel of simplistic nature and tranquillity. Ahh, and it is so therapeutic to give things away! I know, I’ve been doing it since we got home this last time in May (Nesting).
Still it was amazing that we managed to fit all our personal belongings in the baby’s room, which I locked and labeled “owners closet”. So now the home has everything you would think you want, without that mumble-jumbo of random things that get no use but you can’t find a way to let them go because “they’re still good”.
With all the rearranging and moving about, the pup has been on full alert, walking beneath our feet and quick to be by the front door anytime we went out. I’d pet her goodnight in the living room, then find her shortly later curled up in a ball amidst the “packing stuff” pile. Guess she wanted to make sure she was in the pile that was coming with us. Lol
Although we had made awesome progress on the sprinter Van conversion, considering we got it as an empty shell just 3 1/2 months ago, had no experience on how to convert a van, and had to spend hours researching anything before proceeding. Not to mention we just had a baby merely 4 months ago, had family coming in and out to visit, and the husband was stuck putting in 60 + hour work weeks at his life sucking sales job. We came to the realization there would not be enough light in the days to fully finish the built out before we left, and still make it home for Christmas. We agreed to just get the most necessary parts complete, and then finish the rest when we made it to CA. The most necessary was adding a seat for the baby. Prior to that we had to finish the insulation and vapor barrier, so we could lay the flooring, and add the wiring that needed to hook to the solar, which meant the 100lb + battery had to be secured in place, and the wall panels needed to be screwed in behind the seat. So essentially almost everything had to be done and we did not anticipate that actually securing the bus seat for the baby would be a full day and 1/2 job with 3 trips to Home Depot.
It seemed like we’d never make it out of the Texas but Sunday night all was finally ready.
Lights off, windows locked, a final steam mop left the house with the scent of eucalyptus, and I tiptoed out, slipping my shoes back on as I locked the door. Macey finally passed out on her new pillow on the van floor, content that she was with us, no longer needing to sleep with one eye open to make sure of it. Fyn was full and happy in her carseat, watching a baby Einstein youtube. Evening set in as we were ready to pull out of the drive way, key in the ignition, The husband gave it a turn “iiiii-rrrrr-vroom-shhkaa-mmm”. We looked at each other, let me check something, he turned it off and opened the hood. Damn it. The belt is slipping again. We got it back on, started it up, and same thing. The beasty diesel start of the engine jiggled the belt to the edge of its wheel again.
And it started to rain. Apparently we were not meant to leave yet. Had it just been us, we probably would of chanced it, but didn’t make much sense now, with our newly full family.
Totally bummed, but with no other options, we drug our bed out of the storage pile to the living room, grabbed some beers, and will be vacationing in our own house tonight😐.
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