Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Mommy J over at Mommy Snark had this on her blog and I thought it would be an interesting post for myself to look back on someday. Mostly because my mind is slipping away a little too quickly and if I can preserve a bit of it that would be great.

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20 years ago I was in my late teens, desperately trying to finishing up high school so that I could attend college mid semester. I spent most of my out-of-school time on horseback. I owned a wonderful pony that was my BFF and a crazed thoroughbred mare that I bought off the race track. Boys weren't a big deal in my life compared to my horses.

10 years ago I was already married 6 years and had 2 children. We'd just got land off my parents' farm and were working all summer putting in a well, septic and driveway so that we could park our mobile mansion here. We had a single wide trailer and plans to build a real house in the very near future.

5 years ago we were blessed with the birth of our 4th child. Our lives were changed in so, so many ways. Because of his birth we chose to put the kids in private school that year rather than continue homeschooling. I was feeling overwhelmed. We went back to homeschooling for 2 years after that before we put them in public school.

3 years ago we moved into our brand-new house! (Yeh, that build a house thing took longer than we thought. Doesn't everything?) You've no idea what joy we had after spending the last entire year planning and building. And remember that single-wide? We had 4 kids and a few dogs crammed in there, along with homeschooling material. Anyone who's ever homeschooled knows that that stuff takes up a whole lotta space. It's like having another kid and three more dogs. But we moved! And for the only time in my entire life the house was in perfect condition for a day before we moved in. This was also the year that I got horses again. (Insert blissful sigh here.)

1 year ago I watched in amazement as my Etsy store took off and flourished. We also decided in earnest to work on becoming a licensed kennel and to that end purchased an entire herd of dogs in one weekend. Crazy us. Also? We seeded the last of our lawn from the Great Building Project 2 years before. (I said everything takes longer than you expect, didn't I?)

Yesterday I spent the entire day wrestling stones and bricks into a semblance of orderliness. If only walkways and steps made themselves! I also had 2 extra kids here and then had a date with Sam in the evening when we took them home. A date for couples that have been married for nearly 16 years constitutes taking the 5 year old with that will fall asleep on the way, making you carry him through Wal-Mart. We even splurged and bought McD's sweet tea for each of us.

Today I organized most of the entire house while looking for a lost registration paper for one of the dogs. This is not good, people. This will cost money and much hassle to get replaced and I fear I have nobody to blame but myself. I also did loads upon load of dishes and laundry. You know, like any other day. Oh, and I made a few shirts because customers are waiting patiently.

Tomorrow we're planning a picnic with family since Sam had to work the holiday today. I think we'll have both an afternoon and evening picnic because we're cool like that. Or stupid. Either way. I just hope this rain stops so the kids can set off the fireworks outdoors because they're threatening to do it inside.


Hope you had a wonderful holiday with your families! God bless the servicemen protecting our freedom.