novel « Robin Writes

The weather forecast, aside from the blowing flurries today, seems to be gifting us with some cold and possible snow accumulation. Gee, thanks, weather!

While that means that all our outside prepping is being put on a short—very short—hiatus, we have plenty to do at our STL house:

Painting

Packing

Moving—at least as far as the garage

Minor repairs

Landscaping

Of course, that last will wait until this blast of cold is over, hopefully and as forecasted in a week or ten days. But the house will go on the market in a few weeks, and our target move date is May 20.

Unless, as my husband unhelpfully pointed out this morning, the darn thing sells immediately with a requested possession of March or April.

Stress much??

Meanwhile, one kid is moving from Boston, by way of Chicago, to Austin on or around March 1st. Now, since she’s nearly 30—sorry, Liz—it shouldn’t be a big deal for us, except she’s coming through STL to 1) pick up some furniture and things and 2) coming back in a few days to buy a car and pick up her kitties.

This way, I’ll only have one small dog, one 20-pound cat, and an ailing, elderly dog to pack up and cart off when we have a house showing . . .

So.

The middle kid is/was moving. Still unclear on that, and again, he’s married, no concern of ours, except . . . he, too, is picking up furniture and stuff. Or a friend is. Some time. Maybe over the weekend.

Not really sure.

The youngest, aka the kid, will be staying in STL when we move—so, besides college registration, which I discovered isn’t until April-something, thank goodness—we’re apartment-hunting and trying to coordinate dates.

So, you know, mid-May. Or, if the house sells sooner, March or April. According to that same husband, who, by the way, has managed to put up with me for 19 years as of today. Or vice versa. The jury’s still out.

I mean, seriously, who leaves their high school senior kid living alone for the last few months??

These date-coordination things are driving me nuts!

While I know that downsizing and simplifying are definitely the way to live, the transition, especially with everything else going on, is crazy!

102 days to go . . .

Oh, I still hear a lot of prepper ideas and plans and things, but has anyone else noticed that the sky doesn’t appear to be falling these days?

We had some tense moments in 2015, like Jade Helm and the economy and the Pope’s visit with Congress and the UN and whatnot, but it’s now 2016 and there haven’t been any dramatic differences.

Huh. Maybe ISIS just settled down for the holiday or folks are still chugging holiday spirit . . .

As for me, I’ve been watching and waiting. Watchful waiting. Whatever. I never expected, really, to have to throw stuff in the truck and take off, but I could have if it had come to that. But, while my Facebook feed has slowed down a bit, as well as the media, both mainstream and otherwise, I’m still plugging along.

I have a garden planned for the spring, and the means to get it planted and fenced.

I have alternate power sources.

I have plenty of stored consumables and other things.

I’ve been hoping all along that things will hold off until we’re “ready,” and it looks like that’s going to be the case. Or not. But I am at the point where that “or not” doesn’t seem as scary.

And you know, while writing and researching my book series was enough to scare the bejeezus out of me, I’m still convinced that things—in general, I mean, politically and economically—are going to get worse.

And that’s what prepping is about.

Then, too, I’m at that point in life where I want to do what *I* want to do, and be out in the woods and be self-sufficient. That’s the plan, and I’m sticking to it.

And, too, when something happens, I’ll be ready. I’m not going to scour the Internet for the crazies and report on every single conspiracy theory, but I’m still checking my sources, the ones I trust, and I’m still keeping an eye out.

You probably should, too.