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"Getting Settled In"

I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Until I was 4 we lived in 3 different houses. At 4 years old we moved into the house which is still the residence of my Mother. We rented that house for 16 years paying $300.00 a month on a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 car garage home by the Airport. After that many years we had a good standing with the landlord and he proceeded to give us an offer we couldn't resist. He would sell us the home for $23,000.00. It was appraised at $48,000.00. My parents bought it. My Dad was a pack rat. Our home always looked like we had just moved in! He always had something in the house that didn't belong. Like a motor in the dining room or a carburetor in the living room. I could never have friends over due to the chance of being slammed with a lawsuit for injury. Mom and I tried to keep most of the stuff at bay and make the house seem clean and livable but it seemed like a hopeless case.

At 19 I moved into my first apartment. Yes! I am away from all that junk and can make my home the way I want--Right? Wrong! That just gave my Dad another place to put junk. He was always trying to give me stuff he thought would help me out. Well, don't get me wrong, some stuff did help--like the couch and table--but most was just junk to me. I finally got my point through. Just as I started to feel "Settled In" for the most part and had gotten the clutter under control I met Michael and got married. This started the never-ending process all over again. We moved in together after our wedding to a house--3 bed, 2 bath, NO garage. We paid $550.00 a month in rent. My laundry room was in my dining room which was a part of my kitchen. In all actuality I had no dinning room. We lived there for a year and never really got much of anything unpacked. We then took the stuff that wasn't unpacked--which saved me the trouble of packing it--and then packed the rest and moved again. This time we moved into a duplex in Broken Arrow where we paid $650.00 a month in rent. It was a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 car garage--Yet we never could fit the Mini-Van in. I think that was due to all the boxes that never got unpacked during that year of residency. After almost a year there Mason decided we needed to redo the kitchen and buy new dish towels so he set the kitchen on fire. We moved after that. Our next location....My Mothers' house. We got a storage unit for all those boxes that never got unpacked and moved the necessities to Mom's. Michael and I and 3 kids in a home with my Mom and her boyfriend and my Dads' leftovers. (Dad still had most of his junk in one of the 3 bedrooms and all of the garage. He had moved out though.) Mom and Jimmy (the boyfriend who is now fiance) had one room. Michael, Melody and I had another room. We put Caleb and Mason in the partially cleaned out 3rd room where they shared space with all of Papas' stuff. Towards the end of our stay we ended up moving Amber and Tyler into the house as well. We ALL shared ONE bathroom. I think that part sucked the most. We never settled into that house. It was nice to be there though with my Mom and having her help while Michael went to Nevada for a job. We spent about 9 or 10 months at Moms'. Michael moves us to Nevada!

Think of all the stories of the Pioneers who traveled to Salt Lake or to the U.S. or wherever. They had to leave a lot behind and go to an unknown place and start all over. That was the kids and I. We arrived in front of a house in a little neighborhood in Fernley, Nevada. Fernley is about 32 miles east of Reno. The house was big enough to house us all. It was a 5 bed, 3 bath, no garage home. Here we paid $1100.00 a month rent. The garage had been converted to the laundry room, bathroom, and 2 of the bedrooms. We had a huge pantry, 2 living areas and a fireplace. Our backyard was big enough for the kids to burn off some energy--the only draw back was it was half dirt and half rock with a bunch of goat head plants mingled in. After discovering the winds and goat heads of Nevada we couldn't make them play out back unless it was for a punishment. We never go barefoot here! We all fit nicely in the home and never hurt for a bathroom when the time came. We also never got settled in all the way. Just as I started to get boxes unpacked we went on vacation to Oklahoma and for our trip back brought half of the remainder of our stuff back with us. I was doomed! We lived in this house for 2 years! The longest time in our marriage to be in one home. Yet despite the duration of time there I never got us "Settled In". We learned toward the end of our 2 years there that there were other houses on the market that were nicer and cheaper! Well at 6 months pregnant we decided to move into one of those nicer cheaper homes where our rent would be only $1000.00 a month in rent. I have decided No Matter How Long We Live Here We Will Never Be Settled In! I think being "Settled In" is like finding someone who is "Normal". It doesn't and won't ever exist!

Our new home is 5 or 6 years old. It has 3 bedrooms, an office and a den, 2 bathrooms, a Huge kitchen, and 2 living rooms. Micheal's favorite is the 3 car garage with the 3rd being a pull through. Mine is the fully landscaped front AND backyard. Now I can kick the kids outside and know that they are safe and can have fun without the dust storms and goat heads. Michael and I also love the master bath--It has a Huge walk-in closet, a garden tub and double sinks. The left side of our house is on a cult-de-sac. We take up most of it with just our yard. Our neighbors even though we haven't got to know them yet seem really nice. Our house has a very pale green siding on it with a lavender front door. We also have a big beautiful fountain in our front garden as well as a little pond in the backyard that has a fountain in it with a goldfish. The kids love watching the goldfish. Oh I almost forgot--We have a gas stove in the house! We love cooking with gas and have not had that luxury with our other homes. Another luxury is that it is not all white inside the home. Our landlords bought the house originally before it was even built and modified it a bit. While living in it they painted some of the rooms with splashes of color. We have a pretty pale yellow kitchen, a couple of the accent walls are sage green in the living area as well as Melody's room, and the master bed and bath have a deep dark red on some of the accent walls. It does liven the place up a bit. We really love our new home and hope that someday you all will get to visit it and bask in its unsettled splendor. But until then I will still make an attempt to "Settle In" to the house. It will just be a slow process.