Today I went on a walk with the kids and the dog.  It was around the second time that the dog left a big pile (and me, with only ONE baggie.  Grrr.) that Brody asked me how long we’d been living in the RV.  I quickly replied, “Oh, it’s probably been three weeks, buddy.” And Caydence, too, chimed in, “Yeah, we’ve been here about three and we have a month and one week left before we leave for our trip”.  Yeah.  That sounds about right.  But then, I pulled out my calendar and looked.  It has only been TWO weeks!  Two weeks.  Huh.  What does this misguesstimation of time mean?!?!  They say time flies when you’re having fun.  And we ARE having fun!  Honest!  I know sometimes I use sarcasm in my writing but, seriously.   We really love the campground we are staying at right now.  It’s a really lovely place with great people.  It has a pool that we have frequented and I am not joking or exaggerating when I say that they have literally THE BEST ice cream I have ever had.  I’m thinking maybe it feels like we’ve been here longer than we actually have, not because we aren’t enjoying ourselves, but because we are getting used to a whole different lifestyle.  And as far as household chores go, I have probably have done about 3 weeks worth of duties.  Hehehe, duties…  That’s a funny word.  Let me explain.

We are blessed with having a washer/dryer unit in our RV.  We are also blessed with one small hamper for the clothes of five people.  So, I have to do a lot more laundry than ever before.  In the house, laundry would be a weekly thing and then the clothes might sit around for upwards of three weeks before they got folded and put away.  Judge all you want, I’m just being real here.  But here, with one small hamper and one small washer/dryer which takes three hours per cycle, you MUST stay up on the laundry.  I have definitely ran more loads of laundry in this past two weeks than I would have in three weeks at home.  And they have to be folded and put away immediately because there is no place to leave them in the meantime until later.  This also creates an interesting phenomenon when it come to how many clothes we need.  I put as many clothes in the RV that we could fit for variety purposes.  But I’ve learned that I need to go through and purge even more because we wash the same four or five outfits, they go back in the top of the drawers, and they get worn all over again!  We haven’t even gotten to 3/4 of the clothes we packed.

Likewise with dishes.  I have a whole drawer of kids bowls, plates, and cups.  I probably have about a dozen full sized plates and bowls in the cabinet.  But, the funny thing about having no dishwasher and a tiny sink, so that you MUST hand wash the dishes right away!  There’s just no way around it.  So, again, we’ve only ever used about 1/3 of what we have at any given time.  There are dishes that haven’t even been touched!  I’ve probably hand washed more dishes in the past two weeks than I did in the whole four years we were in the last house.

And when it comes to cleaning the RV, it has to be done much more frequently because it’s such a small space.  We have a golden retriever.  Wonderful dog.  Friendly, loyal, energetic…. sheds like the dickens!  The fur in the house would spread out and not be too noticeable.  But in here, within two days we’ll have tumbleweeds of Midas fur rollin rollin rollin through the RV.  So I must clean every couple of days.  Thank goodness it only takes about 25 mins to clean everything (including bathrooms!).  I have absolutely cleaned house more in the past two weeks than I typically would in three.

And then there’s that heavenly ice cream I was telling you about.  I cannot even begin to describe the wonder and awesome goodness that is this ice cream.  I don’t even think it’s the ice cream itself that is so amazing, but the wonderful things they put into it are top notch!  I’ve fallen in love with something called Michigan Pot Hole and something else called Peanut Butter Landslide.  SOOOOO divine!  There is no question that I have eaten more ice cream in the past two weeks than I usually would in three weeks time.  And, by default, I’m sure I’ve gained more weight too.  :-/

Worth.  It.

So, maybe that’s why it feels like we’ve been here longer than we actually have.  But, to be fair, we’ve had more fun in the past two weeks than we usually have in three, too.  So, there’s that.

PS- I decided to potty train Novak #5 this week.  And in the words of Billy Joel:  You may be right.  I may be crazy.  But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for.