It’s a . . . baby!

Sorry to have been silent for so long. You may have guessed, but I had a baby! That was more than two weeks ago, and it’s taken me this long to have any thought to spare for blogging!

But while blogging was on hiatus, our free range dreams were not. We’re closer than ever to the getting on the road!

First, here’s where you can find the birth story. I posted it on my other blog for consistency because my previous two birth stories are already there. Let me just briefly note here that we had a wonderful homebirth and a wonderful baby and I’m amazed every day that life is so good and wondrous!

With that out of the way, I can plunge ahead with our plans to get on the road. Here’s how things are developing:

• David’s CD was released in April and he had his CD Release Party (hopefully I’ll get a chance to blog about that here soon)
• We’ve officially decided to tour up the east coast (from Florida to Maine)
• David gave notice that he will be leaving his job in the next three to six weeks

Benny needs:

• a roof vent cover replaced (ours broke, and now we have to put a garbage bag over the opening when it rains—tre ghetto!)
• a funny sound investigated and resolved
• a fan to blow on the kids while we’re driving (and ideally one we can use when we’re parked, too, but not plugged in)
• duvet covers(!) for the beds instead of the two-piece sheet/comforter set up we have now—for ease of making beds and converting the kids bed into benches for car seats!
• A metal box built on the back to hold the 55 gallon drum we have acquired for storing MORE VEGGIE OIL (yay) and tools that David can use to make us some money while on the road
• Oh, and it would be awfully nice if we could get the fan over the range fixed too.
• propane detector installed
• light bulbs switched out for LED
• leak in storage compartment fixed so we can, you know, store stuff in it
• water filter for drinking water

Benny’s so cool—I love him!

Other:

• move completely into RV (which means figuring out where everything fits…and what just doesn’t)
• empty house (which involves storage, selling things, and calling Goodwill)
• rent or sell house (but we’ve got a property manager coming on board this month and this falls to him now)
• buy PA for gigging that actually fits in our available storage
• change address for my baby wrap business
• change address with the post office
• cancel all subscriptions (including Netflix)
• arrange for mail forwarding (a la David’s parents, mostly)
• book tour and plan route (in progress—and more fun than most of the chores on the list)
• sell David’s work van
• pay insurance on Benny for year
• prepay phone/internet service
• find smaller bread machine

Sadly, solar panels are not going to be purchased prior to our departure. We just can’t keep waiting to go, so we’re going and if we find a way to get solar panels we will, but we’re going regardless!

Our plan is to go up and then back down the east coast for a few months, possibly returning to see family and friends in Florida in September for Ada’s seventh birthday. Then we’ll want to head west, but planning that would be getting ahead of ourselves. One thing (or the hundred things listed above) at a time, you know?

More soon, Diana