Hey y’all, my name is Jennifer. I wanted to start a blog talking about the crazy adventures I go on with my crazy little family. I have been married to my partner in crime (Jason) for 13 years. We have two boys. Logan just turned 13 and Sawyer is 10. They are all boys. It’s funny when people say, “ y’all got out easy with having boys”… Not really, they are just like their daddy. Hunting is cheap, dirt bikes, 4wheelers, fishing stuff, clothes, sports, haircuts, tools, food, and so on. And yes, I will go hunting/fishing with them. Boys are not cheap !!! I would not change anything about them.
Little over a year ago Jason and me went on a crazy adventure with our family. We were given the opportunity to restore a old southern plantation house. The house has been in my father in law family for years (100 years). At the time we were not looking to sell our current house. But we could not say no to the opportunity either. Timing is everything…. God has a plan for everyone.
A lot of changes would come with this opportunity. Moving 50 miles away from our support system, changing schools for the boys , selling a house, remodeling a house, dealing with everyday life, and so on. We knew this was not going to be easy but deep down inside we knew this is what we wanted. Sometimes, God will open a door that you never knew was there.
A quick rundown of the year.
- Camper living is not easy. Especially when Jason works shift work. Trying to watch Alabama Football and keep quiet is not easy… Roll Tide !!!
- Being 50 miles away from the house you selling is not easy either. Just add a pool in there that decided it would be an a$$ for the most part of selling the house.
- Realtors. The saving grace to me not losing my mind. They were there for my emotional breakdowns and always looked forward to my crazy text messages about the country life. Jason pretty much tells me deal with everything and he will be there to sign papers. This works for us. I get to deal with everything and he is there for my emotional breakdowns. Shift work is not easy… once again. Our life is based around his work schedule and what the boys have going on.
- Getting the boys in private school. School system here is not the best. So we decided that the boys would go to the private school here. Not a big school at all. Like 250 kids from K3 to 12th grade. We love it. Our youngest son plays peewee Football. Monday nights look like a Friday night of high school football. Awesome support system here.
- Life lessons will be learned every day.
- Small town living is peaceful.
- Were to start in the remodeling? We started in the carriage house. I will write a blog about it later with pictures of the before and after.
- Cleaning out the house and going through 100 years of stuff (history lessons). It took 3 weeks to clean the house out. We went through everything. It’s amazing at the stuff we found. We still have more stuff to look through.
- We learned that living simple is not easy sometimes. Like taking a shower with no water pressure or shaving your legs in a 3×3 shower. If a person can drown in the shower from bending over to shave legs, then this would be the shower for that.
- Winter is coming!!!! Older homes have no insulation.
- Rain will be a problem until the roof is fixed.
- Everyone in a small town will keep up with remolding. You don’t have to tell them. They ride by the house everyday.
- If something is going to happen it will happen while Jason is working nights.
- We went 60 something days without rain. Then one day it started raining and did not stop. We were quoting Forest Gump at that point… The driveway would have 3 inches of water at any given time. Jason’s mom and dad got us a load of rock for a Christmas present… I am very grateful for the rock. The boys said becoming an adult sucks when you get a load of rock for Christmas 😂
- The house sold !!!!! Once again timing is everything and right people had to see the house. Only took 6 months on the market and lot of praying.
- Possums are the devil and fire ants are the devil too… Coyotes will get too close for comfort. Turkeys have a death wish with my Tahoe. Deer are everywhere here. Cows are loud.
- Pecans falling on the camper roof will sound like a hailstorm. Might be the best alarm clock.
- I have learned to appreciate the simpler things in life and never take anything for granted.
- Restoring and remolding is not easy or cheap. Chain stores are not the best place for good prices or services. It might take a day of phone calls, lots of paper, and headaches but I will come across the right places.
- The end product will be a blessing and proud moment. And we haven’t even got started on the big house yet 😂 Carriage house will done soon and life can go back to normal some what.
I plan on writing about the remolding, life with boys, cooking, our crazy adventures, and so on. If you are wondering where the name Southern Magnolia Life came from, we live in the south, there’s a large beautiful magnolia tree in our front yard and we have young magnolia trees growing everywhere on our land, and life is simple here.
southernmagnolialife 