Day 3: Saturday, July 31st, 2021

This morning we got up, stopped by the farm to take care of chores, and headed back to the RV dealer to finalize the paperwork. We actually got a little better deal, which was nice. We toured our new home on wheels one more time, making special note of a few logistical features so that we could start to plan out our living space needs.

Then it was a quick lunch at McAlisters Deli and on to the real focus of the day - wardrobe replacements.

Our research has pretty universally pointed to the dangers of keeping your clothing that has been in the toxic home. Some people can handle it once it has been washed carefully, but it is pretty risky depending on the types of mold and the severity of illness you’ve been experiencing. Aarron has been so sick for so long, we decided we would be very cautious. We have been living in a marginal zone for the past two days -- we had freshly washed clothes and stuffed them into bags as we vacated the house. We knew they were possibly still retaining small levels of mold spores or mycotoxins, but we really didn’t have much of a choice. It’s been a really stressful feeling in my mind, though, to feel like we might be continuing the contamination or even spreading it to our friends as we stay in their home, no matter how minorly.

Hence the need to get everyone set up with a basic, functional set of new clothes. And shoes. And undergarments.

I have been a thrift store shopper all my life. I rarely buy clothes or shoes that are not deeply on sale, or super cheap at Costco. Today was hard for me. We went across the parking lot from our lunch spot into the nearby Sam’s Club. Thankfully, they had many things that we needed for basics. It was overwhelming at times trying to shop for so many at once, and for so many things, but it was alright. We then headed to Old Navy, again trying to take care of as many needs in one stop as we could.

We raced back to our friend's house, as they had planned on us for dinner and we had taken longer than we meant to. (Note to self: I don’t think we can have evening plans right now. We are just all over the place.) We were blessed with a lovely dinner with them, but we had to leave again to go take care of animals and try to find our last necessities at WalMart. That was exhausting, considering we didn’t even get there until after 9pm. Crying because you are completely emotionally spent and can't find clothes to wear for worship the next day is not a pleasant way to end the day. We got back to our friend's house around midnight.

In all, we spent over $1500 today. There were a few groceries, and a couple RV specific organizing things (that I was afraid they’d be sold out of later) that we purchased. Our only splurge was the SpikeBall set we got for the kids. But that really wasn’t a splurge, it just met a different kind of need than food or clothing.

That’s enough for tonight.

Good night...