David has been traveling for work over the past few days so the girls, Finley, and I had a solo weekend that was mostly centered around a soccer tournament for H. Any spare time we had though was spent either kayaking or reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (only 2 chapters left!). Finley discovered we live on the lake and seeing her splashing with exuberant joy through the shallows was highly entertaining.

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Last week I was a little spotty with posting on here, but for good reason. We were in Tennessee! We closed last Monday on a new short term rental property a 1/2 mile outside of Gatlinburg.

The 4 bedroom/3.5 bath property has never been a rental before so we have a long list of projects that need attending to. We were up there Tuesday- Thursday meeting with cleaning team options, contractors, and moving men. We hauled loads to the dump, moved in new couches, and secured orders for a new ping pong table and Golden Tee arcade game. I wrote lists on what we needed to stock the kitchen and how many new sets of linens we need.

It’s going to be a lot of work upfront but we are SO excited about it and will definitely share more updates as it comes together. We hope to have it on the rental market in May after we finish the firepit and twinkly light project in the backyard. The new hot tub comes in June!

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Managing the properties is a lot of work, especially the set up part which we are neck deep in at the moment. If I post a little less here, it’s because I’m using my morning hours to work on rental property tasks. It requires a lot of teamwork from David and me and with homeschool and life, the mornings are when I have the most uninterrupted time to TCB.

We stopped by Sweet Home Bearolina on Thursday afternoon to add some tables to the high top Adirondack chairs and some more shelves to the fridge. Then we headed home, stopping in West Asheville for dinner. It was a chaotic couple days but the whirlwind adventure with this crew is what completely lights me up inside.

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Today we hit the ground running with lessons, the chiropractor, TaeKwonDo, and making a meal to bring to a friend that just welcomed a sweet baby boy. I’m so excited to get in a quick newborn snuggle!

I made the meal plan for the week by shopping my fridge and pantry first after February’s crazy high grocery bill. I’m pleased to report we’re set with food for the week for just $130 at Publix. We’ll be eating:

• Chicken tenders from the freezer, mac ‘n cheese, and homemade guacamole (random combo but using up some avocados)
• Burger Bowls
• Lasagna with walnut kale salad
• Slow cooker carnita bowls
• Lemon garlic mahi mahi with salad and roasted potatoes

I hope you have a wonderful start to your week!