Travel Essentials & Hats

Coffee, Purse, Back Pack...my favorite color is hunter camo pink

Coffee

My purse – weighing about 10 lbs., including almost everything you would ever need, except money. From chap-stick, vitamins, and band-aids to lotion, flashlight, and sewing kit to camera, cell phone, and wallet. And a lot of the time dog leashes. Plus a lot more!

My back pack – Bible, bible study/reference book, iPad, school books for my two online courses, journal, Kindle (love by the way!), computer, legal pad (for all the lists I make), pens, highlighters, & post-its. And all chargers for my electronics (I’m always losing them so it’s good to keep them close).



Dogs sleeping in the back of the truck

Bentley – almost 2 yr. old (on Dec. 30^th) loving, cowardly male mix breed who's a little strange.

can't forget to travel with his plush, squeaky toy donkey.

Cocoa – 7 yrs. old (turning 8 on Jan. 1^st) loving, prissy female Shih-Tzu with an attitude.

doing what she does best, being lazy

Both are full of personality (complete opposite ones I must add) and are our 4-legged, furry babies.

Sunday morning Aaron & I left (before daylight) for 4 days in Pennsylvania.

Sunrising about an hour and a half north of home

My husband is a natural gas man! We have been traveling for his job the last few months, because he works 4 days on in PA and 4 days off at home. It gets tiresome at times, but we are thankful that he has this job and is gaining much experience for when the Marcellus shale natural gas HOPEFULLY moves farther south. We are also thankful because most of the time I get to travel with him, along with our two little furry babies.

This leads to my many hats I am trying to juggle during all this travel:

-     Housewife: (which has many hats in itself) with 2 households in two different states. But it seems to be working; I don’t have to be apart from my husband, and the 5 hour road trips (one way) have brought us even closer. It is also like having a vacation home, I get to leave the hustle and bustle of our everyday home life and relax in the comfort of another home.

-     Doggie mommy: and yes since Aaron and I do not have children (which is probably a good thing right now, because of all of the traveling…but if God blesses us with a baby then we will definitely change our lives to accommodate the miracle) we are doggie parents. Dogs are a lot of responsibility, especially when you have two high maintenance ones like we do. So they have travel needs also.

-     Student: I am finishing my degree…YAY! I registered for online classes, because of all of the traveling, plus it is more convenient to do from home. Problem is I sometimes procrastinate, so I really have to stay motivated to stay on top of my school work.

-     Daughter, Grand-daughter, Aunt, Sister, Niece, and Neighbor: these are also very important titles that I am grateful to hold. This means when Aaron and I are home I have to give them some attention. Visit family, do things with the kids, catch up with those who are very important to me.

-     Natural Gas Man’s Wife - Small business owner: When I married Aaron I also married into the gas well business. He has his own small gas well tending business, called Hatfield Well Service. We have a system in place for trying to run a successful business. He must tend to these gas wells and make sure everything is running smoothly, he is the labor/brawn. I guess that makes me the business/brains. I guess I am the secretary/accountant. I take care of all the boring paper stuff, phone calls, finances/bills/expenses, etc. And this can be done no matter where I am, so usually I am traveling with a huge folder that contains business stuff

-     Church member: One down side to all the traveling is that sometimes I can’t attend my church, which makes me really sad. I love my church! And I love participating and being an active member of my church. SO when possible I am there and do what I can when I can. I try to stay close to God no matter where I am, because he travels with me.

                                       So there they are, my essentials, my hats, ME.