Lack of quick access to my few vices was of the things I was nervous about moving “so far out,” as everyone likes to say (leaving me wondering how exactly that is defined, since the closest store that sells, say, milk is less than 2 miles from us, though the closest Wal-Mart is 30 miles, and I’m certainly not complaining about that one bit). My vices these days consist of little more than coffee and sweets, especially chocolate. It’s just that I’m picky about them. They have to be organic. Oreos are off limits. Newman-o’s are devoured by the box full.
Well it turns out funny things happen when you simply cut off easy access. You don’t need the things you used to depend on. You think about them, salivate over them in your mind. You think how delicious they would be. But then, you get over it and eat something you have on hand.
It’s weird, because living 5 minutes from a store that sold all of my favorite things made my mind games play out very differently. I would think about something I wanted, and then I couldn’t quit thinking about it until I gave in and drove myself to Kroger or Graeter’s or Blockbuster, if it was a show that was catching my addictive bone.
So now that option is off the table, unless I want a 60-minute drive, round-trip, to do it. And it truly surprised me that my brain just says, OK then, not going to happen, let’s move on.
When we ran out of cookies, we ate Easter candy with nuts. When we ran out of that, we ate toast with honey. When we had no food in the house to speak of, I used what we did have to make a delicious meal that could easily become a regular part of our summer suppers. Looking around at empty cabinets, I sprouted half a bag of mung beans, roasted 2 beets, and mixed it together with a can of kidney beans, some oil, salt, honey & 2 packages of restaurant-swiped mustard. Yum.
In the city, I would have been running to Kroger since we had “nothing to eat!”
I guess that’s why it seems so much more relaxing out here. I can’t remember the last time I sat in my chair in the morning, internet-free, TV-free, with no obligations on the day’s calendar at all, and said to myself, “Hmmm….what should I get into today?”
I hope that this more relaxed lifestyle will lead to me being a devoted homeschooler next year. This year I’ve been less than disciplined, and I’ve forgiven myself because it’s “just kindergarten.” To an extent, I believe that. On another level, I’m nervous that I don’t have the self-discipline to ensure the job is done properly.
I will say the opportunities for learning are always there if you look for them, though. Sassy and I walked to the mailbox yesterday through puddle after massive rain puddle in our driveway. On the way back, we played an odd-even game. I gave her a quick primer: 1, 3, 5 – odd. 2, 4, 6 – even. It goes every other, I said. I stepped, saying, ODD, EVEN, ODD, EVEN, as each foot went down. “Time to play!”, I told her.
Each time I said an ODD number, she could jump into a puddle as hard as she wanted to.
Each time I said an EVEN number, she wasn’t allowed to jump. It was an ODD-EVEN Simon Says, I suppose.
She got it after about 2 minutes and only a handful of mis-jumps. Then we played all the way back to the house. “Do it again!” she kept begging me.
It is a wonderful thing to embrace the mud and the dirt because it’s a fact of life. It’s a wonderful thing to put into practice the adage, “If they’re not muddy when they come in, they weren’t having enough fun.”
I can’t wait to have all of our friends to visit, and I'm looking at the first weekend in June to have a big old, weekend-long housewarming party. Mark your calendars & dig out your tents, if you'd like.
And please stop by Kroger on the way and bring some Newman-o’s if possible.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
happy alive again day
This is the first Easter since I’ve had children that we didn’t have family functions to shuttle between, trucking 50+ miles to pick up baskets of candy. When did Easter become the Spring Christmas, I’ve often wondered. I usually find time to attend a morning service each Easter, even in my CEO years (Christmas Easter Only). This year, we decided, we were busy enough! We were going to spend Easter on our land, in our new house, all together. We were not going to send Sassy away with Nana for the Easter Egg Hunt or with Grandpa for the morning breakfast. We would be calm, we would be together, and we would be Just Us.
So Sassy made it clear the day before that she was expecting an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. She said something like, “I hope the Easter Bunny can find me in my new house!” Then she went on to describe the places she remembered the Easter Bunny hiding her basket in previous years. I didn’t have the heart to skip the hidden basket, so off to Kroger I went on Saturday morning.
As I was going to bed Saturday night, I was thinking (of course) that I didn’t want her to think Easter was only all about candy and a giant hiding bunny. (Though that was good fodder for jokes Saturday night, as we wondered if Sally our cat, brilliant hunter that she is, would hunt the Easter Bunny and leave him decapitated on our front stoop. Yes, we have a sometimes sick sense of humor, and yes, Sassy laughed right along with us.) And since we weren’t planning to attend Easter services anywhere, I felt somewhat responsible for her education on the subject.
I decided that Sunday morning I would take Sassy on a Easter morning walk, just the two of us with baby strapped on front. I would explain to her a more meaningful Easter that wasn’t all about candy.
So, we started with Jesus dying on the cross and coming to life again on Easter. I explained that things can die, but then come back to life. Look at the trees, I told her, see how they died over the winter and now they are coming back to life in the Spring. Look at their tiny buds (shush please, botanists, on my lack of differentiating death and dormancy on this). I explained how people in our lives have died but they have become alive again in Heaven, just like Jesus became alive again here on Earth. That’s how we know it will happen in Heaven.
Talk about simplicity! In bringing it down to a five-year-old’s level, I think I actually made Easter more meaningful for myself.
We renamed the day “Alive Again Day.” We hiked the woods and found tiny spring buds. We took pictures of some and collected others. We decided that next year, when we had an oven to bake in, we would bake a cake on Alive Again Day and celebrate all the people in our life who have died and had a second birthday in Heaven.
Here are some pictures from our walk. I hope everyone else had a very happy Alive Again Day!
So Sassy made it clear the day before that she was expecting an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. She said something like, “I hope the Easter Bunny can find me in my new house!” Then she went on to describe the places she remembered the Easter Bunny hiding her basket in previous years. I didn’t have the heart to skip the hidden basket, so off to Kroger I went on Saturday morning.
As I was going to bed Saturday night, I was thinking (of course) that I didn’t want her to think Easter was only all about candy and a giant hiding bunny. (Though that was good fodder for jokes Saturday night, as we wondered if Sally our cat, brilliant hunter that she is, would hunt the Easter Bunny and leave him decapitated on our front stoop. Yes, we have a sometimes sick sense of humor, and yes, Sassy laughed right along with us.) And since we weren’t planning to attend Easter services anywhere, I felt somewhat responsible for her education on the subject.
I decided that Sunday morning I would take Sassy on a Easter morning walk, just the two of us with baby strapped on front. I would explain to her a more meaningful Easter that wasn’t all about candy.
So, we started with Jesus dying on the cross and coming to life again on Easter. I explained that things can die, but then come back to life. Look at the trees, I told her, see how they died over the winter and now they are coming back to life in the Spring. Look at their tiny buds (shush please, botanists, on my lack of differentiating death and dormancy on this). I explained how people in our lives have died but they have become alive again in Heaven, just like Jesus became alive again here on Earth. That’s how we know it will happen in Heaven.
Talk about simplicity! In bringing it down to a five-year-old’s level, I think I actually made Easter more meaningful for myself.
We renamed the day “Alive Again Day.” We hiked the woods and found tiny spring buds. We took pictures of some and collected others. We decided that next year, when we had an oven to bake in, we would bake a cake on Alive Again Day and celebrate all the people in our life who have died and had a second birthday in Heaven.
Here are some pictures from our walk. I hope everyone else had a very happy Alive Again Day!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
the state we're in
No pictures this time (I forgot the camera), but I wanted to update on our progress because it seems like we've been dragging, dragging, dragging along & then bam! It's all going to happen at once. Maybe building always happens like this?
We could be moving as early as this coming weekend. Wow.
We now have: water from the road back to the house. A septic tank due to be installed early this week. A leach field already installed for the tank. Electric sign-in fees paid, paperwork notarized & filed, and flags set to indicate the underground line-to-be. We're still waiting on them to dig the line.
We have the skirting ordered and estimated delivery to be this coming Friday here at James. We'll have to move it out there in the truck. This is probably the biggest stickler to moving out there over next weekend. We would be making multiple, multiple trips with the truck unless we break down & rent a moving van.
I don't mind moving in without electric for a few weeks, but we have to have water & septic installed. We won't have a landline phone for awhile either, most likely, so we'll have to depend on our cellphones. We probably won't have internet for awhile, although I'm sure I'll be making lots of trips to the library to make up for that.
We met our first neighbor yesterday. We had to install a mailbox on the corner of what we thought was probably their property -- the mailtruck runs on the opposite side of the road from our house -- so we bravely (it's hard!) went over & knocked on their door to say hello & tell them before we started messing around their property.
Turns out "they" is a mom who has recently separated from her husband and her three older children, 1 in high school & 2 in college. She lives in a gorgeous house on 5 acres. I don't know how many square feet, but it looks smallish -- just our style -- and it has that lofted ceiling with open great room & balcony that I've always loved & seems to be common in the area among newer homes. It has a wrap-around porch that runs the length of two sides of the house. It made me think sadly of our log cabin plans...briefly. I think my desire to not be straddled in outrageous debt right now outweighs my house-envy.
She seemed to be a friendly woman. We talked about gardening, canning, going without chemicals. She too is allergic to chemicals. She invited us to come and have popcorn while we watch TV in her finished basement during tornado warnings.
Our contractor was out for awhile yesterday too. He was discussing our storm shelter with us. I told him we had a budget of $2000 & to do as much as he could with it, then gave him "creative control." Ha! He's making it so we can put shelves in to store canned goods, apples, squashes & root veggies overwinter. He described the details to Jeff (which I didn't particularly understand) and Jeff reported to me that we're going to have a bunker that will survive a nuclear holocaust. Hee, hee.
Ooh -- I do have one picture to share. This is a Photoshop creation of our plans for the house that I worked on all day Thursday. I think I needed a break from real work that day!
The big dirt patch in front represents our garden. We'll be planting our vegetables in front over about an acre. It will extend to the halfway point between our house & the road. I spent the latter part of Thursday doing a scaled plan of the garden on graph paper. I'm planning a 4-year rotation, with the 4 plots belonging to: salad veggies, brassicas, roots & cucurbits/squashes. A permanant rhubarb/asparagus bed will run the width of one end & a permanent strawberry bed will run the width of the other.
I've been thinking about where I want this blog to go after we move & I've decided it will morph into the traditional homeschooling/farming blog we all know & love. I'll describe what steps we're taking on the farm, what stupid mistakes we make & what brilliant things we discover from the old-timers. I'll record the cute things my kids say and leave out the parts where I lose my temper. I'll take lots of pictures to share. LG will remain the place where I can share my true thoughts & feelings, my struggles & weaknesses. I'll not share that blogspot with many people. This one's different; it's meant to be shared.
We could be moving as early as this coming weekend. Wow.
We now have: water from the road back to the house. A septic tank due to be installed early this week. A leach field already installed for the tank. Electric sign-in fees paid, paperwork notarized & filed, and flags set to indicate the underground line-to-be. We're still waiting on them to dig the line.
We have the skirting ordered and estimated delivery to be this coming Friday here at James. We'll have to move it out there in the truck. This is probably the biggest stickler to moving out there over next weekend. We would be making multiple, multiple trips with the truck unless we break down & rent a moving van.
I don't mind moving in without electric for a few weeks, but we have to have water & septic installed. We won't have a landline phone for awhile either, most likely, so we'll have to depend on our cellphones. We probably won't have internet for awhile, although I'm sure I'll be making lots of trips to the library to make up for that.
We met our first neighbor yesterday. We had to install a mailbox on the corner of what we thought was probably their property -- the mailtruck runs on the opposite side of the road from our house -- so we bravely (it's hard!) went over & knocked on their door to say hello & tell them before we started messing around their property.
Turns out "they" is a mom who has recently separated from her husband and her three older children, 1 in high school & 2 in college. She lives in a gorgeous house on 5 acres. I don't know how many square feet, but it looks smallish -- just our style -- and it has that lofted ceiling with open great room & balcony that I've always loved & seems to be common in the area among newer homes. It has a wrap-around porch that runs the length of two sides of the house. It made me think sadly of our log cabin plans...briefly. I think my desire to not be straddled in outrageous debt right now outweighs my house-envy.
She seemed to be a friendly woman. We talked about gardening, canning, going without chemicals. She too is allergic to chemicals. She invited us to come and have popcorn while we watch TV in her finished basement during tornado warnings.
Our contractor was out for awhile yesterday too. He was discussing our storm shelter with us. I told him we had a budget of $2000 & to do as much as he could with it, then gave him "creative control." Ha! He's making it so we can put shelves in to store canned goods, apples, squashes & root veggies overwinter. He described the details to Jeff (which I didn't particularly understand) and Jeff reported to me that we're going to have a bunker that will survive a nuclear holocaust. Hee, hee.
Ooh -- I do have one picture to share. This is a Photoshop creation of our plans for the house that I worked on all day Thursday. I think I needed a break from real work that day!
The big dirt patch in front represents our garden. We'll be planting our vegetables in front over about an acre. It will extend to the halfway point between our house & the road. I spent the latter part of Thursday doing a scaled plan of the garden on graph paper. I'm planning a 4-year rotation, with the 4 plots belonging to: salad veggies, brassicas, roots & cucurbits/squashes. A permanant rhubarb/asparagus bed will run the width of one end & a permanent strawberry bed will run the width of the other.
I've been thinking about where I want this blog to go after we move & I've decided it will morph into the traditional homeschooling/farming blog we all know & love. I'll describe what steps we're taking on the farm, what stupid mistakes we make & what brilliant things we discover from the old-timers. I'll record the cute things my kids say and leave out the parts where I lose my temper. I'll take lots of pictures to share. LG will remain the place where I can share my true thoughts & feelings, my struggles & weaknesses. I'll not share that blogspot with many people. This one's different; it's meant to be shared.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
upgrades
Well, ugly pink carpet is GONE in the living room & has been replaced with laminate flooring. Painting is coming along. Our bedroom is now only half pink.
We spent three days/two nights there this weekend. We moved both beds in and the weather was warm so it was quite comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, neither Jeff nor I wanted to come back! It will be quite an adjustment to get used to transitioning between farms & city life. I have many thoughts on this rolling around. They need synthesis, and they don't belong on this blog. They are lil' grapes fodder.
For now, pictures! Kathryn and her family came up Monday to help us with our floors. Nana & Angie & Lillie also came, but I didn't get any pics then. It was too busy, and they were there for a very short time.
And as I was leaving, I started snapping pics of the changes inside & darn it, the camera ran out of battery power. I thought I got one (great) shot of the new floors -- the lighting was beautiful -- but wouldn't you know it, the last shreds of power took the shot, but apparently didn't save it to the card. Rats!
Next time....
Fun Times!
Elizabeth & Joanna
Mary Kathryn builds a rocky road
Sydney and David assess a very important situation
ATV rides...woo-hoo!
Angry Times
The all-too-familiar face that makes Mama move
Relaxing Times
We spent three days/two nights there this weekend. We moved both beds in and the weather was warm so it was quite comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, neither Jeff nor I wanted to come back! It will be quite an adjustment to get used to transitioning between farms & city life. I have many thoughts on this rolling around. They need synthesis, and they don't belong on this blog. They are lil' grapes fodder.
For now, pictures! Kathryn and her family came up Monday to help us with our floors. Nana & Angie & Lillie also came, but I didn't get any pics then. It was too busy, and they were there for a very short time.
And as I was leaving, I started snapping pics of the changes inside & darn it, the camera ran out of battery power. I thought I got one (great) shot of the new floors -- the lighting was beautiful -- but wouldn't you know it, the last shreds of power took the shot, but apparently didn't save it to the card. Rats!
Next time....
Fun Times!
Elizabeth & Joanna
Mary Kathryn builds a rocky road
Sydney and David assess a very important situation
ATV rides...woo-hoo!
Angry Times
The all-too-familiar face that makes Mama move
Relaxing Times
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
new year, new home
And we now have finally found...A HOME!!!!
As most of you know, we had to ditch our cabin plans until either (1) our current house sells or (2) the economy boosts itself back up or (3) we magically fall into a buttload of money. In the meantime, we have decided to go with a mobile home. We acquired a land improvement loan through a farm credit company -- very cool people. They were great to work with. We got our check the week before Christmas for $25,000.
We've been looking in the $20,000 range, since it will take us about $5000 more in lot improvements to be in shape to move in. We even put offers in on 2 mobiles sitting on dealers' lots. Both offers were $4000+ under what they were asking & both were denied.
We've been keeping track on craigslist, driving through trailer parks to see what's for sale, checking all the dealers' lots and newspaper listings within 100 mile radius of here and our land. We're picky. It might be a temporary home, but it has to have certain feel to it. We have to actually like it if we're going to live there a couple years, you know?
Well, surfing craigslist yesterday, Jeff found a 1999 Clayton home, 14 x 70, 3 BR, 2 BA about 45 minutes from here for $10,000. The home had to be moved from its current location, which was great for us, since that was our intention anyway.
We drove out to meet the folks today & tour the house & it was perfect for our needs. And the best part? At $10,000, we can go ahead and build our pole barn for animals straight away! How cool is that?
We meet with the couple tomorrow to sign a few papers & put half the money down. We'll give the other half when we take the home from the property. Now Jeff gets to go in high gear getting details together for the big move.
Here's some pics, so that when y'all come visit us, you'll know where you're going!
The kitchen and living room:
The larger of the two second bedrooms (this will be my room for sewing stuff, an extra bed, etc.):
The smaller of the 2 second bedrooms (this will be Jeff's room for his computer, weights, etc.):
The second bath:
The master bedroom (obviously the dreadful overload of pink has to go):
The master bath:
A separate laundry area:
The back door, included because that's pretty much what our view will look like out the back:
As most of you know, we had to ditch our cabin plans until either (1) our current house sells or (2) the economy boosts itself back up or (3) we magically fall into a buttload of money. In the meantime, we have decided to go with a mobile home. We acquired a land improvement loan through a farm credit company -- very cool people. They were great to work with. We got our check the week before Christmas for $25,000.
We've been looking in the $20,000 range, since it will take us about $5000 more in lot improvements to be in shape to move in. We even put offers in on 2 mobiles sitting on dealers' lots. Both offers were $4000+ under what they were asking & both were denied.
We've been keeping track on craigslist, driving through trailer parks to see what's for sale, checking all the dealers' lots and newspaper listings within 100 mile radius of here and our land. We're picky. It might be a temporary home, but it has to have certain feel to it. We have to actually like it if we're going to live there a couple years, you know?
Well, surfing craigslist yesterday, Jeff found a 1999 Clayton home, 14 x 70, 3 BR, 2 BA about 45 minutes from here for $10,000. The home had to be moved from its current location, which was great for us, since that was our intention anyway.
We drove out to meet the folks today & tour the house & it was perfect for our needs. And the best part? At $10,000, we can go ahead and build our pole barn for animals straight away! How cool is that?
We meet with the couple tomorrow to sign a few papers & put half the money down. We'll give the other half when we take the home from the property. Now Jeff gets to go in high gear getting details together for the big move.
Here's some pics, so that when y'all come visit us, you'll know where you're going!
The kitchen and living room:
The larger of the two second bedrooms (this will be my room for sewing stuff, an extra bed, etc.):
The smaller of the 2 second bedrooms (this will be Jeff's room for his computer, weights, etc.):
The second bath:
The master bedroom (obviously the dreadful overload of pink has to go):
The master bath:
A separate laundry area:
The back door, included because that's pretty much what our view will look like out the back:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
