2012 Resolutions

Resolution - a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to dosomething.

I don't normally make resolutions. The thought of them has always plagued me with worry. I stress about the littlest things when it comes to committing to change. I've come up with a plan for myself .. I changed my idea of what my resolutions should be. I'm not sure I can really explain my thoughts or reasons for the change ... but for me, they don't overwhelm me & flow in to changes I feel are important.

1) Spend more time with my Heavenly Father. By this I don't mean reading the Word more (all though that's in the plans too) or praying ... I mean ... just sitting with Him, calm and still ... quietly admiring His creations. "Be still and know that I am God" comes to mind. 

2) No more buying from corporate bullies who move their jobs to different countries. If it's not made in America, I don't need it!!! In my hunt for gifts and items for myself or household, I will be looking to my  friends who have home businesses. I believe in you, your product & want to do everything I can to help you succeed! (So, if you have a blog, website etc showing your products or services, plesase send it to me)

3) Making healthier choices - not just with food, but in friends, acquaintances, committing to do things etc. I want my body healthy in the New Year but also my mind & soul..

4) "Stir up the gift of God which is in you" ... a beautiful piece I won in a GiveAway. I will strive to spend more time doing just that. I will spend more time feeding the creativity that God placed deep in my heart. I will write, sing, paint ... and take photos. I use the gifts he hjas given me to teach my children to use their gifts. I look forward to a creative year!

5) Take time to recognize the blessings & gifts in my life ... every day. It may not come as a FB post or even a word spoken outloud ... but I will be thankful!

6) Stop second guessing myself ... when I have a gut feeling to not go forward with something or someone, I need to stop talking myself out of it. That instinct is there for a reason! 

7) Health - yep, you knew it was coming. This is a priority for me. I have been doing good on my journey to lose weight ... but I know I can (and should) do more. My goal is not weight loss (though that is a perk) ... it's to be healthy ... eat healthy, get the proper amount of sleep, have a strong immune system etc. I get in a good routine & then stumble. I want the stumbling to happen less & less this year!

Pictures of our Promised Land :)

Short blog ... Ya right LOL ... not after being gone for this long. Grab a cup of something, sit down & enjoy the pictures (and small comments in between LOL) (Pictures are in no specific order)

The boys pulled this stump out from among the weeds when we were cleaning up part of the land

Our 4 year old trying his hand at building a log cabin out of sticks 

14 year old daughter helping with the caulking

12 year old helping with the caulking

Pulling protective plastic off the loft/bedroom window

Smile for the camera LOL

Peak-a-boo

One of our water tanks

See the heart in the trees? That is at the entry of our property ... How kool is God?

Pulling weeds

More weed pulling

Gathering rocks to line our driveway with

"Hillbilly" insulation ... clothing in walls, held up with sheets that are tacked to the wall

Some of our stuff in the cabin

The loft in it's "almost a bedroom" state 

Who is this space man?

Ahhh, insulation day. (Hillbilly insulation came down)

Tada!!!

A water heater we are borrowing

Our water tank stand

Some of our neighbors:

A little fun:

Target shooting with the B.B. gun

Bein' silly

Justice and Liberty for us (this is what they do after a hard day at play)

Something we found growing on the land:

Today's the day!!!

I find myself overwhelmed to tears today. It's moving day. I don't think there are words to describe my happiness ... really. We have been blessed by an "angel" ... he knows who he is. Because of him we have a wood stove, a water heater, a water tank & a generator.

My husband has a lot of the furniture moved out already. The whole move will be over by tomorrow, I'm sure. Then we'll come in & clean. It's happening. YAY!!!

A Whole New World

We got the keys to our cabin ... to our new life ... and to a whole new world. These keys do more than just unlock the front door. They give us freedom. Freedom from debt ... freedom from slum ... err landlords ... freedom from city drama ... ahhh the country life!

You want to have a look inside? We'll take you for a quick walk through while we're waiting for the guys to jack the cabin up & level it. It won't take long.

First we have to unlock the door (that was just hung). It's a bit sticky, but I'd imagine once it's level that will work itself out. 

The view from the front door. You are looking at the future living room, kitchen and part of the upstairs (ok, it will be a ladder and not stairs) storage/office. At the very back we will have a bedroom and bathroom. 

This side door will open up to the addition once it's built. The addition will house other bedrooms, a second bathroom and 2 extra lofts. 

From inside the cabin ... you are looking at the other angle of the kitchen. The corner may be used to house part of our water barrels. Our counter top will go over those & we will hand pump water to the kitchen sink. (Off course these are all still just thoughts ... things may change LOL)

Looking toward the front door from the back of the house. You see part of the kitchen, living room and the entry. The loft you see is actually someone's bedroom. My husband was yelling to the delivery guy that the door was sticking & needed a good amount of force to open it. The cabin was jacked up in a few different areas, testing to see which location would fix the problem. Eventually it was resolved. 

While we were on the property, we met one of our neighbors. He was an odd fella ... small & a bit jumpy. He didn't stay around too long but long enough for me to get a picture of him. Can you see him?

 

Will he make it?

Oh well ... this week has been interesting, challenging, stressful, fun and ... blessed!!! We have friends who will be homesteading with us on our property. Their cabin shell was delivered a couple days ago. The delivery guy tried coming up our front driveway ... no matter what he did, it wouldn't work. He was ready to give up. We asked him to try the back, private road (that we own) but he argued and stated he'd seen our road and couldn't make it. We had him go for a walk down the back road to see. My husband & friend went with him ... and after much consideration, he decided he could make it. So ... he drove up to a neighbors place & instead of backing up right after he entered their driveway, he drove all the way up on to their property. He came flying down their driveway back to the main road & took out a tree branch of theirs ... (totally unnecessary since he didn't have to go that far in to be able to turn his rig around). In doing this, he tore the shingles & trim up on the roof ... both sides. Once he drove up our back road, he almost made it the whole way. He got stuck between a stump and 2 trees. One of the trees bent (with the help of human hands) in order to save the siding on the cabin. We needed a chainsaw ... thank God for neighbors!!! The delivery guy decided to cut the trees down himself. By the grace of God my husband was able to redirect the falling tree ... because it was going to fall right back on to the delivery guy. It fell right next to his truck ... with a few branches going in to the cab. The tree that got stuck under the truck & cabin was easier to remove. The cabin was dropped in it's new location (I say new because it had to change as of that day, due to the driver having to come up the back road & us needing access right through where he was originally going to drop it).

Now .... want to know how things went when he brought our cabin? Well ... due to the same guy being in a hurry, he tore the trim off the back of the cabin. He cut a turn to close & jammed the back end in to a stump ... the same stump he cleared a couple days earlier. We also have some gouges in the porch wood. Other than that, all is well LOL Watching it all happen is bizarre & stressful but we had fun waiting for the cabin to arrive.

We plan, God laughs!

We are needing to go clear the land. Not all of it ... just the area the cabin will be set on. There are some weeds and maybe even a tree stump or three to be ground down. It's been raining for the past few days so we've not been able to do anything. Today is beautiful ... the perfect day to clear the land ... right?! Nope. There is work being done on the main road to the cabin & traffic is blocked ... yes completely blocked from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. everyday until Friday. Great ... NOT! I guess it's a good thing our cabin shell won't be delivered until next week.
We took some friends to the land over the weekend ... so we could show them how to get there as well as how kool the acreage is. We got to the far edge of the land and it started pouring rain. Yes, it was a minor sprinkle before we left. Then it stopped. Then it poured buckets down!
There's a few things we have to do yet ,,, but it's coming along! Our rental house is all packed & things are ready to go in to storage. We're putting everything in besides dishes, pots, pans, clothing & school books ...ok, we're keeping tools with us too.
I'll post our list of "To-Do's" tomorrow ... see you then :)

Sky's the limit!

We've been going over things in our minds and on paper ... and decided to make some changes.

1) Due to a hazard issue, we're changing the kitchen design around. The stove will NOT be very close to the sink. As a matter of fact it will be as far away as we can get it!!! (I'll add the new floor plan as soon as it's done)

2) We had discussed and even jumped in to making an income by using "homestead" skills, knowledge & by selling home made items. We're actually rethinking that. Yes, we can use these things to save our family money and may use them at times, for bartering ... but the more we do, the further away I get from my dreams and calling. We've decided to remove all distractions. We may be offering some items for sale soon .. such as bottles (for vanilla), fabric spray paints ... but then again, we may not. 

3) Someone suggested we consider using an above ground swimming pool for our (non-potable) water collection. We could collect rain water or haul our supply in. Honestly, the cost alone makes it very enticing!!! A 3000 gallon tank would cost around $1200.00 but we could get a 5000 gallon pool for $350.00 Makes one think, yes? We'd put it on pallets (to keep it off the ground) and cover the pallets with carpet (so the bare wood wouldn't damage the liner). We'd certainly have to build an enclosure for weather proofing ... but we're thinking free pallets would do it. Then we could "insulate" it by stacking bales of straw/hay around the walls. The roof would have to have a pipe coming out of it, to enable water to get in to the pool & we'd have a pump connected from the pool to the pipes for the house. We're pretty sure it could all be done for $500.00 or less.

4) The shy's the limit here!!! We should build our dreams ... even if it's one piece at a time.