Plenty of room for us

We've spent the last few days discussing what we want our cabin to look like. What types of space we need .. notice I said "need" ... not "want." We spend most of our time at home, as a family ... all in one room. There's no reason to build large bedrooms if the only thing we do in there is sleep. Nor do we need to sit in a 600 sq. foot "Great Room." We don't want to have to yell across the rooms or house in order to have a conversation. We can get plenty of private time while playin in tree houses, sittin' on fences watchin the animals ... or by gettin lost in books.

Here's what we'll be starting with ... a 12x32 shell. We will move in and then start insulating. It will have electric before we move in.

We will be building an addition but not until we have the original structure completely the way we want it. We have been playing with floor plans and trying to decide what we'll do. Here are a few of our ideas ... 

Sketch #2 is my least favorite. It has too much open, unused space. 

The next plan is my favorite, I think. It uses space, it's less to have to deal with and it's well planned. 

I"m liking the next one as well ... not sure it's my favorite but it's definitely growing on me. I don't think it's because there is way more detail on this one than any other though. We have always planned on having an enclosed porch ... just hadn't put that in the other floor plans. Maybe I like it because we'd only need to buy enough fencing to do 3 sides of the yard? My husband likes all of them  ... only time will tell as to which home we will wind up building.

Wouldn't it be great if a new SUV would come with the buildings? LOL

Home, home on the range ... soon!

You know that we're moving already. The next stage is to get the above cabin (picture is of the model) onto our land. The porch is 8 feet long by 4 feet wide. That will change. It will be 4 feet long and 3 feet deep. The following picture is of the inside, right at the front door. You'll see what changes we are going to make to the entrance. The room will be our living room area. The picture is being taken from our kitchen/dining room area. We don't have any other pictures of the inside yet but will definitely be posting once our cabin is built.

As you can see, we are changing the way we enter our home. By cutting the porch down & changing the placement of the door we will enlarge the room from an 8 foot width to 9 or 10 feet. That doesn't sound like much but when it comes to floor space & furniture, it certainly can be. 

Once the cabin is on the property we'll have the guy in, to get it wired. Then ... we're either connecting to the grid (temporarily) or will put a generator right in. That will depend on a couple things. Either way, we will have to have power before move in, due to the extreme heat & humidity. 

We are so excited!!!

Surprise ... we're ...

M-O-V-I-N-G!!! And we are really excited about it!!! I'm sure a lot of you are thinking we're crazy or wondering what's going on. We're not moving out of state ... just to another town. Off a highway ... onto 10 acres. We're having a cabin built on the new property. Greatest blessings from this move ...

• more land
• lower payment
• safer highway if Winter travel is necessary (MOST important as far as I'm concerned)
• has a seasonal spring on the land

There's adjoining property available too, so we may just take the plunge for the surrounding acreage too.

We will still use the name "Our Maker's Acres" for our new property too ... because that's who has provided it for us. 

I know we've only been out here for a year, and we already had a cabin with land ... but the road has been a great concern as far as Winter travel goes. We left our cabin due to heat index but the road was always a question. In ice it would have been impossible to get in or out. 

The company my husband works for has 2 locations & our new place is almost between the two. He will be able to pick up more hours ... which is the plan only until he quits, to come home & work our family businesses with the rest of us. 

I'm off the design the floor plan of our new home. Talk to you soon!

And the winner is ...

So sorry for the delay in announcing the winners of our Pure Vanilla Extract GiveAway. We've had tornadoes swirling around our area, a death in the family and other things happening. Please forgive me!

With out dragging it out ... our first winner that Random.org picked is ...

Kristi ..... CONGRATULATIONS!! I'll be shipping your Vanilla on Monday!!!

The next winner that Random.org picked is ... 

McLisa ... CONGRATULATIONS!!!


I am so excited for you two to try our newest product! Please let us know what you think about it.

Enjoy ~

GiveAway: Blog Makeover

Head on over to ASPIRE to enter to win a Blog Makeover!!!

Back to life

When we moved in to our rental we got lost in the grid trap again ... falling head over for "luxuries" offered by today's society ... you know ... every channel on cable known to man ... almost like super-sizing our dependency on the grid. Well ... we've taken the plunge back to reality & removed the giant 42 inch LCD flat screen TV, we're ditching our cable & we've gotten rid of things we were paying for on time. Honestly, most of the family is thrilled to see everything go!!! I'm as happy as can be with basic, simple living. I don't need "things" to be happy ... I have God, my husband & children.

I'll leave you with a basic skills video

GiveAway and Gardening

Reminder ... don't forget about the Give Away You have until 11:59 p.m. (EST), Sunday May 15th, 20011 to get your entries in. 

Life has been crazy but we took a few steps to get back to simplicity. As most of you know, we are living in a rental due to the heat last Summer.  We're making arrangements to go back home soon though. We've prioritized and at this point, the only thing stopping us from getting things done at the ranch, is getting there. Our vehicle is broke down. We're on the market for a new one ... well, new to us. Someday!

We've pretty much got everything planned out ... the building plans, the power sources, the water system, the animals, the garden, the working etc We've got our bases covered ... I think LOL

Did you plant a garden this season? What did you plant?

We didn't plant a garden this year. Not being at the ranch and not having a vehicle to get up there, makes it harder to take care of it ... so we decided to wait until next year. Seeing prices of food go up so drastically though, we are regretting the decision. We did do tomatoes though. We'll get enough to can massive quantities of sauce so my husband can make his famous pasta sauce.