2012 coming to an end

I can't believe it.  I started the year working at my old job and I'm ending the year in my new job as a stay-at-home mom.  Things sure can change.  Thank goodness! 

We had a big year.  In January we went to CA to visit Tom's grandpa.  Then not long later we went back for his funeral.  So glad we made the trip in January so the kids could meet their great-grandpa. Then we spent the spring and late winter having Tom in school and finishing is last semester of his graduate work.  He graduated in May with his Masters in Applied Linguistics.  He then spent the summer session working at a language institute while applying for jobs across the country.  In late May/early June he went to Nebraska for an interview.  June 3rd my company had another plane go down.  About mid-June Tom accepted the job in Nebraska.  So, by August we had traded places and Tom became the bread winner and we were living in a new state.

In the midst of moving and adjusting to our new life I finally got rid of a house in Oregon that I had inherited.  That was a headache and a half but it is done and out of our hair.  We hope someday our Montana house will sell but we have renters/housesitters there now so we aren't quite as desperate to sell as we might be.

At the end of August Bear started school.  Pre-school but school none the less.  He has been thrilled with being in school and making friends.  Mia is adjusting to being at home with me.  She would still love to be going to school but it sure cuts costs to have her home.

Mostly our year has been one of change.  Changing jobs, changing states, changing school status, and hopefully soon changing houses again.  We've been house hunting.  It hasn't gone well.  So be it.  Overall though we've had a good year.  Our family is together more than ever which has been very nice.  I'm getting to see my kids more than ever before which I'm loving.

We got to visit with family lots this year despite moving further away from everyone.  I got to surprise Tom for his graduation with a visit from most of our family.  Despite it being for a funeral the trip to San Diego and getting to meet lots of family was a good trip.  The kids and I stopped at my mom's house for about a week in between Montana and Nebraska.  My mom visited us in October here in Nebraska.  And now we are supposed to be getting more visitors soon! 

And a highlight of the year:  My sister-in-law had babies!!  Twin boys.  We can't wait to meet them but with the distance between us all it will be a bit before we get over there.  Maybe during spring break?  We shall see how finances, housing situations, and school schedules work out for that.

All-in-all it has been a good year that we are all thankful for.  Let's hope next year is a good one too.  We are hoping for a house to buy (my little farm) and some travel during the summer vacation.  Happy New Year!

Good morning

We got snow yesterday!  So much prettier and more festive with a few inches of snow on the ground.  I also broke down and got a Christmas tree yesterday.  We haven't had one because we've been planning on moving and didn't want to try to move a tree.  This is a little potted tree that is all of maybe 12 inches tall.  Bear has colored some ornaments and we have it decorated.  It is too little for lights but it has sparkles that catch the light.

All in all it is feeling more Christmas-like around here.  We had been so focused on finding a house to buy we'd been ignoring the season a bit.  Well, that and the fact the boys have been sick.  I decided we needed to change that.  I'm finally getting excited for the season.  I can't wait to see the kids open presents Christmas morning.  Mia is at an age she is starting to understand what Christmas is all about and Bear certainly is.  They are both excited about Santa. :)  I've been talking to Santa and I can't wait until the kids see the decorations he did for their stockings.

Since the wind is blowing the new snow around I'm glad we don't need to go anywhere today.  Well, there might be a doctor trip but otherwise we can hole up and enjoy each other's company.  We can make the final preparations for Christmas and get a little laundry and baking done.  I suppose I should at least throw my load of laundry in.  I'm hoping that Bear can make it to his last day of school today.  Poor kid has missed 3 days already.

Knitting

Just a small short rant tonight.  I just figured out why when you are knitting "in the round" on circular needles and you are making your join all the instructions say "don't twist."  I got about an inch knitted and realized things weren't looking right.  Argh!  So it is ripped out and I'll need to start over.  I'm hoping it will be a hat for Bear out of yarn I spun that he picked out the color.  I actually bought the wool for him to spin and he's done some but then he wanted a hat.  So I spun it up and now I'm attempting a hat.

At least this knitting gives me something to do while I sit with sick kiddos and husband.  I think Mia is coming down with it now.  Poor kiddos.  I think Tom and Bear are on the down hill slide.  I sure hope so any way.  Tom is so tired of being sick.  I'm sure Bear is too.  He so wanted to go play in the snow today.  It was the first time he'd really made a stink about being sick.  He is the nicest, most polite sick kid ever.  Everything is "yes please" or "no thank you" when he is sick.  Or when I ask how he's doing it is, "Not well."  Today with the snow it was just tears because he wanted to go play in it.  I just didn't dare let him do it with his fever.

I'm hoping they'll all get better soon, that I'll avoid this thing, and hopefully Bear will get a hat out of the whole thing.  For now it is off to bed to keep up on my rest and I'll start on the hat again tomorrow.

Sick, bad news, and Great news

Everyone being sick stinks.  Both of my boys are down with high fever and coughs.  Bear is on day number five.  At this point we are just letting it run its course and hoping us girls get to skip out on this one.  We keep pumping the immune boosters and are resting lots.  We are eating plenty of chicken soup too.  I'm just hoping we are all done with this before our Christmas travels.

We just had our 3rd house offer fall apart.  We thought we had a house to move into right after the first of the year.  We were so excited and ready to be moving.  Now we are not moving and there is really nothing on the market that we are interested in.  Sure makes us frustrated.  I guess at this point we'll sit tight until that perfect little farm shows up. 

I know things like this happen for a reason but man!  Really!? 3 times we have to get so close and then have things fall apart.  The first time we had a buy/sell agreement and it was the financing that came apart.  Then the next guy decided he wanted to wait to sell his place (we'll maybe still get a shot at this one), and now this gal tells her realtor (after verbally accepting our offer) that she isn't offering both lots with the house and she'd really like more money still.  Argh!  I feel for her realtor though.  Even she thought she was offering both lots.  That was the whole reason we were even willing to offer on it was that it was almost an acre in town with both lots.  Only one lot was absolutely no deal for us.

So, we've gotten sick, had house deals fall apart and best of all?  Tom and I became aunt and uncle!!  Tom's sister and husband had twin boys yesterday!  Woohoo.  So excited to be a real aunt finally.  I'm so glad we aren't there right now because we wouldn't dare go see anyone with our sick bugs but I will be so happy to see the adorable little boys later.  And I have to say kudos to my SIL.  She not only carried them to what is full term but they are huge for twins.  She had 14 pounds of baby.  Whew!  Talk about super-mom.  I thought I was uncomfortable with 8 pounds of baby in there.  I had nothing to complain about.

So happy they have their family now.  Congratulations!

Argh!!

It is official, I hate house hunting and trying to buy.  The ups and downs of it stink.  That is all on that.

We should have new babies in the family any minute now!  Twins! We don't know the sex yet but can't wait to welcome baby A and B to the world.  My kiddos are very excited to have baby cousins too.

Christmas is right around the corner and we have all gotten sick.  Isn't that just how it goes?  Today will be the second day Bear has missed school.  He is so bummed about not getting to see a friend of his.  Hopefully the fever will be gone tomorrow and Thursday so he can finish up the last of this semester.  Tom has a fever too today and is desperately trying to ignore that fact so he can finish up and get grades done for his students.  As soon as all that is done I'm sure he'll come home and collapse.  Mia and I are doing okay for the time being.  We are keeping up on fluids and echinacae so hopefully if we get hit too it isn't hard.

Let's just hope all this is done for Christmas travels.

Farm country

I think time is in some sort of warp.  Here it is almost Christmas and it feels like we just barely moved.  Maybe that's because I haven't unpacked?  Then again maybe it is just because we've been busy.  Tom is on his last week of school.  He only has two days after today.  Bear has all next week of school.  I'm pretty sure we have another Christmas get together next week and we had one last weekend.  Then it will be Christmas.  Holy cow!  I still have some shipping to do but I think I have all the presents done.  I've got to double check.

The trains sure are busy this morning.  I've been hearing a couple go by for the last several minutes as I write this and drink coffee.  Luckily we aren't right next to the tracks.  I don't mind trains but there is so much train traffic here it could get old in a hurry.  It is not uncommon to get stuck waiting at a crossing around here.  Luckily there are lots of train crossing so when you get stuck with one when the train parks at the crossing people usually just turn around and go a different way.  There is even one section where the road goes over the tracks with an overpass as opposed to actually crossing at the track level.  It sure helps with traffic flow.

I'm impressed by the number of semi-trucks and trains.  You can tell that feed lots and farms are the main industry here.  My kids now know the difference between cattle trucks, corn trucks, and sugar beet trucks.  Right by us we don't get too many of the bean trucks but the beanery is about 30 miles away so that explains that.  We have the sugar factory here.  We also have at least 2 large feed lots within 10-15 miles that I know of and probably there are more.  Prevailing winds are a consideration when looking for a house around here. :)

I'm actually surprised how little we smell the sugar factory.  Once in awhile the wind shifts and it stinks up all of town but usually you only smell it when you are actually by the factory.  Gotta watch out for the beet pulp on one road too.  And all the trucks hauling sugar beets.  I think this year they harvested somewhere around 20 million tons of sugar beets.  I can't remember exact numbers.  I'm not so sure that was total or if that was just what was at our factory.  There is another factory for the same company only 30 miles away.  And there used to be two here in town.  Now the old one is just the lab. 

I find it all fascinating.  I love that on Sunday our newspaper puts out a Farm and Ranch section where I can catch up on how the beet, bean, and corn harvest is going.  What the drought is looking like.  And all sorts of other interesting tid-bits.  They usually list the auctions in that section too.  Our local NPR station has a whole harvest radio too.  Market reports around here are what corn futures are doing, butcher hogs, and soybean prices are doing.  I've yet to figure these out and how the pricing really works but it is interesting to listen to.

To say the least I'm happy to be back in farm country.  I like the mountains and all but farm country is what I know and love.  There tends to be a wonderful sense of community in farm country.  I'm not saying there isn't in the mountains but it seems the more open the country gets the more open the people get.  I'm not sure why.  I am enjoying the fact that when we meet someone though it is isn't, "Why did you move here?" it is "Welcome! We love it here because of ________."  There is always something different for each person but we don't hear about why they don't like it here we hear about why the do like it here.  It is nice.

Just things to think about.

Waiting and waiting and waiting.  It seems to go on forever.  At first we were waiting to hear about a job in Nebraska.  Then we were waiting for it to be later in the year so we could move to said job.  Then we were waiting to hear about a rental.  Then we were waiting for a house to sell.  And another house.  - One sold one is still on the market.- Then we made an offer on a place and we had to wait to hear on that.  Then once we had finally agreed on a bunch of stuff then things fell apart at the last minute.  So it was back to waiting and looking.  Then we made another offer on another house.  And we were back to waiting on news from someone else.  And then they came back with information that just wouldn't work for us.  And now we are waiting again.  It seems it will never end.  I'm so impatient that I'm going a little crazy.  Maybe this is just my patience test for the year?  Month? Week?  Day?  I hope year.

So besides waiting I've been re-reading the Little House on the Prairie books.  I'm enjoying them a lot but I keep thinking that there is no way Ma is as happy as Laura writes her to be.  Don't get me wrong, I think she was an incredible woman that did things to raise her family that most modern women would never one, want to do, or two wouldn't have the knowledge to do.  At the same time though as a parent I see things differently than a child does and I'm realizing there are things that the kids never see.  At least as a parent you hope they never see. 

I can only imagine the stress Ma was under to provide a safe, comfortable home for the girls when they were living in a tent, a wagon, a dugout, or a shanty.  Not to mention wondering where their next meal would come from.  And to top it all off there were seldom any other people around to talk to or work with.  It explains why it was such a treat to have visitors.

In reading these books at this time of year I'm paying more attention to their Christmas stories too.  It is amazing to me how Christmas has changed over the years.  It has become so commercial and such a competition.  And how do you compete when kids have so much all through the year?  It seems to have lost some of the special feeling that used to come from not having things during the year.  Things like a bit of candy or that special orange in your stocking used to truly be a special thing.  Now, it seems like a why bother?  It sure makes you stop and think that a piece of candy and maybe one present really was super exciting because it was the only time of the year that you got it.  At times I wish it were still that way.

I don't envy the hardships of that life though.  Our modern lives are so much more comfortable.  I complain about waiting to see about a house and yet I live in a house that between my kitchen and dining room is bigger than a lot of the Ingall's living conditions were.  And to think that there is so much more to this house than the kitchen and dining room.  I picture trying to squeeze 4 kids and 2 adults into one tiny room.  Ugh!  I know how cramped we were in MT in our little house with only 4 people total and one dog.

Snippets of goings on

Only a little ways off until Christmas now.  I think I have all the presents taken care of except 3.  That isn't so bad.  Especially for me.  I'm terrible about Christmas shopping.  I'm one of those wait until the 24th types.  I try not to be, but it has never really worked out well.  Every year I get a little better though.

I just decided to measure Bear the other day. 44 inches tall and somewhere between 50-55 pounds.  I thought that seemed tall so I compared him to the CDC growth charts.  He is off the charts for a four year old.  When I compare him to the 5 year olds he is still off the charts although without such a gap.  And yet if you compare his sister she is mid-range and high but not off the charts.  Funny how different two kids can be.  Bear has been growing so much that I swear I've been able to hear it happening.  At least his eating has slowed down so I think the growth spurt is at least slowing.  We aren't totally out of apples that I bought 2 days ago so we must be on the down hill slide of that.  Thank goodness!  My pocketbook can't take much more eating like that.

Let's see, besides kids growing out of everything and Christmas almost here we are still in housing limbo.  We might move, we might not move.  It seems like we've been in limbo for a long time.  It will all settle out in the end but for now it is tiresome.  We are making the best of it we can and keep working toward a resolution to it all.

Off to round up the monsters...

Home

Funny thing about the Christmas season.  It gets you thinking about going home.  Wherever home is.  Maybe it is where you hang your hat.  Maybe it is where your mom is.  Maybe it is where your babies are.  Maybe it is all of those.  Mixed up or not.  I think that is the way it is for me.  Home is two things for me.  Home is the house I grew up in where my mom still lives.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  They tried to sell the house a couple years back and couldn't.  I love that I can bring my children to Grammy's house and we can stay in my old bedroom.  At the same time though the town I grew up in is no longer my home town.  It has changed so much that it just isn't the place where I grew up.  Now that portion of my feelings are more inclined to feel like my home town is where my husband and children are. 

At this point though our new town has not come to feel completely like home yet.  For me that is still Montana.  I know this will change over the years.  It took several years to feel like our home in Montana was that, home.  I'm finding myself missing odd things from our Montana home.  Besides my garden that is. :)  My yellow kitchen, our post mistress, the neighbor lady that walked by our house everyday, my kitchen window that looked out on the backyard so I could watch the kids play and I could see the garden, and the strangest one?  I miss all the hippy/crunchy/organic stores.  Even our tiny town had a thrift store that was part second hand store part bulk herb store.  Our little grocery store carried lots of organic food.  If you went to Missoula there were all sorts of organic food and clothing stores.

Here we have one health food store.  At least there is one.  None of the grocery stores carry much in the way of organic food.  There seem to be no baby stores that carry cloth diapers or organic cotton clothes and natural wood toys.  Everything comes in Styrofoam containers here!  And wrapped in plastic wrap!  And store clerks just have no idea what to do with your canvas grocery bags.  Coffee stands (the couple there are) serve your coffee in Styrofoam cups.  What happened to cardboard?!  What happened to recycling?  What happened to all the green movement?

I find it funny that I miss all this stuff that kind of bugged me about the Missoula area.  I didn't disagree with it but I didn't care for the holier-than-thou attitudes of many of the people around town and in those types of stores.  But here, there is very little of the attitude that one should even think about this stuff.  There is a farmers market and there are a couple of CSAs.  Thank goodness for that.

All of it has me thinking about what ways I could bring some of this stuff to this town.  I'm tossing around ideas of some sort of store/farmers market stall.  My problem is trying to decide on a product.  Herbs and flowers?  Hand spun yarn?  Natural baby products?  Cloth bags from upcycled clothing?  Rag rugs?  Knitted or crocheted items?  Maybe a little of all of it?  How do you display it then?  What do you call it?  How do you include books in that?  If only my interests weren't so varied.

I so far lean heaviest toward herbs, flowers, and hand spun yarn.  All things I've been interested in for some time now.  I do need a place to grow said herbs and flowers though so... 

These are all just random ideas for now that all tie into the idea of making this area my home.  Maybe there is some way I can help improve the community and make my little corner here too?

Musings and kiddo updates.

Projects are going.  I like Winter time.  It gives us time for those indoor projects that just don't get done in the Summer.  I have a crochet project, a knitting project, sewing projects, a rag rug project, and my spinning projects going.  My only problem is deciding which to work on at what time.  I've finished 2 knitting projects and yesterday I did a quick crochet project for Bear.  He had spun some yarn so I made him a little bag out of the yarn he'd made.  He'd done up about 10 yards or so.  It made a great little bag.  It fits a car or makes a good troll sleeping bag.  It would also fit a cell phone but he isn't interested in using it for such things yet.  Thank goodness.

I have stocking projects for the kids.  The basics are done but now I need to do the decorations and names on the stockings.  I've told Bear I need to send the stockings to Santa so he can finish them. ;)  I don't know how far I'll get with all my projects.  I'd actually like to add more projects but I feel like I need to finish a few before I add any.

In thinking about Christmas I'm realizing part of my reluctance to decorate is a lack of Christmas-like weather.  It has been so warm.  We are still getting into the 60s during the day and some nights we are barely freezing.  No snow either.  Not that it would stick around with those temperatures.  It is a bit hard to think Christmas when I don't even need a jacket to be outside.

And last but not least.  We aren't moving as soon as we might have.  Yet another deal has fallen apart.  We are pretty bummed about this one but we knew it was a long shot.  The place wasn't even officially for sale after all.  So we are house hunting again.  Actually I think another offer is going in today.  We are low-balling a place we've been interested in but it is priced pretty high.  It is worth throwing it out there.  Who knows?  Maybe this one will work.  We shall see.

Kiddo update:  Mia is talking like crazy.  I don't know about her.  Most 2 year olds say 2 word sentences.  Not her.  She comes in and says things like, "What they doing Momma?"  And the really surprising part is that a lot of strangers can understand a lot of the words she says.  That doesn't usually happen until about age 3.  She is developing very normally in all aspects otherwise.  Just an early talker.

Bear is growing like crazy.  He's been eating me out of house and home and I'm seeing lots of clothing getting too small all of a sudden.  I think as a family we've been going through about 10-12 apples every 3 days or so.  I don't remember the last apple I ate and Mia takes about 2 days per apple.  Bear on the other hand will eat between 2 and 5 apples in a day.  That is on top of both kids eating about 2 bananas a day and any other fruit I bring home.  All of the fruit is generally either breakfast or snacks.  They are both still eating full lunches and dinners without batting an eye.  We need an apple tree. Or 3.

I just checked pjs on Bear.  He has a 5T shirt on and it looks like it is a 3T.  I guess he has moved into the 6T.  All of a sudden.  He has kinda skipped the 5T size.  He was there for about a month.  Whereas he's been wearing his 4T stuff for about a year.  Guess we're done with that plateau in growth.  Oh and basics on weight and height.  Bear is somewhere between 50-55 pounds and I'm guessing in the neighborhood of 48 inches tall.  Mia is about 30 pounds and about 35 inches tall.  They aren't babies anymore.

Moving? Not Moving?

Aaaaaaaa!!! It never seems to end with house hunting.  So frustrating that we can't seem to get on the same page with sellers.  And/or our realtor.  I'm not sure which it is.  This one area we've been looking is so nice and has had acreage but we can't seem to get a place there.  Maybe we just aren't meant to live there.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm frustrated with house hunting.  I remember this about buying a place in Montana too.  I get so dang sick of realtors and looking at houses.  I know I am not a typical real estate buyer.  I like older houses that have character.  I know lots of people like the newer box houses and seem to like to be crammed in with everyone else.  I want some elbow room and a house with character.  For some odd reason those things are hard to come by.  I love a true Craftsmen style home with all the wood work and hardwood floors.  Unfortunately those are hard to come by out in the country.

So basically it boils down to we still have no idea what we are doing.  Our offers on places have been pretty well turned down.  Our landlords/realtors want us out but don't seem to be working too hard to make that happen. So they must not want it that badly.  Their problem not ours I guess.  Off to see what we can do to remedy the frustration...

Christmas is coming!!

Now that Thanksgiving is done we can truly start on the Christmas holiday.  Now that we have kids I love Christmas.  Before it just didn't seem to be something to get too excited about.  Now that the kids are here it is fun to make it a magical season for them.  I'm a little nervous about this season though.  We don't know if we are moving or not so I'm not too keen on going all out to decorate the house.  At the same time if we aren't moving I want the place decorated.  We'll do little things like getting candles, and a wreath, and a tree.  I might do a little live tree so it is easier to move though.  Also, we'll hopefully be travelling for the holidays.  A crazy time.

I do have Christmas cards to get done too.  I'm hopefully making a lot of our Christmas this year.  Note I say hopefully.  I know that a lot of it may not get done with all the other stuff we have going.  I'm okay with that.  I'll do what I can and not worry about the rest. :)

Funny Mia story:  She calls Santa, Christmas.  They were watching an old Christmas show and Santa was singing.  She kept saying, "Kissmiss sing."  Also, we watched the movie Brave the other night.  We thought the bears might be scary to Mia.  Nope.  She thought they were funny.  She's gonna be quite the little thrill seeker I think.  Bear seems to be my cautious kid and Mia just kinda dives in.  And yet she's the one that right now even a piece of dog hair can freak her out.  She thinks it's a spider.  Funny how different two kids can be.

Today is back to school for Bear.  A little over three more weeks and then it will be Christmas break.  Tom gets done a week earlier than Bear does.  Hopefully they will be able to be helping move.  We shall see...

The kids and I went and toured a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm yesterday.  A friend of mine has shares and set up a tour.  I didn't get any pictures.  Well, I take that back I took a couple but only a couple.  I got into checking out the piglets, the huge greenhouse and watching the kids play in the rock piles, the wood piles, the sand, with the barn cats, and climbing over downed trees.  It was so nice to see the kids get to run around free.

It made me realize how little we get outside at our rental.  It sure will be nice to get our place where the kids can run around out and about.  They love to be outside and it will be wonderful to let them go.  In looking around at the farm though it was pretty neat and gave me some ideas for our farm.  I don't think I want anything as large as they have.  In the neighborhood of 70 acres.  That seems a bit much for what Tom and I want to do.  We want to be able to have a couple of animals but neither of us really want 70 acres to patrol weeds on.

That's one problem but some of the ideas I came away with were having a coffee shop (this area sure isn't the Northwest, it has a serious lack of coffee shops), wool shop of some sort, and a bed and breakfast type place.  Something else I thought of while walking around was to follow the lead of some other successful people I've seen and appeal to women and to keep the place neat, clean, attractive, and add a bit of girly to it.  It seems that a lot of folks seem to forget the appeal of marketing.  I know farming is a lot of work and I know these particular people are re-vamping her mother's old farm.  But... if you are going to have a business, attract customers, and make it successful it seems to me that you would like to have the place nice and neat.  I know this can be a lot easier said than done.  It is that way with a house too but there are lots of people around that do it and there are many more that seem to forget sometimes taking a bit of pride in what you do makes an impression.

Uf-da

Well, I'm doing it.  I'm finally getting off my duff and getting in gear.  Boy am I out of shape!  I knew it was getting bad but geez.  But maybe I'll finally lose some of this baby weight I put on with Bear and never did get rid of.  The worst was after having the kids for me.  With working full time and getting up at all hours with kiddos I had no motivation to do anything in the way of working out.  Now that I'm not working I have no excuse but still haven't had any motivation.

I found it somewhere finally though.  I think mostly I'm just sick of feeling like a slug.  I don't mind being a little on the heavier side.  After all I do love to eat good food.  But this has gotten ridiculous.  So, I'm off to see what kind of a changes I can make.  I don't want this to be one of those things where I go for a week and then give up.  I'd like to make the changes for good.  I want to be a good example for the kids.  I want to be able to enjoy good food without it all settling on the hips.

I'm sure this sounds like many other folks.  I think that has been a lot of my resistance to the whole exercise thing.  I've always worked jobs where there was a lot of physical labor involved so I never really worried about it.  I also don't like working out with other people so gyms are not appealing.  I wonder why that is?  I never had a problem playing team sports in high school so I don't know when that happened.  Oh well.

At any rate, this is my way of somehow hoping to hold myself a little bit accountable.  If I tell everyone about it here then I have to do something about it and stick to it.  Besides those that know me personally and see me next time will expect to see a change if I proclaim it on here. :) 

Well, kiddos are demanding attention so I'd better get.

Lots running through my mind.

Hoping to hear something on the house today.  *sigh*  I just wish we knew at this point.  Do I pack like a mad woman or do we keep looking for houses?  It would be so much easier if I knew.  I really don't like the limbo stage.  It seems like I've been living in a perpetual state of limbo the last several months.

At least I was able to get some baking done this weekend.  I made a big batch of bread and I made graham crackers.  The kids love homemade graham crackers.  Bread is so much cheaper to make too.  I guesstimate that it costs me around $3 to make a batch of bread.  If I buy it at the store I get one loaf for that.  With the recipe I use I get 2 loaves, and at least 2 dozen rolls and usually closer to 3 dozen.  This round I got the 2 loaves, a dozen smaller dinner rolls, 6 large sandwich rolls, and probably 6 bigger dinner rolls or you could call them small sandwich rolls.  What I figure to be around $12 worth of bread (more if you get the good wheat stuff) I made for around $3.  Yep, a bit cheaper to make your own.  I haven't priced out the graham crackers.  I don't know if it is really a savings there but I figure if I already have all the ingredients and don't have to spend any extra then it is a savings in time running to the store if nothing else.

The best part of this weekend was Tom helped me with the massive clean-up that needed to happen.  I've just not been motivated to do much around here.  It is hard to motivate oneself when you don't like where you are at.  By that I mean I can't stand our rental.  It is much better than when we moved in but it is still not a very nice place.  We are making the best of it but there is only so much you can do when you don't own the place and your landlord/property manager is so-so.

At least I'm all ready for Thanksgiving.  I have my turkey ready and I have a batch of rolls frozen and ready to go.  I have some potatoes and the sweet potato casserole to make but the work is cut down by not having to bake bread that day.

Oh boy... My kids have decided to be crazy naked kids.  I'd better go round up the chaos. :)

Oh dear.

The kids must be growing.  Since getting up Barrett has had two apples, a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of cereal, and a sandwich.  Now he is eating lunch at school.  Mia is right there with him.  Although I think she only made it part way through one apple and she let Barrett eat most of her oatmeal.  I'm in trouble.  Last night/afternoon Bear had several apples then two helpings of dinner and ice cream for dessert.  He's only 4!  Plus he is sleeping a lot.  I can tell when he is growing because he won't stop eating unless it is long enough to ask me what else he can eat and he sleeps a ton.  I really am doomed once he gets to be a teenager.  If this is what he does at four oh my!  I'd better seriously tune up my gardening and cooking skills because I am going to need them.

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to have enough to eat tonight for dinner.

So besides my kids eating like bottomless monsters we are just waiting to hear about the place we have an offer in on.  I really just want to know if we need to keep looking or if we need to get packing.  I don't like that feeling of limbo.

Conversation with Bear

I probably should keep better track of these things.  I think all moms will relate though.  You get busy and realize months have gone by and what you wanted to get done just didn't happen.  But I'm going to actually get this one down.

We've been looking at houses to buy.  If you read this blog you know that.  We are looking at mostly small farms.  After looking at one we were in the car headed for supper and asked Bear what kind of animals he might want.  Well, this one we'd been looking at had sheep in the pasture so he said sheep.  "What are you going to name your sheep Bear?"

"Shayla and Gayla.  They're girls."

"Oh ya."

Then he proceeded to tell us how they were going to dress up as Belle and Cinderella for Halloween next year and that they can out run bears because they have jet packs.  Not jet shoes, jet packs.  Oh and they and Buddy (our Border Collie) will be friends, and they will have babies, and we can give them hair cuts and I can spin their wool into yarn.  All this was said with such enthusiasm it was hard to argue.

He has also wanted to have pigs.  I'm good with sheep.  Not with pigs.  Don't get me wrong I would love to have a whole hog in the freezer for winter but I don't think I'm good with raising a pig or butchering myself.  Well, butchering not so bad, but the killing is not so fun.  I'm thinking will buy our whole hog from a local producer.  Besides, Bear says we can't raise a pig for the pork so no pigs for us.

I think Shayla and Gayla would be great sheep names.  Hopefully if we get the one place our neighbor will sell us a sheep or two.  Or we'll pick up a bum lamb or two and bottle feed.  Sheep will sometimes end up with twins or triplets and as one woman I know put it, sometimes moms can't count so that other lamb doesn't get taken care of.

We are still waiting to hear on a property we put an offer in on.  Hopefully it is meant to happen.  We need to move.  Our rental sold and the new owners want to occupy.  And we don't want to occupy this place.  We just hope the timing is right for everyone.

Winter is on its way.

We woke up to a grey and dreary day.  We are supposed to get snow and cold this weekend.  It is almost the middle of November so I guess it is due.  We have been enjoying the 70 degree November days though.  I think I'm more or less ready for winter.  I still need pick up some things like a turkey and yams for Thanksgiving dinner but I'm not in a huge hurry.  We still don't know if we'll have lots of people or just a few for Thanksgiving.

My basic menu plan will be:

Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Gravy
Rolls
Some sort of veggie
And depending on the number of people we'll add Corn Souffle (pronounced soo-full)
We'll do some sort of dessert too I suppose
Wine and beer for drinks along with juice or milk for the kids
I think if we have people we'll do a veggie tray before dinner too

Like I say, I'm not super prepared for it but I've also not had anyone confirm that they'll be joining us so I'm not going to get too ahead of myself on planning.  If you feel like joining us for dinner though please let me know.  I love having a full house for the holiday and we won't be getting to travel this year. 

Hmmm... What else is going on?  We are house hunting.  Still.  We want one in particular but who knows if it will happen?  We've had some not so fun issues with our landlord/property manager but I think (hope) those are resolved.  Essentially it came down to they tried to illegally kick us out because the folks buying our rental want to occupy prior to the terms of our lease.  I'm hoping it is all ironed out again but we have certainly upped our intensity in looking for a place.  Oddly enough we don't want to mess up their sale and we'd like to be as accommodating as possible.  We just need a place to go first.  We'd be more than happy to move out of here tomorrow if we had a house to move into.  We have not enjoyed this house.  Its funny too because despite the fact that on paper this should be a lot nicer rental than we've maybe ever lived in it has not been nicer.  We've been lots happier in a lot of crappy houses.  I think mostly we had some pretty great landlords.  Here they aren't too bad but it has been a bit rough.

At any rate we really want to move.  We have a house picked out but have no idea if it would work out.  We're in the process of finding out if we can work a deal.  If we can you can bet I will be re-packing all of our stuff in a hurry.  I'll also be getting rid of stuff.  We really don't need so much of what we have.  I'm hoping to get the kids to reduce the number of toys too.  Christmas is coming and there is always a pile of stuff to sort through.  And while there is sorting going on I'm noticing that Bear must have gone through a growth spurt because all of a sudden he has a pile of clothes that don't fit anymore.

I suppose I should go back to moderating the train track building.  Little sister keeps interfering. :)

Wow.

I was just looking over the stats for this blog.  Apparently posting to Facebook and putting a recipe up gets traffic.  I think more people read my last post than any other post on here.  I hope everyone who tries the recipe gets great results too.  Mom always takes these buns to potlucks, parties, and holiday gatherings.  Usually at every one's request.  There is always a running joke about Mom's buns being the best around.

I've been making a lot of these lately.  It sure helps out to reduce the grocery bill.  If I keep baking like this though I'm going to have to get another 25 pounds of flour soon.  I'm amazed by how quickly one goes through the flour.  Talking about buying in bulk...  I'm excited since Tom goes to a conference this weekend and gets to go to a town that has a Costco.  I didn't think I would miss that store but it turns out I do.  We have a few select items that we get there.  Tom has a list that is to fill.  I am thinking it will save us money having it far away though.  This way we only will go once or twice a year as opposed to every month.

I find it interesting to read other articles and blogs about saving money and planning.  I'm horrible about planning for the most part.  I do a few things though that I learned growing up with very little money.  Baking your own bread, eating oatmeal, and buying in bulk when sales are going all work very well.  Things like dry beans help too.  They can be purchased inexpensively and cooked in a crock pot by themselves and then frozen and used like canned at a fraction of the price.  We do pay a price for convenience.  It is amazing to me how much you can save if you do a bit for yourself.  Of course that only works if you have the time.  If you don't have the time sometimes it is well worth paying for the convenience.

Okay, I think I'm done with that little rant. :)  We've had unseasonably warm weather.  The kids spent yesterday in the sandbox outside in t-shirts.  Beginning of November and we were all running around in around 70 degrees.  This weekend we are supposed to have winter weather.  We may get snow but we are supposed to get wind and cold for sure.  They were calling for -10 to -15 just north of us.  Sure can change quickly.

The cold weather seems more appropriate for Thanksgiving.  It just won't feel right if it is warm.  I'm hoping we'll have lots of people here for the day.  I love making a large turkey dinner.  For not really liking to cook otherwise that is one meal I enjoy putting together.  I think because it is my style of cooking.  Baking, potatoes, and roasting meat.  That I can do.

This turned into quite the random post. Oh well.  I suppose if you know me, you know I can bounce subjects like this a lot.

We have a lot going on right now.  Tom has a conference for work, Bear has school and a school program coming up, Turkey day is going to be upon us before I know it, Mia just is herself (which is turning into quite the character), and I'm considering applying for a part time job.  Oh, and we are trying to find a more permanent home.  The search continues there.  Fingers are crossed there.

Speaking of the kids.  Mia has taken to wearing her monkey Halloween costume all the time.  We had an utter melt down last night because we pulled it off her so she could actually get some sleep.  We were going to let her sleep in it, but it kept waking her up.  We pulled it off and oh. my. goodness.  We spent the next 45 minutes to an hour getting her to settle down.  Of course at that point we had said no to the monkey so we had to stick to our guns.  Hard to do at almost midnight but we managed.  Of course, she is right back in it this morning.  I have a feeling she'll be in it all day.

Well, in regards to today I'd better get going on the day.  It is beautiful out there.

Never Fail Buns

A couple of notes to start with: You'll want a large metal bowl for this that can be put on the stove.  This recipe makes a very large batch of dough.  A lot of times I cut it in half depending on what I have planned.  Lately I've been making the whole batch and freezing some baked goodies for later when I haven't felt like baking.

4 cups milk
2/3 cups shortening
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt

4 eggs
4 tablespoons yeast dissolved in 2/3 cup warm water
Flour- sifted; generally all-purpose but I like to mix in a bit of whole wheat too

Melt the first 4 ingredients together in a large metal bowl.  Once the shortening has melted pull off the heat and let cool until you can put a pinkie in the mixture without getting burnt.  If you can do this then you shouldn't kill the yeast when it gets added.  The only way this won't work is if you have super calloused fingers and can't feel the heat.  For those who want exact temps it is probably in the range of 90 - 100 degrees F.  About body temp.

Add dissolved yeast, water, and eggs.  I break up the eggs in a separate bowl before adding.  It just seems to work for me but if you didn't want to dirty another bowl you could just add the eggs to your big bowl.

Flour:  This usually ends up being about 3-5 pounds.  I never measure.  I just scoop into the sifter and add until it is the right texture.  Stir with a spoon until that doesn't really work anymore then start kneading with your hands.  I do this until most of the flour is incorporated into the dough.  I then pull the dough ball out of the bowl and continue to knead on a well floured surface.  I also wash my bowl at this point and then when it is dry grease it with shortening.  This is where I raise my dough. 

Knead the dough until it is nice and elastic.  If you poke it with a finger it should bounce back at you almost immediately.

Put it in your greased bowl and let rise until it is about double in size.  Punch down and knead two or three times to form back into a ball.  Let rise again.  Form your rolls, loaves, and what-not. 

Use greased pans and bake at 350 degrees F.  Loaves about 20 min. Dinner rolls about 10 min.  Cinnamon rolls about 20-30 min.  Meat rolls about 15 min.

This dough can be used for all sorts of things.  I've been stuffing dinner roll sized portions full of leftover meat and veggies to use as a pre-made sandwich for my husband's lunches.  Or if you have leftover fruit dip (cream cheese and marshmallow cream) that can be stuffed in for dessert/breakfast rolls.

Cinnamon rolls:  Roll out this dough into about an 18 inch circle.  Spread the dough with butter pats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and I usually add chopped pecans.  Roll up and slice into about 1 inch wide circles.  Put into a 9x13 inch pan that you've melted butter and brown sugar into the bottom.  I put a layer of whole pecan halves in the butter and sugar mix.  Once these are baked take a cookie sheet over the top of the pan and flip the cinnamon rolls over so the bottom becomes the top and the pecans, butter, and sugar all end up being the top.  Do this while it is all hot or else you'll never get it out of your pan.

This does take a good portion of your day to make but is wonderful and I think worth it.  Plus it is easy to do other things while this rises and bakes.

How things change.

I finally started unpacking some books this last week.  We moved Bear into his own room as well.  And then yesterday our blissful ignorance came to an end.  We had a gentleman stop by that proceeded to tell us that he was buying the place we have 30 days to vacate.  Ummm. No.  We aren't just in denial but we have the Bar Association on our side not to mention the clause in our lease that gives us first right of refusal when it comes to a sale.  So it boils down to the fact that we are probably going to butt heads with the property manager and landlord.  It may be hard and it may not be so bad.  Initial reaction is almost always anger when something like this happens.  And here I was wandering along thinking I had gotten rid of my real estate headaches. Ha! Was I ever wrong?

The thing of it is that we want to move but as of right now we have no where to move to.  There are houses for sale but we aren't liking much of anything out there.  Not to mention it won't be fun if we have to move over the holidays.  Nor will it be easy to get inspections, appraisals, or closings scheduled during the holiday months.  Lots of being unsettled I guess.  Now my goal is to not let the kids feel unsettled.  I want them to have a good Thanksgiving and Christmas without a bunch of upheaval.

So I have one huge goal.  Make things comfy and stable while I feel like it is falling apart.  Should be easy right? ;)  I know it won't be easy but the main thing is that we are all together for the holidays.  Some days I wish I were the kid.

Other than crazy house stuff though things are going pretty well.  I bought a Hoosier for my kitchen last week.  I'll be working on restoring that.  It is functional right now but not great for storing food until I get things cleaned and painted and repaired.  I'm so in love with the enameled work surface though.  I made bread the other day.  Oh it was wonderful to have a great surface where I can knead the bread.  There are shelves that slide out with the doors as they open, there are all the spice racks and lid racks on the doors.  The flour bin is there as is a sugar bin.  I'm giddy about it.  I also got a catalog for hardware the other day.  It will be nice to have a piece I really love.

You can see we've had some exciting times.  Bear is loving school still.  That is one thing that we want to do when we move is keep him in the same school.  I'm hoping anyway.  The districts here seem pretty good about letting you opt in or out of a school so long as you provide transportation.  For now that isn't an issue.  I really am hoping to find a great little chunk of property with a house we don't hate.  A bonus would be a house we really like.  We'll keep looking.  At least with all of the issues with the property manager/realtor we can fire them.  We have been using them as our buyer's agent.  That won't be happening now. Yippee!  We have a concrete reason to get rid of them.  There is a silver lining.

Sunday

I love Sundays.  I get to sleep in for one.  Tom and I trade off who gets to sleep in on the weekends.  He gets Saturdays and I get Sundays.  It gives us both a break from all the nutty craziness of mornings.  Both the kids get up raring to go.  Tom and I?  Not so much. 

Right now I'm finished with my coffee, although I'm considering one more cup.  Tom has some good music going on Pandora while he grades papers, Mia is napping, and Bear is in his room for some quiet time.  Bear seems to really like having his own room.  Little sister does not like this new situation.  Last night was there first night in separate rooms since she's been born.  Well, other than the first couple months when she was in with us.  She hated it.  So much so that she ended up in his room on the floor.  He is such a nice big brother that he was singing to her to comfort her.  He is the one person who can help her stop crying when she is really upset about something.  I love that about siblings.  Brothers and sisters have such a different relationship than parents and children.  Rightly so.  We need that close friend and enemy.  I don't think there is anything wrong with a single child but I do think we learn a lot about living in a society by having siblings.  An only child just has to learn those lessons through school or some other societal group.

In other things around here.  We have Halloween events planned for tonight with some friends.  The zoo has a Halloween Spooktacular set up.  We'll go do that and see what fun is to be had before we freeze out.  Yesterday I went into an antique store and bought myself a Hoosier style Sellers kitchen cabinet.  Something I've wanted for ages.  This one needs some restoration but has most of the original hardware and guts.  I'm excited to have a real baking station with a good work surface at the right level for short me.  Most standard counter tops are too tall.  And if they are like the ones we have here they have very inconvenient cupboards over the top that make mixing difficult.  They really could have used another 2 inches or so between the bottom of the cupboard and the counter top.  Well, I fixed that.  I don't have to use it anymore after I get my Hoosier in tomorrow.  That was deal clincher.  The shop would deliver the piece for me.  Hooray!  I don't have to figure out how to get it here.

I haven't decided if I want to paint the cabinet. It is white now.  The back needs replaced and it needs cleaned.  Springs on the flour bin need cleaned and lubed.  There are some missing latches that need either found or made.  Beyond that though mostly it needs a good scrub.

We may not have our farm but I have the beginnings of my farm kitchen.  Someday I'd like a wood cook stove too.  I don't think I'll get that until I have a place all set up for it and a pickup to haul it and several strong men to help with the hauling and lifting into place.  Those cast iron stoves are worse than the old cast iron tubs.

I suppose I should get going on a few chores around here.  Like laundry and vacuuming.  Maybe I'll get going on making some Christmas presents too.  Maybe if I start now I might get a couple done in time for Christmas.  Maybe.

It has turned cold.  For a few days anyway.  We had high 70s last week and yesterday and today we aren't even supposed to hit 40 for a high.  Brrrr. It is wonderful.  Yesterday was bright and sunny too.  Today is a bit grey but is supposed to clear this afternoon.  I love how the sunshine comes out here.  In Montana that just didn't happen the way the valley sat we would get inversions that would hold the grey muck in for weeks.  Ugh.  So happy to be done with that.  We are supposed to be back into the 60s by the middle of next week.  Funny weather.

I'm finding all the gaps and drafts in this house.  It is better than our other house but there are still plenty of drafts.  We'll have some weekend projects of pulling the last window ac unit and covering a couple of the worst windows with plastic.  That is to go along with moving Bear into his own room.  We've gone back and forth with it but I think to help him get the rest he needs we are going to have to.  He and Mia have way too much fun together and stay up too late or just plain don't take naps.  I've had to have him rest in Mom and Dad's bed in order to get nap time done.  That is tough too because that is fun for him.

Lots of projects going now.  As part of being a Mary Jane's Farmgirl I'm participating in a couple of holiday swaps.  It is a lot of fun.  Right now I'm building a stocking and gathering presents to go inside.  That and I need to get a stocking built for Mia.  Pretty sure she doesn't have a special stocking yet.  I've also been spinning a lot.  What fun!  This last time I met with my spinning group I picked up several different types of fiber to spin.  I'm working with camel/silk and a plain cotton.  Both are handled very differently than wool.  It is so much fun to see the differences in material.  Also, my sweet husband got me some roving for my birthday.  Such beautiful colors!  I'm excited to use the thread I've made out of them.  They weren't very big rovings but they are perfect for embroidery for what is known as crewel work.  I'm going to work that into the stocking I'm building.

So I have that stuff going but I'm also trying to decide which hoosier I'm going to buy.  I've always wanted one and this kitchen we have stinks for baking.  The one I really like needs some work but has all the original guts.  Flour bin with sifter, sugar bin, cook book rack and that kind of thing.  Some of the drawers need re-lined and it needs a new back.  Looks fairly straight forward though. But then there is one that is just the bottom section of a hoosier.  Much less money and doesn't appear to need much.  But it doesn't have the flour and sugar bins which is a big part of why I want a hoosier.  So I'm leaning toward the big and expensive one.  We'll see what I end up with.

Let's see, I think I filled in on Bear's parent teacher conferences in the last post.  In case you didn't see he got glowing reports.  I was very proud of him.  Mia is talking up a storm, running all over the place, and is a complete parrot.  She does and says everything that Bear does and a lot of times what Mom or Dad say or do.  Makes a person be on their toes.

I think it is time for me to go do something in another part of the house.  I think I'm keeping Bear up.

Cozy.

I think that is the word for the day.  It is a rainy dreary day.  We had an official play date this morning.  Up until today we really haven't had that experience.  We had fun.  I was very proud of Bear.  He was the oldest kid there and took charge of helping kids share and doing fun things while still watching out for little sister.  I was very impressed.  He's been making me very proud the last couple of days.  I had parent/teacher conferences last night.  His teacher had glowing reports for Bear.  Yay!!  I was a bit worried because at home we've had some issues with hitting.  I was happy to hear it isn't at school too.  So, we have a sticker board here that Bear is trying to fill so he can win a big prize at the end.  Every day that he doesn't hit he gets a sticker.  When he gets it all filled in he gets a prize.  If he hits either his sister or me then he loses a toy for the day.  I'm hoping that will work since I've been pretty frazzled by being hit on a daily basis.  We are now on day two of not hitting Mom.  This morning he hit his sister although I think it was more of an accident than on purpose.  He was swinging a belt and hit her.  He apologized but he doesn't get a sticker for not hitting today. 

Otherwise we are just snuggling in on this rainy day.  I have my last spinning class tonight.  I've loved having that.  There is a spinning group on Wednesdays that I hope I can get to once in awhile too.

Oh, last quick short story.  Typing is interesting since Monday night while I was slicing onions I proceeded to slice my finger as well.  I took a nice chunk off my left index finger.  Luckily no muscle but I took all the skin.  I'm thinking I may have a funny shaped finger for at least awhile.

I have a young man wanting to hang out so I'd better go do that.

A bit of Friday randomness

Its funny how when you think you are slowing down sometimes things speed up.  Although there are days I can get very bored with being a stay-at-home mom (see my last post) most days ended up passing by before I know it and it seems I can't get ahead.  Probably some of my boredom days are a retreat from days when time just flies by.  Who knows?

This morning is a perfect example of the time flying.  I swear I just got up.  And that was about 6:30 and yet I look at a clock and it is almost 10 a.m.  How did that happen?  It is supposedly quiet time here.  Naps for Bear are pretty much a thing of the past. :(  I miss his long nap times.  I'm happy he's growing into the young man that he is but I still miss nap time.  Especially since Mia has never napped much.  She's been my anti-sleeper.  Which is funny because if she gets up earlier than she wants in the morning she's a grump.  I think she just doesn't want to miss any of the fun.

I have lots of projects lined up.  One of the things I'm liking about this town and area is that there is no shortage of things to do.  This weekend there are several auctions, a fly-in breakfast, a volleyball game, a concert, a kid's expo, and I'm sure other things that I can't remember.  Next weekend there are craft fairs starting.  The middle of the week I have parent/teacher conferences for Bear too.  Like I said, no shortage of things to do.  Sometimes we are bummed because we have to choose one thing over another even though we want to do both.  Oh! I just remembered there is a boxing match Tom wanted to see too but it is during the concert dinner we are going to on Saturday.  Like I say, nuts.

In between all of the fun stuff to do (which reminds me one of the last farmer's markets is Saturday too) we have gotten some firewood so we can enjoy our fireplace, are trying to find someplace we like enough to buy, make this place tolerable, and just maintain our day to day.  Tom is going like crazy at work trying to re-vamp his ESL (English as a Second Language) department to better serve the students.  I must say I like how excited he is about his job.  I hope it all continues this well.  We are liking the community, he likes his co-workers and bosses, and Bear loves school.  Not half bad results for yanking up our roots and moving about 800 miles.  It certainly could be worse.

I'm off to work on some Christmas projects I think.  I'm going to try to do a bunch of handmade stuff this year.  One, I like doing it and two, it usually ends up being cheaper.  Not always but usually.  Now if I can just figure out what all I'm going to do for folks.  I do wish I had my herbs from a garden to use for some stuff but we'll go with something else this year I guess.  Next year...

Shhhh, it is a secret.

Don't tell anyone but being a stay-at-home mom can be boring.  I'm discovering especially so in a rental.  If I were in my own home I could come up with all sorts of garden projects, remodeling projects, yard clean-up, outbuilding fixes, and all sorts of odd jobs that go with owning your own home.  A rental is different.  There are trees that need cut down, rooms that need painted, vanities that need refinished, banisters that need repaired, lawns that need seeded, roofing that needs done on the outbuildings, and fences need mended.  That is just a quick list off the top of my head that our rental needs.  Of course those are all things I'm not willing to fork out the time or money for on a very temporary rental. *sigh* 

This all leads to a bit of boredom.  And from that some anxiety about why I'm bored when I should be enjoying staying home with my kids.  Is any of it really a big deal?  No, probably not.  Part of my issue is I really dislike cleaning and cooking.  Rather, I dislike planning the cooking.  Cooking I don't have a problem with.  Eating I really don't have a problem with.  Planning is a pain though.  I don't care for it in any form.  Whether it is meal planning, laying out a sewing pattern, laying out a sheet metal project, or following a recipe.  Don't like it. I never have.  For some odd reason I feel like I didn't do it if I'm following someone else's instructions but I don't want to take the time to plan it out either.  I just want to go and do it.  Probably why lots of my cooking and other projects turn out kinda funky. :)

I'm wishing we weren't entering the Fall and Winter season.  Not for any reason other than houses tend not to be for sale in the Winter.  Now Spring they all start to come on the market.  Since I want to get out of the rental and into a house I want it to be Spring.  Otherwise I'm tickled pink it is Fall.  I love Fall.  The leaves, the crisp cool mornings, the pumpkins, the colors, and the feeling of snuggling in by a fire.  I love the winter projects that Fall starts to bring in. 

I'm excited about spinning this winter.  I just need to stock up on roving and other materials to spin.  That and comb Buddy, my dog.  I think his hair would spin up quite nicely.  I could have a critter here but I wouldn't want to subject them to all the goatheads here.  Poor Buddy's paws.  He's learned where he can walk and where he can't for the most part.  Really he stays inside most of the time.  Actually we all do.  It is a dusty, prickly, noisy piece of property.  Oh I will be excited to pack up and move away from this house.  I'd love for it to be into our own house so we could unpack completely too.  I want to stop saying, "Its in a box somewhere."

Off to do that icky chore of cleaning.  Hazards of making banana bread.  Actually I made it into a Harvest Banana Bread.  I added some spices and some pumpkin.  Turned out yummy.

What we've been up to.

Bear is such a wiggle wort and a talker that I always know he has finally fallen asleep when there is no more moving or talking.  Poor kid got both Tom and I.  I talk and Tom wiggles.  Oh well.  Bear is doing well with school.  At least he seems to be on this end.  We have parent/teacher conferences next week.  Funny to think that those have begun.  Today we are headed on a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  Mia and I will eat lunch at school with Bear and then we'll ride the bus out to the pumpkin patch.  Should be fun.  I'm hoping anyway.  I'm not sure about that much time with almost 20 four year olds.  A little scary.

Mia is growing like crazy and becoming quite the character in her own right.  She is still way more snugly than Bear ever was.  She seems to need the hugs and cuddles more.  She is what I would call a sweet kid.  Bear is too but in different ways.  He needs much less physical contact.  Unless he thinks he can get a laugh from it.  Mia usually doesn't fail him there.  She is by far his best audience.

We are just plugging along trying to get this new life of ours figured out.  I should have firewood coming today.  I'm also slowly getting us unpacked and a bit more settled.  I find it hard to really unpack when I know we'll be moving again but we do need to feel more at home than we have been doing.  We'll get it figured out.  Slowly but surely.  I certainly don't see us buying this place so I know we'll be moving but at least we can make it enjoyable to be here.

I do hope that we can get rid of the property manager/realtor we've been working with.  She's the property manager for this rental of ours so we've been using her as a buyer's agent in the hopes that it'll help us get out of our lease.  I'm thinking now we'll just stick it out on our lease and get rid of her.  We've had a couple of showings that we didn't know about.  We're supposed to have 24 hours notice.  Also, she can't seem to make it to any appointment on time.  If she says 2 figure on 2:30.  If she says noon figure on getting rescheduled to 2.  It gets pretty frustrating. 

So I'll quit griping but that's what we've been up to for the most part.  Last weekend my mom came for a visit.  It snowed most of the time so we didn't do as much stuff as we had planned.  We did make to Sidney though and managed to go to the original Cabela's store.  That was pretty cool.  We went to the Oktoberfest too but couldn't get a beer because it was Sunday.  Huh?!  Why have it continue through Sunday then?  We did get some good brats and kraut and shopped the little farmer's market though.  We had fun and had a nice Sunday drive so it wasn't a loss.

I'd better get moving while the kids are sleeping so we'll be ready for the pumpkin patch...

Fall snippets of thought

The weather has turned.  It is now grey chilly days.  Although, tomorrow it is supposed to be warm again.  We've had our first snow.  I love the first snow.  It reminds me I need to get crackin' on the stuff to get ready for winter time.  I need to put away my summer furniture, bikes, and I need to sweep the patio and front porch.  I also need to get a load of wood for the fireplace.  I keep putting things off. 

I need to finish unpacking now too.  We aren't going to be moving for awhile so I may as well unpack stuff.  I still need to clean out and get rid of things but haven't managed to do much there.  I did make one Goodwill run.  I was going to do a yard sale, but I think I'll pass on that one.  I'm finding we need to get rid of more baby stuff.  Things like our crib.  Problem with our crib is that it is a drop side that has been recalled so I don't want to give it to anyone.  Plus when we moved some of the hardware ended up missing.  So, I need to find something else to do with it.  I just might have had a brain storm.  I might use it down in the basement as a drying rack for yarn after I've spun it. 

So, now that I have that figured out I need to figure out what I'm going to do with strollers.  I have 3.  2 I don't really use because they have wheels that pop when they encounter goat heads.  Plus we live on a scary busy corner of streets so I don't really walk anywhere.  It is a bummer because I live close to things but it is busy enough I'm tempted to drive through the intersection, park at the church down the street, and walk from there.  Dumb.  Oh well.  We won't be here forever.

And speaking of here.  Since we'll be here for awhile I think I'm going to get some grass seed and seed the lawn this Fall.  Maybe if I do it right we'll have fewer goatheads next summer.

Well, it is time for school prep time.  I'll have to figure out a to do list for my Fall projects.  Maybe if I write it down I'll actually do some of it.

Fall is here!

Fall really is here.  The days are cooler and I'm finally canning tomato sauce.  We went to the farmer's market the other day and a gal had boxes of processing tomatoes.  The only thing that made them processing tomatoes is that they had splits.  They are quite delicious eaten fresh as well.  Oh happy day I have good tomato sauce for this year.  I'm going to have to see if I can get one more box from her or someone else.

Let's see, I haven't updated on the kiddos for awhile.  Bear is loving school.  I'm liking him being there too.  I'm beginning to wonder what they'll do in kindergarten though.  It seems like they are learning all the things in preschool now that we learned in kindergarten.  He's had his alphabet down but now he's getting all the sounds of the letters along with learning to write.  They are also working on numbers.  He's known how to count for some time but they are working on some of the math concepts too.  A field trip to the pumpkin patch is coming up next week too.  That will be fun.

Mia is doing well too.  She is building on her vocabulary every day.  She is quite the talker.  Bear did not talk this much at her age.  She is growing like a weed.  30 pounds and 33 inches tall.  Most of her clothes are 2T or 3T.  She would love to be in school with Bear.  Most days we drop him off she wants to stay.  I'd love to let her but she's a tad small for that. :)

I'd better get a move on.  I've got tomatoes canned a girl that needs food and a boy that needs to get ready for school.

And it is gone

At least I'm assuming nothing has changed over the weekend.  The seller of the property we were trying to buy doesn't want to repair anything.  That means we don't get financing for the place which means we don't buy it.  It is a bummer but our offer that was agreed upon was not an "as is" offer.  There are other acreages so we are on the hunt again. 

I guess we just aren't meant to buy Abner at this point.  I'm bummed I can't be moving into my own house soon but we'll just make our rental work for now and keep our eyes out for another chunk of property.  There is an 8 acre chunk with a house and outbuildings that we want to look at.  Who knows how it will be.  It is a ways out of town so there is some investigating to do regarding which elementary school the kids would be in.  I'd love to live on a gravel road again.  So much quieter than the corner we are on right now.  It is crazy, there are times we have to either stop the conversation or shout to be heard.  I shouldn't have to do that in my own living room.

I have a few things I want to do with a farm.  I've been considering a farmer's market stall.  Initially my thought is to have cut flowers.  I haven't seen anyone here with flowers.  Also, now that I have a spinning wheel I think I may do some hand spun yarn.  In wanting to do the yarn I'm thinking about what animals I will want.  I don't want my own animals yet though.  We want to be able to travel for at least one summer before getting animals that will keep us at home.  So my first year here will be laying out a business plan and figuring out what we want and what we can do.

One of those days

You ever have those days where you just can't seem to catch a break?  They cause great big ol' sighs and sometimes a few tears if it is really bad.  Luckily mine isn't quite that bad.  The sighs yes, tears?  Not yet. 

We've been working on buying a house and property which if you've been reading this you know.  So today we got some not great news about inspections and financing.  I don't know all the details because I haven't been in the thick of it.  Tom has.  What it boils down to is that if the seller doesn't take care of some things we won't be getting the farm. :(  Although that is disappointing we aren't giving up yet.  We just never know how things are going to change.  The scary part is that our rental is for sale and there is an offer in on it.  This could be good or bad.

I have a couple of hopes.  One I'd like the farm, but if we don't get it I'd like to be able to get out of this lease (whether that is because of a sale or not) and be able to say see-ya to our realtor/property manager.  To say the least we haven't been impressed.  We feel like we need to use her as our realtor right now in order to get out of our lease.  But if we don't have to do that she is sooooooo getting ditched.

So we are going to suck it up, have some pizza tonight, go to a college volleyball game, and just hang out as a family.  Whatever happens will happen.  Things always seem to happen to us for a reason.  Same as when we bought our last house.  We really wanted one house but the more we looked into it the less we liked despite really liking the house and area.  It ended up in the flood plane and a few months after we bought our house, the one we'd been looking at flooded.  See?  Sometimes things just work out for the better.  Let's hope it is that way with this too.  No matter which way it goes. 

Now I guess I should fold the ever growing pile of laundry on my bed.

Grrrr!

Wordpress is at it again.  I can't post there.  How do you maintain a blog when it won't let you post?  So frustrating.  I'm off to see what I can get done today.  Not a bunch of motivation, but lots of coffee. If I can't have one I should at least have the other right? :)

Snippets of thought

*Some days are just destined to get nothing done.  Even if you feel like tackling the world sometimes it just can't be caught.

*We just had school pictures yesterday.  That was kinda fun to think about Bear having his first class picture and all.

*Household chores can very quickly become overwhelming.  Especially when you don't like the house you are in.

*I have too much crap!  I'm beginning to think I need to get rid of almost everything.  A few pieces of furniture can stay and the food can stay but otherwise most of it needs to go away.  I think a Goodwill trip is in order today.  I was going to do a yard sale but I just don't have the gumption.

*I can't wait to officially learn how to spin.  I have my wheel.  I have my class lined up.  It starts today.  I do need some roving to spin but I'm hoping to pick that up at class.  Oh I'm so happy about getting this started.  I've wanted to spin ever since I got to try it as a little kid.  I'm sitting here wondering about spinning my border collie's hair.  I think I could.  He certainly has enough of it.  I'm just wondering about how to clean it.  I'm also thinking that no matter what you do the fiber that results may always smell like wet dog if you get it wet.  That doesn't sound like much fun.  It might work for a rug or something though.  I don't know.

*I've discovered I'm really bad at meal planning, cooking, and fixing that sort of stuff.  I just don't want to deal with it.  For myself or anyone else.  That sounds horrible since I'm the mom of two little kids that need to eat.  I also really enjoy canning and some baking.  It is just the everyday cooking, planning, grocery shopping, and dishes that I can't stand.  It never ends.  I could do the grocery shopping or the cooking.  But planning, cooking, eating, then the clean-up just stinks.  I think my mom was the same way which is probably why I am the way I am.  Part of my problem is that I never want to run to the store to get all the ingredients of a recipe.  Of course it is always last minute too because I never plan it out.  Oh well.  Something I need to work on finding a way to get it done because we all need to eat.

*Besides cooking and all that I need to figure out some other sort of cleaning schedule.  I just really dislike cleaning this large stinky house.  Not that I ever really enjoy cleaning. :)

I think it is time to call a painter since I think the kiddos are actually napping.

First inspection

It starts today.  Oh how I hope it all passes.  I really want this chunk of property.  I want to live out of town.  I want to be on 10 acres of my property.  I want the pantry in the basement.  I want to be away from these two very busy streets and the canal.  With two little ones and a dog it just isn't very safe.  And I want a piece of property that isn't totally infected with puncture vine.  This rental is so infected there really is no grass and one cannot even walk to the car without getting a shoe full of the damn goatheads. And yes, I feel that strongly about the things.  They hurt!

So, my fingers are crossed, I'm asking any and all dieties to allow all to go well and I'll go out there after I drop Bear at school.  Then I can get a good count of things needed and some measurements.

Wanderings of my morning thoughts

I'm discovering as parent schedules really do get hectic during school.  We don't even have sports, band, drama, or any clubs going on yet.  This is only preschool for goodness sakes.  I guess I always kinda thought a lot of the scheduling and organizing hype was a little over the top.  I'm beginning to get it.  I can't imagine having several teenagers right now.  At least the way things work they let you ease into this whole crazy school schedule.

Somehow I have to figure out how to get it in line with everything else we have going.  Tom's schedule with school doesn't help any there either.  It is kinda fun though too.  There is lots to do on the weekends and none of it costs very much money.  That's always a plus.  Things like tonight we have a college volleyball game to go to and tomorrow Tom is running a 5K.  Well, with the cold we've had he might be walking the 5K.  Lung capacity is a good thing to have during a race.

Well, our house on the farm is getting a little closer to a reality.  We have our first inspection on Monday.  As far as I know this will be the general/pest inspection that every house goes through when one is buying a house.  After that sometime we'll have a well and septic inspection along with the appraisal.  The appraisal is the scary part.  That is what our loan hinges on.  Because of that and the type of loan we may be painting the buildings.  Which is good since we were going to do that anyway.  Then once we actually close we'll be looking at replacing a couple windows to start with and a couple of tiles need replaced.  They are just plain missing.  I think it is only 6 in the kitchen and maybe two in the bathroom.  I'm thinking we can do that for under $10.  We might splurge though and put a decorative border in the bathroom and use some of the other tiles we pull from that to replace the couple that are missing elsewhere.  That way they match in aging.  We'll see.  I am really excited about the claw foot bathtub.  I love claw foot tubs.  They are a wonderful thing to lounge in a bath.  There is no shower but that doesn't bother me.  I grew up with a tub only.  Now Tom might be bothered by that. We'll see.

I'm working on a couple of lists for the property.  They are not ready for publication yet but they are a garden list and an equipment/needs list for a farm.  Lots to think about when doing a farm even if we decide to never have critters.  There are still things like managing noxious weeds and maintaining a garden.  At least we've got our riding lawn mower with snow plow and chains.  We found it for a great deal at a yard sale.  And then we went to an auction and we got a dump cart that hitches to the lawn mower for a great deal too.  I have enough chicken supplies to get started with chicks but I will have to get a larger feeder and that sort of thing down the road.

Oh I can't wait to get my hands on our property.  Will it be easy?  No.  Will there be days I wonder why we didn't buy a little lot in town?  I'm sure.  But to have 10 acres to let two kids run on will be wonderful.  To be able to let the kids do 4-H and FFA(Future Farmers of America) animals if they want to.  Just looking at that sentence makes me wonder what happened to the FHA(Future Homemakers of America).  I'm beginning to think they should bring it back but not make it just for girls.  Everyone should have to take it.  Everyone needs to know how to prepare a basic meal, do dishes, do laundry, and balance a checkbook/debit records. 

I say this because I look at myself and many other folks that really don't know how to do anything when they move out of their parents' house.  I knew more than most of my peers but I still had/have a long way to go.  The basic home management skills just aren't there because we haven't had to do them.  And now that Home Ec. and FHA are pretty well gone there isn't anyone teaching it.  And yet we are all expected to know how to do our jobs and maintain our homes at age 18 or 19.  Is it any wonder that America has 30+ year olds moving back in with Mom and Dad?

Just things I ponder with my first couple of cups of coffee.  I don't mean to get on a soap box or anything.  But I guess I can do that since this is my blog and not anyone else's.  What it all boils down to is there is a lot going on here and my brain is going a mile-a-minute.  It is nice to not be going to work outside the home and it is nice to not have to worry about making one little mistake that may kill someone on that next flight. 

I think now that my coffee is cold I should actually get dressed and finish reading the paper and hang out with the kiddos.  Maybe I'll actually decide on paint color for the house too.

Grab a beverage, this one is a bit long.

I'm getting very frustrated with my other blog.  I'll get a post written, spell checked, and then I'll go to post.  Nope.  The "publish post" button will not highlight to click.  So frustrating since it was highlighted just moments before the spell check process.  It has to be some sort of glitch with that.  All I know is that now 2 of my posts are gone.  Oh ya, that's the other thing.  It doesn't save the draft.  Extremely frustrating.

The first day of the missing post wasn't so bad. But yesterday's was especially frustrating because I was trying to build my list of plants for the garden, orchard, and landscaping at the new house.  I am putting the cart before the horse a little bit here as we haven't  officially purchased the place yet.  Although my plant list applies to wherever we end up.

So in light of that I may end up posting most of my garden stuff on here as well.  I hopefully will also have some yarn/fiber projects to post about as well.  Last weekend I ordered a spinning wheel.  I've been tempted to do such a thing for years.  I spun once as a kid at some craft fair but never found anyone to teach me to do it again.  I went to the Fiber Art Fair here the other day and found someone who would let me play.  Oh so much fun.  I'm signed up for a beginning spinning class that starts next week at the college and my very own wheel should be here in a couple of weeks.

In thinking about what I'll need to spin it has me thinking about what animals I could have on our new farm.  The place is pretty well set up for goats and/or sheep.  We won't get any for awhile but it is something to think about.  I'd be interested in looking at Alpacas.  Their wool is some of the most expensive and therefore would be nice to not have to buy from someone else.  I don't know if it is so expensive that it would warrant keeping that animal though.

See, I think I have an advantage and yet a disadvantage from other folks just starting a farm.  I've had animals before.  I know that a lot of work goes into having animals.  There are vet bills, hay, trimming hooves, fence mending, hair cuts, and protection from predators.  See most animals that us humans use for meat, milk, and fiber are prey animals.  Most predators look at a flock or herd as a bit of a smorgasbord.  Why not?  Here they are, all penned up just waiting to be taken.  After all, that is why us humans keep them penned as well.  Sure we don't do it right off the bat and we try to do things in a humane way but that doesn't mean that the end result is any different when concerning the meat animals.

So what does all that mean as far as advantage or disadvantage?  It means that I know what I'm in for.  That covers them both.  It means I'm more reluctant to get animals but I will hopefully know how to care for them better than someone with no experience.  I'm more inclined to weight the plusses and minuses that is for sure.  Things like the Alpacas.  Is it worth having to care for them, protect them, pay the vet bills, care for the fences, care for the pasture, shear them, and feed them?  Does that all cost less than the fiber from someone else?  Probably not.  But then too I have to ask if I would be able to make money on the excess fiber and or yarn I could spin.  Something to look into.

As you can tell there is a lot to think about in buying this farm.  And now there is a job posting at the college I would qualify for.  I've thought about it and I'm flattered that they keep talking to Tom about me for the position, but I just don't think right now is the time to go back to work.  I'm enjoying the time with my children and the lack of stress that a job puts on.  I love that we have no daycare costs.  Tom can go to meetings and I can take classes without having to worry about childcare.

Speaking of the children... They are dying for lunch and then need a nap so I'd better quit babbling on here.

Randomness

Oh I so dislike when I start this process and what I was just thinking about writing is all of a sudden gone.  Hmmmm... what then?

Guess I'll tell you about what is going on in general.  We are buying 10 acres which involves setting up inspections, appraisals, and telling our current landlord we don't really want to be here the whole 12 months of our lease.  I suppose we could live here if we had to.  We just really don't want to.

My four year old just sat down and did 40 sit ups and is now doing "push ups and some stretching."

The going to bed process keeps getting longer and longer.  All sorts of excuses are thought of to stay up or get up.  It is amazing what all they come up with.  Hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, too tired and many other excuses.

I'm trying to get into some sort of routine for this whole staying home venture.  I enjoy staying home but I do need to get my routine figured out so the kids have some sort of structure.  I've never been good at doing and sticking to a routine.  I'll get it figured out someday I suppose.

I'm off to see if I can help convince the kids to go to bed.  Whew.

Whew!

We are buying a farm!!  Well, so long as the well, septic, and other inspections go okay, we can get out of our rental lease, and the bank says yes to lending us money.  Lots to do yet but so long as that all goes well we'll be the new owners of the old Abner place!

Today has been a crazy run around day for getting paperwork done on my house in Oregon too.  That sale closes tomorrow or Monday.  Tomorrow is when it is planned but Monday is an in case paperwork gets hung up in the mail.  I will be very happy to have that headache relieved.  That has been about 2 years of dealing with lawyers, court crap, and spending a ton of money.  I don't think my aunt intended it to be any of that when she left the 3 of us the house.

For those that don't know and want to know:  My aunt left us a house with the stipulation that her partner be able to live there until he moved or died.  In other words a Life Estate.  That was great.  No big deal.  Right?  No.  We had it stipulated in the Estate Agreement that all parties signed when she died that he would pay taxes and utilities and maintain the house in good condition.  Well, then I stumbled upon the fact that he wasn't paying taxes about 1 1/2 into it.  So we have spent the last almost 2 years exchanging letters, great big whoppin' tall tales (from him), and later lawyer summons, judgements, quit claims, and finally an eviction notice.  And then he left us all sorts of wonderful crap and damage to clean up and repair.

No idea who is watching out for us but the day the house was listed an investor offered us a cash sale "as is."  Yes, it was way less than we were asking but the closing date was sooner rather than later and everything is in cash.  I'm good with that.  I am very ready to have that headache gone.

Now if we could just get our MT house sold.  I know my renters wouldn't like that but I would.  Either that or we'll have to see about refinancing the place so it can actually make us some money.  I really don't want to be a long distance landlord though.  Especially since we don't have a property manager.  We might have to look into doing that.

I'm excited to plan things out for the Abner place.  Red and white barn paint.  House paint, we haven't decided colors there yet.  Windows, a couple need repairs or replacing before winter.  A good scrub all over.  And last but not least we need to buy a refrigerator, a range, and a lawn mower.  Unfortunately the last three are not going to be cheap.  Even if we do a used riding mower it still won't be cheap.  We'll do new appliances though.  We've never had good luck with used refrigerators and I'd like to start with a new range.  Mostly because people generally want way more bells and whistles on their appliances than we like.  We don't want anything fancy.  Just functional.

Oh, I do need to shop for handles for the kitchen cabinets.  So far I've found some that match perfectly on e-bay but they aren't cheap and they were only sold in pairs.  I need more than 4 handles.  I'll have to see what I can come up with around here in the antique stores.  There are some great ones here.

Let's see, in other news.  The kids and I have a trip to take for a wedding next week.  There are all sorts of activities we have planned for this weekend.  Fiber Art Fair, Farm and Ranch Museum harvest fest, and who knows what else at this point.  When we get back from our wedding trip I'm signing up for a spinning (as in yarn, not on a stationary bike) class and a Zumba class.  I can do both as freebies, I think, because Tom is faculty at the school.  Kinda cool.  Speaking of that stuff I'd better see what I can do about signing up for that.  I'd also better get a couple things boxed up so I can mail them.  I'm not sure what happened to my free time this week but it appears to be gone.

And waiting...

Well, kinda.  We are still negotiating.  Back and forth.  We want the property, he wants to sell the property.  We drove by yesterday.  He was baling hay on the property.  Nice to think we could probably have about 7 acres of hay off of there.  Looked like decent grass hay too.  I don't think some of it could be weed free though unless we do a lot of work on the weeds.

The kids can even have their own rooms at this place.  And we would still have room down in the basement for a guest room and den.  Is the place smaller than this one?  Yes.  But it is bigger than our St. Iggy house and there is a whole lot more outside to play with at the Abner place.  I'm excited to have a smaller house again oddly enough.  Here are a couple of photos from the property.  Won't the chicken coop look good with a fresh coat of barn red and white trim?

One of two chicken coops

The view looking South from behind the horse barn. The single tree out there is one of the property lines.