What a difference...

...a day makes.  Yesterday was hectic and wore on the nerves.  It is always like that with no naps and then Tom was/is gone for a conference.  None of us like when he is gone.  We haven't had a chance to get into our routine either.  Not yet.  Ya gotta love moving and the jumble it puts your life into.

I must say I'm impressed by how well the kids do with it.  I think they handle it better than us adults.  There are always a few extra fights, grumps, mopes, and general unsettledness but that goes with moving.  And then the kids always have a few issues that crop up too.  More than anything though this move has gone well.  All of our stuff is here (more than we could say last time), the kids sleep amazingly well here (as do we), and our mail has even made the transition. 

Times like this is when I see that there really is a reason we didn't get all those other places.  I knew the reason would become apparent.  It never seems like it will when you are in the middle of being distraught because some place you'd gotten your hopes up for didn't happen.

Even my funny dog seems goofy happy about being here.  He just came to me a bit ago all wound up about something.  I figured he needed out.  I went to the door and he looked at me like I was nuts.  Then he headed toward my bedroom.  He wanted me to come in my bedroom so he could go to bed.  Silly dog.  He could have gone by himself but no.

He also has his morning walk around the property now.  He spends roughly an hour walking and checking out the property.  He sniffs all the corners and under the bushes.

Well, since my household is now quiet I think I may sit down and actually plant my seeds and maybe fill out an order or two for a few garden things.  Maybe I can sneak out of my room without my dog waking up.

Cabin Fever

Oh my!  It is one of those days.  We are running on no nap for either kid and we had a crazy morning at the title company closing on our house.  Now the kids are full of it and are feeling cooped up.  Ahhhh!!!  Bear just came to me a bit ago telling me he is going outside.  In shorts.  In February, at sunset.  Uh, no son, you are not.  Long pants are in order here. 

Whew!  He went and put long pants on.  I love having some property ....

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....I got completely interrupted.  Bear went outside on his 'splorin' expedition.  He didn't stay too long since supper was almost ready and it was cold out.  At least he got some time outside.

No nap days are rough.  Every little thing that goes the slightest bit wrong in the kids' eyes are total melt downs on those days.  Tonight at bath time we were doing all right until it was time to get out.  Then one stupid pink duck caused melt down times two on epic levels.  All I could do was bundle in towels and tough out the screams.  When they are that far gone no amount of adult reasoning helps.  No sense in my having a complete melt down either.  That doesn't always prevent me from having one but this evening, at that moment I managed to not lose it.

Now they are both asleep and turned into my little angels again.  They look a bit like cherubs when they sleep.  I do enjoy them like this.  I enjoy the peace that settles over my house when they are asleep as well.  I will get through tomorrow as well.

Moved!!

We did it! We moved out of the horrible cat pee rental house.  Unfortunately I have to go back today and finish cleaning it but we no longer live there.  Wahoo!!!!!!  I can't tell you how happy that makes me.  The not living there part, not the cleaning part.  I went and cleaned some yesterday and realized I really hate that house.  It is too bad because on paper it looks like it should be perfect.  Nice big house, 3 acres, and in town.  Nope.  It was stinky, dark, and poky (goat heads).

But, the new place?  Well, it is on 25 acres is a 3 bedroom 2 bath house and it doesn't appear to have any goat heads.  If we do find them we will eradicate them.  We are right up against the bluffs we have here.  In fact our back fence line isn't a fence it is actually the bluff.  It is so wonderfully quiet here.  I usually see one or two other vehicles a day.  Not the one or two every couple of seconds that we got at the other one.  That was the worst.  The rental property sat at a four-way stop on two busy roads and those roads both bordered the property.  Where there wasn't a road there was a canal.  No canals here and no busy highways.  One quiet gravel road.  We are four miles off the closest paved road.  I love that directions to my house include, "Turn off the paved road."

We are still working on moving in.  We got Internet up last night so I'm playing a bit of catch up with all the stuff that needs done online.  We have boxes everywhere.  I will be very happy to see the cardboard go away. 

Just Tom and I moved our upright piano.  Oh my!  That is a pain.  At times, literally.  I hope we never have to move that beast again.  My toolbox was nothing compared to that piano.  I guess that is why pianos have the reputation that they do.

I would be working a bit on the garden but while we were moving in we got several inches of snow.  I'm not complaining mind you.  We need the moisture so badly and it is very pretty with the snow.  It just means the garden stuff will have to wait.  I do have some seed starter kits for my south facing windows that I need to plant.  I figure I need to get more boxes unpacked and get completely out of the rental.  I think that will be my treat for getting the rental cleaned.

I will continue to update as we get more moved in.  I'll hopefully get some before pictures of the garden area so by the end of summer I can do some after photos as well.  First things are first though.  Unpacking and cleaning.

Stretching our Dollars

This particular pay period is longer than most of ours.  5 weeks instead of 4.  Uf-da.  And still playing a bit of catch up from Christmas along with being in the process of buying a house.  It makes things a bit tight.  Anyway, I was reading a gals blog and these homemade granola bars looked like a good thing to try for breakfast and/or snacks.  I had to modify them a bit since I didn't have everything so here are my changes:

Instead of Almond Flour I used Brown Rice Flour

In addition to the oats I added a cup of Honey Nut Cheerios (because that was what was in the cupboard) and a 1/4 cup of ground flax

Instead of the dried fruits listed on her recipe I substituted some dried currants, dried apricots and a tropical trail mix I had that included almonds and cashews.  I just made sure my measurements came out about the same.

I also added about a tablespoon of chia seeds.  Again, it was something that I had in my pantry.  I used fake maple syrup, salted butter, and added a tablespoon or so of Agave nectar.

Part of my problem with following recipes is that I seldom have everything they call for and I'm usually either too broke or too lazy to go to the store for that one ingredient.  In this case several.  Now that I think about it though peanut butter would be a nice addition to something like this too.  I'll try that next time.

Tonight's menu includes beans and homemade bread as well.  Nothing fancy.  Just stretching the food budget and Tom isn't eating here this evening.  He tutors in another town on Thursdays so the kids and I get to have our choice on dinner.

Today's Projects

* Pack some more boxes

* Take my cultivator up to the new house

* Tape off the kitchen in the new house for paint

I think that may be all I get accomplished today.  At least I hope I'll get all that accomplished.  The way I've been feeling I'll be lucky if I get that all done.  I've caught someone's yucky head cold.  I could really do without this right now.  It is hindering all sorts of progress.

So by now you may have figured out we are moving to a new house again.  Finally!  We should close on it next week sometime.  We have early occupancy so we can fix up some things that the house needed.  Nothing drastic just some leaky plumbing and that sort of thing that needed taken care of to move in.  The paint in the kitchen is to get rid of the fact that there are two colors in there.  Otherwise not much needs done.

I'm very excited to get gardens going and get this place decorated and moved into.  I am very ready to not be looking at cardboard boxes anymore.  I've been missing my books too.  They have been packed since June.  That makes about 8 months without my books. 

I suppose I should get dressed and get packing so we'll maybe get something done today.

Bits and Pieces

* Packing, cleaning, organizing, and a lot of hauling will be my life for the next couple of weeks.

* I have way too much stuff!  Trying to get rid of a lot of it in this moving process.

* The kids just keep growing on me.  I'm not sure what to do about the amount of food they go through.  I love the amount of fruit and veggies they eat but my pocketbook does not.  I can't wait to get in and start the garden for this year.  Gotta find a way to get ahead of these two.

* In a couple of weeks I will not have Internet at the house anymore.  I'll have to go to town to do any sort of posts.  This is surprisingly exciting to me.  It means t.v. will be gone too.  At least the Netflix will be.  Less t.v. means more things done.

* My handspun yarn is going on sale in a consignment shop soon.  Can't wait to see how that works out.

* Starting to plan for a big summer trip for a wedding.  No critters allowed until after that trip.  Then look out.  I'm liable to have Old McDonald's farm. :)

* Bear only has 2 days of school this week.  Winter break and teacher in-service day on either side of the weekend.  I'm not arguing with 6 days of no school.  I like it when he's home and we don't have to run around.

* I'm procrastinating packing and hauling stuff up from the basement.  I suppose I should start after all though.

One of those days...

You have those days that by 8:30 a.m. you have stress?  This morning is one of those.  No amount of coffee will make it go away.  The kids want things we just don't have.  And won't have until later either today or tomorrow.  Love that.

And we are in the process of sorting, cleaning, organizing and all that in preparation for moving. 

Just now I've had an offer from my 4 year old to go snuggle in the sunshine on the couch.  I think that sounds way better than worrying so that is what I'll do instead of writing here.

What was going to be a budget post.

I've been working on a post about our budget.  In doing so though I've realized something.  I think the main reason we write about budgets and try to give advice or look for advice is that we are really trying to avoid saying one thing. 

That is we are flat-assed broke and we are looking for ways to make that more palatable. 

Especially if being this way is a choice.  It is one thing when you are working like crazy to not be that way and yet you are there.  It is a whole other thing when a family has consciously decided to operate on one income and is pretty broke because of that.

My point is that I may be ditching the budget post idea.  There are lots of folks out there writing about it and they have lots of good advice, and some not so good advice.  Everyone has to find what works for their family anyway.  It isn't like my meals will always work for someone else. Or vice-versa.

At any rate, a few other updates on us besides the fact that we are broke by choice. :)  Mia is working on the potty training.  Little by little we make progress.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is a little bigger than it was.  Bear is still growing like a weed.  I really am a bit nervous about his teenage years.  The way he can eat now doesn't bode well for keeping my pantry stocked later.  That is why we are in the market for acreage where I can grow lots of food and raise critters.