It’s tax day and since most of you know (or can probably guess) how I feel about the unconstitutional tax on our income, I’ll just say I’m glad we’ve managed to get a big chunk of ours back this year and move onto other things.
We’ve once again relisted our SUV for sale. Since we’ve continued making our payments, we were able to list it at a lower price than just two months ago and have been getting *many* more interested callers. Won’t you please all send a prayer out for some happy family to find it to be exactly what they need? Especially because…
Justin was forced to take a day off this week. They were threatening two but managed to avoid it. If a truck full of materials doesn’t come in soon, they may have to continue this strategy. It’s a much better strategy than layoffs but it still hurts. They are so slow at work right now the crew are left to their own devices all day. Picture it: A dozen men so bored they all jump on Justin’s suggestion of playing hide-and-go-seek throughout five floors of the building. No joke! 
We’ve been deliberating a lot of possible options to put back more money and prepare ourselves for potential layoffs, some riskier than others. It’s hard to know which prong of a three-forked road to take. I think I handle change and pressure well. Suspense, not so much. I feel like I can be prepared for anything, as long as I have some notice on what that anything will be. So I’m basically keeping a Plan A, B and C in my head and waiting for some signs to step forward into one.
I just finished watching Pioneer House on DVD. It certainly gives me a lot to think about. First and foremost, it makes me ready and anxious to run off, build our home and live simply. On the other hand, it makes me nervous. These families obviously had a much different experience than we would have, being that they were attempting to emulate life in 1883. But I think it still gives a realistic view of the culture shock (of both going to the homesteads and leavving them again for modern life) that we could experience. Would we be better prepared because we already live fairly simply? What more could I do to prepare? And do I really want to go that extreme or just have the option should we require it?
Thanks to my friend, Rachel, we’ve been discussing the possibility of join WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms). It would give us firsthand experience with a lifestyle closer to what we’re hoping for, as well as more knowledge. And it would assure us it’s really what we want to do. Not that we plan to do anything on such a large scale, but the experience would be invaluable.
Our garden is doing well. Spinach is prolific, and with the wacky ups and downs in our weather, my broccoli is still hanging on. I’ll be excited to actually see something more than leaves on there. Our nasturtiums are popping up all over the place. Our sunflowers are growing taller. Our corn has started coming up too, as well as our runner beans and even some pumpkin sprouts. No sign of our bush beans though.
And have I mentioned how cool my kid is lately? Nine and two/thirds is such a cool age. His sense of humor matures as fast as he does, and he’s always keeping me laughing or thinking. He has the most opinionated mind, he’s really growing in his interactions with us and his ability to express himself. There is just so much to say about what’s been going on internally with him but so little of it is even possible to articulate. Ya just gotta see it to understand it.
So, that’s what going on in our little world.
I have oodles of stuff to blog about, draft upon draft upon ideas for more drafts. But I seem to be a little lost on what to share. Help me out will ya? I could blog about:
- How to make homemade garlic or onion powder
- My very long overdue account of Zeb and Santa
- How to make enough homemade vanilla to last a lifetime
- Organic lice treatment (exciting stuff, this one)
- My newly acquired knitting skills
- Some new additions to our home and garden
- Our new *non-disposable* razors
- The full run-down on our cloth toilet paper system
- My recent canning experiment (a success)
- Reviews on some great books I’ve recently read
- My new home management and garden binders/journals
- How to make a kick-ass budget (I *heart* budgets)
- My new reason to throw a pan adventures in the kitchen
- Our recent unschooling excursions, breakthroughs and experiences
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What would *you* like to hear from me next?
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My name is Tara. I am a mama and a lover, a full-time nomad, a passionate devourer of Life and an Organic Life Coach.
good luck with the SUV! And I think the WWOOFing would be a lot of fun over summer, you’d really learn so much from all those different farms and homes.
It’s certainly stretching the ol’ imagination to try to come yp with frugal ideas when you are already living frugally.
There isn’t much more we can cut back on. But your previous list was very good, such as cable.
It must be amazing, to have the privilidge of watching a person grow into their own skin.
Good luck with the SUV.
We will probably WWOOF in the future.
Let’s see, for a future post my picks are: vailla, garlic powder, knitting, razors, books, unschooling.
Thanks for checking out my little site… I just reorganized the layout, so I’m glad you like. On the rest, we can certainly agree to disagree. I love everything else about your blog and lifestyle projects (I might be stealing some of the ‘to do’s off your list).
So, I’d like to hear about the wacky toilet paper situation, gardening, and unschooling (something I hope to do with my girls… also wrote my masters thesis on an aspect of unschooling!).
good luck with the SUV… as for the suspense… deep breaths!
I watched pioneer house a while back and enjoyed it. I’m sure you’d do a much better job than the folks on the show.Those people came into the situation completely unprepared, which you certainly won’t be.I always think maybe some day I’d like to do something similar, but then wonder if I am just romanticizing the whole thing. Who knows. Your idea of volunteering to get experience is a good one.
What I’d like to read about next: the garlic powder and vanilla ideas sound interesting, and I always like to read about books and unschooling.
onion/garlic powder, lice treatment (don’t need it, but I assume with kids I’ll need this knowledge at some point in the future), book reviews, home management journal. Actually, they all sound interesting, so the topics I selected are just the ones I find MOST interesting.
Good luck with selling the SUV and figuring out between Plans A, B, and C.
Speaking of bush beans, I have a question about mine – all but one or two of them came up beautifully and for some reason now all of them are missing their leaves! I would notice them broken right at the stalk to where they would just blow away in the wind or missing completely.
I dont know if something is munching them or what! There are a few leaves on my tomato plants that look munched but nothing really that big of a deal. So, I dont know what happening with the beans. Any ideas?
Two of my squash plants have managed to come up nicely even though I planted them too early and its been too cold for them, really. Same with my carrots althought many more of them managed to come up anyway. Bless their little hearts. My onions are rockin’. I am not sure if I have basil coming up or if its a weed. Ill let you know.
About what to blog about – I always like books.
I’m sorry about your husband’s work.
I hope you can sell your SUV straight away.
DArn it. I should’ve done one of those little pollster thingys so I didn’t have to count.
Kristin, it sounds like something could be eating at them. Do you have a photo? Have you looked into companions for beans? I don’t remember off-hand.
Ooo, the grumpy people on Pioneer house DROVE ME INSANE! Oh the COMPLAINING!!!! But yeah, it is HARD and having done a lot of that sort of living growing up I know we couldn’t do it now. (especially since I KILL plants and hubby is severely allergic to all animals–the bigger the more deathly allergic.)
Organic lice treatments (or possible organic ways to prevent them)… I did a post on this topic and I got a lot of interesting suggestions – let’s see what you get!
Ill get a photo. I think that pretty much everything I have planted in there is companion to something else in there. Ill have to double check beans, though. I wonder if its ants. thats the only thing i have seen in there…