Soaking up the Memories

I want to give a shout out to those working mothers.  People say a stay at home mom is the hardest job, and I am not here to say it isn't, but when you are working, it takes such an emotional toll on you, one I can't really explain.

With Fall approaching comes sickness.  Natalie is one healthy kid, but last year she got sick in the Fall, and then again bad in January.  Last week she started with diarrhea, and this week she may be coming down with something, or her allergies (thanks to her Mama!) are in full swing.  Being away from her at work, constantly worrying, wishing I was with her, seriously sucks the life out of you.  At least we are leaving for vacation Wednesday (providing the little one is ok) and I am so ready for some time with just the 3 of us, NOT at home so NO home responsibilities =)  It's been a rough year and God knows we need this week away!

On the positive side, we are just soaking up this Fall weather.  70's and 80's weather with hardly rain.  Seems like last fall it was really wet, this year it's beautiful.  Our fall green beans are starting to produce, of course RIGHT when we are about to leave for a week so I don't know if we can get any canning in or not. I sure hope so!  The chickens should start laying any day now and our goats seem healthy.

We went to our local Farm Fest on Sunday. There was a vendor that makes animal shelters that are all mobile.  I wish we had some money put towards start up costs and this is something Kris could make (and he's good at) and could sell.  Thoughts are swirling around in my head =)  We recently sold our smaller chicken coop.  We put $60 in to building it, a lot of material we already had.  When we didn't need it anymore, we sold it on Craigslist for $200.  Chicken coops and mobile animal shelters are becoming the thing.....hmmmmmmm  ;-)

Better Late than Never

My blogging has been put on the back burner.  Our wireless router is going out, so internet on my laptop is hit and miss (more miss than hit), and I don't get on my husband's (err our) Imac very often.  This morning I purposefully got up before the husband and toddler woke just to have some down time.

We have been very busy and blogging ideas have been swimming around in my head.  Fall season is upon us, the beautiful Ozark leaves are starting to turn.  I truly love this time of year, it's my favorite.  We were married in the Fall (actually a few days before the actual season began) so it's special to me.  The cooler nights, make for a cooler house.  More blankets on the beds, warmer jammies for the little one, and warm apple cider at night.  I love every bit about it (except for it getting darker sooner).

I recently unintentionally started an interesting conversation on facebook.  I made a status about how we had no TV for a year.  Well, no TV channels.  Natalie watched Veggie Tales on it, and Kris and I would watch movies after she goes to bed.  But we had no cable/satellite and no local channels.  We recently purchased an outdoor antenna (indoor ones wouldn't work) off of craigslist for $15.  We now have 5 WHOLE CHANNELS.  Obviously that doesn't sound like a lot, but to me I don't know what to do with myself with 5 channels.  (Think about it, this is 5x more than what we had, so to me it's like cable!)  I am very torn as I was so proud of going so long with out TV, and honestly didn't miss it.  There are a couple of shows I enjoy, we are planning on getting Netflix and I could watch those shows, just a season behind if I desired.  Now I feel like even with 5 channels, we'll be glued to it too much.  BUT, we live in a metal box, 1 1/2 hours from us, a nearby city was destroyed by the worst tornados in U.S's history, so being able to see the weather is very important.  A weather radio won't even work out here!  (Or maybe we don't know how to work the radio, I'm still not sure on it lol).

Anyways, the facebook status started a chain of people talking about living more simple, and dejunking their lives.  I have such a craving for this (and am far from it).  We have so much STUFF in our house (which boggles my mind because when we moved, I couldn't believe how much we were able to throw out) and I almost want to start at one room and dejunk it then go to the next.  I have even noticed that my daughter plays better if her toys aren't all scattered (she will scatter them, but not at first) and if they are put away to where she can pull out what she wants, she does better than if I leave it all over the floor.

What do you think?  How can we simplify our lives in the physical sense and mentally?  

Just a day

I really would like to blog more, but with work and family, it seems like by the time I'm ready to "sit", I'm ready to go to sleep! ha!  I feel like I've talked a lot about our farm and what's going on with raising animals, selling animals, etc.

Now it's on to raising the MOST important thing in our life, our daughter.  She just turned 19 months and BOY (errr girl!) is she full of energy!  We had a well child check up today and she was all over the waiting room making friends with an older gentleman, sharing her legos with an older kid, being a social butterfly.  I am honored that God saw Kris and I fit to be her parents, but scared out of my mind because she is like this freshly made clay that is ready to be molded and I feel like you have to do the molding just right.  Figuring out what that "just right" is, is near impossible! I struggle with where to draw the line of letting a kid be a kid, and discipline, letting them learn from trial and error, how to discipline out of love, not frustration, giving positive feed back for good behavior, what to do when your child throws a tantrum in public, etc. etc.  I spend a lot of time in prayer about this!

Natalie's check up went great (first time seems like there were no "concerns", we've dealt with a flat head, no walking, weak ankles, etc.)!  Her stats are right where they should be and she's following Daddy's foot steps, tall and lean.  I love the Dr. she goes to, he didn't push shots at all.  All he said was "No shots right?" I said right! and that was it.

Natalie's little mind is just a sponge and she's learning new things every day.  We have a routine when I get home from work.  I make her dinner, and then I don't let her go outside until 7 PM because of the heat.  at 7, we play outside, 7:30 come inside, take a bath if need be, then get ready for bed.  She's in bed by 8.  I've worked and worked on a schedule for her and she knows exactly what to expect and if I'm not ready to go outside at 7, she's at the front door banging on it saying "side side side" (her word for outside)

I guess that's the biggest scoop on our not so little 19 month old!

We did end up selling the Pygmy goats and bought two does, 6 month old Kinder and a 6 month old Kinder/Nubian.  They are the cutest and we call them Nemo and Emma.  They are notorious for escaping their pen, but Natalie loves them and they are kind and gentle with her.  She calls them "goaties, goaties goaties".

Summer is for Making Memories

Remember our week of no AC?  Dare I say that our new AC is coooooold!  I love it!  We keep the house at 75 during the day, and 76 at night.  The thermostat is in the living room (with vaulted ceilings) so while it is 75 in the living room, it's more like 68-70 in our bedrooms.  Mmmmmmm yes!
Here is a picture of Natalie sleeping with us when we had no AC.  We put a little AC window unit in our room.
Poor thing..

I've stressed a few posts about paying cash for everything.  We really try to watch where our pennies go (we are no means perfect and still have lots to learn and improve on).  We both decided it would be financially better for me to work on July 4th.  (Time in a half pay!) Kris supported what I wanted to do, whether work or not.  The 4th was on a Monday, and the Friday before while siting in meetings, I felt so bad not spending a Holiday with my daughter.  Family time and making memories is more important than making that extra Holiday pay.  I'm so glad I decided to take a 3 day weekend for my family.  We celebrated by having some nice dinners, one night kris cooked Duck, and on the 4th, we grilled and I made an American Flag Jello Cake.  Mmmm  

We took Natalie to see some fireworks.  She was stir crazy and wanted to run around until the fireworks started. She loved it, can you tell?  

That little girl just melts my heart!  Our ducks started laying eggs and we decided to try to incubate them.  We were successful.  Our hatch rate was 80% and 1 chick died leaving us at a 75% live rate.  Not too bad!  

Natalie loved the baby ducks!  She wants to touch them and pick them up.  

Our latest adventure, Kris ran across some FREE roosters.  Now this is HIS deal, he picked up the roosters and yesterday we (errr Kris and a friend) planned on butchering and processing 10 roosters and 5 ducks.  Kris got a "wild hair" (I learned that phrase while living in MO!) to build a chicken/duck plucker machine thing.  His very last screw to finish it off, he drilled a drill bit through his thumb and out his fingernail.  So yesterday afternoon instead of processing chickens, we were at urgent care getting x-rays and doped up on pain medication.  His thumb should be fine, ya know after the nail falls off and a new one comes back in.  Ugh.  But none the less, Natalie is enjoying the roosters.  

We are now up to 5 different chicken coops, bird pens, chick pens, etc.  How did we turn in to a poultry farm?  

My last post, I mentioned we purchased 3 Pygmy Goats.  We got them off of craigslist to help keep the brush on the back hill down, and maybe eat up the brush along the creek.  I don't know if we'll keep them "long term" or just until they "get the job done".  It's another animal that Natalie enjoys, and she can now say "Goat".  She is such a farm/animal girl.  I think her first word was "Duck".  (Before mama or dada)  

I tried taking pictures of the goats.  It was getting dark so, it's not great.  

Meet Billy:

Annie:

And Neo:

Last but not least, Natalie doing her favorite thing outside, playing with rocks:

I love that she LOVES to be outside, and is entertained by the simplest things.  She is now 18 months old.  I was talking with Kris tonight about what her 2 year birthday party theme should be.  I'm thinking a barnyard cowgirl theme!  Other than VeggieTales (her theme for 1 year), being outside with the animals is her favorite thing.  Now to convince my in-laws to let me turn their garage into a mini-petting zoo for the kids.  (Natalie was born January 1st, no outdoor party for her)  I'm thinking a pen in the garage for a baby goat, maybe rent some rabbits, other little barn yard animals?!?  They are going to KILL ME!  

If you've made it to the end, congrats!  This is what our Summer is shaping up to be at Goat Creek!  

Cash pt. 2 God Always Provides!

So remember my post I did a little while back about paying cash for everything?  We've had a big financial week with lots of prayer.  God never ceases to amaze me.  To back track some..........

A few months ago Natalie had a HORRIBLE rash.  First it was on her legs, then her mouth.  Even after prescription cream, the rash didn't go away completely.  We ended up having some very expensive blood work done to test for allergies.  We have a high deductable on insurance and well, that lovely bill came in the mail.  It was high enough we would normally make payments on it, but of course they add the incentive, pay it off by this date and it'll be $30 less.  We wondered how we could pay it off in one big chunk, then Kris pulled out a check he got in the mail from a customer for about $15 more than what Natalie's hospital bill was.  God thing  #1

This past weekend, we went to Arkansas to help some friends build an addition on to their house. We came home and immediately figured out our AC unit was not working.  Air was coming out of the floor vents but it was NOT cold.  A service man came out that night and basically said we needed a new unit (ours is 17 years old) and this thing: (stock photo)

was going to cost $3400.  I went in to panic mode.  We were determined NOT to go in to debt, but do not have $3400.  Monday was awful, I was at work and my face hurt so bad like I had been crying (even though I hadn't).  I was sick to my stomach, felt like the world was crushing in on me.  To make things worse, while in Arkansas, I had baptized my cell phone so I couldn't text Kris or call him the whole day. Our house was 94 degrees inside (windows open and ceiling fans running!) NOT safe for an 18 month old little girl.  I honestly felt hopeless, helpless, and never in my life so depressed.  I prayed and prayed all day.  After two days of Kris calling around for estimates, we had a plan in action.  I don't know WHAT kind of AC unit the first guy was trying to sell us, but we snagged a new unit for $1,700.  Remember, we live in a tin box, so we don't need an all out AC unit made of Gold.  

Remember my CASH post about Dave Ramsey and paying cash for EVERYTHING?  Dave says to keep $1,000 in an emergency fund.  a TRUE emergency fund.  This was a TRUE emergency.  But we were still $700 short.  This is where God does something BIG!  

I had canceled my retirement fund at work because I wanted to save that money for the first year to pay off bills.  I recently found out that my employer had been pulling money out of my paychecks and they were NOT authorized to do that.  After some phone calls and paperwork, my employer owed me $300.  My $300 check came in on MONDAY!  That, plus my almost $100 reimbursement for mileage check, we were only $300 short <--- which we were able to shuffle around and make do.  We'll just live on mac and cheese for who knows how long =)  

I don't want to get all "personal" with our finances.....but even the Bible says not to go in debt, and the borrower is slave to the lender.  I have made SEVERAL poor financial decisions in the past that has led me to a huge amount of debt that I am trying to climb out of.  My parents suggested community college first...and now I know why!!! (I was 18 and knew EVERYTHING!)

God promised that he will provide for our every need and He truly has!  This week has truly been amazing, and we are enjoying a new AC that can actually keep up and doesn't run all day.  God is good!

Now we are just praying for no financial emergencies and our fridge that drips water everywhere holds out a little longer. 

Since I am way behind on posting, just a few other sweet CASH (or free) deals we've gotten:

We now own goats!  3 Pygmies we bought for $100.

On the free section of craigslist there were some yard sale left overs.  We got a kids picnic table, sand box, and slide for Natalie all for FREE! 

I bought Natalie a used kitchen set with tons of food and dishes for $35.  I could probably turn around and sell for $50.   

  

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

How often are we still? Literally...still

I like to be busy. I can "be still" in the evenings after Natalie is in bed, but before then, go go go. Today threw me for a loop. I should have known something was wrong when Natalie woke up at 3 am crying. I went in to her room, she was burning hot. I thought about taking her temp, but decided to rock her and see if she'd go back to sleep. It worked like a charm. Then at 6:15 am, about an hour before her normal wake up time, the crying happens again, I go in, and seriously, her skin feels like it's on fire. Her temperature was 102.2

She clung on to me for dear life. I knew something was wrong, and I couldn't go in to work today. Besides a trip to the Dr. (diagnosis ear infection) and then the pharmacy, we have been home all day. From the moment she woke up this morning until about 2:30, she HAD to be in somebody's arms. And if you moved around too much, she would cry. I had to literally "Be Still". I held her all morning and most of the afternoon. Kris held her to give me bathroom breaks and quick makeup job before heading to the Dr. While holding her all morning/afternoon I looked around the house and saw this:

And this:

I thought to myself, "Why won't she let me put her in her crib to sleep so I can do some cleaning". Our house is literally trashed and needs some major attention. I then wanted to kick myself as I looked down and saw this:

My very sick little girl needed me to be still for her, she needed my undivided attention whether she was sleeping or awake and I was trying to put my house's needs above her needs. I am a Mother full of flaws and God is faithful, always forgiving me.

Why is it so hard for us to "Be Still"?

Cash

To my *few* faithful readers, I'm sorry it's been awhile. We have been swamped crazy busy between several picnics on the farm, family functions, family visiting, church, other obligations, etc. etc. I've had several different ideas I wanted to share, but for now, I'll give kuddos out to Dave Ramsey.

We pay cash for everything. Seriously everything. Now we have not been completely faithful to this, but we are trying. After a couple of set backs, we are back on board. We are not debt free (student loans, house, credit card) but we are on our way to being there. We stopped using the credit card a long time ago, and most recently, we bought a new to us Dodge Caravan with CASH.

Kris and I went through Dave's Financial Peace University and loved it. But, I must be transparent and will say we struggle with it. We are horrible at making budgets / sticking to budgets. We are horrible trying to use the "cash envelope" system (we do use cash, cash in the form of a debit card NOT a credit card), but it has changed our way of thinking.

Our latest big purchase, the minivan. I had an Alero that my parents generously gave to me when graduating college. Ever since Natalie was born (17 months ago) we talked about getting something bigger. It still beats me how such a little person takes up so much room. After lots of talk and no do, we sunk some money in to the Alero, got it as mechanically sound as it was going to be, and took the plunge and listed it on Craigslist. During our time taking the FPU classes, we were taught about buying and selling big purchases, cars, houses, etc. We priced the Alero a few hundred above what we would take to allow room for negotiating. Low and behold, we sold it for the asking price. 2 days later, a KILLER deal showed up on a minivan. We snagged it for $700 under KBB and paid $150 less than what we sold the Alero for. THAT is a Dave Ramsey Deal (and a God deal)!

All of that was done through craigslist which brings me to my next point. We LIVE off of craigslist. Seriously. If you want to follow Dave's plan, you'll become best friends with craigslist. Our house is furnished from it (including the house itself). Furniture, piano, baby furniture, baby toys, macbook, appliances, tools, animals, farm equipment, we've bought it all off of there. You can save so much off of buying used, and some of it is new! (and you can make money selling stuff. We bought a $50 love seat and a few years later sold it for $250) You have to know what to look for and what the going price is.

The key is to live within your means. We don't have a large income, but can provide for our family's needs. We don't have nice vehicles, nor expensive clothes, or go on huge vacations. But, our vehicles are paid for, we don't have looming payments, and when we do go on vacation, we have good memories of it, not memories of having to pay it off 1 year after we went on the trip.

I encourage you to read Dave Ramsey's book Total Money Makeover and look into the Financial Peace University.

My First Quiche!

A couple of days ago I made my first quiche. It was truly amaaaaazing! Would make a good breakfast quiche, great for company! My husband even liked it. (THAT says something, as he will eat almost anything, but is picky about what he "likes" if that makes sense)

To start off, I will post the recipe exactly how it is from my cookbook. (I changed it and will make note of it at the bottom)

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. whipping cream (I didn't know there are different types of whipping cream so I went all out and bought heavy whipping cream)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 c. ground beef, browned

9 inch pie crust (homemade or premade)

Directions:

Mix eggs, cream, cheese, and beef together; spread into pie crust. bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, lower oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.

How I changed it:

Instead of using ground beef, I did beef sausage and cooked it like ground beef. (The sausage added more flavor and spices). Also, I added a little more meat and cheese than it called for. You can't go wrong with that! When it was all mixed in the pie pan I sprinkled cheese on top for esthetics.

I did take it out of the oven 3-4 minutes early as it looked done and the crust was getting dark. (I'm glad I did do this, as it was done, very done)

I am not a perfect mom and I did use a pre-made pie crust. I read the ingredients in the crust (after making it) and well, yeah, I'd suggest a homemade one. I do have a killer recipe for a homemade crust (it just takes awhile) so that might be something to try. The ready to go ones though cut out a lot of time. =)

I think Quiche is something that we will eat more often. Maybe experimenting with meat and veggies....and substituting whole milk instead of whipping cream? That cream is soooo fattening.

Food for thought. (no pun intended)

I did take pictures, but my husband isn't here and I have a terrible time uploading them to blogger, getting them into the right spots on my post, not on the top, and shrinking the pictures so they upload faster. I have a mac, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Recycle, Reuse: Trampoline Frames

In May of 2009, I was stuck in the basement of our county's Health Department. I had gone to get proof of pregnancy for insurance. We were all rushed to the basement due to tornados and strong straight line winds (80 mph!). There was quite some damage around our area. My creative husband searched Craig's List for months for free / cheap trampolines that were damaged in the storm. We actually scored a trampoline that wasn't that damaged and is fully functional. It is in our backyard and safe to jump on =)

His intent was to use the frames (minus the mat) to build a green house. Life happens and he didn't get around to it (yet). A couple of months ago we started purchasing chickens to raise for fresh farm eggs. The first coop he built was a recycled box thingy he used for puppies, then made a rabbit hutch out of it, and now a chicken coop. This is where our current adult ladies live / lay eggs.

They free range during the day, go in there to lay eggs and they go in their coop on their own in the evenings. We bought some chicks a month or two ago. (We lose track of time). They have now become adolescents and live in their own pen. This chicken "coop" is a trampoline frame turned upside down. It is temporary until they can be out with the big ladies.

Did I mention we have even more baby chicks? When my husband gets an idea in his head (actually I've been begging for chickens for at least a year), he goes a little overboard. This week he bought even more baby chicks (like 2 day olds). And when I say "chickens" we actually have 3 turkeys mixed in there. Anyways, when these adolescents get bigger, along with the little chicks, and the already grown hens, they will need an even LARGER coop. The king coop (err queen coop?) is structured with trampoline frames as well. See below, the metal is being supported by trampoline frames. This coop is still in the making.

Kris and Natalie checking out the chickens.

Today's findings:

Now you will never look at a trampoline the same =)

As a side note, I apologize for the funky lay out of the post. I'm trying to learn blogger. Either blogger doesn't like me, or blogger doesn't like a Mac.

Can you hear me?

Testing...testing...anybody out there?

How does one start off their first blog post? Man does it feel weird to be writing. I used to blog daily, about the stupidest things. After reading and learning from so many other like minded people I have come across (across on the internet from their blogs), I thought people might get a kick out of our little adventures. Maybe it's a midlife crisis in my mid 20's, or maybe it's a true genuine lifestyle change.

None the less, My little family of 3 moved out to our little homestead almost a year ago. We were graciously given 10 acres to plot ourselves. After developing the raw land, dragging out a modest used mobile home, gutting the home and remodeling, hours of hard work, many hours of work from our family, 9 ish months of remodeling, we finally moved to our little piece of Earth in July of 2010. After paying off some debt, we plan on building our house. (Can you tell we are Dave Ramsey Fans?)

Currently we are raising a garden, chickens, turkeys, ducks, Great Danes, and a toddler. We don't have goats (will in the future) but we named our little area Goat Creek due to the creek in our yard and our daughter drinking Goat's milk. <--- Save that for another post!

Follow along and laugh with us as we try to learn about garden raising, animal raising, kid raising, and a God driven self-sustainable lifestyle.