Pipe Dreams

Last semester, while attending Pathways, there was a lot of emphasis placed on goals, setting goals, moving forward, having a plan, building on your plan, etc. Honestly it was a little stressful. I've always had plans, goals, dreams, but the whole having a family thing takes up 90% of my free time, so, most of my dreams are just in a dusty box in the corner of my brain. Actually, Pathways was a little painful for me in that respect, because it forced me to open some of those forgotten boxes and examine their contents, some to be discarded, and some to be sighed over and put back in a corner. Here, today, I'm going to share one of those dreams. Ready? 

HOMESTEADING!!!!

I finally have the perfect set-up to accomplish my homesteading dreams. It won't happen for a number of reasons, but that isn't the point of this post. Let me share with you, My Vision! 

1. Starting small, 55 gallon rainwater barrels, one on each of the 10 gutters coming off my roof. These ones are my favorite :)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074G5BWYN/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3FKIF9JDRGUYE&colid=20W3AQ2UYMGC5&th=1

2. Bare root fruit trees. I'd plant as many different kinds of fruit as I could in the space that I have. The dwarf trees get fruit a lot sooner than full size trees, and are the perfect size for kids to help take care of. This store online is my favorite :)
https://www.groworganic.com/fruit-nut-trees/bareroot-trees.html

3. Garden beds are essential for my farm, and I really like these covered ones. It gets so hot here that the plants burn in the sun, so I think these will help my plants stay cool and moist :)
http://swingncocoa.blogspot.com/2013/04/covered-green-house.html

4. I also need a greenhouse, for growing fresh herbs and strawberries year round. This one looks fantastic.
http://theelliotthomestead.com/2014/07/how-to-build-a-greenhouse/

5. Next step- Bees!!! I've always wanted to keep my own bees. They are notoriously tricky, but I think this hive would be perfect, in combination with the planting of bee friendly plants for my bees to enjoy so they don't roam too far off.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive-environment--5#/
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/beekeeping/bee-gardens-ze0z11zhir

6. I hate mosquitoes, so I'd plant as many mosquito repellent plants as I can fit near the deck and the main house.
https://www.chasingfoxes.com/8-amazing-plants-thatll-repel-mosquitoes-pests/

7. Compost is important. We already compost, but it's early days yet. We haven't actually gotten to use our compost. This is the method we went with. Very kid friendly. We are going to add a second one just for our leaves, as there are too many of those for one bin, but they make good compost.
https://www.amazon.com/Geobin-SYNCHKG043886-Compost-Bin-GEOBIN/dp/B0085O6NXQ/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1517261654&sr=8-8&keywords=compost+bin

While writing this post over the last week, I lost the Master List, so this is all I have for now. I'll post a Part 2 when I get my act together hahaha! Happy Gardening :)

Some Thoughts I was Thinking

Every year, my kids throw me a birthday party. Sometimes big, sometimes small, but always with a homemade birthday cake :) One year, my son threw me a 3 quarters birthday party...it was very cute :)  Yesterday, while sitting in the car with James, waiting for church to be over, I was pondering the whole birthday thing. Birthdays. They happen once a year. You mark yourself as another year older. What’s the big deal? Well, it’s the anniversary of the day you entered the world. Hopefully you are happy to be here. And your birthday is the perfect moment for your family and friends to let you know how happy THEY are that you are here and are part of their world :) It’s not about the presents (although it may be a little bit about the cake lol), it’s about the love. Everyone needs to feel loved. Everyone wants to be appreciated. Having a party once a year to celebrate someone’s existence is possibly the best gift you can give them. The gift of seeing them, really seeing them, and acknowledging their presence, makes them feel special. It’s quite extraordinary how a simple yearly event, properly planned, can make a person so much more aware of their value, their place and individual impact in their home and community. For another year, at least :)

It’s the same with Valentine’s Day and anniversaries. It’s a bit more personal though, as it’s a chance for you to celebrate the one you love, or the memory of the day you married the one you love. Unlike birthdays, they are a romantic occasion, and hard to fully appreciate when you invite your children and friends along lol. Keeping the romance in the event is a bit more complex than just leaving the kids at home though. It requires more work, as you are elevating the main activities from just dinner or errands out, to something more meaningful. It will require some advance thought, some knowledge of what is special to your other half. These occasions are about intimacy and love, not gifts. Gifts are nice, and hopefully show some creativity, some insight or knowledge into the other persons personality and preferences, but it’s really the thought behind the gift that makes it exciting and romantic, not the amount of money spent. What transforms the usual date night into a magical event is the planning and forethought. It’s adding layers of personal touches to your typical dinner-and-a-movie plans, and then being able to communicate to your sweetheart why you made those particular choices in planning. Hopefully you made them with the other person in mind, hahaha. It’s also extremely important to articulate how you feel while executing the plan, and reminisce about how you felt on the original occasion. Volunteering your innermost self creates intimacy, which is very appealing to the other person. Always remember that being one with the other is more important than anything else. Romance requires intimacy, knowing the other person as well as you know yourself. This is your chance to show your significant other how well you know them, and to enhance the quality of the relationship. 

Now, I know a lot of people don't celebrate birthdays or other special occasions. This post isn't about telling people what they should do or how they should feel. This post is simply a (slightly ranty) train of thought that I had in the car yesterday. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed getting it out of my head and onto paper. Cheers!

The Typing Conundrum

I have this problem, where my brain moves faster than my mouth has utterance, (or my fingers have type-ance lol) so I have these grand ideas that I can't seem to get onto paper because I'm super frustrated by my inability to express myself the way I do in my head. It's a bummer. I'm hoping that by blogging more, I will get more comfortable with expressing myself through written words, and possibly I will eventually learn to type faster :) 

My ultimate point is that I am constantly working on blog posts, and until I've finished one, all you get is what I had for dinner last night, which was incredibly delicious, by the way!

I used avocado oil, 2 extra cloves of garlic, an extra inch of ginger, only 2 TBSP of the red curry paste, 2 TBSP honey, light coconut milk, a generous handful of chopped cilantro, I skipped the nuts, and I served it with the King's sweet Hawaiian rolls. Next time I think I will add an extra TBSP of lime juice...it was quite sweet, which was actually really good, but I bet it would have been better with some more lime :)

 https://www.nerdswithknives.com/thai-coconut-curry-butternut-squash-soup/

Other People's Business

So, today, I went online and looked for other peoples blogs to read, instead of writing on my own blog. I know, so dumb lol, especially since I mostly blog for myself. It's one of the few places that only I exist, unless I choose to include others. I can talk about anything I want, any time, with no interruptions. But, I digress. 

Anywhoo, I spent about 4 hours looking at the 'next blog', clicking that button over and over, looking for interesting and/or uplifting content. This is what I actually found: Lots and lots of fishing blogs, lots and lots of anime blogs, lots of 'blog is blocked for mature content' blogs, and last but not least, most peoples blogs were two to six years out of date. Apparently people start blogs all the time and just abandon them. Suddenly, I feel GREAT about my blog!

Also, I feel inspired to write a post about my experience trying to find a good blog. Tell me, peeps, which blogs do you read? Send me links! 

(Apparently)

School's Out

Guys, I have made the hugely ginormous decision NOT to go back to school this semester. 

As ready as I am to continue my education, it's just not the right time for my family. 

I'm devastated. 

Even though I know I'm doing the right thing. 

Maybe I'll blog more. Maybe I'll finally finish some of my sewing projects. Maybe I'll cook more. Maybe I'll finally see my friends more. Maybe my house will be cleaner. But the reality is that mostly what I have done so far is catch up on all the TV shows I missed last semester. Not because I missed watching so much TV, but because I'm sad. 

Send me your positive vibes, my friends, 2018 is starting off a lil rough for me...