It is even especially sweet since my girls are older and can learn the value of money and bargaining! I have so much work to do on my latest novel, that I need their help. So, I offered them a commission on what they sell. We will see how that goes. There will definately be a follow up blog to this! Wish me luck since we do need the help with the economy and all! Cheers! :)
Yep, I am cleaning out my house. After living up here for eight years now, we have accumulated quite a bit and are running out of room. My girls bring things in, I bring things in, people give us things and so forth. It piles and piles up. Now I can barely look out the windows. How can we truly tell what we have when I cannot get from room to room? Just kidding. But sometimes it feels like that. I was frazzled thiking on how I was to get all of my things sorted out and gathered onto the front lawn to sell in time for the weekened. Really? It took all week just to get in the closet upstairs! we even clean it out twice a year! Anyhow... We did manage. I found an old art tent that I had set up for art and craft sales past and decided instead of stressing myself on getting it all done for a weekened thing with just old stuff-well I could go one step further! I decided to set up the tent and to have an all summer tent sale and put most of it all out including my novels, crafts, old stuff, stuff we do not use or need anymore and even stuff that we did not know we even had. Believe it or not, in a house full of girls that happens alot, especially with clothes! So, I am putting it all out there in a tent on the side of my house for a summer tent sale! I even have a tent on the side for storage so I do not clog up the first tent that I am using for display!
It is even especially sweet since my girls are older and can learn the value of money and bargaining! I have so much work to do on my latest novel, that I need their help. So, I offered them a commission on what they sell. We will see how that goes. There will definately be a follow up blog to this! Wish me luck since we do need the help with the economy and all! Cheers! :)
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Please glorious sun, shine down upon my garden
praise my hard work and prayers with bruised hands of my toil and carefully worked soil take each seed planted and hear my cries each row is planted with love and hope know how much I care take each tear shed as fervent dreams of table filled with hard-worked bounty Each bead of sweat of my work I offer to you let my children know my love take each seed planted and hear my cries each row is planted with love and hope Know I put my faith in you know how much I dream this is my Momma love growing for them to see I hide my woes in here and bury them deep in rows hoping they will nurture and grow take each seed planted and hear my cries each row is planted with love and hope Know I plant my heart with each seed let sadness turn to beauty let rays nurture all I have endured and fought for let the rain wash it all away take each seed planted and hear my cries each row is planted with love and hope For now in my life the sun is shining and I dancelo I have learned many things over the years and have had wonderful experiences and have suffered hard-ships that have definately made me one tough Momma. I have noticed that I have had to re-examine things lately. One of them was how I live and what I consider more important to me. I grew up as a child of the seventies and eighties where I was very blessed and fortunate. My parents both worked hard and had careers. My mother was an art teacher and my father was an executive at an insurance company. So, my little sister and I had it pretty good. We always had a pool in our yard, brand-new clothes, good food and family vacations to name just a few. I could always convince my mother that I really need my clothes bought at the mall, rather than the discount stores that were coming out about then. It was all about the status back then and the brands. We bought, bought, bought and threw away, discarded and bought new again. Our food was from the supermarket and we always had more than we needed. Life was good as a child. I certainly am not condemning it in any way. I was loved and happy.
However, by the time I became an adult, I was forced to constantly re-assess what was important to me really and how could I manage it all on my own. I was a young mother and hit life at full-speed. I was naive up until then and did not see the wolves in sheep's clothing that preyed on a girl from the suburbs and therefore I was burned and burned hard. I had to not only finish my college fast to earn degrees needed for a living, but to support and care for my child as well on my own. I did all of that and even married two times. Each time I was married I found myself in a position where I not only made all of the money required to support the household, but I was the caregiver as well on my own. Wow, that sounds like a broken record as my mother would say. But, on my own and young was the reality of it. I was a princess through and through and wanted the best for my children. My father did teach me valuable advice on that though. He taught me that I could be a princess all I wanted-but I should not rely on anyone else for that. Very wise advice. I raise my daughters with that insight. I had a childhood where both of my parents worked and provided equally to the household. However, my situation was becomming more and more common for my generation. The women out there seemed to be not only giving birth to the children, but the main providers as well as the caregivers. I dove right into the "mini-van, soccer-mom, Super-hero role of most women raising young kids in the 90's. I tried to do it all in the suburbs and on my own! I became burnt-out fast and had to sit down to reasses the whole situation. Around 2003 it was the perfect time to sell my home in the suburbs. I jumped. I had figured out that I would rather my children be raised in the country where I could provide for us from the land if needed. I wanted them to be in an area with less crime and to be kids. I was not impressed with the way people were raising children in the suburbs-they seemed to still be on the materialistic kick of the 80's. I wanted something different and more wholesome for my girls and was prepared to do all in my power for them. I am not condemning the way children are raised in the subburbs or city in any way at all, I just did not want that for my girls. I currently live on a farm in the foothills of Maine. The snow in winter is deep, the distance between neighbors is very far. They can no longer ride their bikes in the neighborhood under streetlights and gather twently kids for a game. I have to arrange rides with parents. Now, my girls climb trees and collect fire-flies at night to set them free after filling bottles of them and lining the porch with the magic dancing lights. They ride their bikes all over the yard and in the garage and basement (we have a dirt driveway). We gaze in wonder at the lightning storms that surround us in the fields or the northern lights that wave across the sky. We gather frequently by the firepit to roast hotdogs or smoars or anything else we can put on a stick. They camp out as much as they can and can walk for miles out back (with walkie-talkies!). They build forts all around the house and I have to hose them down from their mud treks from their wandering out back. They have good mud and snow boots for their adventures! They know how to stack wood for the woodstove and how to light the woodstove for heat. They help out with their farm chores and have been by my side with the illness or death of an animal. They have had pet dogs, cats, chickens, fish, sheep, llama's and even a pet skunk. They have seen the realities of life and death-I do not believe in sheltering your child from that- for it is real. They have seen a baby lamb born and then die when very young (after an hour after it was born). I told them that when the mother's leave them alone-it is not a good sign. I tried anyway to save that lamb, though in vain. My girls were with me the whole time. They have witnessed the birth of several healty lambs as well. I feel that this is a valuable lesson. I never learned these lessons as a child. I learned most of the harsh realities and beauty of life from PBS and National Geographic and Discovery shows and museaums. I chose a life on the farm for my girls for those reasons. In doing this I sacrificed my high-paying career for a life more simple and definately happy. I am around for my children. I live on a lot less money than could possibly be imagined in Massachusetts-yet life is pure and wonderful. My children might have second-hand clothes and shoes that need to be duct-taped on occassion (they play hard up here so things are worn out fast in the country) and socks that are mended with love. It is hard to keep up with them on that! But they are never cold, or hungry or lonely. I buy good quaility things as much as possible-not always new. If they work and serve the purpose-I do not care about the brand. I buy the girls wool socks (and make them as well) and if they get a small hole in them-you patch them up! We try to grow as much food as we possibly can and I make sure they learn how to cook it as well. They learn what it takes to put food on the table from the seed to the dish prepared. They certainly know the process it takes from literally the lamb, to the shearing and processing of the wool we do on the farm-to the garmet (hat, socks, scarves, sweaters, scarves) that we make from the wool of our sheep. They watch me spin the wool by the woodstove in the winter and I always have my crocheting bascket with me at their lessons or appointments. Not one moment is wasted on a farm. Not one thing is wasted if you can prevent it. There are not that many stores out here and I shop online to make up for it. But we appreciate all we have. We even feed some table scraps to the Angora rabbits or sheep etc.. I have moved my life from a wastful disposible society to one that cost alot less to maintain-yet is valuable in the lessons learned. I would rather purchase good second-hand clothes that are of good quality than new ones that are poorly made. I will mend them when needed and give them away when outgrown. I would rather have a few good things in the house that are useful than an bunch of new items that will die out and be discarded. I have slowly been replacing my own furniture with antiques-at least I know they will last and still work. We even have a victrola to wind up when we lose the power and an antique 3D viewer with photographs from the Victorian era. We are never bored out here in the wilderness. We fill the house with flowers from our many gardens and mend the screens with thread when the cats rip through them! The saying up here is "if you cant duct it-chuck it!" Meaning if you cannot fix the item with duct tape, throw it away. Up here if you put furniture or items discarded out front someone-will take it. Alot of wise people up here like to "Tinker" or fix things. I try to give it away first since there is always someone who might use it or know how to fix it. I find myself-asking more and more of the depression era genration many useful skills that have been lost to us, that I find we should re-examine. For they never wasted one thing it seemed. So, all in all, we might live humbly up here, but I think we will definately survive with economy for we honestly know the value of life and each item in it. I love the simple life for it has taught me many valuable lessons and I am more aware of the environment due to it. So, if you see a child with duct-taped shoes or mended clothes-do not feel bad for that child. Just notice that the child is happy, and knows how to really play the way a child should (it could be that the parents are just waiting a few days for their next pay check). Notice the clothes are clean and they have a jump to their step for they do not care when there is love in their lives. They know they have all they need in life given with loving thoughts and prayers. It might not be new and shiny-but it is what they need and provided for them with care. They might have clothes that are lovingly mended my their parents or have learned from them that valuable skill. There is alot more to life than meets the eye and I think that people really should re-evaluate what is precious to them and the true meaning of life. I gladly have sacrificed the materialism of the suburbs and city to a life to precious and meaningful in the country. We have less but we have peace and happiness. Our food is gathered and prepared fresh from our gardens and the hats on our heads made with love with each stitch. Is this the new future? I hope so for I embrace it fully with each loving This time of year I seem to accumulate some extra winter weight. It seems worse as I get older and since I have moved way up north to Maine. I have several theories on why northern climate aids in gaining winter weight. I write history and have learned quite a bit with all of the research that I have done over the years. The further north you go, obvioulsy the colder it gets in the winter. One of the ways people have combatted the intense cold was to layer on the clothes, have a good supply of wood to burn for heat, and if you are a man to grow facial hair, and for both genders to gain fat stores over the winter. The man thing about growing beards and facial hair over the winter might look yucky, but is perfectly understandable. This is noted as you live way up in the wilderness of Maine. Alot of people work outdoors and any way possible of protecting your skin from temperatures which can drop as low as fifty degrees below zero is understandable and accepted. I have seen the real life damage on someone I know from frostbite. This person I knew only lost his fingers, though could have lost his ears and nose as well. So, understandable in the ways people have to protect themselves. Also, the winter weight idea. We have most of our holidays over the winter as our days grow shorter in daylight and colder. This would add to the emotional impact of the winter on one's psyche. And age naturally plays a part in the weight issue and it becomes increasingly more and more difficult to lose that extra winter weight. So, being a single mother I have learned many ways to solve issues with the least amount of money possibly being spent. I would love to be able to hit the gym, but have not had the time for it and am simply too tired at the end of the day. I therefore had to be creative. I made my housework and chores into a work-out routine. Cheap, since there is no travel time to the gym nor membership dues. Practical, since things get done and by being active it helps lose that winter weight. 9. Shovel the driveway. I know it sounds daunting and in Maine with big snow-not as easy as it sounds. I even have garages. I have since parked my car at the end of the driveway and have gotten up earlier to shovel my way out in the morning. I try to shovel the driveway on my own due to the excercise value of it over the years. It can be painful and greuling-but what true workout isnt? Remember lift with your legs and not your back or arms. This helps and is much better on your back. It is a good weight lifting workout. I wanted to write this to all of you Mothers out there who work so hard playing both the Mother and Father on most days. I know this, since I have lived it for so long. My children have always been wonderful to me on Mother's Day but sometimes it hurts that I never have received one word of appreciation from their Father's on this special Day. I actually used to cry about it. Here I was raising them all on my own in every way and not even one tiny word of thanks. It was treuly sad and depressing. I have pretty much raised all three of my daughters on my own in every way and know I am only one of many out there. I am owed vast amounts of money in child support so, it is also on the financial level as well. It was tough haveing been raised by both of my parents were were and are wonderful. I tried so hard on my own to give what two parent's gave me. I learned to appreciate how lucky I was in that my father truely appreciated all my mother has don and does for us. He lets he know often as do my sister and I. It was sad seeing how other fathers on this day with the kids all got together and made that a special day for all of the lucky Momma's out there. I longed for even one small word of recognition or thanks from the fathers of my children and to this very day, never received one word at all. It hurt terribly and I would often go to sleep crying knowing how hard I work to give my children all I possibly can from everything I have on my own. I made sure they had everything they needed, cooked their meals, mended their clothes and bought them. I bandaged their booboos and put them to bed each night with love and kisses soothing any nightmares away. I made sure they never noticed the absence of their fathers in their life, nor noticed when they did not show up for visitation. I would wipe away their tears as they waited by the window for their dad's to show up. I took them away and brought them to the park or worked on an art project with them to soothe away their tears. I made sure they had a home to live in and healthy food on the table that I bought and cooked. I now embrace being a single mother and take great pride in how wonderful my children turned out! They are beautiful, healthy, artistic and creative girls! I did that! I learned how from both of my parents. So, all of you out there who have the father's around, please take special note of all of us single Mom's out there who do it all by ourselves! Praise them and make sure their children appreciate them please. To all of you Single Mom's out there, dont worry about not receiving one word of thanks or appreciation from you childrens father-take secret pride that you have done what takes normally both parents to do for your children. Pat yourself on that back for providing all you have done for your little ones and in still being able to tuck them in safely at night with their favorite bedtime stories with all of your love. I am happy that I have my children all to myself! I no longer have those tears of ebing alone in raising them all by myself. I secretly am happy that I have them all to myself! I know with every breath I take and each decision that I make-my children are loved. The received all of the best that I have and deserve it. Happy Mother's Day from someone who is not your child. Save this thought and cherish it and know that you are more than a Mother-you are their father too in lots of way. So a double Happy Momm'as Day to all you you Momma's out there who really are not alone! Because you have the love of your children all to your
I know this sounds daunting when you have little kids or kids of any age. But it is possible and it saved my sanity. My mother would always tell me the many good things of a clean house. The one I valued most was the sanity part or the peace of mind part. I looked at it this way, in a chaotic world the one place you do have somewhat control over is your own home or living space. I know, this sounds way off the planet when you kids are little. But if you do even a little bit each day, it is not that hard after a while because you establish a pattern. I'm not talking about an immaculate house that you can eat off the floor in it's cleanliness, but a non-cluttered home. It not only is good for many obvious health reasons, but for peace of mind as well!
The first thing to do is bring your home down to the basics of what you really need to live. If you have to give it away or have a yard sale-whatever it takes. Turn down offers of free stuff, dont be afraid to say no just to be polite. You and your kids really don't need all of that crap that just piles up in the closet, under beds, in drawers etc. When my girls were little I gated off an area for their play. I kept their favorite big toys and put the rest in bins. I even bought a bright colored trash barrel for all of those toys that accumulate. Each evening after I put them to bed I went around the house in what I called my "Blitzkreig"! I would go from room to room and gather all of the clutter and put it all away and out of sight. Then when I was able to get to the housework once a week, it would not be that difficult with it all tucked away. If you keep up on this it is well worth it. For a clean home to me is a peaceful home. I always considered my home my cocoon. It was a place that kept out the chaos of the world and was safe and cozy and filled with love. Even if it is only one room that you have. It is is neat it is much easier to relax in. Because every Mom needs a break once in a while. And nothing is better than kicking back on the sofa in a warm, neat and cozy home after a long day! Living on a farm we live a simple life as I mentioned on my farm blog at http://www.mymainesheep.com/apps/blog/ . I have learned to make the best of what we have. Living on a farm is rewarding and a lot of hard work. At the end of a day out in the fields or after bringing up firewood for the woodstove one wants good and filling food. In living here I made a vow to live a simple life and that definately included food. I do love international cooking and wild and exotic dishes. However, my kids, the picky eaters that they are do not. I do surround them with foreign and fancy dishes when possible and do NOT believe in catering to them but in exposing them to as much of a variety of food as possible. They would love to have just Kraft Maccaroni and Cheese or Ramon Noodles for every meal as any kid would! I very rarely serve them that for many reasons. The obvious, they need good food so that they can grow. I do not believe in taking all they are used to completely away (I never used to serve it more than occasionaly anyways), I just serve it less and less. I have also noted the behavior changes when eating food laden with preservatives and chemicals. So I have learned to create a much more wholesome diet for them. I tend to only buy local foods first prepared on farms in the area, organic, and natural foods. I also look for any foods which have ingrediens that I know. The more simple, the better. I also am constantly looking for anything I can make them myself when I can choose the ingredients carefully.
I had always thought that casseroles were something served in the generations past. Something June Cleaver would serve in her pretty dress after slaving in the kitchen all day. Well I do not and have never had a full day to slave away at the kitchen, I work at home and on the farm (I commuted to work for many years and sometimes over an hour away). So, timing is important. I decided to research it out of curiosity. A Casserole is French in origin and relatively recent. It always refers to something that is baked in the oven. There is most always meat, veggies and something crispy for a crust or covering. And cheese, usually there is cheese in it or on it. MMMMMM it does bring about memories from when I was a kid. As an adult I would usually avoid making them feeling that they were probably complex and involved lots of ingredients that I did not have. However, I still remember the delicious smell of my Mom's famous casseroles as it would fill the house. It seems that it would take forever til when we could actually sit down and eat it! I buy large portions of meat and cook them in whatever I feel like for the day, whether in a crock pot, in the oven or on the stove. I am most inspired by what is around me in the kitchen and the time that I have to cook it in. Money has been an issue as a single Mom so I have had to strategize my food list and to make the most of it. One thing I hate is the waste of the left-overs! When I was a kid, I hated them and as Mom, I cringe when my kids will not touch them, even though they loved it when served fresh on the table the night before! Yikes what a challenge us Moms have! A cry heard from generations out of time of any mother on this planet! The waste of good food when there is not much to be had. Also, the time and love involved in preparing it and the pride of placing a new recipe on the table. They eat the meal and what to do with the rest of it? hmmmmm, throw it away? I think not! What I have discovered was the resurrection of the casserole. I found out that the basic casserole consists of a meat, as mentioned above and veggies, and a starcy binder such as potatoes, pasta, bread etc... Not so bad I thought! This was finally the solution of the left-over dilema. This way I can sneak in the food in a totally different presentation and presto! All of the food is gone! Someone actually came over once and happened to look into my fridge and stated, "Wow, your fridge is empty!" I was initially upset at that and then thought about it a bit more. It was the day before shopping and before that comment I was quite proud. I hate wasting food as I mentioned and took great pride in that all of the food purchased was somehow consumed in every imaginative and creative way that I could think of! In this wasteful society where we think nothing of throwing half-eaten plates of food in the trash. This was the pinicle of living simple. It is not easy at all. So, the more I thought about why I got upset about that comment, I realized that it was based on my old life. As I live on a farm and find that some items are hard to come by in having to travel for things which were quite close before moving up here. I have seen how food is prepared and raised for that matter before ending up on a plate! I do love meat and will not take it out of my diet. Sorry, I do not want to go that simple. But, I appreciate it and want to make sure it is served with pride and not thrown in the trash. So, casseroles have been my saving grace on that waste issue! Tinight I made a dish with left-over chicken I had cooked in the crockpot, some lentil soup, an onion cut in large pieces, chopped garlic, bacon cut into small pieces, and shredded cheese. I mixed all of it up in my large casserole dish and put over it a layer of breadcrumbs from all of the left-over bread we had. I preheated the oven for 350 degrees and then raised it up to 365 when I placed it inside the oven and baked it for 50 minutes! My picky youngest one had two servings! Yea! I take great pride in not wasting anything and I consider this another small victory from a creative and loving Mom. For I tell my girls that whenever I bake something from scratch for them or make something (I crochet their winter hats too!) I make it complete with Momma love! :) Wikipedia Definition:
"Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow or dark. The phrase is also used humorously to indicate simple boredom from being home alone.[1] The term was first recorded in 1918.[2] Other references have the term in use at least to 1906. An 1820 reference is to an actual fever, common in Ireland, resulting from eating watery potatoes during wet years." On Mythbusters they even looked into this and found it plausible... Yep, I see more than that. I live in Maine in a very rual area in the foothills. I grew up in Suburbia down in Southeastern Massachusetts. Down there when it snowed, we would have an occasional storm, then it would melt. There was always an escape when you could just hop on the highway and travel a short distance. Way up here, you have to be inspired to shovel out. Most of us park at the end of the driveway, abandonning garages for tractors and hay. I park at the end of the driveway since it is much easier to get out in an emergency. The garage is now used for hay, the lawnmover and and ATV. When the snow comes in there is alot of it and it stays until May in some cases! This is very hard to get used to. I have learned survival tips since I can no longer just hop on the highway and escape to Borders like I used to. I could not even afford long distance phone calls when I first moved up and here and knew very few people in the local area. We only had dial-up for the internet and after so many years of DSL down in Suburbia-it was frustrating! Living up here can be kind of drearily isolating and I have learned some ways to cope. One of them was to only watch Comedies for movies and TV. This was crucial during very isolating times and kept my spirits up. I also learned to crochet alot and have worked on my novels and research to while away the many hours during storms and power outages. I have purchased items to keep us entertained during the many times of losing power. One of them is an antique Victrola from 1904 with tons of records. We also have oil lamps and the woodstove. But, I definately have to agree that there is some real truth in the Cabin Fever theory and I have seen around me plenty of those symptoms after a long winter. So, I suppose the key is in fiding ways of entertainment and of keeping spirits up before the snow hits and to be prepared to understand it in yourself and others around you. It is awful tough trying to survive when you have been through so much. I have learned that rather than worrying over everything that I need to do, should do and have done-to take it one tiny step at a time. Sometimes it seems that the plate is so full and the tasks so large that it seems way beyond reach. Sometimes it is and they are. Let us be realistic here. I wanted so much out of life and found very little time to everything that I wanted with the natural tip of the planet. My most common saying was, "so much to do, so little time!". I would gripe that I might be able to get some of it done it there were more than 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week! This would only make it worse. I was famous for overwhelming myself! What helped me most was learning how to set major goals and to get there I had to set many tiny goals. I am well known for keeping a date planner with me. I would tell people, "if it is not written down in here-it will not get done!" People who know me well learned to respect that and to realize the truth in that statement. I have had to micromanage my life since I have so many that I am responsible for. I have 3 wonderful daughters, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 4 fish, 2 wool rabbits, 8 sheep and a fiance that I love with all my heart. The order of that list gets changed around depending on their needs. But I do get what needs to be done and I have made room to do all that I want to do for the most part as well! The date planner is an essential tool. I even use the list on my cell phone to record shopping lists as I run out of things. This saves time and money. So, each day fills up fast in maintaining it all and I am happy for even one thing accomplished on my list. But, I recall with each item checked off that it is another task completed on my way to the larger goals that I have set. For no one just leaps over a canyon to the other side. You either fly or take a path to get there, one step at a time! :)
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