Expectations

It's funny how life goes on without a care about your own personal expectations for it!

The journey we're on has been a strange one...I've always wanted a few months off to spend time with my family, and now, I've had it! Moving to Barbourville has been such a growing experience for my husband and I. We came to serve, and we were served. Absolutely nothing has worked out since we have been there, which amazes me, because I know I have great plans for my life. I guess that's where I'm mislead...I have great plans for my life. There is where the problem is...I have the plans.

Our mission was to serve others, live frugally, and become self reliant. We served others, and we now have more of a desire to do so. We lived frugally, it's amazing how frugal one can be when there isn't any income for FOUR MONTHS! The self reliant thing, is something we still have a big desire for, but for now, we're just living day by day.

As if we haven't had enough transitions in our life, we are now feeling a push on, I'll elaborate more on that in another post. For now, I'm going to post some projects I've been working on. Yes, the title of this blog is "Mostly Making It" when I first started it, I had big dreams of posting some of my crafting projects as well. Since most of my crafty things are still in storage, my projects are very limited...so I'll start with the small projects I've done to keep myself busy.

Thanks for your encouragement through this strange transition in life...

Civilization as we know it...

So, lastnight I couldn't sleep, and wanted to do some more "research" about where we are moving, I was sad when I found out these statistics. Some of my favorite places, and how far away they now will be...(in no particular order)

1. Costco: 135 miles away

2. Target: 106 miles away

3. Ross: 56 miles away

4. Staples: 62 miles away

5. JoAnn's: 106 miles away (do you hear my heart breaking?)

6. Michael's: 67 miles away

7. Olive Garden: 66 miles away

8. Chevy's: None in KY or TN (we will be about a little over an hour from Knoxville, TN)

9. Bass Pro: 121 miles away

10. REI: 121 miles away

And here is the funny one:

Starbucks? In the middle of nowhere? Yep: in the next town over, about 15-20 minutes.

One week.....

Homesteading

The picture is a little crooked....story of my life. For the past year or so, even before Jason and I were officially "back together" we started talking about the type of lifestyle we want. In our first marriage (to each other, of course) we never really had goals, or plans, we sort of just lived day to day. Now that we have a son though, we have come to the realization that there is a bigger picture, and we have to plan for it. We hear so much today about "living green," and our impact on the earth, and the disaster that has become the food industry, the horrible economy, people losing jobs...so on, so forth. At the risk of sounding like fanatics, we wanted to be smart and prepare for whatever future was in store. We struggled with wanting to protect the earth, without worshiping nature. We wanted stability without having to depend on the economy, the job situation, or any form of natural disaster. I'm not sure what this involved entirely, but we decided we want to live as self-reliant as possible. Living in the city of Phoenix, it can be done (check out these urban homesteaders) however, we have never really enjoyed living in the city, and we love seasons and green...and we just miss being back east. So, after careful consideration, we are moving back to Kentucky in just a few weeks. Eventually, we plan to have our own "homestead" but we are going to take very small steps to accomplish this goal.

Our goal is five years. Let it be known, that I cannot sew...I am a horrible cook...I don't know the first thing about gardening. But this isn't going to stop us! A few summers ago, I tried my hand at container gardening on the patio of my small apartment. It was going good, and I had a lot of growth...until the neighbors cat came and ruined all of my beautiful plants! This little attempt proved that I had somewhat of an ability to grow...so, I am convinced that I can make it happen with a little bit of trial and error. It's going to be a learning experience, no doubt, frustrating...but we are excited to make this transition.

I have been doing so much research on the topic, and here are a few websites I have found that I've enjoyed (I have about 50 bookmarked...but only decided to share a few!) I decided to include these because they either have great resources/links or great pictures!

Backwoods Magazine
Frugal Homestead
Living off the Grid
City Boy Moves to the Country
Going to the Country


I hope you stay tuned to this crazy adventure we are about to get into...