Shame On Me!

It's been nearly a YEAR since I hit up my blog?  I'm blushing in shame.

In my defense, a LOT has happened this year!  Let me outline the highlights.

• We moved in December of 2010 (to a place that turned out not to be great.)
• We got two dogs from the shelter (they're still happy!)
• We bartered for a goat in milk (she's still in milk)
• We bartered for a mess of chickens (they are JUST starting to lay for me) AND we hatched some from our original three that were given to us when we moved in
• I did a lot of building around the place (fences, shelters, movable pens, milking stanchions)
• We had a huge garden/labor of love which all died in the drought (oh so sad!)
• I stayed sick at that house a LOT (combination of putrid cat urine permeating the house and tension due to the owner's daughter who lived across the street and made my life tense)
• I bought two goats for fiber and was given a rabbit for the same
• I moved again (to a place that is turning out to be absolutely lovely)
• I started school (more pre-reqs toward a degree, some of it online, some on campus)
• I got a job outside the home (care-taking)
• And I started getting counseling.

Now, am I forgiven?  Because that is  A LOT of goings-on!

I promise to update you more as to specifics on nearly all of it if you're interested... just now I have to go do chores!
Ciao!

Gratitude Day Fourteen

Tonight I am ever so grateful for the things that we take for granted that make housekeeping so much easier. Electricity for light, for the computer, for the tv that keeps me company and the radio that accompanies Tim, propane gas for cooking and heating, running water that I can use to wash my dishes and my clothes and my body.... If we were living a hundred years ago, I would be trying to clean up supper dishes by oil lamp, heating with a fireplace or wood stove, and not looking forward to washing my clothes by hand tomorrow.

Life IS a lot easier with all these conveniences.
When I talk about wanting to get back to basics, make my own soap, milk a goat for family consumption, grow a garden to put up my own food, it's not because I want things to be more difficult, or have a lack of appreciation for the conveniences of today, but rather because I want my family to eat healthfully, to live in health, I don't want to forget times gone by, nor the sacrifices our forerunners made for us, and sometimes it's just more fun to do things in an old-fashioned manner.

<And today was a lot better, after I had a nap. lol>