dogmom4

That's really awesome Stephanie. Be detailed when describing your garden, ok? I'm living vicariously through everybody elses garden this year.

OK...so that's not the most positive title...but I'm not the most creative person when it comes to making catchy blog titles. I'm finding that it's most important to stick with familiar, daily routines when going through major changes in your life. It's easy at work...everything is still the same...for me at least.. But, at home I'm finding it hard to keep the routines...and my home doesn't feel like home anymore. Even with trying to keep the signs of moving out of the way...there are still boxes everywhere...and empty shelves... It's making me crazy. I've found out most property management companies in this area start listing places the first week of March...which is good because because a lot of the places we've looked at aren't worth the money. I'm hoping we have some better choices. This week I did get some things accomplished. 1. Got rid of a large garbage can of junk. 2. Boxed up some books. 3. Vaccumed sealed 20 lbs. of salt. 4. Added more stuff to the garage sale pile. 5. Added 10 cans of soup to food storage. 6. Cleared out purse and added to change jar.

It's wonderful when your kids get bitten by the gardening bug, isn't it?

Back pain is the pits! Hope it clears up quickly. ((John))

Our library has free dvd's too. I'm sure we'll be using them. Dh is a special ed teacher...specifically a behavior specialist...he teaches the kids who can't be in a regular classroom because of behavior problems.

This is really fascinating! The lifestyle is so different from anything I have ever lived. I'm looking forward to more posts on this.

I like the tsunami quote...it seems like you get a handle on the clutter and you turn around Bam! It's all over the place again.

I was just beginning to wrap my head around the idea of having to move from this house that we've been in for so long...with the possibility of having to move from this town that we've lived in for over 30 years. Then Friday dh comes home and tells me got a notice that his classroom is basically being eliminated at the end of the school year..think California budget issues and the trickle down effect it's having on everyone. Yesterday I was really surprised at how I was feeling. I mean, I've gone over different scenarios over and over in my head and how I would react to them, but, I felt like I shut down. I was walking around here in this huge funk and I couldn't pull myself out of it. What ended up happening was dh and I got in to an argument over something minor and he stormed out...but, before he left he told me he couldn't handle this if I couldn't handle it. That was like a bucket of cold water in my face. He's right...we will never get through this very uncertain future if we allow ourselves to fall apart. We can't afford the luxury of that. At least we have a few more months of income coming in...this will give him a chance to start looking for more work now. We've also started a plan...it's just a beginning...but it's something. No more eating out…everything will be made from scratch We are committing a higher amount of our payday to go in to savings I’m going to consign everything I possibly can that we don’t need We’ve upped the size of our change jar to a gallon size one No more movies out…if it’s something we really want to see we’ll wait until it’s on dvd I’m going to take half my food budget and put it towards the more inexpensive preps (rice, beans, etc.) Wherever we move to has got to have some space for me to garden

Sounds like a wonderful time Stephanie.

Judy dear...your posts always make me stop and think...and get out my dictionary..just kidding...no, not kidding...solipsistic was my new word for the day. What you said so well up above is so true....we are all multi-faceted...and that's what makes the world a much more interesting place.

I've seen one of these before! When you use yours can you give us a review?

We started looking at places this weekend. I realized that we've been really spoiled when it comes to storage space and room space. I am gonna have to downsize bigtime and become a lot more efficient in how I store things. I have about 150 empty canning jars of various sizes. The plan now is to start filling and vaccuum sealing them with grains, dry goods, etc..double storage. I emptied the drawer with pencils, pens, crayons, etc. They are emptied out of their boxes in ziploc bags in a fliptop storage bin. Also in this bin will be board games...also out of their boxes and in gallon size ziplocs (with a picture of the game cut off and in the bag). Card games will also be fit in. This will be the entertainment bin. Purchased some extra pasta and rice and made an order with Honeyville Grains. I'm keeping prep purchases small so we'll have less to move...but I couldn't skip this because Honeyville Grains had a 10% off the total order through tomorrow.

Congratulations!!!

Woohoo!

Canning jars on freecycle and the thrift stores are getting harder and harder to find. You got some good deals!

Dh asked if I wanted to go check out the shooting range that's about 40 minutes away (heck yeah! I've only been trying to get him to go for the past few months!) Two years ago dh was very much against having any kind of gun in the house. After two years of listening to me go on about what I've learned here and looking at what's going on in our world...well, his views have changed. So off we go... The place was packed... We got information on classes they hold each month ($125 per person for an all day class about laws, how to use them and the opportunity to try out a number of different guns) and we checked out the handguns they had for sale. $370 was the cheapest one they had there...wow.... We could've rented one today but it was so busy there wouldn't have been anyone to help...and we didn't want to do something stupid...like accidentally shoot someone. Ds14 is a bit psyched about this since we told him we want him to learn too. One thing dh and I talked about at the beginning of the year is to set some prepping goals to do as a family...actually it was my idea but he's going along with it...kind of my way to get the family more involved and as a learning experience for ds14. We had a discussion in the car about why we prepare. I was pleasantly surprised over the discussion we had...ds and dh have been listening... They came up with a list of what we would need and dh told me to personalize it for our family so we can start working on it...didn't tell him I already have something like this.... I'm feeling like this one of the bests preps to have...getting your family on board with you...

I got my first gray hair when I was 15. If I plucked them I'd be bald... I've given up.

How about a tutorial?

Aug 1, 1969: the birth of the internet...tiny computers? LOL! Aug 17, 1786: Davy crockett's birthday...got any coonskins caps? August is national catfish month August 4: Chocolate Chip Day (National) August3: Watermelon Day (National) August 15: Crisco was developed by P&G, 1911

Rotflol! I'm just cracking up that all this was on your balcony.

Kathy, you're doing a great job!

Exciting!

Congratulations to you and dh!! You must be so proud of him!!!

It has rained and it has poured here today. Everyone keeps saying we need the rain...but, we're all secretly wishing the sunshine would get back here quick... after all, that's why we live in California right? I spent way too many hours holed up in a classroom with a lotta kidlets that needed to be outside. Glad to get home and curl up with something hot to drink and my computer. I did purchase some sore throat lozenges to add to the medical stash and I picked up a four month supply of prescription meds. Cleared off half a shelf in the garage...then decided I didn't feel like doing anymore today. Must be all that rain making me feel lazy...

(((Vic))) I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm sure that your father knew that you loved him. I'll be sending up prayers for the coming days.