Crashing down and getting back up.

Just days after my last post I went to a Dr appt.  I had done really well in advance not thinking about it.  On the morning of it, when I knew that instead of getting up to do my normal routine, I had to fast instead and leave quickly- I was a wreck.

I felt that familiar wash of adrenaline over my body as soon as I woke up.  Not as bad as the weeks after Billy's death but certainly the same intensity I felt in the months after.  I did OK as far as the hunger.  I have a fear of passing out from low blood sugar or low blood pressure from being so hungry.  I did fine.  I was a bit nervous but I did pretty well.

As a matter of fact I thought I was doing great while driving down the road.  I had to get on the interstate so I wouldn't be late for my lab appt.  That made me a bit more nervous but I did fine.

What I didn't do fine with after doing pretty well was getting my blood drawn.  I have an overall circulatory system phobia.  I think of strokes, blood clots, blood pressure, heart attacks,aneurysms,  you get it.

I no longer can tolerate watching my blood being drawn.  The fear is I'll see it and faint.  I don't like having the rubber band wrapped around my arm to plump up my veins because.... well, it's just not cool to hinder that flow.  The phlebotomist casually talked and set her stuff up AFTER she wrapped my arm- so I'm chewing on the inside of my bottom lip screaming in my head HURRY UP! HURRY UP! HURRY UP!!!

Finally the needle pricked and I relaxed but only for a second when it seemed to take forever to fill the tubes.  Surely I will faint after losing all this blood.  Did I mention that I was on my period too?  Yep, my mind was definitely telling me that my period plus this additional loss meant I was going to hit the floor.

I began to tremble uncontrollably.  I tried to stay still but I just couldn't.  Finally it was over and she looked at me and said Are you OK??  I meekly said yes and got up to leave quickly changing the subject by asking where the bathroom was.

So fast forward to my results.  Yes, the one I was concerned about was unusually high.  I'm hoping just from the combo of nerves, hormones and being really hungry caused it.  I get it checked in 6 mths again.

Now, I'm picking myself up.  I was exhausted and frustrated for the rest of the day.  Yesterday I was just sad and crying.

This morning I was still having a hard time.  Like I told Eric, I hate it that I have to work so hard to be/feel normal.

So again today I ate good for me food, I meditated and I exercised.

Fall down.  Get up. Work hard.  Heal.  Fall down.  Get up.  Work hard. Heal.

That's my life now.

It's ok.  I'm excited to even have a chance to do it this way.  The freedom to choose how to heal.

Until Next Time.

Laying down the sword and shield.

I'm at work today, a Sunday- and we just sprang our clocks forward an hour.  I'm feeling pretty good, especially for having my cycle.  It came on pretty easily this morning with only minor discomfort so far.  I've been feeling pretty good mentally lately.  I'm finding peace in the every day and joy in the ordinary.  I have a doctor appointment tomorrow with Dr Keim.  It's just a yearly check up.  I'm hoping that if everything is normal including my thyroid (which was a touch elevated last year) that I can just start going to health fairs for these check ups.  I'm glad to know that my tsh was off, I believe from stress over the past couple years.  I have learned that anxiety/stress can really wreck your body.

I've done everything that I can control to help my body heal as much as it can.  I exercise, I meditate daily, I eat really well and as my anxiety lowers I feel stronger.  I also feel happier.  All of this has taught me that I've been beating and fighting my way through life.  I turned off joy and simplicity when I turned about 10 and didn't turn it back on again until 45-ish.  Since a preteen to the early part of 45 I lived to strive for, be accepted as, catch up to and obtain.   Now I live to watch sunrises and sunsets, laugh, relax, give up striving but still enjoy, don't care about acceptance but accept people as they are, saying there's nothing to catch up to and realizing I have enough.  I've given up worrying.  I still get nervous but I don't give it too much of my mental energy because whatever the circumstance is it really doesn't matter.

I see myself as an old woman and I know and accept that I will die one day.  That's what matters, how much I enjoy my life until that day arrives.  Worry just isn't worth the time spent on it.  I'm not anywhere perfect but given where I was just a couple years ago I'm a thousand times better.

As I'm learning to let go of the grip and fear I've noticed how much I still clench my stomach.  I do it and I don't even realize it.  My mind is learning but my body is still trying to hold that defensive mode.  It will get better.  Or not.

I have to fast tonight- I have to get my blood drawn tomorrow before I can eat anything.  I don't like it.  I really like my routines but I'll get through it like I have every time before.

It feels good to just give up.  It feels good to finally after all these years put down the sword and shield.  Quit looking over my shoulder and wildly looking around for danger.  The colors are more vivid and music sounds sweeter.  Details are clearer.  It's nice to live not bracing for impact.



Until Next Time.

Having a small salary (and accepting it) is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Almost 6 years ago my husband and I quit our jobs to start our business.  We lived on savings the first 6 months and then started pulling a salary.  We had no experience running a business like ours but we had passion.

We never went into the business wanting to be "rich".  I wanted to make the same salary that my husband made at his previous job which was barely above average salary numbers.  But, as almost anyone can tell you, owning your own business is hard and making a salary, especially pretty much out of the gate, is practically unheard of.

We actually have settled our lives into making a salary quite a bit under the national average.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier.  Why?  Because it's enough.  We pay our bills.  We save.  We also have a little fun.

Do we go on extravagant vacations and trips?  No.  Do we drive new cars?  No.  Do we keep up with fashion trends?  Definitely not.

What we do have is time to breathe.  Time to be together as a family.  We do have a very slow lifestyle.

I remember crying about not making the money at first and feeling like a failure.  I even considered our business a failure.  But really it is very successful.  I just needed to change my mind and accept that it's ok to not make a lot of money, just enough money.

We have had investors approach us about expanding.  They had big plans with an even bigger price tag.  What was worse is it would have made our lives very chaotic and very not what we want.

Their minds were on margins, bottom lines and big money.

Ours was on our family.

We then settled into and accepted our salary and our lives grew much more simple.

I no longer feel like a failure because I'll probably never step foot in Europe.  I no longer stress about making it to the weekend.  Well, I never actually did before this, but now I really don't.  I really enjoy our outings way more than I used to.  Before being invited to a friends birthday party was just one more thing to add to the calendar, now it's the only thing added to the calendar.  We go out to eat maybe once a month and we always love every second and every bite of food.

We do things that are low cost and fun.  Bowling for example.  We went on a Monday when our son was off of school for Martin Luther King day.  We played one game, it was a load of fun and it only set us back $16.00 then we went to a BBQ place we had been wanting to try.  It was a great day that I'll never forget.

We still work hard at our business but it feels good to go to work.  We don't dread it.

Life is just full of fun now.  We appreciate everything we have.  A roof over our heads when it's freezing outside, food on our table and kitty cats to cuddle.

We have enough.

I'm so glad to have found this peace.

What a great life I have.

Until Next Time.

That Day After We Went To Cooter's And Headed Back to Good Ole Winchester VA

On our way back from Luray we decided to stay on Rt. 11 heading back home.  We stopped along the way to just enjoy sites we hold dear in our memories.  We don't know how much longer those places will last, so we at least took a couple pictures.  But before that we stopped at Woodstock Brewing Company for an afternoon snack.  Ashton had ginger ale, I had chips and tea and Eric had a flight of their beers.

Ah Montgomery Wards.  The building has been sitting vacant for nearly 2 decades now.  I still have memories of going there- and my mom worked at the diner inside, even though I don't remember that. 

This is the wall coming from the "back way" to the plaza.  How awesome it is.  It used to lead to the movie theatre but now it sits empty. 

Ear Food!  I remember when this store was next to the Fashion Bug on Berryville Avenue- where the Sharp Shopper is now.  It was a Safeway, Rite Aide, Ear Food, Fashion Bug, laundry Mat and the Center for Figures.  Good Times.  Eric and I went to this location when we first were together.  annnnnd.......

We were so happy to take our son there too.  I don't know how much longer it will last with the digital age upon us but I hope it will be a long while more.  Vinyl is making a come back so you never know. 

We ended the night with a special request from Ashton.  It's been yeeeeaaarrrs since we went to the Chinese buffet!  he said-- so there we went.  Good times and regrettable yet yummy food was had.  A great way to end the evening.

I guess the theme of the day was going down memory lane.  Old TV shows, old stores, old architecture and old restaurants.  Great places continuing even if its just in our memories.

Until Next Time. 

Just watched a video.

I'm sure you've seen the video on facebook about putting away your phone or ipad and live the real way.  I just watched it and I'm deeply touched.  For months I've been focused on having a blog or youtube channel and put lots of energy into it.  I wanted to be heard.  I wanted to be special.  I wanted lots of followers.  I have a hard time remembering life when I didn't at least sometimes think, oh I gotta put this on facebook or I gotta put this on instagram.  -- and I literally just thought about shutting down my instagram account and then I immediately thought of reasons not to.  Why is it hard for us to just live like we used to?  Everyone wants to be special, everyone wants to be famous and suddenly everyone thinks they are important.  And even now I'm writing a blog about how I don't want to blog any longer.  Let me just stop right here. 

Lazy or Content?

The other day I was working on our business bookwork.  After having paid what seemed like everybody and their brother during the month of April, I watched our bank account slowly drop, and drop and drop.  I remember thinking to myself....

"hmph, it looks as though we may not be able to pay ourselves in the month of May."

Did I also mention that our heat pump needs replacing and while it heats fine, it does not provide us cool air? 

Did I mention that to replace said heat pump that is almost 11 years old, will cost us about 6 grand? 

Yeah.

But, as I sat there, I realized that it doesn't bother me any where near as much as it would have if this happened a year ago.  I actually surprised myself.  I simply thought to myself, well, we've got savings to live on in May, and that will suck, because that money should go towards the heat pump, but I guess that's the way it will be.  I also thought, I wish we didn't have a house that requires a heat pump.

Have I become lazy?  Am I so lazy that the thoughts of my business not having a super strong month just floats along without a care in the world? 

I don't think so.

I really think that I've come to a place in my life that I'm just content.  People lived for years without this thing called "air conditioning"-- It will really be fine.  What we did do is buy a small window unit to use if needed out of our emergency fund. 

You're probably wondering why we don't just head on down to the bank and get a loan to replace that heat pump? 

We don't do debt.  We're done.  We'll be fine. 

It is nice to be in this new place of contentment.  Nothing seems so dire any longer and I attribute some of it to learning new skills so that if I did need to down grade a lifestyle (and I know how to do that!) I can go back to basics even farther. 

Keep Moving Forward.

Not even forward, just keep MOVING.

Until Next Time Friends.

Blessed.

I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. 

I just learned yesterday morning that my step-dad's lymph nodes are clear of any cancer.  I was so happy and relieved to hear it, that the enemy had been defeated that I cried and just hugged him.  I never got to hear those words when we lost my father in law, nor my mother in law. 

I tell ya, having a scare like that really brings you back to what is important.  In the depths of my fears when I did let myself imagine the worse, I realized how much I love him. 

Him being ok was the only option. 

I prayed. 

This time I received the answer I desperately needed.

I am so blessed.  I will never forget how blessed I am. 

No matter what you believe or don't believe, remember that life can throw you a hard ball at any moment so be appreciative of the ordinary things. 

Until Next Time Friends!

1950s, The Perfect Combination?

I did a YouTube on this question recently and thought that it was worth blogging about as well. 

I came across this thought while watching a video on wood stoves.  The maker of the video said that a lot of people have a romantic version in their heads about the life of using a wood stove.  "It's dirty and hard work!"  she said. 

I am guilty of this romantic version.

It got me thinking about how truly hard life was back in the days where most people had wood stoves to cook on and for heat.  With little medical advancement in those times and the hard lifestyle, people didn't live as long. 

On the other side of the coin, we now in this day and age have lots of medical advancement, but too much convenience in my opinion.  We can easily go through a fast food drive thru anytime and fill up on junk -- We have some choice over where our food comes from, but most of us just go down to the local food mart and pick up whatever is offered there.  We're so busy that we don't give it much thought. 

My thoughts are that the 40's 50's maybe early 60's may have been the sweet spot for medical advancement but also having healthier, more localized, unfooled around with foods. We were a bit more self sufficient getting exercise from these old fashioned habits.

Where will our current lifestyle take us? 

My son says that maybe we'll turn out like the people on Wall E  -- and I'm sad to say, he might be right. 

If You Don't Like What's Being Said....

Today I've been thinking about a quote from one of my favorite TV characters, Don Draper.

"If you don't like what's being said, Change the conversation."

I'm thinking about it because I have a hard time sustaining friendships and have very few people that I could call in the middle of the night if I was in trouble.  I admire other people in my family who have had close friends for years and they spend time together regularly.  Other than my husband, I really don't have anyone outside of my family that I could depend on. I do have a small group of friends that I get together with occasionally, but could I call them in the middle of the night?  Not even close.

Now, I could stay in this funk that I've been in all morning or I could take a cue from Don and change the conversation.  Right now it's saying, "Oh, poor Kim, she's got no friends, why doesn't anyone ask to get together with her?"  But I'm going to change the conversation by saying "Kim's not afraid of getting out there and asking people to do stuff with her." 

We hear all the time that we have to create the lives that we want to live.  We are responsible for our own happiness.  Making us happy is not someone else's job. 

I have to change my behavior.  I have to let go of my comfort zone of waiting for someone to come see me or ask me to do something.  I need to approach people and just ask for what I want.  I want someone to do hobbies with.  I want to have nice conversation that makes me both think and laugh.  I want friendships that I can relax in and feel safe in. 

I don't have to settle though.  I don't have to waste my time on people who aren't available to me.  I can have friends who are excited to spend time with me and have an amazing time. 

My first step will be an open invitation to going to the House and Garden Tour in our area.  I will do this over facebook.  I have fretted over who to invite.  I'm OK with going alone, (I'm going either way) it's just way more fun to have someone to go with.  This way, my first experience in going outside my comfort zone will hopefully be positive since they will be approaching me to volunteer to go. 

I am getting together with those girls whom I can't depend on too much this evening.  I'm changing my attitude to being happy and excited to go instead of dreading it.

I'll continue to post.  I know it's sad that I have to work on having friends, but hey, what can you do!?

Until Next Time!

I hate the word Cancer.

It's true.  I hate the word cancer.  It brings uncertainty and sadness. 

I lost my father in law back in 2007 to complications during his fight with lung cancer.  It still makes me so mad.  On the outside he was a perfectly healthy 70 year old man with a quick wit.  Inside a tiny speck was growing on his lung.  Long story short, my father in law, a beautiful and loving man, lost his life just a couple months after his diagnosis. 

It has happened again.  My stepfather who is old school cool has been diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer.  He was diagnosed about a month ago and has yet to have surgery.  They keep pushing back his date for surgery even though they say he needs to have it removed so it doesn't spread ( or continue to spread)  He will turn 72 this year. 

I hate it.  It sucks and I can't imagine life without him.  I can't imagine my mom being without him.

I'm scared beyond belief and don't know what to do.  Not having any control is what makes me even more crazy. 

So, all I can do is pray and wait.

Pray.  Wait.

I can only do so much.

I keep going back and forth about whether or not I want a full out garden or if I just want to do a perennial garden. 

Last year I attempted bleakly at doing a garden.  I never really benefited from it though since I didn't harvest the tomatoes right away they usually ended up bug infested or rotten on the vine.  Each year I make a stand and say this is the year!  This is the year that I really garden and get lots of yummy foods from it! 

Not so.

At my best (when I was a stay at home mom) I got a descent amount of food, but no where near what I want.  The best was having so many cherry tomatoes that we would have "cherry tomato and cheese salad" like, three times a week.  So much that hubby said Oh no not that again! 

This will be my 10th year that I will try to grow something and I just have a feeling that it is not going to go well.  Hubby says that he's going to till up the ground and I can plant and everything will just be nifty! 

Here's what I see in my future:

He will (maybe) eventually till the yard.  We'll be short on funds to really buy everything we need and I will wing it with 0 money or very very little money. 

Time will take over and those plants that I meant to grow will be over taken by weeds.  I'll get frustrated.  I'll get mad at myself for not doing better. 

I'll try again.  Bugs will start taking over.  Plants will die.  Plants will become stressed. 

Did I mention that I'll need to get up at least a half hour earlier to water all these plants?

Part of me is excited for the challenge.  Part of me wants to throw my hands in the air and say I'm OUT! and just be a consumer.  Part of me thinks that it would be cool to just do a perennial vegetable garden.  Part of me says that won't be enough for my pride.  Part of me is dreading canning all the food if I can get it to grow.  Part of me can't wait to see all those filled jars waiting for winter. 

Gaaahhhhh!  I just don't know.  But I do know, I can only do so much. 

I guess time will tell.  I'll keep you posted.....

Living within your means is OK.

Over the last few weeks, I've become a little less stressed over an obstacle that I've been dealing with for a long time. 

Contentment.

It was one of my goals for 2014 to continue working on, but I didn't really think I would truly arrive at the door of contentment.  I'm not perfect and I think I will always, at least sometimes, feel the little voice that says... maaaann. I want that.  I want that now.  Why not me?  But what I am saying is that I am definitely closer than I have ever been before to being content.

Every single day we are bombarded with images, commercials and shoot, even pictures of our friends on Facebook showing their latest vacation pictures or new cars, new furniture, new something. It has become almost normal to continually get new things.  Go on big vacations - quite often-- and for the love of everything holy, you HAVE to take your child to Disney World!  Also, you can't wait until they're older, you must do it before the "magic" wears off for them. 

Huh?  Anyone else scratching their heads on this new set of peer pressure?

So, at my weak points, I feel "behind" because I don't take "big" vacations often.  I don't buy new things often and we have not taken our son who is now 12, to Disney.  Tsk. Tsk. 

People are even taking pictures of their food when they go out to a restaurant.  ( I am so guilty of this!) 

With all the pressure of our society, I have come to a place where I am OK with only spending the money that I have!  I'm OK with not having money to do all the extras.  Could I go and get a credit card and take a fabulous trip?  Yep.  I would totally post them all over my facebook page so that everyone knows that I'm in the IN crowd. Totally not going to do that though.  I have X amount of dollars to work with each month and I'm OK with only using that.  I'm not borrowing a dollar from someone just to feel like I've lived a full life.

But you only live once Kim.... don't you want to make memories? 

Memories?  I make them every day.  When I kiss my son goodbye before he goes to school.  When I sit and eat breakfast with my hubby in the morning before work.  When we watch an awesome TV show together in the evening.  Talking to my son about his day while we're in the car.  I don't need to take a vacation or sit on fancy furniture to make memories. 

My days are no more special or less special than everyone elses. 

I'm here telling you.  It's OK to live within your means no matter what anyone says. 

-and to those who feel the need to check in every where- blast vacation pics a thousand times or show off your new big pile of debt of a car.... don't.  It's sad and tacky.  The only person you're impressing is the reflection in the mirror. 

    

What Will We Need? How long did our winter harvest last?

A quick little post today guys to record some important information. 

1.  We had a bushel and a half of apples and it lasted us through February.  We dehydrated it and made applesauce.  I ate apples in my oatmeal and for  snacks and it lasted through mid January.  Finishing up the last quart of applesauce out of 5 qrts. in the next couple days.  Supplemented with cranberry sauce (bought at 99cents a bag; 2 bags made about 6 half pints of sauce)  I bought a couple batches of bananas but otherwise the apples and cranberries lasted.  Just made my second bag of cranberries sauce the morning of this writing.  Would like to have another 1/2 bushel of apples for juicing next year and another supplement of another fruit for winter. Strawberries?

2.  I bought butternut squash, acorn squash and sweet potatoes through the fall and still have 2 acorn squash left. Eric and Ashton quickly tired of sweet potatoes, maybe alternate with baking potatoes-  will grow both hopefully to strike a good balance.  We like butternut much better than acorn, will want more next year with only a couple acorn.  Would like supplement of Kale and lettuce started in July and September for longer harvest- lettuce lasted until mid January under a plexi glass cover even with deep freezing temps. 

3. 28 pounds of deer meat lasted us until last week of February (received mid December) 1lb ground bags.  Goal to have 2 deer next year.  One ground one cut for steaks and sausage.  Really sucks that I will be buying other meats other than chicken in March. 

Learning more about deer skinning and processing- will need to prepare place to process or go to friends house to process. 

More info to come; will start gardening log soon. 

A New Level of Freedom.

   
Hello All,

I wanted to write a quick post to celebrate a milestone.  It has been two years since I have accepted a paycheck from an employer.  Well, let me be a bit more clear.  The employer I now work for is my self.  It is such a feeling of empowerment knowing that the money you just put in your bank account isn't from the work you did for someone else, but actually the money you earned working for yourself.    That is a feeling of true freedom. 

Not to say that I can just go and do whatever I want because I can't.  I have customers to keep happy and a store to help run, but what a feeling to have a new level of freedom that not too many folks are willing to have, because of the intense hard work you have to do to have this freedom. 

Now, I understand that  this life isn't for everyone.  It's not glamorous and it's not easy. You have to be willing to do a LOT of hard work with little time off, but when its time to relax -- it is the most joyous reward and won't be taken for granted.

We are still working with a strict budget.  Our "paycheck" from our business now covers ALL our expenses.  We are paying a bit more on the principal on our mortgage, saving for an emergency fund, saving for retirement, saving for our son and saving for our next car.  We are doing this -- and right now we are successful.  We keep our eyes to the sky for possibilities, planning, predicting and playing out different scenarios so we continue on a good, dependable, self sufficient and adventurous road. 

I feel like that scene from Cast Away starring Tom Hanks when he finally made a fire and he stands back dancing, wooping and hollering-- "LOOK WHAT I HAVE DONE!  I HAVE MADE FIRE!"  That's us!  Through blood (well, maybe a little blood) sweat (a lot) and tears (A LOT) we have made our own fire! 

Here's to a new level of freedom!  Let the journey continue!!   

                      

While I was away....

Hello All,

Today's post will be all about getting you caught up with what is going on with us.  Today I'll catch you up on my little homestead. 

I'm afraid that really there isn't a lot of news.  My garden did so-so.  I got a few peas, strawberries and blackberries.  I got some garlic and I got a good amount of jalapenos.  I had lots of tomatoes, but bugs got a hold of them before I could.  We have a problem with grasshoppers, so they really took their toll on things.  My lack of time (or scheduling, whichever way you want to see it) didn't help either as they would end up staying on the vine past its prime. I was lucky to have those tomato and jalapeno plants at all.  Luckily one of our customers had extra plants left over from where he worked so he gave some to us.  I was surprised at how well the jalapenos did!  The problem is that we don't eat them very often so we ended up pickling them instead.  We have4 pint jars and we are still working on the first jar! 

 The hops grew pretty well, especially the cascade variety that we let grow on the ground in the garden.  My neighbor Martin even mowed three of them down to the nub once and they still grew back with no complaints.  We're definitely going to need to take some out since we found out we planted them way too close together. They need some sturdier supports this year as well. 

 

 

We enjoyed our summer which went by way too fast.  We did manage to go to the water park once this year, but never made it to the lake. 

 

 

Before we knew it summer was over and it was time to head back to school.  Ashton started middle school this year!  The game changer is now he gets on the bus at, get this.... 6:40 am!!  Holy What!?!  So remember all that BS I had written about getting up an hour earlier so I could clean the house?  YEP, straight out the window! 

 

 

I'm surprised he was awake enough to even eat his breakfast on the first day of school!

 

 

My handsome man heading off to school.  It was a little bit of a rocky start, but now he is having the best year he has ever had.  Next thing you know, it's Halloween and the holidays. 

Ashton has since decided that he doesn't like the drums or band and will not want to continue next year.  I think he'll probably do drama club or chorus. 

 

All the while during these colder months I have gone back to organizing and rethinking my house.  I even had to re-do the monstrous armoire because I tore it up again.  I will do another post soon on the changes I made. 

We did an interview with my grandmother I call Muzzy.  We filmed it.  It was so fun and I learned more about her as a young girl and not just my grandmother.  She turned 92 this year! 

 

 

Now here we are in the middle of February!  We have had a ton of snow this year and record breaking cold temperatures! We are all longing for warm weather!  It's in the 40's today and we are excited.  I will do another post soon to show all the other things we've been up too since I last posted. 

 

Until Next Time Friends!









Not Just Yet.

Hello Again ALL!

Apparently Homemaker Kim isn't finished!  How has everybody been?  I wanted to do a quick post to say that I am going to be blogging here regularly again.  If anything, for me.  I had fun reading my older posts when I was kicking around the idea of blogging again.  It was nice to have a journal of all the things I had tried and experiences I had been through.  The pictures themselves are worth it! 

So here I am again gang.  I truly hope that someone will come along with me that isn't related to me, but if not, I'm cool with that. 

I have so much to catch you up on! 

Until Next Time Friends! 

This is the end. Hold your breath and count to ten.

Thanks Adele for introducing me today.... your voice is so lovely. 

You've heard Skyfall right? 

Anyhoo guys and gals, Well, I should say one gal.  I think I'm done.  I really enjoyed doing this blog and for over a year I have done it, but its not gaining traction and hasn't showed that anyone else other than my momma even reads these posts.  It was fun, but lately its been kind of a downer knowing that its not reaching many people.  So, I'll keep within my own pet peeves and give you the warning.  This is it.  Homemaker Kim blog is finished.  Close the book.

Thank you and good night. 


Momma, know that I will certainly keep you informed of all my domestic and business based adventures always..... love you! 

Why I Quit Food Shopping Once A Month.

Hello All,

If you follow frugal blogs or know anything about America's Cheapest Family, you have probably heard of only going food shopping one time a month.  The reasons are obviously to save time, but also so that you aren't tempted to buy those impulse buy items... (my weakness is the donuts at the bakery)  It is a wonderful thing if you can swing it. 

I did this for many months.  I would pour over my menu for the month, look at the ads and create my "master" grocery list.  I would end up shopping at 3 different stores usually.  I would hit the grocery outlet first to see if there were any things on my list that I could score for really cheap.  Then I would hit Target for things like toilet paper, trash bags, deodorant and things like that.  I would finally hit the grocery store and be completely and utterly exhausted by the time I got home.  However, knowing that I was finished for a whole month was a very good feeling. 

When we started the business, things started to get a little bit more hairy.  We did basically the same thing except that we would span the shopping over three days and go after work.  You notice that I say "we" because I was no longer alone in the shopping.  I now had hubby and son to tag along... and let me tell ya, if you wanna bust a budget just take those two into an outlet grocery store where everything is just so yummy and cheap .... and "HONEY THEY'RE ONLY 50 CENTS!  So of course we had to have 8 or 10!  Those boys, I tell ya....

I noticed that I had less and less time to create the menu and master list, so for a couple months I created a weeks worth of meals and just multiplied it times 4.  Yes, we ate the same menu for a month straight... and it got so boring! Here's something else that got old.  Since I was more rushed in my meal planning phase I ALWAYS seemed to forget SOMETHING for the menu!  SHOOT!  It always seemed to be a small but very much needed thing too.... like butter.  Ya gotta have butta!  (that's me channeling my Long Island Medium Theresa!--never heard of her?  OK, moving on.)

So I finally gave in (and it helped that we now have 2 cars!) and started shopping on my days off each week.  I now can create a weeks worth of meals, try new recipes and still stay within budget.
If I'm low on something there are no worries, I'll just get it next week.  I still go to Target and the outlet store, but I only go once a month still for those.  I hit Costco every few months for bulk items like flour and sugar.  The bulk of my food shopping is at Aldi.  I'm sorry folks, but I love that place.  I steer clear of the processed stuff as much as possible and buy the whole foods.  You can buy healthy stuff for cheap, but that's a whole other post. 

So, there you have it.  Now am I against going shopping once a month?  Absolutely not.  It's awesome.  But, some families have the time, some don't.  I'm definitely in the don't have time in this season of my life.  That's what my blog is all about... finding that sweet spot between being a business woman and a homemaker. 

Until Next Time Friends!

Update on all the goings on!

Hey Everyone! 

Hope everyone is doing well -- and to all the momma's out there, I hope you had a great Mother's Day.

Anyway,  I thought I would do an update on all the stuff going on in Casa De Boyers....

On the home front, things are moving along.... slowly, but moving.  I'm afraid that my gardening dreams are all but washed away this year.... there is simply just no time unless I get up and out to the garden by the butt crack of dawn... and that's just not gonna happen.  I'm looking into perennial gardening.  My side garden where all my perennial plants and flowers are up and look beautiful.  I have not touched it except for mowing it once this year.  That's the garden I need.  I (in all my spare time tee-hee) hope to move my tulip bulbs to places you can actually see them.  I also want to split some of the iris that I have and move them to the bare side of the house.  That would look really pretty.  I've got some strawberries and a blackberry bush that are doing well even though I've only weeded the bed. The Black Susan's I planted last fall are coming up and taking off.... so yeah, I have to face it that a perennial garden is what I need.  I'm looking into all the fruits and veggies that are perennial. We planted about 10 hop plants on either side of the back of the house to try to provide some privacy.  They are doing great, but grow really fast and need support.  This year tomato cages will be all they need, but next year, we'll need posts with steel cables to support those babies!  Maybe some day HGTV will show up at my door and just do everything I want in 1 day!!  A girl has to dream....

On the business front, things are moving along... steadily moving.  We are so tired most days and we are working harder than we have ever worked. BUT WOW!  Is it worth it.  Not to say there aren't days that I wanna pull out my hair and long for things to be back the way they used to be, but those days are fewer and fewer.  Things are going really well and I know this is where we're supposed to be.  It feels so good to earn our own money.  We are still on a tight budget at home, but we are very purposeful with every dollar.  Even though we are not earning a very large salary right now, we are still able to set money back for savings.  We're starting to look around the house for those extras that we really don't need or want any longer to help boost the emergency fund a little quicker. 

On the kitty front, fun loving babies!  Our oldest Shade, was having trouble with her tummy and the medication is just so expensive.  We decided to not get medicine and just try a really high quality food.  It is a grain free rabbit meat based food and it has done wonders for her.  We give her a bit of either yogurt or wet food in the morning and let her eat the dry the rest of the day.  She no longer vomits and diarrhea is gone.  She has spunk in her step again and seems to feel so much better.  The other kitties are doing great.  Loving all the sun spots around the house! 

Until next time friends! 

Reorganizing the Spare Bedroom Closet

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been awhile, but I'm still pluggin' away on cleaning out and organizing my house.  I've finished the downstairs, now I need to move upstairs.  I started in the spare bedroom because it was crying out for help the loudest.  I didn't even think to take pictures.  I didn't really do too much in there.  We use it as a game room for our son and storage really right now.  We rarely, if ever, have guests over, so we really need to use this room for function.  The main thing I did was organize the filing cabinet. But, we'll talk about that project another day.  So, the closet....yeah, it was kind of a mess as you can see. 

So, I got to work.  I went through each item deciding if it stays, gets donated, gets trashed or gets moved to a new home in the house. 

It seems that I have a problem with saving gift bags and even old Christmas cards.  Maybe I look at Pinterest too much??  Things got stuffed down in this "organizer" that didn't belong.

I found my vacuum cleaner bags in there!  That is a sign that maybe this organizer is not working out for me... ya think?

Of course Toby was there inspecting my work....

I finally got everything out except for hubby's record collection.  He put them there when we moved in our house in 2003 and he said that I can take them out of this closet when he is dead.  I'm not kidding, he really said that.... he is serious about his record collection, even though he hasn't touch them in 10 years... *shrugging shoulders*

My wrapping paper "organizer" went into the donate pile quicker than anything.... no wonder it was on clearance for $1.99 when I bought it. 

I'll show you guys the after picture in my next post.... but the question for now is.... what do I do with all this wrapping paper now???  Don't worry, I've got plans!  ;)

Until Next Time Friends!