Moving... part 2

So... the hateful landlord emailed my husband back and said we now have to be out of the house by Friday and have it cleaned by Saturday at 2 when he comes to change the locks. And that a new tenant is moving in on Sunday. And mentioned something about court. So we emailed him back and said that we will be out of town on Saturday (as he wanted us to come back over and do some last minute cleaning after he inspects it) but could do the last minute details on late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I hate to miss church, but I have a feeling, that for this to go well, since I am using up all of my days off for the coming week for the wedding and moving, that we will have to skip church and move. We also told him we would pay him an outrageous amount (more than we are paying in rent for the new house) every month for several months, to more than pay him off. Praying that God with soften his heart so that he not take us to court.
So we think that we have found a home for our freezer full of food for the couple of days between, but we still can't figure out what we are going to do with our two cats for those days. :( We can't afford to board them, I'm not leaving them in the car, and I don't want to leave them in the hotel room while we're gone (given that the hotel may or may not allow animals).
So now, all I'm left with is packing, moving and my checklist of other things... Let's see.

*Get a storage unit - done
* Get more boxes
* Get car door fixed (explain that one later) - hubby's at home doing that now
* Get mail forwarded - done
*Switch over electric - we have to pay them, and then they will
*Turn off gas - I have to remember to call them when they're open.
*Turn on water - ditto

Evicting Ourselves...

So.... we're behind on rent... and we have a hateful landlord who has been doing not so nice things to us. So we decided to evict ourselves. We emailed the landlord to tell him we will be out by the first of the month, we rented a storage unit today (we got a 10 x 10 for $37.50) and we can start moving things into the new house on Sunday. So bright and early Sunday morning we will be moving things to the new house. We are hoping to have everything to the storage building that goes there before then, so that we don't have that much left to do Sunday. This will be a crazy endeavor, as you may recall that we are going to a wedding Friday and Saturday. Well.... DH isn't working at all this week except for Wednesday 3-11 (He had vacation time to take for the wedding), and I'm working closing today, opening tomorrow, opening wednesday and off for the rest of the week. Pray for us as we do this. We really feel like Satan has a hold of this house that we are moving from, I have had a headache everytime I start to pack, and have had to work alot while we are doing this. Pray.... Thanks in advance...

Yay! Ebay!

We bought some awesome stuff on Ebay yesterday and I just had to show everyone... I will totally share some of the stuff out of the notebook on here when I get it next week in the mail!!! There are pictures following the descriptions, they are just the pictures off of ebay, but it gives you an idea of why I'm so excited!

HOWS AND WHYS OF COOKING HALLIDAY AND NOBLE. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO HOME ECONOMICS SERIES. COPYRIGHT 1929. HARDCOVER 179 PAGES. WELL USED AND STUDIED BOOK, LOOSE SPINE, WRITING IN PENCIL SOME STAINING, NO MISSING PAGES.

This is an incredible collection of literally several hundred vintage recipes taken from the typewritten notes of an advanced home economics class at the University of Oklahoma during the years 1935-36. There are approximately 136 pages that are typed on 8 ½ x 11 inch papers and are in a metal-edged binder. Some of the rare and unique recipes are:
Rhubarb Punch
Cream of Cherry Soup
Steak & Kidney Pie
Marshmallow Peanut Brittle
Icebox Cake
Poinsettia Salad
Water Lily Salad
Chocolate Cornstarch
Welch Rarebit
Prune Pudding
Hard Soap
Mock Sweet Breads
Penuche
Loganberry Sherbet
Junket Ice Cream
Vinegar Taffy
Mint Dumplings
Ripe Olive Bread
Tomato Jelly
Creole Stew

The list goes on and on! The student wrote in some personal notes on some of the pages, including the cost of making the recipes. There are also some interesting charts included. The pages have some worn edges, some small tears and some spotting on them. They are somewhat fragile but very legible and usable, especially considering they are over 80 years old. This was a rare find from an estate sale.

Yucky Mildew and other stuff...

My front living room closet has a leak in it that has been there since we moved in. I thought it had been fixed or magically went away or something, but I hadn't opened the door for about 3-4 months, and I got in there the other day and all of my scrap fabrics and remnants I had bought and put away for another time had gotten wet and mildewed... :( This made me sad. But this gave me a chance to tell everyone about my laundry soap!!! I make it myself, and it started from a recipe out of the Reader's Digest "Homemade" Book, and it's kinda starting to evolve. Here's what it is now:

1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup soap flakes ( I use ivory right now, but thinking about changing... maybe safeguard)

1/2 cup color safe bleach

1/4 cup borax
1/4 cup washing soda

You use 1/4 cup of the mixture in a load. I make up a huge batch at one time, and store it in a rubbermaid type container (the shoebox size, but wanting to move up in size).

I also use liquid fabric softener in the wash, as I line dry all of our clothes now (unless I need something in a hurry, because I don't plan ahead enough yet) Wanting to try vinegar, but don't want my clothes to smell like that...

I washed my mildewed yucky fabrics and other things in this, and I only had 3-4 pieces, that looked like they were probably stained before hand, that I had to throw away, and there's still a few more that I will probably have to throw away most of it, but there was 3-4 yards there, and some of its still ok, so I'll wait till I can save the ok parts.


I'm really excited because we discovered in all of the remnants a piece of lovely sage green colored fabric with a print on it similar to a paisley. Theres probably about 2-3 yards of it, and I wrapped it around myself and there's enough for a skirt!!! Now I just have to find a pattern, and get new sewing machine needles (I keep breaking mine, as I'm more daring than my sewing machine...)

P.S. BTW, I've started another blog for the personal story stuff, so that this one can be completely homesteading/homemaking related. It can be found at http://www.farmgirlsdreams.blogspot.com/ Just thought I'd let you know...

Mary Jane's Farm...

I have recently been introduced to the wonderful world of MaryJane's farm. I absolutely love her website and I can't wait until I have $40 that isn't going somewhere else, so I can sign up for the farmgirl connection, and subscribe to her magazine. We went hunting for a place to buy her magazine around here, and the only place we found it is at our TSC (Tractor Supply Company). I'm so excited about this one, as it has some patterns in it for bloomers and some skirts and some really cute camisoles!!! I can't wait until I have room to sew!!!! For anyone who wants to check out her website, it is www.maryjanesfarm.com She has things to buy, and ideas, and all kinds of wonderful "farmgirl" things!

Life...

As I have gotten older, I know that I haven't learned everything there is for me to learn yet, but I have learned a few things. It frustrates me very much when people look down on me or me and my husband, because we are young or because we haven't been married long. It really frustrates me that in America, the middle class doesn't really have a place, even though this really is a country founded for the middle class, and to get rid of the classes, isn't it? According to the government, my husband and I aren't poor, but because of all of our bills, we don't have the money to cover everything. And because we "aren't poor" we can't get assistance. I see this as a very big flaw that someone needs to fix. There are too many people out there like us who need help and can't get it, and too many people who are just doing what they have to to get the assistance. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Because I work, and my husband works, and we don't have children, we can't get food assistance. We make right at the amount for the cut off... if we made $50 less a month, we could get assistance. If I was pregnant, we still couldn't get food stamps, but we could get WIC (I think, I really haven't looked into the requirements, as it really doesn't pertain to me right now). Until we have a child, we can't get the help. Well, I neither want to bring a child up in a home like this right now, or do we have the money to take care of a child. I have too many friends who sit at home, with their $400 a month in food stamps, and their husbands work to pay the rest of the bills, while we are slaving away, trying to keep the electricity on and a roof over our heads and our butts out of court! My DH has decided that he's going to write to our congressman about this, and I haven't decided yet if I'm going to just sign my name to his or write my own, but something has to be done about this.


On a happier note.... I've decided that I'm going to start posting the Dollar General sales on here to help everyone... (I work at DG). So, here's what we have on sale right now.


* Most of the swimming/sunscreen/outside toys are 25% off right now.
* The gardening/outdoor entertaining stuff went to 50% off.
* Also we have a few wedding items and some blenders/snocone machines and the like that are 50% off.

And if you can find them,
*There are some automotive/stationary/and kids toys and various other things that are now 90% off!

Hope someone can get some good out of that!

Date with my honey at 1:30 am

Tonight from 1:00 am to sunrise (times variable by when the moon sets) there will be a meteor shower! We are planning on heading out of town somewhere (not sure where yet) to see it. It will probably be cold again tonight (last night it got down to mid 60's) so I might make some hot chocolate and take some blankets.... :) Sounds romantic!

Finally a Bridesmaid...

Well, in 20 days I am finally going to get my chance to be a bridesmaid! There have been 4-5 friends who have told me that I would get to be a bridesmaid, and either they got married at the courthouse or they got married far away and didn't invite me or something, but I've never actually made it to the wedding being a bridesmaid. I'm very excited about this one! My dress is a two piece (making it easier to put on by myself), the top is sleeveless but very high necked, and the skirt is ankle length. It is green. Have I mentioned I'm excited yet? :) I think that's all for now... Oh, we have a tomato about ready to pick! BTW, DH told me to let everyone know that our tomato plant is in a 5-gallon bucket, that makes it more impressive that we have 12 at once!

Stolen Bicycle...

I am very upset, and I just wanted to let everyone know that it is not ok to steal a persons mode of transportation. My husband and I's bikes were stolen this afternoon and I am very mad about it, and even more mad about the fact that in this day and age there is nothing we can do about it. In Mayberry, people would have gone to jail for such a thing, and now we can't do anything but sit at home with no way around town. Something is wrong with this situation. Why can't I just move to a farm, where all of my equipment would be locked away safe in the shed. Just because I can't afford something like that doesn't mean that the hoodlums should come and steal what is rightfully mine. The thing that is very aggrivating about this is the fact that my husbands bike was on our front porch, right next to the door. They would have had to come up on the porch to have stolen it. That's some pretty brave stupid people if you ask me. Ok, well I think that's all for now...

Day Dreaming...

Today has been a day for day dreaming. This has been my 3rd day off in a row, getting to spend them all with DH. I love weeks like this! The only problem is they make me hungry for the days to come when I will be a stay at home wife and mother, tending to my garden, and my home. We first went up to Dollar General, where I work, and bought some gardening things, some window boxes and such. We are trying to plant as much as we can in containers, and then we'll do the rest (hopefully) at another location, as we are about to go month to month with our lease, and we're hoping to not be there much longer. We're just looking for somewhere we can live for the next 3-5 years until we move to our dream.

We then went to get our hair cut, at the local beauty school. Can't beat $5 a hair cut, especially when all I get done is a simple trim. I love tips such as this. Then we went to another Dollar General (our "metro" area has like 10) looking for more gardening stuff (It's 25% off right now). We made our way over to Big Lots and Atwoods (In the same shopping center, for added savings on gas!) and got a birthday present for a friend, and some discount groceries. Now we're at the library using the computers (more savings as we don't use the electricity for the computer or the phone/internet bill!)

***** Our Tomato Plant has 10 tomatoes on it right now!!!!!!! *****

A Journey...

(this post has been moved from my old blog...)

That is definitly what this has been and what it continues to be. My husband and I have been married for a year and a half, and we are continuing on the road to self sufficiency and debt free living. When we began December 2006 we were $23,000 in debt, and trying to live on one income, in a small apartment in town. We are now $18,000 in debt, both of us are working, and we still live in a small apartment in town, but this one it a bit bigger than the last. We have begun the transformation.

We have a small clothesline that we have erected outside, and a small retracting clothesline that is in our bathroom for unmentionables. We have a small, container garden of herbs and a tomato plant on our front porch. We are currently looking for an empty lot somewhere close in town that we can rent to put in a canning garden next spring. Although we live in town (UGH...) we are continuing these things that I'm sure our neighbors think are crazy. We make our sun tea (in two separate jars, unsweet & sweet) daily, and hang our wash to dry. We walk and bike to work and to run errands, and ride our towns "trolley" for public transportation, and when our car is running, if we need to get somewhere else we take it.

We are not alone in this journey. My parents, who are moving to Indiana in a year, to further the dream on our family farm, are also slowly making their way to self-sufficiency and debt-free living. We also have our "fur-babies" that keep us company as we travel along. We have two cats, Max (a 2 1/2 year old Russian Blue) and Princess (a 1 1/2 year old American Shorthair Calico with an attitude). They help keep spirits light.

I hope that I can give inspiration to others traveling on this road, or others who have not yet begun that have a glimmer of the same dream. I hope that I can share ideas that I come up with, and that the vintage homesteaders out there might be able to help us along the way as well. Someday, we will make it to the dream!