Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Moving On...

Well, I finally did it.  I made up my mind where I'm going to blog. Really.

From now on, if you're looking for me, I'll be over at Life Gets Messy.

It's where all my blogging dreams will come true.... (sigh...............)

Oh.  I'm back to reality now.  That's where I'll be blogging on vacation instead of here.  Hope to still see you around.  I'll still have my blog here as an "archive" kinda thing, at least for a while, but if you want more crazy rooster stories, that's where they'll be.

Peace~

Shari

Thursday, July 17, 2008 - Getting ready for vacation...

Rather than continue to worry about where to blog right now, I decided to just simplify things and PICK ONE.  So.  Here it is.  We've done all the normal people things to get ready for a roadtrip... pack kids clothes, reserve hotels, buy lots of sunscreen... and a few not so normal things.  Like buy a freezer.  Stock up on chicken feed.  Find a dog sitter.  And now... Re-design my blog.  I find I'm short on picture storage room, so I may have to work around that, but this should get us started.  Enjoy.  We'll see you on the flip side...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - Short sabbattical, I think. Opinion poll...

Wow.

I had no idea.

Due to popular demand, I guess I won't stop blogging... Jeesh!  You ladies really know how to make a girl feel wanted.  However.  I'm done trying to be someone I'm not so you get me, bad habits and all, ok?  So.  I need your opinion.  Where should I blog? (based on readability & useability, not so much content)  Here's your choices:

1. Here at the hopeful homestead (I may talk about non homesteady things... like beer ... from time to time...)  I may also change the look of this blog also, because, well, that's what I do...

2. Home to Gilead: (I'm not always a total greenie peacenik, life's not always rosy...)

3. Simple Gifts: (my "deep thoughts" blog.  you can see I don't have them very often... lol!)

4. should I create one new blog that encompasses all of who I am, and stop being a blogging schizophrenic?  Such as "Life is Messy dot com or something..." (my current personal favorite)

Please leave me a comment telling me where you prefer to read, and why.  For those of you who read and don't usually comment, please do this time.  I'd like to hear your opinions.  Just hit the comment button, and you can type in your name even if you don't have an account here.  OK?

Thanks.  and well, thanks.

Shari

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - blog update

Thanks for all your comments and support.  As for RaChelle and I, we decided to ACT like we were in our 30's (gasp) not Jr. High and have worked it out.  Still not sure how much I'll be bloggin for a while, I'm thinking about it.  Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Blogging Sabbattical...

Today's the day I think.  I was considering blogging my way across the country and back.  But I think instead I'll just take a break.  Blogging started as a way for me to maybe keep in touch with out of town family and friends, and to maybe meet a few other women with similar interests along the way.  And it has done that.  It has also done more.  I've hit a few nerves along the way.  Closer to home than I expected, really. 

So here's my official blogging disclaimer:  I don't blog for you or about you.  It's a selfish thing for me, really.  And, if one day I post something you don't like, or my views on life aren't yours, then I'm sorry.  Feel free to stop reading.  Did you expect me to be all PC online?  Anyone who's actually met me and has a clue should know better.  I'm not always the nice, quiet SAHM.  Rarely am, as a matter of fact.  But I'm here.  Trying.  Even though it's not always easy.  If something I post bothers you, feel free to post a retaliation.  Right here.  I challenge you to be ballsy with me.  Not on the phone, or in my e-mail where no one else has to know.  Don't tell someone else something I say bothers you, I'll probably still "say" something about it here anyway.  I am who I am.  So sorry if that doesn't always sit well with other people.  Maybe things you say and do don't sit well with me either, but hey, I figure you're entitled to your opinions just like me.  That's what makes life interesting- that we're all different.

I try to cook from scratch (yet we ate at Pizza Hut tonight), I homeschool, shop locally, go to an ANGLICAN church, drink beer, vote libertarian, wear pants, have short hair, drive a truck, cuss too much, and tend to honk at people I don't know on the road if I think their face might be funny when I wave (who was that crazy chick, anyway??).  I never said anyone who reads here has to do everything I do.  It's up to you to do what's right for YOU.  This is just my life I'm sorting through, and trying to love my kids and husband through the whole mess no matter what.  The best I can.  I only hope each person who reads this tries to do their best at whatever it is they do, wherever THEY are at right now.

Maybe you buy takeout, send your kids to public school, drive a hybrid, work at a great job, and have none of the same vices I have.  Heck- maybe you're an EPISCOPALIAN! or maybe even a REPUBLICAN!   Hey.  Good for you.  I hope you're doing it well, the best you can and that it's working for you.

That's the point after all, isn't it?  Life isn't a contest, and I'm certainly not trying to win any awards here.  I'm just being me.  And for the next couple of weeks, I think I'll just go be me in person and skip the internet.  So here you go.  Your get out of jail free card.  If I don't write, you don't have to read it.  Everyone's happy.  I personally am going on vacation.  With my family.  In our SUV.  Somewhere else.  And I plan to have a great time.  Maybe I'll finish reading Thoreau.  And I'll probably drink a beer or two.  You should give it a try.  The beer or Thoreau.  They're both good.  You never know, you might find something you like...

Peace~

Shari

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

From Thoreau's Walden

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Mud Room ReAssembly

AH... our insane, unexpected home remodeling project is done!  The floor looks amazing, and everything is back where it belongs.  Here's a couple of pics...

Oooohhhh... Don't ya just love it????   This shows the floor with finished grout (Earth is the color we ended up with)  And this is the charming little chest of drawers we salvaged out of Mom's shed when we first moved in here.  We just turned a hose on it, and wiped it down, and it looks beautiful!  Al thinks it looks so good she may want it back!   It now holds all of our veterinary supplies in the top two drawers, and will have hats/ gloves/ mittens in the middle drawer, and all of my gift wrapping supplies in the bottom drawer, so I gained a laundry folding/ gift wrapping center to boot!  I also added a chair for Al to have a spot to take off his work shoes, and we have the option of substituting a bench in front of the chest for winter when the ladies seem to always have wet, muddy clothes to take off before I'll let them inside.  I'm very happy with how the entire project turned out.

This is a shot of my pantry all re-organized and back in it's spot.  I'm very happy with it.  No more appliances on the porch, no more dog crates in the yard.  Whew.  Now I can finish putting the rest of the house to right, and get ready to go away only one week from Monday.  I'm taking my laptop, so should be able to blog our way across the country and back.  Probably over at my blogger blog, since we'll be on our way Home, to Gilead from the time we leave.  I can't wait to go, but I love our new house so much, I'm a bit sad to leave home too.  After all, my roosters have really started crowing, and our garden is taking off again now that it's getting a better sun/ water ratio.  Oh well.  Sherrie will just have to eat my 'maters for me, and I can plan big for next year once we get home. 

Anyway, that's what we've been up to.  I'm off to read a bit and enjoy another cuppa joe.

Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 - 2 weeks and counting...

If you've wondered where I've been lately, but perhaps you haven't, we've been crazy busy trying to get the tile done, and the house re-assembled... and I've been recovering (slowly) from being sick... and we're working on being ready to leave home for 3 weeks to go visit Al's family.  (you know who you are...) SOOOOOOOOOO....  My "homesteading" right now looks like this:  Laundry on the porch, bread from the store, trip over laundry baskets full of canned goods from the pantry that had to be moved, kittens every where (including reports from the girls of a NEW one under our porch last night, but no sighting yet, a chicken who is an escape artist, evidently the grass IS greener on our side of the fence... and dogs who smell, shall I say... FOUL!!!  Too many ealry trips to the lake for them, I think!  Our garden is suffering from lack of H2O as the hose that was watering it is now running the washer (gotta pick your battles) but I did get to eat a few small carrots from the garden yesterday that were great!!

We're also talking big about our plans for AFTER the vacation... Paint colors for one.  All neutral.  It's like a decorating version of let's make a deal... or poker, I'm not sure which... I'll see you your white ceilings, if you raise me olive green walls in the loft, and paprika stair treads.  Wide trim, or stick with what we've got (stickin' by the way...) today we chose a cabinet finish (my super handy hubby is going to re-finish the functional, but ugly cabinets we have to give me the awesome but far too pricey look I love at Lowes...)  Countertops, backsplashes, floors, freezers, dishwashers, lighting.  I guess 6 months was as long as we could live somewhere without a re-modeling project.  BUT so far we're way keeping the cost down, so I feel pretty good about it.  Also we're discussing homeschool plans for the girls, and possible college plans for me.  There's talk of garden re-working, and adding more space for next year.  Rain barrels, and building Al's shop.  Terracing the hillside under the powerline, and creating an orchard...  A BILLION and ONE things.  If you want to check out how the floor is coming hit my Home to Gilead blog, I posted a Pic or two over there today...  Things are crazy as usual, and I really wouldn't have it any other way.  Gotta Run!  Peace~

Shari