Happy Birthday, Happy New Year

Hello everybody!
We are settled into our new apartment (thanks Mom and Dad!), and had a wonderful holiday break, and we are ready to start the new year!  This year is the year of the Dragon, starting on Monday, and that is my year.
While I did not necessarily make "New Year's" resolutions, I did make some birthday resolutions.  I usually make seven.  I don't know why seven, it just is.  : )
1. Get down to 175 pounds.  (That means losing 25 pounds)  I don't really have a plan of action for this one.  I have been taking more walks with the family, and I have every intention of eating healthier, I just haven't started that part yet.
2. Pay off all of Scott's debt.  We want to buy a house.  Since my credit is messed up beyond recognition, we are going to do it in Scott's name.  So we are going to pay off all of his debt.  (Next is mine, but it will take more than a year to do that : )
3. Clean house.  Somehow, even after the three-week camping expedition, we still have too much stuff!  We did empty the storage units, both of them, and threw SO MUCH stuff away, I still have more donating and trash to get rid of.  I am doing 40 Bags in 40 Days for that one, and I have done 8 or 10 bags so far.  It feels so good to get rid of clutter!
4. Get my passport.  This has been on my list for years.  No plans to travel out of the country yet.  : )
5. Meditate daily.  I am starting off with a simply daily review before I fall asleep.  So far, I haven't made it before lunch before I fall asleep (I review my day backwards).
6. Plant an herb a month.  Calendula for January!  I'm so excited about this project, you can use calendula in so many ways, and it is pretty!  I got my seeds from New Frontiers yesterday, and I'm getting my compost/soil ready now! 
7. Keep up with Herb Mentor.  An online learning site for using herbs medicinally. 
      So that is what is going on with the me lately.  
     

Four Days Until Moveout

Today is Sunday.  We are having a big yard sale this Friday, getting rid of EVERYTHING.  At about 2:00pm, we are shutting down the yard sale, going to our first dispersed camp site, and setting up our first camp.  We will have several hours to set up camp, make it nice and cozy for us, before sun down.  A celebratory dinner is planned, perhaps at Filiberto's, a new Mexican restaurant that just opened up in Prescott.  Then we bunk down in our tent for the first time.
I started a youtube account, and will be taking footage this weekend of our yardsale, how much stuff we are getting rid of this weekend!  I will also make a video of our campsite, after we are all set up.
Saturday morning, Scott is back to work, while the kids and I go back to manning the yardsale.  DAV is coming on Wednesday to pick up all the stuff left from the yardsale.  Kids and I will finish detail cleaning the house Sunday, the carpet cleaner is coming on Monday, and the new folks are moving in Tuesday!
Busy week ahead!

Camping as a Lifestyle: Part 2

But wait, you say.  You can't live in a tent all the time.  What about the kids?  How are you going to stay warm? Cook?  Sleep?  Shower?  This is not how people live.
My response:
People have actually lived in tents for a very long time.  We are not exactly trying something that has never been done before.  Kids have lived with these people, and they do fine.  Our particular kids are excited to be living the camping lifestyle.  They look forward to being outside more, and learning how to cook over an open campfire.
Warmth:  We already own a tent heater, and we are currently looking at some alternatives, like woodstoves and other types of heating.  We will have nice comfy sleeping bags, and will be investing in cots.
We have a two burner camping stove, and some nights we will cook over a fire.
We are joining the YMCA, so we can shower there, as well as swim and workout.  We will be clean.  : )
I am looking forward to not having to maintain an entire house, and having time to write and play with my kids.  October 1 is the date!  Those of you in the Prescott area, come to our yardsale September 23 and 24!

Camping as a Lifestyle

Well, I'm back.  I find myself in an all too common situation.  I would really like to own my home, be self reliant, grow things, spend more time with my family, raise livestock, and enjoy my life.  I don't believe these are extraordinary  goals.  I do believe they are attainable.
I became proactive.  I am choosing this adventure, right?  I wasn't feeling like I had too many choices, living paycheck to paycheck, both of us working as much as possible.  I am not living my dream living this way.  So I, along with my husband and our children, are choosing a different way of living.  Not only are we choosing a different way, we are also making a BIG change in our way of living.
We have decided to camp.  Go camping.  For a few months.  Or a few seasons.  We love to camp.  It is a vacation for us.  Now we are going to live our vacation.  We are going to save a bunch of money by doing this, to go toward our dream and goal of having a more sustainable home on some acreage.
More to come on this topic!

Eating Right, At Home

I swear, I have the best intentions.  I wanted to eat at home more often at the beginning of the year, and I did really well for a while.  Then we slowly got back into the habit of eating out, and before you know it, we are eating out almost every day of the week! 
There is good news, though.  Scott has started cooking some really healthy, organic, mostly tasty meals at home.  We had some chicken off the grill one night, and some experimental bacon soup that was really mostly veggies.  When we went camping, we had steak and fruit and salads.  It was nice.
I like eating at home with my family.  I like gathering around the table and sharing a meal.  I love spending time with my kids and fiance, talking about our day.  I do not like cooking, not one little bit.  And I don't like cleaning up.
I envy those folks who love to cook, who view it as therapy.  But I'll be honest here, after I have been working all day, the absolute last thing I want to do is cook.  It's more work.  And the kids complain because it's not McDonald's or Taco Bell, then I have to clean it all up.  Ugh. 
So how on earth do I make cooking and cleaning at least tolerable, if not pleasurable?  Anybody out there have any idea what so ever?

Pantry Update

Well, I've been working on the pantry.  It's nice to see the organized shelves, and it DOES make me want to cook more often for the family.  I've got two shelves done, and three more cleared off.  I'm taking a moment to pause, because I found some "friends" in the two bottom shelves, and I'm waiting for Tori to get out of the shower to take care of them.  I will probably be finished by tomorrow!  Here are some photos:

Cleaned off shelf!

Eeeewwww!  What is that?!

...and that?!

It's a rriinngg, my precious.

All those yuckies, GONE!  The queen of clean!

So pretty!

Organized!  Veggies, fruit, pasta sauce, and soup!

Another one bites the dust.

All this stuff has to go BACK into my pantry?

Baking!  I will bake!

Can you see my new "friends?"

Hooray for organized pantry shelves!  They all look so pretty.  Another update to come soon!

Pantry Reorganization

I want to be organized.  Notice the "I want" at the beginning of the sentence.  By nature, I tend to let things go where they fall, and not really worry about it.  However, I also want to be able to eat at home without thinking about, and be able to look at the shelves in my pantry and know what is in there beyond what I can see at the front.  I also want to be able to shop for the week, or longer, but my shelves are so disorganized right now, I can't fit much in there.  I'm going to take my time with this project, and really try to use the most space, because I want to fill my pantry with healthy foods for me  and my family.  Here are some "BEFORE" pictures.

I'll be posting some "AFTER" pictures soon.  Very organized and neat pictures!  Until then...
Heather