A quick hello

Sorry for the long delays and lack of posts lately, I am still waiting for my good computer to return, and it should be here any day now.  Things have been busy.  I have negotiated an interesting deal about the house, which will hopefully lead to both a good place to live and a great place to do child care.  I have started the paperwork to become a registered day care provider, so that ball is rolling.  Hopefully by mid-January that process should be done and I should be approved.  I have also decided with the bigger space that I will pursue another avenue I have been wanting to do for a long tie but the timing was just not right.  I have put in an inquiry on become a foster parent.  So we will see where that leads.  I know that from inquiry to placement is often a year or two, so starting the process now puts us well into having everything else solid by the time any placements would occur.

My car is still in the shop.  The total estimate was over two thousands dollars, so I talked to my step father and he can do a couple of the things that are needed --one of which the garage estimated would be nearly $1000 parts and labor, parts being more than half.  But looking online I can find the parts for less than a 1/4 of what he quoted, so my step father is going to do that one.  So the garage is doing the struts, wheel bearing and new tires.  It should be ready tomorrow afternoon!!

My chickens are doing well, getting feathers and liking being in the big coop.  I am worried that they will get too cold over the next couple of days.  I still have the box with a light in it that they sleep in to keep warm.  But unlike the past few days with temps in the 40's and 50's, the lows are heading into the low twenties (my two button does not work on this computer so I have to write out all numbers that contain a two).  The forecast is an 80% chance of snow tomorrow, and not just flurries but accumulations of up to 6 inches!!!  What a way to have first snowfall of the year!  sheesh!!!

A quick hello...Going to the FAIR

Just a quick hello, as I have not posted in a week or so, which is odd for me.  But the kids are not in school right now, which is a major change from our normal routine.  Summer school ended August 12th so we have been cramming in a bunch of doctor appointments between summer school and the start of the regular school year on September 6th.  Tomorrow, though, is one of my favorite days of the entire year, and has been even since I was a little kids.  Tomorrow is FAIR DAY!!!  Since before I was born, our family has gone to the Washington County Fair on Thursday which is Children's day.  We still meet up with my cousins and their kids, and we experience all the joys of the agricultural fair.  Though I do not live in Washington County but it is still the fair we have always gone to.  I did miss probably 7 out of my 37 years (I went as a baby before I was 1 and as I will be 37 in October, that makes 37 years of fair going counting tomorrow).  It is not always easy when I was living out of state or if my college classes started prior to the fair date.  But the past few years I have been able to take the kids to the fair and enjoy watching them share in this family tradition.  Maybe someday we will have chickens or rabbits or sheep that we can actually show at the fair, when we get tot he point that we have a farm of our own. 

So, I feel a bit like a kid again as I am getting ready for the fair tomorrow. I have figured out a way to carry J's walker on his stroller so that can switch back and forth between the two easily.  This will be the first year we take his walker as previously he has not been very adept at using it, but now he truly walks with it, so it should be fun for him. I will have to take pics to post them.  Cows, chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, piggies, turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, chickens, chickens (not much has changed my favorite building at the fair is the poultry and rabbit house, where they have the most amazing display of rabbits, geese, turkeys, ducks and....you guessed it...CHICKENS!!!!  I love chickens.  I have actually been working on repairing the old coop at my dad's house and getting a little brooder ready.  I may not be able to have chickens at home (as I rent an apartment) but I CAN have them at my dad's house.  So I have the stuff ready and am going to see if anyone is selling chicks at the fair.  If not I will mail order some with my next check.  Anyway, I am so excited about chickens, AND I am packing ear plugs for the kids as both of them have sensory issues with sound and the poultry house is LOUD, as well as the loud midway....The Fair....we're going to the fair....:)

Day 50--seems like the last 30 days have not been well focused...

Well, I started off well on my first 80 day challenge, but let stress and life stuff get in the way of creating a better, more healthy me over the last 30 days or so.  Now we are on day 50.  The great thing about life, is that each day is a new day.  Each day is a day to start over fresh if you want to.  Even if you make a lot of mistakes one day or for a whole week, or a whole month or a number of years, each day you can wake up and know that you can start right from where you are and begin anew.  You don't have to wait for something to happen or some event to transpire, the change we seek is within ourselves, the power to choose is a gift we are born with, the great gift of God, and you can choose at any moment to change your direction.  Even if it is one you have been headed in for years. 
So it starts with a breath.  A decision to take one step in a better direction.  A choice to choose peace over retaliation.  A choice to choose a healthy breakfast over a non-healthy breakfast.  A choice to reach out to in prayer and rely on the Source of all creation or to keep depending only on ourselves and stay disconnected.  A choice to speak a word in love to a family member or to speak out in frustration or anger.  A choice to follow the calling of our hearts or to stick to the "safe" road that we are on.

Today is a new day.  I have new neighbors living in the other half of the house now.  I can no longer pretend I have a house to myself as with the other half of the duplex rented, I have to actually keep the kids toys and such out of the way, tie the dog on a cable when I let her out (she is used to having full run of the yard, but she is unpredictable around strangers and other dogs, and is very barky, so I have to keep her tied out my end of the house), and actually have to make sure I am not in front of a window when changing my clothes as I am so used to just flipping my shirt off and putting my pajamas on wherever, but that might be a shocker to my neighbors.  What is the good of living in the very rural mountains if you have neighbors right on top of you? :) 

I have been dong a lot of research on starting a small farm.  I grew up on a small farm, and would love to have a small organic farm with pasture poultry for my children and myself, and sell some of the produce and eggs as well as using them for my family.  I have often looked into this over the years, and as I get older (I know 36 is not old, and that is exactly my point, why wait until you are too old) the desire to be living on my farm grows daily.  When I lived in the Ithaca area I looked a a couple of hobby farms, but at the time I did not want to commit the resources.  Now I am not  in a good financial place to do anything, and not in a good area to make money to get out of my financial pickle to begin pursing my dream of a farm.  But I decided rather than look at what I can not do right now, I can take time to look at what I CAN do, and what I CAN do is learn, read, study, and prepare myself for the day when I will start farming myself.  I have spent a lot of time in agriculture.  I grew up on a small family organic farm (no pesticides or chemicals--unofficially organic).  I studied biology in college.  I worked in two different agricultural research lab groups at Cornell.  I volunteered for 7 months at a demonstration sustainable outreach farm in Florida, bridging the gap between research directors.  I even had a small backyard garden and apple trees in my house down near Ithaca before I moved back up here. 

Ask and it is given...

I seek a farm, a place to raise cage free chickens, grow vegetables, and have some fruit trees.  An opportunity to allow my family to get back to the basics as I grew up.  A way to share both what we grow and what we learn with others through farmers markets and offering educational demonstrations on the farm.  A chance to learn and grow as a farmer, an environmentally conscious person, and a spiritual being.

That is where my focus has been for quite a while.

The basics of my day today.  I enjoyed a long and joy filled walk and walking meditation around the pond today--5 laps.  The number of people walking around the pond is increasing as the weather improves.  I enjoyed my time at the library, studying farming stuff and seeking new writing assignments.  I enjoyed the wonderful report for both boys today, that they had very good days at their schools.  I had a small breakfast sandwich this morning with a cup of coffee.   I had yogurt with oatmeal for lunch, and a small bag of popcorn.  And  lot of water.  I also had some grape pomegranate juice.  I had toast with PB for  a snack when we got home.  I made a nice meat and bean chili for dinner, which we had with a slice of bread and butter, and water to drink.  I had seconds too.  I ate some jelly beans in there somewhere too...

I am going to go to bed here pretty soon.  I have some cleaning that I need to do tomorrow while the kids are at school for a one time job (did some yesterday, will do some a couple of days this week--at a retirement home, some spring cleaning of hallways, windows,yard clean up, etc...), which is good as every little bit of $$ helps.  I hope to write again everyday...see you tomorrow!