Fall Cleaning

I know most people spring clean, and I guess I do a little. But for some reason I really feel like I need to fall clean. After a summer of being much more relaxed about our chores. Of running in and out from the creek. Of living on dusty dirt roads. I just feel like I need to totally clean things out before we're sort of closed in for winter. Closed in is a bit of an exaggeration, but with Colorado winters you catch my drift (pun intended).

THIS is the weekend. The pantry needs cleaned out, the refrigerator needs cleaned out. And everywhere else just needs a good thorough cleaning. It's time to sort through our overstuffed closets and weed out the too small, worn out, not worn stuff. Time to go through the overstuffed toy room and give away what's no longer loved and throw away what is broken or general junk.

Look out hubby and kids, it's time to get our clean on. Oh yes, this is going to be a family project this weekend. The kids' rooms are absolutely high on the list. They don't get dusted near as often as they should...and we're having a bit of a lego...issue. And yes, I may have bribed hubby: a full day of cleaning for a full day of me helping get firewood. That's another must be done before the snow flies. It all works out that way I suppose.

So if you need me...I'll be cleaning....

Ch-ch-changes

Hubby and I had a long talk last weekend. We discussed our goals, our plans, our life. We discussed what we want for our family compared to where we are right now. The main thing that kept coming up, is if what we want is A, why keep doing things that take us towards B?


Case in point: if family and spending time together as a family is our number one priority, then why is hubby working 50+ hours a week (and 2 hours driving time each day) and never home? To get 'ahead' financially? What if we just learned to live on less? What if getting 'ahead' isn't even our goal? What if just having enough and spending time learning, loving, and growing as a family IS our priority? His entire life he just wanted to be a dad. When asked as a child what he wanted to be when he grew up his response was: a dad. Why then should he spend our kids younger years GONE all the time and miss everything? What if there was a better way? Better for us anyway.


We made some life-altering decisions. Consequently HUGE changes will be taking place for our little family. And I am excited. 


A ranch and a move to Montana is still in our long term goals. But it might just be a little longer, and that's OK. Good things are coming up for our little family. Our choices may not be popular, they may seem a little odd to our friends and family, and definitely are not for everyone. But for us, they are right.


More coming soon...

Back to School?!

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So...I've noticed all the stores are starting to have aisles and aisles of school supplies. My mailbox is filled with homeschool catalogs. Back to school already?!


I have to say: yay! Now, I am definitely the one that can't wait for school to end come spring. After a long winter of feeling a bit cooped up and definitely over schoolwork all together, spring fever hits hard...summer cannot come fast enough!


We sleep late. We go to bed whenever we want. Chores get lax. There are days we are still in our jammies playing video games at noon. Days we will play at the creek. All. Day. Long. BBQ's, family reunions, sleeping in the tent...ahhhh, summer. Blissfully the way it was meant to be.


But after a fun filled, schedule went out the window summer I always look forward to this time of year. This is the time of year that I start doing my research (and do I LOVE my research), perusing the homeschool catalogs and websites, picking out curriculum for the upcoming homeschool year. I love it.


I begin looking forward to getting back to routine, to having days filled with structure again. Yes, I start looking forward to the coming school year!


This year I will have a high school senior (yes, eep, when did that happen?), a second grader, and my youngest *sniffle* will be in kindergarten. To tell the truth, I want this year to last forever. So many changes coming down the road. I want to revel in every little detail of this year. My teen's last year of high school, my babies first year of 'big boy school'. 


My goal is to slow down and smell the, er, math books? To thoroughly be present and enjoy the moments. These are the times that just don't come around again. Bring on the back to school! I'm excited, I'm ready.

Bernice's Plight

Like I said in the video above, Bernice is having some issues.

Let me back up a bit. You see about a year ago our rooster died. Yes, it was quite the sad event. He was a good rooster. A handsome little fella he was and not a mean rooster like many can be. He had sort of a crooked-warbly-funny-sounding crow that used to wake me up with a smile each morning. How could you not smile at his silly little crooked crow? He was protective over his girls, but not mean to us. He let the boys come in the pen, feed them, and get the eggs. As roosters go, he was a good one. We were quite fond of him, then he just inexplicably, kind of... died. My middle son was crushed (his nickname is the chicken whisperer).

OK, back to Bernice. Bernice wants to sit on her eggs. She makes herself a sweet little nest and tries to hoard eggs and sit on them. Bernice wants to hatch baby chicks. She has even been known to peck at the boys when they try to gently sneak the eggs out from under her. She is determined to be a mama. She sits and she sits and she sits. We steal her eggs. She makes more. And she sits more.

I have tried to have 'the talk' with her. To explain exactly where baby chicks come from...you know, when a mommy chicken and a daddy chicken love each other very much... But she just cocks her head at me and sits some more.

But sit, sit, sit as she might, she can sit all summer on those eggs and without a rooster all she is going to get is...smelly eggs.

Poor Bernice.

1 Year With No TV

My family has been in technology overload lately. With the internet, TV, Netflix, my Blackberry, video games...seriously, we have a Wii, an Xbox, an Xbox 360, a Nintendo DS XL, a Nintendo 64, and a Playstation.


Too. Much.


We thought it over and we've decided to ditch the TV. For at least a year!


Can we do it?


We'll see.


No Biggest Loser, no Phineas and Ferb, none, none, none.


We called and cancelled our DirecTV a few days ago. So far, I don't even miss it. 


Yes, we'll still have all the other things I listed, but baby steps. 


A little less technology and a little more family time and physical activity...that's the goal anyway!


Could you go without TV?


I'm off to decide what to do with that extra $43 a month ;)

Epic

A friend recommended the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. 


Wow.


Have you read it? If not, you should.


It's crazy how certain books can really strike a chord, really hit you. This one has touched me.


It's basically about our lives as stories; stories we write. And that we have the power to write better stories.


What I take away from it is that I want my story, my life story, to be epic. 


I want the world to be a changed place because I was here. I want to raise my boys to be good men. I want to have not just a good marriage, but an amazing one. I want to write books that make people feel, that give people hope, that people will still be reading 100 years from now. I want to qualify for Boston and be #1 on the NY Times bestseller list. I want to live on that ranch in Montana and make memories with my family...Epic.


Sure, these are big crazy goals. From the outside looking in they may appear downright impossible. I may fall short of some of them. Who knows for sure. But if I don't even try? I will absolutely fail. And I will always wonder...what if?


I don't want regret to be part of my story.

Good-Bye Self-Limiting Beliefs

I haven't been around this blog much, been working on my others a lot. Hoping for great things for this shiny-hopefilled-gonnabefanfriggintastic 2011. With my writing (as a career and not just a hobby) and so much more. I have big goals, big dreams, big plans and I am believing they will ALL come true this year. I can see it, I can taste it!


One thing I have realized recently is that I have limited myself so much in my life, and yet I had no idea I was doing it. Self-limiting beliefs have been a big battle for me. With my thoughts and what I believed possible for myself I have been holding myself back! But now that I see them and I realize the power I've given them, I can fight back. I can simply refuse to give them that power anymore. No more limiting myself, just no more. I'm a smart, talented, full of life woman. I am capable of more than I ever imagined! Anything is possible, really, anything.


This is my year. My year to throw off those self limiting beliefs and step into what I am truly capable of. My year to believe in myself and push harder than I have ever allowed myself before. My year to believe in the impossible. To be the person I truly believe I am meant to be. 


Hold on tight, it's going to be quite the ride!