Down on the homestead - May 15 - 21st

**homesteadmamma** · 05-15-2005, 11:30 AM

Good morning everyone. We all slept in and woke up to beautiful sunshine and much warmer temperatures. Now that makes me happy.

Were off to the city in about an hour so not much planned today. Once we get back I'll put the groceries away and make supper.

Then I'm off to the post office to clean and home to read.

Pretty quiet day here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday.

**QuilterMom** · 05-15-2005, 12:13 PM

Ds and I went to Sunday School and dh did some work in ds's room and went to one of the home improvement stores for some things he needed. Dh's co-worker is supposed to be here any minute along with his son (who is doing the bathroom tile that still isn't finished because this crazy house is so out of whack!). Dh and his co-worker are supposed to do knock down texture on the ceiling and texture the walls and who knows what else in ds's room today.

Not sure what else is on the agenda today. We might go to Lowe's to look at ceiling fans. We looked at a specialty store yesterday and I found one I love, but I can't justify the cost. We found one at Home Depot that will be okay (it's not my fave, but it's on sale for a great price), but I just want to see what Lowe's has. Those are are only options here locally.

I've had my ups and downs with how I feel. I am having to eat a lot more often this time than with ds and it's disgusting me (in a sickening kind of way) because I'm physically not hungry but my stomach goes so haywire that I have to eat or I get sick.

Also, be sure to check out the polls I'm posting and vote in all of them! I thought it would be fun to put together a composite of the average FV member and I'm really anxious to see how it turns out. The polls will keep coming every 5 to 6 days for quite a while (I have a lot of questions I want to ask LOL).

**forestdale** · 05-15-2005, 04:13 PM

Good morning homesteaders.

It's a cool Monday morning here. I'm sitting here with wet hair and not enough clothes on. Yet I can't be bother going and finding a jumper or cardigan.

Kim, I feel so bad for you feeling sick all the time. My sister used to get bad pregnancy sickness and she got rid of it with a small cup of black tea and honey and a little piece of toast. She used to have thatombo about every hour or two. Eventually she got over the sickness but that little snack helped her a lot. I love your polls. I've answered every one of them. It'll be interesting to see what you come up with from the results.

Enjoy your day out in the sun, CJ.

I'm going to Aldi today to buy supplies for my stockpile. I've saved $230 from my grocery budget over the past couple of months and I'm using that to stock up. Later today I'm going to re-read CJ's pre-retirement rags to riches thread again. I hope to get a few pointrs now that DH and I are about to make the jump to retirement too.

I got a fair bit of gardening done yesterday but there is still a lot of weeding to do out the front. The chicken weed is going crazy out there.

My digital camera is broken. It's 2 years old and will now cost more to fix than to replace it. Bloody bloody #*$#@!%. I might have to get out the old one and see if that still works. It's my old trusty one I used when I was working as a writer. It's about 10 years old now but it wouldn't surprie me too much to find the old workhorse is still functioing.

OK, now I'm shivering and have to find some warm clothes.

Waves to all who follow.

**homesteadmamma** · 05-15-2005, 05:38 PM

Rhonda, a couple of things we found out since retirement day.

Its been just over 3 months since retirement day (5 months since it all started with surgery) and there are a couple things I'd like to share with you. First, make sure you have a nice EF account. Second, plan for the unexpected. What I mean by that is try to figure ahead some unexpected expenses. For instance, our heat went up 10.9% effective May 1st, will go up again Aug. 1st by 3.3% and next May 1st by 3.1%. Thats a huge increase over one year. We did plan well enough ahead to cut our heating bills by insulating, etc. We did not plan for that large of an increase over a year.

I can't stress enough how important that stockpile is. If you can, have has much inventory as possible. It has made a huge difference for us. It becomes so important. I've seen this happen twice now for us. The first time was when dh heard the company he had worked for over 20 years was up for sale and we didn't know how it would turn out for his job. Our stockpile carried us through almost a full year (along with our garden). This time I didn't have has much in our stockpile because of surgery happening (not planned) and yet it has carried us through even to now, albeit it is dwindling.

HTH (Your going to be okay, trust me. Its scarey but so much fun, it really is. Its wonderful to have dh home (although he works every Sat. and an odd day here or there). Its wonderful to see him so relaxed and laid back. I see such a difference in him now.

**forestdale** · 05-15-2005, 06:36 PM

Thank you, CJ. I appreciate your help. You're right, it is scary but also exciting and challenging.

We will actually have about $100,000 in cash when we sell the store but as we have no superannuation fund (4K plan) we'll have to invest that wisely.

Please feel free to share anything you think may help us.

**Heather** · 05-15-2005, 06:51 PM

Hi CJ, Kim, Rhonda and all that follow

(((HUGS))) Kim, oh that feeling, it's not nice and hopefully it'll pass real soon.

CJ, hope you are enjoying your day...and does that warmer weather mean we might get it in a few days?? Hope so!

Brrrr....it's still cold here.

Rhonda, that is so funny you mentioned the riches to rags thread..I was just thinking about it today and was going to look it up again for some ideas. Sorry about your camera, it's discouraging the prices to fix things. Dylan had the face of a watch that broke and it was going to cost $10.00 more than what the watch cost him in the first place. Silly!

This morning we all went to church. I was sworn in as an elder in our church. It was a lovely service....Rhonda, did I ever get back to you about what an elder was?? Oh my mind, you'll have to remind me. Don't laugh CJ...I'm still forgetting things.

My parents drove over for the service and I was so happy to see them. We went to a local restaurant for brunch and it was delicious and so nice to visit with my parents.

After we got home, I dug up the front flower bed, looks SO much nicer......I'm going to put mulch in there to keep the weeds down.

Waiting for supper to cook.....chicken, new potatoes and carrots.

**homesteadmamma** · 05-15-2005, 06:59 PM

Heather, guess what we are having for supper. Chicken, carrots and potatoes. Hmmmm wonder who else is having that.

And no I won't laugh,

Boy when you hit the big 40 - WOW!!!!! You won't remember where your sitting. Then once you get to 50, well forget it.

Rhonda, I'll probably think of a few more things. Just remember to invest wisely. $100,000 looks good and it looks large - it can go so quickly. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Were very fortunate in that dh gets a small pension from where he worked and he now gets Canada pension and in 5 years he gets his old age pension. Continue to be frugal BUT enjoy living too!!!

**homesteadmamma** · 05-15-2005, 08:22 PM

Rhonda, couple more things. Probably shouldn't be posting it here, but this is a great place so other homesteaders who have dreams can see it too.

First, live below your means. If you do that, you can't fail. Sometimes its difficult, other times its not. Remember though in living below your means, live well too. By that I mean do some fun things too. When dh got his severance package, we took a trip to northern B.C. We rented a motorhome and spent a huge sum of money. It was a trip of a lifetime and one we will always remember. We have never regretted spending that money.

Also in regards to investing. Remember because your just investing it now, its not going to have a long time to gain interest. So be VERY careful how you invest it. Get a good financial counsellor. Ours walked us through our risk levels. Mine was very low, dh's just a wee bit higher. By that I mean whether we were willing to put it into high risk investments. We ended up by keeping it where we knew it would be safe and guaranteed. We didn't gain as much interest as we could have. For us though, it was the only way to go.

**Heather** · 05-15-2005, 09:07 PM

ROFL CJ!

Oh you think this is funny don't you....hey remember the cookies in the fridge? Just came to mind!

And your advice is great.....we can all learn from your words.

**homesteadmamma** · 05-15-2005, 09:11 PM

btw - I sticked the "riches to rags and back again" thread so its not so hard to find.

Heather, yup I remember them!!!

**dmvezina** · 05-16-2005, 08:08 AM

Good cloudy morning. I guess it's supposed to be like this all week. When is spring going to get here! The temps have only been around 50! I want warmth and sunshine!! lol

Today I need to do:
2 loads of laundry
try to start getting the summer clothes out
vacuum
mop
scoop the cat box
deep clean the bathroom
mail my netflix movie back
clip coupons
put patriotic themes on computer & pda

Breakfast today was oatmeal, toast & fruit cocktail
Dinner will be hot dogs & potato salad

DD has a Dr's appt at 2, then I need to get the boys out of the house at 4:45 for a baseball game, then we girls need to leave at 5:15 for a softball game and then I need to get dd-16 to drivers ed for 7. I have a busy night!! lol

I hope you all have a great day!!

**homesteadmamma** · 05-16-2005, 10:19 AM

Good morning everyone. Its warmed up here a bit although its suppose to rain and looks like rain.

Its gong to be a busy day here. On the agenda is:

~baking bread
~doing laundry
~dh is tilling the one garden plot. I'm hoping to get out and put a few seeds in the other one.
~need to plant a rosebush
~folding laundry
~hanging laundry outside (if it doesn't rain)
~working on dd's quilt
~cleaning post office
~making muffins

I'm up early so I should be able to get lots done today.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday.

**Heather** · 05-16-2005, 12:28 PM

Good morning/afternoon!

Doug just left for work, his run changed again so now he leaves around noon Monday and comes home Friday night. He does two trips to Tennessee (south of Nashville).

Dylan is working this morning on the dairy farm so I drove him out there and dropped Kody and his friend off at high school, oh and Delaney at her school too.

We picked up sawdust from our local cabinet maker to use for the horses' stalls and then went around to a few neighbours who want the boys to cut their grass...to see how much to charge. I've put two loads of laundry out on the line so far. It's sunny and windy here so I should be able to get quite a few loads done...all the bedding should be done.

I'm getting some clothes/toys etc..ready to take to the consignment store later this week and some items for our church yard sale on Saturday.

Tonight I have a meeting at the church, it's the church's 150th Anniversary next May so we are planning events now for that.

I took a walk around the garden this morning and there's more asparagus popping up, if we'd get some heat they'd be ready.

Have a wonderful day on your homesteads!

**QuilterMom** · 05-16-2005, 12:30 PM

Lots of sitting for me today since I'm feeling lightheaded (as a result of feeling hot - a/c and ceiling fans are going so it's just me having hot flashes LOL). I do need to put away a load of laundry and wash and hang to dry another at some point today. Garden work will wait till later this evening. Other than that I'm not being very productive today, but I think we all need days like that now and then.