New Year, New Resolutions

Well I have managed to completely neglect this poor blog.  I have thought about it many times but then think "there is no one who cares to read what nonsense I am thinking about at this very moment".  Which is why I completely stay away from Twitter :)

With the New Year quickly approaching I should be reflecting on the year past and making plans and resolutions for the year to come... but I'm not.  I'm tired. I will probably be asleep when 2011 shows up.  My youngest refuses to sleep (an ailment that her elder siblings possessed when they were younger too) and I just try to get through the day until I can get what little rest I can :)

So in the spirit of the day I will try my best at this moment to fulfill my New Years duties and do what 93% of the country is doing right now (besides drinking, and this is a stat I made up in my very tired head) and come up with some resolutions.

1.  Start eating healthier and squeezing in some "me"(aka exercise) time.  Now that my youngest is 1, I can't blame it on baby weight anymore :) 

2.  Be a nicer mom :)  Since I just scolded my middle child for nonsense that really truly is just who she is.  She thinks with the side of the brain that I must have let die in Business School.  My husband calls her my payback since I doubt we will ever truly understand each other, but get along just the same.

3. Live a simpler life.  Money will be tight this year.  It is a fact I am aware of and need to make the best of it.  I was not raised with any culinary or life skills.  I have had to muddle my way through this adulthood thing the best I can.  Living in this area has made it worse since I am convinced all girls are taken aside and told how to cook, clean and act like a housewife when they are 10.  Now its my turn. 

4.  Save the planet.  Well, I'll do my part :)  Actually we are pretty "green"around here already, but everyone can do a little more I guess :)

5.  Start Blogging!  Who cares if no one wants to read it... I'll type anyway!  Actually I think this blog will start a new direction (or an actual direction since it doesn't have one) and chronicle my simple life in this rural hell area. 

6.  Accept the fact that they won.  Yes "they"... everyone out here who knew I'd crack and conform to their ways :)  I draw the line at canning my own garden..but I know this year I will be chronicling things that I swore I'd never do.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!  Actually I hope every day is wonderful!  We deserve it!

Christmas Season

Wow, what a neglectful blogger I am :(  Life has been busy with various activities and family trips that have been a great time had by all!

During all of this chaos Christmas has been slowly creeping up on us though!  Every year we have a theme in our house.  I have found that this is the best way to get everyone excited for Christmas without completely focusing on toys and presents.  Its a great family activity that gets everyone involved.

This year we are doing a "Retro 50's Christmas"! Which sounds semi-simple enough.  I would think that there are a lot of old Christmas decorations to be found in thrift stores or flea markets that would be easy to find.  Not so much.  We have lucked out with many cool things (like our 60s aluminum tree!!) but others have been hard to come by.  Basically we are buying nothing "new"though.  Everything has to be vintage or used or just old :)  Nothing from Wal-mart etc.  So far the kids have really gotten into it.

I will post some pictures soon!  We will hopefully start our decorating journey soon!

Wednesday Wisdom: Window Cleaning

Ok, so most blogs have adorable theme postings based on a certain day of the week.  I'm hoping I didn't "take"the Wednesday Wisdom title, I came up with it at 2am when I was awake with my youngest who has a horrible cold right now.  If I did, I truely apologize and meant no harm.  Imitation is the best form of flattery is it not? (even if it is unintentional :)

For today's post I thought I would let everyone (if anyone is actually out there lol) know that you CAN actually clean your mirrors and windows with newspaper! 

Yes, I know that "tip"has been around forever, but I was leary of it and didn't believe it myself.  But I found myself without paper towels (we never use them in this house, have switched to napkins, cloths etc instead) and needed to clean my windows.  I have been using this window cleaning device I bought at the local dollar store that looks like a squeege but actually has a washable microfibre cloth on it.  It didn't work well.

So, with a housefull of people coming for a batism and birthday party I thought I'd try this newspaper tip I had heard about.  I used the plain insert that seperates the flyers from the actual news in the weekend paper and WOW!  I couldn't believe it!  No streaks, no spots, no dirt!  It worked great!  We can see through our picture window without any cloudy obstruction :)

SO...if you need to clean your windows or mirrors, finish reading your morning paper with your coffee or tea and then pick up your cleaner and get to it!  You will be surprised at the results!

One Year

Wow.  I can't believe how fast a whole year goes by when you get "old".  My youngest turned one yesterday, which I realize is a common milestone among children, but I just can't believe how quickly the year went. 

Maybe another time I will recount the difficulty we had in actually achieving our youngest child, but for now I'd rather remember all the good things.  We have been so blessed to have her with us. This past year has brought so much joy and wonder to our family that we had been missing.  But for all the sappy stuff, she is such a bundle of joy and the biggest little troublemaker all rolled into one :)

Our weekend was spent with friends and family visiting from civilization to our my little piece of rural hell.  We had her baptism on Sunday and then a small party afterwards with food, friends and good times.  She spent most of the time wandering around charming those she thought would do her bidding :)  All in all she was such a doll, and extremely well behaved for a girl who was not quite 1 and had a full schedule that day.

Yesterday was her actual birthday and my other two children were in school so my youngest and I hung out for the day and got into trouble together :)  I'm so glad I finally have an ally out here, although she does like the outdoors, and her first "word" was "moo" hmmm... maybe I need to invest a little more time in de-ruralizing her :)

DREAM "JOB"!

Today I must admit at least one "perk" to living here in the middle of nowhere.  A long time ago I discovered the greatest junk shop/store in a sleepy little town close to us.  The man who owns it is an absolute sweetheart and I quickly established a great relationship with him.  In the past five years or so I've gotten some great deals on things that our family has needed, and lots on treasures I just had to have :)

You see, I'm a bit of a vintage lover.  I wouldn't say collector and I wouldn't say fanatic, but I love hunting for treasure's.  I don't always buy them because my house is already over-run with toys, sporting equipment and general clutter that comes with three children.  (Martha Stewart has nightmares about my house I'm sure.)  But I love to browse and hunt for things that I am interested in or things I didn't even know existed and I can't live without :)

With that in mind, I stopped by this local shop on my way home from my son's hockey practice this morning and overheard the owner complaining about not having an outlet for so much of his things.  Most times he ends up throwing out or donating smaller items because he just runs out of room (he makes most his money on second hand furniture I believe).  So I told him that he needs to enter into the world of Etsy, or Ebay, and I knew his response would be his fear and lack of knowledge of computers.  Now, I am no computer genius by any means, but I have sold my fair share on Ebay (kids clothes mostly) and bought enough on both sites to know how they work. 

After a brief conversation I told him I would come in and help him to sell all those little things that he won't get much money for out here, but would make so much more online.  This is my dream "job"!!  I get to hunt through treasures, set them up online and sell to people throughout the world who are searching for treasures of their own! 

I thought of doing this myself years ago, but with the cost of gas (we live in the middle of nowhere, so driving around looking for things would eat up my gas) and the up front cost of buying things I didn't think I could make a profit at it.  Now I can sell things that he has already purchased (through estates mostly) and get a percentage of the profits!  I am sure I will make enough in a month for a family trip to McDonald's...not much at all, but its the whole idea that I'm in love with right now!

We are going to be busy with visitors, baptism, birthdays, a wedding, and activities in the next two weeks, but as soon as these are off our schedule I am going to go and get things started!  I can't wait!

That time of year again

Well as any mom knows, those first few weeks of school are always chaotic.  New teachers, new classrooms, new wardrobe, new activity schedule... it all makes for a crazy time with lots of adjusting.  Unfortunately the only thing I worry about every year is the new virus that is lurking, just waiting to latch onto the kids at whatever activity or school they are attending.

No, I'm not a germaphobe (although I did survive H1N1 with a newborn last year) I am just realistic.  It is inevitable that every year, around the second week of school, someone will get sick. 

This year it was my eldest.  He came home complaining of a runny nose and sore throat.  Pretty typical symptoms for this time of year so I thought nothing of it.  I let him stay home yesterday hoping he would get rested up but things took a turn later that evening.  Turns out the poor guy has strep throat.  Ugh.  To him, the worst part is that he is in the middle of hockey tryouts :)  To me, I'm trying to keep him from infecting his two younger sisters, both of which are about to celebrate a birthday. 

So all plans we had for this week are now side-lined.  Our plans today include filling a prescription and buying more ice cream :)  Maybe I'll let him have some too :)

Here we go...

WELCOME!

If anyone is reading this, welcome!  After weeks of perusing other blogs for various information, and being amused and informed by almost all of them, I have decided to try my hand at this blogging thing. 

Yes, I realize I am almost 15 years behind on this phenomenon, but hey, better late than never :)

I am an early 30 something girl who has been living the rural life for 8 years now, all of them by force :)  I grew up in a small town right outside a major city so I was able to live the best of both worlds.  I didn't realize how spoiled I was until I met and fell in love with a man who lived on the other side of the province (Canadian equivalent of State for any Americans reading) who lives nowhere near any form of civilization.

We have three children (who are sometimes wonderful) who have had a rural life upbringing with the opportunity to visit and live a city life whenever possible.  It's my attempt to make them well rounded and ready for the real world when they grow wings and leave the nest.

I am not a writer, in fact I am a business major who decided that raising kids was the best business to be in.  So I am hoping I can express myself eloquently enough for people to want to read, and that my incessant sarcasm comes through as just that :)

If you've made it this far THANK YOU!  Let's enjoy the ride together!