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!