This post is simply a boring update. LOL! I have had a lot of my dear readers ask me about certain things and how they are going. This past month has been a little insane. Booter and lady Bug have learned about life, death, reproduction, and the food chain. On an up note, I am pretty sure that homestead and farm life will eliminate any need for an awkward birds and bees talk. We watched kittens get born, twice. Had to bury one of them, mommy saved one of them. Our pet snake Tobi passed away. We had our pool invaded by hundreds of frogs which we chased and videoed and captured... only to have Booter thrilled with the fact that she caught two of them and the big one was giving the little one a piggy back ride. LMAO!!! I almost fell over laughing.
You would be surprised to look out in my backyard right now. Seriously! I have a bounty of growing blossoming goodness erupting out of the ground. Not much is actually producing food yet. I do have some corn, cukes, carrots, baby watermelons, zucchini and tomatoes making me edible yummies. The rest I am still waiting on. Considering some of them are supposed to take the better part of 6 months, I am waiting quite impatiently. I have battled bugs and beetles and worms. Fought against wind storms and non stop rain. Now diseases and fungi. And the Weeds... we are always competing against the weeds. But I'm actually growing organic, nutritious, vitamin packed, non-gmo goodness! I even have over a dozen tomato plants that I grew from seeds. SEEDS!!! This is momentous as I have easily killed well over 100 plants this year trying to accomplish this feat! . I might actually be stripped of my designation as the Tomato Anti-Christ. ;) Now, don't get me wrong... I have this spindly tomato plants, yellowed and scraggly squash, my beans resemble lace more than plants, my snap peas are wilting on their trellis, my yellow onions are gasping what I fear is their last breath, and my poor turnips have not a single leaf yet that doesn't appear skeletal. But I tried, I didn't give up, and all in all, I was successful!
Wanda (our travel trailer and soon to be home) is here! She was delivered about two and a half weeks ago and she sits proudly in our driveway happily singing out to us that our dreams are merely around the corner, waiting to be achieved. I am anxiously looking forward to painting, decorating, and repairing her. Getting her ready for our grand adventure into the unknown. She will be yellow and white with light and dark blue with daisies and polka dots all on the outside. Can you believe I got The Hubster to agree to that?!? That is a miracle in and of itself! Of course, I threatened to decorate the whole house in an over abundance of florals when it was built if he didn't allow me to get it out of my system now. Hahahahaha! :) The girls and I will be spending many a girls night sleep over in her now. Game night and make overs before crashing out in her AC goodness is a fun filled family night.
Our other great news, we now have Mary Anne! Mary Anne is our 1998 Lincoln Navigator 4x4. She will be Wanda's ride to WA! Do you know how hard it is not to just load up all the important stuff and go. Right now! Just pack up and leave and be gone from this place and on to our dreams? Ooooh, let me tell you! I could 100% walk away from all this lovely crap piled high in our home and be on to simpler better things. Thank goodness that Wanda isn't ready for full time living and Mary Anne needs some minor repairs (tune-up, new windshield, etc.). It'd be too easy to run out in the middle of the night and leave the nightmare of getting rid of stuff to someone else. LOL! I really wanted a vintage Wagoneer, but Hubby wanted the Navi. But he said he was open to whatever would be a good reliable vehicle for us to get to Washington. The Navigator was practically a steal and He swears she's in great shape and a good sound piece of machinery, and I trust him on it. Plus, she is the same dark blue as our 96 Jag. So we match at least. And after her paint job, Wanda should look gorgeous right next to them. I can't help but get the giggles when I think about how it will look to the outside world to see a Lincoln Navigator and a Jaguar Vanden Plas parked outside of a Travel Trailer Homestead.
In preparation for the big move, I will have to learn how to cook in a whole new way. We will be utilizing a crock pot and a toaster oven mainly. I have used a slow cooker in the past, and while I am not overly talented in it's use, I can make a mean stew. I, however, have NEVER used a toaster oven in my life. I have scoured the interwebs and Pinterest to the point of cross eyedness finding any and every recipe I think we may like. Apparently you can make just about anything in a damned crock pot. Who knew? Cake, bread, roasted chicken, breakfast, candy, enchiladas. I am excited about the crock pot. The toaster oven has me a little apprehensive. Since I have never used one, I don't know what to expect. There are really cool ones though that are big enough to bake a small turkey, some have hot plates on the top so you can use pots and pans as well, some have double and triple trays (awesome for Christmas cookies). Since I am an avid baker (my knuckles have Cupcake Tatted across them for heaven's sake) the thought of being sans oven is enough to almost bring me to tears, but relearneing how to bake in a whole new way is almost enough to drive me to tears. Lol! Good thing I am always up for a challenge! I will be sure to let you guys in on every gory fail and tasty success. I got a cheapy used toaster oven to "play with" before the big move. I figure it's easier to clean up a culinary disaster in a kitchen you can turn around in than our 2 sq ft of counter space in Wanda. So far I have made stuffed zucchini. That turned out pretty tasty. LOL!
So, I haven't really accomplished much here lately for how to's or DIY's. Hell, I'm still in the middle of sewing my peasant skirt I started in MAY! I just haven't had time.... My house looks like a bomb tore though it from all of the going through, getting rid of, and sorting out we've been doing. Well, that and the fact that I spend a LOT more time out of doors in my garden. I actually LOVE to garden now! I did use my upholstery cleaner on Mary Anne and it worked amazingly (again). I even got out rust stains from light gray carpet. Woohoo!! Each day I awake with equal amounts of anxiety about not leaving yet, and about having to leave at all. Change is a very scary prospect and this isn't a simple change. This is a complete and utter upheaval to everything we know, have done. But as the saying goes.... if you want to accomplish something different then you will have to do something you have never done before. Well, we should definitely accomplish something different at least. LOL! I will be posting new stuff soon.
I hope your baby steps are leading you on grand journeys!
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