Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Resolutions for 2012

Christmas was wonderful, busy, and a perfect passage into the new year. Our kids were very giving and creative (as always), and they totally deserve the gifts that they received. We spent our Christmas Eve at home, together. Tiffany arrived in the evening and is staying for a few days, and we enjoyed David's (Kait's boyfriend) company from Christmas Eve through breakfast. On Christmas day, we visited Grandma's house, then Shelby's family, and, finally, my parent's home to wrap up the night. It was a happy and exhausting day!
Now we rest and prepare for a new year. We have gone through so many changes this year and look forward to even more during 2012. One of the family gifts from us this year were two alpacas that we are scheduled to receive next month from Spruce Hill Farm. The kids are so excited, and we now have a defined start time to our livestock farm. We will put up temporary fencing until we can put up our barn in the spring, and then we will also add sheep, chickens, and goats. We will also begin beekeeping in 2012 - two hives to start us off. The garden will also be dedicated in the spring, providing us with our fruits and vegetables. Although many of our trees our planted, we will need to replace some and add more plants to our plan, especially blackberry and strawberry plants. The outside of our home is a huge part of our sustainability plan, and 2012 will be an important year for establishing our farm. 
 Hopefully 2012 will also bring me a career. I feel that I keep repeating myself here, with just a different time line. Being established in our new home is a huge part of my career, so we'll see where this goes. My license expires in July, so I will also need to figure out what I need to do to renew that.
Once we have our farm established, I would like for us to have a vacation - we've missed out this year, and I feel that it would be great for our family. The two places I would most like us to visit are Chittenango, New York and St. Petersburg, Florida. Our kids need to be reminded of our Florida living, as do we, since our feet last hit the sand over three years ago. Chittenango is beautiful in the summer, and we all love visiting Shelby's home town. Of course, this all depends on finances, time, and finding a good farm sitter.

What other resolutions do I make for the New Year? I'd like us to continue our goal for sustainable and green living: clothes lines, rain barrels, canning and freezing, and hopefully a wood-burning stove. I would like to be farmers by the end of the year, having the tools and clothing we need to live our life comfortably, in all kinds of weather, on our farm. I would also like to obtain personal growth: read more, master a foreign language, write my book(s), start a hobby, etc. Shelby amazes me with all that she does and learns - she never seems tired and is always absorbing new information, information that she practices and masters. I feel that I've become lazy in that respect, once I graduated. I've been using the excuse that I'm waiting on my career, but I need to get my mind and body in gear again.
This year's goals are more a list of things that will happen, along with a few things that I would like to add to the mix. I have no doubt that we will be in a very different place a year from now. I cannot predict what that place will be, only that it will be very, very different. Hopefully my blog will capture that change, and hopefully family and friends will be a huge part of that change. But most importantly, I hope for great changes in who we are, changes that will turn us into stronger, healthier, and better people in this beautiful family that we are blessed with. Happy New Year!
One of Our Florida Christmases

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

2011 Resolution Review

I was going to start looking at my goals for 2012, but I figured I should look at what I had planned for this year, and see how well I followed through. Or not. So, here we go:

My New Year's Resolutions for 2011:
  • Get a job! Looks like we are good staying in the SW Ohio region for Shelby's work, so we're running with that. Which means I can seek employment, preferably teaching, or something somewhat in the education field. Hmmm...I don't have a full-time job yet, but I am subbing pretty regularly until I get there. And I am actively looking. So we'll extend this into 2012.
  • Get a house!! Oh, how we've waited for this! We should be ready and able to get our family farm sometime before the kids end this school year! We're forecasting our buy using Shelby's paycheck only, but we're definitely going to need to get my career going, as well, to keep up the pace. YES! Huge accomplishment! We did not get it before last school year ended, but we did get it over the summer, and it is awesome :) Now we're planning our garden and animals for the spring, which will be in the goals set for 2012.
  • Fruits, veggies, chickens, bees, composting, recycling, and homemade food! These are a few of our favorite things that we are unable to do in this apartment, but will definitely do on our new farm. I cannot wait to plant the trees and bushes that have been living in pots for the past months waiting to stretch out their roots! We have planted most of our trees, so there's that. And we are actively composting and recycling. Fast food is not nearby, nor within delivery range (except for Ron's Pizza - a recent discovery), so we are cooking at home more often. As for the garden, animals, and bees: 2012 :)
  • Write a book. This is a leftover from last year...I have the ideas, so I just need to work on the writing and illustrating part. I did start an outline...so, there's that...Crap...2012

  • Email, phone, and visit more often. In all of our hecticness, all of the time, I have lost real-life touch with friends. I try to keep up with Facebook and my blog, but it has been to long since we've actually sat down with many of our friends. We've had visitors and our moments of success with this resolution, but not nearly enough to classify it as completed. So I'll revise for 2012 (and keep it going every year after that). 
  • School. I would like to work on my Master's, preferably in Environmental Education. Of course, I have loans to worry about, so a job is first priority. Yeah, well...still working on the finding a job part, and then we'll work on more school :) Push to 2012
Not too bad. The house is the biggie, and a lot of the year has been dedicated to finding, buying, and settling into our home. Many, many expectations fill our plate for 2012, so I'll try to write that in a comprehensible, easy to read list for the New Year!

Monday, December 19, 2011

As 2011 Fades

Life is an amazing thing. You think you know where you are going, or what you want, and so you guide the reins in that direction. Yet, somehow you arrive in a totally different place. When I was divorced from my first marriage, I assumed that I might find someone some day, but that kids were probably not going to be a part of that relationship. Then I met Shelby, and my world changed drastically for the better - we have three beautiful children together, plus the fortune of having our two girls from my previous marriage in our lives as well. When we moved to Florida, we were ready to settle forever and buy a house close enough to the beach to be able to go after work whenever we wanted. And now, here we are, planning the livestock and garden of our new home in rural Ohio. Our journey would make a great book - our adventure has always been to move forward, strive to reach our goals, but to never, ever lose the fun and love in life and our family!

The difference of our life between January of this year and today is so extreme that it scares me a little. I am still not sure what the purpose of our apartment life at Hazel was, but I am sure that it had a purpose. We started the year despising where we lived, and end the year in our dream home in the country where we can sit outside and enjoy nature, life, and peace. The year has passed so quickly that I have to remind myself that it's ok that I am still trying to find that job and it is ok that we still have boxes waiting to be unpacked. Next year will prove to be just as busy, as we build our barn and fencing, get and learn how to raise our animals, work on our home projects, and hopefully begin my teaching career. Our home next year will have chickens, goats, and sheep for sure, as well as bees and maybe a couple turkeys. We will be eating from our garden and our chickens and our bees as we learn and grow, day by day. But, for now, it is a good time to reflect on just how far we have come in a year and to enjoy our family and our home in Camden, Ohio.

I want to wish all of our friends and family a wonderful, joyous, and peaceful holiday season! Thank you for being a part of our life, even when so much of our time has been consumed while getting and settling in our home. I also wish you a new year of hopes, dreams, and the adventure of life that continues to amaze us! Hold on tight - you never know what new and exciting change is around the next corner! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!