Animal update...

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of selling!  We sold a few various items from around the house but our primary concern was to sell the animals.

The rabbits have all been bought and picked up...save for a couple of stragglers that managed to escape.  We had some terrible winds here the other day - it picked up the shelter we had the butcher rabbits in and turned it over...releasing all 12 of our pre-sold rabbits.  They ran free for a couple of days until the buyers (our wonderful neighbors) came down and helped us to catch them.  All were caught but 2 so we called it a day and figured we would catch the remaining two some other time.  The breeding rabbits were bought as a package so we were able to sell them, their cage, and all of their supplies.

The cow has been bought by our neighbors however we worked out a deal that she gets to stay on our farm until she calves!  I wanted to be there for the birth and since they aren't ready to take in a cow just yet - it works out for everyone.  How lonely for our baby girl though as she'll be the only animal here through the winter. :(

The roosters were all purchased before the Thanksgiving holiday and the last of the hens will be picked up in a couple of days.  Good timing too as the starlings have shown up again and are eating freely out of the chicken feeder.  (I'll try to get a picture of the hoard of birds that fly in and out of the coop all day long.)  The youngest hens have just started laying too!

We're now finding ourselves slightly bored in the evenings with the absence of chores .  Everyday I continue to purge things from our drawers, cabinets, and lives.  A definite feat for a pack-rat like myself!

Decisions, decisions.....

Over the last few weeks, we have made some difficult decisions involving our farm and our lives.  We have decided to sell the farm and hit the road.  We have realized that we work too hard to sustain our lifestyle and we are sacrificing our family time in order to do what we do.  We have always talked about traveling and figured why wait?  Why wait until we're 65+ years old when we can do it now?

We have already started selling some of our "stuff"... of which we have a LOT of.  We are constantly looking at our options and realizing that we have more available to us when we think outside the box....freeing ourselves from the societal "norms" that define what we're supposed to be doing.  Our dream has always been to return to Alaska and now this dream could become a reality... just with a slight road trip on our way there. :)

What does this mean for this blog?  I plan to keep writing (I have to maintain my sanity somehow - haha!), but the focus will be more on our travels and our family and of home-schooling.  Over the next few months, I'll try to keep it updated but cannot promise anything.  There's a lot going on here - selling of animals and belongings - so I'll do the best I can.

A woman on a mission

I know, I know, it's March. The end of March no less. But I have a New Year's resolution: I AM GOING TO DECLUTTER MY HOUSE.

I recently read an article that talked about spring cleaning. In it, there was mention of a woman in North Carolina who offers daily emails with advice and tips for housekeeping. When I went to her website, I was inspired. It was much more than that. It was about loving yourself enough to keep a tidy house. Not only was there tips and advice, there were testamonials and a clear, laid-out plan of attack for decluttering the house. I LOVE IT! This could be the help that I need to declutter, thus de-stress, my house and my life.

The goal: declutter
The help: http://www.theflylady.net/

Day 1: Shine my sink

Normally, anyone could stop by my house and find a sink full of dishes. It’s not that we’re dirty, it’s just that I’m lazy. I admit it. And - I HATE doing dishes! (This is funny since I was a representative for a well-known home-based kitchen accessory company.) At best, there would be a dish drainer full of clean, drying dishes.

I've cleaned my sink before. I've taken that old toothbrush around the edges and scrubbed that gunk out that no one really wants to talk about. I've made the fixtures shine, well, as well as they can for being brushed nickel. But since taking on this new outlook, this new attitude, the sink looks different. It feels different.

Now, I don’t want to cook because I don’t want to dirty my sink. It looks so pretty and shiny that I don’t want anything to mess it up. I’m actually cleaning the dishes AND drying them AND putting them away. Not 20-30 minutes between tasks either. And the result…..

**Update 5/2/2011**
I stopped following the above website not long after I posted this.  I know, I'm a terrible person.  I just found out that I can keep a clean sink (and a clean house) and not have to stick to someone else's schedule.  I've got too  much on my plate to listen to someone else tell me how I should be doing things.