I started this website/blog to share my families journey building our hundred year old farmhouse and land into a fully functioning farmstead. Maybe my words won’t matter, but I have to speak up. This is my platform and with it my voice. I am not blind to the world around me, I see the riots and the looting, I see the peaceful protesting, I see the scared, I see the enraged. With watching and observing, I see it all. My entire career revolves around observing and trying to notice micro changes before they become something more critical. To solve and correct problems before they become life or death situations. So watching, observing, and waiting is what I know best.
I have so many mixed emotions, and I’m sure that I am not alone in that statement. In a way I have been watching this unfold my whole life. Things I have seen when younger is starting to make more sense. I have seen definitions of things I feel finally put into words. Now that I have watched and waited enough I think I can articulate what I am going through.
All Lives Matter
I both love and hate this statement. Do all lives matter? Of course they do, you would have to be a barbarian to disagree. Not all lives are being discriminated against, the lives of the oppressed need more recognition than the lives of the privileged. #BLACKLIVESMATTER I stand with you. The fact that it is 2020 and there is still discrimination and racism is infuriating.
This isn’t really a subject or topic I know how to talk about. With the way I was raised it feels uncomfortable to even have a voice regarding this. I don’t want to raise my children the same way I was raised. Sweeping these feelings under the rug and just quietly keeping to myself is what feels natural. However I am an advocate and an ally and being such means I need to speak up.
What about Blue Lives?
I see the phrase blue lives matter and I both agree and disagree. Blue lives matter because all lives matter, but blue lives are not lives. Blue is a career, blue is a choice. Being a person of color is not a choice. I grew up hearing that respect is earned. If the police want respect it takes more than going through the police academy to earn it. I have never been arrested but I have had many interactions with police, a very small percentage have left me with a feeling of respect towards police. What I mostly feel is frustration, irritation, and fear. I feel neither protected nor served by the police. Between my own experiences and those I see in the news, I feel that mostly the police protect and serve themselves.
Police are perpetrators too. Why wasn’t that officer publicly arrested on the spot. George Floyd was murdered, in broad day light, in front of the police and nothing was done. Police only protect and serve themselves. I read that the arrest occurred over suspicion of forgery. That crime did not deserve that level of force. Why can a white mass murderer or school shooter be walked out by the police and an unarmed non violent black man can die in the streets? Why is that acceptable? It’s not!
Ethics Matter
In the news I’ve seen physicians killing themselves over the decisions they have had with choosing who lives and dies due to corona virus treatment. The ethical dilemmas that have been grappled with by these doctors to make those tough decisions. When a police officer can take a life so casually and carelessly is inexcusable and unforgivable. That other police, who are people of authority, can stand by with not even a single flinch of intervention in there body while they see this occurring before there eyes.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
Thanksgiving and Christmas have long since passed and now the new year is a quarter over but it definitely doesn’t feel like that much time has passed. It’s easy to feel that way when I start every day the same, by asking myself “what can I get done in the time I have today” so downtime is almost non existent. I finally took down the Christmas tree during the last week of February, I didn’t think it would take me that long but it just kept moving lower and lower on the priority list.
The top of my priority list has been reserved for updating the electrical. Once we started the electrical the top of the priority list became “remodel the whole house”. Remodeling the house has been keeping me VERY busy. I really want to clean and organize and sort and give everything a home but I can’t until the remodeled rooms are more finished. That is a very powerful motivation for me to keep going even when I don’t want to.
What are we doing!?
I feel like we’re on the 12th revision of our farmstead plan since moving in last July. The phrase anything worth having is worth working for is something I really believe in. With all the work the farmstead needs it’s a phrase I say often. If we stick with it now it will pay off for years to come. The other phrase that’s keeping things going is “do it once, do it right” because ripping out things you spent a lot of time on is miserable.
Kevon and I are pushing hard to continue with the mantra that “2020 will be our year”. We had so much transition and change that we couldn’t really set goals in years past. This year we have certainly been making up for that though!! So far since January first we have completely relocated 4 rooms in the house. Totally unexpected but it has worked out well so far. Opening walls made updating the electrical much easier and with everything open we were also able to get some of the out dated plumbing up to current standards too.
January
The first week of January my amazing father in law came to stay with us to help with some of the projects on the to-do list to help get our farmstead going. The initial to-do list item we were trying to get done was: update the electrical. I was shaking in my boots at the idea of updating the electrical but my father in law was cool as a cucumber about it. I’d say 4 or so days after starting the electric I had a BRILLIANT idea (well, brilliant to me). “What if we moved all the rooms for better flow”. He still stayed cool as a cucumber. However I think he developed a permanent eye twitch, which got worse the more ideas I had.
One of the first things that changed was moving the location of the kitchen from the back of the house, to the heart of the home in the middle. The old kitchen I spent so much time trying to make pretty was such a waste of time looking back now. On the flip side I now have the makings of the kitchen of my dreams rather than the kitchen I could settle for. I enjoy cooking so much more now that I’m not sequestered to the back of the house in the closed off kitchen. It’s nice to feel like a part of the family again. The new kitchen is so close to being a finished space I can almost taste it. I’ve put some teaser pictures on Instagram highlighting some of the changes that I’m swooning over.
The house is much more open now and has a better farmhouse vibe and flow than before. Seeing how corroded the old water lines were made me feel a lot better about my decisions. Not to mention the new kitchen added a water line for the freezer and for the dishwasher because the old kitchen had neither.
February
After the kitchen reach the livable/functional stage we moved on to the living room dining room conversion. The old kitchen wall that closed the space off to the rest of the house was taken down and opened up to give the open concept house that we now have. We also worked on the upstairs master bedroom during this time and learned that we had zero insulation in the house. Well, we did find one abandoned bee nest but other than THAT we had no insulation. Adding insulation everywhere we can put it became the new priority. I can now say with honesty that my bedroom has become cozy. We also added a door (didn’t have one before), removed the Jack and Jill bathroom door for more privacy now, and closed off the giant 10 foot opening that was the entrance to our master suite.
We also cut down one of the dead trees on the property. This tree was chosen to be cut first because it was leaning towards the house. That made me really nervous when it got super windy. As an added bonus we have a ton of fire wood thanks to that tree for next winter.
March
The goal for March was to get as much wrapped up as we could because it would be a while before my father in law would be back. We wanted the house to feel a little less like a construction zone and more like a home. We also took down another dead tree (yay more firewood) and got the lawn mower put back together after a failed attempt at doing some mechanic stuff ourselves.
Inside, the laundry got moved upstairs where I wanted it. Now it’s on the same floor where most of the living takes place. The upstairs bathroom had a weird side room for something and now it has purpose. Having it there makes so much more sense and feels like it belongs better than it did where it was located downstairs. Plus I don’t have to lug laundry up and down the stairs anymore which is the real reason I am so excited about the move.
With the laundry out of the way downstairs, the space was divided into two rooms. Before the dividing wall was built we had to move the pellet stove, which was HEAVY! Or at least that’s what I am told because I 100% let the boys handle that job without me. Now one side of the space is a powder room and the other is the master bath for the downstairs master bedroom. The powder room is functional, the master bath is not. Once we got the powder room working (reused the previous toilet and vanity) we could demo the downstairs bathroom. Removing the bathroom made the living room bigger and gave the pellet stove its new home. Before the pellet stove didn’t really heat the house because of the layout. Now it heats the house great and even sends some heat upstairs which didn’t used to get heat before.
April
Everything still has a long ways to go. I’ve taken some video tours of the house during various stages of change and it has definitely changed a lot. I’m excited to have time to edit the video to show the updates. However that’s a project for another very distant day. I am still trying to get to a good place with the house, but that requires a lot more cleaning and organizing.
With my father in law gone I have spent so much time trying to clean up the construction debris. Mostly it is piled outside until we can get a dumpster but at least the house is coming together. Even with all of the chaos going on we have managed to make some time for outdoor projects too. Outside we managed to install about 25% of the T-posts we need for fencing in the future pasture. Our estimated post count for the pasture is about 200 so we still have plenty more posts to set.
We also added to our chicken flock to increase our egg laying chickens. Now we have 30 ladies giving us two dozen eggs per day or more! Our first batch of meat chickens consists of 8 Black Australorp chickens and 8 Brown Leghorn chickens. They wont be ready for the freezer until the end of summer because they take so long to grow but it is what was available at the time. We won’t do meat chickens again that take this long to raise, we will stick with a different breed in the future.
Our local agriculture store was advertising the spring livestock options for purchase. We bit the bullet and ordered some new egg layer chicks that will be getting here the last week of April. The store was also advertising bees so we ordered a package and they are already here and getting adjusted in their new hive. We think the queen arrived dead so we will be watching closely to see how the hive fairs while we wait for a replacement queen to ship.
What’s Next
I’m anxious to see where the progress is at for the 1 year milestone (2 months to go) but I feel proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. We know we’re being ambitious but it’s nice to have goals to keep working towards. My hope and prediction for the 1 year milestone:
- Pasture enclosed (finish t post installation, string fencing)
- Getting a pig for the pasture that we can raise for meat (my mothers day gift request)
- Planting a vegetable/fruit/herb/flower garden
- Fill the root cellar with as much home grown crops as possible
- Get the main floor of the house painted (walls still need some prepping)
- Demo the last 2 horsehair plaster walls on the main floor
That’s all in no particular order just based on whatever we’re able to do with the time and money available. Plus there is always side projects that pop up requiring immediate attention. We will keep documenting the progress and changes we make to get our farmstead functioning. Hope to see you along for this journey with us.
The best of intentions never go perfectly as planned. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written anything. Although thinking about how busy I have been it makes sense. I’m trying to get settled into the house and make it feel more like a home. We’re also trying to tackle the yard that managed to become a jungle thanks to neglect.
We still have boxes to unpack and put away. I haven’t hung all the pictures yet either, but that project should be completed soon. I have recently started painting and it is slow going and tedious. It’s worth it though because but it sure does look make it look nice and help freshen up the space. We’re scheduled to have our electrical brought to current standards next month. This months big goal is the mini kitchen makeover.
We’re both working full time and the kiddo is in preschool/daycare so plates are full, yet we can’t wait for more. Our big outdoor project that we’re working on is upgrading the current fences to ones designed for the livestock we actually want. I believe things are set up for beef cattle however that isn’t something we’re really interested in.
Outdoor Dreaming
Our goals outdoors are mainly to get a self sustaining productive farm going. The livestock that we are interested in and wanting to incorporate in the farmstead ecosystem are:
Chickens (we currently have 18)
Goats (hoping for at least 2)
Cow (Jersey or Dexter dairy cow)
Bees (hello honey)
Ducks (decadent baking plans)
Turkey (planning on raising one per year)
Pigs (we want to raise 2 per year)
Rabbits (rabbit math has yet to be determined)
Right now the focus is infrastructure. A spur of the moment decision to get chickens made it very difficult because it should have been more planned out. However we made it work and things are great. So as for the larger livestock, planning and prepping will be the best investment we can make.
5 or 10 year plan
Currently we’re planning the new fence lines with landscapers flags to represent posts while everything gets laid out. If we can get the posts installed before the snow it will be a blessing. I have a feeling that we will be waiting to see the flags poke out of the melting snow in the spring instead. The first fence we want is the new pasture that will take up the majority of the back of the property. As of current the ordinances say livestock shouldn’t be within 10 feet of property lines and we are being diligent to abide by that.
Once the spring comes and the fence is built we will look into whats next. If I had to guess though, we will probably do goats and pigs next. At least I still have 6 months or so to figure it out. We are also talking about how to make bees a possibility this spring. Can’t forget that we have next years garden to squeeze in with all this animal action too. That will entail starting our seeds and prepping the ground outside for the first available transplant day.
I have such a hard time sitting still and doing nothing. To me that could mean we will get through our wish list faster than expected. The inside will be tackled a little at a time most likely during the cold months. I haven’t come up with specific plans yet so it makes moving forward slower. However there is enough painting to do in this house to probably keep me busy for a 20 year plan.
Mistake?
We bought this house and this property sight unseen. Yes we have been called crazy, more times than I can count and yes we probably are crazy but I am still happy with our choice. I love our house, our location, our property, our neighbors. I also know that we got really lucky because things could have been a disaster. Knock on wood because they still could be a disaster because there is still plenty on our “needs fixing” list besides the electrical, but life is an adventure and there could be problems wherever you go.
What I’m trying to say is that we have no regrets. I have so little regrets that I see “forever home” here. That isn’t something I’ve felt in over a decade at least. That feeling is also keeping the momentum going.
Next Plans
I have been trying to get outdoor video but it never seems to fail that on my days off the weather is terrible and by the time I get home at the end of the day the sun is setting. I could take pictures, that’s easy enough, but pictures do not do justice to the size of the farmstead. Huffing and puffing my way around for the 3875234 mile perimeter is much more real. I should get one of those wheel measure tapes to find out how long the perimeter actually is but my estimation is probably close. A friend jokingly said we needed a quad to get around and the more times I walk around to see how things are coming the more I realize they were right. Every once in a while wouldn’t be so bad but it’s a lot more often than I even expected.
I would also like to get into a better habit of writing consistently. Establishing new routines will be a good thing, although change can suck sometimes too. Things are falling into place it feels and this is just another piece to the big plan/picture. There’s a phrase I sing every time something gets done around the farm. “Every day it gets a little bit better at The Fansler Farmstead” and so far, every day, it has.
Actually We’re doing both
Over the last month we have been crossing things off of the Japan bucket list and spending time with visiting family. We took family pictures in kimono in Kamakura, and went to Tokyo to the Skytree mall. We also went to Harajuku and spent the day (spoiler alert, very over rated). It’s hard to spend time doing things and still have time to write about doing things. It may come as a shock but writing a post is really time consuming sometimes.
Since our chapter here in Japan is coming to a close and we are starting our next chapter with a bang. How so? We are breaking all the rules. All the ways people tell you NOT to do things…well that’s exactly how we’re doing them.
We have heard so many times not to buy a house sight unseen and don’t buy an old house they’re riddled with problems. So. Many. Times. We’re rebels because that’s exactly what we did. Granted our circumstances made that an easier decision than it should have been I’m sure but it was the decision we made none the less.
If you’ve been following for any amount of time you should be aware that we are moving back from Japan. In fact we are in the SINGLE DIGITS of days left in the country. We made the decision to secure housing before we got back to the states so we weren’t scrambling in a homeless situation.
Technically we didn’t achieve that because our official closing date is a week after we get back but that gives me a few days to see friends and family before the cross country trek. Plus being with friends and family means we have a place to stay. *thanks guys* Then it will be oh so lovely hotel/motels and then HELLO NEW HOUSE. Well…new is not very accurate at all but more on that in a minute.
Exciting
The best part about this whole thing is that The Fansler Farmstead is about to GET REAL. Really real. Because we bought a farmhouse on land and we are going to do all the things. All of them. What ever thing your thinking of we are going to do that too. I am so excited for chickens. I geek out when I talk about them. Eggs are life and with chickens being a great starter animal hello quiche!
Over time we will be able to get the livestock that we have been talking about for years. This is happening so much sooner than I ever thought possible for us. This was the retirement dream which for the hubs is still a few years away but we’re getting a head start. Seriously we thought we wouldn’t even be close to this possibility for like 6 more years and now we have plans for the next 6 months. *mind blown*
We will be narrowing down the 6 month plan after moving in of what is going to be prioritized to now versus later. Once we have a plan I will post about it. Not just because inquiring minds will want to know, but also for accountability. I work better and harder when I’m held accountable so this will be a good thing.
Scary
So some things about this place that are bringing out the nerves… its 107 years old. Like I said, calling it new is not very accurate. New to us I guess would be the most appropriate. There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of potentials for disaster but we are rolling the dice on this. We’re hoping to roll a 20, not a 1 (comment if you get that reference). We’ve done a ton of inspections to try to minimize the surprises but those can only go so far.
Actual problems and potential problems are very different. We will be checking out all the stuff that could be something before it is. Anything we find that is a problem we can take care of the right way too which helps give peace of mind.
Plan
The only plan at the moment is paint. It needs it, I need it. Blank slate here we come. We will bring you along on this adventure that I am so excited about. I want to have before and after pictures to document the changes. It has been a big bummer for me that some of the other places we’ve lived hasn’t had them. And I am a sucker for a good before and after story.
Once we have settled we will be coming up with a well thought out plan for what we what to get done by the end of the year and what will be a next year goal. Hoping to have a real plan by August. Rome wasn’t built in a day and this farmstead won’t be built in one either. Can’t wait to bring you all along!
Am I the only one that over commits herself to things? I put a lot on my to-do list these past couple weeks and it got the better of me. I got quite a bit done but definitely not everything. The things that didn’t get done are really nagging at me. It feels like I am disappointed with myself for what I gave priority to my time.
My Own Worst Enemy
I promised myself that I would make a blanket for some family friends and their new baby. I just finished the blanket and matching bonnet today but I wasn’t able to get it done before baby arrived. In hindsight shouldn’t have been so indecisive with yarn and I also had some days where I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the crochet hook. It doesn’t change the sentimental value of the item but it feels less somehow. I have one more thing I want to whip up to send with it and luckily it’s a quick make item unlike the blanket but it means I won’t be sending for a few more days still. However, it’s the weekend so that excuse helps to ease the “not on my timeline” blow.
I also wanted to get my first video posted on YouTube. I wanted to show my Homesteaders Swiss Army Apron in a way that I just can’t do with pictures. Valuable lessons were learned about both filming and editing before I could even get it published. I learned that the way you hold your phone makes a big difference to video image. When I began editing (not easy by the way) I was TINY! Basically it was a video in thumbnail form. You couldn’t see anything. It really defeated the purpose of the video which really disheartened me and my hopes of adding vlogging to this venture. It isn’t a huge deal it just needs to be reshot with the camera in the right orientation but that means adding something else to the to do list.
Fear of Homelessness
We are also house hunting. Trying to hunt for a house that you can’t see in person is difficult. Add the BIG timezone difference and it’s worse. I have to say our realtor has been exceptional so far but 4am video house showings aren’t easy. It also doesn’t help that we are looking into living out in the country so cell service is spotty. Spotty cell service means poor video quality but we’ve managed. We have looked at several homes it feels like. Fallen in like with a few. Put in some offers. Gotten some rejection. However we haven’t lost faith. The Fansler Farmstead is out there and if it’s meant to be we will get it. Even if we are getting down to the wire which is adding to some anxiety.
Our stuff is getting packed up and shipped back at the end of the month. We return at some unknown date next month (have I mentioned that I don’t like unknowns? I’m a planner, you can’t REALLY plan the unknown).
I want to know that I have a roof over my head already lined up. Hubs is set. He knows that he’s got more schooling to go through so he will have lodging. I don’t have that same luxury so this is what we need to do. Just another point in the “if the Navy wanted him to have a spouse they would have issued one in bootcamp” list I guess.
Travel and Sightseeing
A victory is that my brother is about to visit so that is super exciting. I miss him very much and we have a lot planned while he’s here. I am an adventurous homebody. That basically means I would LOVE to explore but I don’t want to explore alone. I know that we will get out and see some stuff because we will go together. I’ve had a ton of stuff on my Japan bucket list that I have been itching to cross off but going on adventures alone with the kiddo makes me nervous. I don’t want to be stranded alone with a toddler. At least with another adult it won’t be so bad. Plus we both have a serious love of food so basically we will be eating our way across the country. Yum!
I also have a birthday coming up. Not sure how I feel about that since it’s one of those “milestone” birthdays. I am turning 30! When did that happen? It feels like yesterday was my high school graduation. Then again the hubs and I also just celebrated 8 years of marriage when it also feels like our wedding was yesterday too. Time goes faster the older you get I guess.
Adjusting Priorites
Life is a marathon not a sprint. But marathons and sprints are both races and life is racing by!!! I have been watching a lot of YouTube trying to learn everything I can before we officially start this farmstead adventure and I have learned that it doesn’t seem to matter if you are doing a typical life of working 9-5 or have given up your job completely to live off the land, you never get ahead.
Both lifestyles require constant upgrades and updates. Improved housing, improved transportation. Then there is new tech and gadgets which may be a priority for some. In our case we will be wanting some livestock. So much sacrifice goes to obtain that.
Typical life means looking for high paying work which means more stress usually and long hours. Or a homestead life means more labor and time intensive work to do it yourself. I am hoping to live a hybrid life riding the line somewhere between the two. I want to have animals and better quality food knowing where it all comes from but I also don’t want to give up the career that I have been building and love.
With age comes wisdom and I hope this path isn’t a mistake but it is something only time will tell. It is either going to work or something will have to give. I sing to the baby “you can’t always get what you want” and now she sings back “I can always get what I want” so maybe I need to follow her lead and just be blissfully optimistic that everything will work out like I want. I am not afraid of hard work, it’s how we’ve gotten to where we are so far. Working our butts off and trying to narrow down what we want from life and I think what we want isn’t unreasonable.
Since planting a spring garden is out of the question I decided to just plan for next year. It’s about as productive as I can be right now, just planning. I thought about planting a small herb garden just to give me something green but I don’t have a yard here. Literally my yard is all concrete and it seemed silly to invest in a bunch of pots and soil when we move in 2 months. Not to mention the local stores still don’t have much of a selection still (I keep checking because the itch is real). So since a garden is out for now, lets do something in. Hopefully that play on words makes sense.
The weather here has been so hit or miss lately that I have been cooped up inside. It is hard to want to go anywhere and explore when the wind is trying to pick you up and carry you away and the rain can’t make up its mind. So I decided to do something indoors and wait out mother nature. I decided to make a multipurpose apron for myself while I am stuck inside.
Apron Requirements
I have never had a kitchen apron. I don’t like things around my neck and finding a half apron I liked never worked out. So I have always just done without. So my first apron requirement was that it would be a half apron that could work in the kitchen? Check.
My next requirement was that the half apron would also work as a garden apron. It would be long enough that if I wore it, it could protect my clothes when planting, watering, ect. I have had many times in the garden with the intention of watering only to have muddy splash back. Or bending down to pull a few weeds you saw to tip forward and fall on my knees. I don’t like having to change my outfit all the time but going out and doing things caked in mud isn’t ideal. Half apron that can work in the garden? Check.
Harvest Apron Requirements
I knew I wanted a harvest apron too. Something that could hold all the vegetables as I pick them and still leave me hands free. I wanted plenty of room in there because I grow more than cherry tomatoes. My squash last year were very prolific and I could harvest a bucket full every other day at least. So it needed to be able to hold plenty of larger crops. Big harvest pouch? Check.
I wanted the harvest apron to be able to pour out the produce easily too so the way it fastened together was important and I wanted the option where I could dump everything out (this idea is more ideal for something like a root vegetable harvest) to save time rather than having to pull everything out one at a time. I also wanted it to be able to completely unfold for easy access to more fragile produce for separation and sorting. Easy access harvest? Check.
Lastly, it was important to me to include an egg pouch. I know that getting egg hens is very important to me and only a matter of time (not that I’m counting >.>) Not to mention I have read many complaints about people putting eggs in their harvest aprons and making accidental pocket omelettes. That definitely sounds like something I would do so if I can tweak a pattern to prevent that from happening I might as well. Egg harvest pockets? Check.
One More Requirement
One other thing that this apron had to have and this may very well be the MOST IMPORTANT requirement… This all needed to be one apron. I love multi use things that do more than one job. Also, I didn’t want to need all of these different aprons to keep track of. I just want one apron that does it all.
Let me tell you, that is exactly what I got!!! I am so happy with how this apron turned out and I can’t wait to break it in. For now only the kitchen side is seeing much use but soon, soon it will be covered in soil and I couldn’t be happier.
I was also able to make a matching garden hat to my garden apron which makes me very happy in a cheesy way. It will keep the sun out and I will look cute doing it. It’s wide brimmed to make sure the sun really keeps out of my face which was important to me and is shaped in a way to accommodate my hair without sitting on my neck too much. I usually wear a visor but my hair gets so hot sitting in the sun but a traditional sun hat has a brim that goes all the way around. This hat gives me the best of both worlds in my opinion. Basically it’s a visor hat and I’m in love with it.
Added Bonus
I had enough scrap material left over after cutting out all the pieces for my apron and hat that I was able to make my daughter a reversible garden/kitchen apron too. She is tickled pink about it and loves helping out so I am just as excited for her apron to get broken in too.
Her apron is an around the neck apron but she is happy with it. Not to mention she’s notorious for wiping her hands on her chest/thighs so this design covers both.
Materials
I don’t have patterns for everything. Mostly I went to Pinterest for inspiration since finding exactly what I was looking for wasn’t panning out. I searched for sun hats and narrowed it down to 2. I chose the free pattern because what did I have to lose?! The other pattern was $12 and I didn’t even know how it would fit my head and it seemed like to much to invest in a maybe.
I looked at sooooooo many aprons and read several blogs about others aprons. I tried following their patterns but I was very confused and the posts were so old that I knew posting a comment and expecting a response for trouble shooting was out of the question. So I decided to wing it just from looking at several pictures and trying to merge them into one apron.
For materials I used 4 different patterned fabrics all of the same material. It is a thin canvas cotton type fabric. I used an herb/cheese fabric for the kitchen apron. A garden fabric for the garden hat and garden apron. A heart fabric for the egg pouch and hat ribbon. And a brown fabric for trim/lining/misc.
I purchased 1 meter each of the kitchen and brown fabric. I got a meter and a half of the garden fabric since I knew I wanted to make a matching hat. And I got a half meter of the heart fabric since it was only going to be used for a small accent.
Hopefully you are just as inspired as I was to make your own apron. What requirements must your apron have?
I feel like I should preface this by saying I am very new to blogging and I haven’t started vlogging…yet. Although things are in the works to get that started soon. However I am a long time blog reader. I have bloggers that I have been reading for almost a decade. Saying that makes me feel old but it’s honest. Vlogging I am getting into more. I now watch YouTube more than Netflix. Especially since I can watch what is important to me.
Back before we cut the cord on TV I used to tell Kevon “If I could only pay for the channels I watched I would be more willing to keep cable” that is not an option. We cut the cable and use Netflix as our only monthly entertainment bill. Intermittently use Hulu but with out current internet situation it isn’t on the list right now.
Choosing Your Channels
The thing I like about watching YouTube is that I find it educational. I love watching things that I learn from. I have learned new ways to crochet and garden and cook. I lived on 4 channels when we were still on cable. The 2 cooking channels and the 2 remodeling channels. I LOVED THEM. I still do but I am sorry channels I am not willing to pay those insane cable prices.
How often I got stuck watching reruns. It reached a point where nothing I saw was new but this was my love. I wanted new information not seeing the same thing over and over, especially when I really didn’t have an interest in the episode to begin with. I mean a butterfly watching expert with a million dollar house budget…I…Don’t…Care… Sorry not sorry. I also liked that I could turn the TV for ambient background noise that I didn’t HAVE to watch. I could do dishes and pay attention when something of interest happened.
Read Read Read
I don’t always have time to read. I love blogs and books and news articles but reading requires your full attention. I can’t open a book and have it read itself to me. (yes I am aware of things like Audible and visually impaired items but that’s not my point) I do not have the skills to wash dishes and read a book. That is not in my wheel house.
I love curling up with a book on a dreary day. Believe me, when the situation allows it I am binge reading. I have a kindle and on long train rides I read as many pages as I can. At home when I have more reliable phone charging capability and someone is watching something that I have no interest in (*cough* baby bear tv *cough*) I can binge blogs harder than a competitive eater at a pie eating contest. However life happens and then you have to set what you’re reading down and go back to the real world. In my house “mom I’m hungry” is a good reading buzzkill.
What about podcasts
I have tried podcasts. I have one that I do listen to upon occasion but it talks about a lot of stuff that I then have to log in to something else to be able to see or understand what they are talking about. I do not like that I lose out on the visual aspect. In blogs there are pictures *yay* and links making it convenient *also yay*. In vlogs there is the visual learning aspect plus the links usually located in the description *yay and yay*. Those things keep me drawn to vlogs and blogs and steer me away from podcasts.
The time when I could listen to podcasts I would rather just listen to music to be honest. Working out, cooking, cleaning I would rather be jamming. Not to mention I love a random dance party and those aren’t easy to have with podcasts.
Love to learn
I have learned so much from peoples blogs. They explain things in a way that I was never able to understand in school because they break it down in a more simplified way. Sometimes however I have left more confused than I went in. For example: crochet. I have read blogs and patterns and just can’t figure it out. It wasn’t until I started watching tutorials on YouTube that I was able to really get the hang of the many things I make.
I learned how to quilt on YouTube. I read so many things for beginner quilters and it just didn’t make sense. I couldn’t cut the squares right or sew the squares right and I was left with a misshapen mess. Queue a YouTube search and suddenly I was like OMG I can do this! From there I was able to cut my fabric correctly. Some people can look at a before and after picture and be like “I can do that” just from an image. Typically that’s not me.
I LOVE HOMESTEADING
That is what I like to learn about. It is the niche that holds me in. I believe in knowing where your food comes from and being a true farm to table family. I love watching about people already living the farm to table life. I love food and I love animals and you can’t have one with out the other in farm to table cooking. I want to take amazing care of my animals so I can get better quality food and I also want to know that their quality of life was good for the time they were in my life.
With homesteading also comes DIY remodeling. There is a time and a place for professional help but putting sweat equity into something holds a place near and dear to my heart. I like knowing my own 2 hands helped build our home even if that may only be paint. Also, I hate to paint.
I love to cook and with homesteading comes REAL cooking. The more I learn about food the more I learn about cultures and cuisine I realize that I don’t have the roots that other places have. Italy, Japan, India all have specific cuisine. I love pho and that is a Vietnamese dish. Most people think of McDonalds when they think of American cooking. Why?!
American Cuisine
I feel like Homestead farm to table cooking is real American food. I know that there are niches in America like southern cooking and barbecue but what makes America so unique is all the different cultures who live here and inspire food. I love that I can try more foods from other countries in the United states than I can anywhere else. I don’t have to travel to try new things. A quick google search will lead me to something I have never tried before. If what I try is amazing I can recreate it at home.
Knowing how to cook from scratch and all the homesteading skills like preservation and seasonal cooking will help to make those dishes come to life in my home. I tried this amazing taco thing in Tokyo. I *think* it was chicken shwarma but I am not sure. I am going to try to recreate what I had because it was so good and I can add it to our menu rotation. There are no limits to what you can make on the homestead. I can make curry, I can make spaghetti, I can make sushi and I can do this all from scratch. I will know what is in it because I am making this with the most basic of ingredients whether it’s 2 or 20 ingredients. I know what each and everyone is without things I can’t pronounce and I love that.
My Content
What you can expect from me is a mix of trying new things. How can I find new foods I love if I don’t try them. Once I have mastered cooking the foods I love you can expect me to share them with you. I will describe to the best of my ability what things taste like. One of my biggest *grr* moments is when I am yelling at my screen “yeah, but what does it taste like?!” Especially when it isn’t something I have easy access to, I want to know what to expect if I decide to try it on a whim.
I will walk you through whatever I am doing so you can learn with me. I don’t know everything. I can’t. No one can. But I am willing to share whatever knowledge I have because knowledge is power and power promotes independence. I want you all to feel just as independent as I do, I very rarely feel like I can’t handle something. Some days are of course worse than others, everyone gets over whelmed at some point but for the most part I feel like I can take on anything.
Sometimes I will blog what I am doing, sometimes I am going to vlog what I’m doing. And sometimes I may do both but overall I want you to take on anything that you feel so inclined. Life skills shouldn’t be so difficult to learn, let’s make it easier with all these different ways to get information out there.
Let’s take on life together one life skill at a time.
It doesn’t matter what you had planned or what you want to do, when your a mom that is priority number one. The water heater could be broken and spewing water in your basement but if your child is screaming you are going to find out why first. It’s just how mom life works.
I had many things planned today but only accomplished about 1 of them. Oops. Luckily the day isn’t over yet so there is still a chance I could cross a few more things off of my to do list but mom’ing is a good excuse in my book for things not going as planned. You’re also never alone when you have kids. Don’t believe me? Go to the bathroom and wait.
Another year goes by
Today is my 8 year wedding anniversary. *Happy anniversary Kevon* I unfortunately do not get to spend it with my husband because holidays and important dates are completely meaningless to the military. We have spent more anniversaries apart than together. Most of our birthdays are spent long distance. My husband couldn’t even make it to my nursing school graduation (but here’s to hoping he makes it to the next one).
I planned to spend today with friends but as an expert on things not going to plan I spent the day with my kiddo instead. We had fun, took a ton of pictures which she loves and we read a lot. Today was a good day for me and her but it was definitely not the day I wanted or hoped for.
You knew what you were getting into
I hear those words so often I could scream. How could I possibly know what I was getting into. With so much military life in constant flux it is impossible. I only recently found out where we are moving next but I still don’t know when we are moving. So how can I possibly know everything the future holds?
Our first station was in Washington. *Hi Oak Harbor* and we had to PCS while I was in the hospital in labor with our first born. Literally he had to leave and meet the movers because it didn’t matter, we were on military time. That should have been a clue of the future but hindsight is 20/20 for a reason. I ended up with an emergency c-section which derailed our moving plans because I could no longer drive and we had 2 vehicles to move.
You should have planned better
I can honestly say that at 21 years old my planning ability is not the fine tuned machine that it is now. Luckily we had family willing to take a train a VERY long way to meet us and help with the drive because it’s not like you get stationed near family for support. You just have to make due with what you have.
Essentially my daughter and I were homeless for the next few months because my hubs was at school at it was not accompanied orders so I stayed with whatever family and friends I could while he finished his time. In a way it was nice because I was healing and recovering and most of the time I got a lot of help. I moved 4 times in the course of 2 months to Oregon, California, Missouri and then Florida to keep a roof over our heads until we could move to our final destination.
Settling in
Finally we could move to our new duty station and no longer be living out of suitcases. (not so easy with a newborn) However we didn’t know the area and trying to ‘reach out to our sponsor’ was met with mostly unanswered emails. Our first home was in the ghetto because we didn’t know any better. We had the catalytic converter removed from our car within 1 week of moving in.
So we moved. We lost our deposit and had to pay a bunch of fees because our reason for moving wasn’t ‘good enough’ so not only did we double what our rent was, we lost a ton. It took a while to recoup but it’s just what your supposed to do. Dust yourself off and try again. Eventually we decided to buy a house.
Mistakes were made
We looked forever for a house and we really didn’t know what to look for. Our realtor didn’t care about our needs only making the sale. We ended up with a pretty rough house and paid a lot of money to have things fixed that just broke again a few months later. Worst of all we also lost our first born in that time but that is a story for another day because it is just too painful still and it’s been almost 5 years since then.
Eventually we sold that house with bittersweet feelings since we had so many memories but hanging on to a money pit would have been a mistake for our family. We decided a condo would be a better fit and I will never buy a condo again. I learned valuable lessons about what a HOA is and what a pain they are too. But no place lasts forever and we moved on.
The next adventure
I went back to school and moved just after graduating nursing school. As well as getting pregnant and giving birth in that time. As a matter of fact I drove a uhaul with all of our belongings up to Oregon during a weekend and was back at school Monday morning with a newborn in tow. We lived on an air mattress for a few weeks while I finished out my classes.
I got licensed as soon as possible and got to work to start establishing work history before we moved again. We had heard a lot about nurses being needed in Japan and that I wouldn’t have any trouble and other lies like that. Don’t get me wrong Japan is great but a 2 income family becoming a 1 income family in a significantly higher cost of living area has been hard.
Actually getting to Japan we found out that there are MANY nurses that are unemployed and jobs were few and far between with most taking jobs at the NEX (department store) or other similar minimum wage positions. I considered this but minimum wage + child care expenses = whats the point. I lived that SAHM life as long as I could.
Tough Decisions
I lived in Japan just shy of 1 year before our family had to make some tough decisions. Do we A: keep going as we are going and go in to debt as our savings had dried up paying the bills we still had back in the states plus all of our new bills here on 1 income or B: do I go back to the states and work to help get our savings back up to ensure that we were in a good place when we moved again.
We chose option B. I went back to the US to work for about 18 months. We paid off debt, refilled savings. We bought another house and I fixed it up in my free time. I was near family so they got to see the baby get older and bigger and I made amazing friends. But I missed my husband terribly. I was able to visit Japan 2 times in that year and a half and my husband visited once. It was to big of a blow to savings for all that travel. As the new year rolled in the distance became to much.
Back in Japan
In January 2019 I returned to Japan. Once again unemployed but trying to make the most of my situation. I decided to start blogging. I had heard so many times talking to friends/family/coworkers how I had an interesting life. Eventually you hear something enough and you start to believe it yourself. We have big plans for our family even though we are in a sort of limbo right now with another move looming in the distance.
I have started cooking more and trying to making foods I love healthier for my family. So I hope to increase the amount of ‘scratch’ cooking I do slowly over time but any step is a step in the right direction. Also I hope to live a more farm type lifestyle next and get more in touch with nature. Lastly I hope to go back to school and finish my degree or rather get a degree since it got put on hold with the time overseas.
Life is an Adventure
I am happy to say that I am happy to be on this adventure and I couldn’t imagine being on it with anyone else. I love that we are on the same page. Especially since I have met plenty of people in my time and we were not on the same page at all. Plus a few times where I was on the same page as someone but clearly we were in different books.
I love that I get to live this mom life even though some days are more hectic than others. Today as a matter of fact was a “shit happens” day. Twice actually. But without you Kevon, I wouldn’t be where I am today. This is our story or at least the cliff notes version. Where we have been is already set but where we are going is full of opportunity and possibility. Happy anniversary again, I hope for many more years to come and all the adventures that come with it.
I am a self proclaimed perfectionist. I color code things and I alphabetize things. Excel spreadsheets fill me with warm fuzzy happiness. I like things in order. I love tidy things in a row. When everything has a home and is in its home…WOAH. However I am an imperfect perfectionist.
There is a term in the Japanese culture called wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi roughly translates to finding beauty in imperfection. I have found that term and translation to be amazing to my life. It has allowed me to lift the burden of perfectionism off my shoulders.
Wabi-Sabi
The most wabi-sabi thing I can think of is nature. Nature is beautiful, it does what it wants, how it is meant to, under the conditions it’s given. A forest is no less beautiful because a tree was destroyed by bad weather. It is perfectly imperfect. The forest will move on and eventually the dead tree will see new life. It just needs to mulch down to prepare for what awaits. The forest is no less beautiful at any time because of the tree. The forest is.
It isn’t just nature. Even the simple task of shopping for glasses is wabi-sabi. Trying to find a beautiful pair to complement yourself while also restoring imperfect vision. As your vision continues to fail, you are presented with new opportunities for beautification. Embrace it.
Maybe I am just speaking from personal experience from my ever declining vision but it is something that I think of often. Not just because I am rocking my new and improved frames.
Try New Things!!
I know what you’re thinking… “so you’re not a perfectionist anymore?!”
Well, yes I am. But hear me out. There is nothing wrong with trying to do things perfectly as long as you understand that whatever the closest you can get to perfect is enough. To me, doing a perfect job means that it was done right and done well.
A fear of imperfection can isolate you. You don’t want to try new things because you don’t want to be bad at it or do it wrong. But you must! Failure breeds growth. Of all the things I have ever done, I always learn something to make another attempt even better.
I don’t always stick things out. Somethings just aren’t for me. But I like that I give it a good attempt before finally coming to terms with the task not being in my niche. For example knitting, I can crochet and I LOVE to crochet, but knitting fills me with rage. I have a hard time not dropping stitches and it drives me crazy. That being said, I know how to fix dropped stitches and I could whip up a scarf in a pinch but I don’t enjoy it.
Crochet on the other hand I love, making a new anything brings a smile to my face. Learning new patterns makes me to excited. I am just starting a baby blanket using the virus stitch and so far it’s turning out lovely. However I had tried a different new pattern before this one and did not like it at all so I took the whole thing apart to start over. That’s okay too.
What if you’re trying something REALLY new?
Maybe crochet isn’t the best example. I already knew how to hold the yarn and the hook and I already know the basic stitches. So what if you are learning something new with no baseline knowledge? Today is that day for me.
Today I will be canning for the first time with a recipe to follow in the next few days depending on if it is successful. But if it isn’t that is still okay because I will likely be able to figure out what to change to improve for the next attempt.
To be perfectly imperfect you need to be able to think on the fly, roll with the punches, not take things to personally while never losing sight of the goal. I remember as a kid in class seeing one of the motivational wall posters that said “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars” and that stuck with me. Even if you don’t reach your idea of perfect, whatever you did do IS AMAZING.
Learning the homesteading skill of canning is the next step for me to reach my life goal dream. With my hopes of a thriving garden this summer/fall I will need to be able to preserve our harvest. I lost a lot of good produce last year because I didn’t know how to preserve it and I just couldn’t eat it as fast as it was growing. So I have given myself the goal to learn how to can before I have a repeat of last year.
Albert Einstein said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result”
Luckily for me Albert, I am imperfect not insane. Which is perfect.
It has been a year since I have been back this time. So much has changed and yet has still stayed the same. It is like muscle memory to return.
I arrived very late a few days ago. Since recovering a little jet lag and working on adjusting baby bear’s sleep schedule too (we started today at 6am) and having a damn good meal (more on that shortly) I feel rejuvenated enough to get this written out.
We got back into the local area around midnight Japan time. Not a lot was open but luckily the amazing 7-11 is always there to save the day. We acquired some groceries *cough milk cough* and snacks. You cannot go to any Japanese convenience store and not get snacks! I usually don’t know what I am eating, I look at the package and hope for the best. I suppose it’s like that jelly bean game that was all the rage a while back. I like my version better. I scored some tasty coffee while we were there. Not my FAVORITE coffee but I haven’t found it yet. The search is part of the adventure that makes finding my coffee more rewarding. We also had to get onigiri while we were there.
Onigiri
I love onigiri. It is so simple but so powerful. It is one of my favorite foods. I want to learn how to make salmon onigiri (my FAVORITE onigiri). I have a terrible stomach. It is so fickle and makes eating such a pain. Onigiri is both bland and flavorful. The outer seaweed crisp and flavored of the sea (not all onigiri separates the seaweed from the rice keeping the nori crisp, I don’t care for that particular style) The sticky rice triangle is everything you would expect rice to taste like. However the center…is magic. There is so much yummy in the center that the bland outer shell makes sense. On it’s own, way to salty, but diluted by the rice. Heaven. When nothing else sounds good, onigiri sounds good. My angry stomach from the travel food was happy to have a comfort food after what I had put it through.
After I slept and was able to send Kevon on the morning baby bear routine and get some extra zzz’s we planned out our day. We had a limited time left with the rental car he used to retrieve us from the airport. We knew we needed to get some things to adjust better to returning to Japan. We got a toddler seat for the toilets. Baby bear might not be a fan of the heated seats but I sure am!! Plus now I won’t worry as much about her possibly falling in. We also got some toddler clothes hangers while we were at the “bunny store”. The “bunny store” is what the American locals call the store as the logo has a bunny on it with a blue circle in the background.
In the same shopping complex is the grocery store Sanwa. We didn’t really go in with a plan, we knew some basics that were needed but mostly just exploring the store. We had never shopped in that particular grocery before but it was convenient since it allowed us to finish multiple tasks in one stop. We now have eggs and butter which is a breakfast staple for baby bear and I. I grabbed some tiny eggplant that I want to grill up on top of some ramen I grabbed to eat later this week. I also grabbed a few of the local cups of ramen to try soon as they were a brand I could get back home but not a flavor and I enjoy that.
Once we got home and unloaded it was time to return the rental. I stayed behind with the baby (carrying the carseat back would have been miserable). I rearranged a bit to better suit our needs AKA our sectional is in a different shape now. One more day of unpacking and settling and I think we will be done. For about 3 months when we start prep-work for our PCS back to the United States and start all over again. After Kevon got back it was time for my damn good meal.
Yakiniku
Grilled meat. Amazing, delicious, intoxicating, primal grilled meat. Similar to Korean BBQ, I guess it could be called Japanese BBQ. Either way I love it. We have tried it several times at several shops and it is fairly similar across the board. At this point we may have even reach connoisseur status because there are key features we look at before ultimately agreeing to eat somewhere. We love the tablet option at the restaurants. With the language barrier it is much easier to order on the tablet which can typically be set to English in settings. We have eaten at restaurants without and it has been clumsy and awkward. Having a server who speaks any English is not a guarantee so it is really nice. We like the timed all you can eat option. This allows me to take my time and eat and get to try a little of everything while also getting Kevon as much as he wants too. Between the two of us we still eat for 2 people, not necessarily an even 2. I also got to meet one of the hub’s coworkers which was nice and he was excellent company over dinner so that made the evening so much better.
Now to plan out the week for whatever is yet to come. What adventures are on the books in your house?
When I started writing about this subject I didn’t believe our family had any traditions. But the more examples I tried to write about the more I realized that we did have some traditions already. I want more traditions. And consistent traditions! I want holiday traditions and birthday traditions. First day of school and last day of school. I want traditions to be a mix of food/fun. The idea of waking up on my birthday looking forward to it seems like such a strange idea, but to have something to look forward to when I go to bed the night before like a delicious and special breakfast. Fantastic!
My childhood traditions were less to do with material things and more to do with each other. At Christmas time there was never a guarantee that there would be anything under the tree, but in the weeks leading up to Christmas we would work on decorating the house together. That time was something I could always look forward to, consistently. Even if life had become crazy, we still had the festive feeling. I want those feelings and memories for my kids.
My hubs has traditions that he talks about too but they are so different than what I grew up with. He had family vacations. That was not something I remember having. I can think of going to Disney Land when I was 5 but not much after that. On the flip side my hubs doesn’t have any food traditions other than what we have started. He knows turkey is traditionally for thanksgiving. The Navy goes that far at least. He says growing up, that home cooked meals weren’t really a memory he had. For his birthday every year I try to give him the option of lasagna or steak. His 2 favorite foods. He usually picks the lasagna. Mostly because my steak game needs a LOT of improvement.
New Years Day
I would like to make it a tradition to spend this day putting up all the holiday decorations. It makes sense since most people have it off anyways. The month of January would be a good time to ‘start fresh’ too and clean out some closets. Make room for the new gifts received without over crowding your life. Clutter causes anxiety. Organization promotes well being. Is that a fact. I don’t know but it’s a personal belief for sure!
Valentines Day
I always used to wake up to a small box of candy and a valentines doll the morning of. Being a kid I was much more appreciative of the chocolate than the doll but that is likely most kids. Yay chocolate. I would like to start a tradition where we cook a nice dinner together as a family and try to make an intricate but not elaborate dessert together. I have never made a souffle before but I would like to try to. I also wouldn’t mind trying my hand at homemade macrons. I think it would be fun to try a new dessert together each year as a family. Making it together and dealing with the wins/fails as they come. We will either learn that some of those fancy looking desserts maybe aren’t so difficult or that even if they look terrible and don’t turn out right, they still taste good. Sometimes things going wrong make a better/funnier later memory anyways.
St. Patrick’s Day
I don’t really have memories associated with this holiday other than at school. You always need to wear green to prevent getting pinched and usually there was a class party with lots of green food. I fully support making a green dinner every year for this day. I could keep is simple, hello pesto. Or get creative with the foods to get them green. Color is always fun.
Easter
Decorating eggs is fun, I would like to try this year using natural dyes on the eggs. AKA beets to dye them red (ish?) I am not sure. Every time I have ever dyed eyes, I have gotten the little dye pellets like most other people. But I like eating the eggs after as egg salad or deviled eggs. The egg white are always tinted. How much of that dye is getting into my food. I would feel better about ingesting a natural color rather than a synthetic one. So starting now this will be an easy one to start implementing. Easter dinner I don’t have any traditions. I believe ham is a common dinner choice. I am not against it, but it isn’t love for me. I love ham, however I don’t love it as a main dish. A slice of ham sure. But eh. I love ham in soups and breakfast scrambles and such. But it’s not a star! The verdict is still out for an ideal Easter dinner.
Mother’s Day
I don’t feel this is a ‘dinner’ holiday. Brunch on the other hand… I don’t know the perfect menu. I will happily volunteer my tummy to the cause though.
Father’s Day
Father’s day feels more like a grilling holiday. If dad’s and setting things on fire don’t go hand in hand, I don’t know what does. Probably super loaded gourmet type burgers if I had to guess. Avocado, bacon, homemade sauce. Mmmm.
Independence Day
We intermittently celebrate this one. It depends whats going on really. We try to go see fireworks. Good food and good friends make this holiday the real treat. Something grilled to eat. Too hot to cook. BBQ ribs are usually a hit with my homemade sauce. Can’t wait to start sharing recipes. I love my BBQ sauce recipe. Sweet, spicy, savory, tangy, delicious.
Halloween
I love doing family costumes where we all match. I think it is fun for us and fun for the kiddo when we all participate. We have done a year where we were Nintendo characters which was a lot of fun. I feel like this tradition may ebb and flow as the kids grow but that is okay. Life is always changing after all.
Thanksgiving
Turkey! I usually make more food than should be allowed. But the tradition we have held on to since our first year together was to open up our home to those who do not have a place to go for the holidays. We usually have family. But we get coworkers too. I have made to-go boxes for people to grab on the way to work. I have been “forwarded” people looking for a meal. I have made food for mamas stuck in the hospital after having baby (it was enough for the new dad too) it is thanksGIVING after all. And cooking a little more when I already have a ton of cooking to do doesn’t make much of a difference for me, but can change someones whole day to have a home cooked thanksgiving meal.
Christmas
I would like to continue the 4 gift rule. 1 want, 1 need, 1 outfit, 1 book. I would like to begin decorating. This year with the help of my neighbor was the first year we have decorated for Christmas and baby bear loved it!! So I will never not decorate again. I would like to make a huge family event out of it someday. Make some homemade cocoa in the crock pot, maybe a cinnamon braid in the oven with quiche. Hanging up the decorations while reminiscing what the years endeavors held. Make a day of it. Maybe add some of the holiday baking to that day too. Then everyone can splurge on the cookies while they are still warm from the oven. Smells and tastes trigger some of the strongest memories. Like Thanksgiving we typically open our home Christmas day for dinner and I would like to continue that. I would like to hone my menu though. I aspire to someday pass my recipes down to my family and friends. So getting my staples is important to me.
Birthdays
I would like to do a traditional birthday breakfast and dinner. I think rainbow sprinkle pancakes for breakfast (unless the birthday person wants something else) and birthday dinner of their choosing. I alternate between 2 things I want for dinner. I want to go out or I want kielbasa casserole. Those are my birthday dinners of choice. Always. So basically I don’t feel like cooking on my birthday or I wan’t kielbasa casserole bad enough to make it. Hubs usually wants Lasagna as that is his favorite dish. We try a new macaroni and cheese recipe to celebrate our first daughters birthday. And as for baby bear…the verdict is still out.
Now that this is written down I can start making small adjustments each celebration in this upcoming year to work towards these aspirations for myself and my family. Things always seem more achievable when written down because you can break things up in to steps. This year new years day will be spent helping my grandparents take down their Christmas decorations. Valentines plans will commence soon. Suddenly I can see why stores put out holiday garb so early. Looking forward to Valentines day already and December isn’t even finished.
-Cait
I have been away from my husband a long time. This year we saw each other twice. Once in January and again in August. That’s it. It has been hard on me, hard on him, and even harder on our kiddo. But we are 3 weeks away from reuniting.
Why are you apart?
After unfortunate orders to Japan were received we all moved there as a happy family. We lived there for a year. It was beautiful, delicious, enlightening, and culturally rich. It was also expensive. Especially when a 2 income family is forced into 1 income. I am a nurse by trade and that just isn’t something available in that area. Sure the jobs come up, but it isn’t a local hire. You will be on the same website with all the people around the world. The odds are not in anyone’s favor. Working off base in my field might be a possibility if I spoke the local language but I do not. I learned enough to interact but that is about it. Alternatively there is occasionally availability in the embassy but that is rare.
Alternatively the available options outside of my field could include working at the base market, the base department stores, teaching English to locals, and opening a home based business. After factoring in the cost of childcare and transportation to facilitate maintaining the job, it wasn’t worth it to be away from my family.
What did you do?
The best solution we could come up with was to separate the family, I would return with the babe and resume work as a nurse. This would also benefit my need to maintain a certain amount of hours to keep my nursing license valid. And so I did. And I have been back for a year and a half. A YEAR AND A HALF. We have been a family via internet and ‘visits’. Awful.
The comfort was knowing that all of this sacrifice and struggle now would pay off later. This was benefiting the ‘dream’ and the ‘big picture’. It wasn’t actually comforting in case you were wondering. It’s been miserable. But being the ever optimist that I am (The glass is neither half full, nor half empty. There is room for ice. Add the ice yourself.) I tried to make the most out of my time away.
How did you do it?
HARD WORK! But mostly friends actually. Friends helped me so much with childcare. I had friends help me load yard debris several times. (Fun Fact: It NEVER stops growing, the work never ends) I also had family help. I have grandparents and cousins local who have helped a ton. And my Aunt has been amazing with dump runs. My saving grace however is my neighbor. More accurately my BFF. She has been amazing. She has restored the sanity in my brain. I am still crazy as all get out I’m sure but I am functioning again. She helped me get my derailed renovation back on track and now it is finally wrapping up.
Reaching a point in the project where I walk away is hard. I want to FINISH the project. There is a term among crafters called UFO (unfinished object). That is what this feels like. Not every project is a ‘right now’ project. Most are ‘someday’ and ‘later’ projects. So only completing the ‘right now’ to do list is less than satisfying. This whole home has been such a DIY journey which felt worth sharing so from here on forward we will. But for now this project goes on to the UFO shelf.
When did the plan change back?
Shortly after our August ‘visit’ we decided that this was to emotionally draining and wasn’t worth it. So we crunched the numbers and determined that we could be back on our feet by the end of the year and allow myself to return to unemployment. So we went online and determined ticket cost and found a reasonable ticket for mid January. Which brings me back to 21 days.
I am 3 weeks away from reunification. I am counting down. I didn’t even realize I had been counting until I was asked and immediately responded with the exact days remaining. It is hard not to. My husband is my other half. There are just no substitutions.
Where is the adventure leading?
From here in good ol’ Oregon USA I will fly to Japan. Flying into Haneda this time so that will be new. Our family is stationed in Yokosuka so that is the area I comfortably shop in but I have explored Tokyo a little and Yokohama as well. I am hoping to travel much further in the remaining time that I have in Japan and explore some more foods mostly. Japan has such a difference in foods regionally. I would like to seek them out and try them! After the 6ish (Military timelines) months we will be heading somewhere near Chicago. Not sure where yet. Must still be ‘need to know’ or something Once that information is received I will have the next piece for updating the timeline. But for now that’s what we’ve got. I am pretty good about thinking on the fly so luckily I roll with whatever I am given. But hopefully the amount of stuff I have to roll with starts to go down.
Less rolling, more living.
-Cait