What a Month!

December 7th we started the move... my husband grabbed a friend and the kids and I and we loaded the truck and trailer and off we went... we get to the new place and unload. My husband goes back to the old place to finish packing and get the old place cleaned up and bring the last load up to the ranch. It was suppose to be 2 days... ended up being 4... I was close to a melt down by the time he finally got back. But when he got here he had help and all our stuff.

While I was waiting for him, the kids and I played and I did a LOT of cleaning... there is 30 years of a 2 pack a day smoker smoke on the walls along with layers of dust in all the high and hidden places and the doom room that I will be attacking later... I started in the kitchen. General household cleaning products were not working... and then when David arrived he brought a cleaner that is BOMB DIGGITY...


Dirty Jobs cut through the layers of tar, smoke and dust like it was nothing. My cleaning got so much easier with this stuff!

I don't suppose it ecology friendly but sure does what it is suppose to do and after days of trying to clean and getting little progress I didn't care. It cut through the grime and it got it pretty and that is what I needed. There is so much more to do but now that the holidays and January birthdays are over I can get back to it.

The move, a cleaning, 10 days after we moved our first little storm and then a HUGE storm that brought 2 feet of snow and for days it snowed every day... a bit of craziness. It snowed again last night another 4 inches. This is the most snow we have had up here about 10 years and of course it comes our first month here...

Right now we have decided that we are just going to muddle through the winter the best we can and try not to worry too much about getting things perfect...survival... staying warm and dry and hanging in until spring gets here... then we will get to work and do what we have to do to make this work!

FINALLY

We are back ONLINE!!!!! It is slower than I had anticipated an I don't understand the upload/download limits just yet but we are ONLINE!

The move has been an adventure and there have been a lot of things happening as we get use to living off grid. Tonight I have a lot to get done so I am not going to go into all the details...

Suffice to say we are moved in, we are settling in, winter hit with a vengeance and we had 2 ft of snow before we got all our wood in. But even so we have all we need for the moment and God will bring us what we need between now and when we need it.

Feeling very blessed and I will post details soon!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

 We are moving 1 day early and I will be without internet for 4 days...

We will be taking our truck and trailer up to the property on Friday and then while I unpack and chase kids and do the cleaning that needs to get done, my husband will come back to town and pack up the rest of the old place and bring the rest up.

Ready....
Set....
Let's Rock and Roll!!!!!!

Be good! See ya'll next Monday!

Bible Verses for Dedication

Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.
2 Samuel 7:29

Blessings!

Yesterday a friend offered us our first starter chickens! SO EXCITED! One rooster and a couple of hens.

It is so amazing to watch as all this comes together! 

Rise and Shine!

Good Morning Readers!

Rain Rain and more Rain (and some snow up at the ranch)

Four more days and we will be up at the ranch! I struggled a bit yesterday- didn't pack a single box after all my intention to get as much packing done as possible.

It came about as several comments were made about our new place, it's location, my adult children having doubts about this... just a lot of dirt being thrown about to cloud my intentions.

Later I was BLESSED to hear a message where the speaker said something to the affect that if we look at the negatives thrown at us as soil needed to set our seed in the ground, it will lose the power to stop us and give us the power to sprout and grow <3 I like the analogy and this morning I am using it to get things moving after yesterday's struggles.

So the plan today is to wash everything in the kitchen and pack all but the absolute necessities needed to get us through the next four days. I am also going to finish packing the kids room, leaving out only a couple of toys to help them stay occupied. If I can get those two things done I will feel very accomplished.

It's THIS WEEK!

 Packing packing packing! Getting everything ready to go to the new house! We are almost there! Boy I had not realized how many electronic gadgets we have until I started packing...
Most of this will never be used again, so I am donating them. I did keep the waffle iron 

While packing, I have discovered some treasures that had been tucked away. I am excited that in the new house these treasures will be able to bless our family. I am really trying to discard anything that isn't needed or loved. It isn't as easy as it sounds (at least for me) since so many things trigger memories and so then I put an emotional attachment to the item because of the memory. Not sensible, but a battle I have.




Yesterday, in town, we had a flood. Most of Northern California is wet wet wet. A good thing given the drought we have had. This is really exciting for the new property. With a wet year, I will be able to do so much more this spring to get the property to the self sufficiency model we desire. Water is the most necessary thing in raising plants and animals (and children).

When I talked to David last night (he is at the property helping get things done there) he told me they had sow instead of rain. This is a good thing. God is so good!



I am trying to come up with some strategies for the food storage issues we are going to have at the new place. I think for winter we are going to be stuck with a lot of canned foods. Not my first choice, however until the issues of food preservation are resolved I am not seeing what else we can do.

Next year we will have an advantage. We will can and preserve our own foods and by then we will have come up with some sort of way to freeze foods. I am looking at a couple of different possibilities and also hoping that perhaps my husbands water wheel will supply the power to run a convention freezer. It is still a wait and see situation.


I am so excited! Even though we will be without so many things that people take for granted, I know that this move is going to be such an amazing thing for my family!!!!