I thought I could do it...

Well if you remember back a ways this City Chick thought that she would be able to go into the work force full time and give up some of the joys of being a domestic goddess.  Well I am here to tell you that it is NOT going to happen.  I have officially cut my hours back to a mere 18 hours per week after only five months on the job.  It is not that I don't like my job.  I do...well I like it well enough.  It doesn't really feed my soul the way that it needs to be fed.  I thought that the extra money would be nice and don't get me wrong it has been.  It has helped pay for my new sewing room remodel and a few little bobbles here and there but it hasn't brought me joy.  I knew it wouldn't because I am not that kind of girl that believes that money will ever bring happiness.  It does make some things easier which can contribute to happiness but it is not the true cause of it.  It is my family and friends and that do that.  I miss blogging, reading and writing them.  I miss sewing and being creative. 

So my new schedule starts on Sunday and I can't wait!  I have made a promise to myself that I will start posting on this here blog on a regular basis.  I will show you all the new things that I have been creating around my urban homestead.   Thanks to all of you that have been supportive these last few months.  You all bring me such joy and happiness. 

Ahh! Finally a free moment...

I know we all have those days & weeks that never really seem to end. They just go right into the next day like a little blur. OK for some of you it is a life style choice! You know who I am talking about the ones that thrive in there own little chaotic whirlwind. I have some dear friends that fit that particular mold but for me I prefer the more simple life. Not that I don't have my fleeting moments of craziness that I absolutely wouldn't trade. I just prefer to not make them a daily habit.

So you know that in my last post I let you all know that we were making a few changes in our lives here at City Chick's Urban Homestead. Well I am please to report that all has gone along smoothly. Yes, the son still guilt's me for being a full-time working Mom at every opportunity he can find. I really love my job and nearly everyone I work with but I do have to admit that 40 hours per week and an additional 7 hours of driving to and from per week is causing me a little more chaos than I like in my life. It does start to take a toll on the household chores and my farmgirl chores. Well not chores so much as the fact that I haven't had time to craft or sew! So I have decided that at the end of my first ninety days, which ends January 15th, I am going to put in for a schedule change and go down to 30-32 hours per week. That is until I can get on the at-home-agent team. Of course who knows how long that will take. Cutting back my hours will still give me plenty of extra money to support my fabric and textile habit! However, it will give me some time to enjoy it also. I am ready to step out of my little personal cyclone and feed my creative side again!

A change is a coming....

All summer long I felt depleted for some unknown reason. It may have been the due to the unusually cool, yet uncomfortable muggy weather. It may have been due to the fact that all that weather made my garden very unproductive and sent my farmgirl heart into a downward spiral when I realized I wouldn't be making any fresh salsa this year. It could have been the fact that I focused so much on my children and family that their was little left more me. You know how it goes...one minute they need you for everything the next they don't want you near them. I love my family dearly but as I sat staring out the window and glancing at my dusty sewing machine a couple weeks back I knew I was due for a change. So no matter what the cause of my summer blahs had been I declared it to be officially over! So over the last several weeks I have been making some swift and decisive changes.

First, Donovan had been asking to go to public school for several months... so one unsuspecting day I decided I would let him go. That very same day I went to the districts main office and enrolled him. It wasn't easy since he had been homeschooled all his life up until this year. I think he was just as amazed that I went through with it. After getting his class schedule redone and meeting some new friends he is doing great. Thriving actually and even getting all A's and B's...all except that D in spanish.

Second, I decided that in order to continue growing and nurturing my farmgirl spirit I was going to need to make a little more money than what my pittily little part time job was giving me. So I gently told my husband that I had every intention of going out and getting a new job. A full time one! Not that he is not a great provider for us. He is amazing and all our bills are paid and we don't use credit cards. Cash and carry only here. However, I felt I needed one that would allow me to pad my bank account so that we can do a little traveling. Next year this farmgirl can make it to MaryJane's Farm Fair over the 4th of July without worrying about if the extra funds would be there or not. Since we don't use and rely on credit cards in our household this trip was not possible to take this year. Basically though my "wants" are starting to outgrow my "needs". Is it selfish of me though at 35 to decide to myself first? Ok honestly I would never put myself first above my children so third. It is not like everyone won't benefit from having the extra cash on hand. I have to admit though going out and getting a full time job was a bit more emotional than I thought it would be. I had so many emotions once I accepted the position and still do a little. I haven't worked full time in so long(over 17 years to be exact) that I am still uncertain of how I will juggle it all. I suppose I will figure it out as I go.

I feel more changes are on there way but they will be good. I can see me outside finishing the interior of the chicken coop, and rerocking the fire pit so we can roast marshmallows over it as the evening temps start to drop. I can see several piles of fabric that have been calling my name. I am feeling energized and have a renewed sense of self worth. I know that as a wife and mother my contributions to this family have been abounding and abundant but they will continue to flourish even when I am not here 24/7.

Turning life into a bowl of cherries...

It all started at Whole Food. I was innocently there to pick up some fruit and veggies. I was there looking specifically for some cherries. After looking for them and not seeing them I continued along on my shopping. A trip there takes long enough without me dwelling on not finding exactly the one thing I really wanted. As I was leaving I grabbed my bags of goodness, put the cart away and would you believe it right before my eyes clear as day were my cherries. I scooped up two bags and headed back to the checkout.

Have you ever had one of those days, well months, where it feels like all you have been doing is running? Either running errands or running the kids, pets, or spouse somewhere? Your brain just can't seem to catch up to the daily activities in a timely fashion? Well that is somewhat how my last month seemed to go more or less. As women I think that we have those moments. Well I decided to do something about this past week. I started it all off with calling the Internet provider to see if we could get a higher speed connection so that my family members could stream videos and play their online games more efficiently. Unfortunately, I had to switch companies but that is ok I didn't mind too terribly. Then once I had that done I called Directv and had them get our service down to the bare minimum of programming. I decided that we had all been spending way to much time on the telly. Alright, I am definitely 2nd runner up to the title of T.V. Goddess so I figured I needed to break free. Yes, I do love television in all its glory. The lure of watching beautiful people on the telly has always been a past time of mine as long as I can remember. I think it must have started as a small child watching the Lawrence Welk Show with my grandfather. All those girls in pretty dresses. Then of course Solid Gold came out and yes, gramps watched that as well. It was ritual that you watched t.v. in the evening. I now discovered that most shows I like come out on video or my children can find them online and set it up for me to watch it through the PS3 onto the t.v. screen. Ah, technology! It is sort of like living with men. Can't live with them and can't live without them.

So all this week I took a much need break. Yes, I still did some housework and laundry but more importantly I took time to just sit and read. A pastime that enjoy but regard as a treat because I never seem to have time. Well this week I read three books in a series of books based on what else...a t.v. show. Well the book of course are much better and intriguing. Plus, they were an easy flowing read from start to finish. But now it is back to business. I still need to get that chicken coop painted and put in the garden this weekend. None of my tomato seeds came up so I am being bailed out big time by my farmgirl friends, Beth and Celeste. Beth assured me that she will bring me an assortment of tomato plants to market Saturday. I also have to get busy sewing a few things. I have bags and piles of fabric everywhere just waiting to made into something. Of course none of those things seem like work when I see the finished results.

So now I am all refreshed and thinking straight again. Life is like a bowl of cherries here at this City Chick Homestead once again.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a busy week here at the City Chick's homestead. It all started with mulching the front flower beds with straw and replanting a couple things. Then we decided to take a little breather from the chicken coop this weekend to focus on the fence that the city is requiring us to put in. Yes, even though we are going to be putting up an actual chicken run we still need to fence in the remaining part of our backyard. Just in case they make a run for it. However, with this mansion I hope that will never even cross their precious little minds. There wasn't much of an area to fence but for those of you that know me you are aware that if I make one trip to Lowe's or the Depot that I end up having to make at least one more (sometimes two) for the stuff I had forgotten. Since we are not builders here at the homestead this happens quite often. Which makes me happy that I live only 10 miles or so from Lowe's. So the fence is all completed now with the exception of the chicken wire that I have to put around the bottom edge.

I am thrilled with how well it looks so i must thank the city guy. Even though the backyard still needs some work I look out upon it and see the real potential. The potential to have little to no grass that is. Of course that means getting those gardens tended and turned this week. Arg! Gardens. I do love to garden and harvest the fruits of our labor but this year I am attempting to start seeds, plant only heirlooms and needless to say it is not going so well. So far none of them have sprouted. What gives? I planted them all according to the directions and in nice organic seed starter soil. At this rate I guess I will just try to start those darn tomatoes directly into the soil and hope for the best. Next year maybe I will have better luck. After all I did just snag two old windows from someones garbage this weekend to make a cold frame. Until next time...Bloom where you Grow.

So it is started...

Well this was a busy weekend. It definitely fueled my creative spirit. I was able to work some more on my punch needle project for starts. Darn I had no idea how time consuming that new little craft would be! I think when it is done it will be well worth it though and I am already wanting to start another one I saw at the quilt store or design one of my own.

The most exciting part though was to start of the chicken coop! Me and my hubby started it finally. Even Jade lent a helping hand. Which if you know my beloved first born she is sort of a non-manual-labor type of girl. She was a great help though. Now if you know me and my hubby you know we are not builders by trade. Yes, I took shop and drafting in high school so I feel pretty comfortable but not confident in my skills. We got the plans online. While they were decent and had pictures they were not precise and we had to improvise quite a bit. However, surprisingly we did get it all framed in and the door hung. I love the door it is one that we found at the habitat Re-Store. We had a few disagreements during the building process but of course he usually gives in to what I want anyway. He is too good to me.

Yesterday the hubby took me to find the handle. I don't think he knows what that has fully lead to though. At least not yet. The reason I say that is because we originally started out going back to the Re-Store to get the handle. Well they didn't have any there that would work so the gentleman there suggested we go up to A & R Salvage to look. WOW!!! I can't imagine how I never knew of this place. It was filled with all kinds of recycled goodies. Old concrete slabs from some of local buildings, iron fence sections, doors, windows, screens and even old cast iron claw foot tubs. You name it they had it. I will be going back because I may be getting the old tin roofing for our coop but I really want to see how much they are wanting for the old iron fencing. It would make a beautiful garden trellis for my beans. I will have to see though because Jade and I still need to finish the interior of the coop. The new city-chicks will need a home with a little farmgirl flair to stay cozy and happy.

It was an amazing weekend so a big thanks to Todd for helping me feed my much deflated creative side.

Springing along

Well, it has been a while since I have had time to tend this little blog. I wish I could tell you all that I have been feeding my creative spirit all this time but unfortunately that has not been the case. Although I did take my punch needle class out at Country Sampler last week. Of course I haven't worked on it a minute since I left the building.

So what have I been doing all this time? Well my front flowers did finally get their much needed cleaning. I cleared all the straw out and all the last little bits of mulch that I could. It was just in the nick of time too. The spring rains that have moved in have really brought my perennials up. My husband took me down to the compost site and ever so graciously filled the truck bed with the "black gold". Then he came home and helped me spread it all around where I want the new garden to go. I did help with my OES chapter dinner. I was supposed to be more active in the planning but I guess I wasn't needed so that didn't happen. It has been a sore subject for the last 2 weeks in my house and I am glad it is over! So that is all I will be saying about that one.

Creatively though I did manage to get my mail art done. Of course it is still waiting patiently to be mailed. Sorry I haven't sent it yet Melanie!! It is going to Canada so I need to go have it weighed at the post station so that it actually makes it there. I will put that first on my list of to-do things once I leave this house today. Then I'm off to run the remaining errands. Is there ever an end to them? I feel that is all I do some weeks. Run here then run there. Maybe I have been slacking on my time management skills. This week I am going to try and do better though. I won't be getting pulled in so many directions and I am going to definitely take some time for me. I need to feed that creative side of my brain a bit more than I have been. So hopefully in my next post I can show something...maybe I will finish one of those UFO's that are sitting there staring at me.