Let the bidding begin

In order to get more money I am in the process of setting up a bunch of ebay items. My hope is to sell all the extra stuff that is worth something. I have done a few and it helps to let go. You can not take anything with you when you die, I know many people try but it is your soul and God. That is enough, so anything that keeps me overwhelmed here is not good.

My responsibilities are less somewhat by that fact there are no chickens. We have not yet begun to do the big clean up of the barn. I am still tied up with the goats but it is getting easier to deal with.

I signed up with a listing helper, so far it seems easy and better than ebay. I am not sure yet though as I have actually listed the items I have only done the set-up. I am a lover of graphics, and plain ebay is a bit bland for me. Hopefully this will increase my sale amount. That is the theory at least. What this does allow me to do is set up stuff at one time and list it when I am ready. I would prefer to list a bunch of things at a time then two or three things and pray something sells. The more I sell the more money in my pocket, I need to hear some jingle!

County Show Final Day

Our premium sale was tonight. TD did well. We did notice that smaller kids tended to make more money, which is sad when you are a Senior. But he is done, we will not know his final dollar amount till later this week. We know that several add money to him, hopefully he will do great. Either way it was his last livestock show, I asked him and his other Senior friends what they felt, they are ready to move on. This time seems to sail by to me, and he seems to want to use the fast drive.

County Show Update

Here from the floor of the county show just a few moments ago (okay from my computer at the house hours after it happened) TD placed second in the pullet poultry. The one thing I know is he will be in the premium sale. That was his only goal, to get to the sale. W placed twelth place in the cockeral division. He could move up maybe. But what we know is TD is. W has four more years, and TD only won last year and this year. If W had taken what we thought was the best pen he would be in the premium sale. You don't know what you have till you get there. Our pullets (females) were huge.

This picture I took of the pullet on Wednesday, look at her isn't she pretty?

The Beast and Me

I thought about not posting this right now. My life is going well, and you don't want to focus on the bad stuff. But what I know more than anyone else is the isolation someone can feel in this time. When I thought longer about it, what most new patients don't get is cancer is a journey. Perhaps this will help someone.

Three years ago I was in turmoil. I had not been formally diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew I had it. It was the secret I carried with Hubby, my mom and a few very close friends. It was not the time that I remember fondly, it was shear torture. I knew I was facing a long treatment, and my kids had no idea. They had a livestock show to do; they were planning the next show in the fall, which I knew we could not compete. After my biopsy, I was not okay. I had lost weight prior to my mammogram, and somehow I remember being cold and tired. I remember thinking how people had so much energy and I felt drained. I would watch people at the show and marvel at the energy they had.

Cancer has a way of giving limbo land. The time before you know you have it for sure and the time you think you might have it. All of us deal with limbo land differently. I sleep when under stress, so I could have slept about 20 hrs a day. Only with a livestock show, you sleep maybe 5 hrs a day. There is always someone to be fed, either people or animals.

The reason I share this torture is not so that you as a reader can feel sympathy it is because so many people we all know are in limbo land each day. They are on the edge of knowing the beast. It is something that should be talked about more, during this time all I could do is wonder how people stayed sane in limbo land. I also remember as petty as I was looking at people that I considered awful parents and wondering why they didn’t have cancer. I remember I was resenting the non-cancer people and adoring survivors. The entire time no one really knew I was in this struggle.

The day I found out, another gal who has a senior son found out she had thyroid cancer. K was the one person that worked with her and knew me so deeply. She had a terrible day that day. She heard that two people she was close to had cancer. The other mother and I met at the FFA banquet that night; we hugged and cried a bit. It was something to know regardless of what happened to you another family was going through the cancer crud along with you.

Funny when I look back I have to remember the pain. What no one is ever willing to tell you is Cancer is a Blessing. Well Tony Snow said it and I agree with him more each day, what cancer does teach you is what is so important is precious. It is the time in the barn even when the kids are goofing off and not working. It is watching the goats do something funny, and watching the baby goats being born. The times when your kid makes you laugh because you never thought they would be that funny.

The pettiness that I had in limbo land turned into a self-reflection of my own priority list. The livestock shows are not important, but the work as a family that we do together even when Hubby is driving us nuts with the chickens is priceless. What I cannot get back is the time I did not spend with them, but what I can forever hold dear is being unwilling to spend anytime away from them that I can. God revealed to me so many wonderful blessings through cancer. I really wish there had been an easier way to do it but God know best.

What a wonderful journey God has given me these past three years.

Seniors at the County Show

This is every senior we could find at our county show. There are some kids in there that have been showing poultry for years. Most of this group just came to help hold poultry for someone else. I love this picture because all of these kids are special. I love how they came together for this picture. We took many before they were happy. As Crystals says the picture is about her shirt. She is the one in Seniors 08.

Honey Girl

This is Honey girl. She is our yellow lab, she is older and less willing to deal with the puppies but to us Honey is the dog we can count on to protect the house 24/7. I know that she would love to be inside, but her fur coat makes her uncomfortable inside. As S says she makes a perfect pillow when you want to stare at the clouds. S and Honey share a special bond that few get to.

Hit that Thing Harder for Me

I have a Dell computer, matter of fact I have a Dell laptop as well. My brother has a Gateway. There are times when you believe that everyone else on the web is doing great soaring away on the internet. You sit back and know that somehow you are alone in the world of cyber surfing chaos. Well as my brother would say, “Kathy honestly the only thing I can think of is to shoot my computer.” My brother has lots of company, but in his moments of despair he is convinced that the world would be a better place with his computer shot in it’s hard drive, which is saying a lot considering he is a pacifist.

Griff Jenkins is a reporter I got hooked on during the 54 million dollar cleaners lawsuit in D.C. Griff has a wonderful sense of humor, but also did some great reporting on the 54 million dollar pants all while wearing colorful pants. So in honor of my brother who as far as I know could shoot his computer at any time I wanted to share with you what I consider some of Griff’s best work.

Man vs Machine

For all of us out there Griff Thanks!

Pancho rough and Ready

I love this picture of Pancho, he looks so strong. He is ready to chase any squirrel or bird that might happen to come into his backyard. When you look at this picture it is hard to remember Pancho only weighs 5.6 lbs. He is all muscle!

Lefty tall and Proud

This is the perfect picture of Lefty. I got a new camera to take TD's graduation pix and ebay pix. This picture captures him to a T. I cannot take his picture, when he doesn't see my face he gets nervous. W took this one of Left.

Of course I need 10 of those

I buy some things in bulk, but not all things. My thought process is based on usage, cost and need for the item. Paper towels and toilet paper I buy in bulk the brands I know I use. I typically use coupons and sales if I can find them. We have a Sam’s membership, but it is not always the cheapest on every item. I also believe in buying in bulk shampoo, soap and toothpaste. The items that you use everyday and the brands that work best for you can be bargains especially when there is cost of gas to figure into it. I no longer buy special items in bulk, you know the items that are new and you have to try that day! I don’t buy products I wouldn’t buy otherwise. I do have a linen closet that I house all my bulk paper goods. It makes it easier to find them in one spot.

What you have to use when shopping is a calculator. Figure out the ounce cost if you are unsure, something is a bargain or not. Most stores use the price per ounce code but not all do. So that is why the calculator is a must, it can take precious time to see if something is cheap or not. I have stock items I store in my cupboard at most times. Cans of tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste, noodles, rice, and all the normal baking goods I keep on hand if I can afford them. That way when you have a ½ to 1 lb of meat to cook you have options to make the food stretch. A can of tomatoes adds volume and flavor to many dishes. I tend to buy 5 bags of beans at a time, they stretch your meals as well as adding fiber and protein to every meal. I have slowly switched our pasta and rice diet over to whole wheat and brown rice. I still have hunger pains for white rice some days, but I know I am better off health wise with brown rice.

My freezer has in it at any given time vacuum sealed bags of hamburger or turkey I buy in bulk on sale. I wait until something is on sale, I may buy 10 lbs of a meat then I divide into 10 meal portions or more. It is easiest to do the bulk buying on meat and cheapest. I tend to have a better handle on how much meat we eat when I use my vacuum sealed method. We have a wonderful place where I can buy frozen hamburger patties that are 3 oz or less. They cook quickly; they give the taste of a burger without all the guilt. So I try to keep 2-3 packages of 6 burgers on hand. Most burgers I see in most stores are huge portions.

If you do any one of these steps or many you will realize how little you really need to go to the store. Gradually I have come to figure out what is cheap and cost effective and what is not. Bulk buying can be art in motion or a checkbook out of control. This is why the list is the most important item on it! The list keeps you focused when a sugar rush is around the corner.

Good Friday

This being Good Friday I thought for this weekend only I would focus on my faith and perhaps what your faith is. I was raised in church. God has never not been a part of my life. As a teenager I hungered for a deeper relationship with God. As I was a Methodist my hunger was quelled by bible studies, but through the years I still wanted God on an intimate level. Until I became born again I did not know what I wanted only that I didn’t have it. I came to Christ almost 17 years ago after the birth of my first child.

So as Mary watched her baby boy die thousand of years ago I think of my relationship with TD. I love him more than he will ever comprehend, and yet he is going away to college. So Mary knew Jesus was to fulfill a bigger need on earth for God, she must have had the faith that passing understanding.

So as we take some time to talk to friends and celebrate with eggs, candy and toys. Let us not forget the real reason for our celebration. The gift that God, Mary and Jesus gave to us several thousand years ago. Jesus died today, we celebrate this day as a dark day, Sunday will be a brilliant day. But today let us morn the need for Jesus to die, our separation from God. As I was a teenager wanting so deeply to be closer, he wanted me close. It took me years to find it, but my faith has sustained me through many trials and tribulations.

Master Calender and Me

We use a master calendar. I have tried many methods but the master calendar is the only thing that has been successful. Not all family calendars are created equal. We have two teenage boys both with very active lives. Our homeschool has a hectic schedule as well. At times, this family is in five different directions. We have odd things that sometimes require a parent to be there, and other things that TD goes to alone. It is not easy to know where anyone is at any given moment without the master calendar.

As I tell everyone that needs me to be somewhere unless it makes my master calendar the odds are not in. I have a family of five, plus my mom, dogs, goats and chickens to keep up with. There is no way I can juggle all of any of our important dates in my head. As I have previously blogged, I am a real person with real issues of time management and organization. The master calendar has taken off a real load for me. This is my calendar, Mom's Family Calendar 2008. I have the 2007 edition but it is a sixteen-month calendar so I will be buying another one in 2009. It has five columns, one for each family member in my family. Many calendars have three maybe four, but few have five. It also comes with extras that alone the way I lost but they might be helpful to you. I keep all activities of my kids; my mom’s appointments go under my name. Hubby’s shift schedule is under his. Any family dates I block out with writing across. I use all colors of sharpies to mark on it. My initial idea was to get one color of sharpie for each person, but in the heat of the moment of someone calling me to announce a meeting I wrote it in the nearest sharpie I could find.

While this may seem like a basic organizational tip, believe me when I tell you for 17 years I have searched for such a calendar. Big enough to put everything in it, and yet fun enough for me to want it on the wall. When I am out I still put things on my small purse planner, then I transfer them to the master calendar. It is the one place I can check for conflicts. As TD goes to college, it will be a struggle to keep up when he plans to be home, and what financial deadlines he has for us. I plan to use this until TD is out of college. He will then move to the last column but he needs a column of his own for my reference.

This is not a bad place to put important bill dates either. I am a big hand writer, by that I mean my handwriting is huge. I need space, and most calendars do not give me that. If you have a better calendar than comment about it. We all need some help at times.

Life is like the Horny Toad

It should be noted I know the correct term is Horned Toad, but with Texas blood in my veins and my politically uncorrect nature I refuse to buckle on what every native Texan knows to be the name of the beloved lizard.

I remember being a small girl in West Texas, there was nothing much to play with on A & M street but horny toads and rattlesnakes. I tried to avoid the snakes, but the toads were amazing. I can remember many a day watching them move and crawl across the lawn of our backyard. I did not realize back then that my fascination of horny toads would be such a vivid memory. Horny toads can be seen at a few zoos but I don’t see them anywhere where I have lived in decades. There is a whole group of theories out there about what happened to the toad? But for me and my house I stand on the fact that growing up fire ants were no where to be found. Now they have taken over Texas. They are the plague we can not seem to rid Texas of. I have heard of and used so many treatments your head would spin, but the reality is fire ants seem to have no real enemy here in Texas. They are not native, they came on ships to Texas. I wish we could send them all back.

My love of horny toads and hatred of fire ant reveal to me a real need for agriculture. The family farmers of old are dying, the middle aged ones are taking full time jobs like Hubby. The young kids look at the family farm as a hobby, but realize it is not a truly viable career. Something in Agriculture has to be done, what most people that are unaware of is the amount of restrictions that are placed on American farmers. The fruit and vegetables you eat from foreign soil does not have the restrictions American farmers face. Many of foreign farmers are subsidized up front, the governments pay the farmers to plant. Here is America we are only paid a small portion if the crop fails. And that is who the family is competing against, foreign farmers on a payroll or corporate farmers on salary. Farmers farm because of the love of the land it is not about money. It is about tradition and keep agriculture alive in America.

The other secret about agriculture that no one ever truly says is the Farm Bill is not mostly about farming or agriculture. Long ago agriculture and food stamps got combined. So when they speak of the farm bill, it is truly a food stamp bill with some agriculture aid added. The farmers wait for the Ag bill to come down, mainly because the numbers on it tell you if you can even afford to plant a crop or not. While prices are up in the grocery store your local farmer is not making more money, it is the middle men that are.

I never thought those days of staring at horny toads would help me understand agriculture but it is, I miss the horny toad, and I can only hope American Agriculture will not face the same fate.

Hipster PDA, love of Index Cards

I am addicted to the idea of the hipster PDA. I did not invent all I did was find it. It is an old post, been around for years. To me it is brand new. It is frugal organization at it's best, it is beauty in simplicity. I have loved index cards for years. But now I adore them.

The first orginal one that I saw was not the actual orginal. But this guy had his entire life on index cards. Complete with notes on everything, he displayed them in card deck fashion. I wish I could once again find his site. It was index art in motion. I am sure he got the idea from 43 folders, or another site referring to the hipster PDA, but in my mind it was art. What I use is 3 x5s with the binder clip. I have begun passing out my lists to the boys for what they need to do each day. I have my own list, plus I even make lists for my stuff I must do for Mom and Hubby. My life has become lists of lists, but somehow I am doing more with the hipster PDA than without. I still have my master calender, this is a calender on the wall with each kid's name, Hubby and me on it. I write Mom's stuff on my space. Then I also have a calender with two years for my purse. Each boy has a student planner. But the hipster superseeds the calenders.

As far as I can tell in 2004 Merlin Mann created the Hipster PDA, after that many people have tweaked and hacked it. I have tried to make this easy for you to get ideas and get a feel if it would help you. So enjoy the links and remember I claim nothing only obcession of them.

This is tricking out the hipsterhttp://gurno.com/dru/?q=node/30

Lifehack is where I second saw thishttp://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/index-card-hacks.html

Here is the original hipster pda post.http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda

This is the original organization idea of it.http://www.43folders.com/2005/01/08/organizing-your-hipster-pda

Here is a hipster hack at 43 foldershttp://www.43folders.com/forum/2007/10/02/hipster-pda-hack

Here is another example of ultimate organization with index cardshttp://www.43folders.com/forum/2006/11/09/3x5-organization

http://homepage.mac.com/sugataka/poi/files/200608212126.html This page is what I would call the index card taken to a master level.

Twenty five things you can do with index cards.
http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/10/10/24-things-you-can-do-with-an-index-card/

This lifehacker.com some say it put the index card to a new level.http://lifehacker.com/search/index%20card/

What I do use is a pen of my choice which varies, a binder clip and about 50 index cards. I have yet to make a cover, I like to cross off my stuff as I am doing it and a cover would get in my way so far.

Here is what I do know 3x5 cards are cheap and efficient. Sure there are people posting thinking all of the list making is a waste of time, but they have either forgotten something or not cared. Lists are my only way of keeping up with my plate. It is gratifying to know there is a cheap way to do it, that is not wasteful.

Perhaps it will work for you. Also if you find the picture and website of the guy I saw please post it here, I plan on highlighting him.

Getting ready for a Big Day

I am exhausted, not tired exhausted. Today was our family day to get ready for the local livestock show. Every year I try to do what I did today, start early. We are two weeks away. So I started with the big shampoo and blow-dry. See I know what you are thinking, I shampoo my dog and he is big. But what most people don’t know goats don’t particularly care about being clean or water. So I have to convince them first of all they are not dying and second they will be glad they did it. We did the girl goat first, she is more prissy and honestly once we got her over the shampoo she enjoyed it like a spa day. Her coat is shiny white now, her tail is happy now too. She feels pretty. The boy goat was filthy! He does not like being washed at all, and he made it clear it was going to be a long day. Eventually he did feel better clean, but he made us work for it. Once you shampoo one we get them on the trimming stand. Then we blow dry them head to toe. It makes their coats look fluffy, until we shave them. Tomorrow we will shave them. They will be happy to get the hot hair off for the spring.

The shaving is no easier, but after tomorrow we will give them almost a week till we do the last shave for the show. By that time, the shampoo, blow dry and shave will be no big deal. They will be used to us looking at every hair on their body.

Meanwhile at the chicken coop, things are growing big. They look okay but not as big as I would like them. We use a secret blend of things to make our chickens do well. I think we started too late or something. It is not doing what I would like it to do. What we use is actually a natural ingredient that a lot of animals eat including people. I would write it but show life is extremely competitive and there is no way I am sharing the secret it has taken years to find. What I did find out is they are having to do hormone testing at the major shows, why on earth people would inject the chickens with that stuff I don’t know. Our chickens eat feed, and a natural substance. They become huge by eating a lot of food. That is the biggest part of our secret is we feed them a lot.

Last year we had our chickens processed and we have eaten them all year. Many of asked us what they tasted like. My answer is really good chicken!

I am not thin

I am not thin, or organized. Maybe that is why I need to write. See I hate to read diet books written by people that have only worn a size 10. Get a real size, then lose and keep it off. Then we can talk. Get a house with three loud noisy kids full of mud, grass and diesel then we can talk. Okay that is my problem but I hope you get the point.

I can not write from a viewpoint of “been there conquered it”. But I can write from I get “being tempted”, I get “a house out of control”. I get not finding something desperately important. So those are my warts. You will not get thin reading my blog, and if you do you owe me big time baby! I hope you will be a bit entertained, a bit enlightened on some strange front, and perhaps a little less convinced you are the only soul out there with real kids and real clutter.

So now you know about my warts, let me tell you how I got a bit more beautiful. The first task I did to become more in charge of my life was to get back to my list making. I have a pad on the frig, if we are out we write it down. Then I began to wash my dishes come H*ll or H*gh water every night and scrub the sink. Oh yes I know Flybabies, problem is I can’t get past a couple of steps till I figure out my kids don’t know who I am. I struggle with the shoes and make up issue every dang time. The chickens really don’t care about makeup, and shoes bother me.

My next big step I did over the Christmas holidays was to get rid of extra pans. We are a 5 member house, but I don’t cook for 30 everyday. I kept my Revere Wear, and a few chosen pots. I threw away all the containers whose lid was lost. Lids whose container was lost I also chunked out. I am a kitchen gadget addict, I could buy every new thing that came along and love it. I had to make difficult choices on each item I got rid of but there is that rule if you don't use it is wasted space in a little home.

I tackled the frig. I threw out all the old condiment jars with stuff I used one time for a recipe, then they began to grow mold. After that I totally cleaned it up. I put stuff on shelves that made sense, all the leftovers were together and new ingredients were together. Then came the freezer, out of hopes I had saved food that was freezer burned because I had not sealed it or not sealed it properly. As I would cook dinner I would pull bagged veggies and cook them to see if they were freezer burned. Most were, but most were years old too.

My next step was to go through the cleaners under the sink, I threw out stuff that was rusted or bottles that would not squirt. I combined a lot of cleaners, I did not mix any. Just if I had two bottle of window cleaner that were blue I combined them into one. I had so many duplicates, it may have been because my mom had a lot of cleaners. I have not bought cleaners since Thanksgiving, I find one that works for my need or else.

I also did what I call the paper plate/real plate change(blogged earlier about it). Christmas 2006 I bought some plates that were $1.00 a piece. My intent was to buy them and wash them instead of buying and using paper plates. What I had not considered is we eat three times a day several days a week. So I went out and got one more odd set of plates for $1.00 a piece. Next time I might spend $3.00 a plate, but the expensive plates for me are gone. I have no time for fancy dishes when I feed the amount I do. I also added about 10 bowls, between cereal and pasta bowls were needed. I bought of course some cheap plastic ones.

That is when I began to eat out of the cabinets. I had old food there too, but there was many cans I had never used. I would cook with what I had no matter what ingredient I wanted to buy.
I cut my grocery bill down below ½ the cost of before. I can cook just about anything with anything. I am not Ina Gartner but my stuff isn’t half bad.

The steps I have outlined here are not hard, they are easy just time consuming. What they take is commitment and a determination to know you can do it. If I can do it you can do it. I am not a brain surgeon. I am a mom of 3 boys that happens to find the right information. Do a step a day, that is what I did, break it up till you can manage the work you need to do.

My warts gave way to a life of good cooking and easy cleanup that takes me about 15 minutes a night rather than the marathon clean I would do before. I keep the dishes clean, I have to wash the pots, there are no others to cook with. I clean up as I cook.

Be encouraged you are not alone, or flawed. We are in this world to get what we can from each other.

I'll take Plain Vanilla for $300

I am plain vanilla that is me. I never truly understood my neighbor’s words, she would use them often in describing herself. She and her husband raised 4 kids in a tiny 3 bedroom house. It has wood siding, a beautiful garden and a beautiful maple tree in the front yard. Her husband always had a small office in the house as well.

‘In the years of living near her I have come to understand her phrase plain vanilla” she looks like she is not wealthy in the least. You would not think her husband spent hours reading the Wall Street Journal and investing for years. See you would think he was a gentleman gardener. But he was plain vanilla too.

So what does it truly mean? They were loaded and chose not to show it. They set up trusts for each grandchild. No one ever payed for college after their kids. They lived in their house until he has passed away and she had speech and mobility problems. Plain vanilla meant she wore Land’s End Khakis and pressed shirts every day of her life. She did not look rich or poor. She made up “care baskets” for my kids every holiday. Her greatest joy was watching kids play. More than once my oldest escaped to her yard, just because he knew she loved him.

How they did it was the secret. They invested and lived simply. They did take trips that were fun and exciting but no one in town actually knew they were in Vegas partying away. But all that was done after their kids were raising kids.

I want to strive to be plain vanilla!

Real Frugality at it's Best

What bit of frugality I have I got from my mom, my dad was a classic salesman, you spend money to make money. If you don’t make money you spend more and it will come.

My mom used to reuse brown paper bags. To this day anywhere she lives; there is a sack somewhere with a bunch of sacks in for one day. She is part of the greatest generation ever; she lived through the real depression. As a kid in Dallas, she would talk about standing in line for a loaf of bread. When the wall came down in the Soviet Union, she said it reminded her of the depression. My husband’s family was in the country, so they ate and ate chicken. That was what the family had.

Which brings me to real frugality, not a glossed over version but real frugality. What do you have? Not what can you buy a bit and turn into something, but what do you have right now? That is how so many families made it, when we were kids my mom would make tuna and white sauce. We thought it was heaven. All it reminded her of how poor they were. See you could feed a family of six with a can of tuna, flour, water and a loaf of bread.

So if you are really trying look at what you have and make