Tuesday, March 30, 2010

My husband is so hot

So, last week, DH took a week off work to finish building my farm house. I worked in WI per usual on Wed and Thurs, so he came to get me in town and take me out to the farm on Wednesday evening, a big treat, because I have been sleeping at work on Wednesday nights since it got too cold for the wood stove to heat the house even by morning!

We get some drive thru for the boys working on the house and talk about nothing as we wind down the country roads. We come over the hill and the house looks pretty much the same as it did the last time I saw it, but I see some trim around the windows. I enter the old part of the house and much to my delight, the existing buildings have all been joined to the new addition! I look through over 1,000 sq ft of living space on the main floor to the wall of windows that face the garden and 30ft vaulted ceilings soaring above the living room! I get to live here? MY husband built this? DH is on the floor and stands up with a 9 wk old puppy!

Ok, for real now, does a girl NEED much more than a new house, a man in a tool belt, and a puppy?

After a brief but intense argument about where electrical outlets should be located, we enjoyed a weekend of bliss, imagining our new life and reveling in each other's company. Isabella, our new baby dog, does everything cutely, so she is a constant source of entertainment and joy. As DH says, "Whitey would want us to have another dog and endorse us as good dog parents."

Went to two dinner parties with friends, I have threatened all of them within an inch of their lives not to abandon us to the country. They in turn made me promise not to be a crazy internet social butterfly without a real life.

I have visions of a long banquet table in my barn with straw bales for benches, mason jars full of wildflowers, glowing candlelight, my homegrown bounty and homemade cheese on fresh pizza dough, cooked in my woodfired oven in my outdoor kitchen. Surrounded by friends and family DH and I sip wine and think, "this is the LIFE".

Yes, I AM wearing an apron with pearls.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Rest in Peace White Dog

Our 15 year old golden retriever "Dawson" aka: Whitey, White Dog, Bob Barker, White Lightning, Mama's Baby Dog, passed away early this morning. We are absolutely heartbroken. We rescued him from Rescue a Golden of MN www.ragom.org in 1997, he was the best dog we could have ever had.

We are moving forward with our plans. DH took me to pick out DC/solar friendly light fixtures for the new house, they were all ugly, so I called my dad(a welder and sign maker)and he is going to help me create my own chandeliers with LED lights! Very cool!

I am moving ahead with getting the house ready to rent. I've been trying to make a master (mistress?) list of all the things that I need to do to get ready, but have a bit of a block about it. Usually I clean my house from top to bottom, inside to out, but I think in this case I need to do the opposite. By starting in the garage and basement I can create room for some things to go, then I can get to the rest of the spaces. I'm struggling with the paradigm shift as much as with finding the time and energy to start working on it.

Voluptuous Update: Sweet handmade light fixtures made by Dad!

Simplicity Update: I have GOT to stop saving every glass jar that comes into my life.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Getting Ready

In 2006 DH and I purchased 34 acres of dreamland with an off-grid set up and a house (I use that term loosely). After our first weekend there, we started planning how we could move there permanently. The previous owner left us with 4 years of "Mother Earth News" "Backwoods" and "Countryside". We spent that whole first winter planning our homestead.

The enthusiasm for the big move has ebbed and flowed over the years. Him flowing, me ebbing. You see I love "Mother Earth News", but I also LOVE "Instyle". I really like to cook things from scratch, sew, garden, and live close to the Earth. But I also really like Tiff Co, delivered Pizza Luce', entertaining my friends, and regular spa treatments.

My husband spoils me relentlessly. We make a low to average income, but because we have no children, we spend most of that money and all of our time on whatever we want. But feeling so tied to our jobs, mine especially is a less than ideal situation, is frustrating.

We have a small, old home in a transitional neighborhood in Minneapolis, MN my husband has a good job in corrections. Between us, we have 3 college degrees, but we cannot afford to have a baby. Daycare would be cost prohibitive, and really in the United States, shouldn't a family of three be able to be provided for by one decent income?

I read recently that the average income in the US is $35K, and the average family has 2 to 3 kids. Is it so wrong that my husband wants his wife to raise his children rather than someone making minimum wage wearing non-latex gloves? We purchased our home for $110K, I drive a 12 year old car, we have no debt, other than the house and school loans, but we can't live on $35K, can anyone?

So, long story short, we are making the big move. We are renting out our house and planning to go to the farm by June first. Many of the modern homesteading sites and blogs include good information on woodfire cooking, livestock, and homeschooling. Many of them also describe what kind of armory (yep gun cache) that you need to fight off the government...

WOW. This blog is intended to be an alternate. I want simplicity, I want to raise and eat real food, I want to live with the rhythms of Earth, I want to quit my job and have a baby.

I want Voluptuous Simplicity. I want to throw parties, have time and money to travel, avoid tapered leg jeans and anything with a sports team logo on it; for me the definition of wealth is having what you need when you need it and being able to enjoy it.

I may succeed, I may fail, but as DH says "I'm tired of paying for the dream, but not living it."