Facebook Free…

Some of you may have noticed I shut down my FB page on both of our accounts. It was taking away from our personal life as well as farm life responsibilities so we decided to put it away for a while. Not for good just for a “fast”. It’s been kind of refreshing. You don’t realize how much time you spend scrolling your feeds until you don’t do it anymore! I suggest trying it even if for a week.

Things have been busy here on the Homestead! I’ve been helping Brody with virtual school which has been interesting to say the least. I am not smarter than a 6th grader apparently! It’s hard!!! And I do look at most of the material and wonder (and know) he won’t use most of this shit as an adult! Oh well, I guess it’s a necessary evil. Otherwise it’s worked out well minus him not having social interaction. Secretly, I have enjoyed having him at home and I’ve learned a lot. However, by Friday I am ready for the boys to go to their beloved football games for Bro Night. Momma needs a break sometimes.

I planted a Fall garden of leafy greens. I’ve found they grow a TON slower than your Summer garden which kills me because I am a very impatient person!! I want the fruits of my labor like yesterday. Oh well, patience is a virtue and I’m slowly learning.

We’ve started bowling on the weekends for “Family Fun Day”. I suck but Brody is getting better. I’ve also learned that Mike has to win at everything and be the best he can be. He’s very competitive. I mean he seriously has his own bag, ball and shoes! It’s been fun outsings though so I shouldn’t give him a hard time.

My back and neck have really been bothering me. I had to start the Prolia shot again for Osteoporosis and I’ve begun to take supplements again for the issue. Hopefully it will slow it down some. I have to get an MRI done of my neck so I can receive epidural injections to help with the pain and tingling I have. Praying it helps. Getting old ain’t for the weak.

Vic is enjoying her school year and 2020 has proven to be a year of challenges for her. She lost a student in a tragedy last week but she’s handling it with Grace and poise. I’m so very proud of her. We get to see her in 3 weeks and I’m excited! It’s always nice when we get to see her even if for a short visit.

Well, enough of my rambling. I have to take what has been proven to be a pain in the ass dog out. Puppies aren’t for the faint of heart. They teeth like crazy leaving bruises and bite marks all over your arms. They’ll poop and pee on your floor in a minute and they constantly stay in trouble. Gotta love Chesty though! He’s full of personality and a love bug.

Until next time…..

House Manager: Take 2

When Brody was born I decided I would be a stay at home Momma (SAHM) because I didn’t want to miss out on all of his firsts, little things and let’s face it…it saves money on daycare. It was a truly wonderful experience staying home with him because I did, in fact, get to experience all of the above.

Fast forward to 2015 and he started Elementary school. I decided it was time to enter the workforce once again. I had free time on my hands and the money was an added bonus. I landed my dream job as an Activities Director for those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. I was on Cloud 9! This truly was a calling for me and I was thrilled I landed the position.

As time moved on Brody started having things at school that I missed out on and it really bothered me. I missed field trips, parent lunch days, volunteer opportunities, after school functions and so much more. While my job was an awesome one it started to feel like it was taking away from experiencing all the cool stuff I could be doing with Brody at school.

I also had ZERO energy for my family once I came home from work. I didn’t have any pep in my step left after 3:00! Dinners that were homemade weren’t a part of our nightly routine. Laundry and housework were always put on the back burner. I didn’t have the mental capacity to help Brody with homework and when baseball started I missed so many games because I was just give out. I didn’t even do family things like Friday night lights because I was just exhausted from my hectic work weeks.

I know, I know, I know….Super Moms all over the world juggle a career and Mom life every single day and do it well. I just don’t and can’t find the way to do it properly.

When we moved here to the Farm it hit me that I want to be that SAHM again. I want to be able to have the energy to keep up with the house, laundry, yard work, dinners and most importantly Brody! I’ve only got 6 years left with the little Dude and I want to be there for all of it! I want to be able to go to school functions during the day, volunteer for school opportunities and field trips, be fully available mentally when he comes home so I can help him with school work and show him the attention he needs AND deserves. Heck, PTO may be in my future. I want to see him play ball without it feeling like a chore or just missing the game completely because I’m utterly exhausted and don’t have the energy to go. All of that…I want all of that and more for him and I; as well as for the entire family. They need more of my attention. And I thrive when my family thrives. That’s where my purpose and passion feel fulfilled.

Life on the Farm has been a great welcomed change for all of us. We are all experiencing and learning new things and it’s been amazing to do it as a family. We have more teamwork than we ever have had and it has been good for us. It’s hard work and it is a full time job to keep it running and we don’t even have farm animals yet! Those are coming so stay tuned for them!

Anyhoo, just some random motherhood thoughts on my mind! I’m sure some can relate and some think I’m crazy for not being able to juggle everything at one time but that’s okay! To each his own. At the end of the day I need to do what’s best for me, Brody and our family unit. And that’s what I’m doing. So move over Martha Stewart…Jamie is on the loose.

Farm Life: Week 1

We have survived one week on the farm. We’ve encountered a few bumps in the road but nothing you can’t learn to deal with or change.

First, you have to be patient with cellular, phone, internet and Dish service. We are very remote so those tend to go in and out more than we are used to. You hear a lot of “Can you hear me now” when using our phones. It usually resorts to us going out on the front porch to make or finish a call. You also have to wait forever to send a text sometimes and you get the dreaded “text failed” alert. Patience is key.

We brought the cats home yesterday to stay in the barn to get acclimated. That did not go as well as we had hoped and planned. We allowed Mittens in the house because she is Mike’s favorite cat and she did well. The other two…not so much. We have lost Kitty Kitty to the land somewhere and Patches was found on the very top of the barn. After what seemed like an eternity of calling her down she decided to jump. It wasn’t a great landing but nothing was broken. She’s currently residing in the garage with a litter box! We set the invisible fence up yesterday and intended on getting the dogs from boarding to get them back home with us. A storm decided to roll in so we couldn’t “train” them with their new collars and perimeters so they are still at the vet until later today.

I’ve broken my right pinky toe on a damn box. I was walking through our not so unpacked bedroom and nailed it. It’s now a nice shade of black and blue. I know there is nothing you can do but tape it so I’m just sucking it up. I made the mistake of walking up the long driveway today to check the mail and that wasn’t so smart so now I’m sitting here with it elevated to help the swelling.

On a good note, we are really loving it here. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. Brody is enjoying exploring the land. He does have a little boy his age that he can play with across the pasture but he’s been too shy to go introduce himself. They will ride the bus together so hopefully they will become friends.

I am getting into the groove of unpacking and decorating. It’s always fun to make it your own. I’ve also done exploring around the house. They left a TON of things behind that are like little treasures. There is a vintage glider set on the back porch that’s fantastic that I may refurbish. There is an antique wardrobe in excellent condition in the tack room. They left an oversized reading chair in the guest suite that goes perfect with our furniture. Mike also scored some more workout equipment in the bonus room. There really is too much to list but it has been like going to a fun yard sale!

We’ve been talking about farm animals and I think we will purchase two cows at the auction house up the road before we get goats and chickens. We really need them to help with the pastures and Mike wants to use them to produce calves to sell. Not so sure how I feel about seeing baby cows hauled off for meat but it is good income. But that’s farm life for you.

You know I’ve scoped out the Walmart here and have went numerous times for grocery pickup already. Its about 15 minutes away so it’s not too bad of a drive. We do have a Dollar General up the road out in the middle of nowhere; they put those things up anywhere. I’m pretty proud of myself because I now can drive to Walmart, DG and the vets office without GOOGLE maps.

Oh snap!!!! And the UPS and Fedex drivers know the house and have the gate code already. I apologized to the UPS driver yesterday for the packages he will deliver from Amazon….even though I need to lay off that for a while. I’m putting myself on restriction before Mike does!

Well, that’s enough rambling for now. We are enjoying the sounds of cows, chickens, roosters and other critters in the distance. The lightening bugs put on a marvelous show at night for us and being gnat-free is awesome.

Stay blessed!

Settling in 🏡

It’s been a whirlwind the last few days. Since we moved in we have been nonstop unpacking what seems to be hundreds of boxes! How can a family of four have so much crap?!

Today I finished up the kitchen, dining room and started on our Master bedroom and closets. I seriously have a shoe and clothes problem. Poor Mike only got half of the walk-in closet and then the smaller closet in the bedroom. And of course there isn’t enough room for all of our shoes so in the spare closet they will go! I really don’t need my dress shoes anymore so they were boxed back up and put away. I also don’t understand how you have clothes that won’t fit back in the drawers. I mean, they were in there before so why won’t they all go back in the way they came out?!

Last night I slept 10 hours and that’s unheard of for me. I was completely and utterly exhausted but it was nice to sleep all night. I’m so at peace here and relaxed. It’s like we are on vacation. I hope that it stays this way because it’s a wonderful feeling. Like Mike told someone today, he has to pinch himself and I feel the same…It’s just so beautiful here.

Yesterday I woke up with cows mooing and went to bed with lightening bugs everywhere! It was so cool. I haven’t seen lightening bugs in a long time and I felt as giddy as a little girl. The added bonus is I haven’t dealt with any gnats like we did in Albany!! I absolutely hate gnats.

Tomorrow we are preparing for the animals to come home. We have to put our invisible fence up for the dogs and get the barn ready to acclimate the cats to being in a new place. That should be fun. Not sure how this is all going to go so keep your fingers crossed. I just hope and pray the kitties stay around the farm and the dogs stay within the perimeters of the fence! I have missed them so I’ll be excited to pick all of them up on Monday!

Mike starts teleworking on Monday so he is trying to get his office all set for that new adventure. He’s been doing it since quarantine so it shouldn’t be too much of a hard transition. Trying to get everything set up internet and telephone wise is the tricky part. We are rural so you don’t have many options as far as towers go. But we will make it work; we always do.

I’m also trying to come up with a name for our homestead. It’s harder than you think because we all have to agree on it. Three opinions makes that kind of difficult. However, we will make that work too.

Well, that’s enough for now. My mental capacity for the day has reached its limit. I just wanted to check in and update everyone on the last few days. So far it’s been great!

Love and Blessings!

A beautiful present from our realtor! I love it!!

Goodbye, West Doublegate!

It’s our last night in this house we’ve called home for 10 years and I thought I would be overcome with emotion and some type of sadness…but I’m not! I am very excited and almost relieved for our move tomorrow. I am eerily calm and can’t wait for the sun to rise in the morning!!!

We watched our children grow up here and experienced highs and lows. We’ve made some memorable family memories and some not so great ones too. This house has seen it all as I’m sure all houses have. It’s really like a time capsule of memories if you think about it.

As we close this Chapter of our lives I can only hope the new family will be able to make a new Chapter of their own. I hope they enjoy grilling in the backyard by the pool listening to endless laughter from their children, I hope that the wife enjoys the gardenia bushes and raised garden beds as much as I have and I hope that they light up the front yard and neighborhood at Christmas like we did, lol.

I left a lengthy note for them welcoming the new family to their home along with some pointers as to where things were located around the house, when the trash ran, when to expect the mail and school bus. I would want someone to do that for me; it’s the friendly thing to do especially when you’re coming from out of State!

It’s weird to think as one Chapter ends in a house for you that it’s a beginning for someone else. I’m sure they are filled with excitement like we are for our new home in Alabama. Ready to explore the area, find your favorite places to eat, check out the nearby towns/festivals. All of that good family stuff!

We ended our evening here with a family bike ride around the neighborhood, ordered Sonic takeout and of course watching a baseball movie. Sounds pretty awesome to me!

Goodbye Albany….it’s been real ✌🏼

Crating Critters 🐾🐾🐾

Whewee!!!! The second biggest adventure that we have during this whole move is transporting 5 family pets (2 dogs & 3 cats) to Alabama on Wednesday. It’s going to be a miracle to pull it off without any issues or major headaches and stress. Vic will be taking Cadence, Mittens and Patches because she has a friend going with her that can help pay attention to them. Since I am traveling alone I will take Kitty Kitty and Lou Lou. Thanks to our amazing vet here they gave us a sedative for all of them so we are praying that takes the edge off for 5 hours!

Once we get there we will take them directly to the new vet to be boarded for a week until we get the house in order and the electric fence put in to keep the dogs contained in part of the back yard. We do have 10 acres for them to roam but I would rather them stay close to the house and preferably away from the coyotes in the woods behind the property.

The cats will get to roam freely as farm cats even though they stay where their food is the majority of the time. I think after several days in the farm barn/stables and then some time of exploring they will be back on the porch where they typically stay. Plus, Mittens won’t get too far from Mike because she loves him to death and has separation anxiety if she isn’t in his presence.

This will definitely be an experience and I’m praying it all goes smoothly! Hopefully I can tune them out by blaring my music! Good vibes are appreciated!!!

26 Hours and counting!

Day one of being FB free on my personal page has gone better than expected!! I really thought I would be going through withdrawals and cave but I haven’t. It has actually been pretty easy. Maybe it’s because of all the drama in the world right now and the negativity on my wall that I just don’t want to be bothered with it!

But the most important thing about this is that I’ve honestly felt less stressed today even though with all of the moving stuff going on you think I would. I feel eerily calmer than I have since we put the house on the market. Now that may change within the next 4 days but hopefully it won’t and it’ll be smooth sailing mentally, physically and emotionally.

I do think not keeping up with everyone’s life on FB has helped tremendously. I don’t feel pressured to keep up with everyone, their moods, their life, their pictures, the quotes, the ads, basically all of it. I am not feeling like I have to be the good friend and follower “liking” everything. It’s ridiculous that I ever felt that way but I guess I felt like I needed self validation on everything and I wanted to return the favor. Crazy isn’t it? We live in a world where we feel everyone has to like everything we do in all aspects of our life.

I am not knocking FB completely because the memories that pop up on my feed make me smile and remind me of people and places that I may have just vaguely remembered. However, they sometimes make me sad when they return with lost loved ones.

It’s a double edged sword. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And of course I miss seeing the daily positive posts from friends, their humor and pictures of their families/pets. But right now the bad outweighs the good of keeping up with it all.

At the end of the day all I am saying for me personally it’s been a positive thing. Maybe you should give it a whirl if you’re feeling the pressure of the current events going on in the world are stressing you out. You’re feeling upset over trivial things or depression/anxiety are kicking in. I promise your mental health and well being will thank you! And you can’t forget about the extra time spent with your family and your full attention on them is priceless.

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Cleaning House 🧼

Yesterday I started “cleaning house” of things that are triggering negative energy within me and one big thing I struggle with is GOOGLE of all things. It’s kind of like what I call Walmart…. “Satan’s Playground”.

Google is a wonderful tool but it can also put a tiny seed of paranoia and worry in your head that manifests into some big life altering ordeal. You are either dying from a disease, not worthy enough for your partner or their cheating, your horoscope is detrimental for the next month or year, your child has emotional issues and I can keep going on and on but you get the point. It’s an awful site if you get off the beaten path of what you first went on there to search for.

So, in my deletion mode I was in yesterday I uninstalled that off my phone too after Facebook was gone. I figured if I need to know anything I can use my safari app or web browser. I only need google for directions and my email and there are separate apps for that so I can do without their search engine. It’s a wonderful tool of being a know it all but that’s the point…sometimes she thinks she knows too much.

I’m really trying to end the Chapter of the last 10 years that have been more than hard on me and in return makes it hard on my family. When Momma ain’t happy nobody is. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster and I’m ready to get off of it. I’m hoping the next stop which is Alabama will be exactly what my spirit needs to calm down and enjoy the rest of this ride called life. Smooth sailing is what I’m praying for. I want to stop and smell the roses, be present in the moment, enjoy the here and now.

Yesterday evening I sat in the living room and wasn’t preoccupied by my Facebook addiction except for a few message exchanges with my parents. I was “present” with my family enjoying the Western shows on television with them. Yes, we’ve always all been in the same room but I’m usually buried nose deep on my phone, Mike checks his phone and Brody stays on his. It’s not healthy for any of us so I’m trying to lead by example and hopefully it will stick. And I can honestly say I didn’t miss it last night. As long as I can still chat with my parents and immediate family/friends then I’m golden.

Sometimes we have to get really dirty and once we wash away all the filth (Facebook, google, social media) we see how great it feels to be “clean”. I’m kinda enjoying washing it all away. I honestly don’t know how long my hiatus from Facebook or Google will last but for the last 24 hours it’s been pretty darn good!

Try it; even if for a day. See how your mood improves!! I promise that you’ll feel better.

It’s time!

I pulled the plug on my personal Facebook page until all of this crazy nonsense blows over. You can always continue to follow me on this page as I will update it as I have been. I just can’t deal with my “wall” and ignorant posts any longer. It makes my blood boil. Much needed break. Plus, with the move I don’t have time for it! Just pray for our country; we really need them.

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Focus, darling…

What a powerful statement. I ran across this on a friends Facebook page yesterday and it spoke volumes. Especially early this morning as I once again, was scrolling Facebook. See a trend here??

I have been so disheartened by the posts and comments people are making on my feeds about the Floyd issue and COVID mess that it’s effecting me mentally. Say what?!? Yes!!!! I said that correctly. It’s messing with my mental health. People are so mean, hateful, spewing filth that should never be said to anyone or about anyone. It’s so ridiculous. We are human beings whom should love one another and lift each other up. Instead we tear each other down or make snide comments on one another’s pages. I can’t take it. You can have an opinion but do you have to be cruel?

I’ve been toying with the idea of deactivating my FB page and believe me, it’s coming. Don’t know the exact day or whatever but I’m at that point. It makes me sad because it’s a platform that could be used for so much good. Instead we use it for ill will.

I will keep this page up and running because those that I added are great people in my life and care about me and my family in a positive light. For that, I am thankful.

Well, that’s my motivational quote and soapbox rant. Share a smile or hug with someone today because the world needs more of that!