Country Living in the City

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - A quote from Elvis to live by.

My desk calendar this year has daily inspirational quotes on. Some are bible verses, others are from famous people.

Today's quote was from Elvis - today is his birthday.

"Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin away."

How true that is. First of all, those who lie eventually have to face the truth. My mother always said that for every lie you tell you have to tell 10 to get out of it. In other words it is an unending cycle.

Also, this made me think of those who hide from the truth of Jesus Christ. You can try and shut him out of your life, but he isn't going away.

Just wanted to share.

God Bless Sandra

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Thursday, January 8, 2009 - Show Others You Care ... Send A Card

One of the things I'm hoping to do this year is to send everyone I know birthday cards, anniversary cards, etc. I feel like letter writing has become a lost art and I imagine a lot of people enjoy getting cards, and notes from people they know and people they haven't seen in a while.

I've tried to do this before and never keep up with it. So this year, I decided some organization was needed. I took 12 manila folders (one for each month), I wrote on the front of each of them the names and dates of individuals with birthdays/anniversaries in that month. I also made notes on holidays. Example, in February I noted Valentines day on the front - I think it would be nice to send my nieces and nephews valentines.

Then I went through this shoe box of cards I have and picked out cards for each occasion and placed them inside the file. I didn't write in them or sign them - I figure that can be done at the time. But at least I have the cards in the monthly folders.

It's really an inexpensive way to reach out to those you love - what does it cost? Well most of the cards I have were bought in a mixed box of birthday or all occasion cards. Some of them purchased for as low as $2 for the box. Or for something a little more special/specific - like a card for my sister's birthday - I buy them at Dollar Tree - 2 cards for $1. So I figure it costs me at the most 92 cents to send a card - much more economic than buying and sending a gift and for the most part - just as, if not more, enjoyable.

Oh, and the one last step I did was put the files in my desk drawer at work - because if I place them somewhere at home, I might forget. So my suggestion would be to place them somewhere you will see them and use them.

God Bless and Happy Birthday to All of You ahead of time

Sandra

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Keeping a Price Book

As part of learning to lower my grocery bill I've decided to start keeping a price book. I thought I'd share the concept with you all.

Here are a couple of great links to help you get started.

http://www.momadvice.com/food/pricebook.aspx
http://organizedhome.com/make-price-book-save-money

I think each of us need to develop in a way that works for us. What I did was put it in a regular size notebook. I took one or two pages for each category (depending on how many items I usually buy in that category). Example of categories would be dairy, frozen, meat, etc. Then I took the page and drew 3 lines down the page - making four columns. My columns are titled Item, Date, Store, Unit Price.

I also keep items within the category together. Example: Dairy page as all milk items on top of the page and I've left blank lines so I can add more comparisons. Then the next group is cheese.

The idea behind a price book is that you can compare the unit price of items from store to store and you will be able to determine who has the best normal price and also be able to look at sale flyers and determine if the sale price is good or not. Also, if you keep the price book long enough, you may be able to determine when particular stores put certain items on sale.

Hope this all makes sense and that you will find it useful.

God Bless and Happy Shopping

Sandra

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 2009 Goals

I'm not one for making New Years Resolutions. However, this year I wanted to post on our blog some of our goals for 2009. Mostly, as a record to see how far we get by the end of 2009.

Homesteading:

- Add a few more fruit trees and bushes - most likely pomegranate, blueberry, and raspberry.
- Increase the garden production especially green beans and tomatoes this summer. Would also like to keep
a good tally of what we produce.
- Learn to make our own laundry soap.
- Can/Preserve even more this year. Again, keep a good tally of what we preserve.
- Set up a permanent rain water collection system - right now we have a temporary system we put in place
when it is going to rain.
- Reduce utility usage (some day we may go off grid, but for now we want to find ways to reduce it).
- Reduce grocery bills - start a price book.
- Pay off as much debt as possible. Set goals with this.
- Learn to be a better homemaker. Although I do a good job at this for someone who works - I want to learn
to develop schedules and plans to make sure things are as well as they can be.

Personal: (This is a list of all other goals that don't fall under homesteading)

- Develop a better prayer life. Maybe its better said a deeper prayer life.
- Learn to take better care of myself -- not saying lose weight, just take better care on all fronts.
- Complete adoption -- both for a child and a new dog. Originally this would be the child we are hoping to
adopt, but after this past weeks events at some point we will want a new dog.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - My New Look

In case anyone is wondering about the new look. It's because in my household on a year like this after the Christmas Season comes playoff season. The Steelers are looking good for post season play and so I thought I'd try and get myself in the mood by turning my blog black and gold.

So what is a California girl doing rooting for the Steelers. Well I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. And you can take the girl out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take the "Burgh" out of the girl.

Enough said - just thought you'd like to know

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - Good Bye To My Dear Friend

On January 2nd, I lost a dear friend - my dog Simba. We had Simba since he was 7 weeks old and he just turned 10 on November 12th. In many aspects he was my baby - I loved him so much.

Unfortunately, 4 years ago we discovered a malignant tumor on his left back hip. We had it removed (will be 4 years ago on Jan 9th), and proceeded with holistic treatment. Simba, was cancer free for about 3 years. Then last year the tumor returned. The vet was reluctant to do surgery and we decided it wasn't fair to put him through all this again. So we decided to let the tumor run its course.

And it did - I knew around Thanksgiving that we would lose him soon. I prayed that it wouldn't happen during the holiday season - that we'd have one last Christmas with Simba. God answered my prayers literally - seeing as how the holiday was technically over on the first.

Still it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Long story short, the tumor was starting to breakdown and would slowly poison him over the next few days and weeks. So we decided to put him to sleep. That sounds so odd to me, he's not sleeping and I miss him greatly.

He truly was one of my best friends. My husband being my other best friend. When I had a bad day it was Simba that cheered me up. I love my husband dearly, but when it comes to bad things his attitude is you pick yourself up and move on - don't let things get to you. That's a great philosophy, but I'm a more emotional person and Simba picked up on that. He would bring me toys and get me to play with him, or just put his head on my knee and look at me. After a few minutes with him I always felt better and could pick myself up and move on. Unfortunately, he's not here to pick me up from this.

But I'm trying to focus on the great memories of him. For example, Simba loved Christmas, especially opening gifts. Might sound crazy but he was an odd dog that way - almost human in some aspects. I wrapped his gifts in tissue paper and he would open them. But he never touched anything under the tree - he waited until I gave it to him.

Another memory along that line is about 2 or 3 years ago, my nephew's birthday. All the kids sat on the floor in a circle to watch my nephew open his gifts. There was simba right in the circle like one of the kids. Too funny.

A couple of other neat things that Simba did - when he wanted to go out it would make this sound and it really sounded like he said out. Oh and if you asked him if something he ate was good he would lick his lips. Could even be 10-15 mins later and he would still do it. I often wanted to send video of Simba to Funny Home Video, unfortunately because of my job, I'm not allowed.

He also knew many words for example you couldn't use the word bath in our house, he would take off running to another room. Another word with a different reaction was chicken - he loved chicken, the smell of it, the word, and he was there. Then of course there was his favorite pass time "cat". He loved chasing the cats outside - and he also learned that word.

I will tell you just writing this makes me feel a little better - I still miss him and the house seems so empty withouth him. Last night it hit me again, I came home late after teaching youth group and he wasn't there to meet me. He always waited by the front door for me. Those are the things that are hard.

So hears to Simba a great dog, a loving companion, and one of my dearest friends: Nov 12, 1998 - Jan 2, 2009.

God Bless You All and remember to give your pets an extra hug tonight

Sandra

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - New Year New Blog

Do you ever just feel like starting over? I do!!!!

This year is about starting over for me. I've been thinking of starting a new this year on many fronts. Wanting to really dig in deeper in regards to my faith, my lifestyle, homesteading, work, family, everything. Taking my journey to the next step so to speak.

Then, I lost something very dear to me on January 2nd this year - I'll talk about that in a separate entry. That event confirmed to me that 2009 will be a year of changes - and finding the positive in difficult changes.

The first step is starting over my blog. I wasn't really happy with my blogging last year. I started off good and just didn't keep it up. So I wiped the slate clean. I'm keeping the same title but just starting over with a new look and new posts.

I hope you will join me on this new journey and find something to take away from my posts.

The one thing I love about Homestead Blogger is the feeling of fellowship. Even though we are in different parts of the world, in different places in our spiritual journey, as well as our homesteading journeys, there is so much community felt here. So my goal this year is to hopefully move people the way, many of you have moved me.

God Bless and Happy New Year

Sandra

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