Updates and Laura Love

I feel like I've been posting often an excuse for my absences. This time, I promise, it's a good one. We found a place! It's a very nice mobile home which has been very well kept by it's previous owners. There is an amazing 2 car garage where my husband can have his little shop and we can also fit a couple goats in there (haha!). It sits on almost 2 acres with a beautiful view of the Maine hills. It's zoned rural/residential so we have neighbors but can still enjoy the freedom of having chickens and the like. We are actually under contract and should be closing on it near the end of May. Our home inspection came back and was very good so that takes a lot off our minds. Of course, at this same time of trying to buy a house we've had a few hiccups that have had me running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

In the last post when I said that you should always be frugal and be saving to have that cushion "just in case" I wasn't joking. We've had a couple issues these past weeks for which I'm glad we had that cushion. My husband fell asleep on his way home from work and flipped his vehicle. He is okay, just had to get some stitches, but we now have some hospital bills as well as a new vehicle that needed to be bought. After that all got taken care of we found out my car has a cracked head. Plus, money is flying out of our hands left and right for this whole home buying deal. If we hadn't had that cushion we very well may have had to put off buying a home. It's well and good to tell people that saving is key but another to tell them that it really does help when you need it.

Other than that life has been pretty quiet. The weather is getting warmer and with that comes a lot more time outside and a lot less time spent wasted on the internet. I've been trying to save now more than ever with the time coming closer that we'll be on our own again with "real" bills. I've been trying to stock up on pantry staples each week when I shop so that when we move in our pockets won't be so hard hit stuffing cabinets. We've also taken to hitting the thrift shops and Goodwill a little more often hoping for deals on things we'll need. I've spent my little bit of  "fun" cash trying to complete my set of Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I've got just over half now, after finding another at the Goodwill for 99 cents! Now that I've got the first few Laura books I've started reading them. I am so inspired the more I read. We are so spoiled these days! I know that those times were hard times full of work but I wish so badly I had been born then. Everything seemed so more meaningful but simpler. I've already learned many lessons from these books and I know that if we have children they will be a bedtime staple.

What about you? What have you been up to? Any thrift store scores you'd like to share?

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Oh, Mother!

Hey there kids, it's been awhile! Since my last post I've been working and making ends meet on my meager budget, which actually makes me feel good because I can manage to pay all our bills, put money away, do something every once in awhile, and feed my yarn habit at around $800 dollars a month (give or take). It's going to be pretty great once the ol' man finds something. He actually has an interview at the Post Office tomorrow afternoon which is pretty exciting!

I've been hookin' like a crazy person whipping projects out left and right. I'm saving my money up now to buy lots of yarn to make a HUGE ripple afghan to cover our full bed. So I'm trying to use up all my Christmas gifted yarns and bits and bobs so I can justify it. Last night I whipped up two slippers (I'm tackling the edging today) which unfortunately were too big for my tiny little feet. So, now I'm set for my aunt's birthday at the end of February! I'm way ahead. =D

This morning my dad sent me a link to a Kimchi class at the Urban Farm Fermetory in Portland. I am super excited! Only 25$ and you get to take home a jar of Kimchi at the end of the class. It's at the end of February so I may wait and see what's going on with Adam and then sign us both up. My father went to a mushroom growing class there this weekend and said it was fantastic. Plus, they have house-brewed hard cider AND Kombucha on tap. Be still my Kombucha-lovin'-heart. To all those who don't know, Kombucha is a fermented tea drink. I got my dad a kit to make it for Christmas and let me just tell you, the bacterial "mother" (aka scooby) is kinda creepy looking...like a water bound alien life form. But it makes something delicious so it's all good!

See that creepy mother thing on the top? Yikes! 

I'm also potentially turning Adam into a Buffy fan. We have no cable in the room we're staying in so we delved into the DVD collection and decided to start from the beginning. I can't even count the amount of times I've watched the series through, honestly. My friend Cait got me into it when Adam was deployed and now I can't get enough.

How is everyone getting along with their taxes? I've got Adam's USMC w-2 and our 1099s but we're waiting on THREE more w-2s. I hope they get here soon, because I can't wait to build our poor savings account back up from the EAS move.

Well, that's about it folks. Thanks for reading, I know I've been a crappy blogger lately. I just like crocheting more than anything else. =D

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

Where to begin....

It's been quite awhile since I've had the heart to touch this thing. Life just gets in the way sometimes. I'm trying my best to be thankful for what we have right now instead of dwelling on how we seem to be in stasis. Faith has always been a struggle for me since I'm such a "gotta see it to believe it" person but I'm trying to just hold on to the thought that rain clouds never last forever and the sun always breaks through.

I recently started another job and it's fantastic, basically my dream job. Mostly I've found myself crocheting and crafting to get Christmas presents for everyone done. We just don't have the money this year to buy anything, and really, Christmas shouldn't be about expensive crap you don't need anyway. The weather here is hard to enjoy for me. A few weeks ago we had a snowstorm...and we had eight to ten inches. It made me miss North Carolina quite a bunch.

Living with other people when you've been used to living alone is putting stress on us both. Hopefully if all works out in the next couple weeks the husband should be back to work and we'll start trying to find something to buy (we're hoping to be out of here shortly after Christmas). One thing I have learned in living in close quarters without a heck of a lot of room is that much of the "stuff" we've accumulated we don't actually use or need. When we move our stuff out of storage I think a lot of it will go into the dumpster. Simplifying things makes me so happy.

That's about it for now. I have a scarf ready to be finished that is calling my name.

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

An Update

Things are getting very hectic around here! Our 30 day vacate notice has been put in, the movers are scheduled, boxes filled with stuff have taken over my apartment, and my husband is checking out of everything. Needless to say this poor blog has fallen to the wayside.

We are both so glad to leave the Marine Corps behind us and start a new life back home. I am so thankful for the many wonderful people I've met while we're been stationed here. I don't know how I would've gotten through so many lonely nights without them. I've learned things about myself and about my marriage I never would have if we didn't have this experience. Most of all I'm ready to leave ALL THIS MILITARY CRAP BEHIND. I am so sick of worthless field ops, long days of Mr. Marine at work for nothing productive, mandatory family fun days, and 24 hour notice deployments.

The most important thing is that I'm ready for us to buy a house. I've been saving for a house before I was married and since getting married the fund has grown and grown. It'll feel so good to have sheep, goats and chickens running around in my own yard. People laugh at me but all I've wanted to be since I was little was a homesteader. Looks like dreams are coming true.

I love all of you and appreciate you reading and I'm sorry I've neglected this blog for so long. I promise it'll pick back up once things calm down a little.

Until next time,

xoxo Stacie

A little update...

As much as I absolutely adore having family stay at our apartment it's nice to be able to write again! My husband's grandmother ("Meem") and her boyfriend came to visit this week and it was so great to see them. They're very low-key guests who are amused just by sitting around and chatting. We did end up giving Meem the ol' Lejeune tour (thank you to my friend Nicole who made it possible). Unfortunately it was drizzly and a little cold but we still made the best of it, even walking down Onslow beach.

Today it was supposed to snow and they closed down Camp Lejenue so the man got to stay home and sleep in. I think they jumped the gun a little bit though because it isn't even sticking to anything! I can't complain though because it's nice to spend time with my husband.

Yesterday I had my first job interview since moving down here in September 2009. Believe me, it wasn't for lack of trying. It seemed to have went well though and I'll be hearing back early next week. It will be so nice to have more money going into the savings account. My husband and I save with the very lofty goal of being able to buy a house in cash. For how long we've been married and how much we've saved I'm beginning to think it's entirely doable!

I've been staring blankly at my project board putting off starting things because company was here. I like to have one-hundred percent concentration on a new project and I knew that with people here I'd never get to anything. I just had to take apart a purse for my aunt's birthday because it was uneven (must I mention I'm a perfectionist?) so that's next up. I also have to squeeze in the shadowbox frame project for my husband's Valentine's Day present. I just got an email from Lion Brand Yarn and now I have a wrap I want to make after that. It seems I have projects planned out until 2012, yeesh!

Lastly, I've got four books sitting on my bedside table in the works. They are as follows;
Jon Katz "Izzy and Lenore"
Maggie Stiefvater "Linger"
Various authors "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 1"
Shannon Hayes "Radical Homemakers : Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture"

The Jon Katz book is a little bit sad so it's taking me a bit to get through it. "Linger" seems as though it's going to be burned through in a couple of days. I love when authors take something like a werewolf and put a whole new spin on it. I definitely recommend picking up the first in the series, "Shiver". The Buffy book just doesn't have the same amazing quality as the show so it's slow going. Shannon Hayes' book is simply wonderful and if you're someone who loves self-sufficiency and thinks that it's not worth the sacrifice to keep up with the Jones', you should definitely pick it up. It's a great read!

Until next time,
xoxo Stacie