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

Flippin' Pages

This is what's laying on my bedside table these days.

What are you guys reading?

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