Wow, the comments and emails from the last post must have touched a common spot with a lot of folks… Just wanted to clarify… I wasn’t really depressed about the technology, and money and budgeting… just more sort of ticked that I’m allowing things to sort of rule and overwhelm me. And that I’ve been a little lazy with things… I loved that someone called them Modern Mules! Yes! My phone bill situation is a modern mule for sure. Getting caught up in this MUST HAVE all the bells and whistles or else on my! We’ll die! (Or well, be severely inconvienenced…) I don’t have a house phone or a business line, so I do need to have a phone, no doubt. But considering that I rarely go over any minutes, etc. I do need to drop a lot of the “features” and see how that helps. One of the things I noticed is that my true bill is about $135 but the rest is TAXES!!! And fees for this and that. Insane! So, yes, on Tuesday, when I go into town for Maggie’s dentist appointment, we are going to stop and see what we can do to drop that bill a good deal. Maggie just told me that her phone doesn’t even work!!!! Shesh…

And the computer server process is going onward… that will be a HUGE savings in my budget. Nearly $300! I figure that’s a priority over the storage unit, that kind of thing. My plan is to get one a day done. I have about 32 to go. So basically a month! I just tell myself that each one represents about $60 savings a year, so that kinda keeps me on track! I am a bit disappointed that it took some late night tech to see what I was spending a king’s ransom on my hosting and didn’t need to be. I’ve been doing this pretty much for 6 years!!! Shesh…. I tremble at the thought of all I have wasted when they should have had the courtesy to inform me of this option years ago.

But… all in all, that is a cost of doing business and I’m very thankful that my business doesn’t not have all the brick and mortar costs of a “real” shop. So I have always considered the internet and the hosting as part of doing business. However, there is no need to just waste it, so by the first of the year, I am hoping that we will be doing a lot nicer in that monthly budget area with a good $300 a month raise!

I also am thinking that I need to get a couple big boxes and label them garage sale… and plan for a big whopping sale in the springtime. Especially with emptying the storage unit, there is bound to be things in there that I just do not even remember having! And I’ve noticed that we are definately loading up on garage sale finds and auction things that well, just really don’t need to be around the place. I so admire the tiny house folk, that ditch everything but 4 pairs of undies and a laptop and can live in 150 square feet… well, I know there is no way that I can do that! But I can certainly pare down the knick knacks and clutter for certain! I’ve been thinking a lot too, about things like tools and parts and such… we seem to have a lot of stuff that just gets left here and there and it’s driving me nuts! Haha… Still trying to create a decent farm tool collection point, so that we can always find things. We have tried to use this open closet in the mudroom as our main collection point and I’d say it’s about 50% successful. I think that we need to get a decent tote system for stuff, like a big 5 gallon pail or two so that we can grab the appropriate bucket and tote it with us to the project site and then tote it back when done. Seems that just about any repair done on the farm involves at least 4 trips back and forth to the house!!! I’ve seen those wrap around tool holster things that go on a bucket and I’m thinking…. that just might be a wonderful thing!

Most of the hard and must-do projects have been done around the farm and it’s very comfortable now. Still need to get the corn stove hooked up, but that has hit a bit of a snag… we need a vent kit and can’t seem to get it from the original dealer and other dealers are charging over $200 for 10 inches of special pipe and a little thimble vent cover to keep rain out! We may need to come to some sort of homemade situation, if we can’t find the proper situation, but we’re working on it. Steve installed one of the electric baseboard heaters last night, in the bath and we’re not totally sure if it’s working properly, since it doesn’t seem to be heating, but we’re getting closer! Heating is our last frontier!

But, after we figure out the final situations and all, which should be within days… then all our other needs for the next 4 or 5 months will be very nominal. So far, the animals seem pretty content, our cold prep seems to be fairly adequate. We had a frost last night and when I checked on the animals in the screen porch, it was a balmy 56 degrees in there! Very tolerable for most critters. We still need to get our winter hay put up in the big barn, but I’m hoping by next weekend, we’ll be done with that. It’s beautiful outside right now… nearly 60 degrees and SUNSHINEY!!!!!! We’re just about to head out for a big afternoon of chores and enjoying the farm outside while we have a beautiful weekend!

So soon, in the next couple months, one of my serious projects is going to be streamlining the farm, our budget, our workload and our stuff! (g) Can’t wait to dig out all our crafts and give them a good sorting and a decent home. We have decided that for the current time, our parlor is going to become a big craft area. We really don’t need 2 offices, a dining room, a family room and a living room! This house is huge for us! So we’re going to use some of the area for what we enjoy… and we like crafts and such. I’m going to hang some nice white painter’s canvas up over the two walls of old paneling that we love, to protect them and to brighten the space considerably. And then, we are going to build an arts studio in the space! It’s 15 by 15 and just all big and open. Can’t wait to get started on that and really get it into play!

Okay, well, just rambling… but wanted to say, thanks for all the great ideas! And don’t worry, I’m not depressed over it all, in fact, I think I’m invigorated by the prospects of making our lives even more content and enjoyable!