The unspoken challenge

The truth is, over the past few weeks or so I've been really interested in becoming more "old fashioned."  That's the term I am using, because self-sufficient, living off the land, having a homestead - all of those things sound so serious and it makes me want to laugh at myself.  Well it makes the me from 3 years ago that lived in a townhouse in the suburbs and drove into DC semi-often want to laugh at me.

I've really been feeling the pressure that I've been putting on myself, which I don't think is a bad thing.  There is just a lot I want to do, and really this is the biggest and  most important challenge that I am facing, and yet I don't have a weekly list or a calendar to get me through it.

You see, I want to garden.  I want to produce so much extra food it will make my head spin.



And then I want to start canning.

And dehydrating.

And freezing.

I want to have shelves of garden fresh food in my basement so that I can just walk downstairs to grab some fresh tomato sauce or some homemade pickles in the middle of the winter.


I want to be able to cook up a meal and have everything in it, besides the meat, if something I grew or made on my own.

So the pressure is on.  I have half of my dinning room table covered in seeds that are already starting to sprout.  I have bags and boxes of bulbs and seeds that are ready to go.  The garden is tilled.

But I have so much to do.

I have to measure out and mark the garden and then start preparing the rows.  I need to get newspaper and mulch so that I can clear the rows in the garden from weeds.  I need to buy some sort of fencing to put around the garden to keep the chickens out so they don't destroy the plants.

I need to move more boulders to create the last raised bed by the house and then plant strawberry bushes there.

I have to paint my garden rock labels.



I need to buy a pressure canner and all of the jars.  I need to buy a dehydrator.


I need to get the new coop built so I can get more chickens.

And during all of this, I need to keep planting the seeds in the house to get a head start on the garden.

There is a lot of upfront cost to this challenge.  But I know, in the long run, it will completely be worth it.

I just home that my kids learn from this and that they can look back on it and appreciate it.

So that's the truth.  It's the challenge that I find the most important, and yet it is the one that I haven't publicly confessed to.

Just barely made it this week

I didn't realize I succeeded yesterday.  Friday night when I was scrambling to get the fridge and freezer cleaned and some of the writing challenges done, I kept thinking it would leave Saturday to get other jobs done.  And then Saturday I realized I had already finished all of my challenges.

52 Week Money Challenge now has $202 in the jar.  I have the money for this week but then I'll have to head back to the bank to get more cash out.  I did realize that I have a safe that I never use and I think I'm going to make a smaller Money Challenge Jar that I can store in the safe.  It makes the cash safer from someone taking it but also from me getting to it since I never remember the combination.  Of course, having to get in to the safe each week might help me to finally memorize the combination.

52 Week Food Challenge was a success due to a technicality.  I don't like Hamburger Helper, I finally made it for the kids this last year and they love it, but I just can't bring myself to eat it.  However, our renter came home on Tuesday from a week vacation and when we walked in the door she proudly announced that she'd made dinner.  She only cooks for herself about once every other month so this was a big deal.  The meal was one of those Velveeta things just like Hamburger Helper.  I ate some.  A few days later a friend said I should meet him at Starbucks and try his Chai Tea to accomplish this challenge.

I agreed, until I realized that I could count the dinner earlier in the week.  I told him I didn't want to "waste" any of the new foods counting towards this challenge, because I am really worried about running out of new things and having to try disgusting things by the end of the year.  I'll be saving that taste of Chai Tea for another week.

I do want to keep the spirit of this challenge and I do plan to try "real" new foods for it, as soon as I'm allowed to spend a bit more. :)

No Spend February wasn't a success based on my personal rules.  I really had hoped to only spend on bread, produce, and milk.  I did very well until the 23rd for the most part.  But then I decided that the next grocery trip (in which we needed bread and milk), would be the longer drive to the better grocery store.  That grocery store is almost 3 times as far as my typical store, but the prices are much better.  With the cleaned out fridge and freezer and the trip to the better store, I decided to stock up.  I still have to admit that it was mostly a success as I still spent at least $400 less on food this month than I normally do AND everything is stocked up to last for awhile.

I'm counting this week as a success, even though I can't deny that I gave up on two challenges this week.  Next week, I think I'll add a challenge to re-write the Mom Challenge into weekly challenges for the month of March.

A woman never sleeps

I was really worried about not completing challenges this week.  I mean I already dropped two of them this month, and I felt semi-justified because of the whole can't-check-a-calendar-every-day thing, but to not complete any of the 52 week challenges would feel like failure to me.

So after watching Grey's Anatomy I forced myself to go work on the refrigerator.  I told myself I just had to do the fridge and not the freezer.  I was actually looking forward to this only because I knew there were salad dressings and other containers of stuff I wanted to get rid of.

So I set to work, starting from the top, working toward the bottom.  I figured I could keep cleaning until I got tired and as dirt fell, it would go to a lower area that I would get to later.  

The closer I got to getting the main area clean, the more I wanted to clean the door.  That's where the "good" stuff was.  The stuff I wanted to throw away.  :)

I got everything cleaned and organized and stepped back to admire what I'd finished and told myself I would do the freezer tomorrow.

For the food stalkers:
Carrots, lettuce, grapes, salad, juice, milk, water, eggs, cheese, fruit, mayo, salad dressing, and chicken broth.

Funny that I have so much beer, considering I don't drink beer.

And then I admitted that I was going to be pretty busy tomorrow with outside chores, hopefully building the new chicken coop, and then hosting old friends, so I might as well do the freezer now.

Just a little cramped in there

I don't even know what is buried in those doors

Things went pretty fast.  I managed to find a bag of beans and a single freezer burned waffle for the chickens to eat as well as two tubs of sherbert and frozen yogurt that needed to be tossed.  The hardest part was the frozen pees all over the freezer.  Odd since I hate pees.

I got the job done and made sure to place the homemade biscuits front and center.

Oh I wasn't done.  I had just read about cleaning a dishwasher, so I figured I might as well do that since I already had cleaning gloves on.  So I did.

Now, I can rest...

The written work

I've been falling behind.  Maybe not behind, but I just haven't been reaching most of the goals the first day of the week and so I feel like I'm not doing it right.

So the two written challenges this week were the Listmania in which I wrote about my jobs from babysitting, to Denny's waitress, to office stuff, to teaching.  And my "Wheel of Life."

Yep I posted it here.  So maybe I didn't really put too much thought and effort into making this.  I just wanted to get it done because I started worrying that I wouldn't reach all of the challenges this week.  It is a little accurate, I know that I do not have the social life that I want, but that's because I would rather spend time on my property.  I miss my friends that are an hour away now, but driving in to the city really bothers me.  The other things, I feel like I can't be too hard on myself because I have to admit I have come a long way, but I definitely am no where close to where I want to be.

So I can check those two challenges off the list for the week.

Week Three: I'm admitting it, I'm giving up on two challenges

So I'm not succeeding at my challenges.  Yep, I'm admitting it.  Sadly, the things I'm not succeeding at are probably the ones I most NEED to succeed at.

52 Weeks to Simplify Your Life: Mission Statement - Check!
Okay, this challenge is starting to bore me.  A mission statement?  Get on with the stuff that's going to actually simplify my life?  My "mission statement" was about wanting the boys to grow up and be decent happy people.

52 Challenges in the Organized Home: Organize spices, pantry, and food storage - Check!
Yet another cake walk week for me.  I had organized the pantry during week one because I wasn't paying attention and thought I was suppose to clean the counters and the cupboards before I really finished reading the challenge.  Then today I was organizing the storage shelves in the basement just because I walked passed them.  Lucky me.

52 New Foods Challenge - Check!
A friend knows about this challenge and she brought me a pomelo today.  It's the grandfather of the grapefruit.  I looked it up after she brought it over.  Ended up just eating it plain, peeling it like an orange and taking a bite.  It was pretty good.

52 Week Money Challenge - Check!
Since the money for the month is already in my drawer it's pretty easy to do.  I dropped it in on Friday night and I'm on my way to success with this one.

Listmania: Crushes, past and present - Check!

Really?  So it was a little silly to think about who I had crushes on back in the day (Will Withers - even though I never watched Star Trek, NKOTB, Christian Slater, yeah I had tons.)  My list now is pretty short with people like Brad Paisley and Patrick Dempsey :)

Wellness Calendar: Goals to Reach this month and Declutter one area - BLAH!

This is where I start to fail.  I just have a hard time having the calendar available each day and remembering to see what the challenge even is.  I made the menu for the week, and I stuck to it... But I forgot every other challenge.  I looked at them now and I definitely didn't work out hard on Monday, and I didn't send a card to someone I love during the week.  I didn't do a single pushup and I didn't change a recipe.  I could at least update the recipe tonight to reach at least one of the goals, but I think I just quit on this.

28 Day Mom Challenge: Utter Fail

Okay really.  I just can't find it in me to find the calendar and check it each day.  The challenges themselves aren't necessarily hard, I just don't remember that there's something new each day.  I think I should re-vamp this challenge and try it again another month, with weekly goals.

No Spend February - Check!

THIS I have done great with.  I did pay for a mud run, but even if I didn't pay for it in February, I would have paid for it in March, so what is the difference?  And really, I was just worried it would sell out before March.  And then today I did spend money at Home Depot.  I've never spent so little at Home Depot, so $35 isn't much AND it was soil and seeds for the garden.  I think that shouldn't count.

I got a ton of stuff planted and it's all laid out on my table because I really want this year's garden to be the best.

Menu for the week

The Wellness calendar requires me to make a menu for the week.

Being on the No Spend February, this means I can't go buy fun food or plan a menu like I normally would.  Everything has to be based on what we have in the house so here is what I can make happen this week.

Five breakfasts during the week: 2-3 eggs a day if the chickens keep laying.  If not, I can grab a pack of oatmeal.

Five work lunches: Salad, lean cuisine, tuna and crackers or bread.

Five work night dinners: pasta and spaghetti sauce with a salad, pork chops, grilled marinated flank steak, chicken and potatoes, seafood (fish sticks and shrimp egg rolls).

Weekends are a bit different because things change if someone shows up or we need to run out.  I'm sure it will end up being something like hot dogs or sandwiches for lunch, pancakes or cereal for breakfasts, and something in a crock pot for dinner at least once.

I will admit my failures

52 Weeks to Simplify Your life: What Values Do You Stand For - Check!
This wasn't too hard.  I mean sitting down to make a list of values and then deciding which were the most important doesn't take too long.   I'm guessing this challenge will be getting harder as the year goes on.

My top value...

52 Challenges in the Organized Home: Clean the Drawers and Cabinets - Check!
I did this on Sunday, didn't take long because I was in a throwing-out mood.  I had a counter covered in "stuff" I didn't need and within 24 hours people from Craigslist had come to pick it all up.  The drawers and cupboards have stayed organized AND my counters are still clean (if you don't count the mixer I brought up from the basement and I have been using it pretty regularly.

52 New Foods Challenge - Check!
I should probably admit that I haven't even read the blog or the website attached to this challenge.  I am simply trying to eat something each week that I haven't ever had before.  This week I semi-cheated because I just tried the other jar of tea stuff.

52 Week Money Challenge - Check!
I already pulled the money out of the bank a week ago and had it tucked away.  So I just had to get the money out and put $51 in the jar this week.  Balance: $103

Listmania: The Current Season... - Check!

I wasn't all artsy-fartsy with my completion of this task, like the original author of this topic, but I completed it.  I like winter, I like snow, so it wasn't bad.  I'm more of a list person.

Wellness Calendar: Schedule workouts, eat greens and healthy, love myself  - Check!

Scheduling my workouts was easy, I go to the gym every weekday morning at 4AM.

Yes, really.  If I don't go at 4AM, then there is no other time for me to go, so I started working out at this time about a year and a half ago.  It works for me, most days.  And since I take advantage of the treadmill, that made it even easier for me to "plan" my workouts.  I'm doing 3-4 miles a day walking at least 4.2 mph, with the weight vest (currently at about 16 pounds.)

Eating a healthy breakfast wasn't hard, eating the fruits and veggies wasn't even hard since I do that usually.  Eating something green at every meal was something I had to think about.  Breakfast is usually fresh eggs, or oatmeal, and then a banana when I drive to work.  I had to change things up a bit on Thursday morning and ended up having kiwi as part of my breakfast and celery with peanut butter in my lunch to make sure that I had green stuff.

And yes, I did write in my journal about one body part that I like.  It was boring.  And just for the record I chose my shoulders.  Not because I think they are great, I just really couldn't think of a body part that I'm not still trying to improve and I thought that saying "my eyes" would be a cop out.

I didn't sign up for a dance class, but I already knew that was something I wouldn't do. My gym is small and I don't do classes, so it wasn't going to happen.  I'm not 100% sure that I ate 5 fruits and veggies on Saturday, because I haven't stopped to think about what I ate, but I think I met this goal.

28 Day Mom Challenge: Hugging, New words, favorite foods, lunch notes, and hearing them out  - Yikes!

I won't lie.  This is the one challenge that I have the most trouble with.  From losing the paper copy of my calendar (and not turning the computer on to view the online one) I forgot what the challenge was one day, I didn't get a note in their lunches, and I'm not sure that they asked to do anything on Saturday that I let them do.  I can't remember them asking me to do anything really.

I have been torn between continuing this challenge and just seeing what I can get done, or giving up and starting over another time.  I've also thought about changing the challenges to just being things like not yelling - each day.  While I am constantly hard on myself and hating myself for my parenting deficiencies, I also know that I am constantly analyzing things and trying to figure out what I can do differently to make my little boogers grow up to be productive and happy members of society.

No Spend February - Check!

I'm actually really proud of myself with this challenge.  I've had a rough week and I tend to spend money on food when I am stressed out.  But I didn't.  I didn't stop for a muffin or a donut either of the mornings that I wanted one.  I didn't go to Tropical Smoothies on my way home like I was craving.

I made it two weeks before we went to the grocery store and then I only spent $26 at the grocery store and under $70 at Costco.

I bought a 50 pound bag of flour and a 25 pound bag of sugar at costco which may not have been a "need" except that I am determined to make more of our breads instead of buying them and I also buy in bulk to save money in the long run.  Besides those two things I bought 2 gallons of milk, strawberries, blackberries, heavy cream (to make bread and real butter), two loaves of bread, and parchment paper (we were out and I need it to make the bread.)

At the grocery store I bought apples, pears, bananas, shortening (I was out), baking soda and yeast, potatoes (on sale), and I don't know what else.  I feel like I am forgetting something.

I should be able to avoid needing anything else from the store for two more weeks, which means there is no reason why I can't end up spending less than $150 on groceries for the entire month.