Day in the Life - Fall 2016

I thought it would be fun to do a day in the life seasonal blog.  More for me and my family than anyone else.  I think it would nice to  look back and see what life was like and the changes and growth our family is making.  So here's a peek in my normal, boring day.

8:00ish - No alarm clocks here!  We get up when we want and it's usually around 8:00.

8:00-8:20 - Feed chickens and pets.  The Bible encourages us to take care of our animals before taking care of self.  I feed them, refresh their waterers and clean out the chicken droppings from the hen house.  Right now, I have a mama hen and babies in a brooder that is not part of the hen house but close by so I clean out that box, refresh their water and feed them some chick starter.  

8:20-9:00 - I come back inside and my wonderful hubby is usually making me a cup of coffee.  Right now he is spoiling me with a double-double.  Let me tell you, an americano with an extra shot of espresso does get ya going.  I feed the schnauzer and cat while that is making.  We sit down together and have coffee, share some thoughts and go online.  He reads me the news and weather and I share what I find out on facebook and emails.  

9:00 - Bible reading.  We read four chapters in the Bible every day and a chapter of Proverbs per day.  That easily gets us through the entire Bible every year.  This is hands down the best thing we do as a family.

9:15 - Chore time.  The mechanic goes out to work and I start on the kitchen side of the house.  I start by building a fire, do the dishes and sanitize the kitchen, fill the wood box, wipe down the bathroom, start a load of laundry, scoop the litter box and sweep the floor.  I also peek in the fridge to see if I need to cook anything.  I always have on hand an entree, a snack/desert and fresh bread.  

11:00 - I like to take a little break with another cup of coffee and more facebook time.  I will wander out to take a look at the chickens and fetch the eggs. If I did a load of laundry I will hang it outside to dry. 

12:00 - Homeschool - Still a struggle with my reluctant learner.  Stormy is still not receptive to learning but I coerce her through it.  She loves art and science, doesn't mind handwriting but hates math and reading.  Her routine only takes about an hour a day but it can be a long hour

1:00 - Afternoon chores and projects - After homeschool I like to pick up the living room and vacuum.  After that I look at my project list for the month and work on it or sit down at the computer to blog, budget or manage our online business.  

3:00 - I like to take another break and go outside to feed the chickens and gather more eggs.  If they are free ranging I will shoo them back into the run and lock them up.  If it is sunny outside, I like to stay out and enjoy the fresh air.  

4:00 - Time to tidy up whatever project I am doing and finish up any cooking I may be doing for the day.  

4:30-6:00ish - I spend time with Stormy and relax.  If she is distracted I will take the opportunity to read or watch YouTube videos and knit items for the eBay store.

Gloves I knit and sell on eBay

6:00 - 10:00 - Sometime after six the mechanic will wander in for the night.  I will fix him a plate of food for dinner and we will sit down and relax for the evening.  Usually we watch TV, visit about our day and play with Stormy.  At dusk, I go out and gather up the chicken feeders and waterers.  I wash the feeders out and dump out the water.  It's freezing now at night so I can't leave them in the pen anymore.  I check for more eggs, lock up the brooder and turn off the hen house light.

10:00ish - Bedtime routine - not my favorite time.  I'm tired but get through it.  I start by reminding Stormy to clean up when we start out last TV show for the night.  When the show is over, I get up and stack any dirty dishes in the sink, start the diffuser with lavender oil, fill up the water filter and tidy up the living room.  Storm changes into pajamas and picks out three stories for us to read.  After the bedtime stories, we say prayers and I tuck her into bed.  This routine takes us about 30 minutes.  If it's not too late, I will read awhile in bed before falling asleep.

The weekends are a bit different.  Saturdays I like to tackle any big projects  and I do the deep cleaning chores like the bathroom.  Sundays we take our rest seriously.  We spend the morning reading the Bible and listening to a sermon.  Most Sundays I  make a pancake breakfast but do not plan on cooking anything after that.  I do like to do the dishes after making pancakes but the rest of the day is chore free.  The mechanic has a harder time letting himself rest and he will be busy doing something.  Although we don't feel like we are under obligation to observe the Sabbath, the Bible makes it clear that a day of rest and worship is a good thing.

That's my typical day.  Some days we say forget it and load up and go to the beach.  About twice a month we take a day and go to town for errands and shopping.  This life is the beautiful reward of living a humble,  debt free life - the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want.

Anchor Point Beach

If I can change anything about this routine it would be shifting our sleep times. No doubt we would benefit by being in bed earlier but it's hard to accomplish when you are a night owl at heart.

Lovin' life as the leaves fall down.

Homestead Happenings September 14

Every Wednesday I will  post what kept me busy during the week and share my pictures.  I admit, technically we do not live on a homestead but we have the mindset of one.  We endeavor to use our land and animals to sustain us and growing each year in faith, knowledge and developing a deeper, self-sustaining lifestyle.

It has finally been a relaxing week and I feel good (I knew that I would now)!  This past week I completely slowed down and enjoyed hanging out with Stormy and homeschooling and becoming a new chick owner.  So far we have four tiny, fuzzy butts in our hen house.

Horrible lighting and a fighting mama hen makes for a bad photo.

We started to clean up our yard and I dumped some leave in with the chickens.  They loved scratching through the pile.  I also started gathering up my flower pots to see if I can  harvest any seeds for next year.

With life so easy it was simple to keep up on fermenting the chicken feed and baking egg shells to feed back to them.

Free source of calcium.

Fermented feed saves money and is healthier for the chickens.

The past two days I have been taking inventory on our eBay store and started listing Christmas music.  So while I should be working on this...

I keep getting distracted by this, which is what I see whenever I look up from my computer...

Hen house and I know there are new chicks in there...

 So I made a big cup of this to keep me focused.  Mmmmm, english toffee cappuccino...

And I got to indulge in my love of Christmas music in September.  I just do not believe that wonderful songs like Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring should be limited to a season or anything by Trans-Siberian Orchestra should ever be limited.

Christmas music 

A very good week.

The China Challenge - The Knifty Knitter Fail

I am feeling so disappointed in myself, I broke down and bought something Made in China.  Actually, I lacked the willpower to return something I bought recently, which somehow seems worse.

Recently I was cruising through a blog site and saw an easy pattern for some really warm mittens.  Everyone knows, when you live in Alaska, you really need warm mittens.  They were made on a Knifty Knitter loom that I didn't have,  but have been wanting for awhile.  Those mittens pushed me off the fence and I started shopping for the loom.  First, I looked for used ones on eBay, but with shipping it was expensive and they didn't include the loom hook or instructions.  I switched my search over to Amazon and found a pack of 4 different sizes for less of a cost than one used one.  Can you say temptation?

In fairness, I zoomed on to the pictures and tried my best to find the "Made In" area.  I even googled it, but to no avail, I could not positively figure out where the looms were made in.  With trepidation, I ordered them, saying to myself that, just maybe, they were made in the Philippines or Vietnam.  NOPE, I opened the box, and after a minute of hunting, in tiny print, mixed in with the french instructions there it was, Fabrique in China.  Uggghhh!

By now, you have figured out that I kept the looms.  Buying used ones just didn't make financial sense to me.  I'm trying to justify it and I can make some good arguments with myself but it is still a fail.

My first project - not the mitten pattern that caused me to buy the looms, an easier pattern for my first go at it.  I made the pair in about 2 hours and spent $3.99 on the yarn.  If one bought the yarn on sale, or used a coupon, the cost would by half.  In an Alaskan store, you could easily spend over $10 for a pair like this.

Looming isn't new to me.  I've been looming socks for about a year now and find it the easiest of crafts to do.  I think the new looms will be easy for Stormy to one day learn on.

Here is a pair of wool socks I'm making on the KB sock loom.  These are for Stormy to wear under her rubber boots, once spring breakup hits up here.  A pair of socks takes me about a month to make and the cost of the wool is expensive, around $6.99.  I could probably buy her cheaper socks but I love being able to custom make them.

I have already picked out my next project.  A hooded cowl that I think is just brilliant.  I have many jackets that do not have a hood and this is a perfect solution.  I can also see it as another layer while hiking and foraging this spring and fall.  I expect this project to take a couple of days and cost me roughly $7 in yarn.

As far as my challenge goes,  I'm going to keep with it and try to keep my China dollars under $20 for the year.  

Lovin' Life with warm mitts on my hands and disappointment in my heart.

The China Challenge

Total Days China Free - 0

Total spent - $15.84

I'm Not Granola but...

For the past year I have been making my own skin and hair products.  This weekend I made some shampoo, two different types of lotion and some bath soap.  

 

Making the products is simple and you get to be creative.  The bath soap in the wooden mold is a goat's milk base and I added some carob, mint and coconut to make a Chocolate Mint soap.  Mmmmm, sounds like a delicious combo to me.  I make my shampoo out of coconut milk and castile soap, depending on my mood I will add different essential oils.  The two different lotions include my everyday type and some bronzing bars I made.  It was interesting to make the bronzing bars.  To make it, you have to infuse coconut oil with coffee for hours.  After awhile, I got tired of babysitting it on the cook stove and moved it over to the wood stove and gave it a stir whenever I had to load up the stove.  I do sell some of my products on eBay in order to get the tax benefits but mostly we use them or I give them away as gifts.

Everybody wants to know why I bother with it all.  It would be easier and, in some cases, cheaper to buy them.  Believe me, I'm not the granola type or an earth muffin but I do believe in organic, toxic free products for a healthy body.  My research has proven to me that the less toxins our body has to eliminate, the more energy and time it has to repair and renew.  Since, I have the goal to live to be 100, this is important to me.  I'd encourage anyone who is currently battling an illness to do their own research about cleansing our bodies and homes from chemicals.  

Lovin' life squeaky clean.

Hopes and Goals

As Alaska settles into Fall, I decided to set some goals for myself.  With the long, dark days, it is so easy to hibernate here during the winter, but I am going to try and stay focused.  Here is the list of goals I will work on, some very easy and others will not be.

Rest - The bags under my eyes will tell you how sleep deprived I am.  It is so easy to get in this state during summer.  The long Alaska days would typically wake me up at 5:30 and I'd often be up until after midnight doing projects.  My goal is to have Stormy and I tucked into bed before 10:00pm and stay in bed until 6:00am.

Exercise - During the cold, dark winter, outside exercise becomes burdensome for me.  I don't mind the cold or the snow but I detest the wind, and winters here are windy.  My goal will continue to be to get at least 40 minutes of exercise in the fresh air.  I will count toward exercise time spent playing with Stormy and hauling firewood.  Most of my cardio exercise will be inside on the hated elliptical with the goal of 30 minutes, 5 times a week.

Diet - Six weeks ago, I started the 5:2 Fast Diet and I love it.  I am slowing shedding pounds but I have found some amazing health benefits with it.  My joints are feeling so much better, my skin problems are clearing up and energy abounds. Here is a link to the documentary.  I tried without success to upload the video.  http://documentaryheaven.com/eat-fast-and-live-longer/

Bible - We read the Bible daily as a family and our schedule of reading allows us to read the entire Bible in one year, and the Proverbs twelve times a year.  We are continuing to do a verse by verse study of the book of Revelation with the help of this series

My personal Bible goal is to begin a program of Bible memorization.  I'm starting somewhat small with a couple of Psalms I picked out with the goal of memorizing the Sermon on the Mount.  A larger goal is to work on  soul winning.

Research - I love learning and my brain seldom shuts off.  A couple of the research projects that I want to do includes HAARP, raising goats and chickens in Alaska and the Constitution.

Hobbies - I haven't picked out any new hobbies to learn.  I'm still perfecting my knitting loom and soap making skills.  It is time to figure out what I will be gifting this year.

Food Storage - I need to replenish the food storage that I have used and catalog what I actually have.  I am still working on getting all the GMO foods out of the kitchen.  This weekend I am trying out some pancake syrup recipes.  We just emptied the last of Mrs Butterworth and she is kicked out of the house!

Home Business & Work - I have not been focusing on our online business at all.  It's there and sales trickle in but I have not made much effort with it.  My husband, on the other hand, has been very busy with it.  I need to give him more of a helping hand.  As for my job, I will keep trying my best to help out where I can.  I really want to work on encouraging and supporting my coworkers and new boss

Family - I need to have a better connection with my extended family.  It seems days, weeks and months will go by without any contact.  I need to make this goal a priority.

Facebook - I'm slowly giving up on Facebook, the only thing that keeps my there is the connection to my family.  I love that I can see what my cousins and Aunts are up to but it does waste time.  I'd like to only check in on Facebook once a week with a bigger goal of once a month.  As I work on connecting with my family outside of Facebook ,I hope to  delete my account.

I think that about does it.  I will see how I am doing in January and work out the bugs.  Here's to a hibernation free winter!

Lovin' life but trying not to hibernate...naps are optional.

Maybe I'll Start Blogging Again - A Boring Update

It has been forever since I've been on this blog.  Mainly it would be due to the fact that we did

close down one of our online music stores.  AK Music Storm went offline last January and I really do not miss it.  It never showed much of a profit and it was much more to manage than selling on Amazon or eBay, which we are still doing.  It was a nice bonus that eBay changed adjusted how they charge their various fee and it is working out nicely to our favor.  Thank you eBay!  Amazon has been showing some success as well but there is so much competition out there that we barely make a dent at times.

Here is a link to our ebay store: Spindrift Gifts.  The Mechanic has been posting quite a few iPods for sale.

iPod

Earlier this year, we did inventory and decided to make some major changes.  We analyzed our sales and decided to narrow down what genres we would offer.  Our favorite and best seller was Classic Rock but we were not making a profit.  Pop, Dance and R&B had good sales but again, no profit.  You had to be willing to sale at the lowest price because the market is saturated.  So, what did we find that sells and makes a profit??  Believe it or not, Opera and New Age.   

Jim Brickman

We sell Enya and Yanni all day long.  George Winston, Tim Janis and David Lanz usually within a week of posting.  It really is beautiful music that we enjoy in our home.  It still takes me back when I walk in the shop and hear the mechanic listening to Lindsay Stirling instead of Boston.

David Lanz

Well, that's the update on our store.  I'm glad to have this post out of the way because believe me, I just read it and it is really, really boring.  

I can't wait to share with you the more interesting changes that we have made, and the real reason that I dusted off this blog site.  

Still lovin' life but not this post.  Stay tuned!

C

Online Marketing - I Hate You!

Starting a new online store is really, really hard.  There is just so much to think about and check out.  PCI compliance and SEO marketing are my two chores this week. It would not be such a chore if the store was actually making money.  We are making sales but not making a profit yet.   My research tells me that to change that I need to do two things.

One, throw a lot of money into advertising.  Admittedly, we have been stingy with the advertising mostly relying on free and I did a few campaigns on Google and Facebook. It helped, but only with CD sales, in which we have very little profit margin. Everything I've been reading indicates that I need to throw about $1000 toward the campaigns.  Wow, it would take a lot of CD sales to recoup that cost.

Research also tells me that I need to link a video to my website.  I'm willing to do this but a video about what?  We have a small, home based store.  We are in the process of opening up a storefront here in Alaska, but at the moment, nothing video worthy.  

When we started AK Music Storm, we committed ourselves for a year.  That year will be up in February. I'm hoping that the holidays will give it a boost but with the bulk of our sales still with eBay and Amazon, the future is depressingly uncertain.

If there are any ideas out there, I'd sure like to hear them! Right now I'm going to comfort myself with a game of Castleville.  They promise a happy ending.

PS- Next week I am looking forward to continuing my post about our 5 year plan!  

Match.com or eBay?

I just celebrated my 3 year anniversary  to the mechanic.  Four years ago I was content and single and one son shy of an empty nest. I never considered getting remarried. And wham, life hits me with Nick.  

Nick likes to say that I am his best eBay score ever.  We met when he bought a dvd from my eBay store.   I included a little note thanking him and letting him know he was my first Alaskan customer.  He thought the note was adorable and emailed me.  I thought he was adorable and emailed him back.  Nine months later we were married. 

Life has been on overflow ever since.  So many events in such a short period.  We had a beautiful baby girl and lost another baby to a miscarriage.  My mom, two uncles and my dog passed away.  My oldest son graduated from college and my youngest son chased a pretty girl to Salt Lake City.  A grand-baby has been born to my middle son.  Through it all, the mechanic has held my hand and held me up.  As well as, kept my car running in tip top condition. 



Lovin' life (and the mechanic) in Alaska! 

PS - Music wise, here are some of the mechanic's favorite CDs, available for sale in our store!

The Corrs

Roxette

 

Head East

5 Year Plan - Frugal Connections

I love everything about Saturdays.  Sleep-ins, extra cups of coffee, hot breakfast, snuggling with Stormy while she watches Strawberry Shortcake are just a few of the things that I love.  Saturdays are also the day that I work with our  on-line stores.  I leave feedback on eBay, post more music, shop for more inventory, and suffer through more SEO learning and marketing.  None of that will be happening today because my internet is acting very badly.  

Internet is a sore subject with me today and I think it is time to research some other options.  Right now we pay around $70/month for a sluggish connection and sporadic service like today.  In  5 years we are hoping to have our living expenses under $500.  It's not hard to see that something needs to change.  

Cell phones we have more of a handle on.  Currently we have 2 phones and pay $200 a year for them.   The phone I use is prepaid from one of our local providers.  I pay $100 each year for my plan.  It gets me 750 minutes and unlimited texting.  I text more than talk so I usually make it last a year.  The teenager has a Trac Phone.  We buy him a $100 card each year that gives him 1000 minutes of talk but charges for texting.  He has to pay for anything over that.  

The mechanic doesn't want a cell phone.  But  he does have a mobile phone.  For a couple of years now we have been using Skype for our long distance.  A great service but the mechanic always hated being tethered to the computer. His solution was to use his iPod Touch.  He downloaded Skype to it and now is free to wander about the property or find a wi-fi hotspot if he's not at home.  

Of course, neither of our phones are smart phones and I'm holding out because I don't want the monthly plan.  We are not lacking though.  We own a Xoom tablet with all the cool apps but more than anything else we have a Kindle.  A pretty old Kindle that I will hold on to for as long as I can.  It's not a tablet or even in color.  The reason I love it so much is because it came with 3G access all included with the purchase price.  It's what we travel with to look up maps, phone numbers, movie times, ferry schedules, etc.  When internet service is down in the house we use the Kindle to keep in touch with the eBay and AK Music Storm  stores.  It's slow and black and white but it gets the job done with no extra charges or minutes used on our cells.

Our connections: Xoom, Kindle, LG phone and iPod

 Here's hoping that I can publish this with the next internet burst.  I'll be calling Tuesday to put in yet another work order.  No doubt they will make me reset my router before they'll come reset the line.  Thanks to the Kindle I'll be in touch but I don't know how I'm going to take care my castle in Castleville.  Hopefully a neighbor will go feed my unicorns before they run away.  This weekend I'll be puddle splashing with Stormy instead.

Lovin' the connected life in Alaska, at least most of the time.

Superiority of the VCR

After spending the day outside in the rare Alaskan sunshine, I am getting ready to snuggle down with Stormy and watch her favorite movie.  After gathering some snacks and drinks, I slip the tape into our VCR.  Yep, I did say it - VCR.  Remember those?  Now, we own a couple of DVD players, a Blu-ray player and stream Netflix on a Roku but above all I love the VCR.  

I will admit that there is something lacking in the video quality and sound, but frankly Stormy doesn't care and unless I'm watching something epic like Avatar, Star Wars or the such, I don't mind either.  Why do I think it's superior?  The simplicity of the stop and play button.  When you want to watch a movie, push play.  Need to go away, push stop.  Come back, push play.  No confusing menus or trying to figure out what chapter you were on.  No impatient 2 year old chanting go, go, go. 

Also, VHS tapes are dirt cheap!  Some of our favorite classics can be found at yard sales or thrift store for a quarter.  Recently I bought 2 huge bagfuls of VHS movies for $3.00 with many titles that I have been cruising around eBay hoping to find cheap, including Dune, E.T., Stargate, Toy Story 1&2, and so many more.  So if you are in my area and want to get rid of some tapes just drop them on by!

Lovin' Life with a VCR. 

Stormy enjoying the rare Alaskan sunshine.

Showing Easter Some Love

Today was Easter and it only seemed fitting that I spent some of the day posting and promoting some Christian music.  Most of our music is still listed in our eBay store but I tried to give you a selection.  Here's something if you like gospel:

Psalms

 Perhaps you like some Christian Rock...

Saith

Or since it's Easter maybe something for the kids...

Prince of Egypt

Right now, I will admit that the choices for Christian/Gospel is pretty slim be assured that it is on my mind and will be something that we will be proud of.  But for now, I'm thankful for the blessings that I have been given and that includes all of you.  From my family to yours, Happy Resurrection Day!

Rolling Stones & eBay

For the first time I sat and enjoyed a Rolling Stone album I've never listened to before, Bridge to Babylon.  I don't have it for sale at musicstorm but on my eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/spindriftgifts

We've been selling on eBay for several years and for the most part, sales have been good and steady but the fees are killing us, hence the step out to the new store.  We'll be keeping the eBay store open, its main function will be to promote ak Music Storm.  Check it out, there is some great music over there that may never find itself here.  I'm way to lazy to keep re-listing the old music when I have so much new to share.

Although I know I will have to keep popular, mainstream music listed, my passion is for Indie and local bands.  I raised 3 boys and all 3 have been involved in bands.  It was so much fun going to their shows, watching them open for the main acts, going to the festivals and just jamming in the garage.  I loved every minute of it and want to share that love with you.