Live Every Moment

I just watched Nik Wallenda cross the Grand Canyon on Live television, on a wire. What an amazing sight.

Seeing him complete that walk has made me think about my life and what I do. I've always had things I do that I scold myself for later. I turn down events with friends because I'm so scared to go out somewhere I've never been. When I do go, once I'm there, things usually get better and I calm down a bit.

I think about the home projects that I put off because there is a movie out that I would rather go see. I go see the movie with friends and family but it's just sitting, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to be doing something together.

After seeing this event, knowing that Nik could have died today doing what he loves, being reminded that life is short and could end at any moment; makes me want to re-evaluate what I do and makes me think more about why I do what I do.

If you take a few minutes to ponder, why do you do what you do? If your life were to be cut short, and you didn't wake up tomorrow, what would you most regret not doing? Go do whatever it is you would most regret not doing.

Plants Planted, Catching Water

So, if you recall, my fiance and I went to the local Farmer's Market and picked up 2 tomato plants and a green pepper. My parents also gave us 2 tomato plants. They are not all potted. I went up to my local Meijer and chose 2 more pots since I don't know what we are doing for a vegetable garden just yet. I also grabbed some potting soil to fill the pots and add to my existing pots just to add some fresh dirt. 2 of the tomato plants were falling over a little so I grabbed some small sticks from our kindling box and tied the tomato plants to the sticks to help them stand up. One of our dogs already went for one of the sticks and pulled out the plant with it so tomorrow my parents are going to pass off some actual stakes so neither dog will mistake them for a stick they can chew, and pull the plant out.

We haven't been able to fix our leaking spigot, at least not yet. It's been dripping a lot lately so I stuck my watering can under it to catch the drips. We've already saved over 2 gallons of water in just a few days. This has me seriously considering a rain barrel, even on the short runs we have for our downspouts. I'm also looking into starting a compost bin of our own. Even if it's not all the compost and we still put some out for the city to collect, having a little will help a lot in the long run. I realize we won't be able to keep it all, as our leaves from Fall alone would fill any compost container. It takes us about 20 yard bags if I recall correctly to bag our leaves each Fall.

Stay tuned to see what we do this week.

Have you been to your local Farmer's Market?

I finally went to my local Farmer's Market. It was quite an experience. There were activities for the kids, such as washing clothes the old fashioned way, with a wash board and everything. My fiance and I were surprised to see kids actually washing clothes as a form of play! We joked that this was apparently the secret to get kids to do the laundry.

Of course there were several people there all selling different items. There were a few vendors selling jewelry, which surprised me again because it's not something I picture when I hear Farmer's Market. I usually picture a farm - which my Farmer's Market is held at a historical farm - and organic produce, plants, maybe some seeds for people to start their own plants from scratch so to speak. So when we got there and saw 2 or 3 booths for jewelry, I was pleasantly surprised.

They had a few vendors selling plants. We purchased 2 tomato plants for $10 and got a pepper plant for free! I can't wait for the plants to produce tomatoes and peppers. The pepper plant does have a pepper already starting so we may get a pepper or 2 before a tomato.

We also got some organic strawberries. They are very delicious. I thought about cutting some and putting them on some ice cream earlier tonight, but decided to wait since my fiance is working right now and I'd like to make sure he gets some before I down all the strawberries. The strawberries were $4.

There was also several different cheeses, meats, and sauces. Kettle corn, honey, and even eggs were also available. I'm considering going back next week to see what is new, or to pick up some things I thought about getting this time like a goat cheese I tried that wasn't bad, which is something coming from me because I usually can't do cheese by itself; it just doesn't taste right. I just couldn't decide if it would be worth getting these items or if they would spoil in our fridge because we can't eat them fast enough like some of our food does now. (On a side note, I'm looking into different methods of preserving food like canning or getting one of those food vacuums that eliminate the air in a bag to store the food longer.)

I recommend for anyone to check out their local Farmer's Market, it's quite interesting to see what you find and a great way to support local growers and other businesses.

Making Room for More Coupons

The hardest part for me about couponing, is cleaning out my coupon binder. Here it is, Sunday all over again and a new newspaper received in my driveway, with new coupons. My coupon binder is full though, so I must go through and toss all the coupons I haven't used that are expired in the recycling box. Seeing all those savings I missed out on, it's hard.

But then I get to go through the coupons that came in the newspaper and fill those spots up again. Of course I know the cycle will just start all over again next Sunday.

Balancing Act

It's a balancing act I tell you. Trying to balance time with family, friends, and that horrible monster call the To Do List. This past weekend nothing happened because of everyday duties like going to the grocery store, and events like my cousin's wedding reception. We did decide that I no longer need to worry about watering the grass seed since it has been 2 weeks and nothing has sprouted. There are also areas that never had a chance like right along the fence because our dogs like barking at people as they walk by and they get right up to the fence.

You may not be able to read what is on the To Do List, but there are a few projects that I am very excited about like cleaning out the garage, and a few tasks involved with finishing the Family Room. Then we just need to figure out what to do with all the donated furniture as we have too much furniture (never thought we would have too much furniture but we do). We have 3 chairs, a couch, and a TV stand in the Family Room, not to mention the fireplace. There is another couch in the Living Room that basically takes up a wall, 2 TV stands (no that is not a mistype, there are really 2 TV stands), and 2 rocking chairs. There is also a Queen bed, a dresser, and some other miscellaneous boxes and such in the basement. For some homes this may not be a lot. Our home however, is only 1200 square feet. If you want to count the basement then we get roughly 2000 square feet. The rooms are not large by any means.

There are also the goals I have, like writing 3 articles each week. These often involve research, or reading a book that I plan on reviewing, which takes a lot of time from things after I get home from work.

I am failing at this balancing act. There is just too much to do and not enough time to do it. It doesn't help that I'm ready to crash at like 10:00 pm just about every night. I think it's a mental tired, not physical since I sit around all day at one desk or another. My head is always going, I can't seem to turn it off. And most of the day I feel like it's working on 2 things at once, one thing in the forefront of my mind like making dinner, and another that sneaks in like outlining one of those 3 articles I'm working on.

Anyways, I'm making a serious effort to basically add time to my day by not crashing at 10:00 pm each night, and figuring out priorities. While I want to be social and hang out with all my friends and cheer them on in their adventures, I also have things I need and want to do for me. So I have to start thinking about what is really more important. Basically take what I do at work (prioritize processing work and projects) and bring it home. (Prioritizing and the organization, if I had those things at home, I'd have had this posted yesterday, and our home office wouldn't be drowning in paper.)

Check out Elbow Room on HGTV

This morning I found the show 'Elbow Room' which airs on HGTV. Designer and Contractor Chip Wade comes in to people's homes and finds unused or misused space to create what they need. For example, one of the episodes, he changed a carport that wasn't really being used into a hotel room/office for the family. Their guest room was being turned into a baby's room as the wife was about to give birth to their second child, and they were expecting family from out of town to come stay with them.

The episodes I watched this morning set off some ideas in my head. I have several rough ideas now mostly to do with working out our basement space as we need it to do so much, and I'd like to add to what it's doing - workout space, family events - which is challenging as I think we are keeping the full bathroom down there instead of making it just a half bath. He does so much in the way of finding the space and then designing the elements, such as coffee tables that disappear into the floor, or an office desk that doubles as bed table, so that things don't feel crammed into the space and everything is functional.

I have to thank Chip Wade for doing this show with HGTV, because I doubt I'd have the ideas I have now going through my head. I can't wait for more time and finances so I can build some of these items and rooms in my head. Check out 'Elbow Room' on HGTV and get inspired for your own remodels.

Get Fit with Housework!

Who needs weights when there are windows and tubs to be scrubbed? Yard to be raked?

I spent this weekend cleaning, and doing some yard work. We have some areas where there is no grass or dead grass. So we went to Lowes and picked up some new lawn dirt, grass seed, came home and loosened the heck out of the areas with a rake, and spread the seed. Spreading the seed, that was the easy part. Raking, carrying and spreading the dirt, those were the hard parts. Both Jeff and I have built some new arm strength.

Not to mention all the walking we did. Jeff at work then home cutting the grass. Me, walking around the house putting things away, weeding, our legs got a good workout too. Calories burned today, is a lot. And we got a lot done. Which is really good, because that means there is less to do tomorrow.