Living the Simple Life

My first attempt at blogging!

I hope I can do this, everyone has always told me that I should write down  all that we do and share all of our experiences. I am not sure so many would find our lives exciting, I like to think of it as a quiet simple life that sometimes gets real complicated.

We have not always lived in the country, rather I haven’t; I grew up in a small town of around 3,000 in rural IL. My husband grew up living in the country in an old farmhouse that used to stand on the very spot out home now does. I grew up in town with all of the coming and goings of town life and he grew up here, working hard every day and thinking to himself as he grew up that some day he would live in town and “escape” the country life.

I met my husband right after I had graduated from nursing school in 1985 and we were married within 6 months. My folks said it would not last and they gave us 2 years! Well we are still married have one beautiful daughter and our first grandchild on the way, so sometimes parent do not always know everything. (Just don’t; tell my daughter I said that)

We lived in town and brought our daughter up on the same town I grew up in, going to the same schools and doing pretty much the same activities I has as a child. My husband worked in a local manufacturing plant and I worked at a new by hospital as a surgical nurse. Our lives went along without much trouble till, my husband lost his job due to the factory he worked at being moved out of the country.  It was devastating as all to many of you relate to but we thought, we will be okay. Then my health started to decline and the bottom was no where in sight. It was during this period of out lives that we came to realize we were living the wrong kind of life. Too many things to keep up with, to many places to go and to many demands that others had put on us and that we had not decided upon for ourselves., we had to make some changes.

My husband had been left the farm land after his parents had passed on, We always kept up with the taxes  and such but basically this farm was used as a place to go camion and for my husband to hunt and fish. One summer day we were working outside in our yard in town and a realtor pulled up and asked us if we would ever consider selling our home. A new manufacturing plant was being built nearby and she has a few buyers looking for a certain type off home in our area. We thought about for a bit and discussed all of the options and decided it was time to say good bye to town life and make a fresh start.  So we sold our home, bought a 3 bedroom mobile home and moved it out here to the farm to live in while we were building out new home.

Building a home turned out to be quite  an experience, my husband daughter and I did a lot of the work at night after she got out of school and he had returned from school. He was taking classes to get a degree in the   heating/cooling/ventilation field. After almost a year, our home was finally completed and we moved it.

Not only did we have to build a house but the barn needed a lot of  work and there was so much to do. We have come a long ways in a few short years but we have made a life for ourselves out here in the middle of nowhere as all of friends call it.

Now my husband works at the same hospital where I worked for years, my daughter lives in Boston MA and she and her husband both attend school there. She is pregnant with our first grandchild , scheduled to be born on Sept 1^st of this year. And me, I am a SAHW, I raise most all of our own food, preserve everything I can get my hands on and love our life here on the farm.

Welcome

02:25, Sunday, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by 24suzanne

WELCOME, WELCOME...... I AM NEW AT THIS TOO (BLOGGING). WE MOVED TO GA OUT IN THE COUNTRY, FROM CITY LIFE FROM FLA, BIG, BIG DIFFERENCE......... AND WE LOVE IT.. WE HAVE ONE DAUGHTER, ONE DOG, AND TWO CATS.... AGAIN WELCOME.............................
SUZANNE

Untitled Comment

03:00, Sunday, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by morningsunshine

wow - to live on a family farm! My grandpa told me once that he had been left a farm in Idaho where his mother had grown up, but he sold it. He told me this over 10 years ago, and he said he wishes he had not done that.
anyways, welcome to HSB2 - I cannot wait to learn from you! we are just staring our country life, we moved out here 18 months ago, and are still adjusting! sometimes I think we are living a city life in the country, except that since dh works from home, and we homeschool, we don't go many places.

hi

11:12, Sunday, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by mccrjill

very interesting - the country life is very good for you. I'd love to be in the country, except where we are in the city isn't too bad either - lots of parks to hike in. Jill

Welcome

11:33, Sunday, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by joyfulnoises

Well let me be the fourth person to welcome you to our little blog site. I am one of those people who could not move to the country so I have brought the country to my city lot. I am planning a large garden and have ordered my chickens. I am a true homesteader at heart and hope to one day move out into the country. Please let me invite you to be my friend.