Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated
Posted on 2008-Jul-18 at 9:35 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Yes, I realize it has been a while since I posted...But life has been happening. I have been working a lot and when I am home, I am to exhausted to think. Today is my day off this week and well, I am still to tired to think to much about this post. So I just wanted to post something to let anyone who is still reading this know that I am still alive and kicking! Just not kicking so high as of late. This having to get up and go to work everyday thing is crazy! I can't imagine why anyone would want to do it!
On the home front: Kiddo's are doing good. Lauren has a couple of photo shoots coming up. Megan is as usual, being very entrepreneurial. And Noah, little mister Noah, has been growing and expanding his vocabulary and his imagination by leaps and bounds! Andrew started a new project and the drive is much shorter than before, so our gas bill should drop. That is a great thing! As I said earlier, I am working...I have another week and then I will go back to the usual schedule. I will be so happy to go back to one day a week...I think I will celebrate.
We are still trying to plan a vacation. And Andrew and I are trying to plan an anniversary trip and then we are planning to take Noah to see Thomas the Tank Engine when it comes nearby. So the summer is just getting going for us. When most people are wrapping up theirs and going back to school, we will be getting our fun started.
Camp Meeting is starting the first weekend of August, so we will be busy with that for several days. Several people we know from Louisiana are coming up for that, so we will get to visit with old friends.
Of course birthdays are also near. Andrew and Lauren in early August and Noah in September and then I will turn the big 42 in November. Oh I can't forget Daphne's wedding in October, so we will be making a trip to Louisiana.
Whew! I am sure there is something else, but right now, I can't think of what...
Anyway, just to let you know, I am still here and do have more to say, but this is my one day off and I need to catch up on the laundry, dishes, floors, toilets, tubs..................well you know the routine.
I will leave you with a quote, well other than the one in the title.
I am back...I decided to leave you with a poem instead. Several years ago I discovered Billy Collins. He was the US poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. It was during that time that I found some of his work in the library where I worked. I loved his wit and the way he thought. It reminded me of some of the quirky thoughts I have. Only his are much more articulated than my own. Which explains why he was Poet Laureate and well I am not!!
Anyway, this poem is one of my favorites of his, it is so very true. I have reached the age where this really reminds me of my own battle with trying to remember things. I hope you enjoy it.
Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
~Billy Collins~
Job stuff...
Posted on 2008-Jun-30 at 9:41 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
It has been a while since I updated. Seems like June has been a busy month. I have been working more than usual. I have trained on another route and substituted on that route a couple of days. I am going in today to train on the case on a route that I have had to carry twice without training. I am going to try to learn the case so I can be used on that route also. Not necessarily my idea, but that is the way it is going, so I am just going with the flow.
My job is one area that I completely turned over to God. Not that I haven't in other areas also, but the job is one that I just allow Him to handle it. I am torn about working outside of the home. I struggled for years with the notion that I should be working, having a career, and being a "super woman", having it all; great career, kids, husband, and the great life that all that was suppose to offer. But I have also struggled with the feelings that I needed to be home with my kids.
It wasn't until around the age of 38 or so, and the birth of my son, that I let it all go, and realized that I didn't want that life. I truly wanted to be a stay at home mom. But it was also around that time that we really needed the extra income boost. We had decided to stop traveling with the company that my husband had been working for and settle down in Arkansas. So my husband took a job locally, which meant less pay, lower bonuses, fewer benefits and perks.
We thought we could handle the reduction of pay, but didn't factor in all the other losses. Such as loss of a company truck, that also included insurance paid, GAS paid, all upkeep paid for by the company! Wow! When we had to buy another vehicle for Andrew to use for work, add to insurance, buy gas and pay for upkeep, that was a lot! Then at the same time, our oldest daughter got her drivers licenses! Was that a shock. She was added to our insurance also. It doubled!! Then add a third child, which as an infant required formula, diapers and all the other things babies need.
So all of this was unplanned for expenses that we didn't factor into our decision. But here we were and so we had to do something. I had prayed for years that God would provide me a job that I could do without being away from my family full time and long hours, but would provide enough extra to make a difference.
One night, while awake worrying about what we were going to do, I was on the Internet and thought, "Hey, I think I will check the post office and see if they are hiring part time. I signed up to take the test. I prayed that God would have His way in this situation. I went to take the test. A few weeks later I got the results, and I did well. A few days later I got a letter to come for an interview. I prayed again for God's will. I was given the job on the spot. I was told to go to training for close to three weeks. I again prayed God's will, and the training went well. I began to pray God's will in advance for the job placement and the right situation. I was placed in a great post office with great coworkers and supervisor.
I took each step at a time, and told God that it was all in His hands. While others fret and fuss about this or that, I say my job was given to me by God and it is in His hands. Recently there were changes made because route count was low this year. Many of the routes got changed from a K route to a J route. Among other things, a K route means the regular works 5 days a week and has a sub 1 day. On a J route the regular works 5 days one week and 6 the next. Meaning the subs only work every other week. The route I work is one of the only ones in our post office that wasn't affected. I am still working every week.
So I felt that was God's hand. I have been working at the post office over a year and a half, in November it will be two years, and in that time, we have had three supervisors. But I am not going to stress or worry. I go to work, I do my job to the best of my ability. I know that God gave it to me, if it is His will, He will move me or keep me there. My faith is in Him. He is my boss. I do my job unto Him, not for the supervisor, or the post office, but I am in service to God, even on my job. I have placed it into His hands, and accept His will in it. So when something happens at work regarding my schedule or my placement, I know it is His doing. And that makes it easier to accept the changes that take place with my job.
So far, He hasn't done me anything but Good! I know He will not fail but guide me in each step. Who knows where it may lead. When I took the job, I didn't think long term. And I still don't think to much about it. But if for instance, I am still there a few years down the road and a full route comes available, if it is His will, then I will take that step at that time. But for now, I am just doing what I am doing and letting God open the doors and with His help, I will step into them and follow His lead.
Well this isn't want I had in mind when I started this post, but it just ended up here. So for today I will leave it at this. There are other things I wanted to post about; the cake decorating class Megan and I are taking, photo's of recent happenings, the one year anniversary of my Mawmaw's death, and other things, but today this will have to suffice. I gotta go do some dishes and laundry and cleaning before I have to go to work at noon.
Old hippie revisited
Posted on 2008-Jun-23 at 3:40 PM by Sugar Bend Farms - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Maybe I need to clairify my previous post on the old hippie comment. I didn't mean that we are seeking the values of the hippie movement. I just meant that the hippie movement was a counter culture movement that went against what main stream America expected us to be. The hippie's chose to free themselves from the constraints and expectations of middle class America. Choosing instead their own paths. We as a group of homesteaders are chosing a different path from what main stream America embraces today.
Our society encourages us to become consumers and not producers, followers and not leaders, people who are taught what to think and how to live by the media, ie..television, hollywood, and mainstream liberal media organizations. We as a society are expected to accept their advertising and liberal opinions as the gospel. But we are chosing instead to think for ourselves, be producers of our own goods and food instead of relying on the government and big business to provide for us.
Many of us are rejecting the notion that only schools can education our children, chosing instead to education them ourselves. We are rejecting the notions that we must all live in cookie cutter houses in suburbia, with manicured lawns, flash"y" cars and a need to keep up with the latest fashions or fads. We aren't seeking after consumer goods that are pushed down our throats by big business We are refusing to believe that happiness and sucess comes through having more, or bigger and better...ie., through spending, seeking and keeping up with the Joneses.
My view of a hippie has less to do with the 60's movement that involved free love and drugs, but more to do with an attitude that we don't have to keep the status quo, and live like everyone else is living. That we don't have to change with the times, the old ways can still be good ways. We don't have to embrace the ideals and lifestyles that are shown us in the media, but rather we can chose our own paths, our own way of making a life. As long as that way doesn't go against God's principles for living. Because many of us are seeking the right path that God has ordained.
Many of us grew up with the idea that we needed to be a two income household, so that we could provide more for our families. But some of us realize that we as women can't really have it all, that was a lie perputuated upon us so that we would earn more, pay more taxes to the big government and spend more money making more big business rich. Some of us discovered that while attempting to have it all, something had to suffer, usually our kids, and families, and marriages...And we discovered that we could survive on one income and that the family unit could function in the way God imagined.
To me an old hippie is one that still embraces his/her convictions and beliefs even though the modern world wants him/her to believe that those ideas are outdated and ignorant. An old hippie is someone who still lives the way they believe is right in the face of opposition and ridicule. One that feels out of places in this crazy world we are in now. Someone who has lived and learned and sees value in the small miracles of life and the world that God created. Not someone to go off on tangents, in the way they think or believe, not swayed by popular opinion or public opinion. Someone that has seen enough of life come and go, to realize that it is all temperal and vain. Knowing you must have an inner compass and an inner thermostat, not relying on the thoughts and opinion of others.
So when I posted about being an old hippie, I just meant that we as homesteaders and homeschoolers are creating a new counter culture that is going against what we are told is the normal way of living in our modern society. We are finding our own way, chosing to think for ourselves and letting our hearts guide us down that path. So with that in mind, again I post this link to "Old Hippie." (You will have to pause my playlist on the side bar so you can hear this.)
Old Hippie
Posted on 2008-Jun-23 at 9:30 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
For some reason this song by the Bellamy Brothers has been going over and over in my head. When I think of the lifestyle that many of us are seeking, I think about a group of people that's forming a counter culture.
We are seeking a different path. A path that goes against what modern America seems to have become.
Although I don't agree with all that this song is about, it makes me think about seeking our own path and searching for the way things were and how they should be again.
Here is a link to a good version I found on you tube, if you are interested in hearing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhxc1ZysPXA
I haven't learned to post the video to my blog yet, so you will have to follow the link. Sorry. I also have it on my play list if you want to click on it there. It is the Bellamy Brother singing it there.
Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs...
Posted on 2008-Jun-16 at 11:35 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I sure have been missing my hens lately. The last week or so I have been craving eggs. Boiled eggs mixed with mayo, mustard and a little sweet pickle. That is how I make egg salad. Anyway, I have been eating egg salad everyday. But they are store bought eggs and not my farm fresh eggs that I use to enjoy from my hens when we had Sugar Bend Farm. I am hoping that we will soon find the place we are searching for and be able to have hens again with fresh eggs!
Birthday's, trips and such...
Posted on 2008-Jun-11 at 4:27 PM by Sugar Bend Farms - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I haven't posted in a few days due to being very busy. Updates on the happenings are: My baby girl just turned 13!! I can't believe that she is already a teenager!
 Friday, June 6th was her birthday and we decided to surprise her with a trip. She has always been into American Girl dolls and last year they opened an American Girl Boutique and Bistro in Dallas so we decided to go, before she got to old to want to go. So I got someone to cover for me at work Saturday and Andrew took off on Friday and we drove to Dallas for the weekend.
 Noah having fun by the pool at the hotel
 Megan, Noah and Andrew cooling off in the pool
Megan and I got up early Saturday morning and drove to the American Girl store and had a girls morning out.
Megan with her loot.
The girls of the year
Noah enjoying a carousel ride
 What a surprise to find a Thomas the Tank Engine store! Noah had a blast!
The wisdom of Garfield
Posted on 2008-Jun-5 at 10:50 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Garfield. I use to have a couple of stuffed Garfield's that I kept in my car when I was young and single.
Anyway, I have always found his humor to be...well humorous!
Anyway, with all the heaviness of the world we live in, it doesn't hurt to occasionally find humor in things.
In fact, laughter doeth good like a medicine. Someone wise once said that and I would have to agree with him.
I have this cut out and put on my fridge and I laugh at it daily. Yea, I suppose I am easily amused, but it is so much the way I feel as of late! You know I am almost 42!
I found this one on a friend's mom's blog that also loves Garfield.
Chocolate junkie
Posted on 2008-Jun-4 at 11:27 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
 Dadgum you Ree!
Why did you have to post such a wonderfully delicious, delightful, decadent dessert like this on your site? And why did I have to try it? I should have just walked away and let it be, but no, I couldn't do that. Those tempting photo's you posted. You made it look so easy, and it was easy.
That is the problem, it is to easy to walk into the kitchen and pull out the blender, pour in those chocolate chips, crack four eggs, add some vanilla and salt. Then pour over that hot coffee as it blends...
The hardest part is leaving it in the refrigerator long enough to set. So I do it at night, and in the morning, when I get up...OH! there are wonderful dishes of goodness waiting for me. All I have to do is top it with ready whip, and enjoy!!
I guess that I am just a chocolate junkie and couldn't help myself. Now I want it all the time.
This is the second time in two weeks that I have made this stuff and have eaten way to much of it.
You sure do know how to hurt a diet!
If you want the recipe for this luscious dessert you can get it here. But don't say that I didn't warn you...It is addictive!
Coming late to the party...again
Posted on 2008-Jun-4 at 10:33 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I know I always seem to be coming late to the party, but have you seen this...
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto_movie080307
Tuesday Happenings
Posted on 2008-Jun-4 at 9:40 AM by Sugar Bend Farms - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Well, yesterday was Tuesday and you know what that means. Adventure...
Well, it doesn't always mean adventure, but yesterday we were up for an adventure so the kids and I jumped into our awaiting carriage...
 Or what we like to call, "Our new toy" the fun mobile.
Away we went...We went to the Rock...
 Little Rock, that is...
We went to the downtown Little Rock Farmer's Market
 Since I have to work on Saturday's, I only get to go to the Tuesday's Market. But I suspect that Saturday is the day to go...
 I had planned to take a photo of my favorite vendor, but got sidetracked by the fruits and veggies. Next time I will ask him if I can photograph him and his stand. It is actually back near the red truck you see here. I guess I am a bit partial to him because he goes to our church. But he also has great produce. And he goes out of his way to have the wonderful fig preserves that I love so much.
Then we walked into the River Market because the girls were thirsty and wanted a drink. We got there just after the lunch crowd, so there were a few vacant spots to sit.
 They have recently redone the inside with new lights, decor and seating.
It was then that I spotted the two vacant vending spots on the right of the photo below. There are actually three, but one had a sign on it that something was just about to open there. It has been a long held dream of mine to have a small lunch style eatery. Or even a small family restaurant. Yes, I know, I am crazy, but this fueled my dreams...What if I could get one of those spots and open a lunch counter! The red one has a stove already in it. So it is ready...But, for now, that is just a dream of mine, I don't really think that I could meet the demands of something like that right now. So, I will tuck that dream back inside my dream box and pull it out another time...
 After leaving the market, we took a long drive in the jeep while Noah slept and we enjoyed the sunshine.
So all in all, the day was fairly adventurous; for a Tuesday at the Rock that is...
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