The Displaced Farm Girl

Settling in...

...and trying to start over.  At least with the "homesteading" aspect of life.  I moved on my birthday and am still unpacking boxes.  I'm in a trailer that has more space than my old place which is very nice! The kitties are loving all of their new room and being little terrors to get even for the distruption of their lives. *smile*  I'm really glad to not be living in my old place anymore, not only was there a lack of hot water but the next day the power was cut because the bill hadn't been paid.  *sigh*  My rent included my utilities so my landlord wasn't paying that bill for several months!  Eeep!  Although the water mess was solved and the power was back on later that night which was good, especially for the people who lived upstairs!

Now that I'm in the trailer I have to use the laundrymat to do my clothes.  Instead of the expensive dryers there I decided to start line-drying things here.  There's a clothesline behind my trailer and it was pretty  nice to have all my clothes just hanging in the sunshine!  I'm even slowly starting to cook more for myself.  Tonight I had baked chicken seasoned with Mrs. Dash.  Oh so culinary, I know! *laugh*  I'm trying to eat healthier but it's hard when I'm currently working at McDonald's and I get free food!  We aren't going to discuss how many calories are in my usual breakfast!  Next week I will hopefully be back at my old job and a little more in control.  I hate putting junk in my body, but sometimes it just seems easier than eating healthy.  Even worse is when I eat just to eat... It makes no sense.  I'm not hungry, I just want to eat.  Enough of my complaining.. it won't fix anything!

Thanks for stopping by Makayla! I'll have to pop on over to your blog, I'm not much of a commenter (but I lurk a lot!) but I am poking in to read from time to time!

Must think "pioneer."

The other day I noticed water in my kitchen, again.  The people who live upstairs and I traced the source to the hotwater heater and we turned it off.  Now we are trying to reach our landlord who we're pretty sure is avoiding our calls.  I'm fairly annoyed and very close to heating water on the stove to wash in, but it shouldn't even have to come to this.  I realize I should be thankful for even having running water hot or otherwise.  But I'm paying my landlord good money to keep things in decent condition and having something like this happen and then not even being able to reach them... It wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't an on going problem.

Ok, I'm done complaining now.  I just need to let off some steam.  Which is what my kittens are doing among the boxes.  The little brats!

Moving!

Well, last week I went home to see my family and celebrate Russ's birthday.  While I was there our washer overflowed, flooded the upstairs basement and the downstairs (it was raining in the basement!).  Tuesday afternoon the rain water semi flooded my basement apartment.  I got the water all out but the landlady hasn't made much of an effort to even figure out what the problem is.  I'm pretty sure the next time it rains heavily I'm going to have the same problem so I'm moving out before it happens again!  I feel bad about not giving 30 days notice but considering the situation and their lack of effort in figuring out what's wrong or even really getting a professional in to make sure the clean-up is sucessful and doesn't lead to mold... well... I'm wanting out soon.  I lived in mold once and I'm NEVER doing it again.

My new place is a trailer near one of my friends and close to the school.  It's not great but the rent is comparable to what I'm paying now and there is more space for me and the cats.  I will have to pay the electicity in this place though, which worries me.  Trailers are notorious for not being very energy efficient.  My free time is spent trying to find ways to saving energy.  Any suggestions?

Work and housecleaning

I had Tuesday off of work and cleaned my heart out!  My place isn't spotless now but I can walk through it in the dark and no trip over anything. Yay!  I just spent 15 min in each room and then vaccummed and it helped soo much.  It's amazing what a little bit of time can do.  Work is... work.  I've been trying to have a good attitude about it but it's been hard.  One of our important district people was in last night and I let my anger get the better of me.  I was informed that it's company policy to not allow bottled water at the checkouts or service desk.  If we need a drink we have to find someone to cover us.  I told him I didn't care if it was policy or not, I was going to do it anyway.  He says it's for safety and professional reasons.  A closed bottle of water, out of sight of customers, that is not drank while helping customers - I have trouble seeing where this is a problem.  He expected me to say "of course I'll stop" and then do it anyway.  I wasn't going to lie to him about it.  I was honest and as polite as I could be but I'm holding my ground on this one.  Maybe it's the wrong attitude to have but this is the first job I've had where this was a policy and I think it's impractical and can be unsafe when it's really hot out.  Last summer one of my checkers almost passed out from the heat in the store.

Anyway, I'm done now.  It's just been eating at me since last night.   He'll be gone after today and then our lives will return to normal and we'll continue to ignore all of the things he comes in and throws a fit about.  I'm so happy that I have understanding managers!

Wedding Ideas

Apparently the best time to discuss wedding details is at 1 am on the phone.  Russ and I have decided to do black and white for our wedding colors.  I realize that some people are going to go "what?!?" but I think it will be simple, classic, and very easy to make "fun" if we want.  It doesn't have to be stuffy and formal at all.

Completely unrelated but my mom is coming to visit next week and my bathroom and shower room are clean! Yay! Tomorrow I need to get the living room in to shape.

Kittens coming out of my ears!

Well, between my newest kitten, Kerry (who we've renamed Frizzy), and Norman I've been barely able to keep up.  A few nights ago they knocked over the watering dish and I didn't notice until I stepped in water and soggy cat food!   I'm pretty sure that the people upstairs even heard my screech.

Sunday I did something I've very proud of, cooked lunch without a recipe!  Normally I like have recipes otherwise I'm afraid something will go wrong.  I love to cook, but I only feel comfortable with directions.  But on Sunday I decided to use up some leftovers I had in the fridge to make a stir-fry type thing.  I cut some chicken in to strips and cooked it with some garlic and Mrs. Dash in a frying pan, then I cooked some bell pepper strips, mushrooms, and green onions and served the whole thing on brown rice.  It was pretty simple to make and Russ even said he'd eat it again.  Which is good because it was pretty quick and didn't require much thought at all.

No all I have to do is go clean up the place.  It's my day off and I really don't want to clean but it will drive me crazy if I don't!

Quick Intro

Well, I figured I should put up a quick intro so people have a slight sense of who I am.  My name is Susan, I'm 21, and I grew up on a small farm in Montana.  Currently I go to school in North Dakota where I live in a tiny basement apartment.  A far cry from 720 acres of farm!  I've got two kittens, Norman and Kerry, one of whom is currently asleep in my lap.  I'll be marrying my high school sweetie next summer and I'm pretty excited about that!  In my free time I knit, read, am learning to spin (slowly), and try to keep my apartment clean.

My goals for this summer are to cook more homemade food and rely less on packaged junk, work on saving money for after the wedding, try to keep up on housework, try out homemade cleaning products, and focus less on how I look and more on being healthy.  There isn't a lot of room for "homesteading" in my life right now but I'm trying to make small changes now that will be second nature by the time I set up a home with my husband.  I really would like to be a stay at home mom and manage things well enough that we can live off of one income but that is probably a ways off.

Hm, that's about it for now.  I don't have much else to say.  Just thought I'd put up a post so there wasn't a big empty space here!