Renting

We just found out a little bit ago that our renters will be out by the 1st of August. This is a little scary as this will be our first time trying to find renters from a distance. (It was a little scary trying to find renters even when we were still in NJ, but we found some quickly, and since we already knew them, that helped quite a bit.)
When we joined the Air Force and moved to NJ, it was the height of the housing boom in 2006. Renting a place for a family our size cost as much as a mortgage. Plus, we were in a 1 bedroom temporary housing facility for 1 month and were told it would be another month before anything on base would open up for us. Thus, we bought. We knew in 2 or 3 years we would have to sell or rent. Of course now, we're at the bottom of the market. Yay. So the only way we'd break even by selling is if we do a 'for sale by owner'. So we're trying to do either; which ever happens first.
I pray that the Lord will help us. Even though we have a bit extra every month, we don't have enough to pay a mortgage and rent for more then a couple of months. And being the planner that I am, once I know that there is a change coming, I like to get everything worked out as much as possible. So this is going to drive me crazy until we hear from some people who are interested, since there really is nothing else I can do until then. Grumble grumble.
Oh well.
*Just thought I'd show a couple pictures of the house. I messed with the pictures a little and now some of them look a little squished, but you get the idea. The rooms are actually bigger then they look. :o)

Food storage

I've been a little obsessive about food storage lately. Actually, it started about 2 years ago when I had a friend who ground her own wheat to make all of the bread for her family. Up to that point I hadn't really thought too much about food storage. My mom had lots of wheat she kept wanting to give me, but since I didn't have a grinder, or really know what to do with wheat other then make flour, I kept telling her I didn't want it yet.

Well, when my friend showed me how simple it was, and how I could go from wheat to fresh bread is 90 minutes, I was hooked! I bought a grinder and, with my mom's next visit, I accepted as much wheat as she could fit in her car. I then started making all of our bread. But since all I had was wheat, that's all I did with food storage.

**And I just need to give a shout out to my mom who is amazing with the food storage she set aside for her children. She bought a year supply of wheat for each of her children. So I had my year supply of wheat instantly (which was very nice). But then she said that there were some others who didn't want theirs. So after checking to see who did/didn't want their wheat, she informed me (since I was the only one who seemed to really want it) that I now would have a 4 year supply of wheat! And that's calculated off of me making all of the bread for a family of my size. So that's a LOT of wheat. So everytime she visits, she brings out a little more. Still not sure where I'm going to stick it all, but bring it on. Anyway, back to my narrative. Thanks, Mom.**

So I now have a 4 year supply of wheat, but nothing else. But, thanks to some of you, I found some great food storage websites. Todd thinks I'm a little crazy because I get really excited when talking about food storage. I've been reading up on anything I can. I bought some jars and a pressure cooker so I can start canning this year. I'm (if I ever find time to start) planning on starting a garden as well. I've looked into Square Foot gardening. I love it! The problem for us is that, being military, we move around a lot. So we can't can too much since it needs to be used up before we move since they won't move liquids in glass containers. I wonder why? ;o) And any garden we plant, we can only use for a couple years. So it makes it a little hard to want to start, but I'm starting small.

We don't have a ton of extra room for food storage right now, but my next goal is to start building up some of our other items. I'm starting with a full 3 month supply. We're not too far from that already, so that should be easy. Then, I'm going to start getting other basics like powdered milk, eggs, oats, etc. and actually start using them in every day cooking. What a concept! **This is where the EVERYDAY FOOD STORAGE website is great. I love her ideas for using food storage.**

And the bonus? We've already been saving a bit of money on groceries. Our bread costs us next to nothing since the wheat was free. (but even if we bought our own, it would still save us money) We've been saving a bit of money for breakfast with the oatmeal. We would always get whatever cold cereal was the cheapest, but still we go through a lot of it, plus the milk. Now we use less milk, the oatmeal costs less and goes further, and the kids like it more anyway.

Wow. I told you I get excited talking about it. Who wants to read a post about food storage the size of this one? lol. Oh well.

So if anyone has any good ideas about food storage, feel free to share with me. :o)

It's been a while.

After almost a year since I first joined this thing, I'm finally back on. Hopefully this time it will take. ;o)

There has been a lot going on with our family since we moved to New York. Two of our children have been to the ER. Andrew fell out of a tree and fractured some vertebrae and had to wear a brace for a few months; Sophie decided to run with a pencil and poked a hole in her eyelid (I know, VERY close). Our daughter Lillian was born, and she's had a couple of medical problems that we've had to run to the Dr.s a lot for. And a month after Lillian was born, my mother-in-law moved in with us, Andrew was baptized, Lillian was blessed, I was called and set apart as a counselor in the Primary Presidency and my mom (while visiting us) got sick and had to go to the hospital. All in the same weekend!! After about 2 weeks here in the hospital, and then finishing treatments at my house, my mom was finally cleared to go home. Needless to say, with a 1 month old baby who had various Dr. appointments, my life was a LITTLE hectic. But now, things are pretty much normal.

Now we are getting ready for some summer activites. Todd took the boys on a Father/son campout the other weekend, which they all enjoyed. Nathaniel just turned 11. Todd is taking Nathaniel, William and Andrew to a Cub Scout day camp in the beginning of July. Some of the children are signed up for swimming lessons. Our family is headed out to Utah the beginning of August for a family reunion. We have to find new renters for our house in NJ starting in August. And sometime, either August or November, Todd will be deploying to Iraq. (I thought our life was slowing down.) :0)

That is a brief summary of our life this last 10 months, but since it's after midnight and we have church tomorrow, I will go to bed.