After months of excited planning, I recently started growing vegetables and flowers in a grow room in our basement. Overall, it has gone well and we will have lots ready to plant in the garden. I did, however, make one big mistake this first time starting seedlings in a grow …
My daughter started tagging along with me to craft fairs this past year, and I think she’s hooked. Ms. Tornado is excited about earning and saving up money. In anticipation of attending more craft fairs this year, we have been researching different products for her to make and sell. Craft …
Greetings from our homestead! In the near decade since this blog was born, I’ve worked diligently to achieve better balance between work and so many other passions. Now, I have two ways to share some of my acquired skills and knowledge with everyone. As a New Years’ gift, I …
Welcome to my very first crochet pattern. I started doing a few craft fairs as a side hustle, and an excuse to crochet more! One of my biggest lessons learned, was that people really seem to want small purchases. In looking for a little octopus pattern, there were several that …
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about side hustles on this site, but we’re still always looking for ways to earn extra money. Frugal living only goes so far towards our dream of financial semi-independence. The other essential part of our plan is finding many different streams of income, …
Time for an update on our progress in Creating Our Kaleidoscope of a life: even though our family is mostly settled into the new home, there is still more work to be done towards our next goal of financial semi-independence. The Holidays We just hosted Thanksgiving for our …
It can be tempting at times, to focus on your accomplishments, and decide that you’ve done enough. We have been working so hard for the past decade. After paying off our debt and moving to the forever homestead, it’s been difficult to resist the lure of celebration, relaxing, and letting …
Finally closing on our forever homestead felt like so much more than just buying a house, because it represented an arrival at the destination we had been dreaming of through a long journey. From paying off debt and being surprised by twins, to surviving a pandemic, this milestone has been …
After years of hard work, and surviving pandemic quarantine with five kids in a 1,300 square foot home . . . We are finally ready to move into our forever homestead! There is a down payment in the bank and we have our mortgage preapproval letters. The next step is …
In looking back over my blog posts over the past several years, they always seem to be a bit more spread out over the summer. It makes sense, because we’re on the go more during the warmer seasons of the year, trying to fill our days with as much adventure …
