After many promises of coming back to the blog, here I am. Things around here have been tough for a while, and I just honestly haven't felt inspired to blog. I still haven't been able to find work, and unemployment benefits ran out the second week of January. While our persistence on storing food has kept us fed, paying the bills has been a challenge. We're working with creditors and the mortgage company the best we can. I've had a lot of interviews, but nothing has panned out yet. Some are for seasonal work, and we're still dealing with 8+ inches of snow. Hopefully soon, spring will rear it's head and something will open. Until then, we just go day to day and do everything we can.


Our situation and the economy in general has caused a lot of changes. We've drastically changed spending habits and have made a lot of lifestyle changes. We've taken them all in stride, realizing that we are doing better for ourselves in the long run. We both have a feeling that this economy will get worse before it gets better, and plan on changing nothing about the way we live at all. In fact, there will be more changes to come. This will be the year we really push things to the limits on being self sufficient here. This year we'll try to rely on outside sources as little as possible. This year, like many behind it, will push us closer to our goals. It may be difficult to see as we juggle one bill to pay the other, but that's where it will lead. We'll get there.


During this whole mess, I tend to watch those around me. Family, friends, neighbors, internet friends, I watch them all. It's sad, but also funny to me, how most still spend despite the state of our economy. I hear people talk about the new $1200 television they just bought, or how they got a great deal on this new car. Even someone we know came straight out of bankruptcy and losing their home, and took a Caribbean cruise. I shake my head often, and wonder if people like these will ever learn. It's doubtful to me that they will. I've even known people well into their 70's that have had to file bankruptcy. Not for medical bills or lack of pension or social security benefits, but for accumulating a lifetime debt on credit cards. People sometimes make fun of my uncle, who has never had any kind of credit in his life. He simply only buys something if he has the cash. It's funny how living that way is a long forgotten way of life and way of staying out of debt. Someday we'll be able to live the same way, and life will be better because of it as well.

In spite of the financial situation, plans for this year are still pushing the limits of what we've done before. I've not only inspired to out-do myself like I have in previous years, but also because I have less and less faith in food from the grocery stores. There are so many things to be concerned about, I can't go into detail about them now. Between growth hormones, genetically modified seeds, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, artificial flavors, and many other things, buying from the grocery store is nothing more than a game of russian roulette. We plan to break even further away from the store, and rely more on ourselves. If we were able to produce just under 1100 pounds of food last year, 2000 pounds shouldn't be a problem. We'll also be utilizing some land at my uncles this year. We'll plant things that we can, for the most part, plant and leave alone other than the occasional weeding. As of now, we plan on corn, potatoes, onions, and possibly some form of grain. I'll track that property separately than what we produce here at home, but I will add it all together at the end of the year. I'm excited to see what that total will be.

I promise folks, I'll be back into writing. I have things in my head now as I finish this that I plan on using in the next one. Now if spring would just get here to motivate me just a little more...........