It's like permanant vacation....

   I know days will come when being at stay at home mom won't feel like vacation (I'm only on day 4 after all), but I am going to enjoy it as long as possible.  The kids are on Spring Break, so that helps, too.  Call it a honeymoon phase.  It is a very strange feeling, waking up and my biggest decisions to make are what's for dinner and do we go on a bike ride or to the store first today?  Everything else is working on small projects around the house.  I can look at an undone (or more likely, half done) project and think "Yeah, I'm going to do that today," instead of figuring out how to fit a whole day's worth of chores into 6 hours on 5 hours sleep.
   I shouldn't complain about how it was.  I know people who are up at 4am and not home until 7, then they are putting little kids to bed at 8, or shuttling kids to and from sports or music or clubs until 10, day after day, with more sports and clubs and work on the weekends.  And I'm not trying to gloat, either.  I'm not sitting in some fancy mansion with a BMW in the drive while Hubby earns a 6-figure income sitting at a desk.  We've chosen to take the path of being more self-reliant, enjoying simpler pleasures, and going without things that others aren't willing to.
   Yes, I have a five year old vehicle with a payment, but we no longer have cable. Yes, our kids have a video game system, but it was given to us and he just bought 5 used games for a whopping $20, using a gift card from his birthday.  Yes, I still go to the grocery store, but I buy my eggs, beef, pork and lamb from a local farmer and am raising my own meat chickens, and I preserve a lot of my own food.  Yes, Hubby just splurged on that new camera, but I do almost all my clothes shopping (and home goods, books, homeschool supplies, etc.) at second hand stores.  It's a give and take, and the more I "give" - not buying a lot of stuff and buying used - the more I "get" - less time at work to afford it all and more time doing thing, like chickens, together.
   It all get round back to my Joysmithing goal - creating a more joyful life.  The less money I have to spend, the less I (meaning Hubby now, of course) have to earn, and the freer we are to be home as a family.  And whether 'home as a family' means enjoying a fire in the backyard while kids play flashlight tag, or building and fixing things at home instead of shipping it off to a repair shop, we are still doing it together.
   And now it's time to....well, whatever I want, right? 😊 Actually, going to bed at a decent hour has its perks.  Quiet time before kids are up to enjoy some coffee and blog, laundry's already on it's second run, I have some pictures to put in new (used 😉) frames since the cheap ones broke, and then a shopping list.   It really is amazing, how much lighter I feel. I didn't feel stressed about my job before, but this new feeling of freedom really is a feeling of being lighter.  I can't describe it any better than that, but I bet you out there who have made the choice I have no what I'm talking about.  Here's hoping we can all feel this weightless joy.

Joyfully yours,
K

New Holiday on April 14th!

  No, you haven't missed anything in the news.  This is my own new personal holiday.

   I have 4 more days of working my full-time job before I retire!

   I'm not near old enough to actually retire, but I am quitting work to be home on weeknights to be with hubby and the kids, start homeschooling again, have more time to garden, more time to finish house projects, and more time just to be.  I worked about 19 years in different careers while I became a wife, mother, homeowner, camper, gardener, hiker, chicken raiser, and all the rest.  I enjoy my job, and get satisfaction from doing it well so that my co-workers can concentrate on the job they have to do, but my passion is my family, and the two can't be balanced out anymore.  I am ready to drop the working part.  I am so grateful to Hubby for doing all the financial stuff to get us ready, and supporting my decision.  And before anyone shakes their head and think me naïve, I know I am actually going to have more work as a stay at home mom than going to a job.  And while I won't get a paycheck to take to the bank, I will be paid in so many other ways it will more than make up for it.  Like Handsome Boy says, I am rich in love.
   In other news, since I haven't written in over a month, our meat chickens are here and the broiler coop is finished - what a learning curve!  Our egg layers are in my friend's incubator, the new garden beds are covered in straw waiting for a design plan and Mother's Day (aka planting day), shower tiling is in progress, Mom is mended up and ready to move back home, and spring is here!!!  Otherwise, I'm generally just trying to put my life in some kind of order so I can actually get things done instead of looking around wondering where to start. Ever since the fall holidays, any routine I once had was thrown out the window.  Almost every day has been reactionary.  A list got accomplished on schedule here and there, but not nearly enough.  I am ready to find my new routine.

As Tim Young from The Self-Sufficient Life says, Here's to getting out of the rat race!

Joyfully yours,
K

P.S.  Go Check out Tim's website and podcast.  He tells his own stories, interviews with others, and chats with his wife.  It's a great show.