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Blast from the Past

Last night while looking for the picture of my tomato plants all draped in netting, I came across this blog post from 2008.  This is why I LOVE blogging!  It made me smile and it almost made me cry.  Vince was already asleep but I wanted to wake him and read it to him.  If you’re interested, you can click on the link and read the whole thing but here are some of the better parts.  Remember, this was written in 2008.

If you’ve ever paid attention to anything I’ve written, please pay attention to this post!  This proves that with the right amount of determination and shear bullheadedness, if you want something badly enough, it can happen . . even when you do not truly believe it will happen.  I wanted the lifestyle I described below so badly but from what I wrote, I truly didn’t think it would ever happen.

If I could do anything I want to do as far as how I live my life, I’d find about 40 acres in the woods somewhere. I’d clear out enough to have a house and a really big garden. I’d have some chickens and some goats. But that will never work for several reasons:

  • Vince has no desire to live out in the woods. Yard work, which would also involve chicken coops, fencing, etc. is something he’ll never be interested in doing.
  • I’m a big chicken. If Vince were out of town, I’d be scared to death after dark if I didn’t have neighbors and street lights. Big dogs and burglar alarms don’t help .. I’m just a real fraidy cat.
  • I don’t like to sweat! Having a big garden sounds fun and I do good til the weeds take over. Planting is fun . . it’s still kinda cool when it’s time to plant. Getting those first few veggies are fun . . nothing like home grown veggies. But then . . all of a sudden, there are beans, and tomatoes, and peppers, and squash, and it all starts coming in at once and I’m having to weed and water and prune and can and by now it’s HOT and it’s work and not fun any more and I lose interest.
  • I’m not much on getting up early. Real farmers have to wake up early and go to bed early. I hate going to bed and I hate getting up. Maybe if I had to do it, I’d be out weeding at daylight . . maybe not!

My edits as of today (May 18, 2013)

  • I thought it would never work . . and it did!  I wanted 40 acres.  I don’t know where that magical number came from but as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted 40 acres.  We now have 45 acres. We have the garden, the chickens and even Vince is wanting to get a few goats.
  • Vince will crack up when he reads the part about yard work, chicken coops and fencing because that’s all he seems to have time to do these days.
  • I’m still a big chicken but I’m doing so much better.  I have stayed out here by myself and I wasn’t as scared as I thought I would be.
  • I don’t like to sweat . . who does?  I think I’m doing really good at maintaining a big garden . . and sweating!
  • I’m doing good at getting up early but not so good at going to bed early.  I need to work on that . . I’m always tired.

At the end of that 2008 post, I said this:

So, my unsolicited advice – think about what/who you want to be and start today taking steps to become that person!

 I stand by that!  Look where it got me, when even I didn’t believe it was ever going to happen.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. That post reminds me of that song with the lyrics “I am woman..hear me roar!” That’s you! . You keep on going like the energizer bunny… And you are determined .. In The new book by Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In, she states that you have to have dreams, determination, and if you have obstacles, plow through! You are like Sheryl in a lot of ways! You and Vince make a great team!

  3. Love your last words – the unsolicitied advice. The words are so true. Now, if all of us could only do it.

  4. You are amazing, Judy, to have known what you want and gone after it. Some people never know what they want, obviously you did. Staying alone–you have Speck to be on guard.

  5. Judy, I have become acquainted with you and your blog as a result of participating in the 100 Blocks Block Tour, Vol. 7. Are there children’s quilts among those donated for West? I would
    make a quilt for a child. What size would you reccommend? Linus? Thank you! Mary Arline

    • Mary Arline: Linus size would be fantastic. I’m sure there were many children affected. We’ve gotten quite a few very small/baby size quilts and some of those will work for lap quilts for the folks from the old folks home too but children’s quilts are always needed. Thanks!

  6. I know how you feel, Judy.. We had wanted to move to the Ozarks for sometime but couldn’t find a way to do that. One day we listed the house we lived in and it sold the same day it ran in the paper so here we are. Dreams do come true.

  7. That was inspiring and it almost made me cry! You two sure seem to be a team. Lovely story.

  8. Weren’t you living in Owensgboro at that time? I would have given you some cows to start out with. You probably came up with the 40 acres from the old saying about planting the back 40. As for staying alone in the country, I would much rather be in the country alone than being in the city alone. Much less crime in the country, at least here in KY. Of course, we always had half a dozen German Shepherds running around the place, plus one Shegle.

  9. judy, i just read your post from 2008, and was struck by what you said about getting your longarm. i find myself in the position of having to figure out how to support myself and my two small children. when i left my husband in germany and brought my kids back home to the states, the thought of buying a longarm and building a business for myself was one of the first things that came into my mind… your post confirms that this could be a viable way to support them.

  11. Dreams do come true! As far as the goats, I love mine, but as the old farmers say about goat fencing “if it will hold water, it will hold goats!” Tell Vince to make a really good tall fence. Mine lean over the rose garden fence and trim whatever they can reach! The vegetables and fruit trees are behind an 8 foot fence, but it is old and there are a few holes that they stick their heads in and trim the trees or whatever they can reach! We laugh at the antics of the kids when they are playing and running!

    • Now I’m wondering if I should have passed up a condo on the water just because of the work it needed…it’s still available…hmmm.

      Rosalie, the fact that you say your goats trim your roses and trees says something very good about you.

    • Yep, we’ve hard that “fencing that holds water” advice a few times. We’ll get one of the breeds of smaller goats if we get any. Our veggies and orchard will be behind an 8′ fence. The orchard fence has just been finished and the garden fence is being fabricated now. It may not happen for a while but we definitely want to get a few goats some day.

  14. You go, girl! I’m so impressed by your accomplishments. It reminds me of hearing my grandmother say, “Can’t never could…” Obviously, can’t is not in your vocabulary. You two are making mighty good Texans! Congratulations!

  15. wow.. this is so cool that you got to achieve your goals and it is working out so well. gives us all hope.

  16. If the dream is yours then you can do it !! LOL I hear the I am woman song playing in the background..
    Own it Girl !LOL (as my grands are always telling me !LOL)

  17. Unbelievable inspiration. You brought tears to my eyes. The power of a woman, with a Vince

    • I always knew what I wanted but I also knew that I wouldn’t be happy unless he was happy so it all had to work out for him to come around to deciding country living was for him too.

  18. Wow – who would’ve thunk it, right?! Well, after “knowing” you for almost 2 years now, I WOULD HAVE told you “just wait – you KNOW it will happen!”

    I feel so happy for you right now, my heart is just warm…

    🙂

  19. PS – and I’m a total fraidy-cat when D is away, too! We sleep with a fan on every night for “white noise.” But, when D is out of town, I keep the fan off so that I “can hear the boogyman when he comes into the house!” Sad, but true!

    Oh, and we don’t even live deep out into the country like you do, although we live about a mile outside the city limits… lol

    🙂

    • I’m never quite sure if I want to hear the noise or not hear the noise. I do believe that if Vince were gone more often (I’m glad he’s not!), I would get used to sleeping alone and do better.

  20. Long range plans can be VERY long range! I have come to realize that “never say never” applies to many situations. BTW, 640 acres = 1 square mile, or section, so 160 acres is a quarter section, and 40 acres is (obviously) a quarter of that. (“40 acres and a mule” was a Reconstruction-era idea for giving land to freed slaves.) I wonder if there is a comparable clever phrase / measurement for countries that measure land by hectares.

  21. yep, i hear you, Judy. Looking back, i could have said the same thing about my life and becomming a quilter. i caught the bug in ”76 but i didn’t have the funds to buy the fabric and the patterns. I started slowly, collecting quilting magazines and studying the blocks until i could recognize them and how they were made. it was many years until i could finally afford some fabric, join a newly formed quilting guild, and start quilting.
    now years later i have finished quilts that i sleep under, quilts to gie to chairty, and loads of fabric to make more quilt; a lomg-held dream, realized indeed!

  22. how amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that dreams came true and that you can look back and cherish that they have! HUGS!

  23. Made me tear up. I love it when God gives us the desires of our heart. I had a similar conversation with a friend in the 7th grade. She said I was going to live on a big ranch one day and be married to a cowboy. I always wanted that but never thought it could happen. Yep, I think you and I are living the good life!

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