Christmas planning!

Vince and I made a commitment to get completely out of debt so that we could start our farm and not be burdened by debt.

Dave Ramsey makes this seem much easier than it really is. It was easy enough to say, “No more credit cards, just cash.” It was pretty easy to start that emergency fund, and not use it. It has even been easy enough to budget and pay off more than minimum payment.

It was not fun to have to get a new car, when I wanted to put that money to debt, but we have to be a two car family and with baby Isaac on his way, we were willing to spend the money to get him a safe car.

My biggest issue is that every month it is 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Why? Because interest is evil!

What makes it worse is that it is interest on student loans. I sit here and want to complain about it but its student loans, they were needed. Its not like it was a trivial purchase and now we are regretting the interest. No, it was an investment in our future that now we are spending our future paying off… there is something very wrong with this system, but that is a rant for another day.

I started all this to say that since we are working so hard to pay off the debt, I have been getting creative with Christmas gifts.

Both Vince and I love giving gifts, so while we set a strict budget, we still want to give as much as we can. This meant I started planning Christmas gifts at the end of September.

I will admit it… part of me wants to scrap the whole debt thing and go crazy for Christmas, but I am trying to be good… trying to focus on the end goal… someday we will make it.

What I have come up with is that we will give loved ones a nice store bought gift that stays within the set budget, and then on top of that I will make homemade gifts also. I really want to share the homemade gifts, but they shall remain hidden secrets till after Christmas.

Thankfully our families understand our goals and seem supportive. Part of me thinks this might be because our goal of a farm is beneficial to them (farm fresh food and cute farm animals to watch. My mom has always dreamed of land with cows to watch).

Now I just need to make sure I finish everything by Christmas… Hopefully I can make it!

Little Bit Baby Hats

I have tons of little bits of yarn. Not enough to make very much, but enough to save.

I recently found two patterns for baby hats and have been using up those bits of yarn.

The first pattern is Basic Baby Hat by Heather Tucker.

And the second pattern is First Winter by Elizabeth Sullivan, but I changed the color work section a bit.

I also used this pattern but didn’t do color work.

Master Bath Remodel

Maybe I was motivated or maybe I was a bit jealous of the chickens getting a finished coop, either way I decided to paint the master bath.

Now the only thing left to do is paint the vanity and get a new counter for the vanity, but that will have to wait for two reasons. First, the painting will require sanding and priming so it is much more work. And second, I have no idea what counter I want; there are so many choices I get overwhelmed.

before

before

But my goal was to have the walls painted before the baby gets here and at least that is done!

For some reason the white bathroom never seemed finished, even before I took it apart and went for a different look.

The new paint also shows off my pretty new shower curtain (bought to compliment the new paint in the master bedroom) and the beautiful pie safe I got to hold towels.

I also have to mention how impressed I was with the customer service at Sherwin-Williams.

Back in September I started redecorating the master bedroom, which still isn’t finished. I had to wait for the new drapes and chair to be recovered, but the real reason it isn’t finished is because of the paint. After 3 gallons of paint it still needed more coats! I was a little upset so I just didn’t want to deal with it.

Well when we went to get the paint for the bathroom I explained the problem to them. They kindly gave me a free gallon of the best quality paint they have for the bedroom and said this should fix the problem. They also gave us a nice discount on the paint for the bathroom.

I am extremely pleased with the bathroom paint, and we will find out next week if the paint fixes the issue in the bedroom.

Finished Chicken Coop

I finally finished the chicken coop… at least for now.

The problem is they have decided to hangout in the dirt dusting themselves, so I don’t actually know if they will go inside and get on the roosting rods.

I really hope they can because I really don’t want to deal with it anymore J

They seem to be happy though.

I also fixed all the holes the dogs put in the chicken wire.

Inside I put roosting rods on the right and the new nesting boxes on the left.

The roosting rods aren't the prettiest things, but they were scrap wood from the garage. It was a win-win, free roosting rods and the garage gets a bit cleaner. 

I then filled the floor with straw and put up walls.

Again, not the prettiest, but should work... as long as everyone fits through the doorways and no one blocks the doorway.

I also had to add another lock to the main door because the dogs and the chickens figured out how to open the door and explore the yard.

I seem to only work well under pressure, thankfully it is supposed to get cold tonight so I was forced to finish the coop.

 We will see how they like it and if I have to fix anything else.

Oh! and the good news is, it looks like all the chickens are almost over the "Chicken Pox."

Technically it is called Fowl Pox, but it is similar to human chicken pox and since they are chickens I rather call it Chicken Pox. Fowl Pox sounds a bit scarier to me. 

While I was trying to photograph the coop, some chickens decided to pose for the camera, and they are just too cute not to share!
 

This is the smallest of the chickens but the feistiest. She is named Poulet, after the french word for chicken. 

 

 Coco, She always takes the best pictures and loves to have her picture taken or look at herself in the mirror. Did I mention she is named after Coco Chanel?

Fluffy, who got her name after weeks of me calling her fluffy feet and never actually naming her. She seems to be fond of her name so no harm done.

She always looks angry, but is actually pretty chill. I named her Bunny because she is an Easter Egger, so I have an Easter Bunny. It seems i am the only one who finds that funny. 

There are three other chickens: Rosie, Daisy, and Penguin, but they didn't care to have their photo taken.