Confessions of a Wannabe Homesteader

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  • Welcome to Confessions of a Wannabe Homesteader.

    I am Megbug: a happy, crunchy, mother of 5, married to the love of my life, JR. Together we are on a journey with the intent to Homestead, and raise our children in love and righteousness. We recently moved across the country, away from family and support. Life has been hard, but we have hopes and dreams and Jesus. So we will be just fine, and even happy as we go. This blog is a place I can track our progress, share our adventures, and practice being vulnerable.

  • July Update

    I’ve been chomping at the bit to write this monthly update. So much happened in the beginning of the month, and then when it slowed down I thought for sure the month must be over. Nope. Barely through the 3rd week. Depending on how you look at this month… it had 5 weeks! 

    The month began with our Church 4th of July activity, of which I was partially in charge. A week before the activity (a pancake breakfast and bike parade) I learned that we were getting WAY LESS help than expected so I needed to pick up a lot of slack. I was anxious about it, but JR was confident and I moved forward, glad he’d be available to help me. Then he had to go out of town, and wouldn’t be home until the night before the activity! So I was on my own, and I only panicked for a while before I pulled myself up by my boot straps and got to work. I realized that since I was in charge of food, I could procure healthier food options (instead of the cheap, albeit tasty, full of definitely not healthy ingredients option). The activity was terrific! The number we expected showed up, and the extra food was divided up into bags and sent home with whomever wanted it. I also got a few bottles of maple syrup (win for me!). Some people loved the healthier food options, and others complained that it was a terrible choice.

    M&M turned 1 a week later! I read through her birth story, and then had to journal again about many unresolved emotions. So many emotions about pregnancy and birth and kids. Maybe it’s just there are so many emotions. All the time. For everyone. Maybe? Or not.

    I made her a cake (out of baby friendly ingredients) with maple-sweetened yogurt for frosting, and it was so good the kids and I just wanted to eat it instead of our individual NothingBundtCakes® (the kids got them free through a reading program at the library).

    JR’s parents visited, and to be honest, I was rather nervous about the visit. It’s not like we could house them, and even inviting them over to our house-like-an-oven seemed stressful. At the Grandparent’s house back in Utah, the kids were expected to never be loud, but in our sweet ToastyHome, the kids were able to be rather loud and ya know, be kids. Make messes. Spill milk or water (and then clean it up, of course). JR and I discussed, made a schedule, and then prepped the best we could, and decided to just let go of expectations and go with the flow. Since we couldn’t house them, and they were staying at an airbnb, we decided to take a spread of breakfast items to them. We were expecting a quick drop off, since they’d been traveling all day, and instead they invited us in and we all happily chatted for over an hour. Goose texted us, “you said you’d be gone only 12 minutes!” (which, I didn’t. But I did say it’d be a quick drop off and the airbnb was 6 minutes away).

    The next few days were not according to the schedule at all! On the days we were planning outdoor things, It rained! So our schedule kept changing. On days we planned to go out to dinner, we went to lunch instead. Instead of this restaurant we went to that one. And the best part of all… we were all having so much fun. I had anticipated a rather stressful week trying to keep the kids in line. Instead, they had a terrific time with their grandparents and I, personally, engaged with my FIL more than I have the entirety of the last 5 years. They brought loads of presents, and we played games (especially Cover Your Cookies), went to the KidMuseum, read books together, did archery at the ActivityCenter, and went bowling, etc. Oh, and BIGGEST thing of all (the main reason they came out), My newly turned 8-year-old, Boo, got baptized. I had put some thought into it, and I got her a pretty white baptism dress & Grandma gifted her a pretty bracelet. Boo asked Goose and me to be witnesses. (Twas my first time being a witness). Other things I forgot about until the morning of. I actually planned the baptism program on the drive to the baptism. Boo had invited some friends, and after the baptism we gobbled up the delicious fruit skewers that we’d assembled that morning.

    On the Sunday during their visit, I got called to be the secretary of the Relief Society, and I also taught RS for the first time ever. I was exceedingly nervous. I think overall, I did okay. The lesson was on Elder Uchtdorf’s last talk in General Conference on Discipleship. In our congregation, we have rich, poor, educated, not-educated (I was going to say Smart/Dumb, but thought better of it), lots of children, no children, and everything in between. There is quite a diversity, and it’s quite different from our previous one. The message is the same, we are not trying to change others to all be just like us, we are trying to all face the same direction – to Jesus. He is the answer.

    Other updates this month, the RS had a “crochet craft” night. I had planned to go with just Goose and Boo, but JR was not home, and in order to go I had to take them all. It was a great night and so stressful. Trying to learn a new skill (knitting) while navigating conversation with new people, while trying to keep track of my offspring, all of whom wanted to learn a new skill too… it was, uh… trying. But, good. I’m glad I went. Though, if I had known in advance how hard it was to be, I might have talked myself out of it. Good thing I didn’t know, eh? Afterwards the kids all wanted to either learn or practice crocheting. This was fine for Goose, I could watch a how-to video with her and she could pick it up quick. But with every other child I had to patiently coach them through each part of the process. For Nana and The Boy this meant I had to LEARN the process of crocheting LEFT-handed. This turned out to be very good for me, because in the process I learned various things I’d been doing wrong for all my years of crocheting. It’s slow work. Boo can hold the string and crochet 3 different stitches, but she likes me to be right there to watch and correct if (when) she gets it wrong. The Boy and Nata still prefer I hold the string (in my right hand, of course), while they crochet the stitch. Nana copies me in how she holds her hook, but The Boy insists he hold his a different way (like a pencil), and so guiding him has been a step trickier. The whole thing has been a marvelous opportunity for me to practice patience.

  • June Update

    June was a month of great journeys and (what felt like) much affliction. We left for the long awaited, happily anticipated, family reunion on Friday, May 30th, driving 19 hours over a 2 day period. JR  had plans with his brother, UncleB, & friend-from-childhood to meet up on Sunday morning & play games all day Sunday and Monday. Friday morning came bright and early! I had a cooler prepped with food so we could ideally not stop for any meals the whole trip there. We packed the car, then woke up the kids, they changed into their pre-chosen outfits. JR loaded them in the car while I put down a thin layer of DE and bug spray in the house. Then it was off on our adventure! We talked about the great trip we could have, and ways we could make it better by speaking politely, helping each other, practicing patience… AND no eating snacks in the car – only at designated stops. The first park stop was a few hours out in Oklahoma. We arrived right as a big local event was setting up. They had free T-shirts, swag, and lots of activities planned (which we would miss). It was great! We all got a free purple shirt, played on the new playgrounds, and ate D’oats. That first day’s journey we drove 10 hours! We’d drive a few hours, stop at a park to play, eat, potty, then resume our journey. We had tablets for the kids, but Goose, Boo, JR & I listened to an audiobook most of the time, intermixed with music and looking at the scenery and talking. I brought a large jug of water, and 2 stainless steel water bottles. I refilled them at every stop. We made it all the way to Albuquerque! We couldn’t find a family suite so we got 2 rooms right next to each other. Shortly after checking in, JR asked me to talk to the front desk and let them know that AC wasn’t working and see if we could switch rooms. I went to the desk, had to wait a LONG time (for the 1 person in front of me) and then when I posed my question, the young desk attendant called the manager over and after explaining myself again, the lady looked at me and asked what was wrong with the room, I said, “the AC’s not working”, she replied sharply, “What did you do to it?” I was surprised and said “nothing. It didn’t work when we got in that room” and she responded that it was working and they’d send a hotel employee up to fix it and if it still didn’t work, then we could come back and maybe switch rooms. That’s right, MAYBE. I have never been in a hotel where they assumed I did something, & told me to my face. I told JR a handyman was coming. He came, told us horror stories about the hotel, and “fixed” the AC. It kicked in about 3am the next morning. I couldn’t wait to leave the next morning but we had the breakfast to go to. After the hotel breakfast – which I own we made rather a mess (M&M wanted food and spilled a lot on the floor), the worker looked at us in disgust as we left. JR wasn’t worried, but it took me a while that morning to process my feelings.

    We had 8 hours to go! We were going through Indian reservations that morning and there were fewer parks, so we had to strategically plan our stops and drive for longer stretches. We also discovered at this time that our new (used) car had a problem accelerating and going up hills. It would go slower and slower until we were chugging at 25 mph up these canyon “hills”. The first time we saw the mountains (REAL mountains!) I was overcome with emotion and cried. That surprised JR (not as much as me!), but I had dearly missed my mountains and seeing them again filled me with homesickness.

    The views that we had as we drove through NM & AZ were breathtaking. I kept asking myself how I would draw or paint them – because the photos with my phone did not do them justice!

    Finally we made it to St George. We had a family suite. I didn’t even know those existed for regular people until our trip out to Arkansas. This one had 2 queen beds, and a couch that pulled out to a bed.
    On Sunday, JR was gone most of the day, and I took the kids and we went to church and then hung out at my aunt’s house. I had a wonderful day, but by the end I was very much ready to have my husband back and for our “Family” Vacation to begin. Still half a day to go. Next day the kids and I went to the St George Children’s museum after meeting up with the HipCrunchies (brother & family). 

    In the later afternoon during a sudden pouring rain storm, we met up at our AirBnb with HipCrunchies for Mon- Wed. UncleB also hung out with us those days  and we played so many games and had wonderful chat time. The rest of the family came Wednesday night and Thursday. We went grocery shopping Monday, and I learned that I did enjoy cooking meals on vacation with other people. I thought I wouldn’t like it, cause it wasn’t truly “a vacation” (from cooking). But, it turns out preparing food and cleaning up while you chat is quite enjoyable. The family reunion was most enjoyable. Spending time with my family; hanging out and playing games and chatting filled my soul with happiness. The time to return home came all too soon. Many tears were shed, but not until we were driving away and I could freely give in to my emotions.

    That Family Reunion both filled my soul and left me desperately wanting more. I miss my family so much, and I do feel very lonely without them. I miss being involved in their lives & them being involved in mine. I’m sad my kids don’t get frequent time with their cousins. On the flip side, being apart has made JR, myself, and our kids draw closer together, and I’m grateful for that. 

    The drive home felt much more difficult than the drive there. I did not have snacks prepped, so we had to stop for each meal which definitely cut into our play time. Nana threw up. But only once, so I really hoped it was just a fluke and not an illness.

    We finally got home, and I was grateful we had a clean house to come home to. We got home, brought everything inside, and Goose showed me a black bug that had landed on her. I went to examine it and it bounced away. There are so many bugs in Arkansas so I wasn’t worried. Finally we all went to bed. 3 hours later JR and I woke up to M&M throwing up all over the pillows. It is pretty great that baby throw up is just milk. She hadn’t eaten much else. She also kept wanting to nurse. So she threw up a few more times that night. JR had to leave town the next morning. After he was gone, I had an epiphany about that black bug on Goose – I had found several more, and finally squished one enough to get a look at it. A flea. The small house and yard were INFESTED with fleas. So. Many. Fleas. The next 2 weeks were me taking care of sick kids (they all got sick except The Boy) while I felt ill myself, and trying to combat the flea problem with as few chemicals and as few dollars spent as possible. Looking back I just cringe, but at the time, going through it, I just felt really grateful. Heavenly Father definitely had my back, and there were so many blessings in the midst of difficulties. While each kid got sick, it seemed only a 24 hour sickness, with the exception of Nana & myself – it took me a solid 5 days to improve. There were relatively few flea bites. We already had a bunch of D.E. in the house. We have a washer and dryer (and even though it looked like it would break for a minute there it never did), The fridge quit working for a while and then started working again. The heat was bearable. I learned how to make dog shampoo for fleas. We got a flea collar. I learned a lot about what didn’t work and what did. We deep cleaned our house (again). I managed to take care of the sick kids and even got a few naps myself. JR never got sick and was able to work. The treatments for the fleas killed all the ants too – big plus! There were so many blessings.

    I tell myself that dealing with bugs here is temporary. It won’t last forever. This whole life will probably pass by faster than I realize and I don’t want to spend my precious time being overly bothered by the many many bugs.

    For Fathers Day we went to Lowes and they were running a sale on the Lawn Mower brand JR had his eye on for a while. We got one, along with an air blower (something I’d had my eye on for a while!) 

    Boo turned 8 on June 25th! She got a few presents – including some awesome cotton skorts I found on Amazon. I was so excited about them I got a set for Goose and Nana too. We went up to the KidMuseum and spent a few hours, then got ramen for dinner, and ice cream shakes for the ride home. JR missed out on the fun since he had to work. The next day we got lost in Hobby Lobby for a few hours, only emerging after spending 3x the amount I had planned. UncleB had called the day before and told Boo to pick out a craft and he would pay for it. She got a wooden birdhouse and paints. She was so excited to paint it and then told me to hang it up. I delayed hanging it up and she painted it several more times, each time declaring it was 100% done. She’ll be baptized in a few weeks while JR’s parents are visiting.