New Life Old Farmers

We finally have a proper tray for the coffee table, courtesy of The Crown.

Let me back up a tad. A handful of years ago, a neighbor excitedly brought me a recycled gift. It was a Royal Mail bag. It was quite large (for carrying mail) and decidedly very cool. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I did think about making My Loving Spouse an apron out of it, but he doesn’t use aprons. The Royal bag stayed stashed in my closet awaiting inspiration.

I’m pretty sure, you are not supposed to have Royal Mail bags, unless you are Royal or work for the Royal Mail, so don’t share this post with anyone at Buck House. I did try to get a picture from The Royal Mail website to show you, but alas they do not have any bag pictures, but I did find out how to mail a parcel to Swaziland from the UK.

I finally figured out what to do with my Royal Mail bag. We (that is the Royal ‘we’, which means I needed My Loving Spouse’s help) made a tray for the coffee table.

I was in charge of the design and painting the sides white. My Loving Spouse did everything else (so there would be no Proper Tray without him). I love the black handles.

Actually, I love everything about this Proper Tray.

I told My Loving Spouse, that I am going to look for more Royal Bags when we go ‘across the pond’ this summer. I said, “I’ll just say, Hey Bets (short for HRH), may I have a few more bags?”

He said, “Good Luck…”

‘We’ are a great team and blessed indeed!

BTW- By The Way, don’t you just love the new lingo we’ve picked up in our rapidly instant texting world? My problem is that I do not always know what the current lingo is. Team Offspring still finds it funny, that for a long time, I believed LOL to mean ‘Lots of Love’. Personally, that still makes more sense to me.

I am creating my own text language, where the lingo will be what I deem it to be. My Loving Spouse and Team Offspring will be completely caught up with my new language…no doubt!

For example, BTW – Before The Wedding

I know, fabulous! We are having a wedding here at Glory Farm and we couldn’t be more excited. Number Four Son is marrying Sweet J. Trust me, she is sweet. Look who was willingly helping to paint this place and that was years ago!

We have some time to get this farm in order before the big day, but we also have a colossal remodel coming up, so we’ve begun getting a few items off of the BTW ‘to do’ list.

Replacing the front fence was just such an item. The replacement was surprisingly quick and easy, which means we broke down and paid the fence company to do it. I realize it is hard to be completely impressed by our new white fence, when the ground is covered in snow and the sky is gray, so you’ll just have to trust me, when I say it is perfect.

The new white fence is straight (which is an upgrade) with capped fence posts that match the vinyl fence that runs up the driveway. It looks quite sharp, the only thing we had to give up (besides cold hard cash) is the ability for the fence to be of great assistance to players during croquet.

The sunrise is currently streaming in through the window and My Loving Spouse and I are giddy at this delight! It has been gray, gray, gray for too many days. How gray was it? DDD

My Loving Spouse described it as ‘dark, dank and dismal’. DDD – in my new texting language.

Weddings, fences, remodels and sun!

WAB- We are blessed!

PS: Dear Team Offspring, If my new texting language means something else, I do NOT want to know. My blog, my language. Love you.

The 2017 Croquet season ended with a bang on New Year’s Day.

(Well, not a bang exactly, because some of the younger generation of croquet players were still feeling the effects of their previous night. One of the younger players accused us of planning the finale on New Year’s Day, as it would give the older and wiser generation an advantage. It wasn’t part of the plan, it was just a fun side benefit).

It was a balmy 36 degrees out and not a bit of snow. Hot buttered rum was the drink of choice.

It was a fun and festive way to start the new year, even if it seems that the younger ones were developing some sort of alliance.

We had planned to have My Loving Spouse in charge of the snow blower if necessary, a bit like the Zamboni Driver. However, our winter has been so mild, that the only field grooming he needed to do was mow down the over abundance of mole mounds dotting the field.

Excellent shots were made by all…

We played with our usual dedication and humor, ready to fight to the last swing….until the sun hid behind a cloud….then those of us who had no chance of winning, hit our balls into the path of the players with poison.

A big congratulations to Number Four Son, who earned his first Green Bandanna.

The new season is just around the corner. We have so much fun!

Believe me, we are truly blessed!

I was recently the victim of a scam, the effects of which, I am still struggling with. I am working at not be hard on myself for believing the Scammer, who I will now refer to as The Bottom Feeder (only because I try not to use the F-word). All of my guys, my sons, Loving Spouse and even my new favorite Police Officer tell me, that the scam was believable, and that helps. The scam was that My Girl was kidnapped.

I do not usually answer calls when there is “No Caller ID”. However, my dear friend and mentor’s phone often comes up this way and I had just left her a message 30 minutes early. I assumed she was calling me back.

It is not uncommon for My Girl to call me in stressful situations with a high pitched, “Mom, Mom, Mom” Whereby I tell her to take a deep breath and tell me what is going on. When I received this call, I immediately believed it to be My Girl and thought that something was wrong with THE Boyfriend.

My Girl lives in a nice part of a nearby city, this city however, does have a high crime rate and gangs. It is a place to be cautious in.

As I was trying to tell ‘My Girl’ to calm down and breath, a man came on the line saying, that they had her and I would immediately receive another phone call. He hung up and the next call came before I could even understand what was happening. The call was from a Mexican number.

The Bottom Feeder said they would harm her or would I pay? Did I have $50,000. I was defensive and they threatened to cut her finger off. A tad like the movies, but disconcerting nonetheless.

‘No, I can get $5,000 from my credit union.”

“Okay”, said The Bottom Feeder, “do not hang up. Get in your car, get your phone charger, paper and pencil. Honk once when you are in your car. Tell me where you are driving. From now on, I’ll call you ‘Mom’ and you call me ‘Son’.

‘I’m not going to call you Son.  I have two Sons, that I love very much.  I’m not calling you Son.’

“Okay, Mom, call me Bob”

He was rude and crude and he wanted to keep me scared. I was scared and frantically trying to figure out how to get help. I told him that there’s a dead area where calls get dropped, since we’re out in the country. He said, if the call got dropped he’d call back. He harshly pushed me to keep talking to him. “Mom, Mom, where are you now. Tell me where you are Mom” He seemed to know the area, but I surprised myself at how well I could lie to him, frantically trying to buy myself some time. I drove to my BFF’s house, pretended that the call was dropped and ran to her door. Her husband is a Campus Police Officer, so I knew that she could help. Unfortunately, she wasn’t home yet.

The Bottom Feeder called right back. “Where are you Mom!”

‘You know, my credit union will probably only give me $5,000 in a check. I don’t know how much cash they’ll actually give me’

“That’s okay, Mom! Just get to the Credit Union and park your car. Are you there yet, Mom! What street are you on, are you on University yet, where are you. Tell your credit union that you need to buy a car and give you cash.”

On and on, he harassed.

I was driving toward the credit union, but turned toward where Number 2 and Number 4 sons lived, looking for help. Luckily, I saw Number 2 Son walk out of his house. I drove up to him, with my finger over my lips…handed him the note that said My Girl had been kidnapped. He was going to call the police. I said out loud, that I was almost to the credit union, for the benefit of The Bottom Feeder, hoping Number 2 Son would understand why I drove off.

There is truly no way to convey the panic, drama and anxiety I was enduring.

I parked in the credit union. The Bottom Feeder told me to get all the cash I could. He would go back and forth between acting like he was helping me get My Girl back and scaring, pushing me. While I was in the credit union, my phone was to stay on in my purse on speaker, so he’d hear whatever I said. He said that he’d now logged into the Credit Union’s cameras so he’d see whatever I did. I thought, you did not you lying sack of…., you’re not that clever, but it did give me pause.

Inside the credit union, I started writing notes to the teller about what was happening and that I needed help. Let me tell you, his eyes got pretty big! He took the notes to his boss and she started calling the police. The teller came back to get me money. He started to say that I could have $5,000, but I shook my head at him and held up 1 finger. The teller said loudly, that all the cash I could have was $1,000. I also wrote notes asking them to call My Loving Spouse. I was crying off and on, but for the most part I kept trying to think and breath.

Ellensburg’s finest showed up en-mass. They looked good to me. At this point The Bottom Feeder was instructing me exactly how I was to drive and what streets I was to turn on. We believed, that The Bottom Feeder or the like would be in a car attempting to intercept me. I was grateful for My New Favorite Police Officer, who was in my back seat with a very (very) high powered rifle and undercover officers in the car behind us. I didn’t know what was going to happen to My Girl and I was frantic about her.

The Bottom Feeder kept issuing instructions and attempting to keep me afraid. We were eventually instructed to park at a small Mexican market and given wiring instructions to send the money to Mexico. I was also instructed what to say about who I was wiring the money to. My New Favorite Police Officer and I were getting cold sitting in my car and I started to shake. He’d mute my phone and tell me what was happening, and that the Yakima police were pinging My Girl’s phone. This was the first good news I’d had in over an hour and 15 minutes. Then they were with her, she was FINE. She called us and sobbing I ended The Bottom Feeder’s call to take hers.

It was all a scam. As soon as I knew she was okay, I pretty much fell apart. The Police said that I went into shock. I couldn’t stop shaking and crying. It was hard to breathe and I’d hyperventilate, if I talked to My Girl on the phone. My Loving Spouse was there and I cried and cried. The police insisted on calling an ambulance, where I sat for the next half an hour….warming up and calming down. My stomach hurt and it continued to be hard to breathe. The boys were informed that their sister was okay.

The Bottom Feeder’s phone was untraceable. He did not get any money, but he did manage to steal my peace.

The next day we took chocolates to the credit union to thank them. We put most of the money back in the account and we took My Girl and The Boyfriend out to dinner with the rest.

That was a lovely dinner.

I’d like to tell you all is fine, but it seems that it is taking time. My head hurts, I am wary and easily anxious.

Please pray for my peace to return and never, never answer calls unless you know who’s calling. Legitimate callers will leave a message.

My family and my friends have been my rock, and so I know that I’m still blessed.

Dear Dave,

We finally did it.

We’re certainly not going to be the poster children for your organization. Maybe we’ll encourage some other old (or young) fools, that even if you’re not where you want to be and you feel like you’ve made a mess more often than you care to admit, you can make it!

Dave, thanks so much for your help. No, seriously, we’d never have made it without you. Your podcasts of ranting away at the world we live in. Your advice to those hurting. Your willingness to say, “You’ve got an income crisis” or your bluntness of “If you want to get out of the hole you are in, you need to stop digging.”

It was a bit like running a marathon, no one really tells you their time, they just tell if they’ve finished. Finishing feels really good.

Your budgeting system Every Dollar has made the biggest difference of all. Being able to make our budget and then keep track of the spending and making adjustments, when our grocery bill went out of whack, like it seems to do… Doing it together, phew! That was a big one, agreeing on where we were going every month. I remember right after Every Dollar came out and we were finally making some progress, then My Loving Spouse got hit in the head with a chain saw. I remember sitting in the hospital, while he was in surgery, crying and thinking…’We were finally getting out of debt…Oh, this might actually be what Dave would call an emergency’, so we added a few medical bills to the mess and gratefully regrouped.

We are blessed, but we are not lucky. Luck had nothing to do with it.

I mowed fields (sometimes successfully) to make more money. We sold stuff, rented out the extra barn and kept on. We struggled. We struggled some more. Our income was a tad stinky for quite a while, it was frustrating… Progress was made slowly, but it was made. It was always a choice to move in the direction we wanted to go, which often meant hard conversations, and saying ‘no’ to stuff that might have been fun or tasty or both. Our old home and it’s renovations were always more than we planned, we had to make adjustments.

The first few steps of accomplishment getting rid of some of the small stuff felt great! The last step of paying off the mortgage, well, I wanted to dance!

I carried a lot of shame over money. There were old powerful messages that said, I should do better. I have never heard you shame anyone, Dave, but you are pretty clear about some of the dumb stuff we people do with money.

This post is to be an encouragement to whomever needs it. You can do it too, become debt free. It may not be easy and it may not always be fun, but owing no one, is worth it!

We are blessed and “better than we deserve”.

Happy New Year!

PS: Anybody want to borrow my book, The Total Money Makeover?

“Happy Boxing Day! Do you say that on Boxing Day?”, I said to My Loving Spouse.

‘No.’

“Okay, then I take it back”.

‘You can’t take it back, you already said it.’

“Well, then…Happy Boxing Day, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Boxing Day!”

I’ve said it a few more times today, just for good measure.

‘We’d better do something about those windows…’

Quite a few months ago we ordered new windows for the bedrooms upstairs. We only have 6 more to be replaced and then we can check that off of our list! (Woo hoo! Happy Boxing Day). It took a ridiculous amount of time to get them and for reasons I will not go into, they were currently in the bed of our truck, lightly covered in snow. The weather report called for snow today, so we were proactively getting the new windows into the house.

Where they can thaw out near the wood burner.

We have big plans to install them upstairs ‘soon‘.

‘Soon’ being completely relative term….until then,

Happy Boxing Day!

Am I completely ready for Christmas?  

Not really…

Am I ready to read?  Especially to kiddos? You betcha!

I love Children’s books.  I especially love Children’s Christmas books.  The classics.

This particular one has been around for awhile…

My favorite page as a child….

What can I say, I have a sweet tooth!

When my kids were young, we gave them a new Christmas book on the first Sunday in Advent every year.  Some were serious….

Some super silly….

The year we got “How Murray Saved Christmas”, Number One Son was about 11.  I can still hear his laughter!  He rolled on the couch clutching his side he was laughing so hard.

A fun, fun book….I give it two thumbs way up!

“Who is Coming To Our House” is a delight to read to small ones…

(I read this tonight, thanks to the wonders of modern technology and Facetimed with THE Grandkids.  Little E at two, loved the animals…)

When my kids were in elementary school, they LOVED Junie B. Jones, (I still do)!  Junie B. just cracks me up!  

If I had to only pick one Christmas book…this would be it. 

“The Nativity” combines the biblical story in age old text with beautiful, colorful ‘real’ imagery, that sheds a new view of the most important story of Christmas.

I am ready for kids (of all sizes)…books and kids…they bless me so.

It haven’t had much to say, since my brother John died.  

He was 2 years older than I, in a pack of many kids, we were closest in age.
He always referred to me, as his ‘little sister’.

In this last year, I called him often.  He did not want to be asked how he felt, so I usually started the conversations with, ‘do you remember when?’

‘Do you remember the tents we built with the red blanket?’

‘Do I ever!’

Masterful backyard overnight structures were erected with a red blanket, a baseball bat, some bricks and plenty of nails.

He was always fairly intense, opinionated and bossy.  Our mother described him as having a ‘short fuse’.  I could not guarantee that he would not pick on me, but it was always a safe bet, that he’d never let anyone else pick on me.

Together this June, I was aware, that there was a possibility that when I said goodbye to him, that it could be the last time I saw him.

In our last phone call he said in a matter of fact way,

“Live your life and I love you”

In loving memory

John Stuart Fisher

3-18-57 to 11-11-18

…and I the little sister, have been blessed.

November is a season of change.

Our pond is filled off of irrigation water so it is empty 6 months of the year.  It empties slowly, imagine being our ducks.I am sure they were quacking to each other….The leaves have all fallen from our trees and the wind has been howling.  We don’t rake leaves, we just wait for them to blow into the next county.

We’ve had the end of Daylight savings.  I am not the only one that gets messed up with those changes.Halloween has come and gone.  As I work at an elementary school, I remind the children yearly…

“Now remember, when you share your Halloween candy with Miss Ellen, I really like Tootsie Rolls and The Librarian loves those yucky coconut Almond Joys “.

There are always a few kids who love surprising us both with a bit of their bounty.  This year, I had a surprisingly excellent haul.

Not all changes are as easy to handle as these.  My brother is in the final days of his life and my heart is heavy.  I am also grateful and comforted, by the way my older brother and sister and my nephews are loving and caring for him.  I know that although my heart is breaking, I am blessed.