Long Time, No See!
How's everyone? I've really missed Steemit! I hadn't planned on being gone so long. The time has gone by so quickly and so many things are changing in my life, I almost don't recognize it anymore.
Let me fill you in a little. A couple of months ago, I was offered a job with perfect hours and great pay. Four ten-hour days with Friday through Sunday off. I felt like that would leave me plenty of time to tend to the garden and such in the evenings and blog a little and do heavier chores on the weekends. I needed to get my ducks in a row, tie up some loose ends while I adjusted to my new schedule, so I decided to take a couple weeks away from Steemit. Free up some time to be sure I could keep the priority things done while I adjusted.
Two weeks into my new schedule, things were looking good. I was nailing it! House clean? Check! Garden thriving? You bet'cha! Dinner on the table? Absolutely! Usually!
Week three my hours changed. I'm now working four eleven hour days and Fridays are 6 to 10 hours. I have to be at work at 5:00 am, so I'm up at 3:00 to get the animals taken care of, get myself ready and leave in time. So is the house still clean? Clean enough! Garden still thriving. That's a hard no! Dinner on the table? Well, it's on the couch and sometimes it's a bagel and an apple, but yeah, we eat.
A Quicker Means To An Easier End
All I really want is a few farmable acres where I can garden, raise animals, keep bees, read, create, spend time with my family, work hard, and live a simple and free life.
So, why then, am I working 54 hours a week? That's a fair question. And the answer is, it's a means to an end. We will have our home paid off in a little less than three years. Or plan has been to finish remodeling the house and use it as a rental property for some income when we move out of the city. Eight years ago, that seemed completely doable. I mean, we had eight years!!! But now, we're down to less than three years. Crap. We're running out of time. We've got 34 months to fund the remodeling of the house, save money to buy land and things we need for it, and keep our current bills paid!
As sad as it makes me to let gardening, crafting, reading and such go for now, the money I'm earning is shortening the time between here and where we want to be.
So What Am I Going To Blog About?
With no gardening, no crafting, no homesteady stuff at all really, what will I write about?
Well, first of all, I plan on trying to mix it up with some vlogging, or ulogging. I'm not really sure what the difference is, but I'm working on that.
Topics
Over the last few years I've become quite the recluse. I enjoy life on my own little corner of the world. I have a small, tight circle of people that I refer to as my clan, and I don't associate much with anyone outside of them. I have a couple of podcasts that I listen to and trust to let me know what's going on in politics and culture.
Now I'm venturing out and interacting with so many people, and I no longer recognize the world that I live in. I can't decide whether I've changed or the world has changed. Maybe the world is exactly the same as when I left it. Maybe I just needed to step out of the world for a while to see it clearly. Or is it possible that while I've been semi-isolated the world has become a completely different place?
I know I've changed. I've learned and I've grown. My opinions and perspective and my interests have evolved. That would change the way I see the world around me, right? But my values and my principles have not changed. My values and principles are my foundation and my compass. They are the guide by which I measure the events and goings on and the world around me. And I don't think things are measuring up...
The world I was once involved in was a place where people could talk about the weather in the line at the grocery store with out it turning into a debate about the validity of global warming.....or climate change....or what ever we're calling it today. A person could buy a pair of sneakers with out worrying about the political statement that was attached to the brand. No one publicly endorsed the assassination of the freakin' president! People didn't choose their friends based solely on whether or not they believed we should build a stinking wall. And no one chose the screen of a phone over time with the people they care the most about.
The world I've returned to seems to have gone mad. I've always been interested in human nature. I've watched people and I've listened to people. I tried to figure out what makes them tick, what makes them excited, what makes them uncomfortable. I used to be pretty good at reading people. But now I can't figure them out. I just can't.
I plan to discuss and ponder with you my thoughts and observations as I continue to explore the world with fresh eyes and a new perspective.
What Else?
When we get into the new year the remodeling of the house will be kicking into high gear. I plan to document that dusty, hectic, exhausting, and hopefully fun and beautiful journey. There will be a new kitchen and bathroom, some walls coming down, some handmade cabinets, new windows, some outside repairs and lots of base and casing, all led my very talented and knowledgeable husband.
Team Work!
My daughter, 
#minnowuprising
Minnowuprising starts up again soon! If you're unfamiliar with minnow uprising, here's a little about it from this post by 
Each person needs to post 3-4 times a day. This sounds like a lot to bloggers but with some of the other applications, it really is not that difficult.
It is imperative that each person use the 10 100% upvotes allocated per day. The key is to upvote each other in an effort to add a few cents more to each others' account. Not using your voting power means it is wasted. Whatever SP is in your account, put it to use.
Do what you can to form groups and interact with others. This is a social media site. Therefore, interaction is crucial. In addition to posting, perhaps considering increasing your commenting, say adding 5 additional comments per day.
Use the tag minnowuprising with each post in an effort to garner some extra upvotes. If we have that as a repository for posters in this initiative, there stands a better chance of the content getting upvoted by each other.
Also, don't forget to use the #upvoteplankton tag. Similarly to the #minnowuprising tag, the tag can be searched and we can support each other through it!
We're going to work hard on posting as much as possible, but no promises on frequency.
Welp, 3am comes awfully early, so that's it for tonight. I hope everyone has a stellar tomorrow!
It's good to be back!
and 