More of Less

Did she not notice her typo? you ask.

Shouldn't that be "More or Less"?

Nope.  More of Less is what I've been thinking about.

For the last several years I have been trying to live with less. Mostly by reducing the amount of stuff I have. (Not that you would know it by the house full of boxes that we have waiting to load in the truck!!) De-cluttering has become a theme around here. A theme I have greatly enjoyed! I was surprised at how fun and freeing it was to give stuff away!!

But Friday as Geoff walked away from his last day of work he left a couple of perks behind. A work truck and a company phone. We are now back to one vehicle and one, sometimes-there-is-time-on-it-sometimes-there-is-not, cellphone.

"What's it feel like to be jobless?" I asked.
"And phone-less and truck-less and soon to be homeless".

We laughed at all the "less" we could list. (the homelessness will be a temporary condition, The closing dates of the two properties differ by a week). It's a odd feeling to be sure. Ditching what seems to be a perfectly functioning life and striking out to try our hands at something so wild and new!

But here's hoping as we adjust to some "less" we'll learn to live with some "more" too.

More FAITH for starters.

For most of us when (and if) we pray the Lord's Prayer, do we really have to stretch our faith to believe and hope for "Our daily bread"?  Usually we have that already taken care of right? There is some on the counter, in the freezer and money for more. My family's hope is to grow as much of our own food as we can. Since we've never done that our faith will be exercised for sure!!  Things like knowledge, supplies, sun and rain....which we haven't worried about before now, will become things we depend on God for!

Did you know that one person eats approximately 2000 pounds of food a year?!

Let's do the math. 4 Harris' x 2000 pounds each......Yikes!!! That's a lot of pounds!!!
How much will we have to plant to produce that?!

Goodness. How big a garden WILL we need?!

How many chickens and pigs should we buy to "fatten up"?
How much does a pig eat anyways? More then a teen boy, I'm guessing!!!

I'm thinking we'll need MORE of a few other things besides Faith.

We'll need Determination, STRENGTH and Wisdom, Protection, help.....

And lets be honest here ..we will need ....GOOGLE  :)  haha
                (Or knowledgeable farmer-neighbours)

How a girl who grew up in an apartment can become a farmer, I don't know. But it's been done before so I know it's possible.
I have faith in possibilities.
Cause after all......"With GOD all things are possible".

"More of less" just might be the thing we need to stretch and grow so that we find MORE of the important things.

In the mean time we'll give it all we've got and look to God to "fill the gaps" and our stomachs!

So Long, Province of My Birth.

It seems the closer we get to the moving day the less real this all feels. In five days I'll be sleeping in a trailer and yet today, this evening, it feels like I will live forever in this Penetanguishene house full of boxes. I suppose come Tuesday when the U-Hal pulls in and we load it up reality will hit in full force. 

The good-byes were becoming a tad too painful, so I've switched up to 

"See ya later". 

There are so many ways to "see" someone now a days. The world is truly a much smaller place with Skype and the like. 

In the words of a friend........

"Truly, when the miles separate, the heart will not"

I have met a lot of amazing folks in my life as an Ontarian. And if you are reading this blog and know me personally, you are one of those people. 

Thanks for making an impact on my life. Every soul that crossed my path made some kind of impression and in most cases it was a GOOD one. Way to go!  :)

I'm glad God introduced us! 

And being that we are down to "crunch time" and I am not sure when I'll have a minute in the next couple days..... I am leaving you with these words, which although seem a tad cheesy,  are my prayer for each of you.....

May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You

Jim Reeves

May the good Lord bless and keep you
Whether near or far away
May you find that long awaited
Golden day today.

May your troubles all be small ones
And your fortunes ten times ten
May the good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again.

May you walk with sunlight shining
And a bluebird in every tree
May there be a silver lining
Back of every cloud you see.

Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrows
Never mind what might have been
May the good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again.

Ta-Ta-Ma-Who?

We think Tatamagouche is an unusual name.

So did our Real Estate Lawyer.

Matter of fact, he figures in the 30 plus years he has been practicing we are the first clients in which he couldn't pronounce either the town or the street to which we are moving.

Town and street names are BOTH difficult to pronounce you say?

Yes, because they are one and the same word!!

Tatamagouche.

How did we manage that?

West Tatamagouche Road in West Tatamagouche.

Our youngest is already suggesting that we submit an appeal with the local government to have our street name changed.

Hummmm....it's tempting.

The S.S.I.L (Sweet sister-in-law) has lived there for over 27 years and I remember the day when I could finally address the envelope without having to look at the spelling!! Told her so in one of the chatty letters I sent her.

At least I've had plenty of practice to prepare me for the day I would have to be giving a forwarding address which such an outlandish name.

If you would like our complete mailing address please send a request to
christineharris35@hotmail.com.

It's with mixed emotions we leave behind Ontario and Penetanguishene (barely lived here long enough to correctly spell that one!) and look ahead to our new adventure in......

Ta-ta-ma-Where?

Home Away from Home

Here she is!
Our Command Center!!
I had told myself to stop looking on Kijiji until we were there (or almost there). Since that would mean my sister-in-law would have to do the running around for us. Besides, paying for it would be a hassle if they wouldn't take a cheque or were unable to receive an e-transfer (not to mention I haven't a clue how to do an e-transfer!!)
But Saturday morning I couldn't help it, everyone was still asleep and I needed something quiet to do. So I went on-line and this happened.

First I looked at Kijiji and sitting waiting, on the top of the page, posted only the night before was the EXACT trailer we were hoping for.  I had two wishes, that the master bed would have access from both sides and that there be four bunks and not just the typical two. (then each of the kids would get a SIDE instead of "top or bottom")

Lookee here!

AGH!!!! We had to get that trailer!!!! But go figure, I had called the sister-in-law just the night before and said "Don't worry we'll do the running around for it once we're there".

But this "dream come true" was priced to go fast and was only 40 minutes away (as opposed to hours and hours away like most listings)

I waited until 10:30 a.m. Nova Scotia time (9:30 here) before calling her. It was Saturday morning after all and not everyone gets up at the crack of dawn on weekends, like myself. :)
Considering I saw the Kijiji ad at 7:00ish that was a lot of self restraint!! haha

She was able to go have a-look-see the next morning. But when we didn't hear back from her for most of the day and then the ad disappeared off the site I was starting to wonder if (OK, worry) that it had been sold!

Turns out it had been sold.

To US!

We had sent a blank personal cheque in the mail sometime before (Yes, we are that crazy!!) to pay for the water testing, but ended up paying for it a different way. The S.S.I.L (sweet sister-in-law) offered to burn it when it didn't get used but I suggested she hold onto it, "in case". She was able to take that "piece of paper" with her when looking at the trailer and it turns out Nova Scotia folks are a bit more trusting and happy to take a personal cheque!

TA-DA just like that we were trailer owners!!

Sweet thing is the seller is having it delivered!! They are covering the $150 cost of delivery too!!

It's a comforting feeling knowing that when we arrive late-in-the-day (probably night) on Sept 1st, our temporary home will be sitting in the S.S.I.L's driveway waiting for us. I think it's a relief for her too, she has a temporary houseful already.  Adding us four would of had her place bursting at the seams.

Now when I pack, some things will be in boxes with a big "T"circled.

T = Trailer :)

Homeless?

Well, everything seems set and firm.

We have closing dates.
Yep, you read that right. Date"S". We got two of 'em!

The closing date on the Penetang house is Aug 30.
The closing/possession date for the Nova Scotia house is Sept 6th.

We will be homeless for seven days.

Count 'em. Seven.
One, two, three........

Thankfully we have permission to unload the U-Hal into the barn upon our arrival! Which is quite helpful and saves us from loading and unloading a couple times.

But then we gotta find ways to keep ourselves busy (and sheltered) for a week.  And when you are chomping-at-the-bit to get to work, that's going to be a long seven days!!
I guess we will take our time looking into finding/buying/moving/cleaning/setting up our Command Center (aka trailer).

And maybe we'll play a little Go-Fish. :)

Gave Me a Chuckle

In the offer that was presented to us, in the selling of our home, one of the things the buyer listed in the "conditional" section is that we leave the house clean, swept and free of garbage and recycle.

Like we weren't going to do that anyways.

Then I said to Geoff imagine us including that in the offer we put on the Nova Scotia house. That thought gave us a good chuckle.

I wish I had a virtual tour of what we saw the day we looked at that 170 year old house.
The last 20 years it's been owned by a bachelor who was more busy cutting wood, baling hay and building a barn then keeping house. Not to mention he's had his aging mother living there as well.

First thing the agent said when she saw us was "The kitchen and bathroom are gutters. Nothing in them works and they need to be gutted and re-done".

The "curtains" are towels nailed to window frames....with about 20 years of dust on them.
Wallpaper is peeling.
A ceiling is missing.
Scattered haphazardly are clothes, furniture and assorted "stuff.  It's like a giant picked up the house, shook it and set it back on it's foundation. There is no comfy (or even uncomfy) place to sit and relax, rest, read or eat.

To our amazement as the agent was showing us the place she kept saying things like, "Oh good, he's been cleaning up" or "Wow, this looks better, his mother must be helping"
And we were like "Where? What!? THIS is better?!?"  haha

But we looked at the "bones" and not the "skin deep beauty" and could tell the structure was good. It is mostly just cosmetics that need doing. Just a touch of make-up is needed, not plastic surgery.

It's always been our mission and goal to leave this place a little better then we found it. :) Be it a house, town, person, family, church.....  the world......   Making something from nothing. Fixing the broken. Mending instead of tossing. Being creative and finding ways to rejuvenate, re-purpose, re-cycle is thrilling.

That being the case, this house we've bought in Nova Scotia should keep us "thrilled" for some time! haha

Cause we aren't expecting it to be swept clean with no garbage lying around.
Instead we have black bags, face masks, rags, cleaners, buckets and rubber gloves being packed separate since they will be needed first.

Since our new house isn't move in ready all of our belongings will be going into the barn until we carve out a decent spot for it all. It's been several years since animals lived in it, so it isn't smelly. Tarps are cheap and we are wrapping everything up tight.  Second thing, after we unload and drop off the U-Hal, is to find and purchase a trailer. It will be  our "Command Center" and home while we get to work.

When I was a young teen (that was back in the day when young teens still did things like own colouring books and actually colour in them) and young children came to visit, I would let them "colour" (aka scribble) in my colouring book.  I would cringe only slightly at their reckless abandon as they thoughtlessly messed up a few pages in my otherwise pristine colouring book. I wasn't worried, there were very few "scribbles" that I couldn't improve upon. My goal and challenge was to "redeem" the ruined page and by the time I was done, you could hardly tell that a young child had been in contact with my book.

I have moved from colouring books to houses. I relish this new challenge to tidy up the "scribble" that this very old house has become.....it's going to be fun....most days.
But I am not wearing rose-coloured glasses. There will be days that will be less then enjoyable and my tennis-elbow is reminding me that there might be pain involved as well.

I will have to keep this devotion from Streams in the Desert in mind.

Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong. (1 Cor 16:13)

Do not pray for easy lives! Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.
—Phillips Brooks

We must remember that it is not in any easy or self-indulgent life that Christ will lead us to greatness. The easy life leads not upward, but downward. Heaven always is above us, and we must ever be looking up toward it. There are some people who always avoid things that are costly, that require self-denial, or self-restraint and sacrifice, but toil and hardship show us the only way to nobleness. Greatness comes not by having a mossy path made for you through the meadow, but by being sent to hew out a roadway by your own hands. Are you going to reach the mountain splendors?
—Selected

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it. ’Tis God’s gift.

Be strong!
Say not the days are evil—Who’s to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesece—O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, In God’s name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day how long,
Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
—Maltbie D. Babcock