Busy Human Doing or Human Being...

Tick tock, tick tock - that's the sound of time, taunting and teasing in its ever-so-almost silent way.  Hours speed by, minutes lost on seconds and then, it it time to get up and do it all again.

This post is a glimpse into what I'm doing. Focusing on the long term of what I will be when I grow up.

This is my sixth semester of studies at the local community college and will graduate in May with an associates degree.  I'm pleased with the coursework I have done, and have the GPA to prove my diligence and great effort: 3.69.  I believe returning to school as a mature adult is an advantage - and when I first registered, my English Literature instructor told me as much.  Her classes were my favorite; the most difficult but the most rewarding.  In addition to English Literature, I took a "Writing at Work" class that gave me valuable experience in the do's and don'ts of professionalism. 60+ credits later, I now know what I do NOT want to do.

What will I do with an associate's degree? The plan is to continue my undergraduate studies and study psychology. In a wild epiphany - last November - I realized what it is I've always wanted to do, so I'm laying the foundation for actually doing it. I want to work with horses and humans - kids and adults alike.

Meanwhile, my service as an AmeriCorps VISTA continues - my work centers around an old farmhouse on just over seven acres that is owned by a town in the geographical center of the state of North Carolina and through two grants, it was rehabilitated and given a purpose to be a heritage center, teaching heritage crafts and skills of a bygone era.  Also, the house hosts an indoor marketplace with locally produced goods, art, pottery, sustainably raised farm meats and eggs.  While this project takes up most of my time, another puzzle of my work schedule fits with the County's exclusive "growers only" farmers' market, where I volunteer as market manager.

Home is as busy as work and school combined, the pigs, chickens, rabbit, guinea pig, ducks, cows, horses, dogs and cat all need attention, nutrition, water, shelter and their quality of life is important to us - so we work hard to maintain their respective living areas that give them a sense of safety, comfort and contentment. My husband keeps the lawn mowed, the waterers cleaned and filled, the manure picked up and composted, and fixes things almost constantly.

Laundry piles up (clean AND dirty), dishes await their washing, and supper always needs to be planned, made and leftovers put up.

We've made the decision to homeschool our seven-year old son, this year also, he is in the first grade. He reads like a third and fourth grader and completes his studies well. There are a great many advantages to homeschooling, and some not-so-great things.

Sigh.  It's just the beginning of another really busy season but mostly I'm grateful to be able to work and study, to live on a small-timey farm and to look back at how far we've come in the five years since we've moved here is awesome.  (have a gander at some posts from 2007, 2008 and 2009....)

I haven't time to post a picture, it's time to get the lad out of the tub and fold some laundry.  It's a good thing I'm a bit hard of hearing, or that tick tock might just worry me.  I can't hear it.  A rhythm all its own is influencing my movements - at a fast pace - but all worth it.

Dear Blog:

You are the only one I can neglect for months at a time without nary a complaint.  You wait patiently for me to quit wasting time on Pinterest and Facebook educational sites and come back to you.  While you proudly display the blog-posts of yester-month, I go on about my days one after another without too much guilt because I know you have no choice been loyal.  For that I thank you, oh, dearest Blog.

Now if you could operate a coffee-maker, we might see one another more often.

I bid you adieu, and farewell, until next time, sweet Blog.

Don't wait up.

Love,

This Inconsistent Life

I've been given a warning; the blog-police have issued an invalid citation of bored-blog-syndrome and I must rectify the situation before it becomes contagious.

Admittedly, I've never been consistent with blogging.  Or dishes.  Or laundry.  Or anything, for that matter.  I'm very spontaneous, always late, sometimes a know-it-all and always me.  So, when it comes to blogging, you can always expect the unexpected.  I won't win any blog-awards.  I'm okay with that, too.

This last year started in January with me going back to school at a local community college to finish my associates degree and while I thought it would be easy - it has proven me wrong.  What it has done, though, is taught me a little bit more about myself.  I've learned that I work well under pressure.  I can meet scholastic deadlines and while not the best at it, still be a farmhousewife.  So far, I've managed to stay a straight "A" student.  I'd like to keep it that way.

Also in my other pocket of busy-ness is the volunteering I do with the Montgomery County Farmers' Market.  Formed in February of this year, a group of committed and like-minded individuals came together and moved forward with a Farmers' Market.  On a weekly basis, we all pack up our goods, meet at the designated location, and put on our tables the heart and souls worth of our life-work.  Sometimes we make a few dollars, sometimes we don't. There are some days when we actually lose money.  Nevertheless, it has been a most rewarding venture, one which I'd like to continue and mostly because of the nicest people I've come to know and love.

Rounding up the inconsistencies of life, this last summer, my husband grew very ill.  While we never did find the cause and aren't likely to, the most important thing is that he's getting better now.  Life is precious, and we must live in the "now" in order to truly and fully "live."

Aligned with the theory that life is precious and we must live in the "now" - I and my family mourn the passing of a friend, Vickie Parsons Hayden, and grieve for the family she left behind. The sparkle in her eye and her dazzling smile told me that she lived life, not for then or later but here, and now - in this moment.  And so, in her honor I will carry flashy pocket-books, wear my useless high heels and sometimes curl my hair and put make-up on for no reason.

And today, I will not worry about whether or not I can keep up with three blogs, a farmhouse, full-time school, a six-year old and a husband.  I will not worry about how to spend the paycheck from my twice-a-week part-time job or the past-due electric bill.  I'm going to soak up the colors of the changing leaves.  I'm going to go to math class and learn square roots.  I'm going to see my friends and fellow vendors at the farmers' market and then come home to a sink full of dishes and be grateful that what I have is now.

Life is inconsistent.  I'm going to embrace it.

/

In Loving and Vivid Memory of Vickie Parsons Hayden
9/27/66 to 10/9/11
23rd Psalm

Hope Farms ~where hope grows wild~

I've created a blog just for the farm.  It will focus more on farming and what we have for sale and less on me my musings.  Go check it out and tell me what you think!

http://hope-farms.blogspot.com

I need a wha ??

FEIN, LLC, LLP, Sole Proprietorship, Business Plans, Sales and Use Tax, and since we're on the subject of Taxes we might as well throw in the IRS! How about and EIN? SSID?

It's almost here, this "starting a business" deal. It's oh-so-much-easier spoken about than actually starting the first thing on the list. That's because it's unclear what the first "thing" is!

When approaching my husband with the idea of writing an actual business plan he says, "the plan is, buy stuff, grow stuff, raise stuff, and sell it." Agreed. Because he's actually up with the chickens, I can't complain too loudly. Sometimes, however, I get a little stuck on the fine print and need a break.

Since life is what happens while we're making other plans, I'm a little behind on the official stuff and will be catching up here in the next few weeks.

I just had to rant a bit about how a great idea can get the fluff taken out of it when one looks at the hard knock requirements of business. If only it were so easy as Captain Strong Arms makes it out to be.

If you need me, I'll be over here, in this mound of governmental bureaucratic paperwork with fine print as far as the almost-forty-year-old eye can see. Ahem.

Life is still good.