Life Is Not Easy Most Of The Time

Trying to live a life being self-sufficient in the world we have today is very difficult. It is not the world our great grandparents lived in. In those days, it was easier to live that way because that was how everyone lived. So you were just one of the many families living on a farm and raising their children to be independent. It isn't something they just decided to do one day. They were already doing it.

My own grandmother was raised in a large family, and the children were expected to do chores and help on the family farm. In fact, when they got jobs off the farm, as soon as they were old enough (back then they got jobs in their early teens), they still did their chores at home. In the early morning hours they got up to milk cows or feed horses and bring in firewood  before leaving for work. Leaving for work, meant walking a long distance one way before it was even light out or in cold weather conditions. They knew that after work and the long walk back home, they would have their chores waiting for them. And for the girls, preparing the evening meal was part of their every day chores. So it was not easy for them either, but they were conditioned to that lifestyle. And everyone they knew lived the same way.

Now I have many people remark about my lifestyle being hard. It is not meant to be hard. The hard part is trying to survive in this economy without having a lot of money. Yes, money is the hard part. My grandmother's family raised their own food and did not have to spend very much if any, at the local stores. They used horses or their feet for transportation. I have to buy more food at the store than I can raise. I have horses but they are not the type that would be able to be ridden to a store and tied up outside.

Our house needed much work on it when we bought it. It has been an ongoing project for the whole twelve years we have lived here. Needed insulation, still needs new windows, needed the foundation reworked, walls needed taking down and new ones put back up, new doors, plumbing and the electrical installed, etc. etc, etc. As I said, an on going project. It all cost so much money though.

Would it have been easier if we had purchased a house on the grid in a regular neighborhood? Yes, but then we wouldn't have been living this lifestyle at all. Maybe we would have planned to change over at some time in the future. But then we would have kept living that way and probably never did it. Never achieved our dream of living off-the-grid. Especially since we have gotten older. It would have been easy to just let the dream die. Sometimes easy is not easy. Not easy to let your dreams and hopes to just go because it is easier to forget about them. Then you get to a point in your life and regret not achieving that dream. Nope, it is easier for us to struggle, holding on..........at least we are living our dream.......every day, even if it isn't easy. What about you?

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

Live Your Life NOW

Take time to smell the flowers!

I think I would be amiss with my readers this morning if I did not mention the passing my first husband and the father of my son. He passed away in the hospital on Friday. I can hardly believe he is gone. He was a big part of my life and my son's life for so long. My first husband and I were divorced in 1990. I do not want to mention the bad as I am not thinking about any of that anymore. That has been gone from my life for a very long time now. My whole life when I was married to him was completely different. I will admit here that he hurt me very deeply and it is something you hardly forget. But when I became a "born again" Christian I forgave him, not in person because I had not seen him in over 16 years or talked to him. But in my heart and in my prayers. I even prayed for him when he became sick. I never had the chance to see him in person, or I would have tried to get him to accept Jesus in his heart, though him being very Jewish, that would have been difficult.

When a life passes it causes you to reflect on your own life. Like I said, I lived a completely different life back then and I can say with total honesty that my life today is so much more fulfilling than back then. I am married to a wonderful man who treats me like I am the most beautiful, sexiest and smartest creature on this earth. He makes me feel so valued. Isn't value what we all want? For the people in our lives to value us and love us? My husband is very adept at many, many things, so for him to give me such votes of confidence is invaluable to me. I am glad he is not the kind of person who tries to tell me how to do something or to imply that his way is the only way. We all know people like that I am sure. I am not comparing him to my other "mistakes" as he would beat them by a million miles for sure!

In my eBook, My Homesteading Journey, I mentioned that I lived the life of luxury in the past and that is very true. I lived that life. But I found it very empty. It was void of real true happiness. Money does not make the people happy if they get up in the morning and they go to a job they do not like to go to. It does not make you happy if you get up in the morning and you look in the mirror and do not like who you see there. It does not make you contented and satisfied with your life if you are hurting others or telling lies to others to make yourself look more important.

Death makes you very aware that life is not really that long. My father at 91, and my father-in-law at 90 have lived long lives. My father though has a fuller more satisfying life. He is busy and has not stopped doing anything due to his age. Fixing his house, his car, mowing his lawn and having a big garden and even canning his crop keeps him very active. And he can discuss any subject as sharply as any eighteen year old. My father-in-law though, is just the opposite, and seems to have just stopped living, waiting for death to visit him.

I feel that you should try to live your life now the way you want and not wait to retire and then start living. Take a look at your life today, right now and evaluate it. Discover what it is you want to do in your life and find a way to do it now. You never know how long you have in this life. Putting it on hold for the future may mean you will never achieve what you want to do most. I cannot tell you how many people we know or knew that had retired, and then within a few months died suddenly. Never to realize those dreams. Start working on freeing yourself for that life as soon as possible.There are always ways to make your dreams happen if you just start now. Don't wait too long.

Money Makes The World Go Round Nowadays

Today is a Saturday. Most people don't have to work today. But when you are trying to make a living from home - you have to work every day. I have noticed that people in my country (maybe other countries too?) only care about money. Money is what makes the world go round. I try to live a simple lifestyle. But even our own families only care about money. People say they are "good Christians" and then talk about how much money they make, or how much money their soon-to-be son-inlaw makes. It is all that matters in today's society.

Then everyone wonders why kids are like they are now (always expecting you to buy certain brands of clothing, cell phones, internet connections, software, meals out, etc). Even the schools, now, post these BIG lists in Walmart of all the items you need to buy for your kids for school! Walmart is more than happy to let them post the lists there! Or the kids are in various activities, and they need to have certain color shirt or pants, or something for the very next day or evening.

Why do people break laws to sell drugs (because they make lots of money and can't get a job otherwise). People get desperate for money to pay bills to live, let alone for all the extras that you want. And when people don't have money, the other people make them feel inferior. Even if they are not. Anybody could have things happen that would cause them to loose all their money, or their job, or their credit cards.

Just look in your mailbox. It's full of get rich schemes. Just the other day, I received one from a Christian group, a pastor, in fact. He was promoting a clean air machine. He told how they had no money and his wife started selling this and now they were rich. I tried to call him, but got an answering machine. So I found the same company on the internet. Their website, which was big time Christian, said with just a $35. investment, you could get started. But it wasn't that way at all. When I said that I could come up with the $35., but nothing more, he brushed me off with "their business isn't for you because you need to buy the machines to sell." Aha! Another scheme. Pastor or not!

A lot of so called businesses, Christian or otherwise use the same ploy. They tell you that you will make a lot of money if you buy their information. And then they will tell you what to do to sell their information to more people like you. People like you, that have no money, but will probably put it on a credit card (that you can't afford). And then they will keep telling you how much everybody is making that follows their program. It's all hype! And no matter what anyone says, it's still just hype.

There are a lot of internet geniuses who are well known for making a lot of money. But how? They are all selling books, courses, seminars, videos, newsletters, etc. that teach you how to make money on the internet. They get a lot of followers, who like to be told what to do. And they sell their stuff to people just like themselves. So they make money off them and those people in turn have to find more people.

Makes you wonder about the people who come from other countries to the United States. They help each other, they all live together and build businesses and then in a number of years they are living the American dream. Americans don't do that (help each other). Only for a buck!

So today, I don't think I will promote anything to you as I am not always out for the buck, even though I am a American. Even though I could most definitely use a buck or two. I will just tell you to always check things out before handing over your hard earned money to someone promising to make you rich.

See you tomorrow!

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole