A New Year

Wow. 2009.


When I was a kid, I thought it was amazing that I could possibly still be around in the year 2000. It seemed so far into the future that my friends and I discussed the hover cars we'd own.


Here we are, nine years after Y2K, and I still don't own a hover car. :(


*shrugs* Just as well. I'm having a difficult enough time with the changeover from VHS to DVD. What the heck is Blue Ray, anyway?


Here it is, another new year. I don't make resolutions, but I do make a list of goals. I've been doing it for a few years now. It sort of started out as a list of things we wanted to do to our home and property when we first moved out here to the country. Then I added to the list: skills I wanted to learn, projects to do, books to read, etc.


At the end of each year, I make a separate list of things we have accomplished. Sometimes there are a lot that weren't on my 'to do' list. I also jot in significant events in our personal lives, as well as unusual weather and anything else out of the ordinary.


I keep all of these in one notebook. I find it very interesting to flip through and look at past years' lists. It's an amazing sense of accomplishment to think of all the skills I have learned in a few short years.

I'm currently working on the Goals List for 2009, and the Accomplished List for 2008. We really got a lot done in 2008. More than I thought. I won't post them all here, but one of the more interesting things I found, in looking back over the past few years, is how self-reliant we are becoming. Slowly, at first, starting when we first moved to the country and realized that we were often without power, snowed in or otherwise isolated due to downed trees or even flood waters blocking the roads. We realized that we are some of the few that stick it out at home when things happen. Which means we can only rely on ourselves, our skills, and our preparedness.

We have learned many new skills: using a chainsaw and ax to split firewood, developing ways to haul the firewood; gardening, growing hay, etc, all without a tractor or tiller; canning, dehydrating, and freezing foods. The list goes on and on.

I think the one thing that really made me realize how far we've come is discovering that, over the past year, we purchased very few canned items. I think once or twice I picked up a can of tuna at the store, and I did buy canned sweet potatoes and canned pineapple during the holidays, to save time. I can't really think of anything else. We did do frozen pizzas, as I mentioned before, but overall, very few convenience items. This may seem like a small thing, but if you stop and think about what most people buy when grocery shopping, maybe it's not so small, after all.

I'm still learning, and we have a long way to go to be as independent as we'd like to be. For this year, my number one goal is to find ways to be comfortable in case of long term power outages. But more on that later. For now, since it really is a new year, I guess it's time to take down the Christmas tree. *sigh*

Happy New Year to everyone!!!