Learn Something New Everyday

I love learning even though I hate (strongly strongly dislike?) school. I feel a deep satisfaction when I end the day with more knowledge then I started it with. I do believe that ignorance is bliss. Once you know something it can’t be unknown. Starting a conversation with me by saying “I have bad news” leaves me sick to my stomach. Would I rather not hear it? Do I REALLY want to know? I always buck up because on the flip side of ignorance being bliss is the fact that knowledge is power. Which was a likely longer than necessary tangent to lead up to my learning goals for the new year.

It doesn’t even feel like 2019 is about to begin. But it is. I have had so many changes over the last year. But this is not a “dwell on the past” post. This is a “look to the future” post. And with this post, I will bestow upon the masses the powerful knowledge of my new years resolution to do list of sorts.

As I write this post I am sitting on my bed in my cozy room in my home in Oregon. Here I shall live for 7-10 more days. By new years day I will be moved out and living with my grandparents. I will also be unemployed. Womp womp womp. But this is not a sad story. I will be staying with my grandparents so I can get some quality grandma time (and post holiday remaining treats, grandmas always have treats). They also want to get great grandbaby time. I may be cute, but I don’t hold a candle to my baby. And after my 2 week visit I will be moving back to Japan. Yes back. A story for another day. The plan for Japan is to plan. Plan as much as we can and read as much as we can. We should be there for 6ish months. Military life gives no concrete timelines. So this list is a running tally of what I would like to start on/ work on/ learn about for 2019 to help us get to our ultimate 10 year plan endgame.

I would like to try to plan my life in 52 week increments. Which sounds crazier when I type it out like this. I would like to basically divide tasks in my life to break things up but also to coordinate tasks. Yea. That sounds confusing. For example, I want to write out a 52 week meal plan for my family. I would like to try new foods (theme night to try more foods from other countries), I would like to make family favorites (pretty sure I make at least 1 lasagna a month). I would like consistency but variety. Pretty sure that is an oxymoron but I am rolling with it. I would also like to grow my own food someday so I would like a seasonal meal plan that has fresh food for the season and uses hopefully my preserved foods in the off season.

I would like to coordinate a garden schedule to the meal plan schedule. With staggering the seed starts to extend growing seasons on certain plants. But I have to first learn about plants. I need the menu to determine what to grow and when and what I even can grow in our zone.

I want to learn more about how to draw architectural plans. I am picky. Well, I would like to think of myself more as particular. I want to know that good choices are being made with quality over quantity being a contributing factor. I want to consider longevity for our family as well as growth potential. I have been pinning on pinterest for YEARS so I have a lot of wants. And to get them all packaged into a neat little bow will take time. And patience. Time I have, patience however comes and goes. (I also want to owner build as much as I can so the more I know and understand the easier that will be too)

I want to grow my blog. I want to help people. It’s pretty much why I love being a mom and a nurse. This is just another way to do that. By helping you!

I know that our family will be moving again sometime in the summer so I will need to find housing. Problem…we don’t know where yet. But it will still be a 2019 goal.

I want to learn about raising chickens for meat and chickens for eggs. I also want to learn to raise rabbits for meat (and fur, might as well learn to tan the hides so nothing goes to waste). I would like to switch my pets to a raw diet once we are reunited after Japan and raising meat animals will help significantly with cost reduction and will reduce meat waste during culling (not that I would waste it anyways but still).

If I am going to raise these animals I would like to learn how to build their shelter. I feel like this is a smart choice over buying a kit because the materials will naturally be higher quality. (I have felt cardboard more structurally sound than some of the coops I have seen) But any troubles we encounter we should be able to modify the structures. I want solutions to my problems, not just problems. Knowing how something was made makes modification easier (this applies to building our dream home too)

I would like to spend more quality time with my family. This is a big big BIG point in our 10 year plan and all steps lead to us spending more time together. Self sufficiency leads to quality time together in my opinion. Is it hard work, yes! 1000% yes!! But it’s good! I want to garden together as a family. I want to take care of our chickens together building the memories of collecting our eggs. I want memories in my kitchen of cooking breakfast with my family of eggs that were just collected. I would love to be standing over my stove cooking, while my husband chops ingredients and my daughter mixes in a bowl. Time together. Mutually contributing to the families wellness.

I would like to truly write out my 10 year plan. Right now it is an arbitrary deadline I have placed on myself and I feel like we are going in the right direction but laying it out will allow me to know for sure. I am a visual kind of gal which is also why I think blogging will be a good outlet for me since I can add pictures and videos and sounds. I make pop culture references all the time and not everyone gets them but throw in a picture and suddenly everyone remembers exactly what your talking about.

And last on my list for the night (morning?) is to travel Japan and not waste the other opportunity I have there. So I guess I want to make a bucket list too. But telling you all about my travels I am hoping motivates me to get out and explore more. I am a homebody. This is why the idea of a farmstead doesn’t deter me. It sounds amazing.

Enjoy the pictures of my titterpittens (cats) I miss them already and I haven’t even left yet.

-Cait