Four Milestones & Thoughts on Blogging

Hello. Sorry for the long absence. It seems as though Life and this blog are at odds with each other. Either way, I’d love to share with you a few milestones we have reached.

1. A $10,000 Emergency Fund

I’ve shared with you our debt free journey (house and all) but in April we completed a long awaited goal of a having $10k in an emergency fund. All this is to the credit of my husband, Brian. He works hard, looks after our finances, and in all, makes things happen. He is the rock and the provider to our family and three beautiful girls love him so. This leads me to our next milestone…

2. Finding Love 10 Years Ago

April 30 of 2015 marked 10 years that Brian and I have been together. This is not a marriage date, but rather the first day we met in person. We “met” on Myspace, became friends, exchanged numbers, and a week later he drove from Ocala to Orlando and picked me for dinner and movie. We got caught in the rain, laughed at each other, and all around had an amazing time together. I thought it was a great first date except for the fact that years later Brian disclosed that my breath smelled during the movie. I’m tellin’ ya, it takes mad skills to have bad breath and score a second date.

3. One Year Paid-For Homestead Anniversary

April 2015 also marks one year of living in our paid-for home. Yes, it’s a 1970’s trailer, yes it’s only 900 sf, and yes, it smells. But it’s ours and we are (slowly) renovating it. Despite the shag carpet, hand crank windows and caked-on dirt and grim, we feel at peace here. It’s ours- all of it- and we pay no one for it. We can do whatever we want here. I could paint the place purple or we could tear the whole thing down. This home is a humble beginning and I’m grateful for it.

4. The Wannabe Homesteader reached 6,000 fans on Facebook

I started this blog three years ago and have taken it only halfway serious. I have seen people start blogs after me and surpass me in popularity and exposure even though my blog is much older than theirs. They have 15,000, 30,000, even 70,000 Facebook fans while I just hit 6,000. It took me a long time to get to 6k and while that number makes me smile, a large part of me doesn’t care at all.

All these markers of blogging “success” are superficial to me and I struggle with the worthiness of this pasttime as a a whole. I started blogging because I love to write and I want to connect with other people who are on or want to be on the same journey I am. But, after gaining an audience I realized I had a platform to reach a lot people. After all, corporations pay large sums of money to have what these bloggers have- your time and attention.

So, now that I have your time and attention (as fleeting as it is) I clam up and don’t know what to say. Your time is one of the most valuable things you have and here you are reading my words.

That’s big in my book.

So, thank you for being here. I hope to start blogging again and I will try to keep my words few. I hope to share glimpses of our debt-free homesteading life and my thoughts on homemaking, homeschooling, natural health, politics, current events, and maybe, spirituality.

Until next time, have a good day and thank you for reading.