Transplanted in Texas

Well. My first blog post will be up on The Baker's Help Meet on Wednesday. That means this post right here, the 118th, is the final one at Transplanted In Texas. We've covered a lot in the two-plus years I've been blogging here. From my wreck with Sneaky within the first month, to the pregnancy and birth of Yance, the journey to financial security (of which we are on step 3 of 7), the writing of a book, the loss of not one but TWO family members in less than two months' time last year...., and the blessing of a second pregnancy and anticipated birth. The journey continues over at The Baker's Help Meet , where I will try my best to show you how I am a happy, contented, joyful, madly-in-love wife and mother - and how you can be, too (y'know, if you're a woman who wants to be like that). It will be less personal, less scatter-brained, and more focused on keeping the family healthy, learning to handle money, training children, and stealing your husband...

This is the second-to-last blog post here. On September 1, I will officially be writing over at  The Baker's Help Meet . And... with that comes new Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram accounts... and a new Facebook page! Those will all be set up by Sept 1, and my August 31 post will provide links to them. The content will focus strictly on motherhood and wifehood, with opinions on various topics and Biblical background to them. Through the new blog, I hope to grow myself and my readers, and by having strict content I hope to also grow my readership numbers. The end goal is to make it a paying blog and business, and the only way to do that is to get more readers, and ones who will be willing to pay to read what I have to say. I will be keeping this blog and Facebook page up so that people can read past content, and the Twitter account will be my personal one - while the new Twitter account will be blog stuff only. In other news, Yance is progressing in his potty-training, B...

We got up to my parents' place Thursday night, and Yance was promptly put to bed. He hadn't even bothered to fall asleep on the way up! Wow! So... he was so tired on Friday that he fell asleep during lunch. I can't remember if he's done that before... if he has, it's been quite a long time! Poor kid. Friday afternoon, I was with KMarie. We went to the jeweler's and got her ring cleaned real quick. Then we picked up a petticoat for her dress. And I was there while she had lunch with her fiance. It wasn't too bad, but when she and a bridesmaid got their nails done, it took forever. Ack. Lol I keep my nails too short to bother getting them prettied up, and besides I hate the smell of a nail salon. Ah, well. I did enjoy being with her, though, and helping where I could. Missing Mommy But, we made it to rehearsal on time, and finally got to see my sweetheart and son again at the supper. Yance and D both missed me a lot, which I expected, but I am gla...

As of this publication, I am in my hometown preparing for a wedding. Hubby took the day off, and we came up last night. And tomorrow is the wedding that has been waited on for several months. Yance gets to wear a new outfit, I get to actually wear a maternity dress suitable for this, and hubby will look as handsome as ever in his jeans and button-down shirt. This whole week has been busy, preparing for this event and also doing a checkup on the baby. Sunday morning we went shopping, getting home in time to put the groceries away and then go to Ma's for lunch. While there, we finished adjustments on my dress, and spent the rest of the day chill-axing. It was a good ending to the weekend, and a good way to rest for the upcoming crazy week. Plus Yance lost his pacifier somewhere in the house, so now he's officially weaned from that. I was fixing to do it anyway, so that's one way to get it done. Thanks, kid. Monday, I was washing and folding all the clothing we would n...

My best friend is getting married very soon. So I have been thinking over my own romance, how things have changed since my beloved and I fell in love and married. And how our lives have developed since she and I met. She is nearly 4 years older than I (and four months older than my hubby!), but Kmarie was the one that I turned to when life was driving me crazy - before and even during my courtship with my sweetheart. By the time D proposed, I had switched over to confiding in him, as it should be, but still Kmarie and I have enjoyed conversing and swapping stories. She was my maid of honor, and there is still no one I would rather have taking that place. We met on an April day in 2009, and immediately I felt comfortable just walking up and introducing myself -- never have I felt that with anyone else. I'm a shy person, in case you didn't know. She was fourteen; I was eleven. We were both homeschooled, horse-crazy girls with temperamental mares. The friendship took o...

Warning: I might offend some people with this post. That is not my intention. I am simply showing y'all things my husband and I have discovered in our journey to being debt-free. In early-mid May, 2017, D went to a Dave Ramsey Entreleadership 1 day course, paid for by his employers. D and I grew up on Dave Ramsey - me more so than him - and were familiar with his work. We had pulled out a loan for the house (a balloon note? with cattle as collateral) and also paid off a much smaller loan for his gunsmithing school (which he never finished, but that's another story) by then, and were floating comfortably. Or so we thought. While the $4k loan had been in the works for being paid off for a couple of years by the time we finished it in August 2016, the $25k+ loan had been pulled out the January before we got married - so we briefly had two loans during our marriage. Unlike the smaller loan, this one had no regular payments - it just needed to have the interest paid every year...

My husband and I have been married for two years and two months (and ten days, but who's counting.... 😄). When I think about that, it feels unbelievable. Has it really only been twenty-six months? It feels like we've known each other and been married forever! In the short time we've been married - this whirlwind adventure that never seems to stop for a moment - I have learned many things, and matured and grown as a woman, wife, and now mother. I married when I was just a crazy, starry-eyed eighteen year old. Now, I'm a crazy, madly in love twenty year old, but hey. I'm growing up. Even though growing up never seems to end - you just keep on growing mentally in one way or another. So. I fell in love at seventeen, married at eighteen, was a mother at nineteen, and baby number two will be here while I'm still twenty. And I couldn't be happier. I have always admired my man. He is my rock in this world, and it is an honor to be so trusted and loved! I...

...now what do we do with this extra money? Hehe. For thirteen months, we've been pouring out the thousands of dollars needed to get our loan paid off. And finally, on Wednesday, my father-in-law, who could do this because he had to co-sign the loan, handed them a signed blank check. Signed by my husband, from our own account. And with that, we became debt free. It is an enormous weight off our shoulders, for about 30 cows were riding on that loan. If we hadn't paid it off - or if we hadn't been able to keep up with paying interest off every year - they would've been taken as collateral. Today that worry is gone. So. Now, what? Well, we've got a few things to buy, like air conditioners (the two window units we have can't keep up), and other miscellaneous items we've been holding off on. We need to pay the midwife. And have her completely paid by October 30 (36 week appointment). Not too big a deal, but just something we definitely need ...

This week is an update on several parts of our lives. Debt: no tax return; had to pay because I screwed up on the paperwork and didn't realize we had taxable income (oops) partly because we didn't last year. Sold cows yesterday at auction and will get the check within the next few days. Praying that they sold for more than expected. Will definitely get the debt paid off by our goal date regardless. Baby: starting to roll around and make its presence known! Looks like it could be a spunky kid and give Yance a run for his money. We're almost at 15 weeks now (June 3), and we'll visit the midwife again on June 12. Marriage: never better. I love my sweetheart! Sneaky: still here. Argh. Nobody wants him. We're making plans for next year should he fail to sell. There is still an ad on EquineNow that will stay through August before it gets taken down permanently. Dingus: it's been too hot to work in the afternoon so I haven't touched him this week. Regardless, ...

We're twenty six months into this decades long adventure called marriage. And what a ride it's been. Here are some things I've learned. Be very, very sure that the person you're marrying is the one you want seeing ALL sides of you. And then be willing to change yourself, without losing that spark that attracted your spouse to you, to better fit your spouse's needs. If you have been dating for more than six months and you still don't know if you want to marry this person, WHY ARE YOU STILL DATING?! On the flip side, if you're of marrying age after six months of dating and you do want to marry this person, WHERE IS THE RING? When your spouse gets angry, don't assume that s/he is angry at you. Remember that all the tough moments will pass. Don't spend extra time moping because of them. Get up, do something, and put a smile on your face! Read/listen to informational books. Especially those about marriage and children....

Last weekend, Kmarie of Dreamer's Essence  was here to hang out, go over wedding stuff with me (I am a bridesmaid in her August wedding), and catch up. She hasn't been out here in a year. She showed up Friday night and left Saturday evening, so she could be back in time to get some sleep and play piano for the church choir back home. And, of course, be home for Mother's Day. So, we started Saturday off by eating waffles (Yance was delighted), and then rode Jack and played with Dingus (video here ). Yance even got his first real ride with me! After that, we went over some wedding stuff, then she made us salad for lunch. D was off helping family with firewood gathering and that sort of thing, and didn't get back until closer to 4pm. We made chicken parmesan for supper, and soon after that she was on her way home. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and can't wait to be back in her area to see my family and hers next month. Sunday was Mother's Day, and D got me a...

Springtime isn't cool and pretty with some showers down here. Nope. It is crazy, with days in the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s and nights in the 30s and 40s and maybe 50s. And then it suddenly decides it's summertime, with 85-95 degree temperatures ruling May. And lots of wind blowing the pollen around. Awesome. I'm glad we don't have crazy allergies. Whew. June means 100 degree weather starts getting here - or maybe it is just a continuation of May. Either way, June 1 means summer, even if it doesn't officially  get here until late that month. Springtime in Texas means pouring rain, crazy weather, green grass, blooming flowers, babies of all species, and unpredictability. Also it means Yance wants to spend all his time outside. We went to our first reenactment in a year last weekend, and Yance thoroughly enjoyed spending 36 hours or so outside in the sun and shade. We had fun, too, with D ending up on a 3 mile march with his group on Sunday. I cooked brunch on...

Debt. It's a cloud many carry, and most couldn't care about. It comes in the form of credit card debt, student loans, mortgages, financed vehicles and equipment, and ranch loans. Then there's medical bills/debt, a totally different story, but the way to conquer them is the same way you conquer all other debt - aggressively. "For the rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7. We have had a loan over our heads for over two years now. My then-fiance, now-husband, got a cattle loan in January 2016 so he could provide a home for his future family. At the time, he was making very little, and our only hope was to pay off the interest every year, with perhaps some extra to put on the principle, and re-sign. With help from my family, we landed with our feet on the ground but little thought given to the prospect of actually paying off the debt. In June of 2016, he got his first real job, and suddenly we had an enormous inco...

Finally. Nearly two years in, I get to my one hundredth post. In that time, I have covered love, loss, gain, goals, ups, downs, children, horses, cats, dogs, marriage, and life. And over the next one hundred posts, I will essentially be doing the same thing. For I have a horse to train, a child to raise, another one on the way, a husband to keep, and life to live. This week the cows thought our yard was better than their pasture - and then also decided to go break into the hay field off our yard. So. Now we have finally done repairs on the fence and that shouldn't be a problem. Can you believe it's already been a year and a half? The horses have been assigned the job of mowing our yard since the dogs decided our machine mower was a toy. Really they need 24/7 turnout, because they haven't gotten very far. And the dogs keep pestering them and driving me crazy. Duke in particular likes to annoy the heck out of Dingus. He's been kicked and chased and still kee...