Let the busy-ness begin...

Wow, the past 4 days have been like a whirlwind.

The closing on Friday went well. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes because there were a looooooot of words to read. The kids did very well. The Princess did end up having rather a nice time at the end poking pen holes in the wood table while writing, and spilling water on herself and the floor. But the lady closing the deal has 9 grandkids, didn't bat an eyelid, and when she heard that we home school said "That explains why they are so well behaved." By then the sellers were loooong gone. Before they left we flew paper airplanes around the room that Farmer Boy had made. The closer wasn't there for that little gleeful moment. It is so cool having such a happy real estate deal.

Mom and Dad prepared a celebratory meal, prominently featuring steak and champagne. We all behaved rather silly.

Saturday was wonderful. We looked at and ultimately bought a washer, a dryer and a fridge. We went to our first goat auction (I just about died from the sheer joy of being there; I think I was born to raise goats). And we spent some time at the house and on the land, just being happy and loving it. It started to rain but we just kept walking around, looking. Even The Princess didn't complain, and she is not usually one to accept such indignities.

Stephen pointed out that we sure look at things differently now when we drive through the countryside. Now we are looking at what types of fencing people use, what their barns are like, where their stock tanks are, who has hay for sale, etc. I look for goats.

Sunday we spent quite a bit of time with our new home schooling friends, visiting the church they started and having lunch with them. Then home to pack, pack and pack some more. Night time was more cleaning and packing and now website work.

One thing I am counting on God to be working on with me is discipline. SELF-DISCIPLINE. I have a really hard time being diligent and setting a pace for myself with my business. There are a lot of things I don't especially like to do (clerical things... like accounting, filing), so I put them off until they become big ugly monsters blowing a juicy raspberry at me. I am trying to make some major website changes, by tomorrow, and I am getting a lot of spit in my face over that one. Once again, it ain't gonna happen.

On the farm, I am going to have to be willing to break the jobs into tasks, and tackle them one at a time, regularly. This is not natural for me. I am the type of person who wants to do a marathon stretch on a project, then collapses in sheer exhaustion and can't bear to even think about it for weeks. That strategy is just not going to fly. The chickens will want to eat. Every day.

Today was school and more packing, more cleaning, and a spate of errands. Interspersed with reading about sustainable agriculture, finalizing our baby chick order and reading _Day-Range Poultry_. :-D

We're going to be farmers. Honest.