March Update

I'm so good at updating this blog on a regular basis, I just impress myself everyday (not....). Things have been pretty wild here in Butte county, as I'm sure you all know. I wish I could say things are calming down, but they're not. Our little town is full to the brim with people and it's a struggle to deal with all of the new people here. Many of the people who lost their homes are still not able to find places to live, aside from trailers. I'm lucky, I didn't live in the effected areas and didn't loose my home when landlords decided to sell. We were able to renew our lease and are locked in until the summer of 2020. That's all I really feel like saying about the fire, because all of us are tired of talking about it and tired of having to still deal with all the chaos it has brought to our area (fire victim or not).

Life continues on, and there's a lot of things that have happened since I last wrote. I am still working at the sewing and vacuum store, but I also opened up an Etsy store. I wouldn't say it's gone well, but I've learned a lot and have a new plan and direction. I don't have enough time at the moment to make the Etsy store what I want it to be, not while I have my other job. So I'm working on earning money to put us in a position where I can dedicate myself to the Etsy store.

I also have a new plan for my products. I'm going to be dying all of my products myself with natural dyes. I've been really interested in them for a while now and by using them I can also buy materials in bulk without loosing the customizing ability that I want to have. I have been studying up on the process and the species to use. This summer I plan to start practicing and perfecting it.

As of today we have another big change in our situation; we have a roommate. A coworker of mine wasn't able to find a place to live, because of the influx of people to the area, so we are renting our extra room to him. It gives him a place to live and will help us meet our financial goals, so everyone wins. It will be a pretty big change though, we haven't had a roommate since I was 19. He's a relaxed guy, that is good at being clear about he's needs and feelings. So we should be able to work out any problems between us.

The last thing that has become a big part of our lives is a fitness routine. We have been doing body weight exercises twice a week (since October) and have been hiking once or twice a week. One of those hikes includes my niece, who has been wanting to join us on a backpacking trip. At the beginning of January we told her that we would take her on a hike every week to train her up to going with us in the spring. We took on her first backpacking trip this month and she did a great job. There was a lot of new things, from how we eat to bathroom stuff. She was pretty ready to go home to familiar life. The day after the trip she was happily talking about her adventures. I'll cover the trip in more detail in a later post.

April is just ahead of us and spring has just begun this year!