The Life and Times of a Family of 5 Living in Rural Northern New England + Recipes, Fiber Arts Patterns and More!
From the monthly archives:
I. started 4th grade this year. Its extra big because we have homeschooled him since he was in kindergarden….and this is the first day of public school for him!
He had a great day!
He has a really nice teacher whom he enjoys, and, the boy who sits next to him loves to dress in cammo – loves legoes and star wars – and has a ton in common with I.
Hope he’s up for 9 months of it!
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If only I could find a van this cool!
So, we need a van. I finally convinced Mr. T. that we just don’t have the space in the wagon anymore – even with the 3rd row seat. He’s sad. He doesn’t want to own a mini van.
If you’re gonna have 3 kids, you’re gonna eventually get a van, its that simple.
I wish we could afford one of the new 7 or 8 seaters like the Honda Pilot, but its just not in our price range. We’ve got to settle on the van and have been focusing our search on Honda Odysseys and Toyota Siennas. I’ve found a few, but that was before we sold the Volvo (which happened within a day after posting it on Craigs List!!).
Now, we can’t really find anything. And, even when we do, its such a saga.
Gather up the kids….who don’t want to go. And drive. We’re trying to keep it close, but there’s only been one, and that’s been a bit of an odd experience.
The car was being sold by a family about 20 min from us, so, we went over. It was nice, had a dent in the back, but was nice, only 125,000mi and in our price range. Mr. T. drove it and liked it so offered $500 less than the asking price. The guy said he and his wife would have to talk about that but never told us anything from there. So, we collected the kids and headed home. Weird. I emailed just to be sure, but no response. So, I’m guessing that’s a dead end.
As a result of where we live (in the beautiful Maine countryside) we have to travel around an hour to see other vehicles. Its a total pain in the a$$.
But, I need a van. Hell, I already sold my volvo, which, lucky for me isn’t getting picked up until later in the week. I. starts school on Mon. though and I have to drive him….can’t do that without a vehicle…so gotta go through that buying a car process in all its “deal making” glory.
Here’s to hoping our new van finds us…sooner rather than later!
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I’ve been interested in getting an 800 number for my business so, I started searching for options. I came upon a service from RingCentral.com….and found a free trial with this great RingCentral referral code. So, I tried it, for free. I found out I liked the service and that it was a good deal for me. All without paying a dime.
This got me thinking. Why doesn’t everything come with a Free Trial?
Any product manufacturer worth your money really ought to offer you the opportunity to try out their product for free. If you like it, buy it, if not, so be it. The courtesy alone would get customers!
Admittedly, some things do offer a free trial (ie a test drive for a car) that won’t really tell you all that much about the item. But, usually a free trial is a great option for a consumer, and most often, will get the product sold to even more people.
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We have been in Maine for a few years now but have not had the occasion to make it anywhere north or west aside from a trip through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine.
This weekend, we fixed that a bit.
We went up to an area near the Canadian border where there is a mountain range called the Bigelows. They are absolutely amazing!
Much of the range is state reserve land and is protected….and wild. We had the added bonus of being able to take our kayaks out and take a look at these beautiful mountains from the water too. The peaks are just breathtaking, and I. noticed one was even shaped like the letter “M”.
Having these places still be what they always have been is priceless, and sharing them with children is even better.
This is why protecting and caring for our planet is so important. If not, eventually, places like these will be gone.
Some great charities to support that help preserve land include
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We all know recycling is important, Right?
Trying to spend your money on recycled products whenever possible is just as important.
Its not always evident which products use “post consumer recycled content” or not; some advertise, others don’t. So when you’re getting ready to make a purchase like paper for your printer, or a magazine for example, try to check the percentage of post consumer recycled content used to make this new item.
The more you put your money behind goods that use recycled materials to make their products, the more demand there will be for recycled materials; which will help keep more and more trash out of the landfill and thereby, create more and more goods out of recycled materials…for consumers, like you, to buy!
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