Happy New Year!
While this new year is going to present some more challenges for me work-wise, I’m determined to be optimistic and focus on the good things it will bring. I’ll be losing one of my bookkeeping clients as he is selling his business, so I will need to replace that income. While selling my homemade and farm products is enjoyable for me, it’s just not bringing in enough money yet! Bookkeeping pays well but finding small businesses I can work for at home has been difficult. Thanks to computer software making things easier for people, many are doing it on their own.
I have some plans and ideas though for all that stuff, but I’m more excited about the things I’ll be doing with Luke and the farm. Now that the holidays are over, we can focus more on that! I simply hope this is the year that everything finally comes together. Since I lost my regular job over two years ago, things have been unsettled, and a struggle financially. I’m trying to figure out what can work for a schedule, and it would be nice if things stopped changing all the time, and I could find my place.
The Fun Stuff
Luke and I will be working on his online tracking class I told you about and doing more muzzle training as well. We’ve tried different things with Luke for having company over (he is very fearful of people), but the muzzle is something I haven’t tried yet for this so want to work more on that. We tried having him in the crate when people came over, but he barked too much, and then got whiny after being in there for too long. He seems more comfortable being down in our bedroom, and we’ll continue to do that when we have larger groups visiting. I’d like to try the muzzle for shorter visits with less people. He is good about having me put a muzzle on him, but it will be different for him wearing it longer term when at home. There are lots of treats involved with training, so Luke is always on board with it, even if it’s not fun like the tracking will be.
The exciting thing that will be hopefully happening with the farm this year will be letting some of our ladies hatch their own chicks! Now that we have a rooster, we should be able to do that. Some of the girls spend time sitting in boxes on eggs, so we feel like when the time is right (most likely in the spring), we may get one or more of them to sit on eggs long enough to hatch them.
It will be a learning process for us, but I look forward to the research and planning! Our hope is to hatch both chickens and guinea hens (word has it that chickens will hatch and raise both); it will be nice to grow our flock without having the expense of buying chicks or having the mess in the house of raising them in a cage. Worst comes to worst, we can hatch the eggs in our incubator as well, but we hope it doesn’t come to that. That would mean we’d have to raise them in the house initially and then later integrate them with the others. If the chickens hatch them on their own, the mama will protect them from the others. In the long run, we hope this turns out to be much easier, but we’ll see!
Now we’ll leave you with some photos of what New Year’s Day looked like here on the farm.
We don’t “do” resolutions around here, we far prefer to just make plans. Do you have any plans for the new year?
Today we are thankful for the new year and the possibilities it brings, and we are joining our friends at Brian’s Home for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.
Those are some pawesome plans!! Mama is da same her does not like resolutions just likes to make a list of things she would like to accomplish sometime in the year and checks it off as she goes and if it doesn’t get done in one year it roles over to the next. Less pressure that way 😉
xoxo,
Matt & Matilda
Your Mama is a smart lady, that’s exactly the way to do it! xxoo
I am confident that you are going to thrive in 2020! You always have good ideas and the ability to execute those ideas! Maybe you should do a book about farm life? I bet you would write a wonderful one!
Thank you for the vote of confidence, Caren! That’s probably just what I need….more confidence. I’m not sure I have the discipline to write a whole book…but it’s a fun thing to think about!
I don’t make resolutions either, but being a bit on the obsessive compulsive side, I do like to make plans, and I have plans for this year that I hope materialize. I like your plans too – And I’ll look forward to seeing where your plans of chicks, etc., goes. And I am sending you all the best of vibes and wish you all the best with your job too!!
Thank you so much! I’m on the OCD side as well, and if I don’t have a plan I am totally unfocused. I hope your plans go well for the new year too!
Good luck with all your endeavors this year. Just a thought off the top of my head – is bookkeeping consulting something you can do? If small business are doing their own books with software, maybe you can offer consultation services to answer any of their questions about how to set things up properly?
Hopefully the ladies make good moms this year.
I have not tried anything like that, but it’s a good idea! So many small businesses use Quickbooks and I know there are others that set themselves up as Quickbooks consultants. Since that’s where my experience is, I could definitely put it out there. Thanks!
Happy New Year! I hope this year’s challenges turn into wonderful opportunities for growth. Baby chicks will be adorable.
Thank you! You know there will be lots of chick photos if we succeed!
So much snow! And so beautiful. Good luck with all your plans, if anyone can get them done, it’s you guys! I know exactly what you mean about the handmade things not being the road to financial freedom.
Happy 2020. P.S. Any chance the new owners of that business being sold will need your services? 🤞🏼
Thank you for the vote of confidence, and the understanding!
Initially there was a chance the new owner was going to need my services, but last I heard, not so much. So we’ll see. But I do have another what I think is better opportunity (closer to home and possibly work from home) that I hope is going to pan out.
“Release the Chickens” doesn’t have the same ring to it that “release the hounds” has! They look great strutting on the snow!
P.S. Thanks for the Christmas card!
You’re welcome!
How about “release the hens”? LOL
I need to get video of them sometime when they first come out in the morning – they are so excited!
OMD, at first I thought you meant you were closing the online shop. Phew! I don’t know what I’d do for Ducky’s treats if you did close it! Now that my heart has stopped pounding….
I hope the job prospects work out for you soon! I know how financial woes can take their toll.
The tracking class sounds like fun – Fenzi I assume? – I’m sure you and Luke will enjoy it! Muzzle training may be something else again, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.
I’m with you on plans vs resolutions! My plans are still in the idea stage; but one thing I DO need to do is to get back into SOME kind of a routine. Since Sam retired 5 years ago, neither one of us has wanted to feel tied to a routine. BUT without a routine, I went from being super-organized to being totally unorganized. And the latter made me feel a bit disconnected at times. Part of the new routine is going to be To Do lists with realistic priorities.
I didn’t mean to scare you!! 🙂 The online shop doesn’t do a lot for me, but it doesn’t cost me anything but time to keep it going, so that will not go away!
Yes, the tracking class is through Fenzi. It works so well for me since I can do it on my own time! I’m not sure how our snow conditions will work with it, so we may not really be able to get into it until spring.
I know exactly what you mean about routine. One thing I have tried to do since losing my job is always set my alarm in the morning, and have a routine to get my day started. That and have a plan for each day. If I don’t have a plan, I might stay busy all day, but at the end I feel like I accomplished nothing!
What a lovely farm and the chickens are beautiful, I just love chickens! Luke looks like he was enjoying his walk, but poor Mom! It sounds like you have some good solid plans for the new year, I’m sending positive thoughts your way that they will all come true. Keep us posted!
Thank you so much! I really didn’t know what to expect when we started this chicken adventure! But I absolutely love them, which I didn’t really expect! They are so much fun.
We will definitely keep you posted!
Happy New Year to all of you!
Your chickens look so happy! Your Jaclyn is named after my niece, LOL!! Good choice:)
I hope all your plans work out to your satisfaction.
My plan(s) is simple…stay active as I can, keep on working; part time, and stay healthy. All blessings when you think about it!
That is a wonderful plan too! I agree; staying active and healthy are true blessings, and I feel like that is the basis for all good things. ♥
I’m thankful that I’m going to go on your walks with you and the mom. I’m thankful that I’m going to know what’s going on on your farm.
Have a woof woof Thankful Thursday, Luke. My best to your peeps. ♥
We are thankful that you will be along for our walks, and that you enjoy knowing what’s going on around the farm!
We hope this new year is a successful one for you…in whatever you choose to do.
Thank you! We will figure it out….things just haven’t come together as quickly as I’m used to! 🙂
I hope the income thing works out quickly for you and that you sell more farm goodies. It looks like Luke is ready to go! Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Thank YOU for helping us out with our sales! ♥
I like the idea of plans better than resolutions. I hope you get more small businesses to work for in the new year. I also hope you have a happy and healthy one too!
Thank you, Ellen. I have some prospects so am feeling optimistic, right now anyway. 🙂
Happy New Year, I hope all your dreams come true this year.
Thank you, JoAnn, and I wish the same for you! xo
It looks so pretty on the farm, a nice winter scene. Hopefully something will work out with your work. Making money is always a struggle around here too. Mom has done well with her own business, but there are ups and downs, and she gets tired of long hours at times. Still we are thankful she has the business but looking for more clients all the time is tiring and not something she is very good at. Hopefully this year she can add a person to help out and build things up so things get more steady. Have fun tracking with Luke!
I hope things work out for your Mom too. I understand completely, the ups and downs, and the long hours. Working for yourself has it’s good and bad points. There are times I feel like I never have a day off from it all! The marketing and searching for clients and customers is my least favorite thing, and not my strong point either.
I can’t wait to really get into the tracking and Luke is ready too!
Lucky you to have all of that beautiful snow, Luke! We hope all of your plans will come true for you in 2020!
Thank you, Molly! This winter has been crazy but we’re glad to at least have some snow on the ground now!