2021.....

 Happy New Year!

2020 was filled with many lessons, experiences, and hurdles. 

The year started out like most others, and I had goals, dreams, and projections of what I had hoped would happen. Then March rolled around and the whole world was uncertain how things would pan out. I had to send my coworker home indefinitely due to her vulnerability to the virus, but luckily by April I was seeing that my place of employment was deemed essential and keeping up with the workload alone was tough, but I was thrilled to be one of the few that was able to keep my job. 

In May, Reece found a brand new baby cardinal that would have surely died had I not acted as a foster through a licensed rehabber (and had a perfect flight cage aka empty chicken coop) and had the time to take it on. This served as probably the highlight of my year. I’d never been much of a bird observer, but now we have feeders everywhere... 

By June, my coworker decided to retire early and I was able to fill the position quickly. Training a new employee while being short staffed was hard, but I managed and soon things were rolling smoothly.... then Hazel, my 37 year old foster horse, needed to have a few surgeries to remove some tumors..... then, it was determined that I needed a hysterectomy, and pretty quickly. 

Talk about wrenches, but lucky for me, I was able to make sure my new hire was able to be comfortable in the office without me during my six week absence from work, embrace that I would have to hand over pretty much all of my responsibilities to friends who were gracious enough to offer to help feed the farm crew on the days that Christian was working, and then take Reece to training daily so that his trainer could board him while I was in hospital (if you are in the Athens/ Watkinsville/ Winterville area and need of a great trainer, click on Georgia Dog Trainer on the left of this page). 

It was my first ever hospitalization, and in the middle of a pandemic no less.... BUT it made for a very nice stay. There were no available adult beds, so I was on the pediatric floor where I WAS THE ONLY PATIENT on the entire floor the first day! It couldn't have been more perfect. I was able to leave the next day and honestly two weeks out and I didn't even feel like I had major surgery. 

The last few months of the year were spent nursing Misty back to health after a botched surgery for a teat removal, and that continues into the new year as well. She ended up getting a horrible infection a few weeks later (which her previous vet checked her twice and thought it was milk that needed to dry up), and the infection filled her udder which then grew so big it ruptured. It is honestly a miracle she is alive. I am grateful her new vet has been more attentive and committed to aggressively treating her and staying on top of her progress. It is not easy to have had to give her shots every day for the last month, but I can see that it is helping tremendously and I will do whatever it takes to give her the best chances of a full recovery.

Last week I successfully repaired a busted pipe that had frozen (yay me! I had a backup plan in case I failed at the repair) and got lots of things done that usually have to wait until the week after Christmas when I am off work and actually have the time to work hours at a time on certain things..... like starting to landscape the workshop, building Misty her own little place for her continued recovery, repairing the horses fence, working on the goat lean-to, focusing on the yard, a little landscaping, and rearranging my little gym in the shop. I will share pics later this weekend when I have finished up some of my projects :)

All in all, 2020 was weird and different for us, but both Christian's job and mine were not negatively impacted - in fact, both our places of employment had record years (he works in alcohol & liquor sales). I am naturally a hermit, so the lack of socializing didn't hurt my feelings (I just had way less things to decline - ha!) I was able to also have the biggest year ever at the annual Christmas market and made enough money thankfully to pay for all of Misty's vet bills! 

2020 was one I will never forget. I was able to grow, let go and let others help me, and allow the universe to show me how to navigate through unplanned territory. 

Fast forward to today. It has been a great first day of the year, even though it rained all day. I have been able to be still and sort of map out what I envision for myself the next year..... I have also gotten to think deeply about my relationship with Christian and realize that we have been together almost half my life. I also realized how ride-or-die Christian is for me. My heart flutters just thinking of the last several years and my health issues that I learned to live with, but that he also had to learn to accept. Surgery changed all that and I do feel like a million bucks, so I am excited to see how things grow in 2021. I am seeing that love can expand to greater depths as time goes on, and I didn't really ever understand this until this last year...

I have thought about a few goals I want to pursue this year - some are out of necessity, some are things I just want to work towards.... Here's my list. Feel free to share your goals in the comments!

blog at least three days a week (it is something I actually do love - sharing the farm life and happenings)

make my dreams come true (working towards a secret goal that will benefit both me and the farm!)

drink hot lemon water each morning as a cleansing type thing to start each day

buy no new clothing and no takeout food this year - only thrifted or gifted items except for essential undergarments (I was left with quite a hefty hospital bill, so this will be not only a good exercise in lessening my carbon footprint, but will also help me get my bill paid off sooner!)

sunday breakfast biscuits - they make me feel special, and are cheap and easy, and sundays I usually get a little sad about the end of the weekend, so maybe this will help

send snail mail to someone at least once per month

bring back the thrifted fashion weekly posts

...and last but not least, always look at the big picture when someone rubs me the wrong way. I tend to get lost in the moment, and not see where situations originate. 

I will be back tomorrow with some pics from around the farm...

xoxo

-s