Scotland the Brave

Over the past month, Scotland has been on my mind. Partly that had to do with the referendum and vote for independence (since I'm not Scottish, I'm told I'm not allowed to have an opinion on this matter), but mostly has to do with my dream to own a B&B in Scotland one day.

One of my mom's cousins recently returned from a birthday trip to Scotland and an aunt mentioned my dream in passing to him. He sent me a private message via Facebook offering to invest if I every truly went ahead with my dream (if I understood him correctly, there is a stipulation of buying in St. Andrews so he can come visit and golf whenever he wants which I'm totally not opposed to doing). Dream come true right there!

So what's stopping me? I don't know if it's fear of the unknown or fear of failure that's made me really stop and not pursue more than a casual perusal of real estate listings. I've got a general idea of what all it would take to actually go through with it and a vague idea of how much it would all cost so it's not a fear of not knowing where to start that's holding me back. I know my husband is on board if I actually decide to go through with something like this. He'd even be perfect for something like this since he's been going to school for hotel management and is actually a very good customer service worker (he's weird in that he likes people and generally gets along with everyone) so I know it's not a fear of having to convince my love. I know our families would miss us, but I also know that they'd plan vacations so they could come visit (we'd black out certain time periods where only family would be staying at the B&B).

I don't know. Of course I don't want to fail in anything I attempt, but that's normal. I also don't mind going to new places, and since I've already visited Scotland twice now, it's not like it's completely unknown to me. I've fallen in love with the country and the people and would gladly live and work there. So what's the deal? Why am I finding it so difficult to actually move forward and start chasing this dream? I know life is short and that I'll regret it if I don't at least try, but why does it have to be so hard to take the leap?

Books, Books, Books

A friend posted a list of 100 books she wants to read in the next year, and I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought to do that. I mean, #12 of my bucket list was "Read every day" so there's no reason I can't meet a similar goal.

My list is a strange combination of classic and contemporary, fantasy and romance,male and female narrators, stand-alones and series. I make no excuses for why I haven't read these yet. Everyone has different tastes in literature so I'm going to try to branch out while still remaining true to myself.

1. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
3. The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene
6. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
7. The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
8. The Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
9. The Lunar Chronicles: Cress by Marissa Meyer
10. As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece by Joan Reardon
11. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
12. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
15. The Looking glass Wars by Frank Beddor
16. Ulysses by James Joyce
17. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
18. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
19. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
20. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
21. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
22. Complete Poems, 1904-1962 by e.e. cummings
23. The Complete Poetry and Prose by William Blake
24. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
25. Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore
26. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
27. Emma by Jane Austen
28. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
29. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
30. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
31. His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
32. His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
33. Night by Elie Wiesel
34. The Time Quintet: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
35. The Time Quintet: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
36. The Time Quintet: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
37. The Time Quintet: Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
38. The Time Quintet: An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
39. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
40. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
41. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
42. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
43. Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
44. Atonement by Ian McEwan
45. Animal Farm by George Orwell
46. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
47. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
48. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
49. Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
50. Divergent by Veronica Roth
51. Middlemarch by George Elliot
52. As You Wish by Cary Elwes

One book per week. Doable. Some books will take longer, but some will be much shorter so I figure that evens itself out. And if I meet my goal before my next birthday, then I'll just add some more to the list!

Use, Wear, Make, Do

A year or so ago I saw a quote that is attributed to originating during the Great Depression:

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

How simple and genius is that? How did we ever move away from that mentality without feeling at least a smidgen of guilt? I'll admit that I've been more than guilty of not following this motto especially since having children. It's hard sometimes to not give in to those puppy dog eyes when they're asking so sweetly for the ball they found in the bargain bin at the store.

But I do feel guilty. How often have I given in to the pleas of my children? Or listened to that voice in the back of my mind that convinces me I need another notebook or set of pens? I'm pretty good at keeping true to the motto when it comes to my own clothing, but if I see a good deal on kids' clothing, I snap it up. Sometimes it's for down the road when what's already in the closet is outgrown, but far too often it's clothing they already fit in even though they don't need it. I do make up for it by donating the outgrown clothing to those who need it and save anything that I truly loved for the baby. I've even got a tote of outgrown clothing that will become a quilt in the future. But what about the toys? The books? The miscellaneous junk that seems to creep into the house when I'm not looking?

Going forward, I'm going to make a conscious decision to follow this motto. There's no reason to not appreciate and use what we've already got in our house. And with Christmas coming, money is going to be tight so I really need to try to make gifts out of the things I've already got lying around. Goodness knows I've got plenty of craft supplies hidden all over that need to be used. I also want to try my hand at gardening next spring. I've got several friends who already have successful veggie gardens whom I can ask for advice. I'm hoping that maybe they'll be willing to do trades on some of the vegetables so that we can all grow a nice variety without any of us overdoing any one vegetable. We've decluttered the house a small amount over the summer but nowhere near as much as we could. I've got some ideas of what needs to go and what can stay and plan to start on those projects after the kids go to bed tonight. There are several items that I could probably sell online too.

Use, wear, make, do. My new motto.