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Thread: Back after a long but lurking absence

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Jul 2017
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    Fort Scott, Kansas
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    Back after a long but lurking absence

    Hi, guys and gals! I've been gone awhile, but kept popping into the Facebook group now and then. I used to go by Rabbithorns if you know me from a few years ago.

    Hubby and I made it out of Australia after six years of struggling and him getting sick and income getting less and less. We were sad to leave but couldn't make it there.

    With hubby misdiagnosed and then never properly diagnosed, and him not able to work, we decided to move to the US where I'm from. My parents are getting elderly (dad just turned 89 this month and stepmom is 72 and just over cancer) and they really needed help. So we moved to Kansas and live about an hour away from them - the closest we could get and afford a wacky old fixer upper cottage.

    But it's our first home alone together along with about 3/4 of an acre. Woo-hoo! We're settled and we owe no one but we also have nothing. LOL We're living very frugally on enough money to pay the utilities and buy food for the rest of the year and I'm working on building my home business. I design sewing and embroidery patterns for Australian magazines and have an online shop also. Helping my folks and a younger developmentally disabled brother hasn't left me a schedule that allows for me to work a schedule outside the home yet.

    Our small town has only a Walmart to shop in. But there's an Amish settlement nearby and they have a bulk goods shop and a produce shop so that saves us.

    I've always lived on very low income, sometimes by choice. I learned to live without relying on money for everything because I was raised by Depression-era relatives, so most of my frugal living just comes naturally because I never think to buy what most people buy. Like plastic garbage bags. Who thinks they can live without plastic garbage bags? We never bought them and I only throw out a small paper bag of trash a week so we don't even have trash pick-up at the house. So what's natural to me knowing how to live with almost nothing - and not ever feeling like I have nothing because I have everything I need.

    My neighbors are all lovely people. The prairie is one of my favorite places to be. I love to make new things out of old things: clothing, tea strainers, old picture frames - anything - and then I pretty much just give stuff away because I also don't like owning a lot of things so housekeeping is a breeze. America has a remarkable amount of old stuff lying around. It's a repurposer's dream!

    I love to bake but don't do it often, as with just the two of us it just goes to waste - except the cookies. I don't garden; I'm a plant killer and I don't like being outside in summer. But we do have a fenced in garden lot that we'll probably prep in the fall and hubby can work next year. We only got here in January and we wanted to see what grows naturally first. I discovered a lot of poison ivy and not much in the way of edible weeds. But we also have tons of fireflies, cardinals, blue jays, 2 woodchucks, a wild turkey, and some opossums and armadillos.

    That's me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Toto, I don't think we're in Oz anymore.

  2. #2
    Yppej
    Guest
    I've driven through Kansas in winter, and even then the prairie had an open, rolling beauty. Welcome back!

  3. #3
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Dec 2010
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    What a journey you have had getting to Kansas. Glad that you are rejoining.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  4. #4
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Welcome! I have a number of relatives in Kansas and lived there for a few years myself. There certainly are parts of the landscape that are not inspiring, but the Flint Hills have a raw beauty to them that's rare in the U.S. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts!
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  5. #5
    Member
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    Glad to see you back. Cooking early today, so will come back and greet you properly later.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I have lived in Wichita twice and the people there are so friendly and nice. The COL is really low too. 2 of my sons live there now so I go for frequent visits. WElcome!

  7. #7
    Senior Member awakenedsoul's Avatar
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    Hi Rabbithorns! Great to see your post. I still have the tea pot I bought from you that you sewed by hand. I use it as a decoration every Christmas. It's so pretty.

    I'm sorry to hear that you've had a hard time, but you sound like you found an affordable place to live. I would love to see your Etsy shop. I opened one, too. I think you'd also be very successful as a blogger. You're such a good writer.

  8. #8
    Senior Member KayLR's Avatar
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    Welcome back, philokalia/rabbithorns! You sound like a kindred spirit! I'm glad it seems like you've landed softly in Kansas and found some nice neighbors. Look forward to more of your posts. I like to hear how people repurpose things. We have an entire fair here in my city, a Recycled Art Fair, which celebrates all things repurposed. It's my favorite event here.
    My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!

  9. #9
    Senior Member
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    Welcome back?
    When were you a member previously? What Facebook group? I've been through Fort Scott quite a few times growing up, on the way to Frontenac/Pittsburg area.
    The back part, always makes me with the database was transferred from the original forum owner with all the data intact. (even read only mode is a good resource)

  10. #10
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    Jan 2011
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    Welcome back! How is your husband doing? You said you found a lot of poison ivy...hope that wasn't after you started itching! I hate that stuff. Would love to here about your little cottage and what you are doing to it.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

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