Category: Retirement

Looking into the future…

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

Rustic Country Market is going to change in the future.

What kind of change?

We are planning to expand our registered trade name, Rustic Country Market, into a home based business. I registered and created this website in 2015, and have an organic following on FB based on the name Rustic Country Market Living.

I’ve organized and supported others’ businesses most of my life, and now I’m going to focus that experience on Rustic Country Market. Our long term goal is to start/organize a local marketplace to sell rustic country items. In the meantime, we are going to participate in newly formed, local farmer market.

Adapting…

For some, there’s a fear of success, because success can raise the performance bar.

(Dilbert was cancelled in 2023.)

We “retired” and relocated the end of 2020, in the midst of global chaos; and took on a fixer upper in the rural White Mountains of AZ. As our home projects slow down, we are looking forward to doing what we enjoy, instead of what we have to do. We had hoped to travel in retirement, but with the economy going as it is, we’re limiting our love for travel to our local area.

It’s not the strongest of the species which survives, nor the most intelligent which survives. It is the one which is the most adaptable to change.

Charles Darwin

Believe…

We believe if you attach a feeling to a belief, you will make a way for change. We love God and we love USA country living. We love small towns. We love our garden, greenhouse, canning, home cooked meals, chickens, BBQ hut, wood fired oven and pizza. We love the smell and taste of fresh roasted coffee. We love our hot tub where we can sit under a vast starlit sky (because we live where there’s no light pollution). We love making things. We love crafting. We love going to garage sales and estate sales. We love repurposing things, instead of throwing them away. We love old and new rustic stuff.

We believe our name, Rustic Country Market, fits our country lifestyle.

Humble beginnings…

We’ve been busy planning our local, Arizona, home based business future that includes:

  • Rustic Country Decor
  • Small Batch Roasted Coffee Beans
  • Coffee Mugs & Signs
  • Nest Run Eggs
  • Various Dried Hot Pepper Spices
  • Dried Russian Sage Bunches

There’s a lot of details to attend to when starting a business.

Time has been flying. It’s funny how day to day, nothing appears to change, yet if we look back, EVERYTHING looks different.

I’ll be sharing our new journey, as things progress, on RusticCountryMarket.com, because I love to journal, write, and create.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Inspiring Home Life…

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

I’d like to introduce my other half to Rustic Country Market Living.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without my husband, Jon. We’ve been married for 31 years. He’s supported me and I’ve supported him. Together, we make a GREAT team!

Jon in the middle of our retirement home remodel with our dogs, Chip & Joanna. (Names sound familiar?)

Jon has been a multi-talented contractor most of his life. When he wasn’t working on other people’s homes, he was working on ours. We’ve moved a lot over the years, and each house we’ve made into our home, some more than others.

Jon supported me when I first started blogging back in 1998, and when I registered my first website, https://byjoella.com in 2007. I started Rustic Country Market Living in 2017. I also have a patriotic and a travelog blog. All my sites are connected, so if you find one, you can find them all.

I’ve always been focused on the future, while Jon has been focused on the present. After I retired the end of 2020, our goals were for me to focus on Rustic Country Market Living and Jon was going to continue self employment. Instead, we’ve spent the last 3 years renovating our “retirement” house, making it into “our” home.

So here we are, in the future…

Together, we are now going to focus 100% on Rustic Country Market Living. Jon is a big part of all I do, so he will be helping add content to Rustic Country Market Living. It’s a perfect match, and I’m looking forward to growing Rustic Country Market Living with him.

Watch for Jon’s contributions about gardening, BBQ’ing, our wood fired oven, handyman tips, outdoor living, etc. His signature will be Improving Home Life, The Rustic Home Specialist.

Meanwhile, I’m excited to start selling decor items on Rustic Country Market Living, in addition to sharing organizational ideas that have made my life easier, antiques, decor tips, RV decor, etc.

If we love to do it, we might share it…

We’ve talked of starting to repurpose and sell our own creations. Did I mention I love to create stuff with my Cricut? I will share with you some of my creations, hoping to inspire you.

Thank you for following Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life,

The Relentless Redecorator

My Retirement Reality

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

We passed thru the 2019 holiday season, and then got hit by 2020. (20/20: What I hoped represented “Perfect Vision.”)

Perfect Vision?

Amid all the 2020 confusion, I was preparing to retire. People asked, me are you sure you want to retire? Um, YES!!! We house shopped all over AZ (literally) for the perfect retirement area. We ended up purchasing a 1986 home in the White Mountains of Arizona, 5 hours from where we lived. Before I retired, we moved our household belongings into the new house over the weekends. Once our old house was empty, we sold it and briefly lived in our RV until I retired; then we moved into what we considered our rural, retirement retreat.

Our goal was to downsize and start a small, home based business built on Rustic Country Market Living, but we couldn’t find a smaller house. Instead we ended up with 1300 more SF, including a HUGE pantry (like a 3rd car garage). We thought we’d turn some of the extra space into a B&B, but instead, my mother moved in with us in 2021.

Things started to morph…

Our house has a chicken coup, so we got a few chickens. Later we found out we have predators in our area, so we had to take defensive measures. We added gutters and rain barrels to recycle water for our garden, fruit trees, grapevines, herbs and lavender.

We knew there were things that needed to be repaired in our “new” used retirement home, but what we didn’t anticipate was the amount of hidden deferred maintenance it had. Yes, we had a house inspection which turned out useless for us. No, we didn’t get a “home warranty.” The house has turned into a major fixer upper, tapping deeply into our retirement savings and absorbing our time.

A new look for an old house.
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