Bury Your Poverty, Dig Up Your Wealth 2023-2024

 It's New Year's Eve 2024!! It's time to Bury your Poverty and Dig up your wealth! 

Money Tree

I "stole" this concept from a fellow model horse collector, Chris Wallbruch, and I tried it in 2013 and it was an OK year overall.

I tried it again in 2014 and while it was a rough year - this DID work for me. 

I did this in 2015 and while the end of the year was not what I expected - it was a very good year overall - I still had income after I had been let go from a job and I was very glad to not be homeless. 

2016 was just a bitch and while I had no great windfall I have always had the funds to pay what needed to be paid. 

2017 I managed to get a little more than I needed, but again no windfall. 

2018 I have had a very good year - no windfall- but all the bills paid and I actually have $10 in my savings account (This is saying something considering I have had a $0 balance for a while). 

2019 brought a lot of change in aspects of my life and while again no windfall, I have managed to pay my bills (a little late sometimes) but again I have money in savings and a money market now! 

2020 was a suck year with the Coronavirus, the East Troublesome Fire Thompson zone, Cameron Peak Fire, and so much more - but I was given a gift of money to get a new rental home, pay my bills - all on time, help with my evacuation and pay for the things that I wanted and needed and overtime at work. I have to say that I have been helped this year more than any other and I am so very grateful. 

2021 has been the most generous and not so generous year to me. I struggled still from the Coronavirus issues like the rest of the world. I busted my butt at a job that did not appreciate me, I traveled, paid my bills and in October, lost my step-dad. I then proceeded to get a job that actually makes me feel appreciated and pays me well. It feels unbelievable, but I am SO grateful! This year, my cup hath runneth over. It may not be a windfall, but it is a wage and environment that is positive and good for me and that's better than the largest lottery win. 

2022 was a life changing year. I left that job in April that I thought was so great, took the whole month of May to find something, cashed out some retirement accounts and things, before starting a new position that ended up not being great in the sense of money but was awesome in the sense of friendships and the wealth of knowledge that I gained. I bought a 4 wheel drive truck in February and kept my other truck as well. I was able to travel and to do somethings that I wanted too. I got another job in October and I am liking it and the benefits. It was a still a struggle of a year, but I am grateful for everything and feeling good about digging up my wealth in 2023. 

2023 has been a good year. I managed to get money back from a company that had been overcharging me for 15 months. I sold a lot of art work - my best year yet, and I was able to pay my bills and help my mom out. I am truly grateful for 2023 and hoping 2024 will be even better. 

2024- This is the YEAR!

Wealth

It is time to bury your poverty!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this tradition, what you do is bury a dollar (or any amount above a dollar that you want) in the soil on New Year's Eve.

This can be in a houseplant if the ground is frozen or inaccessible, but I like to go outside, dig a hole, and drop my dollar in. (I put it in a plastic bag). As you bury said dollar, say out loud, "I am burying my poverty!" TIP - if you do this outside, make sure you place some sort of marker where you bury your buck so that you can find it again!

On New Year's Day, dig UP the dollar, and as you do so, say out loud, "I am unburying my wealth!"

You can't spend the money - you can either keep it or give it away to charity. Giving it away is the best so you are less likely to spend it. For me, each year I have given the $1 to a local Estes Park charity. This year I plan to bury more than $1 and give the local EP Charity more $$ when I dig it up.  

This tradition is supposed to give you an unexpected windfall of money during the year.

I have had money come to me over the years I have done this and I have always had money that helped me out of tough times so I am NOT complaining.

It is a tradition I plan on keeping every year and I thank Chris for pointing me to it!! Go bury that poverty and dig up your wealth! 

Dig up your wealth!

Money Pile

Happy 2024!

December 2023 Crafting Month

 

The YMCA has a lot of crafting events that I hope to make it too this month, plus there are a few online challenges I am going to try for too! 

I have finished several things for my Stablemate scale barn - check out my Bridle Tree Barn Raising Challenge - HERE!

And the first night was WINTER CANDLES. 

Supplies

Wax

Dandelion and Cinnamon

Lemongrass, Lavendar and peppermint

The group of us

My two Tins

Completed Candles

I came home from the candle making and had some ornaments that I bought to paint and was inspired to paint ornaments so they got finished! 

Then on to CERAMICS night!

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in this ceramics night. In past events we could pick an item we wanted to paint from a certain price point. This one, it was MUGS only. Honestly, had I known that I would have cancelled my spot. I am jsut not a mug person. 

They took a couple days to get it glazed/fired but here is the result:

The next class is Necklaces - I do two of these classes this month. The first one I ended up canceling going to because it was snowing so badly couldn't see the road. 

I did make it to the soap making on Saturday, December 9, 2023. 

Supplies and molds

Supplies and molds

In the molds

I had to wait a couple days for them to be solid and pick them up - here are the results: 

Completed Soaps

The next class was necklace making. I had missed the first one and was so excited for this one. I have to say, this was the worst class I have ever been too at the YMCA. The instructor didn't really want to be there and the string that we given to use for the necklaces was too thick for the beads we were given. I did get to bring the beads home and will redo it on beading wire the way I want too. 

The final class was Christmas candles. The instructor from the Bead class was over this class - so it was pretty much - here's a tin, and here's the wax and color, pick them up tomorrow.  

Other than the not great instructor, I did have fun this month. 

November 2023 Crafting

 

This month I signed up for a few cute fall craft activities at the YMCA that they offer employees. 

First was Monday November 13 - Fall Sign making.

We were given a round wood sign, paint, and choices of stencils. I am very pleased with my first attempt at stenciling. 

The second class was Fall Soap Making and I wasn't able to make it to that class or the Wood burning class that I was hoping that was the third class I signed up for this month. 

So, it was a bit of a not so crafting month going to classes, but I was able to complete the ICEE Challenge and the Model Horse and Action Figure Monthly Art Challenges online. 

My ICEE Challenge was this little fellow:

And the November challenge for the Model Horse and Action Figure Monthly Art challenge was to complete and Exotic Equid - I actually completed 3!

Hopefully next month I can get a few more fun classes in for the holiday season. 

International Customizing Equine Event 2023

I am more a painter and crafter than a sculpter, but I keep trying this each year.  I am very intimidated by customizing. Painting is so much easier for me. And I want to accomplish something! I feel I need to accomplish something. 

My start model is a Breyer Stablemate Darwin. 

I decided to make him a sea horse and found a fish tail that would work, so now for chopping and making. 

Body attached and now to sanding and then sculpting. 

Now it's on to doing his mane and a base. You with think with two months to do this I would be quicker - hahahaha. 

I managed to get fully sculpted and start on a base. 

And I managed to complete all the sculpting for the challenge!!

I will eventually paint it and finish the base, but I am just so happy I completed this model today! 

The Little Rider Doll Making Challenge March 2023 - Oops took me a while!

 

Submitted my entry on 2/10/23. I am doing a Tough Enough to Wear Pink Roping rider for my stablemate models! 

I plan on sanding him, painting him, and fixing his rope so that is works for what I need. 

I have made a little bit of progress on him. Fitting him to the saddle, cutting off his feet to remake them for a better fit and getting the basic wiring on. 

I stalled out on working on him to finish a model cow - I got all up in my head that I couldn't fix him correctly. 

I managed to get his boots sculpted and not to primer and paint. And the putty I had was old or not mixed properly and never dried. So I had to start over again! 

I found another SM doll that had boots to fit, but alas it's now April 1 and I did not get him completed for the challenge. I am going to try to finish him soon. I want to add him to this before I close it out = see how long it takes me to complete him. Maybe by the 2024 event! Haha

 

I am still working on him in September and October. I am hoping to have him done in November. I find that I work on other things because I know he's now close to being done!

And Finally - November 11, 2023 I was able to get him done! hahahaha

It took me a while to get him done, but I am pleased how he turned out.