Arcnadius, when we had no power hook-up, we used a battery to run our computers for an hour here and there, and sometimes we'd "save up" for a dvd. Mostly we read and played games, wandered around in the wilderness, and relaxed in the human pace of keeping warm and keeping fed. We didn't have internet during that time, though. My partner used to print out my emails and bring them home from his job, for me.
This time, because we do want to keep telephone and have access to internet and electricity, we're toying with the idea of having a power room that has all of our hook-ups available, which would free us from having the wires wrapping around us all the time. We have some emf-sensitive people in our family, and it creates a lot of sleep problems, which causes a lot of other problems.
I know we're doing a lot at once, and this is how it's been for the past 8 years, really, but I have a lot of ground to make up and five children who need a better life than the one I had as a child, so I am motivated to the gills to make our life great. The process is really wonderful, too, and with children who have energy from 7:30am until 10:30pm, we have to be doing stuff or they start (accidentally) breaking things, lol.
I think, though, that I am going to retire in a big way. I often feel like like I'm trying to fit two lives into one, and when I look at my itinerary, it seems to confirm that I am.
I have a close friend who says that she feels tired just thinking about what we're doing over here.
I am not a high-energy person either, so everything is slow and steady, with breaks here and there (the chubby nursling on my back insists
), but it ends up done, which is the point, and I don't burn out, which is even better.
I usually feel like I'm not accomplishing enough, but that's only because my list of projects is so long...
My redbros are almost three weeks old now, so I must add to my list the necessity of building a coop and putting in 800' of fence. Holy MOLY! I have to get out there!