I spent about an hour in the kitchen yesterday morning. I think I spend about an hour in the kitchen every morning. There’s always something to prepare, something to wash, something to plan. I’m thankful for my roomy kitchen, for electrical appliances, for white dishes and plenty of silverware. Here’s a small taste of what was going on…
ReDecorating
So. Husband decided to stay put, and not relist the house in the sinking market where we’d end up with hardly enough money to do what we wanted. The market tanked so fast that our dream of rebuilding a debt free house went *splat*, so here we stay. I’m just glad that we’re in a position of being able to choose that direction rather than being forced to sell. We’re so thankful our business is still afloat, and know that it’s not because we are anything special! I wish no homemaker were ever in the position of having to sell or give up her home; these are such hard times for a lot of people (relatively speaking of course…we’re still living in the greatest nation!).
Still, I had spent the last year planning, packing, interviewing realtors and stagers, signing contracts, hiring inspectors, and taking stuff off the walls to pack. I collected dozens of boxes (still in the basement), cleared out for multiple showings, and sold off all my hens, goats, and most of my ducks. And perhaps most importantly, I had mentally and emotionally said, “hasta!” to this house and started planning our next one. And oh yeah, I lost a baby in the middle of it all. I feel like I lost that year of my life.
So I’m having a hard time “reattaching” myself to our house. I know, it’s a big “wah baby” when others are facing worse than me, but there it is. I think my husband felt a little bad about doing a complete turnaround and therefore let me keep the staging interior designer, to help me re-decorate and move stuff around, hopefully to freshen up the house and make it feel like I belong here. I see it as reloading for relisting, whenever that is (or isn’t).
Anyhow, what that means is that I’ve been completely distracted and ruthless in setting my house in physical order. Which unfortunately means I have to get my house in complete disorder to make the changes. It also means I’m probably going to need counseling after trying to pick a “butter yellow” from the 631 shades of the same color in which to (*gasp!*) paint my kitchen cabinets with. My husband, dear man, is staying out of the way.
Here’s one room I’ve done so far. This library in the loft drove me crazy. Yes, it was organized, hardcover shelf and softcover shelf and nonfiction shelf, etc. But all I saw when I went up the stairs was clutter clutter and more clutter. It was just too much information for my brain to process.
In the meantime, the children are excited. “It’s like we’re moving! But we’re not!” Not to worry, they’re still getting fed, bathed and educated (like…how to not bang into the walls when moving furniture…now that’s “real world” education!). And anyway, while they’re waiting for Mom to finish the craziness, they’re finding other stuff to do…
…like, teaching themselves Morse code…
Fast Food: How to Feed People on the Quick!
Have you ever had meal preparation time delayed? Or last minute unexpected visitors to feed? Listen in as we delve into the challenges, discover some new ideas of how to prepare for this inevitable hurdle in the kitchen, and what sorts of snacks and meals can be easily put together with just a few raw ingredients. You don’t have to send people away from your home hungry!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Here is an easy and frugal recipe for Split Pea Soup. I usually have all of these ingredients on hand, so other than just a few minutes to throw stuff into the pot, it cooks itself so I can concentrate on other things. Enjoy!
1TB coconut (not extra virgin!) or palm oil (better for you than olive oil ๐
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 small (preferably red) potatoes, cubed
1 tsp. cumin
black pepper to taste
1 cup green split peas
4 cups water or vegetable stock (I really like this brand; I buy it singly from my market)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried dill
In a soup pot, saute onions in oil until soft. Add celery, carrot, potatoes, cumin and pepper and saute about 5 more minutes. Add split peas, water/broth and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer for 90 minutes. Then, add peas, salt, and dill. Stir and serve! Mmmm….
Adapted from Feeding the Whole Family.
Change of Seasons
Since the miscarriage, I’ve been thinking lately how my life is changing seasons. I’m no longer the young woman taking my fertility and youth for granted. I’m also no longer the girl who was so challenged by what other people thought of me, it guided what I did, said and wore. I’m finally comfortable being the person that some people love (xo!), and the same person that others hate (xo to you, anyway!). I am learning to become more content every day with who God has made me to be, and it is a lovely and restful place to be.
So it seems appropriate as I think on things that the leaves outside are about all blown from the trees, and the smell of winter is in the air. Fall is bowing out, winter coming in. And God is so gracious in it all, directing and orchestrating changes both in creation and in me.
One thing I’m doing more of is reading and writing snail mail letters. I love getting mail in the mailbox! It’s so lovely to see my writer’s handwriting, to steep a cup of tea and then just focus on my friend and her words. It’s so different than reading a blog-click-reading a blog-click-reading a blog… I know, I’m a dying breed. It’s ok. I don’t mind what others think ๐
Come, October
….or, “What do stay-at-home moms do all day?”
I’m looking ahead at my next two weeks and am already eager to greet October when it gets here. I stared at my calendar a good couple of minutes and figured that I better just do what I’m best at when I start to feel overwhelmed: make a list.
So, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, these are the things that are clamoring for my attention before the month ends:
- my children need to attend speech therapy, music lessons, an introduction to a Lego Robotics class (combined with a spinning class for the young ladies), and, for the 4 and 6 year olds, an appointment with the dentist to get the “thumb sucking talk” and encouragement to quit (with prizes, of course). Ruby just got her new updated program so I need to organize that and set it in motion, too.
- I am picking up 150 lb of wheat berries that I’ll throw (or, “gently place into”) the deep freezer for a wee bit (to kill off any hitchhiker bugs), and then blend into the mix I like to keep on hand for baking. If I could remember off the top of my head what it was, I would share that with you. Maybe I’ll leave it on a comment. When I catch my breath and can actually visit my own blog again.
- And speaking of my blog (thank you for visiting me :), I have a new podcast to upload on first aid kits, hopefully in the next day or two. And, oooh, are you gonna like the one the one that comes up after that! It might just rock your grocery shopping world!
- I decided that, yes, I would buy 20lbs of tomatoes to try my hand at tomato preservation. I’ll be borrowing my friend’s canner (mwah!) and giving it a go. I would love to try preserving my own salsa! And no, I’m not going to skin all of those tomatoes. And I ought to mention I have boxes of peppers and apples coming as well. All on the same day.
- I was offered a trip to go mushroom hunting, and after I learned that my new mushroom friend had picked almost three quarters of a five gallon bucket of Chanterelle mushrooms in two hours…well, you can see that I can’t pass that up! Those will all be dehydrated. I hope.
- I’ll be running off to the beach this weekend to scrapbook. Doesn’t that sound delicious? Well, yes….but my old photos and whatnots were stuffed into a closet about a year ago because I just didn’t have the time (or, rather, the inclination…) to deal with it. So I signed up to go on this retreat so I’d be forced to. And that means, well, I now I AM forced to dig everything out and actually *deal with it!* If it’s sunny this weekend, I’m afraid I’m going to be a grumpy scrapbooker who’d rather be walking the beach instead of cutting and pasting (that’s a figure of speech, of course, don’t send your consultants to me to try to keep the paste away!)
- My dog is getting “fixed”. I’m not sure why they call it that when in reality he’s gonna get BROKEN, but somehow I’m going to have to train my 100 lb puppy to want to jump into my car, go for a ride, and then happily greet the vet and staff in an indoor setting. I’m wondering if chamomile or valerian works on dogs. Maybe a chanterelle would do the trick.
- I need to harvest the honey from my hive and prepare my bee’s house for winter soon! This is a definite AFTER scrapbooking retreat deal, and I am hoping to have a nice, sunny, dry, warmish day to do it. And if you live up here, you can stop laughing or there’ll be no honey for you! (You know who you are!)
- A few “would be nice….” things. One is to finish my basket; it’s very close but I haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks. And it’s definitely the time of year for me to make my homemade tinctures and teas for the cold and flu season. I’m just saying that when I DON’T prepare these things for my family, they end up sicker than sick. Something about Murphy. Lastly, we need to finish the mulching around the property to winterize the gardens and keep them looking spiffy for that buyer who, if he or she wants to buy our house, immediately cancels all of the above items to make room for packing, finding a place to live, and moving.
I ought to mention that in between all of this, I still need to maintain a house clean enough for any showings (for that buyer….yoooo hooo, where are you?….) and manage the homeschooling as well. And cook, because we all like to eat. So if you don’t hear from me in a while, it’s not because I’m in a daze over our new pregnancy (HA! AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU READ TO THE LAST WORD?!), but because real life is calling and if I don’t answer, I’ll get run over by my circumstances.
May you be blessed in the midst of your doings!
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