M!

Hi Margaret!

A swap, a spinach, and a sweet

My big goal for the week is to get spinach started in a bin with a cold frame on top. There is still snow and ice here, and still below freezing at night, the truth is I just can't wait any more. In a sunny spot, with a window on top to warm everything up, I hope to have fresh greens shortly. Yipee! I would also like to get a salad bin going, but we will see.
As for the swap, it is through my favorite blog in all of the land, http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/. I am inspired by her gentle view on life and the home. I am not sure if I could ever reach her level of calm, even if I was able to stay home and not work outside the home, but I like to think I would come close after a while. I am making tea towels and potholders. Hopefully my swap partner is forgiving of my inability to sew directly straight seams.
The sweet is a friendship bread starter that I got last week and baked up on Sunday. My friend came over and we did up our bread at the same time. Very much friendship bread! I added a tablespoon or so extra cinnamon and some chocolate chips. Lovely! And now I have starter to share.
As far as life in general goes, I think I have the health things pegged down so I should be able to get stuff done finally. I am getting to know the bus drivers on the routes I take now, and one of them noticed I was gone last week. That was nice. Going to work this morning, not so nice. It was hard to get rolling at 5:30. Harder to get Miss Sunshine rolling at that time. It would be nice if at some point one of us could stay home. Not likely though at this point or any time in the foreseeable future. Luckily by simplifying we may, someday, reach that goal.

Long weekend, not enough done

Happy Tuesday. I have quite the cold. Flehhhhhh. Therefore, not much got done this weekend. We finally did get the freezer in, and my friend and I did up burritos which you can see ->. We both filled our crockpots with chicken, she had her rice cooker going, and I made up 4 pounds of refried beans. Some cheese, some salsa, and easy food for busy days. I had an extra little, but it was no extra work as all of them played together quite nicely. As I was sick, there was no soap made, but we will probably do it week after next. By then my first batch will be ready to use! Hooray! I am ordering some seeds this week, that is very exciting. Ohhhh, and my laundry soap that I made from borax, washing soda and pure soap works like a charm!! Mr. Husband said that all of this self-sufficiency is... sexy! Can you believe it? With my grumpy self, stuffy head, hair a mess, dogs woofing, children playing, and me trying to get one more casserole in the freezer and he said that! And that is why I love him, he surprises me. One of the whys at least. This week I really don't have any goals besides getting well and getting used to the new medications. Hopefully I am more myself in a few days.

Friday, hooray!

I was early to the bus stop this morning. The lovely part of that was getting to watch the clouds move along in the slowly lightening sky. The not so lovely part was waiting in below freezing temperatures with a bit of a breeze going. Luckily, the bus was right on time and it was very warm. On the way into work I saw a herd of deer browsing on the (?) plant of some sort and it was very peaceful. Now I am at work and the peaceful part is done.
This weekend I am having friends over to make soap. That means no regular craft day, we will all be doing soap.
I have not done such a good job this last week at getting any of my goals accomplished. Not totally true, I have all of the stuff for a round of burritos, I was well within my food budget, I wrote up a chore list, I dealt with the whole medical thing. I do have the laundry soap ready to roll as soon as I have a moment to do laundry. Luckily a 3 day weekend means I will hopefully get caught up. Since our puppy ate many of our canvas bags I am going to be looking for more this weekend if I get a chance to go to a thrift store. And my kitchenaid mixer should be fixed this weekend, yaaaaaaaaay! I am going to overwork it I am sure.
Goals for this weekend- get more canvas bags, move them into the car, catch up with other goals. Look for free/cheap bricks. Do up bread for freezing.
Gosh this post is boring.

What DO I want???

Good Morning~ the snow is so lovely drifting down in big fat flakes. I got to stand out in it for the bus and really it wasn't too cold, thank goodness no wind. Lately I have been really looking at my motivation. Why do I do what I do? Why do I want what I want? How much of what I want is externally driven? Who decides? Something I have noticed is that the longer we have no TV, the less stuff Miss Sunshine asks for. Coincidence? I think not. :P
So I have been as analytical as possible and not so happy with what I am finding. Honest truth? I want a latte so I feel financially secure, i.e. if I can get a coffee we have money. (ha!) Honest truth? I want junk food to feed my child (forgive me, but this is true) so I can get stuff done and she will be quiet. There, I said it, I hope I am not alone, but DANG I am lazy. There are more examples but those are good examples. So, knowing is half the battle? I feel like a bad parent, a bad person, but maybe being aware that this is happening will make change possible. I do not want to rob my child of the sense of accomplishment truly hard work brings, but I have not done a good job of giving her that gift so far, and at this point, it will be an unwelcome gift I am sure. I don't know how to be motivated, I don't know how to motivate. I have to learn though, so I don't let Miss Sunshine down. Hopefully my rambling here will help me muddle my way through.
In other news, I am trying to find a bunch of gardeners to order seeds with, I am really really needing to watch my pennies and don't think I could use a whole seed packet. Organic happy heirloom seeds are spendy. Any takers?

Tuesday in the snow

My goodness, I am tired of the cold. I am so excited to garden I find myself being very grumpy at winter. Making more soap this weekend... yay! I did a good job last night of getting started on my stockpile. A new grocery store opened and I took advantage of the loss leaders, I will probably go back and get more veggies to pickle. I did pick up a bunch of other things on the cheap, woo hoo!
I am waiting for news from my doctor, and I doubt it will be good. I should be back to myself by Thursday, after we talk.

Thursday

I poked my soap last night, it is hardening! That is a happy for me. Tonight I am going to make laundry soap. I got the bucket yesterday from Mr. Husband who brought it home from work. I am also going to go through Miss Sunshine's clothing to see what I can cobble together to make some of her shirts last longer. She is very long in the torso so her belly button will be showing long before the shirt is too small everywhere else. My plan is to combine a few shirts into one to give her a layered look that covers her belly. Wish me luck on that. :) Last night I was grumping at myself that it has taken me this long to get a clue about the world around me, but today I am focusing on what George Eliot said...
"It is never to late to be what you might have been".

One car

Recently we have gone from 2 cars to 1. At first the change was not at all my choice, my car broke, no money to fix it, and so it was parked and there it sits. Now that we have been a one car family for a few weeks, I am beginning to wonder if we shouldn't just leave that car parked, or sell it, or fix it and sell our other car, as we are doing (mostly, with some adjustments) fine with just one. The best thing is that without a car to pop off to the store or out and about I don't spend as much money. Less on gas, less on insurance, less consumption in general. Hooray for that! Another good thing that has been happening recently is that my neighbor and I have been carpooling for errands. We go to the store together and such. Not only is it far more fun (and takes alot longer) I feel good about that teeny step toward lessening my footprint. The other thing I have found is taking the bus is kind of relaxing. The bus I take out to my work is almost empty and I can just... sit. Lovely.
Miss Sunshine is sick (again? still?) and that is really going to be a challenge in the next few days.
This week's goals~ make laundry soap and compost compost compost!