Shedding the "All or Nothing" Mentality

I think a lot of us who aspire to the frugal lifestyle sometimes get caught up in the idea that our efforts have to be all or nothing.

This applies equally to those of us who are trying to eat "clean" and keep our homes and gardens as chemical-free as possible. We begin to think that anything less than perfection is a compromise. We let perfect get in the way of good, and best get in the way of better.

Well, let me tell you, I'm not perfect, you aren't perfect, and neither is anyone else.

• So far this month, I've baked several loaves of homemade bread, ground my own wheat, and even made homemade flour tortillas and saltine crackers.  But I've also bought bread, tortillas, and crackers, and used store-bought white flour.
  
• I've dried clothes on my drying racks, but I've also used my dryer.
  
• I bought farm eggs and local honey, but I forgot my jugs when I went for raw milk and rather than drive back out to the farm, I bought big-dairy milk at the store.
  
• I try to consolidate errands as much as I can to save gas, but I warm the truck up on cold mornings.
  
• We harvest rainwater for our gardens to conserve water and save money, but I take a deep, hot bath whenever I want one.
  
• We make our own bath soap, laundry soap and toothpaste, but still use Dawn for dishes and commercial deodorant (for now, anyway).

We have given up striving for best and perfect.  But we do try to make better choices and execute better practices, and will continue to try to improve.  We don't let the idea of perfection stop us in our tracks.

That's good enough for us.

You Say You Want A Resolution?

Well, you know...

I prefer goals.  Goals, to me, imply moving forward toward something in a positive light.  Resolutions just seem a little heavy and negative:  this is something that's wrong with me that I'm going to try to fix.   Who needs that?  I certainly don't.

Anyway...I set just two goals last year.  The first was to read 26 books, one every two weeks.  The year before I read twice that many, so I thought 26 would be a breeze.  I barely made it.

My other goal was to do a craft project each month.  Forced leisure, if you will.  I ended up completing just six projects.  What happened?  Mostly, I have this hangup about needing to have all my housework done before I take time to craft.  I also have this thing about being on the Internet too often and for too long.  Basically, I just didn't make crafting a priority, although I enjoy it very much when I do make time for it.

Taken as a pair, I failed rather miserably at the goals I set last year.  So, this year I think I'll add even more.  Seems like backwards logic, but I tend to work better under pressure.

Reading:  I truly LOVE reading and will do it with or without a goal.  However, I enjoy tracking what I read on Goodreads, so I'll give it a number.  Instead of one every two weeks for a total of 26, this year I'll say three every two months for a total of 18. 

In addition, I have a year's worth of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home magazines that I didn't make time to read when the issues arrived.  There's good stuff in those magazines, and I'm finally gonna read 'em, by golly!

Crafting:  I've been using our RV as a sewing/crafting studio, which is working well.  I like being able to leave my project out when I'm done for the day without fear of spilled food or crazy cats ruining it.  I'll stick with one project each month for a total of 12.  I'll go one further with this and get down to specifics.  One of the projects I want to complete is a pair of hand-knitted socks.  I also want to try my hand at quilting something, even if it's just a small table runner.  Wish me luck!

Gardening:  We've been flying by the seat of our pants long enough -- organization is the goal this year.  I purchased the downloadable garden planner and journal from Northwest Edible Life and I'm gonna get this thing squared away.  If you haven't seen this planner, take a look.  One affordable download lets you print a well-designed, fully customizable garden planner for the rest of your life!  That's a bargain at any price.  This goal isn't quantifiable, but I WILL get my garden plans in order this year.

Nutrition/Diet:  We're working toward a SOLE food diet around here, and I believe the best way to change my families eating habits is to make changes gradually.  When we eat at home, we eat pork and fish from within 100 miles. We consume eggs, honey, raw milk, and venison, all from within our county. We grow a lot of our own veggies and berries in our backyard. We eat what we believe are the good fats (butter, olive oil, coconut oil, lard) and I bake mostly with whole wheat flour that I grind myself. 

Sugar is still an issue for us; this year I want to get us completely switched over to the "good" (which really only means "less bad") sweeteners.   I want to find a source for local, free-range chicken, and I'd also like for even more of the foods we eat to come from our own backyard, which also ties in with our gardening goals.

Fitness:  Exercise and I have long history of not getting along.  In general, unless exercise can help me get something else done - like hanging laundry or planting potatoes - I don't want anything to do with it.  This month, though, I'm going to try something new; I'll be joining a Beginners' Yoga class in a setting I think I will enjoy.  My goal is more flexibility, better balance, and better health over all.

Finances:  I sure would like to pay off our RV this year.  I'm not sure if that can happen or not, especially now that we must update the wiring in our home, but it's a goal well worth effort.

In addition, there are those other goals -- to be a better parent, to get more exercise, to laugh more, to be more kind, to learn more, to enjoy life more fully -- but I hope all of us strive for those kinds of goal, all year round.

Now it's your turn.  Do you have any goals or resolutions this year?  Share them (or link back to your blog post) in the comments.

A Look Back in Time

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I was so excited when, a few days ago, I found these photos on a historical society website.  These photos weren't dated, but must have been taken in the early 1900s.

My first memory of this store is as a patron when I was 4 or 5 years old, in the late 60s.  I have many more memories of it from roughly the mid-70s through the mid-80s, when my parents owned it. 

They were the third owners of this store, and although times had changed, the store really had not.  It was very much the same as in these photos. On the outside, the awning no longer wrapped around the side, and the color scheme was more monochromatic, as in this photo... 

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rather than the contrasting colors of this shot...

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Inside was a also very similar.  As in the photo below, cut-to-order fabric was on the left side, shoes were on the right side, but by then the shelves went to the ceiling, or nearly so, with attached rolling ladders to reach the uppermost shelves. 

Many of the fixtures were the same.  The suspended gas lamp had been replaced with several electric lamps, but the store still had a wood stove as it's only source of heat (I do not think it was the one in the picture, however).  Box fans and screened doors were the only way to cool the store; there was never any air conditioning in the building.

On the left side you'll notice a rectangular glass display sitting on the counter, and if you look closely (and know what to look for) on the right side, near the arched doorway, there is a curved-front glass display case.  Both of these were still in the store when my parents owned it, although they were situated on counters in the center of the store in front of the wood stove.  I suspect many of the other counters I remember were also the originals.

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In addition to fabric and shoes, my parents sold sewing notions, small costume jewelery, knick-knacks, useful household items (think clocks, curtains, feather dusters, brooms, etc.) and a few toys.  In the room to the right side with the arched doorway, they sold Levi's jeans and Key overalls.  You can't see it in the photos, but there was a door near the back left of the store for entry from the side street.

The entire back portion of the store, beyond the wood stove, contained groceries.  Canned goods, baking staples and the like were on the shelves, but there was also a counter where they sold custom-sliced deli meats and cheese by the pound, and bottles of pop (not "soda", but "pop" on this side of the state).  Not the new-fangled screw-top plastic bottles, but the old-fashioned pop-top kind.  And oh, the candy!  There were a couple of yards of countertop devoted just to candy!  I'm told the original owners sold plows and other larger farm implements in the grassy lot behind the store.  My parents didn't sell those kinds of things, but in the spring, they sold garden seed in bulk, then in the fall, apples by the bushel, often stacked outside near the front windows. 

I helped out at the store once in a while, but I was in my teens and early 20s then and it was in the next town up the road from where we lived, so I didn't work there often.  My parents had other small stores then to tend to, as did my eldest sister, so my older brother ran this store.  After a decline in business -- all the seniors who loved the store in their youth were passing, and the younger crowd preferred to drive half an hour to the Wal-Marts, JCPenneys and large supermarkets of the world -- and my brother's need to move on, my parents finally closed the store and sold the building in the mid- to late-80s.  The fixtures were sold to collectors and the building sat vacant for a while, before eventually being razed.

Making Decisions In A Controversial World

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I will think...about what truly matters to me and what kind of end result I want.  I will ignore what others, from the media to big business to my next door neighbor, tell me to think.

I will read...as much as I can get my eyes on.  Until I'm sick of reading and confused by the contradictions.

I will think...again.  Have my thoughts changed because of my research, or am I still clear about my ideas and ideals?

I will decide...on my own -- which food is most nutritious for my family, and which candidates' views most closely match my own.  I will decide how I spend my money and my free time, and how I will teach my child..   If I bandwagon, it will be because I'm truly convicted, not just because I want to fit in.

I will do all of these things with my head, and then...

I will act...with my heart.

**********

These thoughts were just rattling around my brain and needed a place to land.  They aren't in regard to specific events or decisions I am facing; this is just what happens in my head when I'm doing housework and tending the garden.

Stumped

I'm busy sewing today, but here's something that's on my mind -- and has been on my mind before, because it's happened several times.

I'll be in a conversation with a friend or acquaintance and talk will turn to things like kids, our families and eventually, the fact that I am a stay-at-home wife and grandma.  The other person will ask if I enjoy staying home, and when I say that I do, they say, "Well, you have lots of things to keep you busy."  Or, "you have things to do at home."

The emphasis is always on the word you.  I just don't know what to make of comments like those.

Do I say, "Hey, thanks for noticing all the projects we have going on at home.  Isn't it great that we're so industrious? Wouldn't you like to be just like us?"

Or do I say, "Oh, I see what you're saying.  You're just a lazy slob who's happy to never get off the couch and do anything productive." 

Neither really seems like the right thing to say.  I'm stumped.  I usually just grunt or mumble something in their general direction and move on.

What do you think?  Has anyone ever said something like this to you?  How would you, or did you, respond if they did?

Friday Five

• We'll be "celebrating" St. Patrick's Day on Sunday instead of Saturday.  Kat suggested earlier this week that we have an "international dinner" every night, choosing foods from a different country each time.  I think I've talked her down to just once or twice a month instead of every night.  Our first meal will be Irish, but Kat will be with her mom tomorrow, so we're shooting for Sunday.
  
• Our spring garden is almost complete now.  Asparagus, rhubarb, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, elderberries, garlic and Jerusalem artichokes were already in the ground.  To date this year, we've planted more strawberries, more asparagus, potatoes, shell peas, snow peas, three kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, green onions, and beets.  We still have Swiss chard, turnips and some brassicas (kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage) to put in, probably today.  We've also planted ground cherries, which are completely new to us.  Has anyone else ever grown them?  Seems like I read about them on someone's blog last year (was that you, OBQ?)
  
• We have tulips coming up out front, and we really had to rack our brains to remember how they got there.  Finally we decided we got them from a friend last summer, along with several other perennials and bulbs.  I guess we put them in the ground and promptly forgot them.  Oh well, it was a nice surprise.
  
• I just spent a good twenty minutes researching whether it should be "rack our brains" or "wrack our brains" with no definitive results.  Some sites say one is correct, some say the other, and some say either is right.  From now on, I'll just say "we had to think really hard".
  
• Kat and I got our hairs cut this week.  Mine was really more of a trim, or re-layering, if you will.  The stylist told me my hair is "really healthy".  I'm pleased with that, because for months,  I've used nothing but our homemade bar soap on my hair, with an occasional rinse of apple cider vinegar and an even more occasional olive oil treatment.  Then the stylist proceeded to use shampoo, conditioner and hairspray on my hair.  My hair felt so dry and looked very frizzy when I left the shop, and I'm soooo not used to all those smells.  I could hardly wait to get home and wash it all out.  LOL!

Weekly Anti-Inflammatory Check-In

As many of you know, I've been following along with Erica at NW Edible Life as she takes on a month of anti-inflammatory dieting.  I've been participating to a small extent.  I know this kind of post isn't for everyone, but I think there is only one or two more update after this, so I hope you'll please bear with me.  Here's my recap for the week. 

I had some setbacks:

• I made lunch for my grown daughter, who follows a vegan diet.  I made whole wheat pasta with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, oven-dried potatoes and garbanzo beans.  We each added various oils and seasonings, and  I opted for vegetarian rather than vegan by adding three kinds of cheese to mine.  It was really tasty, so I ate the leftovers for supper that night and again for lunch the next day.  All that carby, veggie goodness made it hard for me to stay awake by Saturday afternoon.
• On Sunday, we visited my dad and he served us mostly junk.  Now, of course I had the choice to not eat, and I did avoid some of it, but I would never intentionally hurt the feelings of a host (especially family) who sets out food with love.  So I did the best I could.
• I do, however, claim full responsibility for the second soda I had on the way home from my dad's. 
• I ate a school lunch on Valentine's Day.  You can read about it in my post from Wednesday.
• I don't think I did a single thing toward getting extra exercise this week.

I made some gains as well:

• I reduced the sugar in our big batches of iced tea even more than last week.  We were using 3/4 cup in a gallon of tea, and now we are down to 1/2 cup.  
• I am still using honey, cane juice crystals, molasses, etc. in baking, although I didn't do as much baking this past week. 
• I have rediscovered the wonders of coconut oil.  I knew about the health benefits that come from eating it, but I had never really put coconut oil into heavy rotation in my kitchen.  It is now!  
• Coconut oil is making it's way into our bathroom, too, as a moisturizer, toothpaste, hair conditioner and so on.
• I've been trying to add more veggies to our evening meals.  For supper, we usually have meat, a starch and two veggies (or maybe just one veggie occasionally).  I'm trying to add a third vegetable, or sometimes a piece of fruit, to most of our dinners.
• I'm doing great at eating breakfast.  I don't think I missed a day all week.  I've had either oatmeal, oat bran or an avocado for most of my morning meals, and when it was oats, I stirred in a spoonful of coconut oil.
• We're still drinking kombucha daily, and in fact, I set up a continuous brewing system yesterday.
• We did not go candy crazy on Valentine's Day.  I bought Kat two small candy items and rounded out her gift with a craft kit.  Something to do, rather than something to eat.  :)  I made a batch of just five cupcakes from my Small Batch Baking book, but I used whole wheat flour, coconut oil and cane juice crystals in the cake and real butter in the frosting instead of ingredients that were listed.  BTW, one of those cupcakes still sits in the fridge uneaten.
• We ate salmon twice during the week.  Living in the Midwest, the choices are frozen or canned.  If it is "fresh" (as in, not frozen) in the seafood case, it was probably still frozen during transit.  We ate previously frozen fillets one night and quinoa-salmon patties from canned salmon another.  In both cases, I made sure they were wild, not farmed.  We all like fish, so these dishes were a hit.
• I'm still sticking to my 11:00 p.m. to 6 a.m. sleep schedule.   I find it really makes a positive difference when I stay on a schedule.

As for how I feel, the most noticeable change is that I feel like I have more energy during the day, and that I might be sleeping better at night.  When I didn't eat meat for several meals in a row, I felt a lot more sluggish, then better when I finally did eat some animal protein.

I feel like my skin is clearer and brighter. 

I had a migraine headache, but it was both milder and shorter in duration than most.  While I'd love to attribute that to something dietary, this will have to happen consistently before I chalk it up to anything other than some good luck.

One other thing I've noticed is that I've been comfortably warm.  I have hypothyroidism and I often feel uncomfortably cool.  That condition seem to have improved very recently.

It's just past mid-month.  Plenty of time to do better in the next couple of weeks...I hope.

Lunch at School

Whether I'm eating it, growing it, or just thinking about it, food is on my mind a lot.  So, after having been asked by Kat, and having recently read Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project, and because it was Valentine's Day, I decided to have lunch with Kat at school yesterday.

I knew I shouldn't expect the homemade whole wheat dinner rolls or chicken and noodles that were standards in my school cafeteria growing up.  I doubted I should even expect made-from-scratch breads like those we made when I was a substitute lunch lady a few years ago.  Nor did I think that I'd be staring down at a handful of nasty paper and cellophane microwave meals like those pictured in Fed Up With Lunch.  What I ended up with was just what I expected -- something in the middle.

I was all set for an entree of biscuits and sausage gravy.  That's not one of their usual lunch offerings, but I like B&G much better than a toasted cheese sandwich, a hot dog or a "sunbutter" and jelly sandwich, which were my other options. 

As it turned out, because of the snow day, Monday's menu was served instead of Tuesday's.  My new choices were a breaded chicken patty on a bun, "Italian Dunkers", a hot dog or the sunbutter sandwich.  I chose the Dunkers, which were two halves of a hot dog bun with mozzarella cheese melted over them and spaghetti sauce for dipping.  I decided to call them "almost breadsticks".  With them I was offered canned peas and whatever I wanted from the salad bar.  I said yes to the peas, and chose lettuce salad and half an orange from the bar.  I also chose 2% milk; other milk choices were fat-free chocolate or strawberry.  The only dressing available for my salad was ranch.

Kat was a few people ahead of me in line.  When I caught up with her at the table, I saw that she had also chosen the Italian Dunkers, but her only other picks were strawberry milk and a whole banana.  Not good enough, but it wasn't the school's fault. Several veggies had been offered but she didn't take them.

As we ate, I asked Kat what would happen if she had only picked the main entree, and she said she also had to chose one fruit or veggie and one milk.  I asked her what would happen if she wanted a lot of the food from the salad bar.  She said that she could have a total of 5 items, including the main dish and her milk.  (At older grade levels, these limits increase, I think.)

Kat and I both ate everything on our plates.  I didn't especially enjoy the "almost breadsticks", and the peas were like any other canned peas.  On the other hand, the items on the salad bar were all very fresh and tasty.  The ranch dressing was overly sweet and reminded me more of bottled coleslaw dressing than ranch.  I would have preferred whole milk over 2%, but whatever. 

I paid $3.15 for my meal and felt like, in terms of quantity, I got a fair shake.  I left feeling comfortably full.  Kat's meal was $2.05.  I didn't think she had two dollars worth of food on her plate, but I'm sure on other days she does.

The meal wasn't especially healthy, but it didn't disgust me, either.  What did disgust me was that Kat had only 15 minutes to eat.  I couldn't finish my meal that quickly and sat for another 5 minutes after she left to finish up.  I don't think that is nearly enough time for students to eat their lunch. 

But wait...this was just something that happened today.  Kat is in a group of four students who are studying for some upcoming standardized tests.  For some reason, one of the boys in the group thought it was time for them to head to their study group 10 minutes early.  I would have thought a staff member would escort them, but I guess they are on their own for this activity.  In any event, I learned that lunch sessions are all 25 minutes long.  That's much more reasonable than 15 minutes.

In general, I think the school lunches could be better, but I don't think I'll deny Kat her favorites, which only come up about once a week.  She asks to take her lunch the rest of the time.

What do you think? Do you think this is an absolutely awful lunch or, like me, do you think it's fairly mediocre? 

If you have kids in school, do you let them eat the hot lunch, and if so, what kinds of things are served?

Does your school offer a salad bar, and if so, do your kids eat from it?  It seemed to me that a lot kids were choosing a banana or some canned peaches for their side item, but little else. 

Do your kids have enough time to eat and digest properly? 

Something To Think About

Last week I wrote about following along with Erica at NW Edibles as she does a month of anti-inflammatory dieting.   I mentioned then that I was participating "casually", since I don't have a defined goal in mind.  I'm not concerned about losing weight and I don't have many issues with pain (other than migraines and a mild, but frequent shoulder ache).  Mostly, I think, I am following along to learn something new.

Since last week, I have:

• Done a little bit of reading about the Primal Blueprint diet.  Even if I don't agree with 100% of Mark Sisson's guidelines, I'm intrigued. Actually, I agree with most of what he says, and I love the way he presents his thoughts.  First he tells you what he thinks and why, then he opens up his blog posts and forums to readers to discuss and debate.  He also makes clear his idea that the plan is adaptable to each person's needs and pace.  In my brief reading, nothing is set in stone.  I find that refreshing.  (I apologize for not having links.  I am unable to get to those pages right now...will add them later when I'm able.)
  
  
• Been eating a good deal of good meat, both venison Shane hunted last fall and quality pork that we bought directly from the farmer last August.
  
  
• Reduced our consumption of granulated white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.  I've been using cane juice crystals in our drinks, and have reduced the amount of sweetener I've been using in hot tea by half and in iced tea by a third.  I've used honey in baked goods.  I bought ketchup that's free of HFCS and we've had no soda at all in the past week.
  
  
• Consumed probiotics in the form of kombucha every day this week.
  
  
• Used coconut oil almost exclusively in cooking and baking.  I have also used a little bit of butter and a little bit of peanut oil.
  
  
• Reduced the amount of grains we consumed, but have not eliminated them (and currently have no plans to).
  
  
• Tried to be more active.  Nothing formal, but I've managed to do more walking this week and made sure to take the stairs when I went to my 4th Floor doctor appointment on Wednesday.
  
  
• Attempted to eat breakfast more often.  I'm not a breakfast fan, and I don't like traditional breakfast foods in the morning (but love them later in the day).  I've been trying to eat at least a an orange or an avocado within in the first couple hours of my day.
  
  
• Managed to stay on a regular sleep schedule of roughly 11:00 p.m. to 6 a.m., even on the weekend.

As you can see, I'm not being very strict about this.  I'm just learning and trying a few things out.  Do I notice anything different yet?  No, not really, but it's only been a week.  If anything at all, I've not had the "afternoon slump" that I sometimes get around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. That's a good thing.

I also think there's a certain amount of well-being that comes simply from paying attention to my body and what I'm putting into it. 

Stay tuned for another update next Friday.

February Follow-Along

For February, I'll be following along with Erica at Northwest Edible Life as she tries an anti-inflammatory diet.

I've never followed any kind of diet in my life.  At best, I've made a few changes along the way based on things I've read and agreed with.  So, this isn't usually my kind of thing, but when I saw on Erica's blog the details of Mark Sisson’s Primal Meat and Fat diet, I realized I was already eating many of the foods on the plan.  I decided to hop on board for the fun it.  Just call me a very informal (haphazard?) participant.

You don't have to follow along if you don't want to, but I hope you'll follow the link and at least see what's going on. 

There's a book giveaway, too, but you'll need to participate and you'll need to hurry.  The first progress report is due today! 

I ♥ Mondays

I don't really look forward to weekends.  There.  I said it. 

Weekends wreak havoc on my routines.  The house gets messy.  Plans get made, but are rarely kept, for reasons both within and beyond our control.  The house seems crowded and we (all three of us) have little spats and tiffs we don't have during the week. 

The television stays on too much of the time.  We stay up late Friday night just because we can, then sleep too late Saturday morning.  We feel lazy, sluggish and grouchy all day because of it, but we still repeat the pattern Saturday night and Sunday morning. 

There are exceptions, of course, and enough of them for me to go on having great expectations for carefree weekends with my family.  Mostly, though, I wind up feeling mildly dejected by the time the weekend is over. 

For instance, let me tell you about this last weekend.  It was so underwhelming that I have nothing to say.

Please don't misunderstand; I love my family.  But I think Monday mornings are the best.  Everyone is up early.  Routines are back in place and we're all where we're supposed to be.  I can put the house in order and it stays that way for more than five minutes.  I can actually hear myself think. 

All is calm, all is bright...


until it all hits the fan again by quittin' time tonight.

Very Busy Weekend

Wow, what a busy weekend we had!  But a nice one, too.

Saturday we spent all day away from home.  We ran some errands -- both personal and work related, met with a craigslist seller to buy one of those Jack LaLanne Power Juicers, had a nice (mystery-shopped) lunch out at one of the Mongolian BBQ places, and looked around an antique mall for a few hours.  We didn't make it home until after dark.  I'm sure that sounds funny to some of you, but we're hardly ever out in the evening anymore.

Yesterday morning I went out to put in my monthly two hours of volunteer work at the recycle bins only to find out that the bins were completely full.  I'm sure that was because it was our first recycling weekend since Christmas; there were lots and lots of cardboard boxes in the bins.  Since there was nothing I could do there, I came home and soon found out that one of our freezers wasn't freezing completely.  Shane and I immediately unloaded it into coolers and defrosted it, and now it's working just fine.  We tossed a few food items, since I didn't know how long they'd been partially thawed, but we caught it in time to save almost everything.

I took inventory as we reloaded it, and while we were at it, we inventoried our other deep-freeze.  Those were the last two storage places I need to take stock of, so I'm done with that and now have updated lists.  If I can keep a pretty good tally of what comes in and goes out over the next few weeks, I won't have to do another BIG inventory for a while.

Since we were on a roll, Shane continued working on cleaning the garage and made a noticeable difference in it's appearance.  He's not done, but he has a good start.  He wanted me nearby for assistance and to answer questions (my answer was always, "yes, get rid of it"), so I spent my day working in the kitchen.  I cleaned, I baked cookies and wrapped hot dogs (Pigs in a Blanket) for Kat's and Shane's lunches, I cooked a roast for tonight's supper, I made tacos for last night's supper, and I tried out the juicer on both apples and some tomatoes that we pulled out of the freezer when we were cleaning it.

By the time everything was cleaned up again and Kat was in bed, I'd been on my feet for more than 12 hours and I practically melted into a nice hot bath with some of our homemade lavender soap.

So, how was everyone else's weekend?  Frances says her weekend was lazy, but it sounds to me like she did some fun things, too.

Stay tuned for the recipe for the cookies I made yesterday.  I'll try to post it later today.

My Return To Blogging

When I quit posting on my old blog a few months ago, I honestly didn't know if I'd come back to a blog or not. 

I began thinking of a new blog almost immediately and I toyed with the idea of making changes -- many and big -- to what I had been doing.  Still, I was enjoying my time off, so whenever blogging crossed my mind, I just brushed the idea aside.

After a while, though, I saw that one of several things I missed was the accountability that comes with blogging...or with my kind of blogging, at least.  Yes, near-daily posts had been taking up a lot of my time, but I wasn't always using the time I saved by not blogging in a productive way.  I had wanted more time for working outside, organizing my home and spending time with my family.  What I got instead was more time for Facebook and Pinterest.  Because I didn't publicly say that I was going to organize those recipe clippings or dig up the Jerusalem artichokes by Friday if it killed me, I just didn't do them.  Without a blog, who would know the difference anyway? 

It didn't take long for me to realize that I'm a lot more productive with an audience to keep me on track.  It took a little longer for me to decide that "many and big" changes weren't necessary and that a new look, new name and a slight shift in focus would do the trick.

As for my willingness to commit to a blog again, well, I'm still not 100% on board with that one.  The accountability, though, is worth enough to me to give blogging another go.

If you've been where I am, what made you decide to blog again and what keeps you going with it?