Feeling fortunate today

There has been so much going on today!  People around me seem to be in crisis, both here, in the blogosphere, and in my real life.  Friends have financial stressors, or relationship issues or sick children, or are ill themselves...  Things aren't totally rosy in my life but I'm feeling very fortunate tonight.  Financially, we are OK for the moment.  V has been frantically looking for a new job but has had no luck yet.  Even so, we will be fine.  The only outstanding debt we have is the car loan and the stuff I just put on the credit card for holiday purchases.  We will have a large outlay of cash in January for our beef but we've figured that into the mix.  We talked it over as a family at dinner tonight and decided what to do for our community 'gift' this year.  Normally we choose tags from the local angel tree but we're doing something different this year.

In relationship issues, things are going well.  About 2- 3 years ago V and I went through a VERY tough time.  We went through some rather intensive marriage counseling and managed to salvage our marriage and even came out stronger.  I think he is quite stressed about losing his job- I worry that he thinks it will damage our relationship.  But I'm OK with it.  We are both at a much better place in our lives- much more secure in ourselves- so I'm sure we will get through. 

Everyone here is healthy- at least mostly.  J14 was complaining of  a headache and stuffy head when she came home and had a slight fever so I let her stay home from orchestra rehearsal tonight.  Roger wasn't feeling well when I saw him Saturday morning so I hope I don't catch something from him. One of my co-workers called to let me know she won't be in as they have a stomach bug at their house (she has 2 elementary age children and 5 month old twins)

We've got a secure roof over our heads, food to eat, warm clothes to wear and even a few extras.  Yeah, life is good right now.  

My thoughts and prayers go out to all my friends who are struggling.  Peace be with you.

Judy

Independence Days- the first post

Sharon at Casaubon's Book has reopened the Independence Days Challenge for newcomers.  After lurking for a while I finally decided to start my blog a few months ago but felt uncomfortable jumping in on the middle of a challenge.  I always liked the Independence days posts from other bloggers I follow so I am a bit excited to begin my own journey.

1. Plant Something- I can actually say YES!  I am trying an experiment in the basement.  I brought in one of our window boxes from the backyard and put it under the grow lights I use for seed starting. I planted some mixed lettuce seed that I had left over from this spring. It is fairly cool in the basement (I use heat cables for seed starting) but I'm thinking that lettuce may do OK.  We'll see.  

2. Harvest Something- NOPE.  I've got one lone jalapeno on our indoor plant but it's starting to turn red and the children have dubbed it "The Christmas Jalapeno" so we're going to try to figure out something to do with it for the holidays.

3. Preserve something- No, but I need to.  I have a few apples languishing away in a basket that I need to do something with before they go completely bad.  They are getting pretty wrinkly so I'm thinking maybe some sauce.

4. Store something- I processed one of our after Thanksgiving bargain turkeys into stock, etc and stashed it in the freezer.  I stocked up on navy beans that were available at a good price.

5. Manage reserves- Need to do something with those apples!  Made roast winter veggies for dinner using the potatoes and sweet potatoes that were starting to get squishy.  Am planning all meals out of the freezer this week as we just ordered a side of beef.  Now we have to make room for it.

6. Cook something new- Nothing new this week. But did make a killer pot of chili- every time I make it is slightly different.  

7. Prep something- stocked up on candles at a store at the mall that is going out of business.  I would never shop there usually but they were having great deals.

8. Reduce Waste- Hemmed a thrift store find dress for J14 for the winter formal.  Composted and recycled as usual. Used cloth bags at the grocery and farmer's bag.

9. Learn a new skill- Was practicing knitting while I waited for I11 at band practice.  Haven't made much time recently to work on this.  I also watched my sister while she was knitting at Thanksgiving.

10. Work on community food security- Supported local, sustainable farmer by ordering half a steer.  Shopped the winter farmer's market.  Have food for donation to local food pantry but forgot to take it when I was going past the drop off point.

11. Regenerate what is lost.  Made connection with local Amish farmer and had conversation about sustainable farming.  Started looking through seed catalogues and talking garden planning with Roger.  Made sure to involve the boys in cooking last week- I want to be sure they can cook and feed themselves well.

Not a bad start.  Not sure which category this goes in but I plan to use our beef purchase as a conversation opener about food security at work.

Family matters

It has been a busy but fun weekend at our house.  We put up our tree last night which is always a good time.  We had hot, spiced cider, cranked the holiday music, got silly and pulled out the boxes.  Our theme tends to be 'overkill'.  We have LOTS of ornaments, more than will fit on the tree, but few are commercially produced ones that we have purchased.  Most of them are ones that have been made, either by me or by the children, or were gifts from others. We love sharing the stories as we hang them.  "Remember ____, who gave this one to us?" or "You made this one when you were __" or even better yet "This is one of the ornaments that Dad and I had on our very first tree together".  That is half the fun.  We do have an artificial tree, one that we have had for over 12 years.  It has seen better days but we're not about to get a new one.  Maybe someday we'll go back to having a real tree.  We got an artificial one when we had a cat that kept knocking the tree over by trying to climb it every year. That's why we have very few of the original glass ornaments that V and I got for our first tree together.

I11 had his band concert at church this morning.  They sounded fabulous and he is quite proud of himself for taking the risk to play in with a group that is comprised mostly of adults or high school students.  They ended up with 42 people playing in the band and played versions of holiday music by Mannheim Steamroller.  

J14 and her friends sold freshly baked cinnamon rolls between services as a fundraiser since 10 of them are going to the national youth gathering in New Orleans in July.  Everyone at church this morning was energized and in good spirits.

When we got home J14 and I worked to hem her dress for the winter formal.  It was a thrift store find but was a bit too long.  Hemming the underskirt wasn't the problem.  My Mom did that quickly when we were down for Thanksgiving and she was helping us problem solve the dress.  The issue was the sheer, floaty overskirt. It needed to be cut since it has a very tiny hem.  I was quite nervous about cutting the fabric- once it's cut you can't put it back.  But we took the plunge, cut an inch off the bottom and re-hemmed it. Luckily my sewing machine has a specialized foot that will do those tiny rolled hems automatically- although with fabric that sheer and slippery it wasn't a picnic.  But it's done.  For $20 and a half hour of swearing under my breath she looks lovely.  It also has a matching wrap that goes with it and is from a leading designer of wedding gowns.  My thought is that it was probably someone's bridesmaids dress that they didn't want so that's how it ended up at the thrift store.  The really nice thing is, if she decides she doesn't want to wear it as a formal again, it is a simple and classic enough design that we could cut it shorter and she could wear it as a shorter dress.

In other news, I reported in my comments on yesterday's post that we did put down a deposit on a side of beef that we will receive toward the end of January. Now we just need to make space in the freezer. We have planned all our meals this week around what we can use out of the freezer to make space.  Now I almost wish I hadn't bought turkeys- but variety is nice, too. I'm glad I only processed one of them since the stock takes more room in the freezer than the whole bird.  Maybe after Santa brings me my canner I will can some to get it out of the freezer. That can be my learning project.  I'm going to be pushing oatmeal for breakfast since I store my stash of oatmeal in the freezer and I've currently got about 12 lbs in there taking up lots of space.  If worse comes to worst, the oatmeal and my stash of 15 lbs of unbleached flour can live out of the freezer for a while. 

Our penchant for picking stuff out of dumpsters paid off this morning as well.  As we were on our way to church we noticed that someone had put an old snowshovel and a pitchfork out by a dumpster down the alley.  By the time we came home the snow shovel was already gone but the fork was there.  It has a broken handle but it is a great old fork...and I mean, OLD.  It doesn't look like a garden fork but an actual old-fashioned hay fork.  I'm thinking compost aeration this spring....

This has been rather rambling hasn't it.  But then, I'm avoiding laundry.

Winter market

Today was the last of the winter farmer's markets.  The regular market season closes at the end of October but there are 2 winter markets, one in November and one in December.  I missed the November market due to work (market hours are 9am to 2pm) but I was able to go this morning. We had to be out and about early today as I11 had band practice at 8:30 this morning in preparation for their big day tomorrow.  So after he finished practice we wandered down to the market at the community recreation center. I was impressed, the gym was full, both of vendors and of customers.  Many of the items were crafts or baked goods.  I let I11 get a cookie from one vendor and I got a pair of earrings, handmade silver spirals (I have a thing for spirals) the will now be a 'surprise' gift this holiday.  I was going to post a picture of them but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload pics this morning.

There were a few of the regular food vendors there:  The 'apple guy' was there so we got some of his fabulous cider that we will have warm and spiced when we put up the tree this evening.  We also got some more bacon and brats for the freezer.  I also had a wonderful chat with a guy that I hadn't seen at the regular summer markets.  He was an Amish farmer who had sorghum for sale and had flyers for his grass fed beef and "open air" pork.  He will be taking his cattle for processing in January and is taking orders. His quoted price for a grass fed side of beef is $3.41 per pound.  I may need to talk to V about that.  He said the average finished weight of a half of beef is 290 lbs.  Now that is a LOT of beef but it would feed us for over a year.  It would be a big outlay up front but we would definitely have food to eat in leaner times.  I wonder if I could share it out with my brother and parents.  The farmer doesn't have email or even a phone but he gave me his address so I can drop him a letter or said I can just stop by the farm (I love that!) and gave me directions- it's near the cheese factory.   I did get a jar of sorghum- now that's a flavor from my childhood.

This and that

I had a busy day.  I did much more running around than usual, even for a day off.  I did manage to get almost all of my holiday shopping done, at least for the immediate family.  I got the boys several new games, some books and some new clothes. I got a few things off J14's list and a few things that she didn't ask for- I'm not going to tell in case she reads this ;-)   I picked up a stocking stuffer for V and did the online ordering for his other major gift.  I've got a few things left to pick up and need to visit the Heifer project site for gifts for my parents and V's mom.   But generally, I feel good about today's purchases.

I had a long talk with my friend Roger.  He was at work and was bored and worried so he gave me a call.  He works in the supply room for a company that manufactures auto parts so his job outlook isn't good either, considering how things look for the auto industry right now.  We were talking about the garden, both of us wishing, especially now, that the garden had done better and we had been able to put up more food.  We started the conversation about next year and decided we need to get together soon and plan what we want to do.  I think part of the problem last year was that we didn't have a plan, and with 2 people planting in a garden, things weren't very organized.  Add to that the record rains we had and things weren't good.  But we're looking forward to next year.  He was glad that I am hoping to get a pressure canner and thought it would be fun to work together to figure it out next year.  I think that really means that he will want to borrow it- but I'm OK with that.  He lets me share his garden, that's something that I can't repay.  We're looking forward to sitting down with the seed catalogues, a pot of coffee or tea and plotting and planning for next year.  

In other news,  the window box I brought in from the back yard has thawed and a few weed seeds have started sprouting in it.  I have it under my grow lights that I use for seed starting and am hoping to plant some greens in it for some fresh veggies this winter.  Maybe tomorrow...I'm planning to do laundry and hem J14's dress so I'll be hanging out in the basement a bit anyway.  Now I just need to remember where I put the timer for the lights....

'tis the season

Wet gloves drying on an open vent.  Jack frost nipping at your nose...

OK! OK!  So the rhymes don't work.   We got several inches of snow today and K8 had a grand and glorious time sledding after school coming home throughly wet and cold. Their after school program lets them sled down the big hill at the school.  I'm surprised but they can even do it at recess sometimes, if they're properly dressed. So now we are back to the winter cycle of wet snowpants, boots, gloves, hats and scarves. We have lovely copper vent covers in much of the house, discovered when we refinished floors a few years ago and decided to see what was under the multitude of coats of paint on the register covers.  They work wonders for drying gloves.  As the winter progresses we generally bring up one of the drying racks from the laundry and set it in front of a vent to hold hats, scarves and such.  We took the (not green at all) plunge last year and invested in a pair of boot dryers for wet shoes.  J14 pulled one out this afternoon.  She evidently wasn't paying attention when we talked about the possibility of snow and walked to school (no snow) and back (probably about 3 inches of the white stuff) in only her Converse sneaks.  Not warm or waterproof.  Needless to say she had mighty cold tootsies when she got home and WET shoes.  Everyone else had their boots,  I think she spends too much time with her headphones on to pay attention to the weather forecast. 

Holiday blues

It's cold  here-  the cuts through you kind of cold.  Oh, I'm aware that it isn't really bad yet, that it will be even worse in January and February.  It's just that I'm not used to it.  It seems not long ago that it was in the 70s here.  This morning as I walked to work it was 25 and even a bit of ice on the sidewalks still.  

It seems that this time of year, I always get a bit blue. Everywhere you turn it's the Christmas hype, screaming buy, buy, buy!  I'm not in the mood for Christmas yet but I need to get into gear. I would like the season to be more meaningful with less 'stuff' but the boys especially are into the gimme trap.  J14 is pretty reasonable, she isn't asking for much -although I raised my eyebrows and gave her one of 'those looks' at the request for $100 in i-tunes giftcards- I'm not sure how serious she was. I'm pretty sure she knows she won't get that much.  Mostly she wants a hair straightener (Oh to be 14), books and a movie.  The boys have issued their demands for video games.  They have been told to prioritize because there is NO WAY they are getting all they want.  Long ago we instituted the 3 presents from Santa rule.  We have been going to the same Santa at a local mall (although last year it was a different guy- I'm worried that the other one may have died- he was that old and looking pretty frail!) and it always just made my stomach turn to hear kids rattling off the list of what they wanted.  We have always told our children that they could only ask for 3 things, with the reasoning that Santa has to provide toys for everyone and they shouldn't be greedy.  We also always pick tags from the angel tree to get gifts for other children who are less fortunate.  

My parents have always been frugal with everyone getting only one or 2 gifts but V's family has always gone way over the top with gifts, especially for the children.  It hasn't been as bad in the past few years since his Dad passed away but still more than I'm comfortable with.  V is almost as bad as the boys, asking for music and several train cars (he is into model railroading) to finish off his Reading Lines collection, among a few other things.

I need to try to get into the holiday spirit.  I have Friday off since I worked last weekend (Yup- worked the holiday weekend) so I plan to do some holiday shopping.  Hopefully it won't be too crowded on a weekday morning.  I really hate the holiday shopping crowds.  You couldn't pay me to go out on Black Friday. I loaded some holiday music onto my i-pod for the walk into work.  No traditional Holiday music yet, I've been listening to The Toronto Consort and renaissance music- holidayish without being too kitsch.  I'm warming up to this holiday thing- like I'm warming up to the cold weather.