Today I am.
Hoping: S continues to sleep in today. I'd like to spend some time working on projects that aren't very toddler friendly. And I'd like this mostly quiet, mostly relaxed morning to continue just a little longer.
Remembering: to replace the flashlight that used to reside on my nightstand. It has gone missing and it would have been nice to have last night during the power outage that both kids awoke for. At 2am. Thankfully there was also one in the bathroom which was just a couple bumps and fumbles away.
Feeling: tired, but less lazy than yesterday.
Smelling: shampoo. I love it when I have time to shower before S. gets up.
Hearing: T. blow raspberries and make sweet baby sighs. His "talking" is getting more and more speech-like these days. Also birds singing. Summer may be here...maybe.
Seeing: the reddish golden glow of sunshine sneaking in the kitchen window.
Tasting: cake for breakfast. Or after breakfast technically. I did have cereal first.
Making: bread. Or at the very least flour so I can make bread tomorrow. Ready for some real bread after a week or so of store bought.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Today I have been stressed to the max. I have one kid with a tummy bug(=monster bum rash/diaper changes at least every hour. probably more), one kid who appears to be cutting teeth (I can think of no other explanation for her atrocious 'tude). I have apartment hunting looming over me and a potentially great fit that may be just outside of our price range. Decisions to make, gifts to prepare, a home to clean and several people who I am waiting to hear from! Pet peeve: being unable to make plans due to a big fat lack of communication. Other pet peeve: that as much as that peeves me I will never call people on it because I'd rather not be mad at them. Instead I sit and fume to myself for a while and wish they could read my mind or their facebook/text message/whatever. Then I tell myself to grow up already and get over it. I know, real mature, right?
Well at any rate. right in the middle of a good fume we had this glorious thunderstorm. This thing had been brewing all day and when I didn't think those clouds could get any darker the heavens opened and out poured hail, and lightning, and thunder like you've never heard before. It was glorious. A force of nature so driving that regardless of the stress and pet peeves and fuming that was weighing on me it couldn't compare to the weight of the storm. I couldn't tend my own irritations when such a thing was ringing in my ears. What was to be done but leave my cares inside (where cares seem to weigh heaviest) and step out. To sit in the relative safety of the eaves, tucked into a corner of the porch where nothing could find me. Nothing could touch me, but the thunder that rattled my bones. For a few precious minutes all that there was, was me and the storm.
What happened next is not worth noting. but after resuming a short fume I have reached the same conclusion I always reach. That fuming is useless. All that I can do is move forward and so I move. However futile my efforts may be, they are always better than fuming. Even the storm moves as it rages.
Well at any rate. right in the middle of a good fume we had this glorious thunderstorm. This thing had been brewing all day and when I didn't think those clouds could get any darker the heavens opened and out poured hail, and lightning, and thunder like you've never heard before. It was glorious. A force of nature so driving that regardless of the stress and pet peeves and fuming that was weighing on me it couldn't compare to the weight of the storm. I couldn't tend my own irritations when such a thing was ringing in my ears. What was to be done but leave my cares inside (where cares seem to weigh heaviest) and step out. To sit in the relative safety of the eaves, tucked into a corner of the porch where nothing could find me. Nothing could touch me, but the thunder that rattled my bones. For a few precious minutes all that there was, was me and the storm.
What happened next is not worth noting. but after resuming a short fume I have reached the same conclusion I always reach. That fuming is useless. All that I can do is move forward and so I move. However futile my efforts may be, they are always better than fuming. Even the storm moves as it rages.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Do the Best You Can with What You've Got
My birthday was last week and I had no idea what to ask for so that's what I told people. I don't know what I want. That was sort of a lie. I do know what I want. I want a new lens for my camera. I want a library full of books. I want a big garden full of plants. But none of those things are practical right now. So I don't ask for them. Instead I was blessed with a husband who knows me well. (remind me to tell you about last Christmas sometime)
He got me books. Lots of them. His sister got me books too actually. The best part is they are all books I would have probably wished for. Here they are.
I doubt I would have asked for these books right now simply because we are poor college kids lving in a rented apartment. We are far from being self-sufficient. Although I started reading The Backyard Homestead and the author says:
This brings me to the point. I didn't think it was really practical to get all these books now since all I thought I could do about it was read and dream...and draw up plans for my imaginary garden. But I was wrong! I am awesome! Ok, maybe I'm taking it a little far here, but when I read that bit in The Backyard Homestead I realized that the point is
to do the best you can with what you've got and work toward doing more
Someday we won't be poor college kids and someday maybe we will be able to buy a bit of land and a few sheep and some bees and chickens and whatnot. But we will work our way up to that and in the meantime the knowledge that I'm gaining now will be invaluable when that time comes. What's more, if I were to just wait and wait and wait till we had the means to get started on our homestead I wouldn't have the stamina to jump into it all.
When I first started making bread I thought it was such a hassle. But it was a delicious and economical hassle so it was worth it. Now that I've been doing it nearly weekly for the last 2-ish years it's not such a big deal. It's really kind of enjoyable. Not only that, but I find it's pretty easy to whip up a batch of granola while I am doing bread. In the beginning if I had told myself I'm just going to throw together some granola as well as grind a bunch of flour and bake 4 loaves of bread I might have just thrown in the towel. A person can only do so much, right? Right! But you do what you can till that's old hat, then you do more. And so we grow. Bit by little bit.
So I am thinking that maybe I ought to make a goal to find something else I could do to grow right now in our small scale version of self-sufficiency. I'm not quite sure what yet though. Any ideas? I'll be perusing my books and thinking about it and I'll get back to you on it, but I'd love to hear some suggestions.
He got me books. Lots of them. His sister got me books too actually. The best part is they are all books I would have probably wished for. Here they are.
I doubt I would have asked for these books right now simply because we are poor college kids lving in a rented apartment. We are far from being self-sufficient. Although I started reading The Backyard Homestead and the author says:
Through the summer, I harvest fresh vegetables from my garden (though most of my produce comes from a local farm), forage for wild mushrooms, freeze blueberries and cherries, and can applesauce, tomatoes, and peaches. On weekends during the winter, there's almost always a pot of soup on the stove and a loaf of bread or a batch of biscuits in the oven. And as long as my local dairy farmers are milking their herd of grass-fed Canadiennes, I'll be making my own mozzarella and cottage cheese.Ok, so I'm not harvesting a lot from my pitiful balcony garden. In fact I still haven't really planted much due to the fact that it's still snowing around here pretty regularly. I don't much care for mushrooms so I don't forage for them. However, I do can applesauce, tomatoes and peaches (all from as local as I can get it). And I am a bread and soup maker extraordinaire. While I don't do cheese I do occasionally do yogurt. So there!
This brings me to the point. I didn't think it was really practical to get all these books now since all I thought I could do about it was read and dream...and draw up plans for my imaginary garden. But I was wrong! I am awesome! Ok, maybe I'm taking it a little far here, but when I read that bit in The Backyard Homestead I realized that the point is
to do the best you can with what you've got and work toward doing more
Someday we won't be poor college kids and someday maybe we will be able to buy a bit of land and a few sheep and some bees and chickens and whatnot. But we will work our way up to that and in the meantime the knowledge that I'm gaining now will be invaluable when that time comes. What's more, if I were to just wait and wait and wait till we had the means to get started on our homestead I wouldn't have the stamina to jump into it all.
When I first started making bread I thought it was such a hassle. But it was a delicious and economical hassle so it was worth it. Now that I've been doing it nearly weekly for the last 2-ish years it's not such a big deal. It's really kind of enjoyable. Not only that, but I find it's pretty easy to whip up a batch of granola while I am doing bread. In the beginning if I had told myself I'm just going to throw together some granola as well as grind a bunch of flour and bake 4 loaves of bread I might have just thrown in the towel. A person can only do so much, right? Right! But you do what you can till that's old hat, then you do more. And so we grow. Bit by little bit.
So I am thinking that maybe I ought to make a goal to find something else I could do to grow right now in our small scale version of self-sufficiency. I'm not quite sure what yet though. Any ideas? I'll be perusing my books and thinking about it and I'll get back to you on it, but I'd love to hear some suggestions.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Irony
Now, listen, I know irony can be a pretty hotly debated subject, but I just couldn't help but post these pictures even if she certainly wasn't feeling very agreeable when I took them.
The Senorita got pretty grumpy pretty suddenly and I had no idea what was wrong. So, since I could do nothing to fix it. I did what every good parent should do. Take pictures. Now, lest you think that I'm waxing too satirical here by posting sad pictures on such an agreeable blog I must say. I find these pictures exceptionally agreeable. Even when she's pouting she's cute.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The First Post
For whatever reason, I feel a bit compelled to make this post something incredible, since it is, after all, the first post. The thing is, I don't have anything incredible to write. I was doing a photo blog, but the truth is, as much as I love photography I was kind of sick of being pigeon-holed. This blog is for whatever it is I find agreeable. Or not really, but in general I find life pretty agreeable, so I'm not too worried about that. I suppose you might like to know about what kind of things I do find agreeable just now. They include, but are not limited to:
*Photography
*Gardening
*Cooking
*Parenting
*Daydreaming
In fairness, you should know that daydreaming covers a lot of bases.
*Photography
*Gardening
*Cooking
*Parenting
*Daydreaming
In fairness, you should know that daydreaming covers a lot of bases.
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