Somehow I managed to get my son signed up for too many activities and they’re conflicting with each other now.  One day a week is T-ball practice and one or two nights a week are game nights for T-ball games, but twice a month those same nights are also Cub Scout nights.  Then there are tennis lessons and Tae Kwon Do.   This past Saturday was the camping trip/field day for homeschoolers in our area AND camping trip/activities for Cub Scouts.  Then a cousin passed away and his funeral was also scheduled for Saturday.  So, that took care of that choice.  Family is more important and we went to the funeral.

Speaking of funerals, in the past two weeks we’ve been to funerals for two friends and a cousin.  Yes, three funerals in two weeks… two of them this past Friday and Saturday.

I’m just plain tired.

I am teaching my son to play the piano and didn’t have time to give him his normal lesson this week.  But, he has been choosing the next songs in his books and practicing all last week on his own.  This morning he’s playing them for himself one last time before playing them for me.  Then we’ll get back to the regular schedule.  It’s a joy to hear him playing and having the incentive at six years old to do it on his own this week.

My husband made breakfast in bed for me yesterday.  It was perfectly cooked and beautifully presented on the plate along with a cup of tea and a bouquet of roses.  Then all my guys came and brought me cards.  That was a real Mother’s Day treat.  I appreciate it so much.

This week is also going to be busy with the recently crazy schedule.  But, I’m also looking forward to taking a “Food Preservation” class tomorrow… canning basics, pressure canning, water bath canning, pickles, jams and jellies, freezing, drying, and flavored oils and vinegars.

You all have a blessed week and in the busyness of life remember to pause and breathe and enjoy the blessings in your life.

Problem:  Eating Quickly

There are two things from my childhood that always impacted me.  First, my father used to always tell me that when he was growing up the farmers in the area would test a man by how quickly he ate.  If he was able to quickly eat his meal and get back to work, he was considered productive.  If he ate slowly and took his time, he was considered lazy.  Of course my Dad didn’t apply that to our lives.  He told me this to explain why he always ate so fast.  It was something that he learned from early on.

The bigger impact on my life was actually from my experience in boarding school.  Yup… away from Mom and Dad.  The only times I saw them were at Christmas, Easter and summer break… or when they came to the city to do business (which wasn’t often).  I grew up in Africa.  (My boarding school experience is probably one of the reasons I feel it’s so important for me to homeschool.  I am not criticizing my parents.  They love me dearly and I love them.  For them, boarding school seemed the only choice at the time.  They lived down country and it wasn’t easy to get to the city.  There was no internet and mail was so slow that correspondance courses – the home school of the day – were slow and ineffective.  So like many other TCKs – Third Culture Kids – I went to boarding school.)

At my boarding school only kids sat at our tables.  The “Head Table” was reserved for the adults in charge of the kids.  Older kids were assigned to the head and “tail” of each table.  They served the younger kids who sat along the sides of the table.  We’d have breakfast and then be able to play a little before school started.  Then came lunch and again, we could play a little before the afternoon sessions… if we got out of the dining room on time.  Finally, there was dinner.  If we were quick enough, we could play for a while before having to come in for the night.  However, there was one major rule in the dinning room.  NO ONE could leave the table before everyone was finished eating.  The child at the head of the table had plates stacked in front of him and he would serve the food and send it down the table.  The child at the “tail” of the table would gather all of the dishes, take them to a special counter in the dining room when we were all done, bring desserts back for everyone.  Once we were finished and the table cleared THEN everyone was allowed to be excused and could go play.

If any child kept the other children from being able to go and play… well, the other children would take care of making sure that didn’t happen again.  So, we all pretty much learned to eat very quickly.

On top of that, as a career woman I was often in a rush, eating on the go.  The day would start off with my rushing out the door in the morning and eating breakfast in the car on the way to work.  More often than not I would eat at my desk while I was working.  I was always rushing from one place to another.

Problem:  Passing On Bad Habits

My six year old son is now very proud of the fact that he eats quickly.  He says, “I learned from Mommy.”  Wow…  that’s NOT a good thing to pass on to my child.  We don’t live in a day and age (to the best of my knowledge) where eating quickly helps people see you as productive and eating slowly shows them you’re lazy.  The majority of us don’t live in a boarding school setting where kids quietly rule the roost under the radar of the adults and “punish” those who don’t keep up.  But, a huge number of us are always in a rush, going from place to place, eating in the car on the go, etc.  My son simply eats fast because he sees his Mommy finishing way before anyone else.

Solution:  Slow Down and Relax

Every article that I’m reading about heartburn/GERD symptoms states that eating in a rush is hardly beneficial and, more than likely will be one of the things that causes acid reflux.  “Shoving” too much food into your stomach too quickly is basically an assault on your stomach.  So, slow down.

I’ll try what “they” say to do… “put your fork down between bites” and “chew slowly”.  We have lots of conversation at our family table and I still manage to eat quickly.  But, for some of you, focusing on conversing between bites may be a good tip to slow down.

The goal starting this week is to relax while I’m eating and take my time.

Have a blessed week!

Failure is NOT an option.  My goal weight MUST be reached by end of 2012.  I have a husband and children to think about so it’s important that Mommy be healthy, energetic, and able to keep up with everything.

I’ll make sure to be more faithful to weigh in and report.  That is what kept me so focused in the beginning.

Let’s say that this experience has helped me eliminate what is NOT effective.  Now on to finding out what will work for me and still be a life-style change I can incorporate into my life for the long-term.

So… here are my numbers and they’re not encouraging at all.

Original Goal:         78.6 pounds to lose
Week 17 Results:    Exactly 5 pounds less than when I began.

I should have lost 26.1 pounds by today.  Instead, I have gained back some of what I did lose.  So, this week I start something different.

Have a blessed day!  I know that I will, despite my news.

Here are the instructions from Luminosity:  Take a few minutes and describe your workday – in seven words only. This fun challenge won’t take very long to complete, but will break up your routine and give your brain a good intellectual “stretch.”  Now, my instructions:  Because this is obviously a blog it won’t end at seven words.  Your seven word description will be the headline to your article.  Take that topic and let us know what’s on your mind.

My day?

Lively experience with creative dynamo, age six.

We used to have a sweet child who was obedient and fairly well-behaved.  He never even went through the terrible twos.  Oh… we had the usual things that go on with children when they’re tired or too full of energy or curious about things.  You know… the things that make you smile or laugh when you’re supposed to be keeping a straight face and scold… things like:

1. walking into the hall from the kitchen and finding a trail of talcum powder from Mommy’s bathroom down the hall, through the living room, down the other hall, into his bedroom
2. walking into the kitchen and finding his face down in the cat water bowl, trying to drink like a “kitty cat”  (Somehow this one hit my funny bone and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.  Me – between laughs:  ”That didn’t taste very good, did it?”  Him – hesitantly hiding a smile, not sure if he was in trouble or whether he should laugh: “No…”  Me – still laughing:  “Now that we know what kitty cat water tastes like, let’s not do that anymore, OK?”  Him:  “Yeah, it was icky.”  Me:  “You know why?”  Him – now with amusement in his eyes because Mommy was laughing so hard:  “Why?”  Me:  “Cause the kitties backwash into the water when they drink.”  Him – running around the house:  “EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!”)
3. suddenly noticing that it is too quiet and finding him in the bathroom with big eyes and a cute voice saying, “Mommy, look.  Great, big, big bandaids.  I put ‘em on my boo boos.”
4. going into our room to find him holding up an empty bottle of K-Y – his hair, face and arms gleaming with the contents of the bottle – proudly saying, ”Look, Mommy.  Lotion!”

I could go on and on with amusing stories of his antics when he was little.  I’m sure we all have stories like that.  He was cute and sweet and incredibly adorable.

But, half-way through age 6 he suddenly started to assert his independence and creative ability to get into trouble.  How can I describe him now?  He’s a clown, loving to make people smile and laugh.  He’s got a fun personality, a bright mind, a fabulous sense of humor, an endless supply of silliness, a well-rounded vocabulary (for his age), a great deal of charm (lately often used for trying to get himself out of trouble), an abundance of energy, and curiosity about everything.

His “scientific mind” may wonder what would happen if he were to pour an entire, large bottle of mouthwash into the toilet.  Will the water also change colors?  Will the change be as dark as the mouth wash in the bottle or will it be diluted?  Will it make the toilet have a minty-fresh smell?   Someone told Mommy.  Uh, oh.  “MOMMY!  I love you!”   Result of taking something that doesn’t belong to him without permission (otherwise known in our house as stealing)?  He had to take his own money to the store with Mommy, pick up a replacement bottle, take it to the cashier, hand her his money (that he’s been saving for a remote control helicopter), and give the new bottle to the owner of the one he used.  Along with that… an apology.  Ouch!  But, a good lesson to learn now while the lessons are not so “costly”.

Mommy might come into the living room and the smell of after-shave is overpowering.  Uh oh.  “Mommy, I love you.”   Mmm, hmmm… another scientific experiment… take his brother’s aftershave and a roll of toilet paper and see what happens when you pour the entire contents of the bottle on the roll of toilet paper.  Yikes!  One thing that happens… you can’t hide the smell.   Another trip to the piggy bank, the store, and back home to give his brother a bottle of after-shave and an apology.  Result… now it’s going to take months to save up for the helicopter because we spent all of the money on scientific experiments using stuff that didn’t belong to us.   Lesson learned.  “I won’t do that again.”  Drama begins.  “Life is so sad.  I will NEVER get my helicopter.  My heart is broken beyond repair.”

Homeschooling allows me to be able to spend a lot of time with my Doodlebug.  I wouldn’t exchange a moment of it.  I love him with all my heart and am so blessed to have him in my life.  He makes me smile, laugh, and think.  He is incredibly loving and affectionate.  He learns quickly, brings life to the house, and is so much fun to watch.  I so enjoy seeing the light go on when he learns something special in school and connects it with other things he’s been learning.  I enjoy talking with him, listening to him, and spending time with him.

Time goes by so quickly and he’s growing.  Before I know it he’ll be 18 and 25 and 32…  So, I’m determined to make the most of my time with my little six-year-old dynamo.

I complain a lot about my camera, but I have to make do for now.  Below are pictures on the final results.  The color is off on one (with orange tones) even though all three pictures were taken under the same light and both the pizzas were on the same cutting board.  I can’t figure out why my little camera does this.  But, despite the pictures, the pizza was delicious.

This one was for my youngest son.  (Of course it was way too big for him and we had leftovers, but he loved having his own pizza that was different from the rest of us.)  We put pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on his.  That’s all he wanted.  He sat there watching a show with us and eating like he thought it was the best thing ever.

(I haven’t gotten the hang of hand-tossing pizza dough so I roll it out and press it into shape using both hands.  My left hand slightly holds on while I stretch the dough out with my right.  Then I turn the dough slightly and do it again until there are no thick sections.  My pizzas are always rustic looking.  But, I actually like them like that.)

This one had a thicker crust than I intended.  I put the dough onto a cookie sheet.  While the other one was baking, this dough was continuing to rise.  So, it had quite a thick crust.  I hadn’t gone shopping so whatever we had in the house was what we were going to use.

With pizza sauce as the base, I layered on sausage that I had cooked into large crumbles and drained, pepperoni that hadn’t been used during the last pizza experiment, onions, green peppers and grape tomatoes cut in half.  Then I put mozzarella cheese all over the top.

My husband said it was the best pizza I’d made so far. The thing I love about homemade pizza is that you can experiment and put whatever you want on it… and it’s a fun thing for your kids to help with, especially if they’re making their own personal pizza.

We had leftover pizza dough.  Instead of wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap, putting it in a freezer bag and freezing like I usually do, I decided to make cinnamon rolls for Saturday morning breakfast.

I formed the dough into a log to make it easier to get a rectangle shape then rolled it into a rectangle.  Again, I hadn’t gone shopping and was completely out of nuts.  So, I just spread butter on the rolled out dough and sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon over the entire surface.  After rolling it up and cutting it into 8 pieces, I put it into a buttered 9″ pie dish, put another pie dish on top and ”tied” the two together by wrapping the dishes up tightly in plastic wrap.   (Using the second pie dish on top gives plenty of room for rising while keeping it moist enough between the pie pans that the dough doesn’t dry out.)  It went into the fridge to rise very slowly overnight.

My husband got up earlier than I did and took it out of the fridge to get it to room temperature then turned the oven on to 350° F.  While the oven was heating up, the cinnamon rolls started rising at room temperature.  By the time I got up, all I had to do was pop them into the oven for 20 minutes.  (Of course, I’m not a morning person and my brain wasn’t fully awake so I didn’t get a picture of the baked rolls.)

The house smelled heavenly this morning!!  We all sat down and enjoyed cinnamon rolls for breakfast with really no more effort than it took to make pizza dough for dinner last night.   (And yes, I know.  I likely blew my weight loss attempts this week.)

I didn’t know what kind of cinnamon rolls the pizza dough would make.  It turns out that when quickly cooked in an oven at high temperature as a pizza, the texture of this dough is just slightly chewy.  But, when cooked at a lower temperature for a little longer, it is very tender and soft.

My son said they were delicious and my husband called them “bodacious”.  Both had seconds.  I love nuts, so the next time I do this I’ll make sure to go shopping.  They will have chopped pecans in them.

I really encourage you to experiment and try different things.  You may be surprised at how fun it is and how many delicious things you can come up with yourself.  (Don’t forget to click on the link in last night’s Family Night blog entry to get the pizza dough recipe.)

Have a blessed day!

We live in the country outside a small Southern town.  When I say small, no it’s not a one-light town, but it is small.  (The membership of the church I used to attend on the West Coast was about the same size as the population of our town.)  However, we still have a number of pizza places.  On the Food Network they talk about getting pizza dough from your local pizzeria.  I’m assuming that they mean in the big city where you may have a pizza place that isn’t a chain and that makes fresh dough every day.  I drove around our town and visited every pizza place.  Not one of them will sell pizza dough.

That night I went to the grocery store and bought Pillsbury pizza dough.  It was as I thought it would be… just OK.  (Sorry, Pillsbury.  It’s great in a pinch, but it doesn’t have the texture and flavor of a good pizzaria dough.)  I started looking for and trying recipes.  After many attempts (most of them also just OK) I finally found a recipe that my boys really, really like.

Check out Jamie Oliver’s Pizza Dough Recipe on the food Network! (This picture is from that site.) I found it in March and have been making it every time we have pizza ever since.  (In fact, each week my boys are now asking if we can have pizza for Family Night.)

Something to keep in mind:  I don’t suggest piling the flour on the counter, making a well, and pouring the liquid in the well the way the recipe suggests.  I tried that the first time around and had a leak in the flour dam… the liquid lake overflowed and started spreading all over the counter, to my youngest son’s delight.  (He was laughing and jumping around having a great time watching.)  I couldn’t swoosh it back to the flour fast enough, but finally got control by quickly spreading the flour over top of the rivers of liquid.  Ever since then when I make it I put everything in a bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon until it’s ready to be kneaded.  Then I dump it onto a floured surface and start kneading.  It’s not as much fun for a 6-year-old to watch, though.

In reality, the recipe makes a bunch of small personal pizzas or about 4 medium-sized regular crust (as opposed to about 6 thin crust) pizzas.  It’s great for parties.  If you are cooking just for family, you can take half the dough, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it for the next time.   Then all you need to do is pull it from the freezer, let it defrost, punch it down and make your pizzas.  When we do the personal pizzas, the boys can come and put whatever they want on their crust after I’ve shaped it.  They like that.

My boys and husband LOVE home made pizzas now.  (We don’t do “take-out” anymore.  Of course, we would if I didn’t have time to make the pizza dough.)  But, when you make it at home, you can make any kind of pizza you want!

I didn’t go grocery shopping so have to use what I have in the house.  Tonight I think it’s going to be sausage, green pepper, and onion.   Unless we want something unusual like red cabbage or sour kraut (!!?!!), I don’t have other pizza ingredients.

You all have a blessed evening.  We’re going to enjoy each other’s company, eat homemade pizza, and enjoy a family movie together.

_____________________________________________________________________

Update:  05-01-2012

Here are some blogs with pizza ideas (all of them outside the norm when it comes to pizza):

My Fancy Pantry:  Caramelized Onion, Purple Potato and Pistachio Pizza
Spices & Spackle:  Salad Pizza
A Brand New Season:  Pita Pizza
Cupcakes & Couscous:  Veggie Pizza on Portobello Mushroom Cap Crust

Blueberries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As of today I should have lost a total of 23.1 pounds.  I’m way behind.  It’s time for a new perspective on foods and dieting.

When I decided that I wouldn’t do any more fad diets because all I do is lose and then gain it all back (plus some) every time I try, I wasn’t kidding.  It seems to me that there must be a way to lose weight without cutting calories to 1,200 (and completely avoiding anything I enjoy) or exercising 5 hours a day or eating crazy things or taking pills or paying bunches of money to sprinkle stuff on my food so that I won’t feel like eating it.  According to the calorie counter, I have to eat 1,200 calories each and every day between now and December 31 in order to reach my goal.  No.

This morning I was reading “Super Foods for Weight Loss” at Health.com.  It seems that there are certain foods that I need to incorporate into my diet.  The following are foods that they said would kick up your weight loss.

Beans:  black beans, kidney beans, lentils, garbanzo beans

Grains:  oats, brown rice, pearl barley, quinoa

Fruits:  avocado, blueberries, pears, grape fruit, bananas, plantains

Fish:  salmon (wild Alaskan)

Vegetables:  broccoli, potatoes

Nuts:  almonds, pine nuts

Drinks: red wine (or grape juice with resveratrol), green tea

Other: Eggs, dark chocolate, cheese (in particular feta and goat cheese), and low fat milk are also included in the list.

OK… so here comes the change in perspective.

OLD PERSPECTIVE/NEW PERSPECTIVE (At least I can try it and see what happens with my weight)

Beans:  I avoid beans (as much as possible) for obvious reasons (although I do enjoy lentil stew on occasion).

If I eat them enough, my body will get used to them… or Beano can become my best friend.

Grains:  I have huge containers of  various kinds of grains… but they’re a pain in the… well, they’re a pain to make and whole grains are not my family’s favorite foods.

A while back when I was thinking of getting on a health kick I bought all kings of whole grains, including quinoa (which is not really a grain).  Since they’re there, I need to start using them and finding ways to prepare them.  I enjoy cooking and baking, why not experiment with these grains.

Fruits:  I absolutely love fruit, but never thought of plantains and avocado as fruit since they aren’t sweet.  I have to sweeten plaintain by cooking with butter and brown sugar.

Look up ways to make plantains that don’t include frying in butter and sugar.  Why not try it?  Find creative ways to use avocado.

Fish:  Wild Alaskan Salmon isn’t exactly inexpensive.

My family likes it. If it’s good for us, why not spend that little bit extra and make it more often.  Find ways to make it that are creative.

Vegetables:  I love broccoli and potatoes.  But, I read that potatoes are not as healthy as sweet potatoes so we use sweet potatoes more often.

Find healthy ways to prepare potatoes, keep servings small, and enjoy.

Nuts:  Well… I love them, but don’t eat them often because of the fat content.

They contain a healthy kind of fat.  Small servings are good for me.  Eat them!

Drinks:  I don’t care for red wine.  Grape juice has too much sugar.  Green tea is not my favorite.

I don’t care for red wine.  Grape juice has too much sugar (even the specialty ones that have high levels of reversatrol).  Get used to green tea.  It’s good for you.

Other:  I avoid eating eggs (for the most part) because of cholesterol concerns.  I honestly have never thought of chocolate as a diet food.  I never thought of cheese as a diet food.   I drink low fat milk, but not often.

Eat eggs.  New research shows that they don’t give you higher cholesterol.  Get some dark chocolate and eat one little piece every day.  Enjoy feta and goat cheese… heavens knows the hubby and boys won’t eat it.  It will be all mine! Drink more milk… at least 2 eight ounce glasses every day.

OK… so here we go.  This week I will be incorporating these foods into our diet and finding interesting and creative ways to enjoy them.  Let’s see if they help me lose some weight.

Have a blessed week!

We had an absolutely faabulous French meal on Friday evening: Filet Mignon aux Oignons and Gratin Dauphinois.  My camera batteries went dead at the wrong time.  So, I don’t have pictures of my own.  (But, I am that much closer to a decision to get a different camera!)  This, it turns out, is simply a fancy name for the French version of pork roast (the nicest cut) with scalloped potatoes.

I found the recipe for the pork Filet Mignon aux Oignons at French Food Cook.  To be honest, I didn’t follow the recipe precisely.  French cooking includes not only ingredients, but cooking techniques that make it uniquely French.   So, my version is likely not to be considered fully French.

First, I didn’t mince the onions.  Instead, I cut them in half and then sliced them up.  (My husband loves cooked onions so I just left them with a little more shape.)

Second, I didn’t use wine.  I used chicken broth as the cooking liquid.

Third, I put the whole thing into the oven (covered) and baked it until it was tender rather than cooking it on top of the stove.

Result?  This was one of the most flavorful and delicious pork roasts that I have ever put in my mouth.  It was large enough that we had plenty of leftovers to eat again.  (The combination of salt, pepper, onions, chicken broth and juices from the pork made an absolutely amazing, flavorful au jus.)

Gratin Dauphinois (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Gratin Dauphinois was tasty and different from any potato dish we had eaten.  I used nutmeg that I freshly ground (as opposed to bottled, pre-ground nutmeg) over each layer as the recipe stated.  Nutmeg is what gave it a unique flavor.  The recipe called for single cream.  Not knowing what that is, but figuring that I was on the right track, I used light cream.

(Our family is used to scalloped potatoes.  This, although it looked like scalloped potatoes, was very different both in flavor and preparation.  It was much easier and less time consuming to prepare.)

So, as we go on with this week we’ll learn some more about France.  Some time during the week I intend to make a dessert recipe I found at French Food Cook called Berries Cake.

Avoir une semaine merveilleuse!

Well…  It’s Spring.  The County Parks & Recreation Department has all kinds of fun things lined up for which we can sign up, pay, and then play.  The insidious part of the plan is to make parents who haven’t organized their calendars sign up and pay for as many things as possible.  (OK… so a reality check reminds me that this was my problem, not theirs.)

I signed my 6 year old son up for Tae Kwon Do.  He LOVES it.  He obviously started as a beginner and had to earn his white suit and white belt.  He’s excited about working toward his yellow belt now.  There are adults and children together in this class… mostly children.  And my son is the second smallest person in the class.  He’s doing a fantastic job!  (The tiniest guy is 5 and is a real cutie who has already earned his yellow belt.  He’s participated in competitions in the Pee Wee division and has done well for himself.)

I even started thinking about whether I should sign up after seeing a few other adults in the class… at levels from white all the way to black belt.  (Also, there are two other mother/son participants and one father has also joined his wife and son.)  My Doodlebug is rather pleased with the idea that he can practice with me and teach me what he’s learned.  But, I haven’t revved up enough nerve to actually join the class yet.  (He’s been doing it for 6 weeks now.)

They do warm ups (stretches, crunches, push ups, etc.) before starting.  So, when I got back home the first day I decided to do warm-ups just to see if I could do them without looking like a fool.  (Ahhh… the ego of adults.  Or, is it just the ego of me?)  I could bend over as far as the teacher with my arms folded and elbows way down by my shins.  I could do all of the stretches fairly well.  Then I tried push-ups.  Ummmm…..  well….. I got down, but couldn’t push back up again.  So, I tried to do the women’s kind (from my knees).  I got down and back up once but had no control going back down again.  And up a second time?  My arm muscles said, “Forget it!”  (Sigh)   My legs are strong, I can walk for long distances and even run for spurts, I can play games with my son and chase him around… I can even pick him up still (he’s now 63 pounds, even though he doesn’t look it) and swing him around.  At our property I was picking up very large rocks (foundation stones from old log buildings we had taken down) and working on building a wall for a flower bed (which included lots of squatting, bending, lifting, moving).  But, I obviously have to make a huge effort to work on my arm strength.  Maybe I’ll do that for a while before embarrassing my son by joining the class and burying my face in the gym floor.

This past week they were learning the techniques of breaking wood for the first time.  My 6 year old broke wood – one piece with his arm the first try and one piece with a kick the first try.  No fear… just following instructions with intensity and focus.   (At $5 for three pieces that went pretty fast.  The instructor brought the third piece to me for him to use the next time they did wood breaking.)

Well, we had such a good experience with Tae Kwon Do (which will be ongoing each month) that we decided to sign him up for T-ball.  He’s never played before.  Just after that the Parks and Recreations Department put out a new schedule which included tennis for 5 – 7 year olds.  My son has been wanting to learn tennis so badly that he likes to watch it on TV.  For Christmas we bought him a kids’ tennis racket (as did his aunt… so he has two now).   As soon as I saw tennis on the schedule, I signed him up.

Then I went to put everything on the calendar.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!   There is some activity (and in some cases more than one) every single day of the week except Friday and Sunday.

In my enthusiasm (signing him up when I wasn’t at home looking at the calendar on my computer — I really need one of these fancy phones that synchronizes my email and calendar so that I see it no matter where I am) I just added a minimum of 1 1/2 hours to my daily schedule.  Some days as much as 3 hours.  My son has TONS of energy and can handle going from Tae Kwon Do or tennis to t-ball practice or games.  But, for me the next 2 1/2 month schedule is crazy.

We live in the country.  I have to drive him to various places for each of these so not only does he have 1 – 2 activities each day, they’re at different locations.  He’s excited.  But, it just hit me this morning what I really did to myself and my schedule.

But, there’s a problem.  I came from a big city on the West Coast of the United States to the countryside outside a tiny little town in the South.  (OK… to the folks here, it’s a city.  But, the church I used to attend in the big city had a membership that was about 1/5th of the population of our entire county here.  So yes, the city is tiny.)  What a change!!

It took me years to actually like it.  To me it was not convenient.  It’s not near the kind of major shopping, hair salons, nail salons and other conveniences that I used to enjoy.  (Yes, we have hair and nail salons and stores.)  The closest health food store is about 50 minutes drive away.  My favorite grocery store is about 45 minutes away.  I ruin every pair of shoes I have on a gravel driveway.  (Oh… for a house in the city like I used to own with a lovely driveway where I can drive right into the garage, close the garage door behind me, and walk into the house, shoes unassaulted by large and sharp pieces of gravel… a place that is minutes away from shopping, groceries, restaurants, and entertainment.  Not that I ever spent a lot of money on entertainment, but it was nice to know that it was there if I wanted to see a play, a musical or a show)  And, I hate bugs and snakes… both of which we have to watch here. (Can you say Copperhead and Water Moccasin?)  The saving grace was that I commuted to work in the city.  But, I’ve been pretty much in the country for the past 16 months now with very few trips to the city.

(This is why I wrote about being content.  I have had to learn to be content with country living.  Next step… learning to embrace it.)

Well, after all of these years I think I’ve now gotten to the place where I am part-way between being a city girl and being a country girl.

I love baking my own breads and have been learning to garden.  (We’ve had a rather large garden for the past three years.)  I started canning foods for the first time three years ago and have been learning how to make things like pickles, relish, jams and jellies, pepper vinegars, pepper jellies, pear sauce (like apple sauce), pear butter, etc.  An error in making muscadine grape jelly let us enjoy muscadine syrup for our pancakes.

I’m expanding my “repertoire” this year and would like to take a trip to the mountains and get boxes and boxes of apples (for apple sauce, dried apples for snacking, chutney, and apple fillings for apple pie).  Since we live in the South I also want to get boxes and boxes of peaches (one of my favorite fruits) and can them for winter as well as enjoying them fresh.  I’d also like to make peach butter, peach jam and peach fillings for pies.  There’s something really satisfying about going into my pantry and picking out a jar of pear butter to put on toast, going into the freezer and getting pear sauce, or opening one of the many jars of green beans, etc.  Between my husband and me we grew, prepared and canned or froze many things.  This year I will be using the dehydrator to make fruit snacks for the kids, jerky for my husband and much more.  It’s a good feeling (and cuts down on our grocery bill.)  Not bad for a city girl, eh?

Recently (in the last year) I started reading Mother Earth News.  It’s about modern homesteading.  OK… so the idea sounds romantic.  I like the idea of having my own acreage and going off grid (producing our own electricity).  I actually have gotten to the place where I asked my husband if we might be able to get chickens.  But, on second thought… I have to weigh the benefits against the problems.  Eggs that are fresher (and healthier since they’d be free-range) than any grocery store eggs could be vs. the risk of being pecked when I try to collect the eggs, the dreaded chicken poop, and the smell.  (My nose is way to sensitive.)   And then there’s the responsibility of taking care of animals and making sure they’re healthy.  I’m leaning toward chickens… maybe my husband can take care of them?????  (Sigh…  I guess if I want the benefits I have to deal with the inconveniences.)

We have some acreage where we’re going to build a house.  We’re clearing it by hand for now and it’s a huge amount of work.  It’s beautiful (especially this time of year when everything is green), but full of trees at the moment.  Once we cleared away enough trees, the proper officials came to approve placement of the septic tank and well.  But, at this rate it will be a while before we actually build.  I go over there and work as much and as hard as I can until I get a heat headache or until my back protests.  But, my husband (bless his heart) has done most of the work.  My sister-in-law has come and done a lot of work, too!  When the house is built, the next project will be to put in the gardens and make it an oasis, a place of retreat.

I have already said that I want a cement driveway, a garage, and side walks going to the house.  No more ruining shoes.  No more getting muddy in the rain.  If I can have that convenience, then living in the country won’t be so difficult for a city girl after all.

Hm.  To a real country person, that might be kind of like saying that I want to go camping… but, only if I can do it in a motor home?  OK… so my husband calls me a Princess.  But, he loves me just the way I am, city-girl and all.

]]> http://anoasisathome.com/2012/04/13/learning-to-be-a-country-girl/feed/ 5 sbcreationshome Property 2