declutter

Nearly everywhere in my life, there is clutter. Clutter in my home, in my body and mind, in my relationships. On my computer, in my car, my purse...

The list goes on and on.

I am tired of the clutter. Of the unnecessary. Off the too much. It makes me feel unwell, unhappy, frustrated, overwhelmed, exhausted.

It makes me be...not me.

I haven't really worked out all of the specifics yet on how I'm going to do so, but there is major life decluttering in my future. Today, I started with the possessions/home aspect and took some time to tackle an area that has been plaguing me for awhile:  my bills/mail/stationery cabinet.

Once upon a time, this had been an area where I could put my hands instantly on whatever I needed and not also instantly have an avalanche. I spent some time on it today and it makes me so happy just looking at the neat-and-organized-ness.  Plus, I don't have to dread opening the door any more! Score.

I still need to go through the file folders up there on the top left, and probably the basket too, but I left them for now. Baby steps.

Tomorrow, I will take another step on my life-decluttering journey. I am participating in a 7-day clean food challenge (I will talk it more in-depth about soon!) which will hopefully help my body detoxify and heal, as well as prepare me for the healthier and gluten-free lifestyle that I keep putting off. No sugar, alcohol, dairy (no cheese?!! This may kill me), gluten, or caffeine. 

I need to go to the grocery store...and binge on cheese.

this one's for the birds...

I like making things. Not only do I like having a finished product that I created, but I like the process of creating. I like it so much that I will spend the good portion of a Saturday making suet cakes that I could buy at the store for less than $2 each.

Okay, that's a bit of a stretch. I didn't realize that it was going to take me so long, or how much effort would be involved. I'm not so sure this is a project I'll be tackling again.

Although, if I get some new feathered visitors to my backyard --or my cardinals come back-- I may rethink this.

You can use vegetable shortening, but since we had beef fat included in the cow share we bought this past summer, I used that. When using animal fat, you are supposed to chop it up before you put in the pan, but since I wanted to handle this as little as possible, I broke it up with a knife IN the pan. That worked okay, but I did eventually had to put some of the bigger chunks into my Magic Bullet, as they didn't seem to want to melt.

After it melted, I strained the very lumpy (ew) liquid through four layers of cheesecloth into another pan and left it for a few hours to cool. I forgot to grab photos of these steps.

Then, you melt it a second time, and strain it again. It looks a lot less disgusting the second time around, and you can almost pretend you're not poking a spoon around in animal fat.

Once it has been strained that second time, you don't have to let it cool before you start adding the treats for the birdies. First, I added a large dollop of peanut butter and stirred until smooth. Next, I added in some cornmeal...

...and then some rolled oats...

...and then the birdseed. 

Poured into a foil-lined 8x8 pan. (Most of the birdseed and all of the oats sank to the bottom. Oh well.) Left overnight to cool and set.

End result!
Four suet cage-sized cakes that smell whole lot like peanut butter fudge. The missing piece is already outside waiting to be sampled and these remaining three will go into the freezer for later.

And now? 

I'm going to spend the remainder of the day stalking my bird feeders watching for any takers via the kitchen window :)

facts, and a fiction.

After two doctors appointments, three doses of antibiotics, six missed days of school, and eight days of bedrest, Lily went back to school this morning. She's still not 100%, but she's getting there. She doesn't know it yet, but she'll be resting plenty more over the weekend. She's going to love that.

(On Monday morning, I took her back to the doctor. Double ear infection. Didn't call that at all, did I?) 

With missed school comes makeup homework, and hers arrived in the form of math (addition), science (sun/moon), and writing (stories!!). Lily has been writing stories for a year now, and the idea of it still blows my mind. Kindergarten, and writing stories. When we were in kindergarten, my husband and I were learning how to write letters and numbers. Our daughter was expected to put sentences together in a "beginning, middle, end" format before she could even spell many of the words she wanted to use. Craziness.

I couldn't help but be impressed (and touched) by her newest, completed on Tuesday afternoon:

The last page, especially, made me smile. We love you too, Lilybug.

it's an orange! it's a candle! it's an orange candle!

Pinterest. The place where I spend way too much time browsing and repinning amazing things to my various boards. The recipes, creative ideas, and inspiration are endless, and I just...

LOVE it. 

One of the things I'd seen here and there, and eventually pinned to my "Crafty" board was using the hollowed out skin of half an orange to make a candle. While I have found (and pinned) many projects I want to try, this one was something I could easily accomplish without making a special trip to any store. Lately, we almost always have oranges in the house.

So, on Saturday, after choosing the squishiest orange from our fruit bowl and following the easy instructions, I ended up with:

Which is rather cool looking, but disappointingly not orange-scented. At all. It did, however, impress my husband with its 8+ hour burn time.

It had been burning a few hours when I wondered if maybe adding some orange essential oil would make it fragrant, so I did just that...at which point the whole thing kind of caught on fire. Oops. That experience has me suggesting you add that when you pour in the olive or vegetable oil. I couldn't smell orange even after adding the essential oil, but maybe it all burned off in the subsequent inferno  *smile*

Honestly, I probably won't be trying this again, but it was a fun experiment. It would definitely make a pretty (and easy) addition to centerpieces for a summer or fall themed dinner table, though, so there's always that.

"you know, mom..."

I'm starting to learn I should always brace myself for whatever follows those words. I truly never know what is coming. But, back to that in a minute.

Our daughter is in first grade, and therefore, sick more often than not. We're currently in the middle of battling yet another illness; one that's brought along with it a relatively high fever and pretty persistent cough. This is Day 5, and I think --dare I hope??-- she might be on the mend.

As these things often have a way of turning into one sort of infection (ear) or another (bronchitis) for her, I took her to the pediatrician on Thursday morning after the day of rest and pushing fluids on Wednesday only seemed to produce higher temperatures and more coughing. This was when we got our diagnosis of "it's viral", and when I resigned myself to the fact we'd most likely be sitting in the same spot again next week and getting an antibiotic for at least one of the fore-mentioned delights.

On our drive home, she was uncharacteristically quiet. I knew she obviously couldn't be feeling very well, but a quick glance over my shoulder proved her to be doing okay, so I left her to herself and me to the radio. For all I knew, she was enjoying Phil Collins too. Besides, talking caused (and is still causing) her many coughing fits.

What she was actually doing was pondering a fact that had randomly entered her head. And then, doing a little math. When she'd thoroughly thought the whole thing over, she decided she'd let me in on it, very matter-of-factly.

"You know, Mom, in twenty years you'll be 50."



...oy.

sailing away from the safe harbor.

I've gone back and forth on the whole idea of blogging for years. Sometimes I think I want to do it, then two seconds later (and usually after spending a day setting a new blog up), I decide don't. As I am an intensely private person, I've never been big on sharing my life or my thoughts with people outside my inner circle, something I blame partially on growing up in a small town --where everybody knows your business, often before you do. (Ironically enough, we are again living a small town life, albeit a different one, where no one knows us, and that has ended up being kind of lonely at times. Go figure.)

So, what made me decide to blog? To finally, really blog?

In two and a half months, I'm going to be thirty years old. All things considered, I've had a pretty great run of it so far, but. There are things that could be better. Things that I would like to do. 

Things that I would like to change. Need to change.

So, I'm starting here, with this blog. Putting myself a little more out into the world --stepping outside my comfort zone, so to speak-- and hopefully growing (and changing) in the process.

Here's to another thirty years...and more. Welcome to my journey.

“Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

 ~Mark Twain