Balancing

I feel blessed to have been raised by parents with an exceptional concept of work/life balance. Exceptional, because it was the exception. It was steady on work, heavy on life. We didn't have a lot, but boy we had A LOT! We learned about doing things well, but not doingdoingdoing all the time. We had chores and responsibility, but we also read a lot of books, spent a lot of time playing in the cow pasture, and were constantly creating.

This heritage is ingrained in me, and is part of my inspiration to shift to a different pace now that we have reached the parenting phase of life. I'm now working outside of the home only 2 days a week, and hope do so even less as/if our family expands, but the balance is perfect for now. Maybe it's not necessary...many moms have more kids than me and work full time. But it seems necessary for me and mine. I guess is what matters.

Once I had the idea that this schedule change would equal a spotless house and lots of completed projects. So far, though, it has meant more time to play with my kiddo, more dirty laundry from playing in the mud, more time spent putting together puzzles and playing "africa toys", and more projects left half finished because of a little boy begging "play with me, mom". Playing seems to be the theme.

My own Mom was 46 when she died. I was never blessed to meet my mother-in-law, who was also in her 40s when she died. Every day this reminds me that getting is less important than giving...giving time, experiences, tickles, snuggles, songs, kisses, horsey rides, all the good stuff. This post is more of a note-to-self than anything; something to remember when I feel left behind by the Joneses. This is the life I am choosing!

Piles

I hate piles. They are a sign of things unfinished: unread mail piles, unfolded clothes piles, unfiled paper piles, unorganized junk piles, unwashed clothes piles, things-to-be-taken-upstairs piles, unwashed dishes piles, things-to-give-away piles. They make life cluttered and create stress!

In 2011, I'm going to try to eliminate piles. Well, within reason! Obiously I will not run a load of laundry until I have accumulated a enough of a pile to make it worthwhile, but that takes all of 5 minutes so it won't be an obstacle. Why is this a worthwhile goal? Because I want to develop a new habit of dealing with things now rather than later--the physical piles, electronic piles, and other "unseeable" piles. I tend to set things aside to deal with later, usually because I tell myself "I don't have time for this right now". In truth, that is rarely the case. I DO have time to unload the dishwasher. What does it take? 5 minutes? I DO have time to throw in a load of laundry first thing in the morning. I DO have 2 seconds to pick up a pair of shoes. I DO have 2 minutes to return an email, write a thank-you card, or make a phone call. I have this awful, lazy habit of ignoring things, but these things don't go away, and I will have to deal with them eventually, so why not now?

Learning

Sometimes I get a little high on myself. I think "hey, I can garden and can and cook and do it all pretty well". And then my homemade pectin isn't pectin-y. And my homemade pickles match the textbook description of spoiled pickles that should not be eaten. And it freezes the night that I don't cover my tomatoes. And the only butternut squash that has survived the great squash bug infestation of 2010 (which I fully intended to harvest but my hands were full so I decided it could use a few more days on the vine) also freezes and is then discovered by the ever-expanding squash bug colony.

But I'm good with it. I'm learning things. Every flubbed attempt builds a little more character and expertise (as in What Not To DO expertise, which is really quite valuable). And guess what? My relish is SCRUMPTIOUS, my hubby and kid have downed gallons of homemade-pure-and-unsweetened grape juice within the last week, and there are plenty of edible things hanging out in the pantry and freezer waiting to grace our table this winter.

I'm sure the magpies will be ever so thankful for the spoiled pickles.

The Jungle

Every year I tell myself I will do better about this, and every year I forget. Staking/caging tomatoes is a trial for me! I know it's not that hard, but (like cleaning toilets) I dread it so much that I make it out to be a huge task and then I just avoid it!

Alas, this means that picking tomatoes requires hacking through a jungle. Do you know how frustrating it is to see a glimpse of ripe tomato goodnees peeking through the underbrush, yet not be able to get to it without a machete!? Some of my tomato plants have decided that standing up just isn't worth the battle and have decided to lay down on the job, meaning that my lovely ripe tomatoes are often wallowing in the dirt. Since they were all planted in 4-foot square raised beds, the chaos is at least manageable, but it is messy! And somewhere, hiding under all that, are a few straggling basil plants and at least one pepper plant. I know they're in there--I can smell 'em.

I'm pretty sure the mayhem, combined with my inattentiveness to the blossom end-rot problem, will adversely affect production, but I swear that I will do better next year! Meanwhile, does anyone have any ideas for a delicious way to put up eggplant? And let me mention in advance that pickled eggplant just does not sound yummy to me.

The Non-blogger

Almost every day I think of something I would like to blog about, but (obviously) I don't. And why? It's because I don't ever take the time to take pictures. Or, if I do take pictures, they sit on my camera for a month. I so love to read the blogs of people who document their activities with beautiful photos, but this just isn't one of those blogs. It's pretty utilitarian--simply the method by which I update people-who-care with the goings on at our house. So I'll do that!

Our summer raced by, and was full of camping trips, road trips, gardening, weed-pulling, watering, and now harvesting and preserving those garden goodies. I've overcome my fear of the canner and we're becoming fast friends after long hours in the kitchen together. I now open my pantry door to the delightful sight of jars full of my amateur creations--sour dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, mustard pickles, blackberry jam, grape jelly, plum jam (not actually in the pantry yet, but on it's way), and sweet relish. There are veggies and fruit chillin' in the freezer waiting to be enjoyed this winter, and I am working on creative ways to use my lovely eggplants and leeks.

Luke has gone to a couple of rodeos this summer and the resulting obsession with "buckin' bulls" and "buckin' broncos" has been very entertaining. His stick horse gets a daily workout, and I'm on the hunt for age-appropriate cowboy songs to sing to him at night when he begs for them. Parenting has been wildly entertaining this summer, and I've loved having my sidekick around.

Now, bring on fall! It's time for soup, sweaters, football, boots, rosy cheeks, planting garlic, and getting some venison in the freezer!