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How Do I Manage It All?
Housekeeping and Raising a Family I’m grateful to have found FLYLady over twenty years ago after I moved in with my husband and became an instant stepmom. FLYLady helped me overcome the CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in my home and realize that taking care of it all was a demonstration of Finally Loving Yourself. While I have gleaned a lot of great things from my exposure to FLYLady’s philosophy & customizable routines, I have not always been very consistent in my efforts to stay on top of keeping house while raising a family over the years. That’s because I took on more than just managing a house &…
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Freeze Dryer Oil Pump Quandary
I’m just now finishing up my 40th batch of freeze drying with my Harvest Right freeze dryer, and I’m still loving it. 🙂 However, I have the Premier Oil Pump, which needs to have the oil changed every 20-25 uses, and I’ve been in a state of quandary as to how to manage the oil related to it.
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Waving through a Window
Last year I came across the movie musical, Dear Evan Hansen, at a local public library and checked it out. Ever hear of it? Google describes the movie as follows: Evan Hansen is an anxious, isolated high-school student who’s aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social media age. He soon embarks on a journey of self-discovery when a letter he wrote for a writing exercise falls into the hands of a grieving couple whose son took his own life. Google search result Oh.my.goodness.
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Cultured Home Dairy Products
This past week, with the help of friends, we made our first batch of cultured butter & buttermilk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese and whey, all using raw milk obtained from our own milk cow share. It was very empowering & freeing, especially given how good for us I know these cultured foods are. Many years ago I bought the book, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and have only read portions of it thus far, but I refer to it often for a handful of recipes, and am seeking to systematically learn more about preparing & preserving food through alternate means. I knew when the time came for me…
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Freedom Scorecard
I came across this snazzy little tool presented by Tag at LifeDoneFree, which he calls a UGS Calculator. (“UGS” stands for “UnGovernable Score”.) Basically, it’s a gauge to determine how free you are based on what you deem is needed to be free. For a while now, I’ve been trying to keep tabs on taking care of our First- Things-First needs, and thensome, to get as free as we can be. And I really like how Tag has put this spreadsheet together to help monitor one’s progress on achieving freedom in the many aspects of our lives.
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Longing for Community
For many years we have longed for community. However, we weren’t interested in just any kind of community, because we’ve seen (& been a part of) a variety of communities over our lifetime that have left us feeling empty & stagnant. For us, given our concern for what we see going on around us & our passionate vision for the future (particularly for our kids!), we have desired to develop relationships with folks who are dedicated to actively cooperating their way out of the System. And then, naturally, we’d like to cooperate with them to achieve that in our own respective little worlds. So, beyond simply meeting & knowing people…
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Opting out of CBDC
Yesterday, I received an email announcing a 5-Day CBDC Opt-out Challenge, which appears to be promoting the idea of utilizing cryptocurrency. While I’m not a big fan of crypto, I personally do not want to jump on board the CBDC wagon. So, I’m doing what I can to migrate away from using digital dollars. We sell products online. We’ve been doing it for decades now. It’s what has enabled us to stay home to raise & homeschool our kids and build our homestead. But now, seeing the direction things are going in the world out there, I don’t want to continue down that path much longer.
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Shabbat Shalom, Y’all
In 2009, or thereabouts, I began researching & studying the US Constitution, and the course I was taking led me to read the book of Deuteronomy anew. (The course itself was not religious in nature — it just referenced the books of the Bible where the Ten Commandments were listed.) So, after a short while, having meditated on the chapter containing the Ten Commandments (chapter 6), I took to heart the instruction (verses 6-9) to teach these commandments diligently to the children & talk about them all the time, posting them at one’s gates and on the posts of one’s home. Thus began my Ten Commandments Campaign.
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My Freeze-Drying Future
Last fall, we planned on processing our ginormous (yes, that’s a real word) fence-jumping Black Angus steer. However, when the day came to load him onto the trailer to go meet his Maker, a series of unfortunate events took place, to include the mangling of several cattle panels and garden fencing. Therefore his ticket to ride went to two other smaller animals, and that beast lived to see another day. 🙁 Knowing this mammal needed to end up in our freezer, sooner than later, yet our freezer space would be limited given the other two animals, we had to come up with either another massive freezer or another plan to…
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Scrolling Without Comment
I saw a meme this morning that someone shared on Facebook which read: “I saw a post I didn’t agree with. -I chose not to get offended. -I chose not to change their mind. -I chose not to comment. -I still like the person. I just kept scrolling and went on with my day.” – Dr, Shawne.com I realize the intent of this post was likely to point out the idea that it is possible to still like someone who posts something we don’t agree with. But when I read it, I homed in on the part that said, “I chose not to change their mind. – I chose not…
