Wednesday on the Homestead

Good morning!!

It may be afternoon already for some of you. I slept in a little this morning and it was so nice.  After a couple nights of less than great sleep, it felt good to get some needed rest. 

After I got up I made myself a cup of coffee and went outside on my deck to enjoy my coffee and the beautiful warm morning. It was wonderful to soak up all that natural vitamin D.

I purchased that little pink watering can last year. I planted some flowers in it which worked ok except without drainage holes the flowers didn't grow very robustly. I may have my hubby drill a few holes in the bottom and see if I have better luck this year. 

Since my  last visit with you I've been doing a bit more spring cleaning. I emptied out a few cupboards in my kitchen and got them cleaned out. And I've been going through more things to clean out and get rid of.  After years of living in the same house and having raised 8 children in the house my desire now is to reduce things to just what my hubby and I actually need. 

I find things I've kept that were great when I had children (like 8 loaf pans because I weekly made homemade bread for my family for 20 some years).  I have 3 9x13 pans, numerous cookie sheets, muffin pans, jelly roll pans, etc..  I've been going through that and setting aside things to offer to my kids and take in for donation. 

The whole concept of minimalist living appeals to me. So I'm working to define what is the basic list of what we need. After 30+ years of raising children and acquiring things I'm moving in the opposite direction. I don't want to clean, store and manage stuff anymore. 

The weather here in the last week has been so beautiful! One evening we sat outside and enjoyed a bbq.  My duck, Ping, decided to come up and hang out with us.  He's so cute and we love his company..

Goals

I have a lot on my to-do list today. 

I have 2 grandchildren with birthday's this month so I need to get their cards ready to go out in the mail.

Yesterday I removed all the ham left from the bone and cut it up. I then made stock in my Instant Pot from the bone. I put it in the fridge last night so I could remove the fat.  Today I plan to can up what I have. It may not be a whole lot but I'd rather have it on the shelf ready to go then to have it frozen. My freezer is pretty full at the moment anyway. 

And I have my regular chores:

~vacuum (actually as I write this my Roomba is busy at work covering that task for me! :D )

~mop kitchen floor

~sweep and mop bathroom floor - the only job I didn't do when I cleaned the bathroom

Dinner preps? Not sure with all the other kitchen things. I may just send one of my homemade frozen meals to work with hubby and I'll have a salad.

Walking - the day is to beautiful not get out and soak it all in 

For the Love of Books!

I finished Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and loved it! It was a fairly quick read, either that or I spent more time reading than I should have, ha, ha! :) 

Now what to read? I'm thinking on it, Kidnapped? Great Expectations? Another Willa Cather novel? Sherlock Holmes?  Treasure Island? So many possibilities!

Projects

My current project is getting my ham and ham broth canned up. 

Fitness and Health

I've been out as often as possible this last week! Walking anywhere from 2 to 5 miles depending on how much time I had and how much energy I had, LOL! :D 

I've also been keeping my diet on track with eating lots of fruits and veggies each day and getting more and more whole grains added in. It's not perfect, but the goal is not perfection to me. The goal is building life long good eating habits and developing a better relationship with food. 

That may sound odd, I don't know. But one thing I found after living with a feeding tube for 2 months was that pretty much all that we eat has nothing to do with feeling full. It's all about the mind and emotional connection we have towards eating.  That 2 months gave me a whole new perspective on eating and living life.

Food is important and good food tastes amazing, but is it in the right place in my life?  I've found in the past whenever I would go on a diet or some new eating plan and suddenly all I thought about was food. What I was going to eat, how I was going to fix it, portion size or sticking to my eating plan, how many carbs? Is my meal Keto? How many calories? Points?, whatever it might be. For me, and I can only speak for me, that's way more focus on food then I'm willing to put in. 

I defined, for me, what I felt was a healthy diet and I do the best I can to create good food from the huge variety of foods God has put on this earth. And then I eat to fuel my body, not my mind or emotions. 

Life has so much to offer and I want to spend my time focusing on many other things in life besides food. 

I know everyone is different, and this is just my own perspective. :)

View from my Deck

Just lovely is the word for today! :)

 

Today's weather: High: 67 Low: 40

That's all for this week my friends,

Crystal