End of Year Recap

My gosh the blog is dusty!  I guess I better open some windows and let in a little fresh air.  Apologies to anyone who was actively following the blog.  The year just got away from me.

I wanted to look back at how I did on last year's resolutions, so here is a brief retrospective.  (AKA, how Jen dropped the ball and/or changed her mind so very many times!)

Jen's List 2011

1. Knit or sew one project per week.  Well, this one lasted until about May, when I started my new job.**  I did manage to knit a dog (pictures coming), some toys, and created a pattern for an arm sling for my mother's upcoming surgery.  So the year wasn't without projects.  I just lacked the vision and time to keep motivated.  And the Etsy shop I created for my knitting has completely stagnated.  Chalk one up to wasted effort!
2. Chickens.  This one got shunted to the side for a year.  We needed to do some other projects first, and then the well broke, and the van died and we had to buy a truck, and then the heatpump died and we had to get it fixed, and then ...  You get the picture.  But next year, baby.  Next year.  And goats.  Maybe.
3. Wood-burning stove.  Well, Last year I stated that "the heat pump just can't hack these winters."  It turns out that the heat pump has a major leak.  It can't hack anything!  So we had it tuned up and decided to delay the wood-burning stove and see if the heat pump could actually function for a winter.  So far, so good.  The house is warm enough and the energy bills are reasonable, so far.  But it will need to be replaced in the next year or so.   And the thought of that sets my blood pressure rising.
4. Financial end. Isn't this always a work in progress?  Fell off the wagon a bit this year, but still moving forward.  Enough said about that.
5. Financial, part two.  Um, yeah.  See above.
6. Garden!  The garden did pretty well this year, but suffered from some neglect, potato bugs, and clay soil that still needs some work.  Our seeds didn't wash away, but I think next year I am going to buy seedlings.  Growing the seeds myself was a lost cause for a lot of things (ahem, squash!)  We did have an amazing bumper crop of okra, which I pickled and canned.  And we had potatoes.   I had to go and buy a supplemental crop of tomatoes just to have some to can, but it is all gone, already.  Our garlic came up great (but is long gone), and I have already planted next year's crop.
7. Rain barrels.  I don't know why this project didn't happen, but all that we have done with our barrels for now is try to keep the hornets from nesting in them!
8. Mud.  Grr, mud.  This project was a total success!  Husband created a wonderful stone patio that has completely solved the mud problem.  Very cool.  I should post pictures.  The dogs are happy, I am happy, everything is sunshine and roses!
9. Then I am getting the carpets cleaned!  Or not
10. Keep trying one new dinner recipe per week.  This fell completely apart as I readjusted to working full-time.  But it is a great resolution to carry over into 2012.

**Oh, I haven't mentioned my new job?  Well, it seems that I was in desperate need of a good serving of my own words  So I ate them! 

Last October, I was offered a position at a local library.  For reasons of my own, I turned them down.  Then, in March, they contacted me and asked if I would reconsider.  It seems that the person they had hired when I declined didn't work out.  So I reconsidered.  After a lot of thought and discussion, I accepted and am so glad I did.  It is funny what a little time and perspective can do.  I now have a wonderful job in a great community, my kids are in a fun afterschool program, and it all worked out well.  It has been a hard adjustment for me, getting back into the full-time swing of things.  My craft projects were the first to suffer, but my exercise and diet focus also suffered.  Which means that while I am feeling very proud of my work, I am not very proud of myself. 

2012 will be a year for finding balance between work and home, wants and desires, fitness and relaxation, and homesteading and modern living.  Finding that balance should be interesting.  Maybe I will even find the words to blog about it.

Well I'm not asking for one!

I recently sat around with a group of women and the talk inevitably turned to birth stories.  As usually happens, the group talked about the size of their children at birth, the humorous side stories, and our husbands.  When it was my turn, I told how my first child was 9 lbs 2 oz, and I delivered naturally.  One woman laughed with derision and said, "you know they don't give out medals for having a natural delivery.   That is why they make drugs."

I didn't respond, but what I wanted to yell was, "I'm not asking for a medal!"  But I do want the right to express my full birth story without judgment from the other women present.  This isn't the first time I have heard this sentiment, and I admit I don't fully understand it.  Why the hate, ladies?

I chose to have a natural delivery; I chose to deliver in a birth center, with a midwife.  I made informed choices based on my wants and beliefs.  What I didn't do was make any statement whatsoever about anyone else's choices.  Truly there is no competition or judgement here.  Every woman has a different experience: a hospital delivery, home birth, midwife delivery, epidurals, emergency C-section, inducement, natural labor, slow labor, fast labor.  Your story is your story, not a commentary on the way birth should be. 

My story is mine.  And I have a right to be proud.  As any woman who has ever delivered a child from her body knows, it is a life-changing experience.  Not just because you made a person, but because you chose to put your body through something difficult and stressful and came out stronger at the end of it all.  Because deep down, we all wonder if we can do it. 

Part of my story includes that I labored and delivered without drugs.  And that my children were large!  My choice; my story; my equal voice in the community of women telling birth stories.

That is all the medal I want.

Waiting for a Hero

In most fiction it is fairly easy to tell which character is the protagonist.  Some gifted authors may lead you to sympathy for a rogue character, but you still have that gut instinct that you are cheering on the right person.  Or even that there is a protagonist.

So what do you do when you read an author like George R. R. Martin?  A phenomenally gifted author, Martin is someone for whom you cannot let down your guard.  In his A Song of Ice and Fire series, which has become blazingly popular with the new HBO series, Game of Thrones, based on the first novel, you find yourself constantly looking for the hero.  Which character should you cheer for, who will prevail in the end?  It is hard to choose; there are so many intricate characters, so many interwoven plotlines. 

Well let me tell you a secret.  Don't get attached.  Martin pulls no punches, and to quote my review (egotistical, I know) which goes live today, "No character is safe, no ending assured."  That is the truth of Songs of Ice and Fire and that is the truth of his newest, wonderful installment,  A Dance With Dragons, which is on shelves today!

Go ahead and cheer for the ones you love, I do. But prepare for the heartbreak.  George R. R. Martin is a master, and the reader is but a slave to his imagination.  Winter is coming!

Taters!

Three of our potato plants wilted and died today.  So I decided to pull them out.  I admit, I was half hoping I would find one little potato.  Instead, I found...

Aren't they beautiful?  These are Yukon Gold potatoes.  I am now more motivated to take care of the other, sad, ugly potato plants.  Here's hoping they are cooking up more, gorgeous tatties!

Happy Father's Day

Tonight, some pirates and I are providing a fresh Father's Day dinner of BBQ chicken and homemade cornbread.

With a salad of greens, carrots and onions directly from our garden.

Delicious.

Happy Father's Day, babes!

We May Have Enough

Today I taught myself to braid garlic! 

Isn't it pretty?

There are two types of garlic, as you know: hardneck and softneck.  You can't braid the hardneck variety.  (Guess why!)

But you can make bunches.

Once the garlic is braided and/or bunched, you hang it until you need it.

Here's hoping I did this right!

Oh, and I think we are going to have enough garlic to last quite a while.

Project 20 - Sea Turtle

I decided to make my own pattern for a sea turtle and I am so proud!  And I am counting it as a weekly project since I had to do math to figure out the pattern.  Math is hard!

Do you like it?  Do you want to see more pictures?  Do you want one?  (Cue shameless self-promotion...)  This one is up for sale on my etsy site!  More to follow!