Two Frog Home

After a long day, I love coming home to a nice meal and my sweetie.  Who doesn’t?  However, cooking a nice meal after a long day, isn’t always my favorite thing to do.  I love to cook but sometimes I just want something to fill my stomach and fast.  A little planning and a well stocked pantry can be saviors on those nights.  Thankfully, my sweetie generally arrives home just a few minutes after me, so that part is a given.

Thanks to some planning and a well stocked pantry, our good meal was quick, filling, and healthy.  Yesterday, I made some food for the week ahead, including a big pot of soup and Cheddar, corn, & herb muffins for our lunches.  I also made some meatloaf muffins and cooked up some mexican rice that were perfect with a jar of green beans heated up for dinner.  I’m not a huge fan of the microwave, rarely use it in fact, but on nights like this one, it was perfect to reheat a quick hearty meal.  Dinner conversation was light and cheery.  After dinner, we took a quick trip to the library for new reads and now I’m settled into the recliner, with a heating pad trying to relax some back spasms getting ready to curl up with my latest book finds.

These are the moments when my body just relaxes into the joys of home.  These are also the moments when I realize, I’m getting older (a heating pad and a recliner, for pete’s sake).  Most importantly these are the moments when I just feel loved and safe because, in the end isn’t that what home is about?

Phelan over at A Homesteading Neophyte  gave me a perseverance award.  Thank you so much.  I saw your post earlier this week and was overwhelmed by it, it never ceases to amaze me how things happen in a Godly time.

I was feeling rather moody earlier this week.  Like anyone, with lots of dreams and goals, I get discouraged sometimes.  Sometimes I feel like everything is so far out of reach.  I begin to wonder if I can possibly accomplish everything I dream of, can Jeff and I make all those silly late night “pipe dreams” come true?  I try not to dwell on those thoughts, because I do believe the greater part of life is made up of my disposition not my circumstances.  I don’t write about those thoughts often either, not because I don’t have them, but because I sometimes fear that putting them down on paper, or the computer screen, somehow gives them more validity than if I just let them run their course in my mind, eventually I get tired of those thoughts and just move on.  Phelan’s award came at a time when I needed to remember that life does require a lot of perseverance sometimes.  Sometimes we just have to put our heads down, get to work, and suck it up. Is it always pleasant?  No.  Is it worth doing?  Absolutely.

In the words of Adrian Monk, “here’s the thing:” the best things in life seem to come by hard work in my opinion.  I’ve accomplished a ton, and want to accomplish a lot more.  However, no matter what, I’m incredibly blessed and if this is the best that life gets, so be it.  I’ve already got it much better than a good percentage of the world, and I know it.  Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am a very spoiled American woman who has been incredibly blessed and I shouldn’t take that for granted for one millisecond.

The good thing about not taking it for granted is that I can suck it up and persevere, because honestly, I’m good at that.  I’m not bragging, its true.  I know and have known for a long time, that no one is going to hand me my dreams, so while I may not make them all come true - I’ll die trying and I’ll persevere until I’m on my death bed, because I believe without that, I’m not really alive anyway.

Phelan passed the award onto 5 other bloggers and I’m going to do the same.  While many bloggers inspire me, just check out my 5 Friday Favorite posts, these 5 in particular have inspired me in their own perseverance at various times over the years:

• Tansy over at Dancing in a Field of Tansy
• Maria over at Dirt Under My Nails
• Deb over at Sand Creek Almanac
• Nickie over at Girl Gone Gardening
• Shannon over at Not So Virtual Homestead

Happy Easter! Besides the obvious gift of Christ’s resurrection, this weekend has been full of amazing gifts for me.

This morning, I made some sourdough pancakes in frog, bunny, and duck shapes as part of my Easter gift to Jeff.  I’m happy to say they turned out quite well.  Honestly, I can’t believe its taken me so long to embrace sourdough and all of its many possibilities.  I gave Jeff the sweet pancake shapes and I hate the “scraps” with some real maple syrup. 

Yesterday, I received the gift of a very good job offer.  Jeff and I took the day to think about it and after a small bit of negotiating, I accepted the offer today.  I start on April 1st.  I can admit, that at first I was hesitant, mainly because I’m enjoying not working so much.  However, at this stage of life, I need a good paying job so that we can continue working on our home/property ownership goals and dreams.  Those goals include as little debt as possible on that home as well and this job will only help us accomplish those goals sooner.  I’m excited about this new possibility, despite my initial hesitation.

Jeff cleaned out my car and it is sparkling (I had spilled some soil from potted plants I brought home from my old office)!  That was an unexpected but oh, so appreciated Easter gift.  He also took me to get a new iron.  My old Rowenta died, and considering the number of sewing projects I have going on, an iron is a necessity.  I got a new Black & Decker Digital Advantage, after reading several good reviews of the product.  It’s much better than my Rowenta (which was at least 8 years old), this model produces a ton of steam and quickly irons my most wrinkled cotton - the Rowenta took forever to do the same task. 

Happy Easter!

Ok so, it was after noon not after midnight, but the song’s been on my mind today.  Given that I’m on no particular schedule and that spring like weather is upon us, I’ve been taking afternoon walks everyday lately.  Today, I walked down to Harvest Health Shoppe to visit and pick up some needed items.  I hit the bulk spice shelves, first.  I had specific needs, but always take a moment to look at the spices and herbs in all their rich colors to make sure there isn’t something else I want to try, or something that just catches my eye.  The great thing about buying my herbs and spices this way, besides just supporting a locally owned business is that its way cheaper than buying them at the grocery store.  I save jars like crazy and have plenty to store these treasures without having to buy pre-filled jars for twice the price.

It was a cool but bright afternoon and I passed many other folks out walking around enjoying the sunshine and signs of impending spring.  I spotted these lovely beauties during my walk:

It is nice to know that winter is more or less over, and there’s a new season to enjoy.

Farewell flowers sent to me from a sub-contractor / partner agency I worked closely with for the last 5 years.

Today is my last day at my current job, the job I’ve had for more or less the last 6 years.  I’m actually employed through March 28th, but am using my 12 sick days to finish out the month.  I’ve had a few months to process the loss am now just ready for it to be over, and for the next step to begin.  I’m no longer angry, sad, or fearful.  I am just ready and excited.  Excited for what comes next and it seems I needed for this phase to be over to fully be ready for whatever does come next because nothing has been completely solidified yet, though there seems to be several possibilities on the horizon.  

I’ve had a few job interviews in the last few months and another scheduled for tomorrow.  I’ve been contacted by several folks interested in hiring me as an independent contractor to do some bookkeeping and personal assistant work.  It seems, I have nothing to fear.  While I always knew that on a rational level, I needed to see it and feel it on an emotional level and that took time.  My dear Jeff, as always, has been incredibly wonderful and supportive.  He’s had to remind me daily it seems, that we are in a good position right now - we’ve planned and saved for just this kind of event.  It’s sad how many times, he’s had to repeat it for me to truly accept it.  There have been a lot of great lessons in letting go, trusting, planning, and dreaming lately.

Oh the dreaming!  Jeff and I have been dreaming, scheming, and planning lately.  What else do we want to do?  Where else would we want to go?  What can we do?  What can’t we do?  It’s been a fun time of just talking and dreaming and letting wild ideas come flowing out of our hearts, minds, and mouths.  The intial fear of losing a job and income have been replaced with joyful free-thinking and old-fashioned excitement.   Good things are coming and while we don’t know what those good things are, we have no doubt that they are on the horizon.  No matter what comes, we’re ready.  We’re watching for signs, talking, dreaming, and preparing for that next door to open.

Of course, there’s no shortage of things to do, until that door opens.  Who has time to work, really?  There’s gardening, canning, sewing, cooking, loving, laughing, reading, and hugging to do.  Ok, in all seriousness, there are a multitude of chores to do and it seems my to do list doubles every day as I plan for some “free” time.  I’m ready for what comes next, but will make sure to take advantage of all the time I’m being given now.

I’m grateful for this opportunity and while its taken a few months for me to get to that point, I’m glad I’m here now.

I just loved the way this seam looked and had to take its picture. 

The sun is shining yet again and its such a beautiful day.  I’m glad it’s not overcast so that we can see the lunar eclipse in all its glory, later.  The natural light streaming into my sewing room seems to stimulate my creative mind.  I’ve been doing a little sewing and some boring paperwork, but continually basking in the gorgeous sunlight.  I must say there’s nothing like a few bright sunny days to get a gardening soul through a Montana February.

A lunch bag & flatware roll in progress, will be added to my shop by the end of this month.

Yesterday I cut Jeff’s hair for the first time.  It was the first time, I’ve cut anyone’s hair as a matter of fact.  Jeff hates going to the barbershop and a few weeks back asked me to learn how to cut his hair.  I did watch some videos and read a book in hopes of learning how to do it without him having to wear a hat until it grew out.  (He does wear a hat to work, but still I was hoping the hat wouldn’t be a necessity from my bad cutting job.)

In the morning, I met a girlfriend for coffee (someone I don’t get together with nearly enough), after a while she asked about my plans for the day.  I told her about my haircutting plans.  She’s been a stay-at-home as long as I’ve known her, I didn’t really know what she had done previous to children in the way of employment.  She told me she used to be a hair dresser and was happy to come home with me and give a lesson if both Jeff and I were up to it!  I called Jeff from the cafe and explained the offer, he too was happy to have her come by and give me a lesson.

We set up a chair and mat in the kitchen and got to work.  I’m happy to say it went really well.  Having her explain it to me and show me piece by piece was so very wonderful!  It was so much better than reading the book or watching the video and she was such a great teacher.  Honestly, it went so much better because of her lesson.  Jeff is quite pleased with his haircut and I’m much more confident of my ability moving forward.  I’ve read plenty of frugal living books in my day and I know that haircutting is something mentioned often, now I can successfully apply that in our life.  I can’t possibly thank my friend enough but in an effort to try I made her some cinnamon raisin bread this morning to be delivered later.

My time with her before we came home was so uplifting as well.  She’s just such a sweet spirit and our conversation is always so God-centered that there’s no way I could come away feeling anything less than wonderful.  I really do need to make it a point to get together with her more often. 

Last week, just about everyone Jeff works with was absent from work one day or another due to a cold they seemed to be passing around.  Of course, Jeff brought it home though he was hit rather mildly, just some sniffles.  I woke up at around 1 a.m. with a sore throat and the sniffles myself.  I took a drink of water, thinking my throat was simply dry, I couldn’t be coming down with a cold after all.  I went to the gym as usual at 5 am but after my shower I could tell I was getting a cold.  I took some Zicam and had some mint tea and have been repeating the process every 3 hours.  (Tea before Zicam - you’re not supposed to eat or drink for 15 minutes after taking Zicam).  I don’t generally tout products or product reviews on this blog, but I have to say I really like Zicam.  It works for me - it doesn’t mask the symptoms like many over the counter products do but I can say I move through the cold much more rapidly then when I don’t take it.

Think the cat likes watching and being near me or just the warmth of that lamp?

I’m losing my job.  There’s a ton of back story (isn’t there always?), but in a nutshell the board has decided to move the office to another city in Montana.  It’s a town Jeff and I don’t want to live in, so I’ll soon be out of a job.  I’ve been told that I get a month’s notice and a month’s severance pay once the new office location is decided.  I’m expecting that notice this week - it seems they are just waiting on a few final details from the new location’s building owners.

I found out just before Christmas that this was being considered and I stepped up my job search immediately.  Jeff and I are comfortable with the fact that it might be a few months until I find something else and Jeff is still working.  Considering we are debt free at the moment and we do have a savings (several years ago we made it a point to have at least one year’s combined salary in savings) we aren’t in any financial danger currently.  It does mean, putting the house hunting off until we are in a more stable situation, however.  It also means that we won’t be saving as much to pay down that mortgage in the meantime.  We just aren’t comfortable making any offers that have to be financed until we are sure of our income.  That is a real bummer, I don’t mind saying.  In the end, that’s what bothers me the most, that this business decision is affecting my life and goals so very deeply.

I do have my independent contractor’s license for the state of Montana and hope to pick up a few jobs with that until I find other more stable employment.  Who knows, perhaps working for myself may be the wonderful, albeit, unintentional outcome of this situation.  I’ve gone through a wide range of emotions over this job situation - I was angry and sad about the way I was treated, disappointed and hurt by several people that I had thought better of; and finally relieved that its almost over and that I can rest in the knowledge that God means this for good.