Let There Be Light!

We've lived in our home for nearly 26 years and it has evolved over time as circumstances (and monies) have permitted. Six years ago, we expanded the master bath to include a nice garden tub and a lovely walk in closet. We also added onto our living room, a section which has since become our workout area but which may soon (again monies permitting) become the actual livingroom and the livingroom will become the eating area because we want to redo the kitchen to include a gas stove top and stainless steel grill area (like at Kobes but smaller) which will eliminate any area to eat in in the present kitchen.....whew!!! Did you get all that????

All our grand additions have made an impact on our lives. There is nothing more soothing than a good soak in the tub after giving 5 or 6 massages at work. The epsom salts and hot water just soak away the aches and leave me relaxed and refreshed. I am grateful for the attached walk in closet every time I walk in and can actually find what I'm looking for and can dress without waking my husband when I have to leave early.

But yesterday, Rich and I modified our kitchen in a way that I'm not so pleased with.

Our old flouresent light fixture over the cooking area died leaving the bulbs flickering unpleasantly. For Valentines Day, Rich decided he would take care of it while I was at work and made a good start at it by taking down the old unit and picking up the new one from Home Depot. Still, installation requires two people so we did it together yesterday afternoon.

It went up great and the light.... it's a beautiful bright white that will make it so much easier to see while we cook together. You can see a huge contrast to the old matching fixture which throws a yellowish light that seemed more than adequate before we put up the new one.

So, why am I not pleased?

Well, that same light that makes it easier to read the recipes and measure ingredients and chop the food....also clearly illuminates the nasty kitchen floor.

I do wash the floor (occasionally) and sweep (sometimes). I'm not a total slacker (all the time). But as God as my witness, I just couldn't see how dirty that little piece of landscape got.

Guess it's time to clean my floors (heavy sigh.)

How an Addiction to "Harvest Moon" Can Positively Affect Your Life

I went to visit my oldest daughter a month ago. We accomplished so much....built a toddler sized bunk bed (from scratch), went skiing, and generally hung out together. Oh yes, the OTHER thing we did was play "Harvest Moon." That was, of course, after I had declared it one of the most boring games in the world to watch. I mean really, how many times can you water your garden, feed your silkworms, graze your stock, brush and milk your goats? YAWN


Then, I succumbed. I assumed an identity, named my ranch, built a house, a barn and a coop. Then upgraded it all. I bought a chicken then hatched the rest of my flock. I bought a goat and that goat had babies. I bought a horse and sheep too.

And I was hooked.


There is something absolutely meserizing about taking care of the daily chores and seeing the results of your labor. I found myself spending entirely too much time playing and not enough time living. As a recovering Tetris addict, I got a little nervous.


Then something clicked.


I've been kind of sad that my dream of doing just this in real life hasn't come true. I would love to get up in the morning and do my chores outside. The dream of self sustainability invades my thoughts often. Circumstances prevent that right now and I thought I'd made peace with it. As unlikely as I would have thought, this game has actually helped.


First, I took an objective look at my resources and they are many. For having a relatively small yard, I have a remarkable amount of land in production. The chickens are low maintainance as are my earthworms. I don't have to be here at the house morning and evening to milk goats (yet). My wonderful husband is in the process of putting spigots on my rain barrels so I don't have to reach over the sharp edges to pull buckets of water out. I do still dump the water in from buckets under the eaves and sometimes shower water but that's not too hard.


I've also decided to keep track of how much my yard produces. Yesterday I harvested 7 ounces of carrots, 11 ounces of broccoli, 4 of spinach and 3 of lettuce. The other day we picked 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes. Last night we actually had a salad entirely harvested from our land, including those wonderful green scallions. Today I picked over half a pound of Swiss Chard which will be my dinner within an hour of harvest. (For those of you who have never eaten this green, it is milder than collards and need only be steamed briefly. The leaves are great but the stems outstrip them in flavor and texture!)

Frankly I'm surprised at the amount. I don't have enough to preserve but I do have enough to eat out of my garden a good bit of the time. I haven't had to buy broccoli in months. So with this reality check, courtesy of Harvest Moon, I'm feeling much more gratitude for what I DO have than yearning for what I DON'T.

Interesting how my Higher Power can teach me lessons through anything and everything that happens in my life! He's a pretty Cool Dude.