Learning new things

It’s late Saturday (despite the posting date—internet challenges).  My daughter came with the boys for an overnight, the first since they moved back from Italy 2 years ago.  Nate worked on the cookstove most of the day, and last night, and hunted late.  My SIL hunted all day after sleeping there overnight. 

I have not much enjoyed company in the past years.  That is a sad admission.  I always feel like the house isn’t clean enough and the food isn’t enough. Enough? Not sure what that means.  I guess quantity and variety and quality.  Not enough of an occasion, just kind of crowded in and not special.  I cringe when I see those hospitality of good Christian women articles.  I’m not a particularly fun person for adults I think.  I don’t really want to entertain but maybe I could do a better job at providing a comfortable place for people to be entertained.

This week I accomplished just a few little goals, some beyond these entries, and I think that in some way this made me just a little more willing to give up the time that I could be resting or getting little things done and just have a bit of faith that I could have company and possibly enjoy it. 

This is a big thing.  I don’t give up semi-alone time easily.  There are a lot of reasons for this that are slow to change or maybe impossible.  Yet, feeling a little success this week, really helped.  The dishes were done regularly, the pantry was safe for the baby, the lower cupboard was organized and I knew what was in there, and the unfinished bedroom was at least equipped with beds and was clean.  I had adequate and appropriate groceries for the real food diet I am trying to follow, and a few plans for what to cook when the cookstove came “online”.

I am still feeling sick and I was able to take a rest in the middle of the day.  My daughter worked through several attic boxes and found treasures for the boys, organized some spaces up there, and brought down a very tolerable amount of stuff for me to go through, which I would have not ever done (allergies and asthma).  That is a blessing to me.

So, chalk up many encouragements following doing “just one thing” regularly.

Also, though I am in the learning curve stage, cooking a full meal using the cookstove top and oven after years of small preparations was pretty cool.

I fussed with this entry for awhile.  Learning the stove is one thing (just enjoyed the sweet potato oven fries from yesterday-- better the second day!) but blogging is another.  Tried 2 ways to do some pictures.  Luckily both appear to have worked, as I just deleted the rest somehow from iphoto.