Chicken and soap

Since Sunday I've had 2 chickens cooked and in the refrigerator.  I can't tell you why this has bothered me so much, nor what the hold up was in getting them de-boned and rejoined with the excellent nutritious broth.  Today I gave the broth to the animals (painful but though it didn't smell bad I was not completely confident that it was okay) and boned the chicken (which was half frozen on the top shelf of the fridge - a malfunction that worked for my benefit).  It took so little time.  I hate it when little things plug up the works.  Getting that item done made it so that I finally made a couple of batches of soap.  That's been on my to do list for a couple years, and I am very nearly out of laundry soap so the timing is good. 
I used both sheep and deer tallow of which I have plenty.  Completing a plan that has been in process for so long is particularly nice.  My older son got 2 deer today (first day of gun season) so I'll be adding more fat to my stockpile probably.

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.