Lydia reading to her babies

April has been disappointingly yucky. Rain, cold, rain, cold. Besides our fun farm day last week and a few walks to the park, we’ve been mostly stranded inside. Boo.

But I have had the chance to discover a few wonderful books, bands, and recipes that I can’t wait to share with you!

Books

I only read one book cover-to-cover this month, but it was a superb read:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. I picked this one up from the library after I saw it on one of Fiona’s book lists. It sounded like the kind of book I just had to read. And now I simply must own it!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an absorbing memoir documenting the author’s and her family’s experimental year of eating locally — only eating what they could grow themselves, or else acquire from farmers within a few miles of their home.

Kingsolver is, I believe, primarily a novelist; and her skill with narrative comes through in this beautiful memoir. Her prose is gorgeous. But she also knows her stuff: at the same time, the book includes plenty of more journalistic passages in which she explores — quite scathingly — the dominant food systems of America, and why we so urgently need to change it if we want to keep our families fed. (I know Canada’s situation is not that different.)

I found the book enormously fascinating, informative, spunky, inspiring, and convicting. I’ll never look at a banana the same way again. I never would have imagined I would find the sex lives of turkeys so surprising (Did you know that nearly 100% of the turkeys we eat have been bred in such a way that they can no longer reproduce themselves without technical assistance?). The final chapters, which follow the author’s journey trying to get her turkeys to procreate, had me sitting up in bed way past my bedtime, reading anxiously to find out whether it had a happy ending. (Spoiler alert: It does. Oh, so happy.)

Most importantly, this book had me re-committed to eating locally and seasonally. I might still eat the occasional banana, but it will no longer be a staple in this house — nor will green salads, except when they’re unavailable locally. Lots of thoughts and ideas are brewing.

I’ve also been browsing through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which I took out of the library on a whim. It’s been fun. I particularly enjoyed the section on sauces. I never knew what a hollandaise sauce was, or how it was related to mayo (the major difference? Melted butter instead of salad oil. Mmmmm). I haven’t made it yet, though. Turns out, dozens of different sophisticated-sounding sauces can be made by just adding or substituting a few ingredients in a basic mayonnaise or cream sauce. Cool, right?

I also came across an adorable kids’ book for Lydia: One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small. Lydia’s a little young to fully appreciate it, but we adults loved it! This story of a “proper young man” named Elliot who takes a penguin home from the aquarium is charming, handsomely illustrated, and has a funny surprise ending that Ben and I both found delightful.

 Television

We’re still just watching pirated episodes of Parks and Rec here and there when we have some time to relax. Light and funny entertainment, which is, most importantly, broken up into convenient 20-minute segments. We’ve all but given up on movies during this chapter of our lives (i.e. with a toddler who only goes to bed when we do.)

 Music

So I haven’t been into much music lately (mostly since we don’t have any media devices on which to listen to music. I know, right? The only piece of technology we own that can play music, aside from the CD players in our vehicles, is our desktop computer, which is in its own room off the toy room. Yeah. We’re that out of touch.)

But this month we finally bought a new album because it is the BEST THING I’VE HEARD in FOREVER: Walk off the Earth’s R.E.V.O.

Do you guys know this band? I understand that they got quite a bit of attention when this video went viral, where all five band members are playing a single guitar simultaneously. Their music videos are all crazy-unique. Apparently they’re quite popular already, and I might be the last person in the universe to have discovered them. Anyway, I am CRAZY IN LOVE. (I feel like I can’t use ENOUGH CAPS LOCK to convey my enthusiasm for this band.) This music is happy, clever, complex, and original. Love, love, love it. I tried to pick my favourite song but it’s hard because I love them all.

Also? They’re Canadian! Hooray for my fellow Canucks!

So if you’re not familiar with the band, here’s a funvideo to introduce you:

ACK! Wasn’t that so great?? I love everything about it. You should watch the “Making of” video, too! It’s so cool!!

And if you haven’t gotten enough, I also love this song and video:

Again, watch the incredible “Behind the Scenes” video to get your head blown up. Amazing!!

The only flaw that I can find with this band is that the girl is so incomprehensibly cool that every time I see/hear her do anything, I immediately begin to hate myself a little bit because I’ll never be a fraction as awesome.

I could go on, but I’ll stop there.  I highly recommend Walk off the Earth.

 In the Kitchen

I already bragged about this homemade cinnamon ice cream on Facebook. I made it using raw, pastured cream from my aunt; pastured eggs from my mom; and maple syrup from our own front yard. Since I was just reading Animal,Vegetable, Miracle, I felt especially pleased that I was able to enjoy this nourishing, indulgent treat without giving a single penny to a major corporation.

I’ve also been making batch after batch of these grain-free multiseed crackers. They’re much simpler than many of the other (wheat) crackers I’ve made. I make my own almond meal by grinding almonds in my Ninja food processor (it doesn’t need to be “blanched”). It only takes a minute. I also sub onion powder for the “dried minced onion.”

They’re so tasty — everyone who tries them demands the recipe. I love them with bruschetta-seasoned goat cheese.

So that’s been my April. What have you been into?

 

Linking up with HopefulLeigh.

We’ve had an unusually long, cold, wet winter around here.  It’s put a delay on our gardening, which has made me grumpy and anxious for the last several weeks. But at last we had a nice day, and my mom and I got to work.

(My and Ben’s property isn’t suited to growing things — our back yard is surrounded by tall trees which block out the sun and suck up all the nutrients  and water from the soil. So I garden with my mom. My family lives on a 5-acre farm, eight minutes away from where we live. I help pay for seeds and help with the gardening toil in exchange for unlimited fresh produce throughout the growing season. Yeah: it’s a pretty sweet deal.)

That’s why I’ve been a little quiet on the blog. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

We planted some cool-weather seeds.

We butchered a few chickens.

We covered the strawberries with straw.

We looked at the new kitties. (That was HARD WORK.)

Built a new raised bed . . .

And added some — ahem — fertilizer.

And here are some other pictures I couldn’t resist including:

The tractor, stuck in the mud. (Too much rain!)

One of the bulls. As my sister put it, “I love their stoic gaze.”

Narnia enjoying farm life.

Lydia on the trampoline (in her rubber boots, of course. Always the rubber boots.)

What have you been up to? Any gardening?

This month I had the chance to spend a week with my husband’s family in the Smoky Mountains. It was a lovely week of familial bonding, scenic views, and a teeny bit of touristy nonsense.

One of my favourite parts, though, was the chance to do some more reading. With all those extra adults around, fewer responsibilities, and a baby cousin to occupy Lydia, I was able to spend hours inside some fabulous books.

Wee!

So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been into.

Books

Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. I have a Thing for books about food. I can’t put them down. I gobble them up like novels.

I took this book — based on the blog of the same name — out of the library (because Leigh Kramer recommended it in one of her What I’m Into posts), and didn’t do much else for two days. It’s so good, you guys!

This book is part memoir, part cookbook. The memoir parts were a delightful read, but the recipes are what’s making me consider buying my own copy. My attempt to photocopy all the recipes I want to keep is bordering on plagiarism. (I’m trying to be a minimalist when it comes to books, but I’ve already renewed this one three times at the library. That might be a sign that it’s a keeper). I’ve already tried over a dozen of the recipes, and they’re all perfect. Delicious, easy, and just a touch exotic for this Mennonite girl. I’ve already made her chicken pot pie three times. And the homemade fettuccine with leeks and bacon? I don’t know if I can ever make fettuccine any other way again.

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Ann Lamott. I love Ann Lamott. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a wiser and funnier woman. (Seriously: this woman can make me laugh. If you haven’t read anything by her, do yourself a favour and get one of her books. Any of her memoirs).

Help, Thanks, Wow is much shorter and more poetic than anything else I’ve read of hers. I also read this one in two nights. Moving, original, meandering, and soulful. Beautiful. Read it.

The Giver by Lois Lowry – this was a re-read for me. I had recommended it to Ben, since he was looking for some good fiction; but then seeing him read it made me want to read it again.

Such a beautiful book. This is YA fiction at its finest. Simple enough for a child to understand and appreciate, but elegant and profound enough to make an impact at any age.

I’m still in the middle of Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture by Adam S. McHugh. This book is helping me embrace my introverted self. It feels good to have someone explain why I can’t easily talk in a group setting. I’m looking forward to hearing some ideas on how I can get involved in the Church while remaining true to myself and my gifts.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. This is another re-read for me, since our Book Club decided to read together. I forgot just how funny and lovable Don Miller is. Such an endearing protagonist and such a unique voice. I just want to keep listening to him.

Television

Ben and I finally started watching Parks and Recreation, after three different friends independently recommended it. We love it! Leslie Knope is such a lovable character. We also can’t get enough of Ron Swanson. Such fun! And even though there’s still more than enough promiscuity, we find there’s a lot less sexual content and more intelligent humour than a lot of what we’ve seen lately.

Movies

Nothing! No good movies all month! Come to think of it, I don’t know if we even watched a single movie all month. It’s hard to commit to a 2-hour session in front of the TV screen when you have a busy toddler in the house who doesn’t go to bed before 10pm.

In case we ever have the chance again: any recommendations?

In the Kitchen

My most daring culinary experiment was using up the beef tongue in my freezer in these beef tongue flautas. They tasted great, but I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to get another beef tongue any time soon. There are just some images (peeling a poached tongue, anyone?) that are hard to shake — even for this farm girl. You know?

Otherwise, dinner has been pretty standard around here. Lots of Dinner: A Love Story-inspired meals, as mentioned above.

Ben and I gave up sugar for Lent, so I made plenty of batches of spicy popcorn, garlic-parmesan roasted chick peas, and various crackers to munch on in lieu of sugary snacks. I didn’t really miss the sugar (except when out with my girl friends, and everyone else was having cheesecake). In fact, it was kind of nice to have an excuse people would respect when turning down birthday cake and Krispy Kreme donuts. (“Oooh, I’d love to, but I gave up sugar for Lent!”)

So that’s what I’ve been into! How about you?

I’m linking up with HopefulLeigh.

Oh yeah, and this post contains affiliate links. Meaning that if you click through and buy anything, I get a teeny commission which helps support this site.

This is just a note to let you know I’ll be away from the Internets for the next week or so while I spend some vacation time time with my extended family. You can look forward to upcoming posts that delve into such topics as cloth toilet paper, elimination communication with an eighteen-month-old (a happy ending!) and attempts to donate breast milk. What fun!

I look forward to re-connecting when I get back.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of my kid baking.

I haven’t been consuming that much media lately — it wasn’t intentional, that’s just how it worked out — so this month’s What I’m Into post is going to be a little different.

We try to take at least one nature walk every month. This past month was the first time Lydia did the whole thing on foot. She walked the entire mile in her little rubber boots, and I found this new experience quite delightful.

We also got our seeds in the mail (woohoo!) and tapped our maple tree out front. (Maple sap starts running as soon as the temperature starts to rise above freezing during the day, but only as long as it stays below freezing at night. It runs particularly quickly when it’s sunny.)

Spring is coming!

We started boiling down our first batch of maple sap last night (it started out in the big stock pot on the left), and our house is wonderfully steamy. (We should get one pint jar out of this batch.)

Books

Like I said last month, I’ve found that parenting a toddler and reading books don’t go together very well.

That being said, I did manage to devour Princess Academy(Shannon Hale) in about three days. (That’s saying a lot for me, because I’m a very slow reader. It means a lot of responsibilities were shirked for about 60 hours last week.)

I haven’t read any fiction for quite some time, mostly because I know that I have absolutely no self-restraint once I’ve started, so this was a treat.

It was a fun read. Hale is a talented writer, which is refreshing in YA literature after the likes of Stephanie Meyer (Not that I didn’t enjoy Stephanie Meyer. I DID.) I could tell right from the first page that she knew what she was doing:

“Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat. The world was as dark as eyes closed, but perhaps the goats could smell dawn seeping through the cracks of the house’s stone walls.”

I have to admit, I didn’t find the climax of the story — with the bandits and the supernatural powers — as interesting as everything leading up to it; but I was still pleased with the entire book. Miri is a strong, interesting, lovable female protagonist; the story is unique; and the world of Mount Eskel is totally convincing.

I didn’t do much other reading, besides looking through some more books from the library on interior design (we’re looking to redecorate our upstairs living room/play room) and Montessori activities for toddlers.

Television

Not much to report here. I can’t WAIT until the weather’s nice enough that we can take walks every evening. Then TV can shove it.

We gave up on Downton Abbey halfway through season 2, and BOY am I glad we did. I’ve since heard about the devastating tragedies of season 3, and I know my heart could not have borne them.

Movies

We watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Good acting, interesting characters. I liked it.

In the Kitchen

I realized today that I spend a good portion of my life in the kitchen, but I rarely get the chance to talk about it. So here’s what’s new in the kitchen.

I recently bought myself a Ninja Master Prep Professional Blender, and so far am totally in love. It blends so quickly and quietly, and I can fit so much more in it than I could my crappy Back to Basics food processor! But it has literally been like four days, so I can’t say too much yet.

I don’t know how great it will be over the long run, though. See, the reason I got it is because I broke my mom’s a month or so ago. I was just using it and a little plastic piece inside snapped. The design strikes me as kind of fragile. My Mom replaced it, but then discovered the original one was still under warrantee and got the broken part replaced for free. So I bought the new/superfluous one off of her.

The point of the story: if it was that easy to break, how long is it likely to last? I like to own things I know will last a good portion of my lifetime.

I also had a revelation earlier today about making tortillas.

I’ve been making my own tortillas for about a year, ever since I started paying attention to what’s in the store-bought ones. (I was recently given a bag of commercial flour tortillas, and it had 19 ingredients listed . . . including calcium propionate, silicone dioxide, sodium metablusulfate, and polysorbate 60. What the heck is all that crap?! I don’t like my ingredients to contain numbers!!)

My tortillas, by contrast, contain five ingredients: whole-wheat flour, water, home-rendered lard, baking powder, and salt.

Anyway, I’ve always rolled them out with a rolling pin. They were always super-wonky. But I discovered that if I just flatten them by hand, I end up with much nicer-shaped, round tortillas.

See?

Toss them onto a hot cast-iron pan and there you go!

And that’s what I’ve been into! How about you?

Linking up with Hopeful Leigh.

Yesterday, I explained that I wanted to introduce my husband to you, and also to meet your spouses! (I know a lot about you, but very little about your partners. Likewise, you hear about me all the time, but not much about my husband. I thought it would be fun to get introduced!)

Here’s my formal introduction.

(If you haven’t already, I’d love it if you introduced your husband or wife some time this month, and linked up with the LinkyTool below!)

* * *

Ben and I met when I was 17 and he was 19. I was in my last year of high school and he worked full-time at a label-printing factory. He had a goatee and played guitar in a punk-rock band. He was quiet and contemplative, and liked to hang out at book stores and coffee shops. (Can you hear me melting into a teenaged puddle?)

He’d recently started attending my church, and we’d barely exchanged a few words when he asked me to go with him to the church’s young adult Christmas banquet. He was gutsy like that.  He wore leather gloves to  drive, and gave me a single, fluorescent-orange gerbera daisy in the car. I was pretty much madly in love with him from that day forward.

He was tall, musical, mysterious, and struck me as having a rich inner life. Most of all, he listened to Blink-182 and Sum41 . . . and also Bach. *Swoon.*

I later learned that he was also clinically depressed, but it was too late. He had stolen my heart. (Fortunately, his depression hasn’t made a serious comeback since those early years.)

We got married three years later. I was still an undergrad studying English, commuting an hour to the university. He started working for my Dad, building and installing kitchen cabinets.

Shortly after I finished my MA, Ben started his own home improvements business, which is where he’s still at today. He’s done everything from fixing people’s dishwashers to painting walls, installing trim and flooring, and building decks. (In fact, this year he’s making plans to build his own shop so he can expand what he’s able to build for customers.)

Today, some of the words I would use to describe Ben include: introverted, industrious, meticulous, thoughtful, determined, and gentle. (I doubt these would be the words he’d use.)

He doesn’t play in a band anymore, but he regularly plays guitar for Lydia to dance to, which still makes me swoon every time.

Here are some of the things I appreciate most about my husband:

I feel like he can take care of me. He’s strong in all the places I’m weak. I’m scatterbrained and forgetful; I’m easily overwhelmed and confused. I hate numbers and I can’t fill out paperwork to save my life. I know he’s got all that covered. He’s thorough, organized, and unruffled by charts and figures. He takes care of the finances and all those important documents. He also takes painstaking care of the vehicles, thank God.

He’s totally supportive of all my harebrained ideas. From our medieval-themed wedding to our home birth, he’s always given my suggestions the green light without reservation.

He’d be the one to encourage me to pursue my art, not concerning me with what’s most practical. He’s completely supportive of me being a stay-at-home mom, not earning a penny. Even though he’s never been a fan of pets, he let me take home one of my parents’ puppies when infertility was crushing my soul. He still puts up with her with remarkable patience (only sometimes grumbling that we have a kid now; why do we need a dog to tear up the contents of the garbage cans?).

He eats all my food. This is a godsend. I could not DEAL with a picky eater. I’m constantly trying new recipes — traditional foods, exotic foods, spicy foods, you name it. I love to experiment in the kitchen. In the last month he’s eaten salmon chowder, beef liver, and homemade Vietnamese pho, all for the first time; and ate them all with gusto. He never complains. (OK, almost never. He wasn’t crazy about my pumpkin-coconut flour muffins.)

He’s an incredible Dad. Patient, tender, playful.

He always listens as I blather and blather (and boy, can I blather) about whatever I’m reading — from theology to parenting to food and nutrition.

I seriously LOVE that he can fix and/or build anything. He sees things differently than I do. Where I see an incomprehensible mess (“Ben, our stupid space-van won’t let me open the hatch!”) (“Ben, I can’t get this stupid piece of junk to turn on!”) (“Ben, why is my bike making this stupid sound?”), he can observe it closely and see wires that need to be replaced or screws that need to be tightened. And if I can dream it, he can build it — like new shelves for my cookbooks, or Lydia’s sensory table.

He complements me beautifully. We have similar taste in movies, music, and TV; we share similar ideas of a good time (an evening browsing through the bookstore; watching a good comedy together with a bowl of spicy popcorn between us); and we’re both crazy about our little girl. Neither of us is especially romantic, which suits me just fine.

I’m a pretty lucky woman.

* * *

So that’s my husband. Care to share your own stories?

If you have a blog of your own, you can share a link with the LinkyTool below. You have until the end of February!

If you don’t have a blog, but you still want to tell me a little about your spouse (PLEASE DO), just share in the comments! If you’re stuck for ideas, answer this question: what do you like best about your spouse?

It’s February here in Southwestern Ontario, meaning we’re likely to still get a few good snowfalls before spring. I can’t believe I haven’t made snow ice cream yet this year.

Like most Mennonites (and many others, no doubt) living in the northern climates, I grew up making snow ice cream with my mom. So simple, so special, so fluffy and fun.

When I wrote about the history of the Mennonites in North America, I touched on the fact that the past few generations of Old Colony Mennonites have had poor literacy rates. Naturally, then, reading and writing are not a big part of Old Colony Mennonite culture.

Food and cooking, by contrast, are a huge part of Mennonite culture. (Come to think of it, what culture doesn’t have a huge emphasis on food?) So most Mennonite women do most of their cooking and baking by memory and by sight. My mom taught me how to feel when there’s enough flour in the bread dough. She taught me what a proper “handful” of salt looks like when seasoning ground beef.

Likewise, we grew up making snow ice cream in the way I made it today: without measurements. You do it by sight, mixing in cream and sugar until it looks like the right consistency.

I thought about going out and re-doing this recipe with measurements for the blog, but the idea made me tired.

So here you go: snow ice cream, Mennonite-style. I’ll offer some estimated amounts to help.

Note: you want to make this quickly, as snow melts rapidly once it’s brought inside and mixed with other ingredients.

Ingredients:

• snow (obvs)
• cream
• sweetener
• vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Method

Step one: go outside and get yourself a bowl of fresh, clean snow. I just made myself a single serving, and I probably scooped about 4 cups of snow.

Gather your remaining items: cream, sweetener, and vanilla extract.

For the cream, I happened to have half-and-half on hand, but I would have used heavy whipping cream with equal enthusiasm. (Side note to folks watching their weight: fat is not the problem. Go ahead and indulge in some high-fat cream. It’s good for you, especially if it’s organic, and especially if it’s raw!). (What? Yes, I got my cream 50% off because it was about to expire. Ever the frugal Mennonite!)

For the sweetener, I shied away from my Mennonite roots and skipped the white sugar, choosing maple syrup instead. I find that the flavour of maple syrup blends beautifully with cream. Plus, it’s not poison.

(I forgot that a friend once suggested adding a pinch of salt. I recommend it, though I forgot here.)

I removed some snow from my bowl first, to add later if necessary, leaving about 3 cups. I then proceeded by slowly adding some cream (I’d guess about half a cup) and stirring until it reached a thick, slushy consistency.

Stir, stir, stir.

That looks about right for now.

Next, I added the maple syrup. I probably used about 2 Tablespoons when all was said and done.

Stir it in.

Next, dribble in a bit of vanilla – about half a teaspoon should do.

Keep stirring until it’s smooth. Taste and adjust with more snow, cream, or maple syrup. I ended up adding more cream and maple syrup — it was a little too snowy.

Voila!

Pour into a nice serving bowl if you like.

Notice how quickly it’s melting. Eat immediately!

Have you ever made snow ice cream? Do you have any tips?

Shared on Your Green Resource at SortaCrunchy and Fight Back Friday on Food Renegade.

I don’t know if it’s just the weather, or what, but lately my response to everything has been a despondent, “Meh.” Not much has really struck my fancy this past month. I’m just dying for winter to be over, so I can start living again. Going for walks, breathing in fresh air, taking Lydia to the park.

So I apologize in advance if my post is a little unenthusiastic. I’m usually a pretty easily-excited gal. December was way better, but I was too busy to write a What-I’m-Into post in December.

(But do you want to hear one thing I HAVE felt passionate about? MARTIN FREEMAN. You guys. I love this guy. First it was John Watson, then Bilbo Baggins. He’s the BEST. And I don’t mean that in teenage-crush, he’s-so-hot kind of way – I consider him barely handsome. But he’s such a stellar actor, and he acted in my two MOST FAVOURITEST productions of 2012. Two months later, I can’t stop dreaming about Sherlock. Seriously. Sherlock is the best thing I’ve ever seen, smelled, heard, or tasted. COME BACK SHERLOCK, I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU; LIFE IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT YOU.)

(See? I can be passionate).

Books

Oh man, you guys. Raising a toddler is just not conducive to reading books. I have read fewer books in the last few months than I have since I first learned how to read, I think. It’s a sad, sad state of affairs.

I tried Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, because the Internet seemed unanimous that this was an incredible read. It has sold a bazillion copies.

A little over halfway through, I finally gave up on it.

For the most part, when I concentrate hard, the book sparkles with wisdom. But I just can’t get behind her writing style. I keep thinking how great this book would be if translated into normal language. Reading this book feels like riding a bike where the gears keep slipping: I’m still moving, but I’m distracted by the constant jolts and skips. I’m tripping over all these weird words that pop up unexpectedly in her sentences. I feel like she’s trying to be poetic.

On the very first page, she describes her own birth: “From the diameter of [my mother’s] fullness, I empty her out – and she bleeds.” What the what? From the diameter of her fullness? What the crap does that even mean?

I thought maybe I was just missing something, so I continued on, but kept running into similar nonsense.  “A fly cuts the surface of one full glass. I can see it – the wounding of water” (p. 43). Water gets wounded?

Time is impossible to follow in this book – the verb tenses are all tangled up together. (She writes in the present tense, but occasionally throws in a sentence in past tense.  What’s going on?)

I dunno. Maybe it’s just me, but this book just wasn’t working for me.

I also passionately disagree with the theology presented in chapter 5: Voskamp suggests that God causes pain and suffering, and so we must learn to be thankful for them. I could write a whole post on the subject, but I will leave it at this: God absolutely does not orchestrate disease, injury, or the deaths of innocent children. He is deeply opposed to and grieved by our pain, and desires only good things for his children.

I also bought and started reading Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. I was psyched about this one when I purchased it. But I’m struggling to make good use of it. The bulk of the book is focused on morning prayers for each day of the year. But I can’t really do mornings: I’m wired in such a way that I can barely drag myself out of bed after half an hour of being woken. I’m typically woken by Lydia kicking me in the gut or groping around my shirt to find my boob, at which point I need to hurry her downstairs to use the potty. And then begins my brains’ arduous task of becoming fully conscious – a task that generally takes another full thirty minutes (at least). Then it’s breakfast and baby-dressing and more pottying . . .

I’ve tried reading these prayers in the evening, but they’re full of morning imagery: “Oh Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.”

I’m still figuring out how to use this book. I will say that my favourite prayer is the Midday Prayer (p. 542), and find myself flipping to it more often than any other.

Television

Since there’s nothing else to do when the weather is so crappy, we picked up Downton Abbey in addition to our usual weekly shows (Big Bang Theory, New Girl, The Office). We’ve just about finished the first season.

I’m trying really hard to love Downton Abbey. All the cool people love Downton Abbey. The truth is, I like it. But I don’t loooooooove it the way I feel like I’m supposed to, the way the rest of the Internet does.

The trouble is, I don’t care for Mary. She gets way more screen time than anyone else, and more than she deserves, in my opinion. She’s not – by far – the most interesting character. She’s not good enough for Matthew and I don’t want them to end up together, even though I sense that’s where the story’s been going from the beginning.

If there’s one type of character I just don’t connect with, it’s the woman who has it all, and who can have any man she chooses.

Mary is beautiful, rich, AND has two loving parents. She spends her days deciding what brooch to wear and her evenings messing with people’s emotions. I know, I know: she’s deep and complex and all that. Her daddy wishes he’d had a son, boo hoo. She’s expected to marry the sweet, adorable young man with a mind of his own who’s going to inherit the estate, and who’s got an enduring crush on her; but gosh darn it, she hates doing what’s expected of her. Poor lass.

If it weren’t for my complete lack of sympathy for Mary, I’d quite like the show. I like everybody else. It’s rich with interesting characters, layered plots, and biting social commentary.

As long as the weather sucks and we’re stuck inside, we’ll probably keep watching.

Music

These months have been rather quiet. I don’t need music in my ears while I go about writing and cooking and menu-planning. Music just isn’t really a big part of this season of life for me.

But if you’re looking for something silly and fun, I just came across this, from Relient K:

(Relient K was my all-time favourite band in high school. I will always have a special place in my heart for Matt Tiessen.)

Movies

This has also been a quiet spell in terms of movies. I don’t even know what to watch. Any recommendations? We watched Pitch Perfect yesterday, which was ridiculous and fun, but the two Vomit Scenes were stupid enough to kind of ruin the whole movie for me.

How about you? Have you read/watched/heard anything amazing this month?

Linking up with Hopeful Leigh this month!

Last year some time, when I was putting together my very first homemaking binder (yes! I’m that kind of homemaker!), I also put together a running list of projects I wanted to accomplish . . . eventually.

It was a no-pressure list; I just wanted a central place to keep track of all the bigger projects I wanted to get done at some point. They were all projects that excited me. My main motivation for getting them done was simply my enthusiasm for the task.

It ended up being a really great practice for me, and I was amazed to discover that in less than a year, I’d managed to cross off most of the items. I’d done that without ever being stern with myself or scheduling them into my calendar.

Unfortunately, I tossed the list once most of the items were crossed off and started a new one (transferring the few remaining unfinished items) so I can’t share them with you. They involved various crafts, steps in making our home greener, home organization projects, etc. (One of them, however, was “Get Becoming Peculiar started.” Cha-ching! Got it!)

I thought I’d share my new list with you, just for fun. Many of these projects, I hope to share with you as I finish them, and review their outcomes.

As with my last list, I plan to add items as I think of them. No pressure to complete them within a particular time frame — just as time and energy allow. And if I don’t complete them by the end of the year, I’ll just put them on my next year’s list.

(You’ll notice there’s a heavy emphasis on sustainability, self-sufficiency, and emergency-preparedeness. Thank-you, Sharon Astyk!).

Kathleen’s 2013-ish Projects

• create a natural remedies kit — illness and injury
• create three emergency kits: one for minor emergencies, one for more serious ones, and one for the car
• learn first aid / take a CPR class
• start a vermicompost
• make cloth (menstrual) pads (and start using them)
• switch to cloth “toilet paper”
• do a for-real budget and start implementing it
• make my own liquid hand soap
• eliminate plastic wrap from kitchen; replace with homemade beeswax cotton wraps
• start food storage projects (from Independence Days)
  • find out where to get wheat berries, oats, and beans in bulk (locally)
  • create a root cellar/cold storage
  • store water

(Sorry my secondary bullets are formatted so weirdly… I can’t seem to change it…).

What do you think? Do they sound  crazy? Have you tried any of these things? Do you have a similar kind of list? What’s on it?

Photo courtesy of Cathdew.

I was going to tell you about my experience giving out loaves of bread to my neighbours – a new Advent tradition I wanted to start with my family — but I just haven’t had the time. My parents butchered their old cow on Monday, and I spent all of yesterday helping them sell the 250 lbs of surplus ground beef, before helping shape 300 hamburger patties for the freezer.

It’s been a beefy couple of days.

Oh well. I will tell you that the experience (giving gifts of bread, that is) was rather awkward and unpleasant. I’m terrible at interacting with strangers. I felt like more of a nuisance than a bringer of good things. (“Hi . . . sorry to bother you . . . we’re the neighbours from over there; I just wanted to give you some bread . . . It’s a Christmas thing . . .”). Three out of five doors were answered by shirtless men. But I’m still glad I did it. I’m glad I worked up the courage to knock on my neighbours’ doors and see them face to face for the first time. It was a step in the right direction.

* * *

The news of the recent shooting in Connecticut has affected me like no other tragedy before. I just cannot fathom a greater horror than what happened there. All I can do is weep and pray. The world feels so dark right now. Where are you, Lord?

The prayer that keeps coming to my lips is, Come quickly, Lord.

Over and over again: Lord, come quickly. We need you.

Which I guess is fitting for the Advent season. For Christians, these weeks are meant to be spent in anticipation: we celebrate Jesus’ first coming, while eagerly waiting for his return.

Right now, the emphasis is on the latter for me. Never before have a longed so urgently for his return.

Mend this broken world. Come and pour your healing. Put an end to evil. Redeem us, Lord. Redeem this ugly, fallen race.

I learned this past Sunday that the Aramaic word for this prayer is “Maranatha”: Come, Oh Lord.

This is my prayer for the remainder of the Advent season.

Maranatha.

Maranatha.

* * *

I won’t be blogging again until after the holidays. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, full of love and peace. I don’t really know most of you, but I love you all. Blessings.