A Few Small Kinks & Scaling Back

The people come this Friday to begin packing our household goods for the move! They start Friday, break for the weekend, and then come back and pack Monday and Tuesday...the truck gets loaded on Wednesday. Certain things need to be done prior to the move, and with Dave being in GA since the 2nd, and not scheduled to return until the end of the week, the responsibility to prep for this move rests on my and Jay's shoulders. Unfortunately this last week brought with it sub-freezing temperatures! So, none of the outdoor items have been cleaned up as planned. We're supposed to have snow tonight through tomorrow afternoon, but then it's schedule to warm up, so we will have to get it all done between Wednesday and Thursday. For now I need to focus on taking down pictures, and making sure all of our laundry is done, and the clothes that the six of us will need will be set aside.

Alyssa and I have both come down with a horrid cold. Alyssa lost her voice and just generally feels lousy, and I have the congestion and feeling of being hit by a Mac truck. My fingers are crossed that no one else falls victim to this bug, but I'm not very confident in this as Hunter was sneezing yesterday, and had an upset tummy today. So far, Jay and Tony are good, so I am definitely thankful for that!

Freezer clean out is going well (as I now apologize profusely to all of my friends and family on Facebook that have to live this out with me yet again!). I have taken on the challenge of creating meals out of what we have, and it is actually so much fun!! Last night I made a spicy red curry stew with venison, veggies, and bone broth that I pulled from the freezer. It was very tasty, and comforting. I think the bone broth combined with the Thai red chili paste was very helpful for this cold. This is what it looked like.

Spicy Red Curry Stew

I also pulled out a whole chicken and pork roast to thaw, unfortunately, it's been so cold here, and this old house with single pane windows, radiators, and bad insulation is so cold that after a full day on the counter, both were still frozen solid. I seriously could take someone out with one blow ;) That put a serious kink in the plan for tonight's dinner. Fear not, I have some seafood and veggies in the freezer that I can thaw quickly, and a jar of Green Thai chili paste, and a can of coconut milk! I may be taking the curries too far. Good thing my children have adventurous palates! I don't know how my freezer got so out of hand. But what are deep freezers for, but to store excess food for future consumption? I guess at the moment I'm feeling a little like a hoarder. Do I even NEED a deep freezer??? I know that fresh is best, but somethings like the cherries that we got this past summer only last a little while. Freezing them allows me to enjoy them now. However, I now find myself downing frozen cherries every night trying to eat them before I have to throw them out or give them away. 

This pending move has given me a little time to reflect, and re-assess the items that I thought we needed. Possibly instead of buying a bunch of stuff is not as smart as simply planning ahead and buying and eating only what we need. I think that we kind of unconsciously started doing that overall as of late. Especially with our kiddos.

I saw an article today on Facebook about a letter to Santa which was thought to be from the year 1915. The article remarked about how humble the child was, and how he only asked for a few, low key items...a book, nuts, and candy. I think this letter demonstrates how we all as a society have gotten out of hand with the needs vs. wants. Earlier in the fall, my husband and I made the decision to get rid of our teens' smart phones. Alyssa was crushed, demonstrating her dismay in a very dramatic display. Jay was okay with it. It came to light that Alyssa's reaction was driven by what her friends have and what they would think of her for not having an iPhone. My response to her was, why does your phone dictate who you are and who likes you? If people only like you for the fact that you carry an iPhone, then they probably aren't the kind of people that you should be friends with anyway. She pondered on it, and was then okay with it. By doing this, not only did we instill in our teens that WHO they are is not connected to the type of phone they carry, but we also ended up saving $40 a month on our cell phone bill. In a way, I think it was a freeing experience of various degrees for all four of us. 

We also had a talk with all four kiddos about Christmas a few weeks back. In the past Christmas has always been way over the top, and very costly. With the move coming, and us buying a house, David and I decided that we were going to trim down Christmas this year. We sat them down, and laid out the reasons, and let them know that Christmas would probably only be one or two items each from us this year. Remarkably, all four took it very well! This made me so proud that they were not upset. Fact is, that even with one or two gifts, they will still receive gifts from their grandparents and other family members, so it isn't like they will only have two gifts each. However, I think the idea of less is more is certainly being instilled in our children, they are okay with it, and I am so happy that we made the decision to scale back. Having said that, I will step down from my soap box, and tie up this post!