"If you stop to think about it, every meal you eat, you eat time -
the weeks it takes to ripen a tomato, the years to grow a fig tree.
And every meal you cook is time out of your day..." 

The School of Essential Ingredients
Erica Bauermeister

This is the current book I'm reading and I'm L O V I N G it!  Beautifully written with such descriptive language it causes one to immerse the senses in the various foods, almost as if each food is a color one can't get enough of.  Not sure if I can relate the experience accurately.  There are also very likable and relate-able characters and the book has a lovely interesting premise :)  One simply can't beat a good book!  Unfortunately, I've read a few stinkers lately but this is not one of them.  I can't wait to see how it ends!

Wow...so much going on lately.  I experienced/witnessed some major drama in the last week and can't say it was enjoyable, not even a little.  Quite frankly I haven't seen that kind of drama in over 20 years - not pretty, very upsetting, sad, and extremely disappointing.  :( 
 
On to happier themes, I've been crocheting like mad lately.  I miss knitting but it does take a lot longer than crochet.  I did several 12" afghan blocks for a blanket my ladies Bible study group is making for a soldier we are sponsoring.  We have enough to put the afghan together and some left over to do something nice for the wife.  I'm also still working on the blocks for the Baby Checks afghan I'm trying to do for a friend who just delivered her second child.  Hopefully I'll have the blanket done before the babe is too big for it!!!  I miss knitting, too.  I have so many projects lined up.  I also have a friend who is about 3 months along and I'm not sure what I'm going to do for her little one, her 3rd.  If she's having a girl, I have this great knit outfit that wouldn't take too long to whip up but I have to wait a little while longer before she will know what she's having :)  I also want to make my MIL a nice lapghan for Christmas using some of the 12" pattern blocks I've researched.  Not to mention all the other projects I have waiting on me!  So many projects, so little time :)

I cleaned and organized my little buns off this weekend, starting with a battle against our recent mouse invasion.  I'd been putting up with it because we live in an old house and there's just no way to prevent them from getting in.  However, they've been attacking my baking cupboard and as a result I had to throw away some perfectly good ingredients that they got their nasty little claws into.  Not to mention the poop and debris they left lying over everything...GROSS!  The newspaper liner was FILTHY!  I tore everything out, cleaned up what I could and tossed the rest.  Then I vacuumed and Lysol-ed the cupboard, placed several layers of aluminum tape over the mouse hole and proceeded to slap two coats of white high gloss enamel over the entire inside.  Once dry, I covered the two shelves with some pretty contact paper and reloaded the cabinet.  I'm pleased as punch with the end result!  And my cupboard is sanitary again!  I do have to sigh when I see the bank of cupboards I have left to do...since they aren't food cupboards they will have to wait for a while!

After all that, I did 8 loads of laundry, changed the bed, washed the linens, did 4 loads of dishes (1 in the dishwasher), filled 3 huge totes with stuff for the attic, cleaned, rearranged and reorganized the downstairs bedroom, vacuumed the whole house, cleaned the downstairs bath, and spot cleaned the living room carpet.  I have NO idea where all the excess energy came from!

I do know one thing, I read somewhere recently that people who suffer from anxiety and such, are sometimes affected by their environment.  I mean, I did have a clue that my panic attacks were coming from the mess and clutter we've been dealing with since the beginning of May.  I can't take looking at disorder when I don't know what to do with the clutter I'm looking at.  We started clearing out stuff from the barn loft and garage attic for a massive yard sale Memorial weekend.  That was all fine and dandy but I had to live with all the disorganized clutter while we waited for the sale and then all the debris left over from it.  I know we did a good thing but during this whole last month, I had several of the worst panic attacks I've ever had.  I now attribute them to the horrific conditions I've been living in.  Now that the worst is dealt with and the rest is minor stuff hubby will sort through, I feel MUCH better.  Hopefully I'll have a lessening of symptoms and I can ease off the meds again.  I hadn't suffered an attack since last October!  I've had more than 5 since the beginning of May.  UGH!!!

I've become more involved in our church's women's Bible Study as a table leader and I'll be attending a Beth Moore study this summer discussing Esther.  I'm very excited about it!  I think doing the study this summer will better prepare me as a table leader for the Fall session when the whole ladies group does Esther.  I felt totally unprepared and awkward during this last session.   I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again: I need full immersion.  If I don't do something that encourages me to open my Bible or discuss my faith then I tend to slide right back into old habits.  And my old habits ain't pretty!

I'm also involved in a new mom's group that is being sponsored by our church.  We've taken the remnants of an old group and reformed under the church and we will be an official ministry!!  Yay!  I'm VERY excited about the possibilities we have to help moms with young children in our community :)  Heart skippy happy!

I'm also journaling the traditional way...with paper and pen.  I find it helps me concentrate better than sitting down and typing.  My thoughts are better organized and I'm using that journal to put down thoughts on my faith and my journey as well as things that happen in my day to day life.  I'm trying to do an entry a day to keep in practice.  I find it therapeutic plus I like being able to take it anywhere.  Since I don't own a laptop I feel it's as mobile as I can get! :)

I think that's about all - oh, wild man's fourth birthday is coming up very quickly and I have nothing planned.  Not sure what I want to do for him and I'm having issues with present-giving.  He's got so much stuff now he doesn't need anything new.  So I'm tempted to take the things he hasn't played with in the last 8 weeks and pass them on to someone who will play with them.  *sigh* He's becoming a child of excess and I'm afraid I can't stop it. But seriously, he has toys he hasn't touched in months!  Maybe I should just take them out of rotation - that way he'll have something "new" in a couple months ;)

Last thing, in one week it will be a very bittersweet Father's Day.  It marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of my little boy, Owen.  My dear hubby will also be missing his Dad and I suspect he will have a difficult day - yet I want to celebrate it.  He is my precious husband and I love him more with each passing year.  He deserves to be celebrated.

Cheers, my darlings - hope you have pleasant dreams this evening!  Stay safe and happy knitting!