I am planning on starting a Whole30 on Monday to squeeze it in between celebrations. I think my body composition is just cheese wrapped in skin at this point. My brain feels like cheese, my legs move like cheese, my stomach looks like cheese, my breath smells like cheese. And while I know it sounds glamorous, I think I need a little break. A little austerity. A little temporary cheeselessness. So Whole30 it is.
I won't be making the kids join me this time, which they are glad about. And I'm just going to keep it really simple and not attempt too many out-of-the-ordinary recipes or snacks; just modify what we normally eat. Wish me luck.
But anyway, back to our cheese-logged existence for a little longer. Last weekend was New Year's, and you know what that means: cheeseboard. Friends of ours who are currently stationed in North Carolina were in the area for the holidays, so they stayed the weekend with us. Of course we got a photo of the food, but no photos with the friends. Because that's how cheese-muddled our brains are at this point. I am still kicking myself over it. But it was a super fun time, even if no photos were had.
Mmmm. Food photos after dark under overhead lighting. You're just going to have to trust me that this was a pretty epic spread.
Every year on NYE, we have a 'talent' portion of the evening in which some of us present drawings of our family as it was that year, or poems about what the year held for us. This is Finneas' drawing. Callista, Rocco, Lolo and Atticus also drew family portraits but I don't have photos of those for some reason.
On Monday, we took advantage of Todd's day off work for the New Year and drove back to the Columbia area for some errands. We first hit up the chiropractor, then headed to Natural Grocers and Aldi. Why Aldi, you ask? Don't we have one here? Why, yes, we do, but Kansas grocery stores aren't allowed to sell wine because the state government thinks that's a reasonable and necessary and helpful restriction. So while I could go to a liquor store to buy wine, and I have, it is just not nearly as cheap and wonderful as Aldi wine. And it is feast season - we go through wine, and I'd rather not pay $14 for what I can buy at Aldi for $8. (True story.) So I went through the Aldi checkout with three bags of chocolate chips and nine bottles of wine and I really do wonder what people who saw me thought my life is like. While I was shopping, Todd took the kids over to drive past our old house.
After the grocery stores, we dropped off a Christmas present at my friend Megan's, then headed to my friend Jen's so that the girls and I could get haircuts. It had been a hot minute and we were all kind of looking like Fraggles. While she cut our hair, her husband taught the boys to shoot. A grand time was had by all.
After that, we headed up to the Amish. I was able to stock up on some of our bulk items like oats, honey, salt, coffee and canning lids, and I found some good deals on a few ding-and-dent items. Then we stopped at my friend Irene's house and bought six gallons of milk. We currently buy eight gallons a week from our local farmer, but that's just enough for our drinking/cooking/butter-making needs. I haven't made yogurt or cheese since we've gotten here because I just don't have any extra to work with. So I'm excited to make some yogurt and paneer this week. (Just in time for Whole30... I guess I will be experimenting with freezing paneer.)
But anyway. That was our trip on Monday. I should add that we left at 7:30 in the morning, didn't get home until 9:00 at night, it was crazy foggy the entire day (until after dark, when it started pouring down rain), and Todd was battling a killer headache the majority of the time. It was a day. But I'm really glad we went - it felt really good to visit the familiar. I feel like this move has been really gentle on us and we are settling in surprisingly quickly, but I do still feel a little displaced sometimes, so it was nice to feel 'placed' again for a little bit.
On Tuesday, a friend and her kids came from Kansas City to visit for the afternoon. I have known her from back in our Ames days, and lots of life has happened in between (they lived in China for a while, we have moved all over the place, and now here we are, forty-five minutes from each other). It's been fun to make a new, old friend.
Not related to what I was saying above, but here is how you can find Atticus 90% of the time: prowling the exterior perimeter by himself.
On Wednesday, I got really serious about finally starting to clean out the storage room. That has been my biggest goal to tackle this break, but I was sick for most of the first two weeks off, and then this week has been pretty busy, so I hadn't even started yet. I still have some progress to make down there yet, but I did get a lot done in one afternoon and I'm really glad.
Yesterday was spent menu planning in anticipation of today's grocery trip, and procrastinating on folding all the laundry. Our laundry system in this house is in a state of constant hiccup. All of my previous houses had basement laundry, which is its own inconvenience, but I'm having to figure out a new way of doing things and I haven't quite solved the puzzle yet.
Okay, well, I'm off to bake the King cake and take in the beauty of our Christmas decorations for a little bit longer. We always leave them up until Epiphany (or, in the case of last year, February) and then they come down. I will leave them up through the weekend since we're celebrating Christmas with my family here tomorrow, but then they'll get put away until next year. I feel... ready/not ready for Christmas to be over already!
2 comments :
the storage room looks so good. i love how long we celebrate Christmas including Advent and how sad it is to pack it up, but also how ready to be back to normal time we are, but also how much i look fwd to doing it all again next year. God is good. life with you is fun. what a blessing.
that picture of atticus stalking the perimeter could be titled, "stomping the yard."
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