what's up weekly. (Potatoes for Dayzzzz.)

Hello, hello, hello.  I'm back with a much milder week to report than last week.  Not a single dog attack happened, so put that in the 'pro' column.

Last Friday, Todd drove me out to our closest Azure drop so I could get a few bulk items I'd been waiting to order.  I still don't drive out of town, and the closest drop is half an hour away on curvy country roads, so I'd been putting off ordering because I wasn't sure how I was going to make it out there.  But Todd kindly drove me, so I was able to pick up fifty pounds of flour, fifty pounds of potatoes, five gallons of laundry detergent, twenty pounds of apples... you know, the way normal people buy their groceries: mess hall quantities of supplies off a truck in the Uhaul parking lot in a town named Tonganoxie.

I have been very domestic this week.  I think I've figured out how to keep up with laundry at this house, and I'm growing increasingly fond of having our laundry machines right in the kitchen.  I used to think that eventually I would move our machines out to the garage and convert the laundry space into pantry space, but now I'm not so sure.  Atticus called the kitchen my "office" the other day, and it seemed pretty fitting.  It's nice to just be able to move laundry over while I'm heating up a pan on the stove or waiting for water to boil.  So anyway, all that to say, I have been really on top of that aspect of life and even have stayed caught up on sheets for the last six weeks or so.  Look at me go.

I also busted out the canner and canned up twenty-five pounds of the potatoes I bought from Azure.  They turned out really well, so I'll be canning the rest of them the same way.  I think I'll try some of the apples next - maybe a few quarts of apple pie filling?  I'm not sure yet.  But those shelves filling up with pretty jars kind of end up starting a domino effect in my heart, and now I feel a primal urge to Can All The Things.

I clearly miscounted the men here.  It was late and I'd been staring at potatoes for days.

This week, some friends are bringing us some pork, and the half cow we ordered recently will be ready... our freezers will be full and I will start canning some of that as well.  Look at me, I'm a regular ol' Ma Ingalls.  (Or young Ma Ingalls, if we're simply comparing birthdates.)

I also found a working Food Saver at Goodwill for $8 and all my food preservation endeavors are about to level up even higher.

Everyone has been healthy this week, thank the Lord, and the weather has been warm (though we did get really warm, wet, heavy snow on Thursday, so it hasn't exactly been spring-like).  This February has been pretty gentle on me.  We are making headway through our school year, the weather has allowed us to get outside most days, and after a very busy stretch of moving, I have been grateful for a slow season.  I'm actually really enjoying this post-Christmas stretch, if you can believe it.

Our neighbor just had back surgery, so Atticus shoveled his driveway after the snow.  Another neighbor saw him out there, and came over to show him how to use a snow blower.  He lent him the snow blower and just had him return it when he was done.  Have I told you before how wonderful our neighborhood is?

I technically completed my Whole 30 this week!  I'm going to keep at it for a while - I do feel better, I am finally starting to lose some of the baby weight that has been very stubborn this time, I am not nearly as exhausted as I usually am, and I think the discipline has been really good for my mental state.  I feel like my life is... orderly.  The rhythm of life feels really manageable and positive right now, and I do think that choosing choosing discipline has had a big effect on that.  So anyway.  I do think I'll allow some paleo chocolate to sneak through every once in a while, but other than that, I don't really feel much of a need or desire to change things up too much for now. 

I also have been taking TRS for about two weeks now, and my sense of smell is finally returning after having lost it during Covid over a year ago.  So that has been a bittersweet development.  That's what I was hoping for, but it turns out there are a lot of bad smells in my life that I was blissfully ignorant of for a long time that are now asserting their presence once again.

And lastly, I just need to draw your attention to what the kids' snugglies did while we were at church on Sunday: they had their own Snuggle Church Service.  All the families even dressed in coordinating outfits.

And now here is our precious bath time Oey Girl to send you off into the weekend with a smile on your face!

Happy Friday!