Loosely collected thoughts

No new 31 day challenge today. I am working on kitchen cupboards and drawers, but it is turning out to be a bigger/tougher job than I had anticipated. Luckily, later in the challenge, there are things I had already done or things that we don't actually have (separate master bathroom and kid's bathroom, for starters.) I'd also been working on our bedroom for a few weeks before this whole thing started, so I am not going to have a whole lot of "before" pictures there. In other words, I'm probably going to do some skipping ahead until I can finish the kitchen properly.

A little bit ago I did something I haven't done a whole lot of this year: started a crochet project. Sam is in private therapy in the afternoons a couple of days a week, and now that he's not a baby, I get to spend a lot of time in waiting rooms, instead of in with him. I have grand plans of reading and crafting during that time. We'll just have to see if it happens. My current project is one I've done before, but not since I was pregnant with Sam and on bed rest.

I spent the summer preserving all manner of fruits and vegetables, mainly local, mostly from recipes from Food In Jars. I didn't take many pictures during the process, but I'll try to get a few of what the author calls "preserves in action" over the winter. Thinking that all of my jams and jellies will be excellent on my homemade bread. I'm still menu planning, so there is that.

What else is going on with me? Not a whole lot. Just sticking to the "Susie Homemaker" stuff until I get the house sorted out. Somewhere along the line I realized that we've been living here for years now, but not really ever finished moving in or decorating. For awhile, when Sam was small, it felt futile to even try. He just destroyed everything we tried to have up on the walls. Now, I am taking a different tack, getting rid of the things that don't fit our life as it is now, and adding new things that work for us. Vertical blinds destroyed? How about simple drapes with tie backs instead? Candles not an option with little kids around? How about LED candles, in sconces, up high? So we're learning. (And trying not to buy anything so expensive that we'd be heartbroken if he ruined it, e.g, a $35 synthetic rug from Target instead of a $200+ wool rug.)