Lenten practices

I have tried all sorts of Lenten practices in the past, and I tend to fall into the camp of believing that it should hurt a bit - be actually a penance and not just a nod to sacrifice.  This year I am trying something a little different - I'm attempting to change a behaviour that has been bothering me for a long time; I have a bad habit of not being present and living in the moment, and so I'm doing my best to change that.  It's probably one of the harder things I could do.

On another note, if you have a sick baby, as I do, and you don't have a Nose Frida - well, you're missing out.  They'll hate it, of course, but it works.

Also, something interesting to do with carrots - add a spoon of apricot jam to the cooking water and let it reduce to a syrup while it cooks.  I like to keep a jar around to be a little creative sometimes.

Cleaning the house, mostly

So, I've been trying a new technique for keeping the house clean this past week.  I clean for two hours, and then I stop.  Every day, two hours.  I'm astonished at how much this works, really, because if you'd asked me before how long it would take me to keep my house clean I would have said a much higher number, and it's true that the house isn't sparkling, but two hours does a fine job.

I think the reason it's working is simply because you don't need to repeat the jobs to the same level once you've done them.  So, I scrub the floor, and then the next say I don't need to scrub the floor, maybe just sweep, or sweep and mop, and because of that I now have time to do another thing.

I'm trying not to kid myself and think this is the ultimate solution, but two hours of cleaning seems to work for us right now.

Outing with the cats

Today I get to take the cats to their annual vet check-up - fun times.  It's so much easier not to bring three children four and under with you when you do a job like this.  Most jobs, actually, are significantly easier without multiple small children flopping around in your wake.  So, I'm going with a friend and her big van will seem luxurious with only two women and two cat carriers in it.  And the cats are sure to provide a musical accompaniment.

Ash Wednesday

We had a great start to Lent, and I'm not being sarcastic.  Probably the highlight being meeting an incredibly cool priest with an artist wife who it turns out knew all sorts of people who we also knew.  We chatted long after the service ended and went on our way refreshed, which was good because we had to go grocery shopping with three little people and that's pretty penitential.

I am really bad these days at menu planning, and my two year old is going through some kind of 'not hungry' stage, which contrasts nicely with the four year old's 'always hungry' and the 8 month old's 'hold me' stages.

Shrove Tuesday

We've had a very busy day filled with story time at the library, stitching group, a grocery trip, and now plans to go to a local church for pancakes.  Tomorrow I get to go to Ash Wednesday services and I'm looking forward to it - my favorite service of the Christian year.

I can't wait for my children to be old enough to really explain Lent to them, but right now I'm not great at coming up with stuff to do with them that is child friendly.  I'm really more of an adult teacher.

So, Lent is almost here.

Winter and a cold

It's bitterly cold here today, so cold that no matter how high the heat is in the house, your toes still hurt from the drafts.  Also, the boy is sick and coughing - last night he had a hot water bottle and the humidifier going, and despite some chamomile tea he still had trouble sleeping.  I always pray that the cold won't spread through the children and it always does - so now I just hope it is mild and leaves us quickly.

The snow outside has covered the deck and the boulders in the yard - over my knees.

Cleaning out the freezers

One of the things I've been trying to do this past week or so is empty out the freezers, clean them, and eat all the food.  I'm doing this because, well, there's a lot of stuff in them and I don't like to waste food (although I totally do, because I'm human) and also because I went to all the trouble of freezing this often fresh produce back in the summer and now here I am, not using it.

And furthermore, I feel as though it would be nice to not be using the chest freezer, but just manage with the above fridge freezer.  Probably not logical, but I'd like to all the same.  So far it's going well, although I need a use for all the tomatoes.  Salsa, I think.