I am so pleased to tell you that (knock on wood) my family appears to be getting back to normal. Without a doubt, this has been the most difficult 2 months of my life. Between sickness, losing our well, waaaaay too much overtime and crappy weather, I feel like I've been stretched thin. We're way behind on our fall projects...it's hard to accomplish much with 2 sick kids, dad at work and it's raining cats and dogs! But at least now, I feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
On the sickness front, everyone is feeling well! Isaac has a little lingering cough, but otherwise both kids are doing great! I don't know if they caught very mild cases of the flu or if it was the quick treatment with Tamiflu, but both kids recovered quickly and are feeling fine now. And so far (knock on wood, again!) Jeff and I aren't showing any symptoms of having contracted the flu. We'll just keep popping our Vitamins A, C, D, E and zinc.
On the food preservation front, we had a killing freeze a few nights ago, so everything is done growing now. I still have some carrots to dig, and maybe a few herbs to salvage, but otherwise we're finished til 2010. I'm still canning like mad...apples, carrots, onions, beef, and pears. Our poor old metal shelves are full to capacity, but I'm sure I can find extra space somewhere. Having canned food is such a blessing. There's a security that comes along with a full pantry that you simply cannot put into words; or maybe I can: FULL TUMMY.
We've also been busy stocking our pantry with bulk, dry goods, planning on a potentially rough winter. According to urban legend, whenever a president wins a Nobel prize, the following winter is brutally cold, snowy, icy, etc. Obama's Nobel prize isn't the reason we're stockpiling though...there's just so much weird stuff going on in the world right now, I think it pays to have extra food on hand. Aside from war on multiple fronts, crazy folks developing nuclear programs, a worthless dollar and the threat of hyperinflation, Joe Biden used the 'D' word yesterday. He called the recession a depression. Somehow, it's unnerving to hear a politician tell the truth and admit what we've known all along. So in light of all the crap going on in the world, we've been filling our basement pantry as quickly as we can.
The cold weather has really brought out the nesting tendencies in everyone here. We've pulled out the footy-jammies, heavy quilts, heated mattress pads, and thermal underwear...after a busy, rainy summer, there's something beautiful about pulling an old quilt up under your chin, snuggling with your children and watching old movies. Add to that some freshly popped popcorn and a hot mug of cider and what you have is perfect bliss, my friends. It simply doesn't get any better.
Blissfully yours,
Andie
4 comments:
Glad to hear you are on the other side of H1N1!!!
Thinking of your last two months, God is good to give us only what we can handle. However, often we THINK we can't handle as much as we really can, but that is because we are thinking we must do it in our own strength. When He is our strength and our rock, we can get through some pretty tough times because He sustained us when we would have given up! It makes those simple pleasures you mentioned all that much more sweeter!
Good work! I've been looking at my garden beds that need prepared for the winter, but I can only do one thing at a time...
I wish we had your weather. It was almost 100 over the weekend, despite the fact that we're harvesting acorns on our walks already. The weather's great for drying those acorns out so they're easier to shell, but it's tough to get the nesting thing going when it's not even beginning to look like fall, much less winter.
Andrea I got your comment at my blog and you can e-mail me at petesmith00@hotmail.com I would love to hear more info on the flu and how to fight it without the shot. Pete
http://patriotsagainstthenwo.blogspot.com/
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