home production

Our bank is closed.  The bank lobby, that is.  You can conduct business through the drive-up window.  But right now we can't go in access our safe deposit box.  We can't go in and make free copies or get a free bag of popcorn.

Then, I got an email from our library.  They are closed until...?

I'm so glad I went crazy at the book sale the weekend before last.

 I'm going into home production mode.  There is nothing I need to buy online (at the moment) and I don't plan to go into the grocery store for a month or two.

The vignette, above and below, contains some things that were hand made.

The quilt was made by Leah.  Leah lived next door to my mother-in-law.  She was delightful.  Born in 1891, she made this quilt when she was 10 or 11.  I feel so blessed to have it.  How many of your current possessions have lasted over 100 years?    There is such warmth and personality to a hand made quilt.

The pottery bowl was made by my brother-in-law when he had a home pottery studio.  He does such beautiful work.

The two stoppered bottles are homemade apple cider vinegar.  You can find instructions to make your own here.

You can find recipes to blueberry muffins anywhere.  One little tip: add 1T. of lemon zest.  I ordered some organic lemons online and canned up some lemon juice.  But first I zested the lemons and froze the zest.  I add it to various recipe and it adds a subtle bit of zip.

Yesterday I got my seedling trays ready to plant.  It was fun to work in the dirt again.  I need to go through my seeds now and decide what to start first.

I also took cuttings from some of my houseplants to root.  Coleus are especially easy to root.  It won't be long (well, probably 2 months)

before I can replant them and put them out on the deck to enjoy.

What kinds of creative projects are you doing?

the new normal

Schools - cancelled

Churches (with more than 50 people) - cancelled

Children's museum - closed

Art center - closed

Non-essential travel - cancelled

Library programs are cancelled although the library remains open for the time being.

And on and on.

The resident fisherman and I are hunkered down.  He will still fish as long as the ice is good and his fishing buddy stays 6 feet away.

I don't plan to start up our ladies' Bible study until some of this stuff sorts out.

Welcome to our new world - a global pandemic world; a world of financial uncertainty for so many.

What are we doing?

We listened to a sermon online yesterday morning and then we brainstormed how we can be an encouragement to others.  It is harder to be the hands and feet of Jesus when you are keeping your hands and feet at home.

For now, we will call and encourage others, write notes of encouragement and gratitude to our church leaders, keep tabs on our kids and make sure they are okay (they are).

I will be contacting the children's ministry kids I teach.  We can send home weekly Sunday school papers (kids love to get mail!) and perhaps have a weekly Scripture memory contest. Not sure of all the specifics yet, but we may ask the kids to send a video of them saying the verse of the week.  We would then put the names of all the kids who participate in a bowl and have a drawing.  The person whose name is drawn will win a little something.

The nerd in me needed to do some planning.  I went through all our pantry staples, including the fridge and freezer and figured out how many servings of meat, vegetables, fruit, beans, pasta, peanut butter, etc.  we have.

I do not need to darken the door of a grocery store for a long time.

Meals for the next few months will be home cooked.  Like Saturday night's homemade pizza:

I am obviously not a food photographer.  Or any other kind of photographer.

The dough is homemade, the sauce came from tomatoes I canned last summer after purchasing 2 large boxes of tomatoes from the farmer's market.  I also bought the peppers last summer, diced them and froze them.  The pizza sauce recipe is a recipe from my childhood.  It came with the first blender my folks bought and Dad made it often.  It is delicious.  The pizza tasted fresh and yummy.

Pizza and salad Saturday night.

Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts on Sunday night.

Tonight will be chicken stew or chicken and dumplings or chicken pot pie.  I'll decide when I get into the kitchen.  And salad with homemade french dressing.

The weather outside is not very nice so we are inside today.

And I'm not mad about that at all.

home sweet home

The new normal is not normal at all, but we are grateful for a beautiful, cozy place to be.  We will adapt.

What does your new normal look like?

pleasant places

The drive to church is beautiful, no matter the time of year.  While driving to church the other day, I noticed a half dozen turkeys on one side of the road, scratching the newly exposed ground for snack.  There is often a bald eagle - such a majestic creature.  The road follows the river at a few places.  Unspoiled by any structures, signs or wires, it is quite wild looking.

I love where we live.  We are surrounded by lakes, woods and beauty.

We live within a few hours of much of our family.  We love our church.  We have wonderful friends - friends that we have known for decades and new friends.

Truly, truly:

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. Psalm 16:6.

But sometimes there is a 

in the road.

 The news is full of crises.  Especially lately. The coronavirus!  The stock market plummeted! The election. There is bad news everywhere.  Some of it very serious.

At times like this, I choose to focus on Psalm 16:6.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

If you look around your house and don't feel that it is a pleasant place, do something to make it so.  Fluff the pillows, banish the dust bunnies, straighten or remove the eyesores, the clutter, the stacks.  Light a candle or put on your diffuser.  Make a cup of tea.  Put on some soft music.  Buy yourself a bouquet of flowers.

If you are feeling panicked about the state of things - spend a little time reminding yourself of all the pleasant things, the blessings in your life.  Turn off the news; step away from the internet.  Praise the Lord.  Even at night He will instruct you.

And this is one thing I have learned about him in 50+ years of following Him.  He will not instruct you to worry.

don't panic

So the hand sanitizer was gone at Costco?  Didn't put in your Amazon order on time?

No worries.  Here are some diy ideas for hand sanitizer:
Hand Sanitizer 1
Hand Sanitizer 2
Hand Sanitizer 3
Hand Sanitizer 4
Hand Sanitizer 5

You may have missed the boat on acquiring a bottle or 5 of hand sanitizer, but check your cupboards - you might have the supplies needed to concoct your own.  Each of the recipes is slightly different, so if you don't have the ingredients for the first one, you may have the ingredients for another.

Hand sanitizer shelves may be empty, but you can probably find the ingredients to make some.

Plus, you don't need to use sanitizer at home, as soap and water is said to be very effective.

The surgeon general is telling us not to buy masks.  But if you are uncomfortable with this recommendation, can't find masks, can't afford masks etc. you can make your own.

The nearest case of COVID19 to us is 200 miles away, so at this point I am not too concerned.   We have plenty of food in the house for the next month or two.  Since we are retired (but not inactive) we can choose to hunker down if necessary.

Praying for those affected by COVID 19.  My parents spent their last years in a Life Care Center such as the one in Washington State which has had several residents die from the outbreak.  The impact on the community is huge and I can only imagine how scared the remaining residents, staff and their loved ones are.

Over and over again in the Bible we are counseled to 'Fear not'.  Those are very comforting words to me.  We are not afraid, we are prepared as far as we can be, but we trust in God and leave the results to Him.

We are in very, very, very Good Hands.