A Bit of Reflection

It's Monday again, but it is the Monday before Christmas, which makes it a better Monday than usual! We had a fantastic dinner with our neighbors last night...it was somewhat of a progressive dinner, we started off with drinks, appetizers and gifts at our house...they brought over some fantastic cheese and crackers, and I tried a recipe for amazing potato skins that I found over at epicurious. They were quite the hit and I will definately make them again, hopefully soon! We next moved the party to their house for dinner, venison marinated in balsamic vinegar and an amazing mixed green salad with gorgonzola. For dessert I'd made creme brulee the day before, but the fun part was everyone getting the chance to use the torch to melt the sugar on top of the custard the way they wanted to. We all had so much fun using the torch that I will definitely have guest torch their own creme brulee in the future, who doesn't like to play with fire?! The creme brulee turned out great, better even than the first time I made it. The s-son had a friend over to spend the night, the husband had picked up on of those take 'n' bake pizzas and a couple of movies for the two kids, because I'd trippled the recipe for the creme brulee, we also set them up with that for dessert. While we were hanging out with our neighbors in the front room, the boys were in the kitchen having their dinner, I went in there for a minute and saw them with pizza in hand happily munching away, and empty creme brulee ramikins sitting by their plates. They admitted with grins on their faces that they'd had their dessert first. Can't say I blame them, it was the first time the s-son's friend had ever had creme brulee.

So it was a great weekend, full of friends and celebrations. There was also a couple of positive moves in the realm of the husband's business. We've gone so long with nothing but forced patience and an ever tightening budget, that even though it was positive news, I still experienced a bit of sleeplessness and anxiety. I guess in a way I've gained a sense of pride that we have been able to trim our expenses and live on less, I've felt a regaining of the same drive and determination that got me through my college years when I truly had almost nothing. In the last day or so the husband and I have had quite a few conversations about our current and former life styles and we are on the same page about keeping things simple as they are now, even though we aren't going to be under the same kind of forced pressure. I have learned a ton of discipline with my spending. There is a lot more scrutiny about needs vs. wants, and honestly, it feels right to put anticipation, saving, planning and patience in their rightful place with spending and financial decisions. With the affect of a recessed economy, I've also been able to see at a deeper level the material that my husband is made of...he's struggled with the increased stress and burden, but he has also shown me his strength and determination. I trust him more because of the past year. I think we have learned (and are continuing to learn) lessons that will affect us for a lifetime. Living simply and learning to do more things for myself is satisfying, I have a higher regard for my own skills as a homemaker. Professionally as well, I have a deeper sense of my own worth. I lost a job that was providing a comfortable income, but at the same time it was robbing me of the things that I love about teaching and the things that make me a great teacher. In the last few months I have come closer to finding a balance between my professional life and my personal life. I did not and never would have chosen to lose my job, it was painful, hurtful, and stressful. I can see now though, that it has all lead to me becoming a better and happier person.

So the rest of this week will hold the wrapping of some gifts, a still sort of suprise shopping trip and a stop at a dive store to have a zipper the husband's dive vest or BCD repaired - both are parts of the series of advent gifts I've been giving him this month - the gifts have been progressively getting better the closer we've gotton to Christmas. There will also be a few rounds of Zumba, a good way to offset the feasting that will happen, we are going to have the husband's parents join us for dinner on Christmas Eve before we go to a candle light service at our church. I also have a couple of much anticipated beauty appointments, one to get my hair cut, another to have a professional pedicure - something I haven't had done in over a year! I have also planned to make and can my annual batch of cranberry chutney to give to friends and family, in addition, I plan to try making lemon curd from scratch for the first time...I'll report back on how it turns out. There will also been some work in there, I don't anticipating having too much since most of my students will be taking a break for the holiday, but I do have a couple of special projects that I will be able to tackle with the extra time. I also want to spend sometime tidying up and organizing my office/sewing room. It has been severely neglected in that area for the last couple of months. I'd like to start the New Year with a work space that is neat, I work so much more efficiently and effectively in a clean environment! I may even post some before and afters so you can see in my mess how human I am!

Lastly, I'd like to say Happy Winter Solstice to you...the song that has been going through my head today is the Beatles "Here comes the sun". After today our daylight grows day by day...I love winter, it is cozy, but I'm always happy to see spring come along!

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"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it."

~Goethe