Bring on Easter Sunday

Here we are the night before Easter Sunday and I feel a bit like a kid at Christmas. I’m actually excited for the morning to come. We are ready. We have survived. Our trials are nearly over!!

The balloon wreath is made, last years decorations hung, cakes and biscuits aplenty baked, lamb from the market marinating and house clean (ish). Gifts are baked and wrapped and we are so nearly there I feel I can almost touch it. Totally ready to celebrate the amazing thing Jesus did in a big way…………………….

 

………………………………. so bring it on!

Craft Projects

What have we been doing if not watching the telly? Its a question we’ve been asked many times in the last few weeks. Well lots of things but the children have mainly done more craft than usual. They have glued and stuck, painted and crayoned till there isn’t much wall space left to display their prolific works and they have enjoyed it. The weather has been kind too and so they have been out in the garden playing much more than the winter months have allowed. When I asked the girls (Fred is a bit little for lengthy discussion) if they were enjoying the lent fast from television their answer nearly broke my heart – after a brief private whisper Elsie announced ‘we like it when we do this, we experience happy’!!

Oh no huge parent trauma, are they normally unhappy? I’m I some how scaring them for life by not gluing myself and all that we own to the dining table every evening after school? Do they so infrequently play outside that its actually a treat to be doing it now?

    

I’ve decided (because it helps my sanity) that none of the above it true. I think they were just trying to articulate the thought that has sprung unbidden into my head on occasion in recent weeks,  that it feels good to slow down and enjoy what we have. There really is power in the old adage to count ones blessings. Thankfulness is a happy experience and remembering how blessed I really am makes it easier to deal with all the other of life’s worries and up hill battles.

Home made and hand made

There have been a few birthdays and events through the Lent times that have tested our resolve. Some I had cheekily planned for and shopped for in advance, some required a bit more thinking and some I just gave up and went to the shops for. Here are the highlights:

Bake your own cookie mix (everything in the jar except butter and egg). Gave this one with an earlier purchase of a muffin tin and cases. Although pre-planned still simple and not too ‘stuff’ orientated.

Jar of cinder toffee and a small emergency sewing kit. Made this late one night from a picture I found on Pintrest. No instructions only a picture so this, the first attempt, was very wonky. The second attempt actually given was much better the pin cushion worked! I covered a second jar lid in matching fabric and ribbon and filled it with cinder toffee. Looked great as a pair and we ate the remains.

Recipe book (see previous post for greater detail). Still loving this and filling it with loads of good stuff.

Mini muffins, made for Easter. Lots of gooey marzipan in the middle which is lovely. There was a slight mishap in that the recipe called for mixed spice and we ran out with not a single local shop stocking it! A quick google later we found the ingredient list, all of which we could buy in the turkish shop, so we made our own. All good except the down side is I now have buckets full of the stuff!!!

Plus umpteen other cakes, biscuits and gifts in jars usually sweets or edible treats. We have also given cut flowers from the garden and made a range of cards.

But on some things we drew a line. I didn’t feel it would be that easy to sent Elsie to her friends birthday parties with a jar of odd looking truffles!! Kids don’t need the excuse to point and laugh so we shopped for the appropriate gift for each of them. Its a cop out I know but worth it I think. We agreed at the beginning we would buy what was essential. Not being totally the odd one out, in this circumstance, we classed as essential. Life is a balance and on this one we gave way.

There have been other projects too but like many things they have been started but never finished. The one big thing that this challenge has prompted me to do is the mending. I’ve had an ever growing pile of things with odd holes in or buttons missing for ages and have never got to the bottom of it. Well no more it is now finished!! Until the next button pops off!!

Sunshine Dry

Today has been an awesome drying day! I know I’m getting old that I can even think such a thing, but living, as I now do, in the north wet west these things are not to be underestimated. Nothing dries as well as it ever did in the grand old east but today has come close!

Why am I waxing lyrical about washing? I’m not sure really except to say to today I stopped just for a moment and enjoyed that feeling. You know the one, when the sun is shining and you’ve hung all the fiddly things on the line. The feeling of smug contentment of being domestic goddess! Don’t pretend, I’m so not the only one who gets a strange sense of  well being when the washing is hung out all blowy and fresh and the sun is shining and it can be guaranteed that it will be taken in dry and smelling of fresh air and loveliness. If I am the only one I hold my hands up to it now. It s a great feeling and I love it but so rarely actually allow myself the space to savour it.

Today I took a moment , only a second but I looked at the vast expanse of blue above me and was grateful for it and in that briefest of moments remembered too to thank the one who made it also. Its a good start to the day, one I recommend quite, reflective but oh so productive. Just what every busy family needs. I’m learning slowly to find my peace within the busyness of life to grasp the moments because they actually do matter and add up to make a difference.

Plus what’s not to love about being out in the garden early still in your PJ’s, with a pile of sweet smelling washing that your lovely husband put through the machine while you had a lie in?

Arrgggh and hurumph.

‘Well the title sums up the day so far. Today has not been easy and I’ve tried to give in on a couple of occasions. Firstly questions; Where does one buy salad cream if not a supermarket in the 10 minutes spare between school runs and work? Why will none of my children just sit and listen to music or read a book in silence and on their own? Why is the couple of hours between finishing school and eating tea total hell? Why do 5 year old’s get homework that I’ve lost?  Where is the packed lunch box and water bottle and who’s idea was all this in the first place?’

I wrote that a few days before the end of term it was a difficult day nothing went smoothly life felt very uphill and I just wanted to watch telly eat takeaway and pretend it had all gone away and left me alone. It didn’t! It never does does it? But with a great deal of effort and a tremendous amount of single line arrow prayers and a husband worth his weight (considerable!) in gold we got there. I did not give up, (said smugly and proudly) if anything my resolve strengthened as the day passed. I’m not sure if my mood and temper got any better or if grim determination took over but the day passed, as they all do despite their nature.

Did the process teach me anything profound? I’d love to say yes, but mostly I just found out that the corner shop sells salad cream, that home work for a 5 year old hurts my brain and that lost things are always under the pram!!

The peace I so often crave, but then don’t know what to do with, didn’t come but nor did the total desolation I was expecting either. We are holding on, trying to work out what this sacrificial lent has to show us about our Jesus, how to make better washing up liquid and justify chippy chips. We are hanging in there trying to unearth a spiritual truth along side glue and scissors, paint and paper, baking and pies. I have no idea what it is or if we might just have gone a bit mental, but on we go regardless.

 

Sunshine and Washing

As April progresses and the weather warms up so does the work needing to be done in the garden. We have weeded (again), planted artichoke and beetroot and made beautiful tripods for green beans to grow up. The potatoes are well and truly in and beginning to spout. The rhubarb is going from strength to strength and even the new crowns are looking green and lush. The raspberry canes look to have survived there ruthless winter move to more appropriate premisses. The plum tree is coming into its beautiful blossom as is the cherry and the apple all the signs of new life and spring are becoming abundantly clear and as I write this the sun is shinning down and for just a few moments all feels right with the world. I look out at our little patch and feel something close to content.

Its not long though till the thoughts of what’s behind me kick in. Thoughts of washing and cleaning, of a kitchen that is nearing a health and safety risk. So as I stand with my back to the house looking at the garden I wonder if life will always be this way? Will there always be things behind me to drag me back and make me feel a bit down even as I look out over a future that is sunny and bright and full of promise?

‘But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’ Isaiah 40:31

And so I wait for a bit of flying, soaring and eventually running without fainting………..!

Easter Bonnets

We had the joy, the last week of term, of having to produce two Easter bonnets for the school parade. Not such an easy endeavour when one has set the challenge of not shopping but a short pinterest search later the girls had picked the bonnets they wished to emulate. Then, following a discussion about how it was impossible to create such accurate paper- mache representations of chickens in the 48 hours we had till needed, their desires had been moderated to something more achievable. Iris wanted a garden and Elsie a spring lamb!

There was glue, paper, cotton wool and straw every where, some being cross but a fair amount of fun as the bonnets began to take shape and here are the results.

It was only after they were finished and Elsie asked why we make bonnets for Easter I even began to consider what it was all about. How does the maker of the world made flesh feel about his greatest sacrifice being celebrated by such poor displays of cotton wool? Or the most amazing miracle ever, redemption, being trivialised into straw and lambs, chicks and bunnies? I don’t have any answers just lots of questions about why we do what we do, about how we have managed to sanitise the total horror of the crucifixion. I have a theory that like many things that cause us to be uncomfortable we gloss over it, laugh it off and make light –  its our human nature.

But just for a minute maybe we should just stop think and consider the process of  being nailed up, being bullied, beaten, belittled and tortured to death. Then reflect that it was done for us willingly. Maybe then and only then can Easter bonnets and bunnies be an acceptable form of Easter celebration.

Then again maybe our incredibly indulgent father looks down on the cotton wool messes we are making of it all and just smiles?

…………………Oh and by the way first prize with the garden but nothing for the sheep!!!

Washing Up

We all have to do it, but its so not my favourite part of the house work (not that housework is really my bag anyway). But washing up is just dull. Our sink faces a wall and away from the rest of the kitchen so not only is it boring but its isolating too. We have a dish washer and we use it (and I’m not ashamed to say so!). Yet still there is stuff that ends up needing to be hand washed. Much earlier in the Lent challenge we ran out of washing up liquid, hurrah, I thought an end to having to hand wash, at least for the next few weeks.

But alas no,  it still needs to be done (and there is only so long I can pile it on the side waiting for Lent to end!!). So then the dilemma, do I buy non environmentally sound washing up liquid in our local shop as we are staying away from supermarkets? Do I drive half way round the city trying to find a non supermarket that sells environmentally OK stuff? Or shall I have a go at making our own.

Making our own is not as mad as it sounds, we have been making our own fairly environmentally sorted laundry liquid for a while now (I’ll post recipe another time if anyone’s interested) so we had a lot of the ingredients handy. Despite this and after prolonged ‘tinter web searching I’ve still yet to find the perfect recipe.

The current batch is mark 6, and is the best yet, so I’ll include it for inspection but I’m open to ideas for improvement especially if they are tried and tested. Ingredients are; liquid castile soap (vegetable soap), soap flakes, soda crystals, white vinegar and boiling water. The ratios of these I think depends very much on the type of water you have and your budget. Lots of recipes suggest loads of the liquid soap but that ends up being mentally expensive and not that much better – in my opinion. I opt for a good slug of liquid soap (to around the first black line on the bottle) then top up to the second line with boiling water (approx 500ml). Then a teaspoon-ish each of soap flakes, soda crystals and white vinegar. Shake and stir like mad, and voilà an approximation of washing up liquid.

Does it work? That depends what you’re looking for. It does not really lather up and feels a bit funny compared to bought stuff but generally it gets the pots and pans clean enough to be used again! It does actually get better for standing. I’ve discovered, about a week after being made it is significantly more foaming than when new. No idea on the chemistry just my observation!!

Why bother? Well for us it fits with the challenge we are living more simply, shopping less and being reliant on the things we have already in the house. Its also been quite interesting to find that we are so conditioned to how a product should look, smell and feel, by the companies that sell us it, that we can not clearly tell what is effective or not because we have to battle inbuilt expectations. An eye opener as to how much hold the marketing people have in our lives. That said, and with eyes as open as possible, I’m not sure I’m totally convinced on home made washing up liquid!!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb.

This week we have had a glut of rhubarb. Something about this mild weather has caused our sleepy wintering crowns to wake up and take off. There has been more than can be reasonable for the time of year and as a consequence we have been being creative about the ways it can be eaten. In a bid to ‘waste not, want not’ and use what we have as part of our simple living rhubarb has become king.

How have we eaten it? The obligatory, and always delightful, rhubarb crumble, the modern and different rhubarb and ginger flan, rhubarb and sour cream cake, rhubarb tart, rhubarb pie and not forgetting the old classic rhubarb jelly. But still it keeps on coming so some has been stewed and frozen and laid down for leaner times.

Then today a minor disaster happened, we ran out of squash! Now, I understand that water is as good and I know all about sugar and sweeteners and teeth and all of those things, but really who doesn’t like a nice cold glass of squash at times? So what to do? Could I justify the essentialness of squash (like I have coffee!!) or was this something we were going to have to live with out?

Oh but, I hear you cry, the rhubarb, the rhubarb. Yes the rhubarb indeed. I made some rhubarb cordial and with some trepidation it was tried and much to everyone’s surprise pronounced OK!! Accolade indeed!!

 

There we have it then rhubarb cordial made from real home grown rhubarb. I’m not sure it will fully replace the desire for blackcurrant squash in the long run but its nice for a change and is a significant ingredient in a rather lovely sounding gin cocktail I’ve just Googled!!

Any more ways to use rhubarb would be gratefully received so let me know.

Week 2

Here we are then 2 weeks into lent, so I thought it was about time for another review. I think all is going well. Friends and colleagues are still reasonably incredulous that I’ve actually managed to stay away from the television. So proudly I announce, we all remain television free! The Lenten shroud remains in place on the box and I haven’t really been tempted to move it this week.

Making do and mending is going reasonably well too. Today I had a little go at some oven squares, as new oven gloves only fitting me was getting a bit frustrating! They turned out fairly OK. I’m no seamstress and so the edges are a bit wonky and the stitching is far from even but I made them from stuff we had in left over from other projects etc.

The squares comprise a terry nappy, some pretty fabric and a bit of bias binding. Two layers of fabric sandwich the terry cloth and then the edges are bound. The loop was an after thought and probably could have been better but at least they hang on the oven ready and waiting for use.

I was pleased with the way the fabric looked in the kitchen so I decided to make a new peg bag as well! The old one was a bit tatty and there was enough fabric and stuff left, so I thought why not.

Eating simply, also not going to badly. We have eaten ridiculously well if the truth be known. We have managed to stay away, all this week, from processed or convenience food. Its taking a little more thought but if I’m not watching telly what else have I to do!?!

So to shopping! Not doing as well here. I can honestly say I have not been near any of the big 4 supermarkets but as expected I have not been able to stay fully away from the smaller chains especially our local Lidl. There are some things I just can’t find other wise namely, decent self raising flour, yoghurt and coffee. So the confession continues not only have I used a supermarket but I have also shopped for a none essential!! I know, I know, but the temptation was too great. It was my birthday, I was gifted some cash and really wanted a digital radio, so on a very lovely day out with Simon I went shopping. Not strictly in the spirit of the Lent challenge but a totally wonderful indulgence.

Are we rising to the challenge? I’d like to think we are. Of course we lapse (digital radio, supermarket shopping) but like a very wise man told me at the beginning of this ‘these things do not necessarily fundamentally change us, or our relationship with God, but they do have the power to tip our axis for a while’. Our axis is tipping. We are more grateful as a family for what we have, this has been beautifully reflected in the children’s prayers of thanks around the dinner table. Usually they have to be pushed into being thankful for their meal but this week the thanks has flowed. We have given thanks to the Lord for sunshine, chickens, glue and paint, friends, cake, family, our home and security, swimming baths and dancing. This is surely a great Lent so far?