Day Two of Clean Eating... And, Spring is Coming?

Ok... a few observations.  Eating "truly clean" requires a lot of work.  But, I absolutely love to cook.  So much.  And, I have a brand new kitchen so even washing the dishes (in my new farm sink!!!) is exciting. 

I could never do this much prep work each day if I worked outside of the house. I have such great respect for the many friends that I know who do work full time and take the weekends to pre-plan and prep their meals for the week.

Next... the food preparation has been a blessing.  It has slowed me down. I find that I am thinking a lot more as I cut, chop, mix and wash. I've come up with a few good ideas for my business and I've thought deeper about some things that have been weighing on my mind.  

Back in 2008, I started baking bread with my girls each Friday. 

We have since lost that disciplined routine, although I hope to bring it back... but one of the things I noticed back then was how the time involved in making the bread for the family must have, in itself, been a gift.  An excuse even... to just slow down. "Something as simple as baking was probably a time for mothers to slow down and go within. A time to process life."

I have trouble slowing down. I've realized it's not from lack of desire. I know the importance of it.  I've noticed lately that oftentimes other people in my life and society in general are putting the pressure on me to keep it moving. Faster. More. Produce.

I know how short life is. I am happy to produce but I'd also like to just enjoy and BE.

As much as we shouldn't need an excuse, having a reason such as baking, cooking for the family, exercising and more is definitely a gift in this fast paced world. At least you can say you are "doing" something, right?  Ugh - how horrible! 

When you commit to eating non-processed foods and cooking clean, you are filling up your days with more work. This I realize but I welcome it and the opportunity to slow things down a bit.

My girls love all different types of foods. I've tried to expose them to different things since they were young. We make cooking, trying new recipes and restaurants fun and so they are not afraid of different flavors and textures most of the time. I'm very thankful for that.  

I've also noticed that since I've gotten my beautiful new sink - I want to hand wash my dishes more.  I know, I know - this will die a quick death.  But for now, I've been washing and happy to do so.

Lastly, Facebook has really taken away from blogland.  I used to feel an obligation to post every birthday and milestone here and now I am content because I posted it on Facebook. My oldest daughter just had her 21st birthday and to say I am proud of her is an understatement. She is just simply amazing.

Which one of us is 21?

Tomorrow is the Spring Equinox.  I would love to offer something fun for all of you to celebrate.  We are expecting a snowstorm here in Connecticut so it's actually pretty funny that it will be the first day of Spring.  

Be sure to check back here tomorrow to see what I come up with.  You just may get something FREE.

xoxo

Making this house a home...

We have lived a long time in this house.  We bought it when we first got married (literally the same month) a little over 14 years ago.  I remember when we found it.  We didn't have a lot of money and we wanted very badly to live in this town because of how good the schools were.  Our options were limited and this house needed a LOT of work.  It wasn't much to look at back then but somehow I could see a family living inside of it.  I imagined it one day being full of my children and busy days and maybe it would be our "starter home"...

Our home began like this:

 With a little TLC, it evolved to this (didn't have a front view that I could find):

As our family kept growing, the idea of it being a "starter home" changed.  Instead, we decided to add on.  A new garage, master bedroom and laundry room...

We added a deck...

A treehouse fort...

A new septic, a vegetable garden...

For a time - a home daycare...

An office so I could write more, a woodstove to save on heat....

Before back in 2001

After - 2015

and now, finally, a new kitchen is in progress.

To say we've made a lot of improvements to this house so it would work for our growing family is an understatement.  We thought many times of just moving somewhere into a home that better suit our needs but our love for the town we live in kept us here, so instead we built upon THIS home to suit our needs.  Because of my dedication to this town, I've become very passionate about standing up for it and protecting it.  We've laid down strong roots here and we care deeply about what happens to this place we chose to raise our children in.

And, while all of these improvements made the home bigger and much nicer, those things alone could never make it "home".  Making a house a home has very little to do with how many bedrooms you have or new kitchen cabinets.

This house has become "home" after 14 years of birthday parties, holidays with family all crammed inside, friends coming in and out, cooking together, graduations, crying together, slamming doors, opening them up again, pulling the decorations down from the attic, sticky fingers on the walls, too much laundry, family game nights, hot cocoa on the front porch, movie night, laughter, pool parties, forgiveness, good books, dog hair in every corner you can imagine, paint supplies and really good music.

So while I *LOVE* the idea of having a new kitchen very soon (I think the girls like the cabinet boxes better than the new kitchen idea),

I am even more grateful that I have had 14 years inside this sweet house, making it a warm and loving home for our girls and I hope they will grow up with beautiful memories of their time inside of it to share with their families one day.

What one thing do you think makes your house a home for your family the most?