One Week Down...

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One week down as a SAHM. Wow. It's been scary, wonderful and intense all at the same time. I think the fact that my car has been out of commission for almost 2 weeks now has a lot to do with the feelings of nervousness and anxiety. We were so overwhelmed at the price it was going to cost to fix it. But it's like now that we know and we have accepted it we can begin to look past it and just get back on our feet. It is still a very hard pill to swallow. A brand new transmission for $2400 isn't really what you want to have to buy right when you decide to quit your job. But God will provide and see us through. I really just want to move on and get on with summer!! I've got so many fun ideas down on paper for this summer. We'll see how many actually come to fruition. Sometimes the best laid plans just get thrown out the window for spontaneity, right?

Anyhoo, I have actually really started to enjoy cooking again. I am anxiously awaiting the first chance I get to use my pressure canner. I just have to wait a few more weeks in so I can feel a little more stable with our food budget so I can set aside additional money for the fruits or veggies and some canning lids and possibly more or different sized jars.

One other thing I have discovered through this blogging business is a great idea of making your own stock/cooking fat. I put a pork roast in the crockpot and then saved the stock. I put it in the refrigerator in a tupperware pitcher type thing. I have read that while it sits in the fridge, the fat rises to the top and congeals. A perfect scoop of cooking fat is waiting right there on top for you to use the next time you need some grease in your pan. Yummm....pork fat. Ha!!

I do want to come back and share with you a garlic butter spread idea a little later.....

See you soon!

Gulp

Gulp. I have no job. I am unemployed...by choice. It is incredible and scary all at the same time but also exciting and mysterious. What am I going to uncover about myself? What will I learn? Will I develop a skill that I enjoy doing and can actually do very well? I am good with numbers but it wasn't something I actually "enjoyed" per se but what if I find out that I can do something really well and it's actually something that makes me excited to do. What about my parenting style? How will I handle being with my six year old all day? Will I fail? Will I cherish these memories of living life and not giving my best thoughts and moments of high energy to the corporate world?

Right now, I feel very scattered. I have my office junk that I need to find a place to put. I need to have space for an office here at home. We have an extra room that we use for an office, crafts and that silly elliptical. And extra jackets and snow boots and stuff like that. I don't leave my boots down in the basement anymore. Not after we started finding snake droppings.

Which brings me to how the bottom just fell out when we actually decided to make this choice - this leap of faith. My car broke down on Wednesday. Like not-drivable-broke-down. Like maybe-its-the-transmission-broke-down. That night we came home and found the snake poop. So there's that. I was getting really discouraged about it all. Part of our commitment to be more family focused it a serious budget. Getting a new transmission and fighting snakes wasn't really on the list for the month of May. Needless to say, God provided me a vehicle for next week. My dad has an extra car that I thought had long ago bit the dust but it hadn't. Praise the Lord! We picked up some snake repellent up off of amazon and it just arrived today. The hubs sprinkled it around the house. Let's hope that's the last we "see" of slithering serpents.

Today is Saturday and I'm taking the morning...maybe the day...to relax and take some me time before I begin this new journey.  I'll leave you with a gift from my friend Tonya and the new way I will be sweeping the floor: