In His Steps

Hello everyone! I've been out of town without my husband for about a week now and it's rough. I'm having fun, but it's less fun without him there. My husband tells me he's been working and doing the carpet cleaning around our home, which is good after the mouse episode. My craft room apparently needed the most work (I'll believe that; crafting can be messy). I've been spinning yarn with a handspindle and then knitting little items for Christmas for everyone. The items (which are secret) knit up fast, so I'm already on number six out of eight or ten; I'm debating on the number of them needed. I've also done some Christmas shopping. Things are kind of solemn this visit, though, and it's not just missing my husband's presence. My younger sister's cat had to be put down a couple days ago because of a ruptured bladder and she's understandably devastated. I'm hoping she finds my presence in the locale comforting, though I know s...

My husband's parents have gone on a mission for a year for our church and left their home to be guarded by several of their children. Given when they were leaving, they opted not to plant their usual garden this past spring. Well, the garden had other ideas. It began to spontaneously burst forth and we spent the summer roughly weeding it and collecting it's bounty of franken-squashes. Our dining room table has looked like this for the entire summer, with a rotating bunch of these. I say franken-squashes because these are various hybrids of pumpkin, zucchini, spaghetti, butternut, and crookneck squashes. It makes dinner interesting. With there being only two of us at home, we've taken to doing whatever we can to get rid of them. We have become.... The Squash Pushers! Wanna squash?

I wrote the following in an email update for my family and found it to be a nice, overall look at what my life has been like lately, so enjoy! My husband seems to be doing well at work. Some frustrations, but that seems to be the norm when software designing. Since I've been not working, I've been getting a lot of home organization done and getting all of my schoolwork completed with less screaming and whining. I've also been crafting more and starting on our Christmas presents.   Our home has been freed of the grievous attack of a mouse, so we are no longer suffering its bagel stealing tyranny. My husband was most angry when it attacked our food, so war was declared and after five days, victory was won. He showed me how to take down a dead tree (or at least a large branch) safely at the parents' place. He also spent several Saturdays chopping wood with an ax in our backyard. I tried to sing "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK" at him, but he ran back o...

I used to believe that luxury and wealth was defined by what a person owned and was a part of. I grew up in a very wealthy city in Southern California and was surrounded by people with fancy homes, fancy cars, and jobs with impressive titles, like Doctor and CEO. My public high school was a magnet school and many people throughout the county tried to get into it for its renowned educational and sports programs. My school had its own performing arts center, three gyms, a football and soccer field, baseball fields, tennis courts, library, kilns, computer lab, and a pool. My own family didn't have these things; we were lower middle class to upper lower class to near or complete poverty, depending on the week. I was surrounded daily by kids with all the newest gadgets and adults talking about remodels and new cars, business mergers, pharmaceuticals, and banking. In my own life, I've seen what "keeping up with the Jones'" looks like. When my uncles got new trucks,...