A New Years Day

It's been a while since I've sat down to write a post. Since Thanksgiving I've been spending my nights knitting while listening to audio stories, skin sewing, beading and on some nights reading. I have been wanting to share some of the crafts I made, but have misplaced my camera cord to upload pictures so, one of these days I'll have pictures to share. I made Avery a pair of knitted mittens and a pair of moccasins with our own goat hide and beaded with strawberries and strawberry flowers. I made Noah a leather pouch that fits on his belt loop. I knit Dustin a soft hat out of baby Alpaca. It has ear flaps which make me happy knowing his ears are warm. The last hat I made him looked stylish but his ears were exposed. I made wet felted merino wool silk scarves for the ladies in my family and needle felted pastries for my nephews. I was on a Birch bark folding frenzy this winter. I took a couple classes on working with Birch bark and learned how to harvest it and make woven bird ornaments and all sizes of Moravian stars, some tiny enough to be earings and some almost too large to be hung on the tree. Pictures coming!

In December we celebrated Hannukah for the first time. It was the final culmination of Noah's study of ancient Hebrews. On top of Hannnukah was Dustin's birthday, winter solstice and then getting ready for hosting a Christmas eve party, Christmas day brunch and dinner and cramming in last minute crafts etc. Last night we had a couple families over for a low key celebration. It was warm enough out that the kids were able to play outside for over an hour. I was hoping to clean out the pantry and get rid of all the Christmas cookies, rum balls and champagne in readiness for a cleanse, but low and behold there are still cookies, rum balls and champagne. So, D has talked me into holding out until Monday and then he will join me in my attempts to heal and repair my gut with the absence of certain foods and addition of supplements.

Today we took down the tree, packed away ornaments, nativity scenes and Christmas books. We swept out the pine needles and re-organized the furniture. I sat down to begin a hat for myself and now I'm procrastinating with a pattern, a ball of yarn and the right needle beside me. I picked myself out a ball of yarn to make myself the Cladach hat, free on pinterest, as well as the Lace and Twist gloves which may be above my skill level, certainly not a pattern for me to follow while listening to any audio book.

The kids were starting to complain about winter today. I told them it was time for them to get inspired about something, start a new craft, learn a new skill. A lot of Alaskans flee to the south in the months of January and February; to Hawaii, or Florida or anywhere south of Canada. For several years D and I loved to get away ourselves, with the mission of being somewhere long enough to get a good sunburn repeatedly and eat our fill of fresh fish and tropical fruit. This year is our second year not taking a winter vacation. Instead, D and I both have plans to make time for a weekly yoga class followed by a tanning bed session, which as unhealthy as it is in some respects, works wonders for my winter doldrums. I'm thinking about other ways to give the kids things to look forward to. Soccer for Noah, more play dates with friends for Avery.

This past year has been a year of change for us, diet changes, homesteading changes. Our course has altered. Our focus on self sufficiency has become more long term and less immediate, realizing that our immediate needs are getting ahead financially, getting our health in order and meeting our children's needs of a more flexible schedule, less farm chores and more social activities. I think that this year will entail less drastic changes and more of an embrace and settling in. Embracing the time to enjoy and explore our interests and settling in to the the simplicity and flexibility of our days.

Looking forward to hearing what inspires you on this New Year Day.

Here are some topics I've been thinking about expanding on, and comments always help motivate me.
1. This past year's diet changes and resulting teeth re mineralization and fillings
2. Clean cleanse, gut cleanse, more on cleansing and what we hope to accomplish and what we've noticed after our last cleanse
3. Homestead planning, garden planning
4. New recipes, new eating habits
5. Homeschooling review of past year and plans for the spring
6. More on crafts, making salves with infused oils from summer garden