We woke up yesterday morning to a little dusting of snow, and (relative) cold. Of course, the children are terribly disappointed that we don't have enough snow for a snowman. And, I agree--if it is going to be cold, I would like there to be snow. It is the one thing I would change about our lovely mountain town--if I could move the whole town up another 500-1000 feet, I would be happy. I know it would be easy enough to move up that high even in Black Mountain, but I am fairly attached to my garden and this fantastic neighborhood. On the other hand, the cold that we have had for the past few days inspired me to finish Elsa's elf hat (from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts--I do love that book.) David has one too--that I finished in August while visiting my folks, so no gardening). They look really cute together--I will post a picture soon--and I am thinking about knitting myself one too.
So, although apart from celebrating New Year, I haven't done much thinking about what it actually means, I thought I would think about how our year has gone, and what I would like to happen in 2012...2011 was really the year I learned to knit, and I did it up pretty big--I even knit two sweaters, although Elsa's did take me about 6 months to finish (partly because I don't knit much in garden season.) I have been loving our local yarn shop, but the yarn there is pretty expensive. My wonderful husband is pretty supportive of my spending money there, but I do sometimes shudder to think about how much I do spend. I wonder how other crafty mamas handle that? I really don't like using acrylic yarn, and I love supporting their business, but with this serious of a habit, I may need to think of other ways to procure yarn. So, I guess that is something to think about for next year.
This year my garden was the biggest ever, and I did manage to start most of my own plants. I had twenty-one tomato plants, and I did manage to can and freeze a lot of them, but still, that supply did lasted only until November. I also froze some green beans and squash from the garden, but that was mostly gone by October. Having fresh frozen vegetables in the freezer is way too tempting. Although I have big plans to enlarge the garden again this year--I have put leaves and boxes over the grass about five feet across the entire garden, I do think the fact is that I am not going to be able to grow enough to last the year, especially since Jesse's really busy time is the summer. We do live on less than half an acre after all...and the kids do need some places to play. I intend to buy more from the Tailgate Market, and maybe even make a trip out to Saluda to a much cheaper market and preserve it...and then, be okay if I can't do it all.
This year I also want to get some chickens (and I do have the occasional hankering for a couple of angora rabbits). The coop seems to be kind of a difficult problem...neither of us are particularly handy, and the ready made ones are so expensive. Also, although I would like to raise them from little chicks, we do have cats who would love little chick snacks. I need to get on that one, I suppose.
And I still want to try to homeschool next year. But I have to say, the nine hours a week that David is in school are fairly helpful--when not preparing for Christmas, I can take a run, and get somewhat on top of the housework (it's all relative). But I have not liked having Elsa in school for five days--even though it is only three hours a day. Our days seem disjointed, and she craves "home-days." And I miss her. I guess this is the time for me to be researching heavily how to make everything happen-I will need a babysitter, and to find some things for her to do that are socail and out of the house.
This year, I would like to spend less time on the internet, perhaps even reading the blogs that I do love. Sometimes I find them inspiring, and sometimes I find them discouraging. I need to either find a way to not compare myself, or to just not read them. I am sure there is more, but time is running short. Here is a link I found at Are So Happy--it's beautiful Some day, some day.
http://www.childrenandnature.org/blog/2011/12/19/holiday-love-letters/
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