I owe you a full tour, but we are still waiting for a freezer to be delivered, but the scullery is probably my favorite space in the new house. This early morning picture is worth a thousand words, but for the sake of trying- this space houses so many of the kitchen gadgets and habits I enjoy. My indoor herb garden, my natural medicine books, my tinctures and supplements, my sourdough starter for feeding, and that’s 48 hour chicken bone broth in the Dutch oven. On the other side of the sink is the coffee set up, candles, and electric kettle for tea. It’s my first stop every morning and I have yet to not feel such a surge of joy when I walk through the doors.

A December Day

Yesterday morning started early because David was taking off to North Carolina, so I hit go on the coffee and made him breakfast before he headed out at 6:15. Once he left I sunk back into my normal routine of turning on the fire, having Finley curl up beside me and started writing about our Thanksgiving here.

Finley and I went on our morning loop, then I came back to find Kaitlyn up and searching the house for Star, our elf. She had success, discovering that he had brought advent calendars, though be it a day late because he had already been snacking on day 1’s treat. All was forgiven though because she loved the Harry Potter Marauder’s Map the jelly beans were housed in.

I started breakfast and woke up big sis, who is truly a teen now and would sleep to at least 10:00 if I let her. Kaitlyn made her own breakfast which included a jelly hot dog bun alongside an egg and a piece of steak at my influence. She might have inherited some of mom’s blood sugar spikes and valleys so I’ve been teaching her about the need for pairing protein and fat with her love of carbs. Her go-to pairings tend to be quick and easy like a beef stick, pistachios, or a boiled egg, and the proof of success is evident in her more balanced emotions.

My breakfast clocked in about roughly 33g of protein between the steak, eggs, and avocado. I bought a pack of thinly sliced sirloin to add a bit to mine and David’s breakfasts because I can’t get him near the amount of protein he needs on eggs alone.

Potpourri

The girls got to work on their lists for the day (math, piano, reading, etc) while I put on a simmer pot of oranges, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks to simmer and cover up the smell of the bone broth I had been cooking for over 24 hours.

Two new neighborhood friends had mentioned wanting to learn how to do sourdough and I was excited to show them my one sourdough party trick using Jen’s method. I have tweaked her method some over the years, like making it all in one Kitchen Aid bowl instead of dirtying multiple bowls by making a well with the liquid, but for the most part, it’s my tried and true method. I did have the step-by-step directions pulled up to ensure I wasn’t distracted and mess it up, like I did last week when my friend, Danielle, was in town. I totally botched that batch and it shook my confidence- ha!

Their kids came with them and I had two very happy girls that got to forego typing practice to go play with friends. I really love how well all the kids get along, from age 3 to 15, they all enjoy each other and it’s heartening to watch.

Sourdough Tutorial

The thing about sourdough is that while it isn’t hard, there is a lot of action, then wait. Action, then wait. So we got through the process to the silky smooth bowl in an oiled bowl stage before the girls and I had to take off for our allergy shot appointment. That went fine and we grabbed CAVA for a late lunch on the way home. Can we all take a moment to applaud CAVA not only for their delicious food, but for their kid meals? It’s less than $7, includes a customized pita and sides, plus a drink? It’s one of my kids’ favorites.

Back home I took Finley on another walk, 2.5 miles, while the kids biked around the neighborhood. We met up back at home to form the sourdough loaves. Kaitlyn did one all by herself and I’m curious how that’s going to bake up this morning, but whatever the visual, I bet it still tastes great!

While we were out I got a special delivery of a Black Friday deal I ordered- Vego raised garden beds! I’m beyond giddy at the idea of starting my garden and have been eyeing these for quite a while. I feel like the stakes are high now; the garden is going to look legit so I better get reading up on how to layer the soil and grow the things. Any beginner gardener 101 resources to share?

Introducing Girl Dinner

It’s dark early now as you know, so we all came inside. The girls were playing some Harry Potter made up game and went around the house labeling each door as a different room within Hogwarts while I returned some emails, did some laundry, and other exciting tasks. I fully intended on making quesadillas for dinner, but with David traveling for the night I decided to introduce the kids to the concept of “girl dinner” (a bunch of random bites of items). Go figure, they loved it and we ended up clearing the fridge of a lot of random odds and ends while we watched Elf.

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We’ve been working our way through our Christmas favorites and have checked off Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Chronicles, The Santa Clause, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, and an old black and white version of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Next up- The Muppets Christmas Carol, The Polar Express, and White Christmas.

Thanks for meeting me here this morning. It was fun just to share some snippets of our day without any real rhyme or reason. I’ve been noodling around my purpose lately, in life and online, and trying to figure out the right path to combine what I enjoy most and where I can serve a purpose alongside editing out things that don’t serve me. I was inspired by an Ina Garten and Katie Couric podcast from 2019 that I randomly came across where Ina just had some great simple advice about constantly editing your life and focusing in on your strengths. No conclusions yet, just thoughts. But I do know one thing- it always fills my cup to write to you on here and the fact that you stop by to read it means a lot.

That sums up my randomness for the day; I hope you have a lovely Tuesday!