Friday, June 28, 2013

What I learned in June

I've decided to play today and link up with Emily's' What I learned in June' linky party.

I've been thinking about it all week.

Should it be lighthearted?

Serious?

Quirky??

I was stumped.

In the end I decided to just blurt it all out regardless of it's style, so . . .

Here it is  . . .

What I've learned in June:

1. I love making pretty, tasty or unexpected gifts for people (sometimes all three at once!). What I learned in June is that it's been much longer than I realized since I've actually done this for anyone. Lesson learned. This is going to be one of those non negotiable things in my life, not a 'they would love it if I. . . but I just don't have the time, energy, resources, desire to . . .' 





2.  I have been wasting a lot of food! Something that has really struck me this month since I can finally bend/crouch down low enough to clean out the fridge myself again after nearly a year, is just how much food gets thrown out at our house. It makes me feel rather sick and I haven't figured out just how to fix it

 Which sounds crazy I know. After all if I were just to buy less food, or meal plan better, or have a 'Leftover' supper once a week that should fix it, right??

 Not so far it hasn't. Our life has changed. How we eat, who's home to eat it and what we like to eat has changed a lot in the last few years and I'm only really noticing it now. I've come to see that fixing this problem is going to require relearning the whole approach I've taken to food in our house.

For example. . . If I buy 36 buns at Costco and most of them go in the freezer for later? Or look at leftovers, realize no one will eat them now, so I'll put them in the freezer for later? Or buy the warehouse pack of hamburger, don't feel like cooking it it or separating it into 1 pound portions and instead throw it in the freezer for later?

Later never comes.

My freezer is full of frost covered, dried out, unrecognizable bits of . . . something.

Finding a new way should be an exciting process. Truthfully? It makes me tired just thinking about it.I want this area of my life to be simple. Right now it is taking up waaaay to much space in my brain.

I'd welcome any and all ideas. . .

3. I have a long way to go when it comes to being a good wife. Have you ever been super aggravated with you spouse or even just impatient and dismissive thinking about how little they do for you? Perhaps, like me, you feel as though they have slipped in the cherishing department lately.

 Something happened at the beginning of June though. I heard myself talking to Henry about something I wanted done and I really heard myself.

People??? There was not a whole lot of cherishing going on . . . just a whole lot of impatient "Will you just do it right now!!!"

It's pretty hard to cherish a cranky, rather demanding spouse but that is what I had become. Oh, not all the time of course but a whole lot more than I've wanted to admit.

It was  time to do better. Much better. It was time for me to cherish him.

People??? Life is just lovelier when you make the effort to do nice things for your husband. When you pray for the ability to show your husband the grace God rains down on you everyday.

Lesson learned.

When he invited me out for lunch yesterday? I decided to be thrilled that he wanted to do something special with me rather than annoyed that he just didn't get that our funds are too tight for stuff like that.

Lunch at Joey's in Mayfield Common beside the pool, garage door windows rolled all the way up, thus  allowing cool breezes to blow by?

Priceless. (Although not paid for with a credit card!)

4. I'm braver than I thought I was!

5.I am blessed.

6. I can garden this year!

Hmmm. . .

There was a lot of serious learning going on this month.

I wonder what July will bring? I'm hoping for a little quirky. . .

What have you learned this month?

Drop by Emily's and check out all the other linky participants.

10 comments:

Lori Harris said...

i'd love to be one of the lucky recipients of your tasty treats! cupcakes look amazing...and don't you love those Martha Stewart boxes?!

Rosa said...

I sure do Lori! So much so that I hardly felt any guilt at all when I cleaned out what they had left at the 75% off sale. ;D

Trish said...

Boy I wish I had someone in my life who brought me tasty and unexpected treats! :)

As for the freezer left overs, I tell myself I'll use it later, and never do. Glad I'm not the only one! :)

Rosa said...

You too Trish? Well then that means I'M not the only one either! What a relief! ; D

Marian said...

I've learned that looking on Pinterest and other pretty websites makes me feel terrible about my house and less thankful for it. Time to step back and look at the big picture again! I have a house. It's heated. Or airconditioned. And the family INSIDE the house that is not perfect is happy, and that's what matters!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mom! :) Those are amazing gifts! You've always been my Martha Stewart mom ;) Hey, the whole food thing is even tough for one person! I try to only buy enough for one week these days. I have to go grocery shopping more often, but I waste less. The problem that I get is I buy something and then I'm not in the mood for it and it goes bad within 3 or 4 days before I'm like, No!!! I forgot I had that :( So buying for everyone is tough because they might have that too. That's why week by week I find easier, and I only buy one of each type of food. One box of granola bars, one package of 4 mangarine orange jellos, a few soups for lunch, one or two types of veggies. And then the next week after you've already eatten most of it, you can switch to differnt items, like one box of chips ahoy cookies and one bunch of bananas etc... With 5 ppl you probably need more then that but hopefully it's a good idea. And make sure you buy things that Jesse, Holly and Morgan like. They could make a whole list of things they like from each food group and you could keep them pinned on a cork board, or get little lammenent cards from hmmm where did I get them... Staples probably has them, they fit right into your wallet :) Love you Mom! Hope you're having an awesome day! --> Crystal

Anonymous said...

Oh!! And buy things that Dad and you like too :P

Sigrun said...

About throwing out food. DH and I have weight issues (he successfully lost and kept off since 2004, over 110 lbs) so we are careful what we eat and how much. There are only two of us. I cook exactly what we will eat at the meal and no more (or exactly double, then one meal goes into the freezer), I don't cook for seconds, so no waste from that. I keep a roll of masking tape and a sharpie in the kitchen drawer to label and date everything that goes into the freezer. I use only see-through containers for freezer and fridge. We eat mostly raw veggies, so I buy exactly what we need. The only thing I tend to forget is the yogurt in the downstairs fridge (no room in the upstairs fridge)--good thing it has long expiry dates and is still good tasting even after the expiry date.

TJ said...

Thanks for being real and I loved the comment from your daughter. Your gift of giving is a blessing to your friends and family.

Simply and Joyfully said...

Great post!

As for food waste, here is what I try do - the night before heading off to bed, I usually know what I'll make for dinner the next day. There are times that I'll go to the freezer, pull out something that needs to be used and force myself to make some sort of dinner with it. Yesterday, I took out a bag of shrimp and we ended up eating wraps or toasted sandwiches with leftover salads from the fridge.

Generally, any leftovers that can be frozen end up in the freezer (I keep an area in the freezer set aside for left overs). Then, when I don't feel like cooking, I check my left over supply and voila...an easy meal).

Love your blog!

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