When I had my first baby, I was woefully underprepared in all the ways that mattered and over-prepared in all the ways that didn’t. I was an only child who felt awkward around children who couldn’t talk so I didn’t do much baby babysitting. The first diaper I ever changed was in the hospital after giving birth. I had endlessly researched and planned a home birth, we ended up in the hospital just to be safe. I worried and worried about breast feeding, but it was smooth sailing, though still exhausting. I learned everything there is to learn about cloth diapers (there is way more than there should be), because I wanted to help the planet, but ended up driving myself into exhaustion to keep up with all my own standards instead. (In that state: who was I helping exactly?) I wanted to be an excellent mom who did all the things and made all the best decisions. I painted a portrait for myself that looked nothing like me. She had a cape and never needed sleep. 

    One ordinary Saturday in that first year, I found myself screaming in the shower, holding the shower curtain in my teeth to keep myself from ripping it down. I was filled with unbridled rage I’d never felt before. I didn’t know that humans shouldn’t exist on less than 6 hours of a sleep at a time for more than a week. It was an entire year before my first baby slept through the night. I wasn’t doing good. My coworker’s words haunted me as I was packing up for maternity leave “Sleep now!” she cackled, “you won’t have chance later!” I nervously fidgeted my way out the door, not knowing exactly what that meant.

    What I didn’t know at the time was how to be gentle with myself. I didn’t know how to prioritize myself or even ensure that my basic needs were met. I didn’t know that a dirty house and a relaxed mind is preferable to a rage-filled, mom stewing in a nauseating cocktail of resentment, exhaustion and frustration— but have you seen how her laundry is done and the kitchen is clean? AND her baby has fresh clean CLOTH diapers! 

    I went to the doctor for my 6 week postpartum check up and my doctor said I might have— a bit of baby blues, whatever that means. It didn’t mean getting any help, that was for sure. I checked in with my midwife, she recommend I see someone. How was that supposed to happen? I had a full time teaching job during the day, my husband worked nights so we could afford to… ya know like live and stuff. I also had to pump, manage milk all the time (donate the excess!), do all the diaper laundry, keep the house clean, make my own baby food, lose 65 lbs of baby weight, grade papers, process whatever trauma happened at work (which was a lot at the time.) I just didn’t have the capacity to navigate the mental health care system and find the time off.     

    Knowing what I know now, I just want to give my past self a hug, make her a nice meal and tuck her in for a nap and tell her she can just stop. It felt impossible at the time. My cortisol levels were so high I couldn’t sleep when the baby sleeps. Pretty sure that was when the depression and anxiety really set in. 

    I never even saw my husband, so I spent my days thinking about how I wish he were helping more, getting more done, being more affectionate, did more nice things, had more time for me. I had a long list of reasons why HE should improve. Oh and he should definitely appreciate me more because I was doing all the laundry. We were so exhausted that we couldn’t even fight anymore. We spent a lot of time just looking out opposite windows and just staring. I missed my old life a lot. It was filled with sleeping and things I liked. 

    But the crazy part is that now I see that every single one of my stressors was something that I chose. I chose to have a baby in the first place, I chose to use cloth diapers, I chose to be a teacher (a career known for being underpaid and overworked, and I still chose it), I chose to continue working full time, I chose to move away from my friends, I chose to marry someone whose strong suits are many but do not include folding laundry. (That was how he came, why would he change because there was suddenly more?)    

    I chose not to get help when I definitely needed it. I chose to give up all my hobbies and interests. I chose to keep my house cleaner than absolutely necessary. I chose to commit to losing the baby weight faster than was healthy so I didn’t have to buy a new wardrobe. I chose a life where napping wasn’t easy. 

    I didn’t know that by prioritizing myself after everyone and everything else was slowly wearing down my identity until it was actually completely gone, leaving me unmoored and hopeless and still very very angry.    

    I didn’t know that motherhood requires a completely different approach than what I was used to. The work ethic that I’d learned in college and the work world wasn’t the miracle solution I’d always assumed. I was showing up with the wrong tools for the job.

    I did manage to go to hypnotherapist after I raged and knocked over and broke a glass in the living room.  He told me that I “seemed stressed.” Thanks buddy, here’s $150 — buy yourself something nice, I know I won’t be. I was a victim of my own making and victims don’t buy themselves presents. 

    After that first year, I managed to make a few better decisions but my relationship was still in shambles and would continue to deteriorate until I filed for divorce in 2017. I thought I would be better off alone than with a man that actively despised me. I was pretty unpleasable at the time, which is difficult for husbands to handle. 

    When we separated, I started to take the burden of taking care of me off him and back onto me where it belonged. I started doing things I liked and I felt so much better. But I missed my husband. He was my soulmate. We had a lot of dreams together and it was hard to imagine me doing it alone, having my kids part time. Actually it was easy to imagine, but it wasn’t what I wanted. We decided to stay together since we had another baby on the way anyway. 

    I was determined for this to be different. I committed to sleeping at least 6 hours a night, getting proper health care and medications if I started to spiral again, and I wasn’t cloth diapering this time BECAUSE I’M NOT SUPERWOMAN. (Sorry Earth! I’ll make it up to you in other ways!) I’m a regular woman, who needs sleep, and relaxation, and time to herself. And I love that about me. It doesn’t make me a failure. It makes me lovely. Lovely to be around. Lovely to interact with. Lovely to look at. It makes me feel lovely inside (instead of the old fiery caldron ready to be splashed on the nearest bystander.)  

    Now motherhood looks like taking 5 to 10 minutes to myself after every chore. It’s sitting and playing a random game of uno, or crawling into a fort built by my kids, who are now excellent at sleeping through the night. It’s thanking my husband for making me delicious meals and drinks. It’s staying in bed longer than I should according to any responsible person’s schedule. It’s taking a bath instead of doing dishes if I feel like it. It’s telling my kids that I’m taking time for myself and laying out consequences if they pester me. It’s communicating clearly what I want in a way that husband hears it. 

He makes sure I’m taken care of now, because he sees me doing it for myself. 

He’s happy, I’m happy, and I get to stay with the man I married and enjoy it. Was it easy? No. Would it have been easier if I had had someone to help show me that I didn’t have to do all the things to be a good mother? Definitely. 

    We’ve got to change things for ourselves. Let’s rethink some standards we have for ourselves here. Let’s give ourselves lots of breaks. Our nurturing spirits need ample nurturing. I serve from my overflowing cup instead of being angry that it’s always empty because no one else filled it up for me. 

    Some women hear this and say, “How I am I supposed to take care of me too? That sounds like another responsibility!” And I say let’s look around and see what you can drop so you have enough hands to pick yourself up. No one is going to do it for you. Plus you are better at it than anyone else anyway. It just takes commitment and some easy and very-rewarding planning. Find out what you are choosing to prioritize over yourself and stop. Just stop. Rest regularly. Let yourself just flow and own your choices. Maybe you’ll even find some gratitude just in time for Thanksgiving in a year where it’s been difficult to find. 

    I’m grateful for having a working washer and dryer, disposable diapers, hot meals that my husband makes, being home together all day every day, living in this amazing community on this incredible land and so much more. I’m grateful for my transformational reprioritization. I’m grateful for my health and my mental peace. I’m grateful that I rarely lose my temper anymore. I’m grateful that it all worked out. The self-portrait makes so much more sense now. She takes lots of naps and wears vintage skirts with sewn-in pockets instead of a cape, which is still pretty badass and much more useful.

My, oh my, what a lot has happened since my last message. This has been a time of intense change. Many people have been talking about the emotional roller coaster and I have to say I’ve had the same experience. When this first started I was much happier than I rationally should be. I felt confident and grateful in my situation: a great relationship with my husband, a plot of farmable land, a locked gate, and armed with plenty of knowhow on how to survive an emergency like this. I felt this incredible freedom from all the demands constantly placed on me by having to be places all the time. I was excited to spend time as a family unit as my husband stopped working and schools were shuttered. 

Since then I’ve moved through all sorts of emotion as I watched the death toll rise and all the unforeseen effects that began to threaten our way of life. My husband was taken on as a radio producer which is his dream job, but he isn’t getting paid. Now he needed an office, quiet, and many hours by himself, leaving me with the job of keeping children fed and quietly entertained for hours on end and without my usual place to relax. Not exactly the vision of gardening and farm accomplishments that I’d hoped for.

My lower back tightened, and when I move through that, then my neck would be sore, or something else. I couldn’t find relaxation and the stress of it all was getting to me. I felt jealous of people who are getting to spend this time on their couch binge-watching and eating snacks. I felt like I was getting nothing done and struggled with how angry I got that an overhead light was on. (I get strangely emotional about lighting. It’s weird but it’s real.) I got sad that everyone I love to talk to wasn’t available after 9 pm to talk and that’s the only time I have because of my constant childcare duties. I even started to feel jealous of all the ladies with put together homes that I was seeing on Zoom. I temporarily lost sight of cherishing all the progress on various projects that I’ve made and the reasons my home is the way it is, i.e. I love old things and I’m super frugal, which means I don’t have a pretty shelf with only a fake plant and a candle on it or modern light fixtures or even a properly painted ceiling. But I love my uneven, old walls and strange antiques and I hate painting so…::shrug:: radical self-acceptance, I guess.   

After two and a half weeks of not leaving my property, I went to my favorite grocery store. Everyone was wearing masks and staying away from each other. No small talk or greetings were uttered because it’s hard to do those things from behind a barrier. They were playing Leonard Cohan’s “Hallelujah” and I decided that as much as I wanted to, it wasn’t really the time to start sobbing into a bag of frozen dino nuggets. Instead, I stocked up on wine and goodies for Easter and made my way to the parking lot. The non-perishable groceries are still in my car waiting to be released from their own quarantine. Yesterday I got suddenly furious with my husband for sitting in the car too long after spending the day away. Fortunately, we didn’t talk about it and instead hugged it out in the hallway.

I’ve been wanting to write something on self-care, relinquishing control, vulnerability, and gratitude. It’s too big of a topic to handle; there are just too many things to say. I guess I’ll try anyway. Here’s my take on self-care and a bit of vulnerability too.

I’ve added daily yoga to my self-care routine. Adriene from “Yoga with Adriene” just released a new video called Yoga for Vulnerability. It was hard to see someone who had given me so much comfort and permission to indulge in self-love to be struggling just like I was. In the beginning, she starts in the fetal position, and says with undeniable sadness in her voice, “Here we are. We’re doing it.” Yes, Adriene, yes we are. We are doing it whatever it is.

We spent 3 weeks sort of doing whatever without a schedule, it was cool but I was struck with the feeling of how disappointed I would be if I let this time pass without using it productively. Earlier this week (after my husband had asked a few times) I got my act together and drafted a daily schedule. It has given us allotted time to do homeschooling, having regular meal times, have office hours, time to clean the house together and preserves “nap time” as quiet time, which is a two-hour block in the middle of the day that I use for self-care. I use this time to do what I want: naps, reading, having a bath, whatever it’s going to take to recharge. My husband has also graciously begun to leave the overhead light off in our bedroom so I can still have a place to relax away from the main centers of the house. He is getting the hang of his new job and we are settling into a routine that will help us all get what we want.

Oh and we watched Tiger King, pretty much the furthest thing away from self-care, but it’s been nice to feel included in the internet buzz. (Snakes stuffed with drugs?? How is this even real? Also are there any sane people who are obsessed with big cats? Because ya’ll need to chill.) It’s sparked some amazing conversations with my husband about human nature, motivation, manipulation, and ulterior motives. Interesting fodder for intellectual discourse found in an unusual place and that does totally count as something that recharges me.

I hope you are staying safe and sane during this strange, stressful, and vulnerable time. Please don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d love to talk.

Some of you might know that I’m like what I like to call a wannabe homesteader which also means I’m a lowkey prepper. If you aren’t familiar with homesteading, it’s basically working toward self-sufficiency in many areas of your life. It can be done to any degree in a country or an urban setting. While I don’t have a degree on the subject (do they even offer that? They should!) because of my informal studies, experiments, and successes over the last 10 years I figure I have at least a Masters in Grandma Studies. I put this together a few days ago and I hope you will find it helpful, comforting, and maybe a little inspiring in the face of what will ultimately be a terrible tragedy.

Attitude

Your attitude is important. I usually use the blog to talk about relationship skills and I’m not going to do that now except to say that this is huge excerise in relinquishing control. We cannot control this virus. We cannot control others. All we can do is protect ourselves and those around us as much as possible. I invite you to take some time to reflect on how the fear from this is pressing our buttons and making our urge to control stronger. This weekend has been absolutely lovely for me and my family and I give the Skills and my perchant for sustainability all the credit. Please let me know if you’d like coaching for this strange time. I always do phone calls 🙂

Some of my friends on Facebook aren’t taking this pandemic seriously and calling people who are preparing “stupid.” I don’t think I need to tell you how unattractive this is. You’re smart, you get it. 😉 This is serious. It’s smart to prepare. It will continue to get more and more difficult as each day passes. Get things done now while you still have the chance.

The impact of this worldwide pandemic is far reaching, and will leave none of us unaffected.  Our events are already being cancelled, our travel restricted, and our looming mortality is in full relief. If you are young healthy person, you probably aren’t too worried about contracting Coronavirus, but here are two reasons why you should be.

It’s not fun to be sick. I’ve read a few first-hand accounts of having this illness and it does not sound fun. Mild or not, it’s better not to be sick than it is to be sick. To what lengths are you willing to go to avoid getting sick? This will vary from person to person.  I encourage you to stretch yourself to think of all the ways you can minimize your exposure and your role in transmission.

More importantly, you have moral responsibility to not become a disease vector. We must protect our elders and our more vulnerable friends. Personally, I would have a very hard time living with myself if someone I inadvertently exposed to coronavirus died. I would feel responsible if I didn’t do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. This IS a matter of life and death. Please feel comforted that if you decide to stay home instead of going to an important meeting or whatever people want you to do, I am in your corner yelling, “IT’S NOT WORTH IT.” Your life and the lives of others is the best thing we have, it’s the only thing we have. It’s the way we raise the next generations, it’s all the joy you experience, it’s all the knowledge and love and support that you give to the world and that’s important. It’s more important that you preserve yourself and others than it is that you continue to do all of your external every day “duties.”

Of course there are many, many people, particularly in the United States that don’t have sick leave, that have to work with public, or that don’t have stable places to live without wages. If that’s you, first of all, thank you for continuing to do your job. I absolutely want to express that some people will have to continue working and the rest of us should be very thankful for the measures that they will have to take to keep themselves healthy. It is a risk that may not have an alternative. Please join me in prayer for our federal government to provide financial assistance to those who rely on every day of wages to survive, so that they may take time off and isolate.

It has been recommended by most experts and media outlet that we self-isolate as much as possible, which means limiting your outings to the essentials while we still have the freedom to do so. If we all participate in self-isolating, this will pass in a matter of weeks and will do minimal damage. We cannot afford to continue go on as “business as usual.” It’s is not safe and it’s morally wrong. Please limit your exposure and your potential transmission by preparing yourself and your home to accommodate your needs and wants for a few weeks of isolation.

Preparing now if you haven’t already

Wherever you live, consider the following options to make your isolation feel a whole lot nicer than it might seem.  Some of these things are survival strategies but most of them will just make your life more comfortable. Homesteading values comfort. It should not be an excessive burden to provide for yourself and your family. Given some knowledge and preparation you can live a comfortable life.

There are now shortages in some stores and in some areas. Do not panic. There is no reason to. Your grandparents and great grandparents survived on much less than you probably have in your home today. If they could do it, so can you. And guess what? You have access to all of humanities knowledge! So lay back and learn to do some things the old way. There are some really fun videos on YouTube that can help. Always feel free to ask in the comments or in a PM. I’d love to hear from you.

A global pandemic, while totally terrifying, is a great opportunity for us to practice sustainability in our homes.
Wherever you live, consider the following options to make your isolation feel a whole lot nicer than it might seem right now. Some of these things are survival strategies but most of them will just make your life more comfortable. Homesteading values comfort. It should not be an excessive burden to provide for yourself and your family. Given some knowledge, a thirst for joy and a healthy dose of preparation, you can live a comfortable life while you are staying at home.

There will be some things that you will probably need to obtain, either from Amazon or another delivery service or at a local store. If you do go to the store, please limit your outings and practice social distancing inside the store, and carry hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes with you. Please don’t take children in if you can avoid it. If you have to, carry babies and toddlers and teach older children not to touch surfaces by keeping their hands in their pockets and follow up with an incentive if they are successful.

Here are some areas of life to consider. Buy now if you can, things are only going to get more expensive and more scarce. Don’t wait to depend on relief efforts, be self sufficient if you can. If you can’t, ask and receive help. I’m happy to provide any more info and resources. Need help cooking something or sewing something? Just ask 🙂

Disinfectants and Cleaning Products

You probably already have what you need, a bottle of bleach, Clorox wipes, isopropyl alcohol, hand sanitizer, soap. You have soap right? Now is the time to use it. If you are truly isolating, then you don’t need to be disinfecting all the time because you are controlling your exposure already. However when you do go out or have people over, practice hand washing, sanitizing, and disinfecting. Be careful with the bleach and observe proper dilution to use, the internet can help you find out how to disinfect with bleach safely. Also obviously, please don’t drink isopropyl alcohol (we’re not that desperate yet, right?) Isopropyl is a fundamentally different alcohol than drinking alcohol and will harm you if you drink it. Ethanol, however, is fine to drink in small quantities, it’s the alcohol found in spirits, wine, and beer BUT it doesn’t hold the same disinfecting power as isopropyl because it’s diluted for human drinking comfort. Do some research on the disinfecting power of both of these options and how Coronavirus responds to each. The science is evolving daily as researchers learn more and more about this virus. Keep reading reputable sources. This brings me to a side note:

You also have a responsibility to pass on vital, accurate information, cite your sources, and only indulge in news that is credible. Facebook is not a news source. Reading a headline does not qualify as learning something. This is a great opportunity to become a critical thinker. If you are sharing information, share the source too. If you don’t have a source, just say, that’s something I’ve heard, I haven’t confirmed its validity. In other words, if you don’t know the details or the source, say, “That’s what I’ve heard, we should probably confirm that.” This intellectual practice will serve you well. You will learn things as you confirm facts and you will be doing your due diligence against the harmful miseducation that has plagued the internet since Facebook became a thing. Okay, back to prepping:

Stock up on laundry detergent, cleaning supplies for your home, yourself and your family. Grab an extra tube of toothpaste or be okay with using baking soda. You do have baking soda right? Definitely get some… or a lot. It will come in handy. Love a certain shampoo? Order an extra, or be okay with using Dr. Bronners (a soap with 18 uses! I don’t know what they all area but I read that on the bottle once.) Have laundry detergent or know how to make it. I haven’t learned yet because a Costco bottle of detergent lasts me at least 6 months. Long term I do plan on making my own, but these things take a bit of time. I invite you to look into DIY products using everyday items you already have in your home. My husband makes deodorant from witch hazel and essential oils. Works for him doesn’t work for me. I need stronger stuff. Experiment, have fun, do research, try new things!

Medications, First Aid, and Safety

There is a chance that our hospital and medical system may become overwhelmed when we start to see the influx of cases. Get your prescriptions filled now, stock up on commonly used over the counter medicines, and I feel like I have to say this: When I say stock up, I don’t mean buy the whole shelf. Alternatively, know what your usage is and purchase accordingly. If you use one bottle of ibuprofen a year, grab an extra bottle. If you never use it, skip it. Also, make sure you have birth control if that’s something you need. Whether its pills or condoms or both; get as much as you think you could use. Condoms are available online for much less money than a brick and mortar store. Pharmacies will often give you extra packs of pills if you ask in advance. There are mail order options as well.

Consider getting a nice first aid kit. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you have to go to a hospital because you can’t self-treat. We have a tendency to say “Go to the doctor, just to be safe.” And while that is a fine attitude to have most of the time, this is not a time for relying on that thinking. Do you have band-aids? Do you have medical disinfectants, tweezers, braces, bandages, etc.? Use your brain. Make good decisions. I believe in you. Avoid going to the doctor if you can. Practice good dental hygiene to avoid a trip to the dentist. Heck, practice good hygiene, in general, to stay healthy! Don’t take risks that might land you in the hospital. Be careful with yourself, people are depending on you.

Water

It is extremely unlikely that our water system will cease to function. Personally, I don’t have a stash of bottled water. I think bottled water is kind of gross on multiple levels. I live in an area with a lot of water access and I have a well that could be rehabilitated in my backyard. I could get water if I needed to. How will you do it? Do you know how to sanitize water? I have a couple of water filters for backpacking and fuel to boil. That feels good enough for me. A rain barrel would also be a good idea. I’d like to have one of those for extra security. What will make you feel secure?

Disposable Everyday Products

Here we are talking about things you buy to use and throw away. Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, tissues, pads and tampons, diapers are the big ones. Every single one of those has a totally reasonable and comfortable alternative, all of which I’ve used with great success. They are not as convenient but they do work. Reusable diapers are expensive, but if you were considering using them, this is a great way to get started. There is a wealth of information on the internet about the different options available. Menstrual cups and washable pads are readily available now. I make my own pads out of scrap fabric. It’s not easy, but it can be done with time and patience. Kitchen towels and rags can easily replace paper towels. I went for about 9 years on one roll of paper towels without much trouble at all. If you are still using paper napkins at home, please just stop. Use cloth napkins. Get some at a thrift store, Target, make your own, whatever. Throw them in a laundry bag when they are used with your kitchen rags and launder. I know you are dying to know what I think about the toilet paper shortages so here it is:

Toilet paper is a non-essential item. This is an American problem. The rest of the world uses washing and reusable options. Personally, I have a handheld bidet hooked up to my toilet. Also called a “diaper sprayer,” it’s basically a kitchen sprayer but mounted on your toilet tank, it was about $30 on Amazon. It’s relatively easy to install if you follow the instructions. Is the water cold? Yes, very much so. Does it leave me feeling way cleaner than TP? Also yes. Once you get off all the gross, pat dry with a nice clean cloth. Fabric scraps will do for this. Put them in a bag and launder with hot water. You will feel clean, pampered, and way less gross. Honestly, the reason we still use TP in our home is that it weirds people out not to have it. Come on, America, we can do better.

So there you have it, a bunch of ways to replace disposable products with easy to use, readily available, and are cheap or free to use. If we are hunkering down for more than a few months, I would recommend trying some of these strategies. I don’t use cloth diapers with my youngest because it was too much work to add on top of my other duties and I gave my stash away. She’s two so I figure worse comes to worst and we can just spend some time potty training which we’ve been meaning to do anyway. If all of these seem like too much, that’s fine too! Just get a few extra packs of what you usually buy so you don’t have to run to the store during isolation.

Food

This is where most of my thinking has been focused. Now is not a good time to eat at restaurants. When you eat out, you are counting on the people working there observing very strict hygiene protocols, so strict it would be hard to meet them myself! So that’s why I’m urging you to make as much of your own food as possible. If you don’t know how to cook, this a great time to learn. You will have a lot of time to learn on YouTube. Do your researches, gather your tools, and start making things you like to eat.

It might be tempting to buy a 50 lb bag of beans and another bag of rice, but you must know how to cook these things to use them! And in an emergency, I know that you would definitely figure that out, because anyone alive today is descended from many smart humans that have overcome food shortages and famines many times. I just want you to be comfortable while we face the possibility of that potential.

I lived off of variations of rice and beans for lots of years so I’ve got my game down pat. I always use a slow cooker or instant pot for cooking beans. Beans must be soaked for hours before they are cooked. Pinto beans are great, black beans are great for nutrition, mayo coba is a favorite of mine that we prep like pintos and I really like chickpeas to make hummus or channa masala, they are a great bean to have in stock at your house. At this point, it might be a matter of just grabbing what’s left at stores and figuring out a good way to cook it. We get into a bean cycle where we start soaking the next batch while we are eating the one before. It’s a good system.

I always use the same pot to cook rice which ensures my success. One cup of white rice in the pot first, add 1.5x water, heat till boiling, put a lid on, lower heat as low as it will go and still be on, and leave for 20 min, don’t open the lid. There are different kinds of rice, brown vs white, long-grain vs short-grain. You can look into it and learn all about it if you want to. Most commonly people use short-grain white rice and if you buy a bulk bag, that’s probably what you will get.

Here are some things to add to your shopping list that will make eating rice and beans more enjoyable: cooking oil, onions, broth, canned tomatoes, hot sauce, soy sauce, lime juice or another acid (vinegar will do in a pinch.) Make sure you’re all stocked up on spices and other things you use in the kitchen often.

Learn how to make your own staples with cheap, non-perishable ingredients. If you have flour, sugar, salt, yeast, baking soda you can make a whole lot of different baked goods. Add butter and you have the ingredients to make pie crusts as well which would be a great way to eat canned fruit if the pickings get slim in a few months.

Winter squash can be stored on your counter for 2 to 3 months.

Oats and other bulk bin items make easy baked granola, however at the moment, bulk bins don’t seem to be the best idea. But it’s easy to make a snacking or cereal granola out of random things you might already have. I can post a recipe if you want.

Learn simple recipes of the foods you enjoy, making bread in a bread maker is very easy, casseroles and quiches are a great calorie dense way to feed a family and have leftovers. Eggs have a great shelf life and are very versatile. Eggrolls are a great way to eat cabbage and stuff like that. Making your own tortillas is extremely delicious and fun as well.

When I want to learn to make something new, I always use search terms that include the words easy, simple and/or best and I only make things with good reviews like “easy best white bread breadmaker” or “easy simple pie crust.” You get the picture. Dutch oven camping cooking also has a lovely community with simple, easy, foolproof recipes that use nonperishables. The recipes could be made in an ordinary casserole dish in a home oven or get yourself a dutch oven and start cooking outside. Hey, that actually sounds fun!

Additionally, you can stock your freezer full of things you like to eat. Everything from frozen pizza to eggs and cheese can stay in your freezer for a few months. Just search how to freeze things and figure it out! You can do it. All of humanity’s wisdom is at your fingertips!

Also, at the risk of sounding like your mother, eat your leftovers. Now is a great time to cut down on waste. Eat those leftovers before they become science experiments and you are on your way to waste not, want not.

Oh and stock up on pet food. Make sure you can feed all the mouths. Don’t take on another liability. Don’t take on new animals if you don’t have a plan for feeding them (says the lady with pregnant goats. T-minus 3 weeks to goat milk!)

Part 2 will be coming soon. Keep calm, prepare a little today and stay in touch.

Self-care is a hot buzz word around these days. There’s no shortage of articles, videos, and inspirational memes that can tell you about what it is, how to do it, and why it’s so important. I remember it started being a popular topic around social media around 2014 when I had my first baby. I dismissed it all as something single people with stressful but well-paying careers did. Taking a day off to go to the spa or go for a mind-clearing bicycle ride. I was a sleep-deprived, breastfeeding, new mom and full-time teacher with a husband that worked nights. I had NO time for any of that kind of thing. I didn’t even have time for a nap and when someone made time for one, I was so stressed that I couldn’t shut my brain off and enjoy it. 

My marriage was quickly collapsing into shambles as we hardly spoke and my anger became all-consuming. Reading about bougie self-care strategies was the last thing I was going to waste my time doing. So when I picked up The Empowered Wife and started reading about self-care I kind of rolled my eyes and quickly leafed through it so I didn’t waste my time and moved on to the “good parts” of which there were many that had nothing to do with self-care. But Laura (my relationship mentor) made self-care the first Skill of six for a reason. I wouldn’t get to benefit from it until later when I got an email about a free master class webinar that she was putting on. The exercise invited us to try in that little class was to make a list of 10 to 20 activities that bring us joy in the moment. 

Oh wow, that was a tough one for me. I had lost my joy at least 4 years ago. I was so consumed with what I thought I had to be doing all the time that I had no idea what I even LIKED doing. So I did my best. My list was full of pipe-dreams like a weekend in a yurt, a trip to Tahiti, a visit with my best friend who lives across the country and a smattering of more realistic, smaller pleasures like going out for fancy drinks, spending time in my yard, going on hikes. Turns out those last three were right on the nose. 

Then Laura asked us to start practicing self-care by doing three things each day that bring us joy in the moment. Looks like my big vacation plans weren’t going to help me much for that assignment. So I focused on the little things. Later I heard the suggestion for us busy mom types: always have 10 things in mind that you can do in under 10 minutes and for free in your own home. That was a nice parameter to work with. Soon I had a list that seemed doable. 

The only self-care that I’d been decent at when having babies was showering. I had read over and over again that you should always take a shower when you are at home all day with your baby so I was pretty good at that. I noticed how it improved my mood and my overall mental health just a little. Besides daily showering, I really had no other routine that was for me. I started growing my morning routine a bit and tightening it up. I realized that I enjoyed uninterrupted showers, as well as some time to dry off by myself, put on some face lotion, and an essential oil roll on to make myself feel a little bit special. I added some time to fix my hair and maybe put on a little lipstick because although I’m not a big make-up person, I’ve always liked a little lip color. I looked in the mirror and could tell myself that I looked good, smelled good, and gosh darnit people like me. I was feeling better already.

My son loves engaging verbally pretty much every second of his life, so he often will have to use the bathroom when I’m in the shower. He would start to chat and I would lovingly say, “I love a quiet shower by myself. This a great time that I really like to spend by myself.” He got the picture. He still comes to visit in the morning, but it’s short and sweet and doesn’t drag out like it used to. 

So I managed to start building self-care into my routines. I developed a bedtime routine, which I use sometimes when my husband and I are on different sleep schedules. I’ll light a candle, do some silent gratitudes and affirmations, maybe some prayer, brush my hair, and put on some more essential oil. Simple stuff that only takes a few minutes, but allows me to focus and stay on track. I also have a mid-day routine that helps me get a nap in or some time to drink tea and read a book by the fire, maybe even write a blog post like I’m doing right now. This is almost favorite time of day, second only to the evening hours I spend with my husband after the kids are in dreamland. 

I also practice self-care by asking myself what I want to do in the moment instead of constantly accommodating everyone. My accommodation was costing me my joy, and having no joy was making me self-sacrificing worker bee that no one liked, especially not me. Now before I say yes to something, I think about what it will cost me. Will it put me in a bad mood? Will it take time away from my self-care? Will it drain me or fill me up? I restructured my whole life to have more time to spend on things that I put me in a good mood and fill me up. Turns out that it was possible for me the whole time, I just had to let go of my idea of what I should be doing and focus on what I want to be doing. 

Sometimes I need more self-care than others, I need to be constantly in touch with my internal emotional meter that tells me how I need to fill myself up and get back to the happy lady that I now enjoy being, otherwise my anxiety, anger, and depression get the best of me. I don’t always crave the same activities day to day. One day it might be connecting with a trusted friend, another day it might be spending a few minutes petting my goats and watching the sunset in my backyard. Turns out the self-care that works for me isn’t expensive or time-consuming or only for people I have nothing in common with. It’s much more about valuing myself and doing things I enjoy so I’m an enjoyable person. I have so much more to share but I’ve got to get back to reading the book I’ve been enjoying and probably take a nap on the couch. Self-care is a big priority for me, because being a wonderful mother and wife is a bigger priority for me, and without it– none of this is possible.
Believe me, I’ve tried it both ways.

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What activities do you do that fill you up? Do you like to go for long drives? Love to take photos? Perhaps you have a favorite pet that you like to spend time with.

Share what you love and see what it does for you.

I’d love to start writing a blog post at least once a month. Turns out I love writing, but rarely make time for it. I easily put all kinds of words down when I make time for it, but with two little ones running around and all my other hobbies and jobs; it’s tough to keep up my practice. I can’t even tell you how many journals I’ve started and have abandoned over the years, but I still look back on my writing and really quite enjoy reading it, even as cringe worthy as some of the spelling mistakes can be. Anyway, this post isn’t about writing about writing, I just wanted to give myself a self-fulfilling prophecy: I am a great writer, I love writing, and I can and will be committed to my writing practice. So there we go— moving right along.

It’s November, which means it’s a great time to be grateful. Looking past all the bizarre and problematic issues with the Thanksgiving story, I think we can all safely agree that feeling, showing, and communicating gratitude is a good thing. The thing I love about gratitude is that it can reframe my mind. It’s sort of my default state when everything else is aligned and all my ducks are in a row. If I’m full up on self-care, I’m not feeling the urge to control, my side of the street is clean, and then I can really soak in the waters of gratitude. I love it. Here are some of the basic things I’m grateful for on a daily basis.

Hot water

A shower is part of my rudimentary self-care. If I don’t get a shower, everything is more difficult. I also love taking a bath in my claw foot. Isn’t it incredible before the Victorian era, people didn’t usually have bathrooms inside their house? I’m so grateful to have a bathroom! That works!

Friends

I absolutely love my friends. I love checking in, I love hearing stories, I love having them over. When I feel like I’m nothing but a childcare and chore robot, they refresh me and remind me that I’m a human who can laugh. I’m pretty selective about my friends. I only have people in my life who are truthful, down-to-earth, drama free, not too concerned with status of any kind and don’t take themselves too seriously. And have a great sense of humor. It’s hard to find people like that, but I sure do love them. So if you are reading this, and we are friends, I want to say thanks, because you really do light up my life.

My kids

Duh. Obligatory and self-explanatory. I’m so thankful to have healthy, happy, growing, kids. Even though sometimes it feels like they are sucking brain cells directly out of my brain and into their own, I’m so grateful for them. They teach me stuff (mostly a stark outline of my own boundaries but other stuff too), they teach me patience; they humble me, and put me in tons of situations where I need to apologize, so they’ve taught me the beauty of apologizing freely. And gosh they are beautiful, in the way they talk to me, in the way they love each other. How I have to teach them to be strong as well as sweet, because they naturally come too sweet for this world. Ugh, now I’m crying. Keep it together, Bonnie! We aren’t even close to half way done!

My house

I love this funny old place. I love that I recently found a Facebook group for people who own old houses. I had no idea that was a club that I’m a part of. For those of you who don’t know, I live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1000 sq ft house built in 1937. It’s silly looking on the outside because the roof doesn’t match the trim, it’s insulated only slightly better than a cardboard box, it’s got spider webs everywhere, and it’s really too small for when the kids get bigger, but I love it. I love the view from the back of my property. I love that I can have my goats and someday it will be something. I love the woodstove that Claudio and I installed before we moved in. I love that we heat entirely with wood, even though it’s a ton of work. I love the town we live in. I love the school my kid goes to. And that’s all because of this little house. It even came with a very cool cat that lives here so that’s fun too. Sometimes I’m just grateful that I was able to buy a house, when I know so many people my age just can’t. My parents saved up money that we used for a big portion of our down payment and I’m grateful for that too. Being a homeowner was a dream I had for a lot of years and it’s easy to get bogged down in all the stuff that “needs to be done” (fencing, siding, grating, a whole house fan, more fencing, kitchen remodel, etc.) but for now, it keeps us safe, and warm, and is a fun little place to be. I really do love it and I love working on it with my husband.

Officiating

I love officiating weddings; they are so straightforward and simple and beautiful. I love how easy my job is compared to everything else that goes into a wedding. Most of all I love meeting a couple, learning their story, getting to know them, and putting it all together into a lovely ceremony all in celebration of their love. It’s so so so fun and so rewarding and just the loveliest thing. I love shaking hands and hugging their parents afterwards and then casually strolling away as the party just gets started. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to play that kind of role in a couple’s life.

Coaching

I love coaching. Again, it’s such an amazing honor to be welcomed into someone’s private thinking and help them navigate to a safer and more fun space. I love hearing all the hidden wins that my clients give me and how they thank me for seeing them when the client definitely couldn’t. I love how natural it feels and how it focuses me. I love how it reminds me to keep growing in my own relationship and challenges me to keep improving. It’s such an honor and I can’t wait to do more.

Naps

So good. They keep me patient and kind. I love them so much.

My husband

Second to last but definitely, positively, not least at all in any way shape or form. No one makes me giggle like that guy. He keeps me on my toes, he’s always joking with me. He’s such a great dad. He works super hard to make all my dreams come true. He is patient and supportive and always tries as hard as he can. He makes me feel like a million bucks (or better– does money have feelings? I love that phrase but it really doesn’t make much sense.) He’s the best snuggler. We have so much in common. I love everything we’ve built together. I love his funny messages and gifs he sends me. I love how hard he works at everything. I love that we can dance and sing together and he’s just my favorite person that I’ve ever met.

“The Skills”

This is one that I’m thankful for all the time. My life for the last year and a half has been EXPONENTIALLY better because of Laura Doyle’s methods on life. I went from being depressed, anxious, full of doubt, stressed out, being overworked, never feeling like I was enough, feeling like my husband hated me, (ugh it was a lot) to feeling pretty much the opposite all the time. I’m happy, I’m relaxed, I have fun on a daily basis, I have a strong and wonderful relationship with not just my husband, but my kids, my friends, my parents, my clients, etc. Even when life throws its worst at me, (looking at you October!) and sometimes I just need to cry it out, I still go back to being thankful that I can handle any situation with grace and dignity and if I don’t, I can apologize and the world will forgive me. I will be cradled by the gifts around me and I will find my faith that there are good things in store for me.

Well there you have it– things that I am grateful for and that I felt like writing about. I have lots of other things too like my other job, my parents, food, my bed, my chorus but I’ll save those for another time.

Writing that was just as enjoyable as I thought it would be….very, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. What things are you grateful for in your life? Put them in the comments below. I’d love to read about them. Maybe we can get caught in a gratitude spiral where we are just filled with love and warmth and appreciation for all the good things that are out there just for us. I love when that happens.