Men In the Kitchen

How do you feel about men in your kitchen?  That is, if you are a woman?  If you're a man and you're reading my blog, please don't be offended by this post, because you can just substitute women for men and garage for kitchen wherever appropriate, and you will understand just what I mean.

Some of the men in my family are creative geniuses in the kitchen.  I taught them to enjoy cooking - so much so, that I have to admit they may have surpassed me in their ability to create original culinary masterpieces.  I love to cook, but have always gone 'by the book'.  But my boys have encouraged me to think outside the box and we now create in the kitchen together, which I thoroughly enjoy.

However, the kitchen has always been my domain.  And it's a bit dodgy sharing it with someone else, let me tell you.  My youngest son is in college and living at home since he's attending college in our town.  He likes to cook and he cleans up after himself, but he doesn't do things EXACTLY the way I do.  I just came home from an eight day vacation in the Florida Keys.  It was a lovely vacation, but one thing I couldn't wait to do when I got home was cook a meal.  For the past 2 days I have been working my way around the kitchen, finding where he put things - not where I would have put them ;)  But I am grateful for help in the kitchen.  And he is very capable.  The ice maker in the refrigerator malfunctioned while we were gone, and he mopped the water off the kitchen floor and cleaned out the refrigerator.  I can't imagine what a mess we would have come home to if he hadn't been there!  So it's time for me to quit thinking that my way is the only way of doing things.

I think men just think differently about where things should go.  When I go looking for a tool in the garage I am totally lost and have no idea where to start looking.  My husband has a system, but it makes no sense to me.   I imagine the kitchen is just as foreign to him, since his culinary skills are limited to Campbell's Soup and peanut butter on saltines.

So I've decided that my kitchen is an open kitchen.  Maybe I'll even teach my husband how to cook something some day.
Or not.
We seem to get along fine the way things are - best not to mess with success  ;)

The Bully? I Don't Think So.

I hear the comment often regarding blue jays:  "I don't like blue jays.   They're bullies."   Personally, I find them to be very entertaining and their bright splash of color on a winter day is a welcome sight.  They don't bother the other birds at my feeder, so I'm happy to see them come around.  On this day I sprinkled some seeds on the deck and got down on the floor to get some close up photos.  It kind of makes a mess of the deck, but always worth it to get that good shot.

We're heading to the Florida Keys tomorrow morning.  I'm more excited about new photo ops than I am about swimming and sunning.  What does that tell you about me?  :)

Marie

Loyal Feathered Friends

..the most engaging and characteristic enlivener of our winter woods; who revels in snow and ice, and is never lacking in abundant measures of faith and cheerfulness, enough not only for himself, but for any chance wayfarer of our own kind.
- Bradford Torrey referring to the chickadee, 1889

‎Where would we be without the chickadee!  I know I seriously depend on them.  Looking out my patio door on a cold, snowy day and seeing them flitting back and forth between the branches and the feeders always makes me smile.  To say they are cheerful would be silly, I guess, since they don't have human emotions, but they sure project that attitude, don't they?   And I have noticed that they 'take turns' at the feeder, unlike some other birds who fight over the ports.  If the feeders are empty and I don't get out to fill them right away, they disappear.  But when I fill the feeders they appear again immediately, so I imagine they must just be waiting and watching.  Recently during a particularly nasty cold spell, they landed on the feeder and began feeding as I was filing it.  So I have to say the common chickadee wins hands down as my favorite bird at the feeder, even though it's not the most colorful or exotic.  

Christmas Past Revisited

Christmas past in our household has always been pretty much a Walton Christmas.  We were a good-size family with our children close together in age.  At one point, we had 4 children under the age of 8.  And we didn't have much in the bank because we chose to be a one-income family.  I loved being at home with my children, but that meant we didn't have a lot to spend on them for Christmas.  But I only have happy memories of those years, and so do my children.  The excitement in the house every year made it such a happy, hectic time.  And we created traditions that the kids grasped onto and fiercely protected year in and year out.  Heaven help the person who dared break from tradition and do something different!  We had to bake the same treats each year, decorate the same way, serve the same meal, etc., etc....

But I loved every minute of it.

And now The Four have grown up, and we only have one child in the house.  And it's lovely, but not quite the same.  I feel like E. is missing out on something.

But this weekend, it all came back.  Our middle child, T. and his wife moved out of state this fall, which nearly broke my heart.  They have two little ones, and we have been missing them something awful, of course.  But they came back to visit for Christmas.  Not only for Christmas, but for the WHOLE  WEEKEND!   So E. got the whole Walton Christmas experience.  The excitement building up for 2 days, whispering secrets behind closed doors, wrapping gifts in the next room, the heavenly smells of cooking meals and baking treats drifting through the house.  Little children running and screaming through the house all day long, filled with anticipation (and sugar).

Each morning, there would be little footsteps coming up the stairs, accompanied by the not-so-quite voices calling "Nana!".  Then I would hear the bedroom door close again, as their mother and father would try to grab a few more minutes of sleep.  Which was fine with me - I was usually just waiting for them to get up anyway.  Then they would both climb on my lap and we did jig-saw puzzles on the computer for a while - not an easy thing to do with 2 little wiggly toddlers!  But they had  my attention for the whole day, and they took full advantage of it ;)

And I loved every minute of it.

This is how a 2-year old says Merry Christmas in our house:  Merry Kibbus!  And this is how he says Happy Birthday Jesus:  Happy Burtday Jingas!

Christmas morning, checking out the stockings - totally the best!  Everything in your stocking is SO COOL, doesn't matter what it is :)  That doesn't happen when you're a teen or pre-teen, now does it?

So, I guess there is one good thing about having this little family of ours move away.  If they hadn't moved away, then they wouldn't be spending the whole weekend with us.  What a blessing.

On Christmas Eve, the WHOLE family came over, all of our children, their spouses and their babies - that's a houseful!  What fun.  I honestly don't remember what was in the gifts - it was just so much fun having everyone here.  After all of the gifts were opened, the littles decided to shred all of the wrapping paper and swim in it.  What a mess, but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  I'll be picking up scraps of wrapping paper for days, I'm sure :)

I feel as if things are coming full circle.  This is what life is all about.

And I'm loving every minute of it.

That Bittersweet Moment

It's ok, I know the truth about Santa, Mom.

What do you mean?

I mean, I know who really fills my stocking.

Oh.

Thank you, Mom.

For what?

For being Santa all those times.

:`)


I love you, E!

A Different Perspective

A cold, cloudy day today.  We went to bed last night seeing a temperature reading of almost 60 degrees, had thunderstorms overnight with plummeting temperatures, then rain mixed with snow this morning.  But despite the dreary weather, looking through the lens of my camera always gives me a better perspective.  I love my camera because it helps me focus on beautiful little details that I would otherwise ignore. 

  I get so busy with my daily life, my chores, my constant rushing here and there.  I love that part of my life too, but I sometimes feel like life is passing me by and I might be missing something.

               So I get my camera out and take a stroll occasionally, which forces me to slow down.

Chickens are kinda relaxing to watch, don't you think?

One lonely pumpkin behind left on the patio table. 

Have a great week!

The Dinner Table

E. and I were watching a program on Nat Geo the other day.  It was about the African Wild Dogs.  Something caught my attention.  The dogs worked together as a pack to bring down a large herd animal.  They shared the meal peacefully and the narrator said that eating together was an important bonding experience.

Right away my thoughts turned towards the human family.  I couldn't help making a comparison.  Sitting down to supper each night helps keeps a family together.  I know it's not always possible, but it's important enough to make the effort.  Sometimes I have to hold dinner off until a later time if someone has to work late.  Sometimes I'm too busy too cook and we may just have scrambled eggs or sandwiches.  So it's not really the setting or the content that's so important.  It's just the being together.  Some people get too caught up in the setting - tablecloths, candles, flowers?  I can't manage that every day.  Our kitchen table gets used.  It's also my office, my daughter's homework center, and a catch-all for everyone's mail.  So sometimes we have to shove it all over to one side in order to make room for our plates!  No matter, as long as there is room for the food and we're all sitting down together.  We eat, then we make sure we stay at the table for a few minutes after we're finished eating just to visit.  We ask each other about our respective day's activities, and sometimes discuss events in the news, or family news - whatever is relevant.

I love all the beautiful "Tablescapes" that people post on their blogs, but I find it impossible to achieve in real life.  So I thought I would give you 'reality table' on my blog.  This is my table on a normal day.  Well, not really, because I don't normally have time to do a jig-saw puzzle!  I took time off to do a puzzle since my main squeeze is out hunting ;)

But the point I want to make here is, if it's important enough for wild dogs to come together for a period each day to bond, I can't help but think that we also need to continue to make it a priority.  The experts do recommend that families sit down for a meal together each day, and yet many families don't manage to do just that.  There are too many activities each day after school right up until bed time.  I don't have a solution for that and I'm not judging anyone who's stuck in that routine.  I know that most of those activities have merit.

Right now we're in the midst of hunting season, and we haven't had a family meal in a while.  I miss it.  It's just been E. and me every evening.  I'll be happy when the guys are finished hunting and life gets back to normal. And then it will be time to look forward to the ultimate family dinner - Thanksgiving!

Waiting for the turkey!

I wish for you to see all of your family around your table this Thanksgiving season.  All of my children are coming home for the big meal and I'm so excited.  I think I like Thanksgiving the most of all.  It's like Christmas without the gift shopping.  I always page through all of the decorating magazines and *think* I might use some of the ideas for decorating my holiday table, but in the end, I'll be lucky if I can fit all of the food on my table, along with all of my family.  It's all good :)

SO GLAD THE CAMPAIGNING IS OVER!!!