Thursday, January 14, 2010

Staying Home

I've always been a bit of a homebody.  Every few days or so, I get the urge to go and do something.  Overall, I'd rather stay home.  In the winter, there is not much that draws me out of the house.

All that squirreling away of food that I do over the course of the rest of the year, comes in mighty handy.  I used to go grocery shopping frequently.  It felt like the thing to do every few days.  Of course, with all that shopping, came lots of waste.  The packaging alone filled a huge barrel from the trash company to overflowing each week.  I bought all kinds of things that I meant to use, but forgot, or wasn't in the mood to eat them.  They got tossed with the packaging to rot. 

I've gotten a lot better at not wasting these days.  The grocery store is rarely darkened by my shadow.  Hubby picks up the odd item for me while he is out.  The remainder comes from bulk purchased ingredients, my garden, animals that were purchased from local farmers and stored in the freezer and a coop that a few homeschooling friends and I participate in.

It all adds up to help me not have to run out.  My car sits in the driveway, warming in the sun.  The kids and I stay in our pjs for much of the day.  The chickens are quite used to me in my bathrobe.  The neighbors are too, for that matter.  It's kind of nice being thought of as eccentric already, people don't question you being in your pjs at 3 in the afternoon, outside in the snow. 

I made bread yesterday that refused to rise and ended up a brick.  (my yeast was getting too old)  I woke up this morning thinking that I would just go and buy some bread.  Instead I pulled out the freshly ground flour and my kitchen aid and the kids helped me make some better bread.  It's currently rising on the counter.  That fresh brick of yeast I had in the freezer did the trick nicely.  No need to go out.  I can remain in my pjs a bit longer.  There's no place like home.

10 comments:

Lise said...

This sounds so much like us. I run an early childhood program from home, so I have to get dressed daily (darnit!), but on the weekends, I'm the eccentric feeding the chickens and hanging the laundry in my bathrobe. :-)

The Mom said...

Lise, you have the right idea working from home!

kitsapFG said...

I am very much like that on my days off. I like "no drive" weekends but often one of the two days involves an errand of some sort. But I almost always get a no drive day in every weekend. I live in my shorts and an oversized tee shirt (even in the winter) and am known to pad outside barefoot and in such garb in the winter time to go fetch the newspaper or mail. :) I guess I may be considered eccentric already too!

The Mom said...

Kitsap, it's good to stay home in comfy clothes!

Karen Sue said...

I get alot done in my pj's. When hubby #1 left and I had 2 little kids and one on the way, we got a lot of structure in short order to help get things done, but Saturdays rule was jammies 'til noon. Until noon, you could watch cartoons, read, whatever in your jammies until noon, no questions. Now there are kid activities on Saturday morning, but I'd go back to that in a minute. It was a bit of relaxing and regrouping time.

The Mom said...

Karen Sue, that must have been really rough. Jammies make everything better.

farmwifetwo said...

One of my "resolutions" this year is to only go out one day/wk for errands. It's taken me until this week to get everything organized and done. I have quite the list for tomorrow.... but I hope to keep it up.

Ever find the days you stay in your PJ's are the days someone comes to the door.

The Mom said...

Farmwife, I try to stay home as much as possible. It usually ends up being 2-3 days out and the rest at home. The days in my pjs are numerous and it seems there is always someone at my door.

farmwifetwo said...

It's usually quiet at my door.... unless I'm in pj's :)

I see you got your seeds. I need to order mine. It's on my "to do's" as well.

The Mom said...

Farmwife, I've been ordering quickly since there is such an upswing in gardening. Last year the seed companies had a hard time filling all the orders.