This is Charles lunch today that I have packed for him. Also a banana for his morning snack and an apple for his afternoon snack.
This above is a salad but you can't see it because it is under the sweet potatoes and onions. It is mixed lettuce and sauteed onions and mushrooms on top, avocado dressing and sauteed and baked sweet potatoes I put around the salad. It makes a nice full meal.
Charles eats his meals in his car when he is working so I try and make them easy for him to eat.
The little cottage on the front page of this post is our honeymoon cottage that is still there last time we checked.
I think about my family that are no longer here a lot during the holidays but it is not a sad time it is remembering all the good times we had.
A thought came to me recently, What if I had all the things I ever wished for? And then I thought that I would be in big trouble because I would have too many things. I am happy that I have not gotten all the things I have wished for because then the little things would not matter.
This chicken basket was given to me years ago by my cousin and his wife. It makes me happy. 
I have one room in the middle of our house that I call the sewing room. It is a small extra guest room. A simple twin bed. This room is like a large walk in closet, it holds many things.
It also is where we keep our many books. I recently sorted the books by topic. I keep the very old books elsewhere.
I did live on a farm before and I truly miss being out on rural land. But there are many of us that simply cannot pick up and move to a farm. This is why that I try so hard to bring the farm to us here in the city. What we have is what we make it.
I do a lot of reading how to do things. Trying to farm in the city is not an easy thing to do but with donning some work clothes and gloves and putting mind over matter we can do things we never thought we could do. We can find ways to do the things our body does not want us to do. Each year I get older I find that I am modifying a lot of things but I feel I am better off for at least trying.
I have always told you that I go by the book when it comes to canning and also using herbs and essential oils. Our books help us here at home living a simple life.
I always admired the lovely quilts and knitted and crochet items that our ancestors made but I was not there to learn from them. Only the simple things I picked up from my Grandmother and mother. So I gradually purchased books so I could learn how to do these things.
It is good to learn a skill, especially when it has to do with taking care of our home and making things for our home.
We are in charge of our homes and the lives we live. Having all the things we desire does not necessarily lead to happiness and often we find it is something small that has much purpose..
See, each of us is just one person, we can do one thing at a time. We hear all about multitasking, well my opinion is we are not meant to multitask. Oh we can do things fast alright but if we want to live with purpose we should slow down and take our time and do just that one thing properly.
If we can get ourselves less distracted so much can be accomplished. People today feel they should rush because we live in a over fast world now. If it is straightening a drawer or cleaning the bathroom we need to just stay on task. Don't answer the phone, don't have the television on, just focus on what it is we are doing.
What we are doing does matter and we should not let ourselves be interrupted. I see a lot of Mom's let their children run all over them but we should set boundaries for our children and they need to have responsibilities starting even from toddler stage.
My children would sit on the floor close by with a pot and wooden spoon or a simple toy while I worked. A child needs to see their mother or father working, this is part of how they learn. Children love to help unless you have completely spoiled them by giving them too much or doing everything for them.
Also how many times a day do you stop what you are doing for electronics? That is an addiction.
A home can be a wonderful place if we take the steps to make that place we want. It has nothing to do with remodeling , it has to do with learning to live within the space that we have.
No matter what size home we have it will always need cleaning and straightening so we need to just do those things.
Some things have priorities, such as cooking and doing the dishes, making the beds, washing the clothes and sheets and towels. Then there are the floors and bathrooms. These are the common chores of the house but there are many other things.
If we are free of clutter it makes these chores easier to do and we start getting a routine and balance. That leads to time to garden or work on sewing or knitting or any kind of project that we like to do.
I do enjoy making things for the home and for gifts. I have this thing that I ask myself all the time before I make something, "Is this functional?"
We go through phases in life where certain crafts are popular and fun to make. In the past it was not crafts but quilts and curtains, doilies and linens, items needed for the home. Time changed but we still have that in us to do as our ancestors once did but we were redirected by marketing to start doing crafts and the craft business took off and now we have more decorative things that are not necessarily functional and why our homes filled up with all kinds of unnecessary what knots.
If we live our life with purpose and make our home functional and uncluttered we can get a more clear idea of the wonderful more purposeful things we can make for our home.
Maybe it is a quilt or a small thing such as a new crochet bathroom rug as I just started making to replace the old one.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could just start all over again and live a simple life? Oh that's right, we can do this. Grandma Donna
