Day off

Having a day off is busier than it used to be. Since I work 5 days a week (on normal weeks), there is a lot to cram into those 2 spare days... and I have to do it all around everything else that needs to happen.

Today, however, is Saturday... and I have it off. This might very well be one of my last weekend days off for a while and I will certainly miss it. During the week there is always school or camp pick up or drop off, as well as any other kid driving that might need to happen... but the weekends there are no obligations or real serious schedules to work around when I don't have to work, and I love it. It's like pure freedom.

So, do you want to know what I did today? It's pretty exciting actually. I feel like I am getting closer to being more self sufficient with some things after days like today - and I might add that the day certainly isn't over yet... but I might squeeze in a hike instead of more busy work.

We can skip right over the first part of the day called the early morning because it was then that I realized that I had one too many gin and tonics last night. But my fantastic partner cooked me up some nice greasy organic bacon and eggs and made fresh coffee and let me sleep in a little... so the feeling passed quickly and made for a pleasant morning.

Once up and moving, I dragged my teenagers (one is just a preteen but who can tell the difference) out of bed, along with the little guy, and we went to farm girl farm to pick up the second and last week of a borrowed CSA share. Today I had time to go out into the field and pick fresh herbs, which I never use honestly... so I was excited for the new challenge and creativity that they offered. We also got lots of cucumbers for making more pickles since my family devoured the ones that I made last week.

After that, we went to the farmer's market. The kids got some fresh baked goods and I found some unpackaged maple sugar candies to tuck away for treats:

As soon as we got home, I got busy.

First, I started a new batch of butter... since my family seems to eat an insane amount of butter, we had none left in the house.

While that was in the works, I took some fresh mint and made some simple refreshing drinks for us. It's just filtered water with fresh mint sprigs and some lemon in the individual glasses. Add ice and this is so satisfying.

Then I decided that I would put aside some fresh mint to add to the gluten free brownies that I was going to make and dry all of the rest, along with the sage and lavender that I picked.

Meanwhile, I got working on the pickles and finished up the butter. Once the butter was done, I cleaned that up and started the mint brownies.


All of this was so satisfying! I will certainly be growing a MUCH bigger garden next year with lots of different kinds of things. This year we have started our first garden in forever, which I might post about some other day. It's doing well but I just planted practical family staple type things like tomatoes (to make ketchup and sauce), cucumbers (pickles, pickles, pickles!) and lettuce. If I don't have a good garden kicking next year, I'm totally going in on a CSA share... and that's that.

In the end, here is the shot of the fruits of my labor today:

Mmmm.



And now it's time to read the little guy a book and then think about maybe making some dinner and take a hike.

Days off are certainly busy.