Content evenings
Posted by: TammyI’m sitting here in bed and blogging away. I’m mulling over my day. Admittedly, I’m not as content as many evening. I rolled my left ankle on a frozen tire rut this past March during maple sugaring season and eight weeks later, I’m still in way too much pain. I have an appointment to see an orphopedic surgeon tomorrow to see if perhaps I’ve done something more serious than the sprain I thought I had. It’s slowing me up too much during this busy planting season. I’ve got several stone beds that I need and want to make but again, I’m being slowed down. My dad kindly rototilled a new vertical bed for me this past weekend but I’m not sure when I’ll dig the post holes and get the stockade fencing up for the seedlings. I’m not the most patient woman in the world, especially when it’s my own body slowing me down.
Still, I’m trying to find contentment with other things. I’ve got a batch of homemade yogurt culturing on the counter in the kitchen. It’s tucked warmly in my heating pad. I’ve also placed my seedlings under two small tables on the deck with an old flannel sheet covering everything. Almost Memorial Day and I’m dealing with a frost warning! Good grief! The dishwasher is tending to the day’s dishes and the kitchen is warmed from the residual oven heat of the evening meal. Everyone is tucked into bed under their homemade quilts, warm and cozy despite our heat being turned off for the season and this being a relatively cold night given the time of year. Another day has passed with more money coming in than going out and I’ve stretched everything and made do.
I’m also working on knitting Christmas presents for the fellas. I’ve been really good about finding some toy type items I know they’ll love at killer prices (50 to 75% off deals when that big toy chain closed and some clearance things at Walmart). They also needed new mittens for school days (days when they needed warm coverings on their hands but not waterproof mittens) and new hats for sledding. I’ve got a wonderful supply of wool from local mills that I’ve started knitting into those items. It feels good to keep my hands productive even if my ankle isn’t. I’ve also tended to a bit of mending that I can tackle by hand; darning four of my heavy-duty hiking socks, fixing a split seam in the bottom of one of the boys’ homemade flannel sleep pants and fixing the hem on a pair of my hubby’s dress pants. I love seeing gifts form at my hands.
Some evenings I’ve been reading. I have a pile of new self-sufficiency books I bought. There are also some country living books. I’ve been rereading Janette Okes “Love Comes Softly” series as well.
No matter what, it feels good to look at the day and try to find something that I can find contentment with (even if my ankle is hampering my gardening contentment). I suppose it’s like that glass-is-half-full OR half-empty thing. I can look at the day and complain about what I did NOT do or choose to see the things I did do. You can try and find contentment or you can find discontentment. I admit that some days make it hard to find the contentment but I guess that those are the days that the little things mean even more.