{ When the homemaking bug bites....it bites hard }

It is 7:48pm, as I start typing this post.  I probably won't be done for at least an hour, between interruptions, furry babies, hubby and kids walking in to talk and so on.  

 

But, it is 7:48pm, and I'm winding down from a very busy homemaking day.  A day where I worked my way through the usual daily tasks, with some last minute organizing, de-cluttering and cleaning thrown in.

I went months, months, after Marley died, that I couldn't muster the motivation to do anything.  It was as if my body went from a 6 month, every day stress and sadness, to releasing it all over a period of time.  That release meant that I was so tired, emotionally and physically spent, that I collapsed and couldn't find my feet.

I would get up, and do the minimum needed, make my bed, and climb back on it, under a blanket.  I read or watched TV, always in that spot.

It became exhausting to just sit there.  I started getting irritated with myself, but I let God take over and do the healing He needed to within me. 

Then a month ago, it's as if I came out of this cocoon, fully healed, fresh and energetic, back to my old self.  

 

I began looking at my home, with the same eyes I used to many years ago.

Now?  I only sit on my bed when it's bedtime, or for about 30 minutes in the afternoon while Elliott and Kaia take a nap, and I answer emails or have a cup of coffee.

The rest of my day is spent busy, pottering around, cleaning, cooking, moving and shifting things, making things,planning, gardening, and so forth.  What a joy it has been to dive back into this wonderful world of homemaking.

 

It's reminded me a lot of when my kids were young and we were stationed at Luke AFB, in Arizona.  My days were so busy, there was never a moment where I wasn't doing something.  So to be doing that again, even though they've grown up and don't need me doing the things I did, but a home is still a home, and things still need to be done.

Actually, if you look around, there is always something that needs doing or fixing or updated or whatever the case may be.

I have been making and restocking my fridge, freezer and pantry.  There's bread and rissois in the freezer, there is cold brew coffee in the fridge, there is jars of beans in the pantry, and there's sourdough starter and Amish Friendship Bread starter on the counter.

Starter of any kind is a labor of love.  It's not a quick thing, you need to love it and babysit it for days on end before you can really say you're done.

I also made some more Creamy Cappuccino Mix (above).  It's a very simple but delicious mix, that produces a yummy and creamy cappuccino.  I'll put it on the food blog and then link it here once it's up, probably tomorrow.

 

I've been reading through the Janette Oke's Women of the West series and really, like really enjoying it.  It reminds me a lot of Little House on the Prairie, Doctor Quinn or When The Heart Calls.  

 

Wish I had found this book series a lot sooner.  I still have quite a few to go through, I believe there's 10 in the Women of the West series?  Not sure, but it's quite a few.

After this series, I have the Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert, which I'm so excited to read.  Are you reading any book series at the moment, or any good books you want to share?

I've spent a lot of time outdoors as well, whether I'm grilling, watering the garden, tilling, planting or just swimming.  It's been wonderful, though short, because as I've been saying, I just can't handle the temperatures lately.

One of my favorite cleaners, is Cif.  Back in Portugal and South Africa it used to be called Vim and then the name got changed.  But if you've never used it, it is fantastic for cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, stove, walls.  I just love it.

I have to tell you about my bread adventures.  So, we have a double oven, which came with the house when we bought it.  I had never had one and fell in love with it.  Let's just say that it makes get togethers and Thanksgiving a lot easier.

Over the past month, it has been acting weird.  The screen flashes and beeps at random times, then goes completely black and you can't use the oven at all.  Other times it beeps constantly for about 30 seconds, then displays an error code on there E6 F2.  Then about 30 minutes after that, it beeps again and the clock is back and the oven is working again.

It's nuts, and I'm praying and praying it doesn't go out completely because double ovens are not cheap, and it's not exactly something I want to spend money on right now.

Anyway, yesterday I had a loaf of Italian Bread and 8 loaves of French bread rising.  I popped the Italian bread into the oven and 20 minutes into baking, it beeped a couple times then went blank and turned off completely.

I had this moment of panic, like "Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?  I'm going to lose all my bread."

Thankfully, the loaf in the oven was practically done baking, so I popped it into my toaster oven to try and just brown it a bit, but that was a flop.  Bread is still good, but year, toaster ovens are not good for baking bread.

Then I took 2 of my French Bread loaves and popped them into the air fryer.  I used the baking function at 380 degrees for 10 minutes, and they came out PERFECT.  They didn't rise like I wanted them to, but the bread itself baked all the way and it was amazing.

Sometime in the middle of the air fryer adventure, my oven miraculously came back on, so I quickly shoved the other 6 loaves in and prayed for the best.  It managed to work until they were done.  Thank the good Lord above!!!

I finished off my day, with a scrumptious Frango no Churrasco, which is a grilled Portuguese spicy chicken.  It was sooooooo good.  

I'll have that recipe on the blog tomorrow as well.  The food blog that is.  With a link here, of course.

It is now 8:48pm, on the dot.  Hahahahah  Wow, how did I even do that?

So I'm going to end off this post, read a little more and then get some sleep.  This weekend we are taking it easy again, working around the yard, swimming and grilling and enjoying summer as much as we can.

Hope you're enjoying your summer with your family too.