“The simple things in life hold our best memories.”
We eat a lot of pancakes in our house. Well, truth be told we also eat a lot of waffles and french toast too. My kid’s favourite thing is to have breakfast for dinner, so if my husband is out of town, I try to brighten up their lives and make things a bit easier on me too by making pancakes or waffles for dinner. I remember as a child, when my Dad was not home for dinner, my mom used to make a large pot of blueberries with dumplings and I thought that was the biggest treat in all the world.
When I opened the fridge recently to find an empty syrup bottle, I had to become really creative, fast, which also opens up the opportunity to find satisfaction in the solution. Sadly, to a degree I think our North American culture has lost that art. We live with so much affluence that when the bottle is empty, we just make note to buy one the next time we are out shopping. But, what if there wasn’t a store nearby to purchase maple syrup?
What do we do?
Just a bit of history first, I’m not normally the pancake or waffle cook in our household. Nope. That would be my dear husband. He has been making pancakes since our oldest was just a toddler, over 20 years ago. He makes pancakes, like I make cookies or soup. He just pulls out all the ingredients and starts pouring and mixing like he knows the perfect combination. And he does. He also knows the exact temperature to cook them at…this is an art!
Not me, when I make waffles or pancakes, I have to refer to my favourite recipe. I used to rummage around looking for our family’s pancake recipe, until I blogged about it last year. Now, at least if I can’t find that little loose piece of paper, which has pulled away from the recipe book that David’s mom gave him when he left home, I can at least find it on my blog. Whew. Because I would hate to disappoint my little people…that is, if I am home alone and having to make pancakes.
While I was contemplating what to put on our waffles recently, and yes, fruit and jam are also options around here, I remembered reading a large family blogger writing about making homemade syrup. At the time I thought, why in the heck would I make my own syrup. After all it’s pretty cheap to buy it in the bottle and my own homemade probably would taste terrible anyway. But that was before I had a stack of waffles slowly growing and warming in the oven and I knew the kids would not be impressed if there wasn’t any syrup.
Between batches, I googled homemade syrup and finally found a couple that I thought sounded simple and easy. NOW that is what I’m looking for in my life. The fact that what I came up with when I combined a few recipes and it turned out to be delicious too, made me so happy. I was tickled pink. An expression my mom may have said.
Plus, there is a whole other side benefit that I LOVE!!!
It’s good for the environment. At least to the degree that every 2 weeks we aren’t using a new plastic bottle of syrup which makes me soooo happy. I love when I can cut down on packaging and also learn to make things myself which is the ultimate in being sustainable.
If you are interested in making your own syrup, that is better than anything you will find in a brown bottle from the grocery store, then check out this recipe. It’s simple sustainable, and yummy.
Hope’s Pancake Syrup
Ingredients
2 cups of water 1 cup of brown sugar 1 cup of white sugar Dash of salt 2 tsp of maple extract (vanilla if you don’t have maple)
Directions
Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan and slowly add the brown and white sugar. Mix until dissolved.
Turn down to low and stir for a few minutes. Add sprinkle of salt.
Take off heat and add the extract. Cool and pour into a jar…..or do what we did….pour the syrup on the waffles/pancakes while it was still warm.
The first time we used the syrup it was quite runny but it thickened overnight in the fridge and was more the consistency of our bottled syrup.
The kids all loved it but I started thinking about the syrup that I would sometimes buy at our local Super Store. It has 15% real maple syrup in it. Would it even be better if I added some real syrup to my homemade mixture?
When we went to Costco recently we purchased a large jug of real Maple Syrup. We added 1/2 cup to the above recipe and now I have homemade maple syrup with almost the same amount that the expensive maple syrup from Super Store has in it…and guess what? It cost WAY LESS. Although, I have to say that I thought the syrup I made without the real maple syrup was GREAT and didn’t taste much different.
When I told my sister J, about my recent discovery she told me that our mom used to make syrup from left over coffee of all things. I guess she learned a thing or two as a child living in the depression. I can’t recall ever eating mom’s coffee syrup but then I don’t remember her making pancakes ever. When she married my step-dad, Bud, he did all the pancake cooking on Sunday mornings. It was his thing to do, just like it’s now my husbands tradition.
The more things I learn to make from scratch, the happier I am. I like living a simpler life. I like knowing, when we run out of things, like syrup, that I can make something even tastier than what I buy in a plastic bottle full of preservatives and we can be greener along the way.
So while not eating pure maple syrup isn’t maybe the Canadian thing to do, it is the simple thing to do when you have kids who love their pancakes and waffles. So the next time your syrup bottle is empty, know you have the ability to make life sweeter.
Victoria and Kate with their favourite breakfast or dinner…waffles with syrup and fruit and smoothie loaded with fruit
.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
What does being a mom and brownies have in common? They are both SWEET!
Today is my first born daughter’s birthday. Her 25th Birthday to be exact. Happy Birthday Alyssa Rae!
25 Years ago I became a mom.
Alyssa Rae at 6 months….pull out the camera and she smiles
The road to motherhood started out rocky for me because after an almost perfect pregnancy, with only first trimester nausea to mar the experience, the weeks before our baby’s birth was full of uncertainty, which would shadow her first year on earth.
In week 34 of my pregnancy, I was having some cramping and didn’t feel well. My doctor sent me to the hospital where they did some fetal testing along with an ultrasound. In those days, (1990) having more than two ultrasounds performed during a pregnancy was unusual, so I was a bit concerned. That concern blew into anxiety when the ultrasound tech had a look of deep concentration on her face. Also, she took much longer than what I felt was a normal time frame to check on our baby’s growth and well being.
The next day my Dr’s office called and asked if I could come in. At that moment, what had been an idyllic pregnancy, turned into a nightmare. My Dr. told me that our baby had dilated ventricles in her brain but that was all she could say at that point. She didn’t want to speculate on the cause or how it may impact our child, until there was further testing done. She had arranged for us to see a fetal diagnostic specialist at Grace Hospital (Now called the B.C. Woman’s Hospital) in Vancouver.
We had the weekend to digest what this could mean. The first thing I did after talking to my Dr. was visit the library. Remember, this way in the day when you couldn’t just Google information. At the library, I discovered that babies born with dilated ventricles in the brain often had conditions like hydrocephalus.
“Hydrocephalus is one of the most common congenital anomalies affecting the nervous system, occurring with an incidence of 0.3 to 2.5 per 1,000 live births. Traditionally, hydrocephalus is detected and treated after birth with a shunting procedure. However, with the advent of high quality prenatal ultrasonography, ventricular enlargement is now routinely diagnosed in-utero. This knowledge has facilitated obstetric care but presents a source of uncertainty for families and a challenge for the team counselling parents regarding a prognosis for the fetus.”
I drove home crying. How had this happened to our baby? I was young and in perfect health and my pregnancy had been text book. I was also anxious that every moment we waited to see a specialist, meant irreparable damage to our baby’s brain could be occurring.
My husband and I clung to each other over the weekend and after I told my mom about having to go to Vancouver for testing, (which was a BIG deal in those days) I grew more concerned. She contacted her church and had our baby placed on their prayer list. To be put on a prayer list to me, meant things were really serious. You know when you are living a nightmare it’s almost surreal but other people’s reaction to your life often puts things into perspective.
This is a little angel in our house that reminds me of this time.
Our 8 hour car trip to Vancouver (before the connector was built) was uneventful and quiet although occasionally I would break the silence by asking David, “it’s going to be okay, right?” When we arrived at Grace hospital, we sat in the waiting room filled with other couples. Woman at varying stages of pregnancy sat everywhere. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn’t alone with my fears for the health of our baby. This was a Universal connection. It was the first time being pregnant I realized I was on the precipice of joining a selective group of women.
Moms!
The head of the neonatal testing and diagnostic department, Dr. D. F. Farquharson,, met with us and put us at ease right away. We knew we were in good hands as he carefully communicated what we were facing and what they would be looking for. I tried to relax and even thought, heck, he teaches at the University of B.C. so he probably sees situations like ours all the time. After an extensive ultrasound, he guided us to see other specialist. We met with a genetics counselor, we had blood drawn. Finally, late in the day we met with a Neurosurgeon who was amazing. I’ll never forget Dr. Cochrane asking us what level of education we had, presumably so he knew how to pitch the situation. Although, that may sound condescending, he wasn’t at all. The whole team wrapped us gently in care during our time at Grace Hospital.
At the end of the day, there was no conclusive diagnoses. Our baby was too large, at 34 weeks to be able to be seen clearly via ultrasound and to determine what was causing the dilated ventricles. They thought they had ruled out spina bifida however, since her spine appeared in tact. It was suggested that we do an amniocentesis to determine if our baby’s lungs were mature. If they were, it was advised to induce labour early and deliver her, at which time the team could diagnose properly and treat her condition. We agreed to the amnio, which was performed by our Dr. F with great compassion and ease. Although we were still scared, we had a team caring for us and there was comfort in that.
Since it was going to take a few days to get the results we drove back to the Okanagan to wait. The next week was excruciating. I spent many hours just praying for the health of our baby. It was decided that I would officially start my maternity leave from work. If I had continued to work, I wouldn’t have been able to focus anyway. Interestingly, for many years I had been working as an Insurance Agent, processing many types of unemployment insurance claims. A good percentage of them being, maternity UI claims. It felt strange to apply for my own claim several weeks earlier than I had planned.
Several days later, we got a call from Grace Hospital. Our baby’s lungs were mature. They wanted to induce on Monday. We also were asked if we wanted to know our baby’s gender and of course we said yes. We felt really privileged to know ahead of the birth. This was not the standard for the day. Apparently, one couple had been told a certain gender during an ultrasound and it turned out to be wrong. They sued the hospital. So at the time, the policy in our Province was to not divulge gender prior to birth.
As we packed for our trip, the thoughts that our baby was a “girl” suddenly made her more real. Although, we had thought for sure we were having a boy and had even painted the nursery mostly pale blue with fluffy clouds and sweet teddy bears, I had purchased a few tiny gender neutral sleepers and those were the ones I packed. On the trip to the coast, I flipped through a baby name book as David drove and we tried out every girl name in the book. We finally had settled on either Ashley or Alyssa.
I liked Alyssa. It was Greek which said, ancient to me and the meaning was perfect. In the book we were using, Alyssa, meant, “a woman who thinks and rationalizes for herself.” We liked the idea of a strong brain. Also, Alyssa sounded great with our last name, “Reynolds.” Something about the “s’s flowed. We chose Rae for her middle name after my step-dad, John (Bud) who had been a wonderful second father to me and sadly had died when I was 25. His middle name was Ray, but we were thinking of giving her the feminine version. Rae. Alyssa Rae Reynolds…A. R. Reynolds….the more we said it it sounded right.
Although, I haven’t been able to find the same meaning to her name anywhere else since then, this name was meant for our daughter. Here is something I just Googled and I had to laugh as it describes our Alyssa perfectly.
What Does Name “Alyssa” Mean
Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.You are seeking freedom, opportunities to enjoy life: to make love, to go places and to do things. You are very adventurous and willing to take risk to achieve your objectives. New ways and new experiences can’t satisfy your restless nature. One adventure leads you to another. You are honest and fair, because you know that this is the only way to receive justice and honesty from other people. But your personal growth is vital for your, and it is difficult to be tied down by rules and obligations. Your restless spirit might best controlled by choosing the field of work that meet your demand for action and adventure.
Yup, that’s our baby!
Okay, back to her birth. We arrived at Grace Hospital late on Sunday with touches of sun on our faces. The drive to the coast had been lovely. A perfect Spring day at the end of March. There was Hope in our hearts that day. As we settled into our room, everyone made us feel at peace. Hearing our story and then finding out who our Doctor was, EVERYONE reassured us, telling us we were in the best of hands. The Doctor who had been the head of prenatal diagnostics, Dr. Duncan Finlay Farquharson, had agreed to also deliver our baby. Little did we know but he was a beloved Doctor at Grace Hospital.
Early on Monday morning, we were taken down to the labour and delivery floor. I was so nervous. This was the week back home when we had planned to join our prenatal group, tour the hospital and practise breathing techniques for birth. And here I was, going to be induced. I didn’t know what to expect and I certainly didn’t know anything about labour breathing etc since this was our first baby. Everyone reassured us that there was nothing like the real show to learn the ropes of birthing.
As the induction progressed and it became more difficult for me, during one of Dr. F’s visit’s into the room, after examination, he took off his gloves and said to me, “you were made for having babies.” And with a smile he left. After that, I just trusted my body and I did what came naturally. Right around midnight on the 26th….about to become the 27th, things felt like they were moving fast. All of a sudden, in the dim light of the room a team appeared not just for me, but for our baby as well. After a long day in induced labour, things were progressing quickly.
My body took over and was suddenly powerful. Even though Alyssa was just our first baby, within 20 minutes of pushing, she was out in the world. She was lifted up, the cord was cut, she was wrapped in a warm blanket and as she was lifted over to the warm isolette, the pediatrician said something I will never forget, “she’s a keeper!” And in that moment, David, squeezed my hand and I knew somehow our baby would be okay.
Everyone in the room said I had done fantastic for a first time mom and our baby was BEAUTIFUL!
We were glowing as Alyssa was finally given to David for his first close look and cuddle, and then passed to me. As I looked into her wise eyes, centuries passed. As I marvelled at her tiny fingers, I thought “piano fingers.” She looked like a perfectly formed doll. I don’t know what I expected but her head was tiny, in lovely proportion for her, 6 lb 3 oz—18 inch long body. She looked like a “normal” baby.
After our first nursing session, which went surprisingly well considering she was a month premature, I was transferred to a wheel chair and clutching our precious baby, we were moved out of the dim room and into the bright hallway, Alyssa lifted her little arm from the blanket to shield her eyes from the bright hall. David and I looked at each other and smiled. She was already thinking.
Over the course of the next day she was tested and monitored and finally, we were told why her ventricles were dilated. It was because her corpus callosum was missing causing the ventricles to have more fluid. We met again with Dr. Cochrane, the Neurosurgeon. Again he was great but sadly, since there were no continuous studies being done on children with Alyssa’s condition, he said he couldn’t offer much in the way of future expectations. He told us that she was in perfect health and meeting all newborn criteria for normal behavior. He did want to see her again when she was one year old.
We didn’t know what to think, until we talked to Dr. Farquharson, who reaffirmed what Dr. Cochrane said, our baby was healthy. One of the last things he said to us before discharge, 4 days later was, “take your baby home, enjoy her, treat her normally.”
As we were packing up, one of the nurses came in to make sure we were okay and we expressed our thanks and told her what an amazing experience we had had during our stay at Grace Hospital. She went on to tell us we couldn’t have had a better Doctor in Dr Farquharson. Sadly, he and his wife had lost a baby son to SIDS only a few months prior. I have often thought of him and his baby son. I was determined to be the best mother I could be for our daughter.
So we took her home. We loved her. We enjoyed her. But we didn’t treat her normally. Something profound had changed us and we knew there was no going back. We felt lucky to have a healthy child but we also knew that since there was a brain abnormality present, we had to do everything we could to stimulate her brain, make neuron connections and help her thrive.
And so started the journey of stimulating our little daughter’s brain as much as we were able. Of course, I chose to breast feed which offered our child the perfect formula for her growing brain and body. And then, I took the training I had as a fitness instructor and set up “stations” around our home.
In the early days of her life, she would move from a station on the floor with a tripod of bright coloured hanging toys over head, to a blanket for her “tummy time,” so she could look at all the books that I had set up around her. She would lift up her little head to see all the pictures and then fall down with exhaustion. I would move her to the next station.
Then she had another station sitting in a reclining chair with a tray with a few toys and I would play all sorts of classical and baroque music. We also got into the habit of bathing her in the morning and the evening as she seemed to love water and even though babies don’t get overly dirty, the idea of water as being a therapy made sense.
We would do physical therapy as I would sing to her, telling her what a smart and beautiful baby she was. I would pump her little legs, singing to row, row, row, your boat, and cross her little arms too. She seemed to enjoy moving her body. I think her favourite station was just being on the floor with our Siamese cat, Ninja, laying close by. She loved to reach for his whiskers and he was always gentle with her.
Each day, I would pack her up in a Snugli (a baby carrier) and we would go for long walks in the neighbourhood. She would be awake looking at the sky and the trees but within minutes, her eyes would get heavy and she would fall asleep to the swaying of my steps with her head against my chest.
As she got older, (6 months) we enrolled her in aquatic classes and as a toddler, I put her in classes at our local recreation center where she would crawl under and over things, play on mats with other children and of course we would sing songs in a circle group setting.
At her one year check up with Dr. Cochrane, at the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, he felt she was doing great. Although she wasn’t walking she was in the range of normal development. I was very concerned about her not walking but now that I look back, she only weighed 18 pounds at a year and also her temperment was such, that she wasn’t going to do anything, until she could do it perfectly. I had no idea that this was going to be her personality.
Alyssa at 1 year of age
Over the years we saw that time and time again.
We continued to expose her to music and swimming. In addition, she took art classes in the summer, was involved in Science camps and also played a bit of soccer. She loved to visit the library and plowed through endless stacks of books. When she wasn’t reading, or drawing, she was sitting at our dining room table putting large puzzels together. Something she and my mom loved to do together.
Three generations, Me, Alyssa’s grandma, “Umma” and Alyse as a toddler
Playing piano and swimming are both right and left brain activities and they very well may have helped to rewire her brain so it was functioning at a high level. I’ll never forget in her first year of ballet when she was just 5, she wanted to quit because she couldn’t skip. I told her that if she knew how to skip or do any ballet poses, she wouldn’t need to go to classes. Further, that the purpose of taking lessons was to learn these things. Almost by the next class she started skipping and also learned to persevere when things weren’t always easy.
When she was only 8, we took her to see Riverdance in Vancouver and she was mesmerized by the soft dancers with their high kicks and the clicking heels making music. As soon as we heard of an Irish Dance teacher coming to our community, we signed Alyssa up for lessons. For about 8 years, she enjoyed dancing to lyrical Irish tunes and with her bouncing ringlets competed in many Feis. (Irish Dance competitions)
By the time Alyssa was in Grade 12, she was an excellent student, an accomplished pianist, completing her grade 10 Royal Conservatory requirements in just one year, played flute in the school band and had played in the Youth Symphony, was an Irish dancer, she had become a lifeguard and later would become a swimming instructor. She was passionate about literature and history. One of the earliest pictures we have of her is surrounded by books while listening to classical music. These were all the strong foundations in her life.
June 14, 2008….High School Grad
And now, here she is 25 years old. She has achieved her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, minoring in Greek and Roman studies and last year she completed her Bachelor of Education degree. She has taught piano, swimming and now is over in the U.K. teaching teenagers, “English,” of all things. Her love is creative writing and I’m sure, with a bit of time, a novel is only a breath away and when it comes it it will be as unique as she is and hopefully well received. After all, she has an interesting way of detaching herself from life and observing it through a magical lens. She lives an authentic life and follows her heart.
Alyssa finally living her dream…traveling to historic places…adventuring
What is that saying about the teacher appearing when the student is ready? Well, whether I was ready or not, she arrived exactly when she was meant. She has taught me that life isn’t always easy, we don’t always get a fair shake but it’s what we make of it that really matters. Life is endlessly interesting.
The other night, David and I were watching the biography of Glenn Gould, who was an extremely talented pianist born in 1932. He became quite famous for his unique style of playing. During his early years he was told to sing while playing his pieces. Also, one of his instructors taught him to hit the piano keys in a way that allowed his brain to process them individually. His playing was clear and precise. Another thing that was rather quirky was that he carried a rather low set chair, which he insisted on using at all concerts, although it looked awkward.
How was his brain wired?
What created this genius?
Whose to say what is normal?
Our daughter, has exceeded all of our expectations for her. She has talents and abilities that take people a lifetime to achieve. Also, many people spend their lifetime trying to fit in and please others but she has learned that to be truly successful in life means, being true to yourself. She is showing me what an authentic life looks like. She does classify herself as an introvert (like Glenn Gould) and is quick to point out, it’s a good thing.
After all, it’s the introverts that create magic, music and great literature.
She’s a KEEPER!
I’m glad we didn’t take her home and treat her normally.
She was……..IS
limitless.
She is a unique, talented, beautiful, gifted, brilliant young woman. We are so glad you chose us to be your parents Alyssa. Thank you……….and
Happy Birthday!
If you are interested in reading more about people with missing corpus callosums check out this hyperlink. It’s fascinating!
And what is a birthday without a dessert?
I know if Alyssa were here, I would be making her a carrot cake.
But since I have already blogged about my carrot cake recipe, I will share her second choice for dessert and that is, our Ultimate Brownie recipe.
We use chunks of dark chocolate with almonds in this recipe and it’s decadent.
Here’s my Ultimate Brownie Recipe…dedicated to my Ultimate daughter
Ingredients
3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate pieces
1/2 cup chopped nuts (opt)
1 recipe of mocha chocolate drizzle
Mocha Chocolate Drizzle;
In small bowl, stir together, 1/2 cup of sifted powder sugar, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 hot tsp milk, and spoonful of instant coffee. Stir in additional milk until icing is drizzling consistency.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Coarsely chop unsweetened chocolate.
In saucepan melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, cool.
Line 8x8x2 inch baking pan with foil.
Spray with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture until sugar dissolved.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating with wooden spoon until just combined.
Stir in vanilla.
In bowl stir together flour and baking soda.
Add flour mixture (flour/soda) to chocolate mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in dark chocolate pieces and nuts. Spread batter in prepared pan.
Bake 35 minutes or until edges are set and begin to pull away from sides of pan. cool on wire rack. Spoon chocolate drizzle across top.
Serve alone, or with whipped cream….or with ice cream.
We have been known to make a ice cream Sunday with this brownie as the bottom….yum!
LET YOUR IMAGINATION BE YOUR GUIDE.
Before I close I wanted to share a Youtube video of Glenn Gould playing the Italian Concerto.
Now when I think of my daughter Alyssa, many different music pieces come to mind. A lot of Debussy and Mozart, which I used to play for her as she was drifting off to sleep as a baby and a child.
Then there is her Irish music that she used to dance to, and finally there is the Soundtrack to the Lord of the Rings, …in particular, “In Dreams” which she and her brother Clark used to play together.
To end this post though, I thought I would include the Bach’s Italian Concerto which she played as one of her pieces during her ARCT (Royal Conservatory Exam)
As I would work in the kitchen, listening to her perfecting this piece for hours at a time, I would think, it just doesn’t get any better than this. I hope you enjoy this recording of Glen Gould playing it.
If you can’t see the above, check out this hyperlink, (Glenn Gould, playing Bach’s Italian Concerto)and while you are making the Ultimate Brownie recipe let brilliance wash over you.
You are brilliant!
If you want to read some of Alyssa’s writing and her photography, check out her blog, “The Introvert in the Corner.” The link is also in my fav blog list…of course!
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful
Have you ever found a penny or a dime and felt that it was a sign just for you? If you have read my blog, you know that I have a thing for feathers. At least I used to find feathers all the time when I was on the journey to having our children. Every time I found a feather, and I used to find a lot of them, the feeling in my heart was that my dream would come true. Just hang on and trust. I’m now abundantly blessed with a large family.
This week, I have not been finding feathers…but something totally different and very unexpected. I live in Canada where we have several coins for our lowest currency.. We have pennies (1 cent) of course but last year the government discontinued them since they were costing too much to produce. However, there are still pennies everywhere. Then we nickles (5 cents), dimes (10 cents), quarters (25 cents) a loonie (one dollar value) and finally, a toonie (2 dollar value).
As I tell you my story, keep in mind that while we have many different kinds of coins in our country, finding them in our home is a rare thing. We aren’t one of families who has loose change just lying around. The kids are always asking for change for fundraisers at school, or a bit of spending money if they are out with friends. I’m also looking for quarters and loonies to park in our downtown core which is all metered parking. Also, in the era of using debit cards, we hardly ever use cash in our day to day transactions, so finding ANY coins is actually rare in our home.
This week though, a very mysterious event has been occurring. I have been finding dimes. Not just one or two but dozen of them!!!
At first, when I would come upon one, I just thought cool, a dime and I’d pop it in jean pocket. But then, it happened again and again. I would be going through a box and at the bottom of the box, I would find a dime. When I moved a piece of furniture, since I’m not just de-cluttering but I’m trying to do some deep cleaning as I go along, I find a dime. Or for instance today, as I was moving my son’s bunk bed in order to vacuum underneath, I found lots of stuff. Several missing socks, some used kleenex, I know, gross, and you guessed it, another dime.
The weirdest moment, was when I was down in our crawl space (where there is NO money) and I was going through our daughter Alyssa’s stored boxes. She is teaching in the U.K. for the next two years but she will be home for 10 days this summer to attend her best friend’s wedding. I know she will not have a lot of time so I thought I would sort through her clothes, wash them all, iron them and pack them away, organized in season so she could find her summer clothes easily. As I was lifting up one of her boxes, I heard something clink on the concrete. As I looked under the box, yep, there was another dime shining in the dim light.
That night after dinner, as everyone was finishing up, I told my family what I had been experiencing. The kids were teasing me but my husband thought it was interesting and asked what I thought it meant. I told him that I thought, just like with my feathers, it was a sign from my angels.
In my heart what I hear is, “Hope, everything is okay, money is coming.”
As the kids filtered out of the kitchen all laughing at how weird their mom was for believing dimes were a sign from heaven, David Googled what dimes mean and guess what he found? Here is the link but basically, I was RIGHT ON. Dimes are signs from heaven that our angels and loved ones who have passed on, support us on our journey and want us to know that they are here for us cheering us on.
It gives me shivers thinking about how many dimes I have now found in the last 2 weeks. I have a little silver basket full of them now but here is a picture of a few that I have found over the course of only a few days.
What do you think? It is kind of whoo, whoo!
Last weekend, my sister invited us over for dinner and since it had been her birthday only a few days before, I brought her a chocolate mocha cheesecake to celebrate. Something to put the birthday candles on, something she can wish upon as she blows them out. In her card, I had given her one of my dimes, but in hindsight, I wished I had wrapped a few of the dimes in tin foil and put them in the cheesecake. My mom used to do that with her plum pudding at Christmas time and whoever got a coin got a wish.
I think in the future, I’m going to call my chocolate mocha cheesecake, my angel cheesecake and put some dimes inside. Maybe it can be a fun tradition and memory for my family. We can tell the story of the time mom was getting direct messages from her angels. Maybe it will open my children up to the mysteries of our connection with our loved ones who have passed on and our angels. At least our older children because the younger ones, especially Will, totally get this stuff.
I think my mom is really excited for me as I de-clutter and she wants me to know how happy she is that I am letting go of stuff in favour of a richer life. And at the very least, it will be a fun story to tell as we eat this cheesecake. It has already brought some light and fun into our house as we continued to do more work this morning Harrison yelled out, “Hey mom, I just found a quarter. Guess that’s my coin from the angels.”
Anyway, back to the cheesecake. It worked really well with the dinner J and B made the other night. Thanks J and B for the delicious salmon and scallop dinner. The asparagus, roasted carrots, potatoes and your garlic spread on the french bread was divine. EVERYTHING was so delicious! And J, your wishes and dreams are already coming true.
I hope you will try out my cheesecake recipe. It’s so easy and tastes like you have slaved away. A perfect light dessert after a spring dinner.
Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake or….Angel Cheesecake recipe Crust Ingredients 1/2 cup margarine 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup cocoa (fryers)
Mix all really well, reserve 1/2 cup for topping and press the rest into 9″ spring form pan Filling 8 ounce cream cheese 1 can sweetened condensed milk 2/3 cup chocolate syrup 1 tbsp instant coffee (mixed with 1 tsp hot water) 1 cup whipped cream
Beat cream cheese til fluffy, add can of sweetened condensed milk, 2/3 cup chocolate syrup, 1 tbsp of instant coffee in 1 tsp of hot water. Whip 1 cup of whipping cream and fold into the rest of the filling ingredients. As you fold in the whipping cream, put a few dimes wrapped in tinfoil for your family to find. Whoever finds a dime can make a wish and put it in their pocket for luck.
Pour into spring form pan and top with remaining crumbs. Decorate with pecan pieces…I also used bits of Scor pieces with the remaining crumbs…giving it a slight toffee taste. Freeze over night.
For the last two weeks I have been swimming through the muck and mire of our worldly possessions. Some days, I felt like I was drowning and other times, as I found my stroke, the waves parted and I could see the white shores of home. As I write this though, I’m finally over the hump and I wanted to share a part of the journey with you. .
The title of this blog came from my daughter, Grace, who along with my son Harrison, has been helping me de-cluttering over Spring Break. They helped me keep the fires burning, so I could climb the mountain of baby and childhood memorabilia. BOXES and boxes of them.
My idea originally, was that each child would have a Rubbermaid box with all their baby keepsakes. You know the outfit they came home the from hospital in, their first stuffed lovie, their favourite blanket, the outfit they wore as they had their first formal portrait, their first shoes, well, you get the picture.
Then there was another Rubbermaid box for their childhood memories. All their certificates, little trophies, awards, ribbons, their report cards, their school pictures. The older children had two full boxes since they are out of both phases now and even have graduation caps and gowns.
When we had just two and three children, the storage required for these boxes wasn’t a big deal but with 8 children now, the boxes of memorabilia is a big deal. Also, and probably a bigger issue was when I went through my own memorabilia box and let go of everything recently, even my wedding dress. It was then, that I realized keeping our past in a box wasn’t necessary.
The memories weren’t in the box. They weren’t in the things stored away. They were and always will be in my heart.
What kind of gift was I giving my children by keeping these things? Also, most of this were things they didn’t even have a memory of themselves.
Keeping the things meant I had to find a place to store the items and then take the time occasionally to sift through the stuff or move it around. In my case, I can’t even count how many times I have moved this stuff as we moved again and again over the years. It took time out of my life to pick it up, pack it away and then move it. Why was I moving around stuff from my past?
That brings me to “Humpty Dumpty.”
Humpty Dumpty was given to my mother as a vase for some flowers she received after my birth.
It’s OLD!
When I got married and we bought our first house my mom gave me Humpty Dumpty. She must have been relieved to say good bye to him. Ever since then, he has been in the vase cupboard in my kitchen. Have I ever used him? No! Does he bring joy to me when I look at him. Ummm, not really.
Part of the reason I kept him all these years was that my mother kept him for 20 something years and I can’t even count how many household moves she experienced to keep him in the family and for some strange reason, I felt like I had to keep the tradition going as well.
As you may know, my mom passed away 3 years ago. When she left, I hung onto many things of her’s and also memories from my childhood were really important to me. I think I have a glimpse into why other people may become hoarders…because they are in a state of grief and can’t let go.
I’m happy to say that is not me. I smiled at Humpty one last time and took him out to the garage where he will go into a pile of things that others may see the value in. Old crap. He is after all a 1/2 century old and the glaze and paint on him are unique to that time. Maybe someone will love him. He is missing his gloved hand though. Still I have to give him a chance don’t I? Another home…but if no one wants him after the garage sale, I won’t have any problem saying good bye.
It’s time. And with that, I’m over the “hump.” As I realized this, I was telling Grace and Harrison that I had finally gotten over a really important step in the de-cluttering process and Grace looked at me holding Humpty and said, “Mom, you are over the hump!” We all had a good laugh. Maybe she should be writing my blog because I thought that was a good play on words and the perfect title for this blog post.
After that, I pulled up Will’s old high chair from storage, which I had been saving for a someday grand baby. Along with that came the cute pack ‘n play that we bought for the twin’s early days home from the hospital.
And after that, I had the children who were home help me pick the things that were special to them and guess what?
None of them wanted their version of the Humpty Dumpty in their baby boxes. Whew!
Smart kids! I have been reading a lot about moving towards minimalism and it’s not always an easy thing to do when you share a home with other people. What is recommended though is to inspire others by example. It hasn’t taken long, as the kids and even my husband are on board, Well, okay, maybe not my University son, living at home, but hey, he’s right in the middle of mid term exams etc and says he can’t even think about the stuff around him. Fair enough. In the meantime, we are being good examples…and smiling.
After that other memorabilia really flew.
David let go of many of his trophies years ago but we had kept the ones that held the best memories.
This week we snapped a picture of him with the remaining trophies. (he used to play baseball and was also a championship skeet shooter in his late teens) Those memories and aspects of himself are not in the trophies, but inside himself. Also, I think when the kids saw him letting go of these physical recognition awards, they realized, we aren’t those things. We are successful without accolades. Success and happiness are inside of each of us.
After the Humpty insight, I felt lighter and happier. Like how one feels after climbing an long and arduous climb and the view on the other side is breathtaking. If you hadn’t endured the climb, you would have missed out on another amazing experience.
Here is a snap shot of one of the piles in our garage. You don’t even want to see what is in our recycling and garbage pile!
Interestingly enough, this is a picture our University son, Clark took when he went for a hike this week. He didn’t have time to de-clutter, but he is balanced enough to know that the hike is what life is really about. …a shot above Kalamalka Lake
So what is your Humpty Dumpty in your life?
When I found this frame with our family picture it kind of said it all.
“Keep fond memories in your heart…for they will last a lifetime.”
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
“Hence I cannot be silent, and indeed I ought not to be, about the many blessings and the great grace the Lord has deigned to bestow on me.” ~Saint Patrick~
And oh, like St. Patrick’s quote above, “I’ve been surely blessed!”
Stepping away from de-cluttering for a moment, to celebrate the up and coming St. Patrick’s Day, I also take a moment to remember my grandmother, (my Dad’s mom, Flossie,) who was born in Canada to Irish Immigrants. They had left Ireland to find new opportunities for themselves and their children. The Kilfoyle family, raised 6 children in their new land and I’m here, their great granddaughter, a century later to remember them and my heritage.
I’m singing in the kitchen because David came home from his trip out of town late last night and one of the first things he did for me today was to repair my dryer. Yeah! I couldn’t be happier. Isn’t it funny how things you normally take for granted, all of a sudden become a big deal when you don’t have them any longer? I’ve missed my dryer AND my husband this week. (I am blessed~thank you~)
Hanging our laundry on our deck and on our standing drying rack all week, really took me back to a simpler time. A time when laundry was hard work. I certainly felt a connection to my great grandmother Kilfoyle, who with 6 children must have done her fair share of laundry.
So as I’m humming happily this afternoon, I’m gathering the ingredients for my version of Irish Stew, some Irish soda bread, and for “bessert,” (little Victoria’s term for a treat) I’m making apple sauce cake from an old recipe that I have. It compliments the meal nicely.
The day is blustery and the lake is filled with white caps. As the little ones play outside this afternoon, (it’s Spring Break) please join me in making a delicious Irish Stew.
Okay, let’s start chopping for that is the most consuming thing about making Irish Stew. Do you want a cup of tea? ….now I’m using beef and not a lot today as you know I’m on the road to being a vegetarian but also a minimalist, ha. The traditional Irish stew would use lamb and I understand from my daughter Alyssa, who is in the U.K. teaching, that there are sheep everywhere. For this Canadian, beef is more readily available and besides I just couldn’t eat lamb anyway. (no judgement for lamb eaters out there)
Hope’s Irish Stew
Ingredients
2 tbsp of olive oil 2 pounds of beef..(I used a sirloin cut…add more if you want it really meaty) 2 medium white onions 2 stalks of celery 4 large carrots, chop into round bites 1/2 of a large turnip chopped into bite size pieces 10 medium sized potatoes..chopped into nice chunks 2 cups of stewed tomatoes 4 ounces of tomato paste 1/2 cup flour 4 cups of beef broth Salt and pepper 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce (I use Lea and Perrins) 1 tbsp rosemary 2 bay leaves 2 cloves of garlic fresh parsley for garnish…it’s just starting to grow in the garden now Directions
1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium heat in a large stockpot. Add beef chunks and cook until brown. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a saucepan, add onions, celery and garlic. Cut until translucent. Add flour and mix well.
3. Add tomatoes to the browned beef, along with all seasoning and worcestershire sauce. Finally, add.the onion, celery, garlic and flour mixture.
4. Add beef broth and tomato paste to the above
5. Add potatoes
6. Add carrots and turnips
7. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer on low for 2 hours or until the veggies are cooked
8. Serve hot with a sprig of fresh parsley on top.
While the stew is cooking, you can make the Apple Sauce cake and the Irish Soda bread.
Start the Apple Sauce cake first, since it takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to cook and it needs to cool before icing. That is, if you choose to ice it, as it’s very moist and lovely plain.
Apple Sauce Cake
This recipe came from my Robin Hood flour (no sift) baking book that is falling apart since I use it all the time. It’s packed with great recipes. This recipe book was given to me by my mom…..thanks MOM!
Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp allspice 1 cup chopped walnuts (can also use raisins which I would love but my kids would not enjoy as much as nuts…your choice…what does your family prefer?) 1/2 cup soft margarine…part butter 3/4 cup brown sugar…use 1 cup if making your own homemade applesauce 1 egg 1 cup applesauce (it takes about 3 medium apples to make 1 cup of applesauce)
Directions
1. Grease and flour an 8″ inch square pan 2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F…or 325 if using a glass pan 3. Measure and stir thoroughly all dry ingredients. Add nuts or raisins 4. Cream shortening until fluffy. Add sugar gradually. Beating well after each addition. Add egg and beat well. 5. Add the dry ingredients alternatively with the applesauce until well combined. 6. Turn into prepared cake pan, spread evenly 7. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the your toothpick comes clean. This can vary depending on the moisture in your applesauce. Cool really well and serve plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or whipping cream or you can ice it with a butter icing.
I iced the cake and replaced some of the milk and the vanilla extract with Baily’s Irish Cream liquor (we buy little bottles for just this occasion)…yummy and perfect for St. Paddy’s Day
While the cake is cooking, make the Irish Soda Bread.
Remembering the Kilfoyle’s, Irish Soda Bread
This bread goes really fast in my house as it’s has a lovely texture. Consider making two loaves.
Ingredients for one loaf 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp white sugar 4 tbsp unsalted cold butter 1-1/2 cups buttermilk….if you don’t have buttermilk, here’s how to make it at home 1 large egg Directions 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour an 81/2 round cake pan 2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. 3. Cut the butter into the flour very gently until it resembles oatmeal 4. In a small bowl, gently beat the egg and then add the buttermilk, stir to combine thoroughly 5. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and then pour in the buttermilk-egg mixture. Combine the two mixtures, stirring very gently with a wooden spoon until it forms into dough. It will be wet and sticky. 6. Turn dough onto a well-floured surface and generously dust it with flour…you may want to have a cup of flour close by to dust your hands and slowly work it in to this dough. Very gently form the dough into a ball and then transfer it into the prepared cake pan. 7. Lightly press the dough so that it spreads to the edges of the pan. With a sharp knife, cut an “X” into the top of the dough. Bake for 30 minutes. 8. Remove from the oven when the toothpick comes out clean Enjoy warm with a bowl of Irish Stew
It’s DINNER!
Mad rush to the kitchen as everyone has worked up a great appetite today. Thanks for joining me this afternoon.
And here is what it looks when it’s all pulled together.
The photo is of my great grandparents, The Kilfoyle’s and their 6 children
And it wouldn’t be a great Irish meal without a glass of ale…sorry no Guinness here but we do have a good glass of stout beer….
“Slainte Chugat!” which is cheers and good health wishes from my husband David to you. He really needs a good strong ale since he he has been working 12 hour days for a week now and yesterday he put in a whopping 17 hours as he worked all day and then drove home from up north, Just in time to fix our dryer, declutter his dresser and closet (that is what he was doing when I was cooking today) |and now when I’m writing my blog, he is putting the little people to bed. Do I love this man!
What are you going to do on St. Patrick’s Day! Wear green, (so you don’t get pinched) and maybe you will make a big pot of Irish Stew. Irish blessings and……
And before I close, I thought I would share a great you tube video I found of some very talented fiddlers. You know I have a soft spot for strings. My son Clark said he’s going to play some Irish fiddler tunes for me on St. Paddy’s day, but until then, I hope you enjoy this video. If you can’t click on the video below….click on this hyperlink. Traditional Irish Music, Lilla Akademien’s violin ensemble
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Three isn’t just a magic number when it comes to children (although, I like the number 8 too) but it’s also the magic number when it comes to the three R’s. The R’s that stand for, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
With earth day only a month away on April 22, 2015, I’m really thinking how important these three little words are for our environment. Ever since I was little, it was always important to me to keep the earth clean but it wasn’t until we added these last three children to the world that I really started to realize the impact each one of us has on our planet. Also, how much of a difference, each of us can do to heal it as well. We are powerful.
I’ve been talking a lot about de-cluttering lately on my blog but I forgot to mention that there is a specific intent with regards to this action. And that brings me to the thought of intention.
Intention is the starting point for any action. If we aren’t clear about where we are going, how we want our lives to look, how in the heck will we ever accomplish our goal. I suppose I’m taking a few steps backwards but after writing an email to my sister this morning, it occurred to me that I hadn’t been clear about sharing the idea that the first tip towards Minimalism, is INTENTION.
You have to decide what you want before you can move forward and it’s the thing that will keep you going on your darkest days. I know this from my years of trying to conceive these last three beautiful children . I knew that if they were to manifest in my life, that I had to become clear on what I wanted. What was most important to me and have laser focus with that regard.
Everything I did in the 5-7 years it took to bring these little people to “being,” moved in the direction of my intended result. And voila…although it wasn’t as easy as ever saying that lovely, easy french word for, TA DA! they are with me at last.
Just as is my desire to make this world a better place. For me to heal my part of the planet by taking care of the earth. Taking care of my family and ensuring they are nourished, loved and raised connected to nature. That is a BIG goal, I know, that is my intention… but the baby steps to get there are to attend to the three R’s.
And that is where reduce comes in this month. I’m reducing our footprint like crazy. Putting anything that we don’t LOVE, and we aren’t USING, out into our garage. I’ve already started to make piles of things that we will sell and anything that doesn’t sell, we will donate. That ensures others can reuse what we deem not necessary in our lives any longer.
The second big pile that is accumulating, is my recycling pile. Things like an old computer keyboard, a computer monitor, glass jars, cardboard boxes that we have been storing things, that we never look at in,….well you get the picture. These items can be recycled and turned into new products for others to enjoy.
These are the steps I’m taking and the long term vision is becoming clearer and clearer as I remove needless belongings from my sight lines. How does one downsize when you have a large family? As I wrote to my sister this morning, you can’t downsize the kids, although since our family ranges in age from 24 down to 3 year old twins, I can see that in a short amount of time our family will be a lot smaller. Already our oldest is out of the nest and living and working overseas. Our oldest son is on his last legs studying Environmental Science and our third oldest, is starting his out of the nest venture with his first year of University almost under his wings.
In time, we will have a smaller family living under our roof on a day to day basis so there is still time for me to create a simpler family life. Do we need 3000 square feet of space, plus our Hobbit’s hollow (developed crawlspace) any longer? I’m leaning in the direction of No being the answer. I want our life to have a sustainable back bone, supporting creativity, where more peace and fulfilment flourishes. I’ve set a goal of completing our de-cluttering project by the end of March. I know kind of optimistic of me, but hey, it’s spring break for the next 2 weeks and that means no driving kids everywhere., and gee, maybe do you think they can assist me? By the time earth day is upon us, I will have accomplished my three R’s with regards to our earthly possessions.
And then WHAT? My intention is to use another R word. The fourth R stands for the word, RENOVATE the Reynolds family. I want to renovate my life. Changing and reworking where we live, how we spend our time, what we eat, who we share our life with and what we think……or not…as that is also my intention.
Do you want a RICHER life too? Do you think the seeds for that are in living with less? Have you joined me on the road to minimalism? Of course, that could look very different to you. It could mean that you are selling your beach house or your second car. It could mean that you are reducing the hours that you are working each week, or even if you are able, dropping down to a one income family. You could be choosing to buy all your kid’s spring and summer clothes at the local thrift shop, instead of at the mall this year, choosing to reuse instead of purchasing new. There are so many ways that we can live the three R’s to live rich. I hope to talk about that more in the weeks to come as these insights appear.
If you are starting to revamp your life and doing the three R dance, please share in the comments below….or supply any inspiring words to support me on my path.
Before I say goodbye, I wanted to share this great You tube video that will get you up and dancing. The little girls and I put our “Jack Johnson CD ” this morning (we found it when we were decluttering our CD’s and DVD’s yesterday and we LOVE IT) as I was airing the laundry out to dry. Did I tell you that my dryer broke down? Yes, again. They don’t make appliances like they used to and I’m ready to chuck my fancy red LG set, except that for 4 months of the year it’s snowy and cold here. Today though, it’s a nice, breezy, spring day and doing the three R dance feels GOOD! Knowing that I’m helping the earth just a bit today by letting my clothes air dry makes me happy….and the earth is helping me too. There is lots to dance about isn’t there!
Three it’s a magic number
Yes it is, it’s a magic number
Because two times three is six
And three times six is eighteen
And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R
We’ve got three R’s we’re going to talk about today
We’ve got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you’re going to the market to buy some juice
You’ve got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister’s got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we’ve got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R’s don’t work out
And if you’ve got to make some trash
Don’t throw it out
Recycle, we’ve got to learn to recycle,
We’ve got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Because three it’s a magic number
Yes it is, it’s a magic number
3, 3, 3
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36
33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, and
3, it’s a magic number
And dance around your living room, singing with your kids, your dog, or just grooving on your own two feet.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always, sings.” ~ ~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Have you ever noticed that when you are on a certain path all sorts of affirmations meet you at the exact time that you need inspiration.
Well, I have been receiving messages almost daily and not surprisingly, they are ALL directed towards walking a simple path. They are inspiring me to keep going even though some days it feels like I’m moving through mud.
The first one that I received, was during my book club meeting at the end of February. It was early days into starting my path towards a minimalistic life. After a stimulating discussion of Hermann Hesse’s book, “Siddhartha,” I passed around my little green affirmation cards to my sacred sisters. I held mine quietly, not even peeking at the message within, until each of my sisters had had a moment to relay what was on her card and how it spoke to her. When it came my turn to read my card, I was rather stunned at how significant the message was. It read;
“Keep it simple. Simplicity is the key to Brilliance.”
Wow!
Since I had just started the journey, it was like a signal that I was on the right road. I have found in my life, that when I need some direction, the Universe never fails to send me a symbol or sign that I’m on the right road and here it was in a sweet message.
Last week, I was finding it really hard to make time in my day to tackle a specific area to de-clutter. Something always came up or someone needed to be picked up or taken some where, which broke the rhythm in my days. It was difficult enough to get my regular work done, not to mention any de-cluttering projects handled. You know, cleaning the kitchen from breakfast, making the beds, picking up the laundry and throwing loads in the washer, moving it to the dryer and then folding it and putting it back in everyone’s rooms, sigh! seemed to be all that I could manage. Forget, trying to accomplish anything.
Then I remembered the message on my card and I decided that the only way I was going to get anything done was to tackle the smallest projects at a time. And that is what I did. Although, I had basically done most of the kitchen, there was one drawer that I hadn’t touched. It’s the drawer with the most memories for me in the kitchen. It’s the drawer where I keep all of my cookie cutters, my cake decorating items. and my canning accessories.
As I opened the drawer, memories of Christmas’s past flooded my mind, as I recalled making sugar cookies with my mom as a young teen for the first time. She basically gave me the dough and said, “go to town.” That Christmas, I made my first Christmas trees, hearts, candy canes, angels, and oh my, nothing tasted so good as those chewy, soft, sugar cookies with a hint of nutmeg and topped with mint flavoured icing.
As I looked lovingly at the various shaped cutters, I thought of the first Christmas I let my own daughter, Alyssa handle the sugar cookie project. That was a big deal since I had been making them for 30 years without any help. Then there was the time that we invited her friends over for a sugar cookie icing party. Images of those giggling pre-teens with braces and pony tails made me smile. Those same girls would all be turning 25 years old soon. Where had the time gone?
The drawer I had been resisting de-cluttering as it holds so many memories
As I looked at this drawer though, I realized it represented the chaos in my life and if I was ever to create and capture more of these moments, I had to quit holding onto the past and move forward with dreams for the future. I still had Grace, Will, Kathryn and Victoria to make cookie memories with. If I continued to keep the extra clutter in this drawer, it would take precious moments away from me spending time with our younger children. If left alone, this single drawer would suck time from my life, as I dug around looking for the special cookie cutters for any future project. With that thought in mind, I quickly was able to toss more than 50% of the drawers contents.
These are a few things that I got rid of…some I took to the little girl’s preschool for their Playdoh station and their teacher was happy to have a Shamrock cookie cutter to add to this month’s special occasions.
Goodbye needless clutter
And here is the drawer now. In the tin to the right are my beloved cookie cutters. Now, it’s a breeze to see exactly what I have and where it is which will enable me more time to gather my sugar cookie cutters and make memories with our kids…and maybe someday, our grandchildren.
Hello new memories
If you are on this minimalism path with me, you may have discovered this already but if not, I’d like to share some de-cluttering wisdom. Start small. If you don’t have a lot of time in your day then break down what you can do in say, 15 minutes. Tackle one drawer at a time, one closet, one counter top. Also, try to start with a spot that doesn’t hold a lot of emotional attachments. Our memories cling to our belongings and the energy lingers heavily which makes it hard to hear the music amongst the mud and scum of things. It’s liberating to clear the space and hear and feel the harmony.
After finishing this last drawer in the kitchen, I moved onto the kid’s craft closet and gee, I wished I had taken a picture of it before I cleared it out. There were games stacked on top of other games. Had our children tried to take something out they would have been seriously hurt if something had fallen on top of them. In addition, when I went to clear out the paint, crayon and felt pen supplies, I realized we had a lot of duplicates and that was wasteful.
Another message that I was walking the right path came when I found a basket of polished rocks hidden in the craft closet. Wrapped around each rock was a little piece of paper. I remembered now taking quotes from the book, “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho and giving a rock to my sacred sisters during the last time I hosted our book club meeting. I decided for fun to unwrap one of the messages and guess what was within?
“It’s the Simple Things in life that are the most extra-ordinary, only wise men are able to understand them.” ~excerpt from Coelho’s book, “The Alchemist.”
I had to sit down after reading this message. I held the rock, rubbing it’s smooth surface and thought about all the guidance I had been receiving with regards to creating a simpler life for myself and our family. I whispered, “thank you God.” I knew that I was on the right path even though little fearful thoughts had been creeping in as I cleared away our stuff. Thankfully, that voice was growing more distant as I grew stronger in my resolve to let go.
So that brings me to another point in this whole process, and that is really the nuts and bolts about clearing out clutter. I really should have addressed it before now but as I was doing this all myself I realized that one needs a place to put all the stuff that you are accumulating. A staging area if you will. Also, it really helps if you pull out everything in your closet, or drawer, whatever you are sorting through, so you can see what you have to work with. It will quickly be apparent what you do or don’t want to keep. Eliminate the easy stuff first.
Then put back only what you use and what you love. The Minimalist guys say that another method is packing up absolutely everything in your home and then pulling only the things you need out of the boxes. After 3 months, or 6 months, whatever you decide is the time frame for you, whatever you haven’t used, you get rid of. That’s too extreme for me and too hard with 6 kids living in our house at the moment. It would be chaos while we were getting ready in the morning for instance.
If you are doing a big de-clutter as I am, (our whole house…all 3000 square feet of it…more if you count our Hobbit’s hollow, aka the crawl space), you probably need a large place to put all the stuff you are parting with. Also, I have read that some minimalists set up boxes labelled, “donate,” “sell,” “not sure,” and “garbage/recycle” but I have found it easiest just to have a garbage bag/recycle bag as I move from place to place. I put all the stuff that doesn’t fit into that category, out to my staging place, which happens to be our garage. It would be most efficient not to have to touch the stuff more than once but in my case, I think whatever we don’t throw out or recycle, will go into a garage sale to be held in April. THE MONTH..of the beginning of garage sales in our little town.
I’ll let our little kids make and sell popcorn and lemonade. I’ll have our older ones help sell our discarded items, and anything left at that point will be donated to our local thrift stores.
In the meantime, I’m (we’re) going to be living amongst this clutter and chaos for at least several more weeks. My husband is out of town this week and I will be trying to make some headway while maintaining our daily family commitments.
I have also enlisted the help of our children. The little ones helped me go through their drawers and the belongings they keep in their bedrooms this weekend. It was very productive and fun as they had a little fashion show and tried on all sorts of clothes. As we made decisions about what fit and what didn’t, what toys were played with and what weren’t beloved any longer, we talked about children all over the world and I reminded them of a saying a very wise man shared with the world,
“Live Simply So Others May Simply Live,” Gandhi
I knew I was planting little seeds of generosity, love and peace as we cleared out their rooms.
Hey, and another wonderful side benefit to this was how fast Will and the little girls were able to pick out their outfit for today. It was easy and pain free. And the best part was that it saved time so we had more time to have some fun.
Above are the two drawers the little girls share. Most of their clothes are matching which makes it easier for me to buy and plan their outfits. I stack them one on top of each other so when they pull out one top, they hand their sister the other top. Most of their outfits are the same but they do have some in different colours and they are very definite about who gets what colour. From the time they were really little they had distinct preferences. Kate is the pink girl and Tori is the blue girl. Makes it really simple….and as you know I’m all about that.
I try not to read too much about twin literature and probably dressing them alike will end once they start school but they seem to really enjoy wearing the same style of clothes although Tori really LOVES her leggins and Kate likes the days when she wears jeans. They both love their dresses and skirts. Anyway, like usual, I got sidetracked….the point was that getting the little people involved is helping them to see that less is more in so many ways and by consuming less, we have more resources to help others.
Here’s a picture of Grace helping de-clutter our Playmobile collection. Do we REALLY need 100 pirates and castle people? Harrison passed by the Den as Grace and I talked about downsizing the people and he remarked that having lots of people was the fun part about playing Playmobile. Hmmmm….do you think he thinks this about our large family too?
It’s these little comments though that makes me pause and wonder what is really fun for our children. Clearly, we have too many toy/people when you have to sort for 5-10 minutes to find your fav pirate/king/queen. The one you really want to play with, that’s too long in my books.
Here’s the quote I wrote on our black board this week. When I got stuck in all the mud and scum, it helped me remember whey I’m doing this.
For the people who are important to me in my life. My children, my husband, my sisters and their families and the friends who I never seem to have even time to have tea with lately, (sorry B…we will get together soon)
And before I close I just wanted to share my Strawberry/Mango Fruit Smoothie Recipe with you. As we de-clutter our lives with our stuff, we need to make sure we are staying energized and remembering that clearing the toxins from our body is just as important. Little steps will take us eventually to the destination of a healthy body and home.
Remembering that while we are on the road to less, we are still living fully. It would be very easy to get caught up in the whole process of de-cluttering, after all who are we kidding, we live on earth and there is all sorts of clutter and chaos here. It’s easy to let even the act of de-cluttering prevent us from living fully.
As long as we don’t lose sight of why we are clearing and reducing the stuff in our life. Let’s continue to consciously clear what isn’t working in our lives and fill the spaces with more beauty, love and peace. That’s my wish for everyone on earth. We are all deserving of this.
Okay, here’s my Smoothie recipe…share a cup with your beloved or take it out in nature and drink it in….. Spring is almost here.
Hope’s Strawberry and Mango Smoothie recipe
2 big people servings…or enough for one big person and three little people
1/2 grapefruit
1 orange
1 banana
10 frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen mango or yellow fruit of your choice…pineapples are yummy for instance
1/2 cup of crushed ice cubes
I had mostly fresh fruit but I used frozen mango and pineapple too
Here’s the tough part….peel the grapefruit/orange and banana…place in a blender with the other ingredients and blend. Pour into glasses for your beloved and In JOY!
It’s a refreshingly simple and delightful book so if you are interesting in moving in this direction, I would highly recommend reading it. It may be the sign or symbol that you are on the right path and she certainly inspired me. Her web site is great too.
Here’s a You tube video interview with Lorilee on the Midway Simplicity show…love this guy. (click on the hyperlink if you can’t see the video below)
As I embark on another week towards minimalism, join me in listening to one of my fav cello pieces. I thought this was an appropriate ending as I started my post with a stunning picture of a woman playing cello amongst the clutter of life.
My son Mitchell plays this piece on his cello, beautifully and EVERY time I hear it, I always think how J.S. Bach was the supreme musical guru in simplicity. Please join me in listening to the “Unaccompanied Bach, prelude in G Major” played my Yo Yo Ma……..love this (click on the hyperlink if you can’t see the video below)
The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt~
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
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