slow living update – January 2013

Happy Groundhog Day. It’s snowing here, so there isn’t much hope that the rodent saw his shadow this morning. I’m not opposed to a long winter at this point.

January was a hectic and tiring month. I won’t lie – I’m glad it’s over and we are heading into two quiet months before spring and summer start. At least that is what I am telling myself. Often what I plan on being quiet months and what they actually turn out to be are very different.

This is the first weekend in four weekends that we have been free of moving anything or cleaning in the anticipation of moving. Aside from sorting out our garage so that I can park the car in it, we are at the end of all of that. My in-laws have been moved into their new house, the leftover furniture and goods at the farm have been sorted and distributed, we have moved into the farm and my brother and sister-in-law are now living in our old house. Our plan is to take over the world one corner at a time (because all three families now live in adjoining properties).

I’m following the example at Slow Living Essentials again this month, and using her categories to summarize my month and list some things I’d like to accomplish.

{Nourish}:

For a lot of this month we were fed by family and friends and were grateful for every last bit of it. On our moving day my in-laws provided chili, a neighbour brought pulled pork, salad and buns, my mom brought jambalaya and another neighbour brought baked goods. We fed an army of workers and managed leftovers for several days. Can’t beat that.

The rest of the month we did our best, but I admit to a frozen pizza or two. We were in survival mode. Even the small kid was happy when we started really cooking again – she said that it was so good that she even ate all of the green beans – and she doesn’t like green beans.

{Prepare}:

The only preparations made this month were preparations to move. A lot of moves. Therefore, a lot of packing.

{Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Repair}:

There were four car/SUV loads of stuff taken to the charity shop in January. While I see that as a good thing, I also see it as a shame I had accumulated that amount of stuff and not dealt with it. There was also a fair amount of garbage generated this month. I could have done better with that.

There was one good thing to report here, but the credit goes to my mom. When she moved last spring, she purchased 40 or more of those big totes with lids and has been loaning them out to everyone she knows that needs to move. We were the fifth family to use them, my brother used them after me, and another friend of my mother’s is about to borrow them for her move.

{Green}:

I got nothin’.

{Grow}:

Nope.

{Create}:

Another pass.

{Discover}:

I did actually finish a few books this month, mostly because I wanted to concentrate on something other than packing for a few minutes each day. Right now we have 30 or so unpacked boxes of books sitting in the basement until we have someplace to put them. The new house has a formal living room, which we probably don’t have a lot of use for, so the dad’s plan is to build in some bookshelves and make it into a library. That has always been a bit of a dream for me. A room with a fireplace, library shelves, leather chairs and an old dog to look up at me adoringly. All I lack now are the library shelves. And I’m not sure the dog and I adore each other that much. It’s more of a tolerant relationship.

{Enhance – community}:

We put out a call for help from friends and family this month, and 20 or so helped us move. I love that the responses were “Of course!” and “What can we bring?”. We had enough help that we got the furniture arranged the way we wanted it and settled in with some food and drinks and watched the hockey game. Another couple that came for the weekend (thanks, Sara and Mike) said that they loved visiting because it is so real here. I think that means she’s noticed that I am comfortable enough to yell at my kids in front of them.

{Enjoy}:

Now that it is all over, we are prepared to start making new memories and enjoying our new home. We already have memories in this place, but now they will be from a different perspective. We’re settled.