We continue our journey to live more like our generations before us lived. My husband recently kissed me and said, you make life so much fun! He truly loves living more like the past than people do today. This could have something to do with the outdoor bath house he is building. I am getting excited to show you but it is not quite finished. I can say he has not bathed in the house in over a week now. I am waiting until it is completely finished because I don't want to fall over any boards and things.
We are constantly coming up with ways to do things the old way or better. The good part of living today is knowing how to change the bad part of the old way.
Not everything in the past was good so we give a gentle merge of the two leaving out as much as possible of the bad part of the present.
We are finding new ways to reuse as much water as we can to keep from wasting water. The more we reuse and re-purpose instead of letting it go down the drain the less we need to flow into the house.
With water for instance if we simply live like they did in the past by washing up in a pan or bowl and pour the water on a bush or tree or plant we are not wasting any water. We use pure soap so that does not harm the plants. In fact it has always been my understanding it helps to keep the bugs off of things.
It may feel awkward at first doing things the old way but with practice it becomes comfortable.
Our lemon tree is one of the plants getting the re purposed water. Lemons will harvest in the fall so they still have a way to go but are looking very promising.
My husband had a birthday this week and instead of cake I made a blueberry dessert and cookies. He said every year he wants this same dessert. His birthday falls during blueberry season so I should be able to fill his request.
One of the new things I am working on is a laundry budget. I am trying to figure out ways to improve on laundry. How to have less to wash. Life is all about trial and error and the only way to find out is by doing.
One of my Grandsons in the tub..... He is now turning 13 this month, time is going too fast for me. He is coming for a visit soon just in time to take a bath in the outdoor bath house.
On Sunday morning we normally have biscuits and then there are leftovers for the week to be warmed or toasted. This morning I took this picture as we were about to sit down to biscuits and gravy with a piece of bacon each. Often we do planning over breakfast.
It takes good planning to run a household smoothly. We need to meal plan, plan for retirement, figure out the best ways to save money and that may take some very creative thinking.
Some people like to travel but how are we going to do that if we don't plan for that today by watching where our money goes?
My husband and I have not always lived sensible so that is why we have to be extra careful with money. We strayed off and took the path of doing as others did, not questioning marketing and buying things we really did not need. We worked our jobs, went out to eat if we were too tired to cook, shopped, dreamed for things that were bigger than our budget. But then we are fortunate that we remembered a better time that we once lived so we came to our senses and changed what we could to get our household budget under control and now we know all those other things are truly not important.
It is time to buckle down with handwork if I am ever going to have gifts ready by December. January is the time of year to start making gifts and before we know it the year has gone by. I am surely behind, this was a project from last year.
I must go and wash the breakfast dishes..... Grandma Donna
