Monday This & That And Life Changes

 I suppose the only time we will not experience changes in life is after we're gone, but even that's not guaranteed. :) We're now going through the major change of our oldest daughter (the one who served for five weeks in Ukraine and who has been renting our downstairs for several years) and our youngest daughter (who graduated high school last spring) suddenly announcing that they're moving six hours away to share a nice apartment with a friend and "seek their fortunes" there at least for a while, probably around a year. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what this change will mean, but am glad they have a good place to live and grow.

So, since oldest daughter has been right-hand-man for quite a while, Lovey and I are rethinking how to do various things, like building a quailery/rabbitry in the corner of the garage. I get to be the assistant now, though not nearly so qualified. Oh, well, I'll get to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks. 😁 And I think there are some aspects of empty-nesting that we'll enjoy though the girls have been very independent and we'll miss their companionship.

One of the things I've enjoyed learning and doing the past couple of weeks is making kefir. My niece shared some kefir grains (starter) and the simplicity of the process is wonderful.

I learned more about other foods to make besides smoothies with some library books as well as the incredible nutritional benefits. I found these books through Donna Schwenk's Youtube channel. So, I've been making green smoothies with some fruit for taste every morning and Lovey especially (and somewhat surprisingly) really likes them. I've also make a kefir cheese that's like cream cheese and quite good on a bagel.

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This week's goals:

In the kitchen/home:

* Bake chocolate banana bread with the bananas that are showing their age

* Make an egg casserole and freeze

* Continue decluttering bedroom

On the homestead:

* Prune what can be pruned

* Start seeds indoors - cabbage, kale, & tomatoes

* Build one more raised bed while I have a helper and now that snow's melting

* Do as much yard clean-up as possible 

* Continue researching how to build frugal quail cages (Square County Homestead on Youtube)

* Help Lovey with garage retrofit

In the craft corner:

* Finish quilting Canning Jar quilt; do binding if able

* Work on Journal Quilt (tutorial here)

* Catch up on mending (ugh)

* Turn crocheted rectangles into poncho

* Get caught up on Spring Stamps Cross-stitch which I haven't actually started, but really want to

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I think this list should keep me well-occupied along with my regular homemaking work. Wednesday afternoon I get to host a young mom and her four (well-behaved) kids who wants to learn about quilting. Fun! Of course we'll have tea.