Reality Check

I've seen other bloggers choosing a word for 2013.



My word: REALITY.



Reality is that the Proverbs 31 woman had a husband (who sat around chatting with the other man at the water-gate, which is a topic for a different blog post!).



Working from home has HUGE blessings.



And many, many curses.



The worst curse? Everyone expects that because you're at home you can do literally EVERYTHING.



Homeschool the child.

Prepare all meals from scratch.

Keep the kitchen spic and span.

Keep the living room clutter-free.

All the bedrooms are beautiful.

The bathroom SPARKLES.

You are available any time noon or night to take every phone call and respond to EVERY e-mail within 5 minutes.

And you can't possibly have a degree in business management so you need to take every piece of advice that comes your way from each customer who "realizes" that you have an at-home business and thus must NEED business advice.

Let's not discuss the balcony.

Or the inside of the car.

And I must have the perfect schedule for my child's sleep and waking.

Did I mention 24/7 availability, because hey - I'm sitting at home all day with nothing to do.



Nope. What I NEED is a reality-check.

Look, I set myself up for it - I did it. No-one MADE me open two in-home businesses (I couldn't find suitable employment and where I live now, I can't do full-time daycare in my home). No-one made me choose to work at home (I couldn't find suitable out of the home employment). No-one made me be a single mom (I could have given him up for adoption - and I prayed about that - for six long months). No-one made me homeschool (but I tell you what - considering our lives right now - it's a GOOD thing we do! If he had to follow the school schedule, there would go the few blessings we have left). No-one made me accumulate the amount of school-debt I have (I let myself be deluded into the myth of "justifiable debt" - I didn't have to fall for it).



So here we are. Having the roughest day of the year thus far.



I need to spend time on some projects that will be great long-term income; but I have the short-term income to cover first.

I'd refund everyone's orders and just focus on those long-term projects, but then we couldn't pay our rent (due tomorrow) or the utilities (due tomorrow) or the phone and electricity (due Monday).



Reality is that we DO make food from scratch, because it is healthier and we do it together - it FORCES me to spend time with my son doing something healthy and productive.
Reality is we don't have ample outdoor space for as much gardening as we want, so the homemade food gets our hands "into the earth" and keeps me grounded.



Reality is that I'm happy if everything is sanitary (it usually is). I would love no clutter, but then I'd have to take away my son's free-will. And probably my own.



Reality is that I DO have a minor in business management and I know the mistakes I am making - and they are NOT the ones that people are giving me advice on. Sorry. I know you all are trying to be SO helpful, but it can stop now. It only slows me down. And you want your products.



Reality is that all these people say, "If you'd only asked for help, I'd've SO been there!" And I've been asking for help. For 20 years. I'm not saying I've had none. I have certainly been blessed in many, many ways. But if I hear that line ONE MORE TIME, I will honestly, probably scream. I'm that over-the-edge about it. I've been asking. Pleading. And all I get are accusations when I say or do something that makes someone uncomfortable. How dare I state the truth because it makes someone uncomfortable!?



REALITY.

Our home must be maintained.

We must get moved into a real house.

We need outdoor time every day.

I CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The chores will be done by me and my son at the appropriate times (as in not put off until tomorrow if it should have been done today), even if it means doing them until we are bone-tired and can't yet go to bed because they didn't get done when they should have. Lesson learned: nothing necessary gets put off.

Strict work hours. No "over-time". No rush orders.

Set time everyday to work on those long-term income projects.

The computer is turned OFF at least 12 hours a day. And during the 12 hours of on-time, e-mail is turned off for at least half of every hour I'm actually ON the machine. That means decreased response time for Keys of the Universe, but it also means higher production efficiency and higher likelihood of finishing promised projects. My sanity comes first. Once balance is restored, the computer can be on in the background again. Background. Dings with a new message.





I have spent my entire childhood and adulthood thus far biding time. Putting in the hours. I'm burned. I can't even say I'm tired, because I don't know what it means to NOT be tired. I care so much that I am caring myself right out of existence.



Reality.



Reality is that God loves each one of us anyway. He loves me. Even when I feel so utterly unlovable and undeserving.



May I strive to remember that fact always in the coming year. And let HIM be the one in charge of my life.

Yogurt and Science

We make our own yogurt and the last few times, we've been using a simpler method that we LOVE - it's so easy!

When removing the milk from the pan and placing the jars on the counter, we always notice the layer of cooling milk on top.

This layer is mentioned in the first Great Lesson - The Story of God With No Hands - right before introducing the volcano... so it can easily slip into the recesses of one's mind when confronted with that *awesome* volcano!

This last yogurt-making was interesting though...

We were both working quietly in the living room and continued to hear a pop - pop - pop. Ever so slight.

Dreading the possibility of a mouse in our apartment, we crept into the kitchen....

and found...

This....

If you listen very carefully you can hear the quiet pop-pops - just barely. There are two other videos as well - both showing the same thing, but we couldn't decide which one to post!

Give it a try! Boil some milk in a glass jar by placing a 75-90% filled with milk jar into a saucepan of water and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil until the milk is about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Now use a mitt to remove the jar and place it on the counter. Just let it sit. It won't take long!

Neat, huh!?

Wanna make yogurt while you're at it?

If you don't have a nice consistently warm place, do what we do and place that pan of hot water in a cooler which has been lined with a thick towel. Close the cooler for now to get it nice and warm in there.

(if you want to use raw milk and keep it raw, to make yogurt, you'll heat only to 110, but will not get a skin on the milk)

When the milk is about 105-110, mix in a spoonful of yogurt with active cultures. Put a lid on the milk culture and place it in the cooler next to the pan (best not to let them touch if the pan is still too hot - you don't want to kill the yogurt culture). Close the lid.

Come back in 24 hours (usually less but the 24 hours part is easy for us!).

To a pint jar, we add about 1 1/2 tbsp of sweetener (powdered sugar, honey, maple syrup, fruit juice concentrate) and whatever other ingredients you'd like. We are out of vanilla (still waiting for it to finish up) so we've been using almond extract - YUM!

Or mixed with homemade granola. YUMMIER!

It's pretty thick to start, but gets a bit runnier with stirring, so minimize your stirring if you want thick yogurt.

No pectin, no preservatives, our own sweeteners.

AND science!

Can't beat it!

Yes, those are wide-mouth Ball glass jars - we have been slowly switching over to just using those, instead of re-using other glass jars, because, well, we're not buying as many other glass jars as we make more and more of our own food from fresh produce. I chose wide-mouth because 1) the food doesn't clog up underneath a lip and 2) the same lids and rings fit on both pint (think jam) and quart jars - I really need ease of use and mis-matched lids have been hair-pullers in the last year! ;) Now I have multiple sized jars and just one size of lid that fits on all the jars. And everything looks so NICE in the cupboard, fridge and freezer!

After stirring it is just a bit runnier than organic yogurt. Just as thick as well-stirred non-organic yogurt.

In the cooler; we make 4 jars at a time. Saving the last half of one jar as the culture for the next batch.