Trying to be thankful

I spent Thanksgiving week off from work. I took the time to try my hand at canning. What an adventure!

I have been trying to figure out ways to survive this next administration with as little impact as possible. I am really thankful that I was able to get all new appliances and a repaired roof this year. All my major worries that would have become ten times worse if not having been done. I can feel the lack of weight on me.

But I’m still very concerned about food. I know that prices are going to skyrocket again, and food scarcity was a huge issue the last time he was in office. The biggest tariffs are going to be placed on Mexico and Canada. Mexico is one of the largest importers of food we have in the US.

So canning was one of the answers I came up with. Along with two new garden beds and some chaos gardening around them and chickens. Since most of the people who voted for the dictator feel like everything is going to be coming up roses, the amount in stores is still good. As long as I can take advantage of that, I’ll be buying more produce to put away. I can be a vegetarian for 4 years.

Canning is hard work! I have more singed and burnt fingers than I can count, but I also have a cabinet full of jars packed with food. The jars and food came out to less than a $1 each jar, which is far cheaper than any store. While it took up the entire part of the day, it was still so worth it! I will be doing it again and again as I can till I can’t.

I started making crocheted things for the house. Baskets, floor pillows, and decorations for the start. I am looking forward to my creativity to spill out onto the walls and shelves of my home.

I have ignored the news as much as possible. While I don’t like hiding my head in the sand, I also know that by listening to it, it will only increase my worries. My goal is to create my home in the forms that make me feel most at peace and happiest. I have been working on my kitchen and soon, I’ll work on other spaces. It will give me a way to feel like I am doing something that will benefit me and the home. To love it like I have not before. I feel bad for having lived there for almost 10 years and not really making it my own, so now I make the changes that make me feel like it is mine and to love fully. A lot of it is just decorating, but it is fulfilling a creative need to make an aesthetic space.

I am happy to be learning the skills of preserving and gardening and putting them to work. These are skills that I have long wanted to learn, but never have. I even baked an amazing loaf of bread in my new oven. These are the traditions I have always wanted to have in my house. The things that didn’t exist in my own growing up. I feel like I am fulfilling something that has been deep within me and that feels good, despite what is happening in the world outside.

I really hope things aren’t as bad as they seem and that all this preparing will be for naught, other than fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine. Time will tell, however. I intend to be as prepared as possible.