Monday, January 14, 2013

Family Work Schedule

Our world is winter white and cold.

The high today is 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

I am somewhere between washing the dishes, folding 4 loads of clean laundry, sorting all the things that have collected on the bathroom shelves back into their spots and sledding. Sylvan is napping.  Ivory has, not one or two, but four puzzles spread out on the dining room floor.  Two and a half puzzles are completed.  Adam is trouble shooting the waste oil furnace in the shop.  It shut down yesterday for no apparent reason.
I spent Saturday and Sunday cleaning.  Moving furniture and mopping everything from wall to wall. (When I say mopping picture this: crawling on hands and knees scrubbing the floor with a rag.  I don't actually own a mop.) Adam sealed up house envelope gaps here and there that were pointed out to us during our Energy Audit last week. We winterized a few windows (in our unheated back room - our washer froze.  That was a first.)
In the past few weeks we have been marking project after project off of our mental to do lists.  Our kitchen now has a fabulous hand built flour bin to hold my hundred pounds of flour.  The kids play area is now flanked their name banners (and yes, in spite of my constant cleaning, it is a mess again).


I finished kitting Adam a wool hat (again) and there is a stack of freshly washed fabric waiting to be sewed into curtains for our upstairs bedrooms.
Much of this is the result of my resolution to be more organized.
Adam and I are trying something new.
I sat down a few weeks ago to calculate how many hours Adam needs to work to meet our monthly budget and we created a family work schedule. Adam's winter work hours are always a bit iffy and rather than working a bunch of short half days we came up with this: three full work days for Adam, Thursday is my day at the studio and Friday is his day in the shop.  Weekends we both wrap up projects we started and we start all over again. (A little flexibility is allowed of course.  For example, Adam is taking today to try and fix the heater and is going to work Friday.)

Thursday morning I nursed Sylvan and slid out of bed.  Adam, Sylvan and Ivory were all still fast asleep as I left the house.


I mixed glazes that have been on my to do list for months. Wedged an entire bag of clay and started throwing, what I hope will be, sturdy beer mugs.  Hours later I stepped out side and the world was blanketed.


I came home to Ivory and Adam putting the finishing details on a snow man while Sylvan napped.


I flipped open my meal plan and started chopping dinner ingredients.  On the menu that night: Onion and Mushroom Quiche.

A few months ago I found Lesson Plan Book at Goodwill for $.50.  I use it to plan three weeks of meals (and shopping lists) at a time. Why three weeks?  I have no idea.  That is when my brain stops working and Sylvan's insistence on helping me becomes overwhelming. 

I did spend Saturday and Sunday cleaning, but I also spent my evenings across the bridge finishing up the mugs I started last Thursday.  Saturday I pulled handle after handle until 13 handles lined my ware board.  Sunday night I attached handles to mugs, carved feet and just after midnight I slid them onto a shelf to dry until I come back this Thursday.

In a few moments I will fill the kitchen sink to wash dishes.  I hope we can manage a quick sled ride around the block before it gets dark.
Our world is winter white and cold.
It is 13 degrees out side, but that will not slow us down.

P.S.  Just in case anyone was wondering - On the menu tonight: Cauliflower Primavera with Whole Wheat Spaghetti.


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