End of Another Year!

Because it’s always fun, here’s a tiny rundown of the year on this blog!

Simple Gluten Steaks: At 517 views, this was my most-looked-at post this year. Pretty much every single day, and obviously more than once on some days, this humble little post has been leading the pack pretty much since it was posted. I don’t know why, but I find that odd.

65 different countries came to visit this blog.

My top three picks for favourite posts of this year:
Hollywood Squares
Basic Brasilian Rice
Cornbread

Postings were slimmer this year, I know. I’ve just not had as much to say or share, recipe-wise! Maybe next year.

It has been such a year of (positive) change for my life, so please don’t begrudge my absence! 😉 With room to spread out, I’ve been able to do more than “just cook”, like I did in the trailer. I do believe it was something of a coping mechanism. I’m sewing again and doing other stuff, and now that my little ones are getting beyond the constant maintenance stage, spending time reading to them and interacting with them in a new way is essential.

GooGoo just turned 5, and she’s interested in “numbers” (letters) and loves books.

Chocolate on her face, and doll glasses on.

Lou Who is 2, and follows GooGoo around everywhere doing whatever she does. I love watching them, and they adore each other.

2014, it was nice knowing you!

Random Catch-uppances

I’ve been more and more neglectful of this blog, it seems. Life continues to go on, and I make food, but there’s so much going on that I’ve not had time or motivation to spend much of my life blogging here about said food. I’ve been doing cookbook testing that I can’t talk about yet, for one, and music has been the centre of my life for two months straight. Priorities!

Here’s some of what I’ve been up to over the year.

• One of the things I’ve been working through this year is continued growth in the mental/physical health arena. I was having a load of health problems earlier in the year – allergies causing sinus infections over and over again, on top of what I believe was spiritual oppression. I dealt with it for about 4 months, getting worse and worse. In July I hit a point where I could barely walk and then simply couldn’t get out of bed, because I was so exhausted, and then some things happened. First I was ordered back onto my antidepressants by my therapist, about the same time I also requested to be anointed at church. The anointing happened on a Sabbath after church, low-key and quiet in one of the elders’ offices at church, and I am happy to report by the time I got home afterwards that day, I was again able to walk and function like a normal person. It was such a drastic, immediate change after weeks of hardly being able to drag myself out of bed, and I revelled in it, praising the Lord, for several days before going to pick up the prescription that was waiting for me. So I’ve been back on the meds since July, and I have roughly 5 months to go now on this round of the medication before we decide if I try to go off it again. I don’t know where it will go from here, but I am doing so much better, and I’m thankful for friends who have more perception and wisdom than I do, who dragged me kicking and screaming through the fog to the light. It is so wonderful to have energy, to feel creative, to actually be sending out Christmas cards this year for the first time in years without being totally overwhelmed and shutting down.

• Living in our house, unfinished as it may be, has been wonderful beyond words. If you’ve never spent over two years in a mouldy deathtrap of doom, you simply will not understand. I don’t even care that my house isn’t finished, I’m just so thankful to be in it. Little by little we’re working on it. But we have space, light, indoor plumbing, space, and heat. And space. This is far more than much of the world can hope for in their lifetimes. We are abundantly blessed.

• I discovered I have Scottish blood in me and have been embracing this discovery with every drop of said blood. My ScottishSpam on Pinterest? I apologise for nothing.

• I’ve been working on listing stuff in my Etsy shop. Take a look! All the money after fees and tithe from these sales are going towards paying off my harp loan.

• The most important personal development of this year, by far, has been that I have held out my musician’s heart in trembling hands to the world. I have been mortally afraid of opening my past to my closest friends, let alone strangers, but I have now shared my story via another blog: The Harp in the Closet. It is raw, simple, emotional, my very soul spilled out in words: a side of me that has not ever been on this blog, and indeed few see even in real life. It has actually been published for about 6 months now, and gotten over 1000 hits, but I am only now getting the courage to share about it here with a wider audience rather than with just individuals. Consider taking a little time to read it from start to finish. If it resonates with you in any way, please share it with your friends.

• Finally, here’s a picture of our pretty tree and a cute cat:

Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you’re celebrating!) from all of us Pine Nuts.