Cast Iron Kettles and Whiskers on Kittens

Sunday services were cancelled today because the amount of snow that fell through the night would have made it nearly impossible for most of our congregation to be on time or even make it at all. We'd all be spending most of the day shoveling our way out to the main road. And by "we", in our case, I mean Dave. He shovels. I make sourdough pancakes while occasionally hollering out the front door "Are you okay??!!" I like to think of it as a sort of cross-fit type of work-out for him. He likes to think that we need a new functioning snow-blower or perhaps in his dreams one of those fancy tractors my brother just texted me a picture of. They get much more snow than we do. At least I think so. I really should check with Dave on that. By the time I go outside he has a nice path cleared for me. I walk out onto the deck, look to see if any sun has peeked through the gray skies (it likely has not), shiver a little bit, gather a few more pieces of firewood from his carefully stacked pile and go back inside to build a fire.

I will admit I'm a pretty darn good fire-maker. Six years of going to church girl's camp, I learned all about it. You can build a "tee-pee" or "log-cabin" with the kindling, put some little dry wood bits in the middle, and light 'er up! The radiant heat from the Franklin stove is wondrous. By the end of the day the cabin is so warm, I have to keep windows slightly open upstairs to keep the warmth from becoming oppressive.

Utah is incredibly dry. Utah in the winter with a continually burning fire is so dry, I have vials and bottles of eye-drops in every room and in my pockets of my hoodies and robes at all times. Alisa told me about a cast iron fireplace humidifier she saw on a social media account recently. I purchased one and it has been wonderful. I can't believe how often I have to re-fill it. I love imagining all that water vaporizing into the air.

I also love keeping a pot of water with lemon slices, sprigs of rosemary, and peppercorns simmering on the stove. Weird combination, I know, but it has a most lovely scent I promise.

And because I can't get enough moisture into the air, I keep a humidifier going 24/7 as well.

This is the reality. The dishwasher is never used to wash a single dish. Space is too valuable, so I store large pots and pans in the bottom and leftover containers in the top. The lean-to that is just outside the window has boxes and boxes of things that I hardly remember what's in them. Most likely more kitchen supplies. But I can't believe how easily I have adapted to so little working space. I get out the large cutting board Wyatt gave me years ago and set it over the sink for an extra work-top.

For a while I was setting a board over the stove-top. But then I must have forgotten which burner was where and now I have this reminder to "don't do dumb things". A motto my daddy had written on a note and placed on an upper kitchen cabinet. I think he didn't like the feeling of banging his head on a cupboard door left open. For whatever reason it was for, Mama liked the saying; and then I pretty much adopted it for raising my teens. As they'd leave out the door I'd ask them to tell me what they needed to remember. "I know...I know....'Don't do dumb things...' " It pretty much says it all.

Dry air, dry eyes, and also dry skin and hair. We're on a roll here. So with all the water I've been pumping into the air around here, my hair gets rather frizzy and rather Janice Joplin'ey. I found a hair mask that is like a miracle and has made my hair feel almost like it must not belong to me. Softer hair who dis?!

I loooooove. I wish I could give some to my grand-mother, my great-grandmother and as far back as I need to reach to the women in my family that surely struggled with the same hair. Because I can look at pictures of them and I can tell the struggle must have been real. They really could have used some great hair tools and products. And maybe a mani-pedi, and a massage.

And then, we bought a new set of sheets. It's sort of like buying underwear. Ya hate having to do it, because it's such a boring yet necessary purchase. But when you finally break down and maybe even spend a titch more for some higher thread count, and a magical tag sewn into one end telling you which end is the top and which is the bottom, it just feels incredible. And I'm speaking of the sheets here, mind you, not underwear.

The sheets are "princess-approved". They are also from Costco. The sheets. Not the cat. She is from Cedar-city, Utah. I have no idea her origins other than that's what the shelter told us. She is excellent at keeping us protected from mice and any other intruders at night, and then sleeping all day. If not her, who?

It's called a King- sized bed, but really it should be called a Princess-sized bed.

Natalie giving me a little bit of a hard time: "Mama, you post the same pictures all the time, the fire-place, the bread, and the cat"

Me: "Maybe I should have another baby so I can have different content."

Natalie:

It's been a long, long, looooooong, long winter. I'm fine! It's fine! We're all fine!

Somewhere under all that white stuff is a beautiful terraced rock wall.

I was tidying my night-stand the other day and re-discovered my mouth guard for teeth-grinding! I'm so happy I found it. My head isn't nearly so head-achy first thing in the morning. Such a simple little thing and such a dramatic impact to my day. Apparently I'm a teeth grinding sorta gal.

Uggs slippers. Just right for cabin life. Easy to slip on and off. Good sturdy sole to step out onto the deck to grab that fire-wood, and see if there is sun. First day of Spring is March 20th and I'll be waiting right here with open arms for it.

Oh yes! We went into the big city yesterday (the small city being Heber City, the big city being the Salt Lake Valley), and visited several of the kids and grandies. Then I went and added some bling to my ears. I was nervous. I was actually a little scared. But I can do hard things. I had my daughter's ears pierced as infants. Natalie at five months old fussed a bit, Elisabeth at two-weeks old slept through the procedure. Both girls now have second piercings, as did my mama. I could use a little sparkle in my life right now seeing as how the sun just refuses to shine.

Dave dropped me off at Claire's and went to look for a parking space. Two young ladies greeted me at the door and guided me to the tray that held the earrings used for piercing. I chose small cubic zirconia's. They went to go get the supplies prepped while I sat on the stool.

I got my first piercings when I was ten years old. We were visiting my Auntie Jan in Arizona and my younger Aunt Juliana was in town visiting as well. I think Juliana must have instigated the conversation about getting my ears pierced. She was a stewardess (that's what they were referred to back in the day I promise) for TWA, and she had been to college and lived on her own and just basically was so glamourous and fun and she could do no wrong in our eyes. Mama and I drove to a department store and she helped me pick out some 14 carat gold posts. When we got back to Jan's, Juliana was waiting for us with a paper-towel and ice cubes (for numbing), a needle threaded with thick white dental floss and......a potato.

Juliana had pierced several of her college girl-friends ears. I love to have her re-tell the time that while she was mid-piercing, and the girl fainted. Juliana just followed her down to the ground and finished her handi-work.

"What's the potato for?" "Oh! Well, I just put that behind your ear so that the needle will be stable." She seemed so confident and cheerful. But she was confident and cheerful about everything. Always. The ice was freezing my ear-lobe, and I was getting more nervous. I clutched the little cotton-lined box holding the shiny gold posts. They were so pretty. I had always tried on the few clip-on earrings mama had in her jewelry box often and knew that, worn long enough, were painful. Almost as painful as the ice-cube I was holding on my ear. "You promise they won't hurt?" "You'll feel just a pinch and then it really won't hurt after that!" The first ear done, I ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. I turned my face to see my ear with it's knotted dental floss earring. I ran back to stand at her knees and she finished the other ear. I felt so grown-up.

The young lady asks if I'm ready for her to do the piercing. "Yes, I'm ready." I look in the small mirror she'd given me. I see the sparkly diamond in my ear. I also see a hint of that ten-year-old girl. So surreal.

A girl that once baked mud-pies in the dirt, now lives in the mountains and bakes bread. A girl that once had such stick-straight hair that it wouldn't hold a curl, now can't force her hair to be straight. A girl that once dressed her cats up as baby dolls, ended up having seven babies of her own, and now talks to her cat about her babies like a proper "cat-lady" would.

These are a few of my favorite things.