Work In Progress

So I have been working on my New Year's Challenge for the last week. I have done better in some ways than others. :) I have tried three recipes from my recipe pile, and they were successful. I finished reading one of my books, Acacia by David Anthony Durham. This book was a Christmas present from one of my best friends. I enjoyed it more than I have any fantasy book for a long time. It was pretty dark, but the story was interesting.

Now I'm working my way through Touching Earth by Janet Lembke. It is a series of essays on vegetable gardening, which is really appropriate this time of year. The seed catalogs are pouring in and I'm plotting out what I want to grow this year. I'm going to make a modest start at vegetable gardening this year, a small raised bed with tomatoes and a few other vegetables. I just have to resist the urge to try to start too big. :) I start making large, ambitious lists when I go through the seed catalogs, I'll have to use some self restraint. The flower catalogs are also pouring in, and I have to use even more restraint with them. I am going to get a rose this year and plant it for the baby, who shall henceforth be called Quickbeam, after another name for the tree she is named after. :) This is the rose that I'm favoring at the moment.

I went to the doctor today for my postpartum checkup, and was given a clean bill of health. So now I can start working to get myself back to normal. I need to start exercising and making sure that I eat healthy so that I can take advantage of the calorie burning increase from breastfeeding. I am actually below my pre-pregnancy weight, so I want to keep going with that momentum. I've also been getting tired really easy, so I need to exercise and get back into some stamina. I have to start mentally preparing myself to get back to work, because I'll be starting back in a couple of weeks.

We went by this afternoon and met the pastor at the church we are planning on going to. It was a pretty interesting discussion. He has been the pastor here for almost 40 years and had some interesting stories to tell. His first calling was to Mississippi in the 1960's, during the Civil Rights era, and he was the pastor of a black church. It must have definately been culture shock to say the least. We've been meaning to start going again, but with long work hours, kidney stones and finally being freaking huge and pregnant, we kept putting it off. So now we're going to get started again, and get Quickbeam baptized. Life is getting a little more normal. :)