Mondays later...

So, I have to start this post with a humble breath as I look at the last date that I wrote!  I told myself, "This will be hard to do every day, but every few days will be easy."  The problem was, my month of November turned into the month of saying "yes" to every side job or day gig that I could get.  I have been down right hustling my way through this bout of unemployment.
There are times in my life that I can remember being this busy, yet, I don't remember enjoying my days nearly as much as I am right now.  It is an excited, motivated, and optimistic "busy" which makes each day whiz by until suddenly it's 4:30, and that chanterelle torte that I had wanted to make should be started, and the best part is, I have the energy to do it!  I love cooking, and I love spending time to enjoy the process instead of quickly grabbing ingredients and violently chopping and stirring and mixing until they resemble a meal.  I love seeing something and thinking, "Oh, I can do that with THAT instead." Mostly because if I don't have celery I'll use a little grated parsnip or sliced fennel or something to get by and the taste is way better.
In addition to the physical part time work, I have been spending a number of hours in each day working hard to network for the things that I want to see happen in the next year.  Sticking with food as a theme, I feel as though I have four huge stock pots on my stove, each with a few different beginning ingredients to incredibly satisfying and nourishing stews.  They are simmering.  I am adding to them.  They are so exciting to me that I don't even dare begin to speak about the plans that I have for their finale, I am just constantly hunched over the stove stirring and smelling and smiling.
The title to this blog is a a bit silly, and maybe cliche, but it is a remarkable reflection of what is truly transpiring in my mind for this blog.  "So what?" I say to life as I got handed a bucket full of lemons.  "Who brew...?" I seemed to have asked to the universe somehow, because in the past month, each time I turn around there is someone with a new idea, recipe, or opportunity to turn those lemons into revolutionary goods.  It's brew time in my life, and whatever'sa brewin' is smellin' mighty good to me.
I am going to attempt to do this a bit more often.  Oh, and find some people to read it, too, one day.

yummy torte made in awful electric oven (one day I will have a gas again)

Back again.

Three minutes after posting my first few lines, and I feel as though I've just barely licked the beater instead of feeling as though I've just downed the plate of shortbread.  I was really going for the full, satisfied, "that'll do," feeling that you get when you've finished all that you possibly can in a given time.  However, I still have an hour until anybody comes home.  The house is spotless.  The dog is asleep.  All mid-stitched crafts are actually done. (what universe am I living in... there are at least seventeen skeins of yarn with half of a something started on them, but I don't feel like getting those out.)  Ah!  I have time to figure out how to post a picture!

Let's try.




A tiny moss terrarium.  Free moss.  Saved glass container.  Tiny handmade clay amanita muscaria.



I like hiding them around the house.  I don't have a magazine rack by the jon, but you can watch my terrariums as the condensation drips down the glass sides!



Ready to locate any dropped moss and scatter throughout the home.



As of today...

...exactly one month has gone by that I have not been working at a job which is taxed by our government.  To most, this means I am unemployed.  Although, I have a itsy bitsy flicker of hope that if you asked those who know me closely and have known my schedule for the past month, you might hear otherwise.  Might they would call me Privately Employed, or perhaps Hopelessly Productive.  Skillfully Sustained?  Maybe even Laboriously Creative.  Okay, I am probably pushing it a bit with dreams that my housemates enjoy the scraps of fabric and piles of scrap wood laying around here and there.  I am fortunate that they only encourage me, even while pushing bits of yarn and moss to the side with a smile each evening while they ask, "Did we want to try and clear the table for dinner tonight... or...?"
The truth of it all is... I feel more inspired and excited about life right now than I can remember feeling in the past ten years.  Truly.  A month without work will do wonders, I suppose!  In all honesty, though, I believe there is a reason that I haven't settled into a desk job.  (Don't tell my Father, but I have opportunistically "missed" a few calls and emails about interviews for jobs that just did not appeal to me.)  The reason might be the tremendous monsoon of love and kindness which was showered upon me by families of children who I taught at my last job.  Hearing repeatedly (not just from the five year olds) that I COULD do big things absolutely planted new seeds in my mind.  Those seeds are being nurtured right now. They are warmed by the sunshine of those who continue to encourage me, fed by the love of those in my life that have reached out their arms to support me, and drenched in the consistent showers of goodness that this beautiful world has to offer.  Those seeds are startin' to sprout down in the depths of this native California girl.  I don't even know what those plants are going to look like or turn into, but I'm willing to bet that they're going to have me stepping back and exclaiming, "Where did this even come from?" once they start to blast out of the nurturing depths they silently sprouted in.
I promise that every entry won't be this "butterflies and rainbows, ya'll!!!!" but sometimes, when life hands you lemons, and the lemonade ends up being this good, you want to share the recipe and find out what someone else is drinkin' and lovin'.  If I send you a link to this, it is because you are someone who has reassured me, loved me, supported me, rubbed me on the back, sold me good tomatoes, impressed me, reminded me what life is really about or maybe I just think you're super cool and inspirational and would like your feedback on my goofy ideas.  Thanks for reading, and thank you for returning in the future if you find your way back!