Hopes For The New Year

Dear Katie,

It's a beautiful day here in the West. The air is cold, but dirty. I just heard that we have the worst air quality in the nation; I guess that happens when you live between mountains. Hopefully that will improve!

This year I am excited to start some fun projects. I really hope I can get on top of scrap booking and doing a history for my children. I wish that some of our ancestors would have provided that for us. I wonder how they lived, how they felt when life didn't go as they had hoped. I also wish I knew how they parented, being the mother of six, I always like to hear other mothers' experiences. We know the basics about them, but that's about it. I want my kids, grand-kids, etc. to know how life was and to have great memories recorded that they can remember. DH mentioned last night that it is so nice to see old photos and realize that we really HAVE done FUN things with the kids.

I am also hoping to become more self-reliant. This will include the hoop house we are hoping to build in the garden. I'll send you photos of the progress. It should be an interesting experience! This should help us expand our gardening experience into more seasons and hopefully be able to use fresh veggies from our garden into the winter months.

I've also started sprouting seeds (alfalfa, clover etc.) and hope to learn more about that as well as soap making and making cheese. The cheese making will only happen if our goats kid this year. I would also like to learn more about green living. I'm not sure what that will entail at this point. It will be so fun to keep in touch with you this way and to share challenges and triumphs throughout this next year.

I hope it's a good day!
Amy