Finding Normal Again

 

We finally have the keys to our new home! I'm so grateful, thankful and excited. I've been in the throes of unpacking and organizing. The square footage of the new house is about half what our old house was. I look around at things to unpack and store and realize we have way to much! How does this happen?

While packing up our house I got rid of SO much. I've talked about minimalism a lot over the years. And my desire to be more of a minimalist. However as I look around at all the unpacked boxes I do believe I'm a minimalist in theory only, ha ha!

Nonetheless, one by one, boxes are unpacked and the organizing is happening. I also have a large box out that I am putting items in to give as donations. So I can continue to downsize.

As I've chosen what to unpack and organize I think of daily functioning first. How to get back to routines and make my new life here flow smoothly.

My kitchen is basically organized. It was a high priority. Over the last few months of this crazy wild adventure our eating was anything but home cooked food. Lot's of deli options, frozen options, sandwiches, etc. I did do some cooking at my daughters home and we enjoyed meals she made as well. But I've missed cooking and eating my own food so much.

After 30 years in the same house cooking was easy. I knew where everything was and I had a stocked pantry and it was a matter of looking in my freezer, fridge and pantry to decide on dinner for that night. When we left our home we had no idea when we would find a home (you can read my 3 part story of our move here on this blog).

We had packed all our belongings into storage. You can't put food items into storage. So all that I had in my pantry I gave to my daughter. We had eaten through most everything in our freezer and I gave what we had left in the freezer and fridge to my daughter as well. We are now starting from scratch. I gave my freezer away too. We decided it would be easier to buy a new freezer rather than store ours and move it.

With each shopping trip I add a little more to my pantry. A little flour, baking powder & soda, spices, seasonings, rice, pasta and so forth. Every meal I want to make I have to purchase each item. I feel a bit like I did some 40 plus years ago when I was starting out in life, learning how to cook and shopping for one meal at a time. I'll be happy when my house is stocked a bit more and I have more options to think about.

All that to say, figuring out what to cook, learning how to cook with a new stove and oven and figuring out where I put everything has made cooking a bit of challenge!

Yesterday I made a pot of soup. Nothing fancy. It was a veggie bean soup filled with onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, garbonzo and white pinto beans. All in a tomato base seasoned with basil and oregano. It was delicious and felt like home again. 

Somehow the simplest things can go a long way in helping to find that normal feeling again.