Happy New Year! I’ve decided that this year I am going to share farmhouse updates in Sugar Maple Weekly. I am hoping to write once a week or so and give you a more personal look at things happening on the farm, in our home and with our lives. I thought this might be a good way for you to get to know me and us better, but also to provide a more realist view of happenings on the farm and within our family.
Back to school and snow
After a very mild November and January here in Western Michigan, January is promising to be different. Today we are getting really our first measurable snow of the season and our first snow day. The kids just went back to school after Christmas break yesterday so I honestly feel like that was a bit of practice, especially since I forgot to set my alarm back to normal wake-up time and the only reason we all woke up was because Daisy was hungry. The snow is only predicted to last today though so I’ll have to be more on top of it the rest of the week.
Next week, we are supposed to get a lot more snow and the temperature is going to dip into the teens. I can deal with the 30’s and the 20’s but once we get into the teens with snow it is just a bit miserable. And by miserable, I mean really hard on the animals. I don’t have an issue with cold weather generally for a little bit, but I always worry more about the chickens and the donkeys during the extremelly cold days. I’ll explain more of what we do for them during the cold season next week.
Book deadlines
For those of you that follow along on a regular basis on instagram, Tik Tok or YouTube then you might know that I’ve been writing a recipe book with a publisher. My deadline for the manuscript was Dec. 31 and gosh let me tell you, the stress was apparent in my very being. I’ve always wanted to write a book and have been so thrilled with this opportunity. I’ve written fiction books online (under a different name so you will never find them 🙂 ),but the process for writing a recipe book is so much different. I honestly felt like it was more challenging. Creating recipes for the book, while still creating for the blog and other clients just become overwhelming. Not to mention, I’ve photographed the whole thing.
At any rate, I could feel the stress just roll off me when I pressed send on the manuscript. I will get edits back in a week or so and I still have some photography I want to reshoot. I also have to shoot the cover. My final photography deadline is not until the end of February. Until then, I will be plugging away at that and making updates to the manuscript with my editors.
Farmhouse projects
This past fall we started a few home updates that I am excited to share with you. Because I was working on the book, I just could not get my brain wrapped around anything else long enough to write about it. So, I’ve left all the home updates for the winter.
Project 1
The first one we worked on is in the kitchen. We added a kitchen cabinet to the kitchen, which doesn’t sound like a lot but I have no upper cabinets. This is an upper cabinet we added in places of shelves to make the space more functional. I’ll show you the before and after in a full post soon.
Now because I wanted to do this cabinet, and the placement of the cabinet, I decide to paint the range hood. The cabinet is right next to it and I had not been happy with the color for a long time. Then because I painted the range hood, I felt I needed to paint the walls, which meant/means I have been and will be painting all the walls on my entire first floor. All of my rooms are somehow connected and I have been slowly making my way through them. This project has been a very “If you give a mouse a cookie” kind-of project.
Project 2
The second project I am excited to show you is a pair of bookshelves and living room update. Or, we made the living room into my library. My grandparents had a library while I was growing up and it was my favorite room in their house. It was always so cozy and warm. My little library is now that same kind of space to me. Every January season I spend hours in here reading and writing (I’m sitting in here now typing). There is something about the light of this room that I love.
Upcoming projects
This year we are finally going to be refinishing the floors on our main level. When the previous owners remodeled this home in 2017, they put in dark, almost black floors. They are lovely…as long as you never intend to walk on them. They show every speck of dust or drop of water. In fact, when the previous owners saw them they decided they were too dark so the upstairs floors are a different wood and a different color. They are still dark, but nowhere near as dark as my main floor. I’m currently waiting for my contractor to come over today so we can go over the quote again and discuss some other little odds and ends. (I can see this also being an “If you give a mouse a cookie” kind-of project.)
The floors themselves are a Brazilian hardwood, I believe. Upstairs is a grooved pine maybe? I’m not honestly sure. However, because those have grooves, we cannot afford to do them too. They would need to be hand-scraped. Luckily, they don’t bother me as much as the main living space floors though.
The goal with the floors will be to just sand them down to their natural color and seal them. We will not be refinishing the stairs, which are yet a different color and different type of wood. The stairs are oak, which I LOVE, but also a very dark color. The stairs are also very costly to refinish and we have two sets – one going up and one going down – that are visible. I believe once the main room floors are sanding, there will be dark highlights in them and I think this will still look find with the stairs. Fingers crossed.
Smaller projects
Also, I will be giving the Mudroom a little facelift this year to make it more functional for us and we will be adding some shelving in the linen closet (which has none) to also make it more functional. The linen closet is on the list for this month. The mudroom I will probably do in February or after the floors are done in March.
Outdoor projects
In January, Kevin and I really like to think about what this year’s outdoor projects will be. Mainly because we need to plan for things financially. Our largest upcoming project will be to tear down our little barn and build a new, large barn in its place that can house the tractor, lawn mower, farm utility vehicles, Kevin’s workshop, the donkey hay and function as a small shop for my pottery int he future. I will also be talking to my contractor about this today and finding an architect. We would love to do this project this year. However, if we d, I do not see us breaking ground before fall. There is the money piece of it, but there are also some hoops to jump through with the township too. However, this year or early next year, the new barn has to happen. We currently cannot park in the garage due to the other vehicles and Kevin needs a little more space to spread out for the workshop.
Smaller projects
As for other projects, there will be a few small things I intend to do in the garden. I’m hoping to finish off the greenhouse porch space and the greenhouse landscaping this season to show it to you. We started it all last year but sometimes plants take time to look beautiful. I’m also hoping to show you the grapevine set up this spring and praying that our tallest two vines make it through winter and the smaller ones come back after the deer enjoyed their leaves too much.
Do you make New Year’s resolutions?
I do not make resolutions. However, I tend to make promises to myself this time of the year, but it is mostly for the benefit of my mental health. I tend to get seasonal depression and I know that taking care of me always helps me to feel better mentally. Not only that but it usually puts me in a better mood so I feel better emotionally too.
Mental health
Two years ago I decided I was really going to commit to making a healthier me. I did just that and started working out every day. I also lost a lot of weight (In case you have noticed a difference in my size over the years here.) Weight wasn’t a goal, but it was a benefit that came with being a healthier me. Mentally, working out is more important for me than losing weight.
Saying no
Last year I decided that I was going to really true to me and focus on our home, farm and family.
For me that meant realizing that I am a writer and creator. I am happiest when I am writing and creating for the blog versus focusing on algorithms. It also meant a lot of letting go and sometimes saying no. I let go of another blog I had – my original mom blog. I let go a manager that I had worked with for years but no longer seemed as interested in me. I said no more often and really created some better boundaries for myself.
This might not sound like a lot but Kevin and I had one of our best years of marriage last year because I was able to find more peace within myself. If you are married you know there can be bad years, there can be good years and years that are just in the middle.
Getting dressed
This year, my goal is to get dressed on a regular basis and show my face. That might sound silly, but it is just as important to my mental health as working out it. Working from home and spending 5 months our of the year in the garden can make me a little sloppy. I don’t wear a lot of makeup and a lot of days I wasn’t wearing any or getting dress. But what I realized is that on days I get dressed and put on a little make-up, I feel better about myself. It makes me more likely to show my face here or on social. It makes me feel more confident in myself. So today I might just be writing to you from my library room couch with no intention of getting on camera, but I am dress and have a little make-up on. Small wins and little steps make up much larger journeys.
Have you made any New Year’s resolutions or promises to yourself?
Recipes since the last week
In case you missed them, here are a few of the recipes I’ve shared in the last week or so! I’m always on a soup kick in January. I feel like soup is so easy and it helps me to feel full and often lighter after a month of heavy meals in December.
- Savory Dijon Mustard Pork Tenderloin {HERE}
- Vegetable Soup {HERE}
- Broccoli Cheese Soup {HERE}
- Tortilla Soup {HERE}
- Buffalo Chicken Dip {HERE}
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls {HERE}
Books I am reading
Whenever the weather changes and it gets dark early, I dig in with reading and writing. I write best during this season. Perhaps it is because I have no outdoor projects and garden chores calling me. In January, I really dig in here and relax and read. After a busy holiday season, it is my favorite way to completely disconnect.
In January, I usually read romance fantasy. I love the fantasy genre because it can completely take me to a new world. I also love romance because, well, I’m a romantic. In February I’ll start garden reading again, in spring I will usually lighten up with romance and in late spring I read almost nothing because there are so many chores around here.
Here is what I am reading now:
The Song of the Marked Series, also called Shadows & Crowns series.
I have all 5 books and I’m currently on Book 3.
This series is by S.M. Gather and while it took me awhile to get interested in, once I was, I sped through books 1 & 2. I found myself enjoying the main character and the family that is created among the cast of characters here. The gods in this book are complicated and I didn’t understand them until at least 3/4 of the way through the first book. However, the world is interesting enough and the reveal at the end of book 1 is really good! You can find them {HERE}.
House of Beating Wings, also called The Kingdom of Crows series
This is the first I’ve read by author Olivia Wildenstein and I really enjoy her. This book is about Fae, a people of Crows and several other different peoples that live in the world. The first book takes awhile to build but I love all the side characters. I truly believe not enough authors give them attention sometimes. The main character is really young so I find that the side characters help me through when she is being ridiculously naive. The details are beautiful and the end of the book really sets up Book 2. I am on Book 2 and currently waiting for Book 3 to arrive. You can find them {HERE}.
Feather, the Angels of Elysium Series
This is the second series I picked up by Olivia Wildenstein and I’m currently waiting for Book 2 to arrive. This book series is about Angels. The main character is sweet. he male main character is just complicated enough. I read this in about 24 hours so it was a fast read too. I found myself getting into this book right away because the subject of angels was so different for me. You can find all of them {HERE}.
Any questions?
That’s it for this week! Let me know if you have any questions below or if there is anything you would like to know about in next week’s Sugar Maple Weekly Updates. Have a lovely week, friends.
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