Organizing, A Breakdown

I decided to hold off on the photos project until January and started tackling the decluttering/cleaning that I've been putting off. It's funny how I think it'll be terrible, but once I get started, I enjoy the process and results. So far, I've done the laundry room shelves, spice racks, misc. technology/cords, girls' bedroom, and bookcases. Today, I'm tackling the TV stand since it's really dusty and has a big pile of DVDs that need to be sorted through. I have a lot more to do, but those things are the ones that have been bugging me for a while. I wish everything could stay clean and organized in the first place, but that's just not how it works.

I had a mini breakdown a few days ago. This time of year is just hard, and I've felt like all the "Christmas magic" has been from my hard work with very little help from any of my family members. Over the years, I've tried to scale back Christmas as much as possible, but it doesn't change the fact that I have a big family, lots of presents to buy and meals to make, family to visit (but never all of them since they live so far apart) and a little bit of seasonal depression to go with it.

On the bright side, there are only 2 days of school before we get a break. I look forward to sleeping in. I've also received a couple of small gifts with thoughtful notes in the past week. Those are my favorite. I keep those little notes forever (in Google Drive) because it's rare to get anything handwritten anymore. I was sick on Thanksgiving and hardly remember the meal due to brain fog, but I made a simple turkey dinner this week so we could have turkey pot pie. Eating that yesterday reminded me of helping my mom make pot pies the day after Thanksgiving for so many years. It was always one of my favorite meals and is still the BEST way to eat turkey leftovers. No one will change my mind on this. We also opened our NC family presents and played one of the new board games, Cascadia. I'm still nervous about travel since we'll be taking the Yukon. It's just not as reliable or comfortable as the van, but it has the snow tires just in case. It will be a good Christmas. I'll still be glad when it's over.

Mom's Visit

Thursday, I picked up Mom from the Vernal airport in the afternoon. We went to the ward party that night, which was fun.

Friday morning, Mom and I went to the temple, then Deseret Book and Distribution. It took a little longer than expected, but we got home in time to spend 3 hours grinding elk meat with the boys. Joseph, Kenny, and I had a good system going. I chopped, Kenny ground, and Joseph wrapped. We completed 45 lbs. of meat. I made some dinner and we watched a show after the kids went to bed. James butchered the last quarter of elk.

Saturday after breakfast, the boys and I finished grinding all the elk. We ended up doing about 60 lbs. for Devin and 25 for us. With all the roasts and steaks we have, we got about 100 lbs. of meat. If we didn't plan on giving any away, that would last almost a year since we still have some deer left as well. It made for a very busy week, but it was good all the same. Saturday afternoon around 4, the missionaries came for dinner. (That's when their mission president wants them to come.) It was a little weird to eat that early, but we had delicious elk steaks cooked sous vide and finished by James, potatoes, and squash.

Sunday, everything went well with the Temple and Priesthood Prep meeting. I'd been stressing about it, of course, but it turned out good even though the music went a few minutes over.

Monday, I went on a walk with Mom. We went to see Wish for FHE. It was a cute movie, definitely a classic Disney plotline and FULL of Easter eggs. I'd watch it again. I delivered several loaves of bread to ministering families after we got back.

Tuesday, Mom and I went on another walk. We helped with the younger girls' activity group. Only 1 showed up, but we had fun doing quilts and chatting with the other ladies.

Wednesday, I took Joseph to the orthodontist while Mom went on a walk and got packed up. I dropped her off at the airport in the afternoon and immediately felt sad for the rest of the day. I made some Chex mix that didn't turn out perfect, so that made me feel annoyed AND sad. She made it home safely, though, we are missing her. It had been over 3 years since she visited last. Why does my family have to live so far away?

Today, I'm volunteering at the school (changed from Tuesday for this week). I'll hopefully finish the newest Sanderson book so the boys can get started on it. I had to cancel our playdate with the Nielsons since Samantha has a bit of a cough and they have tiny twins right now. I hate that we're not 100% healthy yet. Everyone else is fine except for Samantha, and this cough has lingered for quite a while.

As for projects, I'm not sure if I'm going to do some deep cleaning/decluttering that I've been putting off or start on the photos project. Maybe I'll do both at the same time. Haha. This house isn't too bad, but it lacks storage space and has a few problem areas that I need to attend to. I guess I have enough time before Christmas to get that all done if I want. We will see.

Elk

James went hunting on Friday with Joseph but didn't have any luck. Saturday was a different story, though. He shot an elk fairly early in the morning, but it was a ways from the road. That meant leaving the kids at the car for a while, so he drove them back to the house, then went back to Devin and the elk, almost a 2 hour drive each way. They gutted it, quartered it, and got it back to the car. By the time they got back, it was dinner time. I hadn't been feeling amazing thanks to the stupid cold I got over Thanksgiving, but Joseph and Kenny were great at keeping track of all the kids while I got some rest. James and I went out for dinner since I was feeling a little better.

The butchering started on Monday, and James finished one quarter. Tuesday, Devin came over to help butcher more, and they got 2 quarters done. Wednesday, I chopped up the meat for hamburger and made sure it was clean. I ground all the hamburger we have so far, 17 pounds. The plan is to finish butchering the last quarter and grind all of Devin's by Saturday night. I calculated that I can cut, grind, and package 6 pounds of meat in 1 hour when working alone. I'll have help when we do Devin's, but I don't know how much we'll be grinding yet either. I think Saturday night is still reasonable.

Mom is coming to visit today! She gets in this afternoon. It'll be fun to go to the ward party with her.

So far, we have more than enough elk (and still some deer) so that we won't have to buy beef for a year. I'm really grateful, even though it's been a ton of work. We will have spent probably 12 hours each after getting the animal home. That's not counting the stuff we'll process for Devin.

I still can't believe how busy I've been since the kids went back to school. Things were just about to slow down when we got this elk. Hopefully after we're done with it, I can start sorting through my in-laws' old pictures to scan. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of James from ages 10-18 because I never really have.