'Member how I made a second batch of sauerkraut? 'Member how excited I was that it was two heads of garden fresh cabbage: one green on red?
Well....let's just say it was a big ol' flop. My excitement over it is only rivaled, now, by the disappointment of the first bite. It...was...gross. Maybe I should make that GROSS. My kids ate a bite or two and so did S, but that was it. We have decided to toss out this latest culture. Us toss something? I promise you, it really is THAT gross.
Where did we go wrong?
I think I let the water level get too low once. I put it in a lass jar, but didn't put it in a super dark place. I mixed the cabbages. I...made a bunch of mistakes.
It is super sad to me. Especially because I had no idea until that first wretched taste. Months of culturing amounted to a jar full of yuck. Guess I really should invest in one of those lovely enamel crocks for my next adventure in food cultures!
Anyway! On to the more exciting updates!
I've put aside my gorgeous wool that is currently being tangled into a lacey sweater, and started a different raglan sweater from yarn my parents got me for Christmas. Again, they gave me a sweater that requires some assemblage. Hm...good thing I love doing it! It's a simple repeating pattern. I made it more complicated because I made the pattern smaller, and it was NOT written to do so. I finagled my way around it, and now am about half-way through! Hooray!
My finished book list for my New Year's resolution is growing substantionally! Yesterday alone I finished TWO! Hooray! I'm starting another today (Overwhelmed: winning the war against worry by Perry Noble). We'll see how it goes. I have few others started as well - one really complicated (Moby Dick) one a bit less, but still a classic (Man in the Iron Mask) and then a more easy to read one when I need down time for my brain (Watching the Tree Limbs by Mary Demuth). It's not too hard for me to keep all of them going at once. It keeps me interested in all of them, really.
As for my own book: I have writer's block. ugh. It's more like I have too high of standards and I'm not living up to them right now. I want depth and strong characters, but I'm ending up with tedious fluff. I'm hoping to put out a few pages in the next week or so, or at least add more of the ideas and then flesh them out, but we'll see. I've also been sidetracked by the other million ideas in my head and have pushed out 4 short stories. Okay, not four complete ones, but 2 complete and 2 half (or more) done. I have more ideas crowding into my brain even now. I probably would have finished more, but our computer is still out of commission and this dinosaur of a computer drives me batty for writing. S's computer is compatible with dropbox, so I'll be able to do more when he gets home in the evenings.
Memorizing James: this has been uber slow going for me. I don't know why. It just is. I think, again, the standards I'm setting are getting in the way. You see, I don't really want to 'just' memorize. I want to be passionately involved with the verses, not passively checking off the 'done' box that it is secure in my brain. Sigh. I have about the first ten verses, I think.
Overall, I think progress is being made everywhere. How are you doing in sticking to your resolutions, if you made any?
XO,
J
Soli Deo Gloria!
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