About today...

It was Friday night;

we were finally at the weekend after

another busy week, when Mr. Husband

talked to our downstairs neighbours,

who had mentioned concerns of mice

once the weather turned cool.

Well, they have since seen mice in their place.

So we suddenly knew I had to step up

the work on the pantry.

Those flours not yet in glass jars, 

those stash of chocolate bars from Ottawa,

my cocoa (baking and drinking) in cardboard,

best to put in glass.

The teas too; the pasta, the nuts, Cleo's food...

the list grew quickly.

Mr. Husband went shopping and bought 18 half gallon jars;

picture above shows them ready to be cleaned... 

I ordered more supplies from Target; funny enough,

Mr. Husband had mentioned getting the vintage coloured glass 

jars for teas when I was in Ottawa; coloured as it will

help the tea last longer because of light, etc.

And so some vintage glass mason jars are 

on their way, along with some clear glass canisters.

I had already put my GF Arrow Root flour/starch in jars

last week.  We are on the hunt also for pickle jars,

big ones, to wash/sterilize and use.

I am currently running a huge batch of quart mason

jars in the dishwasher to sterilize them

and use for my smaller amounts of things;

GF brownie mix; corn meal; baking powder; 

I did some research ~ this one talked about how to do a pantry and

how long things can be stored;

a simple one on what a pantry should ideally be;

this one, with video, has me wondering if I should get a food saver for the

ability to vacuum seal mason jars.

And this one makes me think I want to store our 

Cheerios just like this.

On other notes,

many have been wondering about my driving lesson.

Thank you.

So for the first hour I was taken to very urban streets

with up to four lanes, lots of turns, esp. left hand turns,

lots of driving in small NJ cities that I had not once been in 

before that.

I was borderline miserable and felt 

the hour was just dragging by.

I was nervous and had a lot to get used to again, as

it's been 10 years and things like how mirrors work,

changing lanes in busy traffic, turning in big intersections,

and the like.

But THEN: I was behind a school bus. I saw kids.

Thought of how kids calm me down and I love them.

And then I had remembered the happy happy news:

Mr. Husband and I were asked to be godparents 

of a lovely less than 1 month old, baptism next Month!

A girl, our first god daughter, our first godchild we 

have been given together.

And then I was calm, happy and hour two,

which lead us to locales that I knew well and the small town

we used to live in before we moved,

was lovely and went well.

So Mr. Husband noticed this stain glass.

The ten commandments being outweighed 

by the nails of Christ on the Cross.

A beautiful image.

We must remember the hope we have in Christ...

*

So yesterday was Sunday School...lesson two... 

I wrote about how it went here...

One thing I did not mention there was that

when I got to the church basement

(more on that later) the cooler weather was immediately apparent:

mice visited again. 

I spent all of the hours (the prayers before liturgy) and a bit of the beginning of

liturgy (you can hear it all from downstairs) wiping down the tables

and chairs with Lysol wipes, until I was sure everything was clean.

*

Part of life is just dealing with what is at hand and 

very much with reality.

Our church is working on the building as best they can 

and they have made huge strides in the last years.

*

I mention this in part to be sure that it is understood that

while blogs are pretty and children marvelous,

we often have to do things in less than ideal places.

But this is life. 

And I am so glad to be teaching the kids where we are

instead of waiting for some mythical 'perfect' place to teach, etc...

*

Meanwhile... 

Talk about an added motivation for getting our home pantry ready

in case mice visit us.

Lord have mercy.

Mr. Husband's already bought mice traps; we are certainly not using

poison as the risk of secondary poison on my Cleo Cat is quite real.

I will be so glad when the order from target arrives later this week...