Guilt is such a funny thing.  Sometimes it seems as though we can get ahead only by feeling guilty, trying to work harder, and trying to control our world more.  And then, driven to the breaking point, we break a little, and in doing so, we relax our white-knuckled grip.  Instead of our world spinning out of control into chaos, we find ourselves having a good time, and getting more done, to boot.

After yesterday’s reminder to remember imperfection’s blessings, today was a gift.  Ella was with a babysitter for a few hours this morning, and I got a lot of work done at the bakery.  We all came home, she napped, I started soup for dinner, worked on laundry, we all read books and played.  And then, I took Ella out to the “barn” (our garage, which is now half-filled by a horse stall, chicken coop, and a lot of hay, so we call it the barn), to feed the horse and sheep their dinner before we sat down to ours.  I set her down among the hay bales, lugged one bale up the hill and spread it out for everyone (Cole running in circles around me doing ninja-kicks to scare the sheep away so he got the first bites).  When I came back into the barn, my girl was happily playing in the hay, tumbling around, sliding, jumping.  It was dinnertime, there was more laundry work to be done, but I sat down in the hay with her and we played, jumping and giggling.

Just as I was thinking that this is one of the things I am glad to offer her – hay and time to play in it, she turned to me and said, “I am so lucky!” and gave me a huge hug.  Incredible.  I took some photos of her and she said to me, “Thank you Mama, for taking pictures of my silly faces.”  We stayed as long as I could (it was getting pretty chilly!), and then we walked out, saying hello to all the animals, watching the dogs roll around in the snow.  An ordinary day, blessed in its imperfection.

Thank you for all your kind words yesterday, and be sure to check out this post at Threading Light – we were having some of the same thoughts!

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And speaking of ordinary things, here is this week’s menu.   A few quick notes – if my menus seem like a lot of food, that’s for two reasons.  One is that I don’t always cook everything on my list.  Two is that we try to eat leftovers for lunch, and also one night a week is a leftover night dinner, so I’m cooking more than just seven meals.

* Polenta Torta (I’m pretty sure this is from Alice Waters’s The Art of Simple Food)

* Pork Loin Roasted with Balsamic Vinegar, Dried Rosemary, and Garlic

* Beef Barley Stew

* Homemade Pasta (I couldn’t resist after seeing so many folks recently making their own! I’ll be using the recipe from Laurel’s Kitchen), turned into Hungarian Noodles (Laurel’s Kitchen) or just cooked with some pesto from the freezer

* Whole Grain Blini (Laurel’s Kitchen), Roasted Beets, and Sauteed Cabbage

* Swedish Meatballs (from Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice)

* Cream of Parsnip Soup (from Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice)

* Disappearing Carrot Salad (Laurel’s Kitchen), minus the raisins

* Kale-Potato Soup (using the recipe from Farmer John’s Cookbook – we made this a few weeks ago and it was ridiculously good.  Soul warming.)

From last week, the Corn Spoonbread was awesome (I grew up in the South, but I’m not sure I’ve ever had Spoonbread before – yummy!!).  We ate it with the onion tart and kale farinata, and it was a stunning combo.

Bon Appetit, and blessings on your week.