Daily Journal

Monday, December 2

Today I think I tried to do too much! Monday is laundry day which is somewhat of a big job in itself. Also I planned menus for the week and placed grocery orders which for me is always a process. Jake and I made sourdough pancakes and fried eggs for breakfast. All day I kept thinking, “I should sew,” and, “I should make things feel festive and put up some Christmas decor in this house.” But alas I did neither and instead got inspired to make dark chocolate sea salt granola. Would highly recommend making this stuff. The recipe is in the ‘Love Wears an Apron’ cookbook. (Logan’s mom helped put that cookbook together so she brought one out for us when she came to visit) I also decided to make some breakfast croissant sandwiches for the freezer. This turned into a huge process because I was attempting to make quite a few at once and at 4:00 the kitchen was a wreck, only half the sandwiches were made, more eggs needed to be cooked up (for the sandwiches), plus I needed to be leaving to go pick up a grocery order at Oroville Walmart 30 minutes away. Plus supper wasn’t started. The guys were home from work already so I called on Jake to “please help!!” He said I should go get the groceries and he would finish up the first half of the sandwiches and try to make the kitchen a bit orderly. Well over an hour later when I got home, I walked into a sparkling clean kitchen and not only were the first half of the croissant sandwiches finished up, but the entire rest of the batch was sitting on the counter neatly put together, wrapped in foil and ready for the freezer. 3 of the guys had helped him and truly I was SO grateful and felt like a very lucky lady!! Supper that night was a humble chicken pot pie and fruit.

Tuesday, Dec.3

Today was beautiful. In the afternoon the littles and I walked down to the creek behind our house. My neighbor lady Michelle came out to talk and we ended up walking to a huge persimmon tree behind her property and picking some. I was disappointed when I got home and tried one tho. It was so waxy it felt like I had taken a bite out of a candle. Truly unreal. I guess I should google it. Maybe they just need to ripen or maybe they just aren’t a very edible variety. I finished up my afternoon work and was just fixing to sit down and sew when I saw another one of my neighbor ladies, Sam, out on the front walk with her little boy who is almost 6. She wondered if Max wanted to play! Why of course he did..so Max and Colton entertained each other for an hour or 2 and Sam stayed to chat.. This whole “neighbor” thing is something new for me since I have never lived in town other than when I taught school! Trevor was in charge of supper and he made smash burgers and pork and beans. Yum!!

Wednesday, December 4

George woke up with a mild case of the flu. Not ideal as Jake’s folks are arriving tomorrow and hopefully everyone can remain healthy while they are here. I called Jake to tell him George was sick and he informed me one of the guys had just left work sick as well. Thankfully it seemed to be a mild bug because George and the guy both seemed fairly back to normal by the afternoon. Does anyone feel like eating when there is sickness in the house? I don’t know, but I had teriyaki peach pork chops on the menu so that is what we had. Plus rice and a salad. Another of the guys had left to go running right after work so he wasn’t home for supper. He arrived home around 9, quite chipper despite feet that were swelling and informed us he had ran/walked 20 miles which is 2 laps up and down the trail through Paradise here. He was soon at the table inhaling leftover pork chops and rice.

Thursday, Dec 5 to Tuesday, Dec. 10

The long awaited visit from Pops and Mimi (this is what the kids call Jake’s folks) finally arrived! Picked them up from Sacramento airport the evening of the fifth. It was so good to see them come walking around the corner down to where we were waiting for them. We had a fun time showing them around Paradise on Friday. Dad and Jake went to work with the boys and Mom entertained the kids while I made a simple lunch for everyone. Saturday we headed down to Chico and took in farmers market. The citrus is in season right now! Nothing like fresh oranges straight from the tree! Then to the valley where we made a stop at the craft fair at Glenn. I came away with a couple of treasures. In the evening we went to Chada for supper which is the little underground Thai restaurant we like in Chico. Sunday was spent around here. Monday was a huge highlight! We had planned to go to the coast Saturday, but because of a few different circumstances we changed it to Monday. We were so glad we did because the weather couldn’t have been better for December in California. It was bright golden sunshine and 60 to 65 degrees. Truly perfect. Fort Bragg was our destination and it is right at 4 hours from Paradise so it was quite the drive. Very curvy (but gorgeous) roads a good share of the way. We made a pit stop at Montgomery Woods State Park to view the redwoods.. One of the boys told me while we were walking around there, “isn’t this so aesthetic?” (they like to use that word somewhat sarcastically) but truly it was perfectly beautiful down there. Mom said it felt like you should see a hobbit house somewhere, and I heard words like “enchanting” and “mystical”. It was like a cool, damp rain forest with a path running along this rushing stream, shady with sunlight flickering through here and there. And then the trees. These absolutely gigantic old trees that are so tall you nearly fall over backward when you crane your head to try to see the tops of them. Some of them have “caves” in the trunks that you can stand inside of. They truly were so incredibly huge! I think we were all properly impressed by the redwoods. Also I’m from Kansas so I am not used to forests. Ha. Loaded back up and continued on our way to the coast. We were headed to Fort Bragg but got sidetracked by the charming look of Mendocino as we rolled by. Here is what google says about Mendocino. “Mendocino, the only town on the California Coast that is designated as a Historical Landmark, was established in the 1850s. The architecture is reminiscent of Maine with its grand victorians and quaint saltbox cottages” In other words it suited my fancy perfectly! We made our way through town and parked along a street within walking distance of the beach. Like I mentioned it was a perfect sunny day so the water was gorgeous and quite turquoise. I had never been to the California coast other than San Fran and I was impressed with the rugged beauty and the crashing waves against the rocky coast. Its so different than the east coast. Sometimes I feel like beach pictures can be deceiving, like the pictures look so flawless and then you actually get there and the water isn’t as blue as you thought it would be or the beach is so full of people that you can hardly see the water. The point I am slowly coming to is that the California coast was not a disappointment. For sure the coast by Mendocino was truly everything and more than I expected. We then headed on to Fort Bragg where we hung out on the beach for a good while longer, gathering sea glass, climbing the rocks, playing in the sand and finally watching the sun set over the water. I know I’m painting a rosy picture of the day here. It really was a rosy day. But the drive is not for the car sick prone. I had one small son who was sick once on the way up. And the drive home seemed like forever in the dark and for some reason I was feeling super homesick and melancholy. Must add the reality check here at the end I guess. However the day will be added to my list of treasured memories. Tuesday was spent around here again… and we told folks our very sad goodbyes that evening because they left super early Wednesday morning for the airport. It was absolutely lovely having them here!

Wednesday, Dec. 11

I shall attempt to get back to my daily journal here. Today was spent catching up on things as well as making lunch for the guys. There was some tilapia in the freezer so I made crispy fried tilapia, cabbage spinach slaw, sweet potato fries (from a bag) and fresh cookies. In the evening we were invited by Princeton youth to join them for caroling at the Victorian Christmas festival in Nevada City. We weren’t sure what to expect. We arrived in Nevada City which is a very old fashioned village that was founded in the gold rush days, the streets are steep and narrow and in the darkness all the old houses looked very charming decked out in Christmas lights. I am so curious to go back sometime and see how they actually look in the light of day. The festival was on the main downtown streets and it was like such things are. All the shops were open, tents set up in the streets with vendors selling their wares, lots of festive folks strolling around. Truly there were so many people there, some dressed up in Victorian costume. I suppose we ladies in our dresses and brown boots fit in quite nicely. We stood on a corner and caroled for maybe 30 minutes…we weren’t the only carolers there, a quartet of elderly men was set up playing shiny gold trumpets? trombones? tubas? idk I am not up on my musical instruments. Also random groups singing songs like ‘Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer’. We stuck with the ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Joy to the World’ variety. Oh one thing I wanted to say yet was that I got to eat my first roasted chestnut! They were roasting them over a big open fire, but they were in high demand so Jake and I each got to try only one. I can see how in the old days they sat around in the evenings roasting and eating chestnuts, they were musty. As in “I must have another”. Ended the evening by getting supper at a very satisfactory Mexican restaurant. Everyone was glad to get home. We have spent a lot of time driving this week with going to the coast on Monday. Jake assures me it does not hurt George to learn to sit still and be patient, but I felt a little sorry for him I must admit.

Thursday, Dec 12

A rainy foggy day. We had sausage scrambled eggs and English muffins for breakfast. I rushed around doing my morning work because Beth, Caitlyn and I had made plans to shop a few stores in Orland and then have lunch:) Max went with Jake and the guys for the day, and he got to help lay floor in a house which he was quite pleased about. The guys said they had amazed Brandon the boss today by getting half of the house’s flooring laid in one day! Landon’s parents, Monty and Regina Schmidt from Fairview, arrived today as well so we enjoyed spending the evening with them and getting to know them a bit. The boys made supper. Steaks, sliced potatoes baked in butter and seasonings ‘til they were just crispy, and a caesar salad. We had a nice relaxing evening in the living room with the woodstove going and rain falling outside. Conversation is never dull around here. I wish I was better at relaying the things we discuss and the funny things that go on but where does one even begin?!

Friday, December 13

Another very rainy, wintery day. Blueberry baked oatmeal and fried eggs for breakfast. Landon and his parents set out for a day in San Francisco. I had told Max we would make paper lunch sack stars sometime (look it up if you’re confused) so today seemed like the day. It turned into a big project as such things do with 2 small boys age 3 & 6. We ended up running to Dollar General for more glue and by the time all was said and done the whole dining room was littered with bits of the project and it took up a decent chunk of the day. However our fireplace wall now looks festive thanks to the stars plus a few of Granny Ensz’s vintage Christmas cards & the greenery obtained from high in the tree across the road. Shelby stood with Jake on his shoulders and they cut almost half the tree by the looks of things, but Jake said he didn’t want to have to repeat the process so he got plenty. It is beautiful greenery I will say! Also did the laundry and made a supper of chicken and wild rice soup plus sourdough biscuits. One young man asked me what the grass seed in the soup was? lol. After supper we went to Aaron and Shannon’s community center/gym and got some exercise.

Saturday morning, Dec. 14

Landon’s mom kindly offered to make breakfast this morning. She made the best pancakes! Also bacon and fried eggs. It is still raining and windy out. A huge tree blew over in our neighbor’s yard this morning. I’m not sure what the day will involve. A couple guys are working on dishes and also they always do their chores on Saturday morning. One guy just went out in swimming trunks to wash vehicles even though Jake told them to not bother since it is raining, which seems extremely cold. We plan to go to Princeton for church tomorrow and are invited to Chris and Amy Giesbrecht’s for lunch so that is definitely something to look forward to! I’m hoping everyone is having a healthy and happy Christmas season!