Donating my windex to charity

My homemade cleaners &  ingredients.
 (I recycled the empty "Mrs. Myers" spray bottle for the "Fantastic")

ahh.   After a grueling semester and at the end of my first year teaching, I have a few days to relax and unwind.   There's something really special about being able to own your own time, at least for a little while.   I find I can keep my mind on the one task ahead of me, instead of always trying to see what I'll need to be doing two or three steps ahead, like I do when I am teaching a full schedule.

So what did I decide to do on my first day of total freedom?  Why, clean the house, of course!   No, seriously, there's something totally cleansing about having the time to take care of your space and return it to a condition that looks, feels, and, as of today, smells good.  For some reason it feels kind of luxurious, like taking a long bubble bath, to really be able to get in and clean all those cobwebs, crumbs, stains and streaks that have been subtly pissing you off/grossing you out for some time.   And living in a house that looks cared for makes me feel, well, pampered.   (Do you get the idea that deep cleaning is something that happens fairly rarely around here?   eep. )

So as I was cleaning today, I realized that I was running out of my $12-a-bottle all-natural cleaner.   And I hate to go to the store, so that's a bummer.   Then I remembered that I had a list of all-natural recipes from Vida Verde, an eco-friendly cleaning co-op started and run by Brazilian women.   These women came and spoke to our ESL students a few months ago about the dangers of chemical cleaners and handed out recipes.  They were friendly, charming, knowledgeable and totally rad.   (If you are looking for an earth-friendly and worker-friendly house cleaning service, for sure check them out!  http://verdeamarelo.org/vidaverde/ ).

New Year's Eve

Pickled beets, dilly beans and canned tomatoes, all dressed up for Christmas

How do I end up posting right before the holidays?   I guess on an academic calendar that's when we have time.

Well, as the sun sets at 4:20 pm on New Year's Eve, 2010, I'm doing my little reflecting thing.  The day has been intensely, beautifully quiet, the way only winter in New England can be, especially when you have no "outside" responsibilities: family, school, work.   We're done with all the parties, entertaining and gift-giving, lesson planning and paper writing, deadlines and test-taking.   At least for a little while.   And so I, happily, turn to food.  And not just eating it, which has started to feel like a recurring bad habit with all the holiday meals we've been served (thank you, thank you, we are grateful for the hard work and abundance that went into them - oof, my pants feel tight!  :).

No, I'm talking about the work with raw ingredients that has, over the past few years, started to feel so intensely personal, soothing and healing for me.  I spent today boiling and bottling orange-flavored homemdade vinegar, my head blissfully woozy from the scent of all that boiling vinegar.