On Deja Vu

This time of year always gives me deja vu.

It's something intrinsically a part of our psyche, to fear the darkness that comes with the changing of the seasons. We are made to dislike the cold, to shun the wintertime and plead and beg with whatever powers there are above us that spring comes quickly and that the winter is relatively mild. We spend fall enveloping ourselves in a distinct inability to think about winter, instead enjoying the familiar comforts of cider, orchards, and family holidays.

It all seems to end when that first snow hits and we can't ignore that winter is here again.

The darkness, too, is difficult to contend with. Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday at 2 AM, meaning that it will be darker an hour earlier (although it will be blissfully light at 7 AM, finally). Those of us who find ourselves struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, are no doubt hit heaviest, and begin relying more and more on material distractions to keep ourselves afloat while the season meanders its way along.

Of course, there are positives - Thanksgiving and Yule (or Christmas if it serves you better) are coming up, and both present the opportunity to stuff ourselves silly on good food and share our lives and love with those we care most about. It lets people like me try out new recipes (crock pot stuffing, anyone?) and to share new experiences with my family. The biggest bummer for us this year, I think, is that we won't be able to host a holiday get together at our house, so I'm wondering if we'll end up getting to see anybody this year, but my brother-in-law and his wife's family tend to have something. I'm hoping. I know at the very least my old friend Melissa will likely try to get us to come over at some point, and that's always a blast.

On today's menu: via my mom's request, ham and bean soup! Today I'll be soaking the beans and I'll start on the soup in the slow cooker tomorrow. Love having a good slow cooker - I wish I used it more often. Hopefully once we get our LINK card benefits back (seriously, any day now - we haven't bought a decent amount of groceries in over a month and are down to some VERY basic basics) I can go on a spending spree, restock our meat supply, buy some decent fresh veggies, and generally make good use of the money. I'm super excited.

Pictures once I've got things worked out. I know, I know, I'm awesome. For now, though, I have an entire house to clean. Hopefully A doesn't interfere with that plan any more than he usually does. :P