This Little Piggy Came From Market

We are always talking about ways to simplify our lives.  Perhaps we should try to sell out and get a small house and get rid of lots of stuff.  That is easier said than done, especially in the housing market today.  (We have actually tried several times.)  Then we have to consider if we want to leave a private, woody setting and live in a higher taxed town with houses on top of each other and more expensive insurance because of proximity to the ocean.  Lots to consider.

This...

Or this...

One thing we can do is whittle away at stuff we do not need that someone else can use.  We have friends that we can gift, and there is always the trip to Goodwill that can take a load off your shoulders with just the effort to box it up and drive it over.  That feels quite nice, as does a freshly organized closet or attic.  We try to do this at least once a year.

When we moved to the country, we left behind cable tv in our old house in the subdivision.  It did not take too long to realize we did not miss having lots of channels with nothing to watch.  (Whenever we stay in hotels, we laugh that the only thing on HGTV are re-runs we saw the last hotel stay.)  We do get Create TV and local channels, plus Fox, so we are not completely in a cave news-wise.  But our TV often stays off for days, sometimes weeks at a time, although we do have a nice collection of old movies we enjoy now and then.

As anyone who has looked through our blog can surmise, we do love to cook together.  It is relaxing for us to plan a meal, shop for the groceries that we do not grow in our garden, and put on some music and get to chopping.  We also have more time for bible study, and making things with our hands.  Mamie loves needle, thread, and paints (the kind for a canvas, not so much for walls), and Poppy loves to work with wood, making cupboards and signs, and sometimes whole houses!   And we both enjoy our garden.

All that to say that one of our weaknesses when it comes to stuff is kitchen paraphernalia.  A new cast iron pot or piece of pottery can make our hearts go pitter-patter, as can a new bay laurel plant outside the kitchen that can be plucked of its leaves while making a pot of tomato sauce.  Our 30th anniversary present to each other was a set of copper stock pots we came across on clearance at a kitchen store.  We had to travel around to a few locations to find three sizes.  Now we think of that adventure whenever we pull one down to cook in it.

We talked below about our trip to the antiques mall in Memphis.  We can scan through a mall pretty quickly these days because we do not need anything- we just enjoy the diversion and sometimes will find a little something to take home.  (Then the one-comes-in, one-goes-out rule goes into force.)  Tasha asked if we found something on our jaunt the other day.  Why yes-yes we did.  This is it....

A vintage maple pig cutting board!  It was all of sixteen dollars-not bad for being in such good condition and being well-made.  That's it.  One little piggy.  But it is enough to make us smile.  We brought it home, disinfected it, and rubbed in some natural beeswax.  Then we used it.  Such a simple thing, but one that is useful and fun to use in the kitchen.  And every time we pull it out, we will think of the Memphis trip with our furry kids, Stella and Pickles, and we will smile.  Hmm, now what to take to Goodwill?  ;-)

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