Life. Busy.

Life at the Saltonstalls has been busy, but fun as of late.

A BALANCED APPROACH
I have renamed The Spin Studio to A Balanced Approach and am going to start doing physical therapy out of my business in a few weeks. This has been in the works for several months-since July. I returned from a class in Seattle and was excited about going out on my own to do physical therapy. I'll be accepting insurance and am working with a lady to do the medical billing. Phew! My table is in town and due to arrive in a day or two-I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Needless to say, it has been time consuming to get things ready for my new endeavor. Changing the name of a business is like opening a new business-just as much paperwork. New business license, new signs, new checks, bank account...etc...
I've also been filling in at Arctic PT during football season to help Todd (the head football coach and PT) out. Busy weeks, trying to keep track of where I"m supposed to be when.
The part I"m most excited about with working on my own is the the relaxed atmosphere I can create in my own space and the chance to specialize--perhaps have a specialty of neck and low back pain. I love it all-shoulders, knees, hips, ankles.... When I think of me going to my new clinic to see clients there, I am excited about it all.

PRESSURE COOKER
No, our life is not like that of a pressure cooker right now. Thank heavens.
But we got a small pressure cooker yesterday. I made mushroom risotto in it last night and it was so fast! Wow! The last time I made risotto it took 1 hour and last night it was a 1/2 hour. Casey and MJ came over-we put on music, drank a couple bottles of good white wine and enjoyed the risotto with a salad from the garden. Yummm.... Salads from the garden are my favorite this time of year.
I look forward to cooking beans, more rice dishes, soups in the pressure cooker. It cuts the cooking time in 1/2. So cool. Put the food in, bring it to a boil, put the lid on, watch the gauge go up and it cooks away. Eventually I want to be able to do small canning projects--it only holds 3 jars at a time. I could do small batches of homemade spagehetti sauce or seasoned meat. The possibilities are endless...

ENERGY RATING=DOMESTIC DISTRESS
I never imagined that getting our house energy rating done would be a source of conflict for Patrick and I. Silly,eh? I think we worked through it, however....
We got the energy raters to rate our house and it is a 2 star (out of 5 stars possible) home. Wow. Pretty darn leaky. Every time I would bring up the fact that we had many improvements to make, Patrick would respond by saying, "Well, I'm worried about our home becoming too sealed and us getting diseases from mold...because that happens when a home doesn't breath..." I felt like I was pushing a boulder uphill, trying to get Patrick to understand that getting the improvements made will make our home much cheaper to heat AND decrease our demand for fossil fuels. Patrick likes a strong breeze through the house, which I understand. We came to a mutual understanding this morning that
1. our house is a leaky disaster and needs major improvements, as recommended by the energy raters
2. Once our house is "sealed up" better, we can crack the window open with better conscience at night, knowing that more dollar bills aren't flying out the window. Ella is going to loan me a door bean bag to put along the bottom to help keep the air in our bedroom. Thank you, Ella.
The whole energy rating process is fascinating-they put a big fan in the door, turned the blower on and we could walk around our house and feel where all the leaks were. Pretty wild. The energy raters said our house was one of the leakier ones they had seen. Most of our "issues" are in the kitchen, which didn't surprise me. It always feels drafty in here.

Zoya

Photos:

Nora helping with my quilting, which I started doing again. SO FUN. Nora likes taking little scrap pieces of fabric and I sew them into a mini quilt for her doll. She loves watching and helping. I have to do it once Stuey is in bed, however...

Nora and Stuey continue to be fascinated by playing in the sink....there is usually a good amount of water to clean up afterwards. oh well. It is worth a few minutes of happiness and no crying.

My pressure cooker and I have a moment together. Domestic bliss.