Homemaking Bits

Warmth

2010-12-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

Max climbs in between us to snuggle and get warm.

His toes are cold.

Add to Mental List: Fleece sheets for his loft's extra-long mattress.

I'm convinced fleece sheets result in burrowing children sleeping more deeply. I'm convinced this results in parents sleeping more deeply.

Win-Win.

Sleep won't return. Visions of Sugarplum Lists dance in my head.

"Get a Head Start." I peek at the clock. 2:34. Oh, My.

Morning Prayers said alone in the dark living room, .

Our Lady of Grace, Pray for us.

The wind rattles through the trees.

I laugh as I pull on my brown boots. A little past college chic.

Grab the first notebook I see.

The wooden pen Zane turned on his grandfather's lathe.

Beautiful music. A favorite blog. Tears.

How blessed I am to be a mother. Warmth.

Cranberry Chutney candle. Vanilla soap.

Old Copper Teakettle. Dark Chocolate and Whipped Cream. Warmth.

Refresh the simmering potpourri with lemons, anise stars, cloves, cinnamon sticks. Another for Good Measure.

My Old-fashioned Humidifier. Warmth.

Long Morning Hug. He rubs my neck while his coffee brews. Warmth.

My mother's Old Red Pot. Many years of meals and memories. Warmth.

Tattered Cookbook. So much love.

Gratitude that I need to quadruple the recipe.

~*~ Last minute List ~*~

*Still need to find the stockings.

(My Chief Finding Officer is on leave with a badly sprained ankle.)

*Treats to make for Daddy.

*Buy more marshmallows for hot cocoa following tonight's Christmas Lights drive. Open a bag and they disappear in an instant.

*Make the Dining Room look more like a Dining Room and less like we have abandoned our schooling until the New Year. Remnants of preschool projects, Ancient Egyptian History and US Geography need to make way for our best for His birthday.

*Find all that is needed for Mantle Transition from Advent to Christmas.

Wind gusts are whistling... blowing the lids to the sandboxes and rattling the garage door.

Bread machines need to be started.

Breakfast needs to be started.

Our day needs to be started.

Our Lady of Grace, pray for us.

Scrambled eggs with ham. Muffins with butter and jam. Pineapple.

They'll be up soon.

Morning hair. Scampering to find warm slippers. Morning kisses.

Warmth.

Crazy Summer List for my Crazy Twenty-Year-Old~ Wherein I Supply Ideas & She'll Add the Crazy...

2010-06-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

1. Hike by the River. Watch the sunrise from twenty different places.

2. Start a Nature Journal, even if you only add to it twice a year. Sketch the bird that comes to your kitchen window in the morning. Sketch your basil plant. Oh, you don't know about her yet.

3. Volunteer at the hospital. Organize a blood drive.

4. Go to the cookbook section of the library -- think about mothers all over the world who must cook the same thing for every meal.

5. Check out music from the library for free. Listen to a new style -- see if you like Ella Fitzgerald or the Supremes.

6. Dance with your Boy. Music's free.

7. Check out movies from the library for free. Watch classics. Have a Barbra Streisand Film Festival. Do you even know who she is?

8. Adoration -- He's still there; He still loves you. Look up whether or not I'm allowed to use a dash and a semicolon in the same sentence. Start a gratitude journal. It positively (haha) changes how you see life. Be sure to include your fine background in grammar and humor.

9. Journal. Put in all the confusion and elation of turning 20. Don't lose it. Add to it when you're turning 30 and 40 and 50 and thought you couldn't get more confused or elated. Your daughters will love it.

10. Take walks with your Sweetheart, hold hands, and just listen. Yup... that means don't talk.

11. Compare Mexican food from all all three towns. Tacos are cheap.

12. Get ice cream cones every Tuesday. Try twenty new flavors. Everybody needs a little ice cream by Tuesday.

13. Take pictures of your Boy. You'll not believe how fast he'll change. Take a picture of your hands together. Blow it up in black and white.

14. Try twenty different teas. Make chai for real.

15. Finish your quilt. Perchance it would be a smidgen easier to make memories with a finished quilt than it has been with a hat box full of squares. Snuggle under it for your Film Festival.

16. Make a list of baby names. Omit quilt from this step until married.

17. Paint the canvases for your foyer. Resist the urge to be perfect. At least try to resist it.

18. Write the Montana tourism board. Politely explain your obsession with their fine state. Resist the urge to rant about your deep disappointment with South Dakota or they might not write back to you. Ask for maps. Laminate and PRESTO! place mats.

19. Send the little ones postcards from your town. They would love it. We'll send ones from home.

20. Make a tiny batch of strawberry jam. Borrow jars from me.

21. Bake real bread. Make real pasta. Make fresh tomato sauce. Get a basil plant at the Farmers Market and keep it on your six inches of counter space. Smile with satisfaction that you now possess the ability to bore your daughters with stories of how you cooked gourmet Italian meals on a mere six... SIX!! inches of counter space.

22. Bake tiny batches of twenty different cookies for him. Make a list. Have deep philosophical discussions about dark chocolate vs. semisweet ... chunks vs. chips ... Raisins vs. craisins ... Smile with satisfaction that you now possess the ability to bore your daughters with stories of how you baked him twenty different kinds of cookies...

Making memories that are so fresh and wonderful in your mind that you can repeat them 30 years later is an often neglected part of the whole mothering art. Have I told you lately about the ferry on Lake Champlain... or the map that covered the whole wall at Carbur's... Oh! I have their menu in my recipe book...

Take a million pictures. This time is fleeting. You probably will not have eight free weeks again. Ever. Savor it.
Savor it so much that you barely have time to call. But call.

Or you don't get the next list.

I Love You,
Mama

Hearts for Home: June 15th

2010-06-15T05:35:00.002-04:00

This is from a wonderful blog ~ Cherished Hearts at Home:

In today’s busy and aggressive society mothers at home are not given much encouragement to be committed to their role in being home.

In my weekly 'Hearts for Home' post I am encouraging myself and others to commit to thinking about what 4-6 things we can do each week to bring our thoughts, prayers and actions to keeping our 'Hearts for Home'.

I am praying that a spirit of gentleness, generosity in thoughts and time along with loveliness and grace would lead us to be all that God wants us to be.

My commitments for this week:

1. Be especially supportive of my husband as he starts the busiest season of his year.

2. Be especially gentle with our children who have a more difficult time when we are off our normal routine.

3. Be especially focused on completing the tasks left for painting & redecorating our dining room that doubles as our school room.

4. Be especially appreciative of the large and small acts of kindness and service shown by our older children.

5. Be especially kind with everyone as we work out the logistics of gardening and composting responsibilities.

6. Be especially patient with myself as I start planning our studies for the coming school year. However Slowly.

Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All things pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing. God alone suffices.

~ Saint Teresa of Avila

Here Goes

2010-06-13T11:06:00.000-04:00

I thought I was coming for a little break... A little bit of sleep, a little bit of swimming, a little bit of shopping, a few meals at restaurants that have become old favorites. I wondered if there would be anything new, or if it had all been done before. After all, it was going to be our nineteenth Home Educators of Virginia Convention...

Say it with me... God had other plans...

I ended up with a lot of sleep, a new favorite sports bar, a new appreciation for World Cup Soccer, a lot of time to talk with my amazing husband, and some course corrections. Not the "find a better Latin book" course correction-- more the big picture sort.

#1. The fun one... I had my husband's learning styles all wrong. That's been fun to talk about. And especially fun to see someone differently after 29 years together...Cool to see that God made him to balance so many of my tendencies... So if I've spent all this time thinking that he was waaay out there, I suppose I'm waaay over there...

#2. The horrifying one... I thought I knew Which-Nameless-Children I was going to learn more about when I attended a workshop on conflict with your strong-willed children. I left knowing where they got it from. Oh. My. Goodness.

#3. The humbling one... I jotted down the highlights of eighteen years of homeschooling. The good, the bad, and the "Hey, the bus passes our house at 7:30 each and every morning" sort of highlights.

Thought I'd see a few trends, maybe an obvious bit of cause and effect, maybe a fresh path to take for one or two children. It's amazing to look at a large piece of my life when most days I'm lucky to have the brain cells to look at the next fifteen minutes. It's looking like this homeschooling gig might work out.

But what I realized was how different these past five years have been. We've worked harder and accomplished less. Still plenty... just less. Or maybe it's been less joyfully.

At different points in these last five years, I've experienced varying degrees of burnout...physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. So I have a new assignment for myself. I'm going to try this whole "seeing yourself as God sees you" idea on for size. That whole touchy-feely thing that I secretly loathe. I'm giving in on the whole idea that Fearfully and Wonderfully made applies to everyone else, but not to me.

I'm going to give myself the same advice that I give other moms who are starting out on the homeschooling path.

Be gentle with Yourself. God made you for a unique purpose. It is not a mistake that you have the exact husband and children that you have. Start slowly. Add what He tells you to. Find the joy. It's worth every bit of hard work. God blesses your efforts and multiplies them.

Here goes.

First CSA Dinner

2010-05-08T17:12:00.009-04:00

Farmers' Market today!!

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Spring Onions

Steamed Baby Kale

Montreal Roasted French Green Beans

Speckled Butterhead Lettuce with Strawberries & Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

New Blue Casserole Dish. Satisfaction.

Lindt Chocolates: Orange & Hazelnut

~*~*~*~*~

For our Genealogy unit:

The Lettuce Butterhead Speckles, 'Lactuca sativa', is an Heirloom that originated from the Mennonites who brought it with them from Germany and Holland over 200 years ago.

Test Photo

2010-04-08T18:44:00.001-04:00