Moving Day

I am moving this blog.  Please check in here if you would like to see the new and (I think) improved version--it's very similar, I just found a better name (I think!). This site will stay up through mid-March.

Thank you for reading along!

Weekending

 We had a beautiful and productive weekend. My firstborn and I had a date in the city (Cuban food, science program, thrift store, yes!). At the thrift store he chose a princess figurine for his little sister, a little ceramic mill figurine for himself, and I found little goodies like a tall clear glass vase, a bolster pillow--breaking my rules about buying upholstered items at the thrift store--and a couple of pieces of artwork. One piece, an original oil painting, was signed by the artist, whose name is the same as my son's piano teacher.  Interesting! I am eager to have it framed!  The other is a Mary Cassatt print; I usually don't buy prints, but captivated me with its cozy domestic scene and the child's gaze.

[image: the Metropolitan Museum of Art]

I painted the first coat of white paint on an old chair that needed it, and finally finished painting the mirror for our bathroom.  I hung it last night and it looks so pretty! One step closer....

We also cleaned out my car--my husband spearheaded this effort--which sorely needed some looking-after.  It wasn't *too* bad, but it was sort of amazing how much better it did look after we removed the blanket, the CDs, the random jackets and he thoroughly vacuumed it with the *real* vacuum cleaner (I usually just use the handheld cordless thing....)

We did the usual round of Sunday school and church this morning, and I was able to do a tiny bit of writing in the afternoon.  Then the weather was so gorgeous we got to sit for a while and watch the children swing on the swingset while the sun made an extravagant last hurrah to the west, and then we came inside to a warm supper and reading aloud on the sofa.  I think we're ready for a new week!

Synchronicity and Space

Right now I am working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.  This week she asks is there any room in your home that you could make into a secret, private space for yourself?

Well, I thought, no.

Our house is small and all the space has a specific purpose.  This is not a home with nooks, corners and crannies.  This is not a home with extra rooms.  But I dutifully started to scroll through images just to dream a bit, and as so often happens when the stars align and creative synchronicity happens and God smiles on you, I had a flash of vision.

My laundry area! Perhaps not an inspiring spot for most people, but an antique sink and beadboard we had installed during our renovation two years ago make it a truly pretty place (just ignore the monstrous elliptical trainer--necessary for sanity). The single window looks out on the patio, flower bed, pastures, hills. The walls are mostly empty.  It would not be a secret, private space, per se, but it is not in the flow of traffic, either.  In a house this size, I think it would be private *enough.*

So I am doing a little dreaming.  We have a bathroom to finish and other projects to do, but I am thinking along these lines.....and it will only require finding the right desk.  Most of the other raw ingredients I have on hand.

One thing I have found to be true is that when I open myself up to possibilities, they land in my lap. Cameron calls this "synchronicity."  Things begin to happen, to snowball.  A friend tells me she had a dream that I was writing a novel; my husband gives me a dreamy trip as a Christmas gift; I find a darling shop in town full of light and a mercury glass bowl that asks me to buy it; my best friend sends me a CD with a song on it that makes me weep with its beauty and truth; visions flash.   I am thirsty for these things after a long, dry spell.  I am full of gratitude for everything I am getting.

I think of Mary Oliver's poem "Thirst": "...grant me, in your mercy,/a little more time. Love for the earth/and love for you are having such a long/conversation in my heart."

I am getting more time.  I am loving this long conversation.

Unexpected Wednesday Productivity

We are enjoying a heat wave here--today was the third day in a row that we spent several hours outside!  Monday we went to the park, yesterday I exercised outside while the children played, and today I got downright industrious and worked on clearing out the muddy flower bed in the back of the house.  I got my clippers and snipped all the dried dead hosta sticks down to the ground, pulled up browned wire grass, and raked.  I was just getting warmed up when the children got cold, so we went inside. But it felt so good to get a little wintry gardening done!

Once we were inside I spent an hour or so painting the bathroom, which was sorely neglected during the holiday season. I am finishing up beadboard painting--almost done!--and am painting the mirror and a little decorative table.  There's a wall left to paint and the ceiling to do.  Then the plumber can come wave his magic wand....and I can wash my hands in there again!

It's the little things, you know!

Once Upon a Hill

Several years ago, before our daughter was born, my husband and I checked out a beautiful old 1912 house that was for sale (a foreclosure).  The location was so gorgeous.  I was rather smitten with it from the outside.

The house had so much charm, 

wonderful details in the woodwork, transom doors, like a gingerbread house,

with lots of potential in the awful, but sun-filled, little kitchen,

...and it needed an extraordinary amount of work.  I have always longed to renovate an old home, but I knew after our tour that this was not the time in our lives for this house. Interestingly, only a couple of months later I was pregnant with our second child, so it turns out my gut instinct was right. 

I am happy to report that the house was purchased, renovated and now looks--at least from the outside--so beautiful. One day I may gather up the courage to do a little door-knocking and see if I can get a tour of the new, improved home!

Snippets of Charleston

Poking around this old city never gets old to me. 

Little bits of beauty everywhere.

A New Year

I love setting New Year's goals, resolutions, call-it-what-you-will.  I do it every year when we are in Charleston, South Carolina after Christmas, and keep the list in the back of my monthly planner calendar.

I often set goals related to exercise or sleep, like most people probably do, and I also try to expand my definition of resolutions. This year a couple of my quirkier ones are--

*learn to can something....anything!
*sew a garment that I am fully pleased with from start to finish, for myself (I sew frequently, but I'm often not pleased with *something*)
*keep fresh flowers on the table
*try to do FUN things with my children every single day, whether that means staying home and playing together for a while in the afternoon or going to the park or somewhere else....I want to enjoy them, have fun and be fully *present* with them.  These years are fleeting!
*write every day--journaling is good for me!

Now, in order to keep that sleeping resolution, I'd better get to bed....

Etiquette Advice from the Dowager Countess

 "Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but awkward at a party."
                          --The Dowager Countess of Grantham

Downton Abbey has started up again and as usual Maggie Smith's dry and sarcastic sense of humor had me chuckling.  This is the quote of the week--a remark she made after a tense dinner involving a great deal of discussion on principles.

It reminds me of the advice I received as a teenager--in a new social situation never discuss politics or religion, because you may end up accidentally alienating someone!

Fresh Space and a Timer Tip

Today was a day for clearing-out! It's so satisfying to put all the Christmas items back into their labeled bins and stick them back on their shelves in the garage to await next year's holiday season.  We took the tree down and I removed all Christmas decorations from the interior of the house except for my children's small (faux) trees.  They will come down sometime after our daughter's birthday on January 9.

I also went through a huge lot of vintage Christmas ornaments my father-in-law dropped off at our house last Monday.  I chose a small number of the ornaments to keep--the most interesting, singular-looking ones (glass bells, glass stars!) which gave me a surge of joy when I saw them, then created a bag to give to my sister, and the rest are going to the thrift store.

And finally I orchestrated an ambitious decluttering and re-organizing of the main floor of the house. All three bedrooms were ruthlessly tidied--the children's rooms in particular needed a lot of help--and the other rooms were totally decluttered.  Tomorrow our lower floor gets the same treatment.

My tip for doing this with children around is to set a timer.  Spend a set amount of time cleaning together, and then spend an equal amount of time playing (sometimes I will play *with* my children or read to them, but more often I just let them play because they are now old enough to do so--with toddlers, it's best if you devote the entire time to interacting with them!).  It is amazing how much I can accomplish this way!

I love creating fresh space to usher in the New Year.  It's energizing and so refreshing.

Hostessing Again!

Hosting our dear friends for supper before a little gift exchange......this time our cozy winter dinner consisted of--

*pork barbecue for the bbq-eaters
*Parker House rolls
*kale-brussels sprouts salad
*roasted sweet potatoes & regular potatoes
*lemon icebox pie

I kept it very easy because today was fruitcake-baking day in my house.  Every year I make fruitcakes for my father from his mother's recipe (which was also his grandmother's recipe).  He loves them and I will never skip the tradition--even if I end up baking them late, like I am this year.  It's a classic, traditional fruitcake and the first year I made it I was only a few weeks from giving birth to our second child and I was unprepared for how epic it would be.  Now I am wise and start one day ahead to save myself the backache.

We had such a nice evening, with the children screaming wildly like banshees downstairs and the adults upstairs lingering over the meal.  We exchanged gifts and dear Allison gave me the softest pajamas, lavender dryer bags, lavender salt scrub and a glorious jar of lavender-rosemary dish detergent, which I cannot *wait* to use! We love to give each other gifts that are useful and luxurious--it's so nice to make everyday tasks more pleasant.

That's all the hostessing I will do until my daughter's birthday in early January.  We return from our New Year's trip on January 5th, and it will only be a few days until I pull together a little sparkly party for her.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner at my husband's aunt's house is an annual tradition and I always look forward to the wonderful spread of food she creates--the same dishes, basically, every year, and always so salty and unusual for us. This year I decided to try to do my best to record what we have.

*red punch (my favorite!)
*green punch
*this year, they added mocha punch--which was truly the only dessert I wanted or needed

*sausage balls
*crab meltaways (my favorite)
*chicken puffs
*little sandwiches: chicken salad, ham salad, egg salad....
*tiny country ham biscuits
*ham delights (a small roll, with poppyseed-mustard dressing, and ham and cheese, all melted together...)
*marinated mushrooms (my other favorite!)
*chips and dip
*shrimp cocktail
*meatballs
*new on the menu this year: a cranberry-jello salad
*oyster crackers
*cheese straws
*hot dog bites in a tangy sauce--I'm not sure what this is, b/c I never eat it
*this year my sister-in-law provided brie & apricot jam in phyllo cups

*prune cake
*coconut cake
*cookies: Russian tea cakes, 7-layer cookies, candy cane cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate cookies
*chocolate peanut-butter balls
*chocolate-covered pretzels
*spiced pecans
*peanut butter fudge  and chocolate-nut fudge
*and of course, little bowls of red and green peanut and regular M&Ms on various tables, which little fingers love to grab when no one is looking......

Usually we make crabcakes to take but this year my husband's aunt suggested that they had plenty of food and that we didn't need to bring anything. So I put a few rice krispy goodies on a tray and that was our contribution!!  Next year I think a crudite platter would be nice, because a nice foil to all that rich, salty food is the satisfying crunch of raw vegetables, so that's what I will plan to take.

What a delicious feast--I am so grateful for the hospitality they show--the food is not only delicious, but their house is decorated so beautifully for Christmas with trees, a little lit village, Christmas prints hung on the walls, special Christmas soap dispenser in the bathroom, et cetera.   After we eat we have our gift exchange; at Thanksgiving, his extended family draws names out of a hat and we play "Secret Santa!"  Last night I got two beautiful Root candles from my generous Secret Santa--my mother-in-law!

The Juxtaposition of Two Environments

"It makes an enormous difference if someone creates an environment for you to live in.  One person sleeps half the day, gets up looking like a half-dead duck, drags around with eyelids scarcely open, slurping coffee and leaving a mess all over the newly polished sink, leaves the bed unmade and a week of clothing in a heap on the bed, heaves a sigh and moans about what a drag life is, then prepares to sit and philosophize while you work.  What is the effect of this on you? Surely, you begin to feel tired, discouraged, irritated, frustrated, and hopeless.  Your own energy begins to ebb away.  You decide to put off the rush of getting your article written.  After all, you might as well go out for a walk.  And so one wasted, ugly life infects another.

"A second person gets up when the alarm goes off, or soon after, puts water on for the tea or coffee and helps to get breakfast, takes a bath and dresses so cheerily that you feel the sun must be shining and have to look again to realize the sky is still grey, makes his bed and clears things up so that you feel the urge to get to work soon, tidies the living room so that it looks better than it had been left the night before, and talks with an awareness and enthusiasm that gives you inspiration for your article and you feel there will be no doubt about getting it finished in time.  Both have pitched into work before the hoped-for starting time, feeling a surge of accomplishment and energy that seems to multiply the time instead of wasting it."

                   --Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

Nothing motivates me to avoid looking like a half-dead duck in the morning more than this passage! And for anyone who has lived with or visited with a person described in the former paragraph....you know what a joy it is to live with someone like the one described in the latter paragraph.  I'm glad to note that my husband is firmly in the second category and I appreciate that very much.  My natural inclination is to drag around with my eyelids scarcely open, because I am not a morning person, but I genuinely try to get up and at it in a cheerful, efficient way each day-thanks in no small part to the encouragement of Edith here.

Light and Glory

"For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel."  --Luke 2:28-32

A few photos of some gifts waiting to be opened this morning....these were all in our guest room, on the cedar chest my husband's grandfather made. I love wrapping gifts and trying to make them look nice with all the little scraps and bits I have.....

Merry Christmas!

A Peaceful and Quiet Christmas Eve

In the past Christmas Eve for me has often been consumed by lots of cooking and food prep, gift-wrapping, and houseguests. This year there was none of that.  Instead it was just the four of us, and we mostly seemed to lounge around just enjoying each other's company.  I helped a neighbor run an errand and popped into the thrift store (a new skirt! a bowl that matches some antique china we have!), and when I got home my husband was vacuuming!  That was a sweet surprise!  There was playing outside, hand-sewing an invisible zipper into a skirt and then finishing the waistband by machine, a bit of laundry, book-reading, Thai food for dinner (so warm, spicy and comforting), a relaxing hot bath, table-setting for the morning and an excited child who couldn't sleep...but he eventually succumbed just before midnight!

We've been very busy for the past two weeks so a restful and happy Christmas Eve felt like a gift.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Hostessing

In one week, I have hosted four different times!

Last Saturday we celebrated my sister's birthday with:
*roasted vegetable platter (cauliflower, broccoli)
*English fish pie
*gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate pie

--and used the cream-and-brown china, with the aqua napkins (flowers courtesy of my father).

On Sunday we hosted my in-laws for my mother-in-law's birthday.  We made:
*pork barbecue
*rolls
*purple cabbage-carrot coleslaw
*steamed broccoli
*roasted potatoes and carrots
*key lime pie cheesecake

--and used the white fine china with the Christmas linens.....

On Monday and Wednesday I did scads of Christmas baking.  On Thursday we hosted our neighbors for:
*salad "bar" (lots of toppings in individual jadeite bowls)
*spaghetti with meatballs and freshly-grated parmesean
*fresh foccacia kissed with pink Himalayan salt
*platter of Christmas goodies

--and used the jadeite, with no tablecloth (easy cleanup in case of spaghetti spills! five children between us, and all of them small....) and paint-dipped pinecones.

And on Saturday we threw a little Christmas luncheon for my grandparents featuring:
*chicken salad with pecans
*fresh Parker House rolls
*potato-onion soup
*buttermilk pie (my grandfather's favorite!) & decaf coffee

--and used the cream and delicate aqua-flowered china passed along to me by my husband's grandmother, set on top of a cream tablecloth with aqua napkins....so beautiful!  My centerpiece was a fruit bouquet my neighbor made and brought on Thursday evening.

Now I'm done!

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Chocolate Pie

I've made this pie twice now and it is a keeper! The second time I made it, for my sister's birthday, we topped some pieces with dollops of freshly-whipped cream, for those of us who are not dairy-free...and a few graham cracker crumbs from the crust.  There is, in fact, a pie underneath all that whipped cream. I promise!

I made a graham crust with gluten-free graham cracker crumbs and dairy-free 'butter'.  Then I followed the recipe for the chocolate filling. It uses pantry staples and no soy, and the chocolate flavor is dark and not cloyingly sweet, which I like!

For a completely dairy-free version, you could top with whipped coconut milk....

Sewing a Chapel Veil

One of my sister's Christmas requests was a chapel veil in brown.  She sometimes wears a veil to her church and had one in a pale peach, but wanted something that would blend in with her hair. 

I knew I could make it myself, so I hunted around and found these instructions.  I bought everything I needed at Joann Fabrics.  I bought three yards of the trim and used every single inch!  I made it a couple of weeks ago so I could give it to her for her birthday, which is in mid-December.

I sewed it while it was on the cutting mat, on the bed, so that the trim wouldn't slip and the lace wouldn't bunch.

The veil tutorial also included a link to a pouch tutorial. I realized that a pouch for the veil would be a great idea!  I sewed this pouch quickly--so quickly I overlooked the fact that I should have sewed the top over the bottom slightly, but that's okay. 

The exterior is heavyweight decorative toile.  The lining is made of old silk Pottery Barn curtains that began to shred as they hung on the curtain rod--I made Halloween costumes out of them last year, too! 

  I love learning how to make new things. 

In the Guest Room at Christmas

The chest of drawers and cedar chest were made by my husband's grandfather. The bed was made by a family-owned furniture company out of walnut many years ago; I inherited it from my mother. The little vintage choir people used to belong to beloved family friends, and my grandmother cross-stitched the picture of Drayton Hall in Charleston, South Carolina back in the 1990s because she knew how much I loved it. I made the curtains from vintage sheets I found still in their packaging at the thrift store. And finally, the print that hangs above the bed was the one that hung in my mother's room for years. And somewhere on the tree there's a crocheted angel my great-grandmother made.....

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Christmas Baking

The tree has been up for a couple of weeks and the house is decorated so it's baking time!

I always bake traditional fruitcakes for my father every year, full of gluten and butter (and many pounds of nuts and fruits, a dozen eggs, a pound of butter..you get the idea).

But for our own purposes I am baking a smattering of gluten-free, dairy-free goodies that I hope will carry us through to the New Year.  Here's the list:

Chocolate truffles (a must-have holiday treat for my son!)

"Reindeer Food"--a nightmarish concoction involving rice chex, powdered sugar, peanut butter, chocolate.....my son loves this stuff....

Chocolate hazelnut meringues

Peanut Butter Balls

Almond cookies

Rice krispy candy 

Last week I made the rice krispy candy.  Today we're whipping up the meringues and the truffles.  I usually make truffles beautifully with two ingredients: chocolate and cream.  This year I had to modify to make them dairy-free. We'll make everything else later in the week. 

If I have good luck with these recipes I will share them!  

Halloween Retrospective: My Favorite Porch

Beautiful simplicity!

(This is not my porch; my porch was laden with orange pumpkins from our garden and a variety of chrysanthemums.)