Coffee Tea Books and Me

Pantry Ponderings - The pantry lifestyle

2012-02-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

White wheat waiting for grinding...

I'm feeling better! Isn't it true that there is nothing common about the common cold? Yuk! I'm thankful the guys went through this first as I've followed exactly what they experienced.

Yesterday I thought I was going to die and today I woke up feeling well enough to write this post and clean out my yellow pantry... and not have to fall on the sofa. Of course, I will take it easy for a few days so I see a little more reading than usual in the near future. :)

Now, for the last post in this Pantry Ponderings series (I promise to do another later in the spring!). I get e-mails all the time from people who have that same "gut" feeling I do that another shoe is going to drop in the economy, perhaps worse than the crash a few years ago. (If you are an NCIS fan like me... and I know many of you are... you know that Gibb's "gut" feeling is always right on TV.)

Well my friends, I just read that there are gas stations here in my part of the Midwest that are now charging over $4.00 a gallon for gas!   I know we tend to be more expensive because we're not far from Chicago but it can't be long until we see this price throughout the nation.

I'm sure part of it has to do with what is going on in the Middle East but we can't forget there are refineries offline in the East. How do I know that? Because a big part of a pantry lifestyle is keeping an eye on what will cause food to skyrocket as well as possible shortages (which helps prioritize what one uses their stock up money for).

The easiest part of deepening the pantry is buying things and putting them on a shelf, especially if you have the extra money to do so. The real (and necessary) work takes place in your thinking and praying and doing.

For instance, when one lives a pantry lifestyle then we can translate news into possibilities... when semi truckers have had to pay too much for fuel in the past, what did they do? They parked their trucks!

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, what happened to food deliveries elsewhere? My dear friend in New Mexico (not exactly where one would think of hurricane preparedness) had semis diverted from her area to the Coast so her family experienced shortages when the shelves of her local grocery store were empty of various items.

When last year's hurricane hit Virginia, some there were prepared but who didn't think of preparing? The families who live far from the ocean in New England who experienced power outages as well as those who went through horrible flooding conditions (my daughter was without power for almost a week). I read many stories of empty grocery shelves.

Having a pantry lifestyle mindset helps to set your priorities for limited funds. As most of you know (and I have told you ONLY so you realize if I can stock up even a tiny bit then most people can)... after our Social Security check comes in, there can be no cash left at all. As careful as we have been with our budget, health issues drained our savings long ago.

We have to live on very little coming in but God has provided in miraculous ways. Our experiences have taught us SO much, though... the lessons learned from having to (as I've called it before)... live off the financial grid.   Forced frugality can be a very good thing, indeed.

It teaches you what days one of the grocery stores puts their packaged salads half price and what time of day another store slashes the price of their meat... all in excellent condition but near their sell by dates.   It teaches you to stop by Goodwill when you head for the grocery store or library... looking for specific clothing needs or 99 cent English teacups or expensive cooking/baking items at a fraction of their cost (even with increased prices).

Having a pantry lifestyle is far from living without... instead one learns how to decorate their home beautifully with thrifted items... how much better homemade cookies are than those in a package... how to get our vitamins in inexpensive food when we can't afford to buy pills... that a great mechanic is more valuable than any highly paid executive... that a great cookbook is worth the price if you get even one often used frugal recipe... that you can learn to sew, knit, crochet, mend, cook, bake, garden, use a pressure canner, etc.

Did this happen overnight? Oh, my... I remember how hard it was when I had to learn new ways to think and shop and plan and cook and just do... when I suddenly had more time than money (and at times... no money). I was a true Yuppie in the 80's! But I did learn...

So, if you have that "gut" feeling things are not right with the world and the squirrel-ish feelings of stocking up are prevalent... if you find yourself drawn to books about frugal living and wartime England and America in the Great Depression... you are not alone.

Just remember this... God is still in control even if it seems the world has gone mad at times. (I think they're putting something in the water in Washington... but that is only my political opinion.).   I am absolutely certain that God is in control!

Just do what you can with what you have. Even an extra box or can or package here and there works. Reading a book or blog link about living life in difficult times... it all helps. Keeping your eyes open for grocery bargains works. Stopping by the thrift store or Goodwill when in the area, anyway... it works.

Learn to do and make and think before buying. Develop skills. Talk to likeminded families.

Trust your gut... or to be more ladylike... listen to that still small Voice. ;)

Picture: Wheat in the two containers I keep it in to grind and use for fresh bread.

A little tweaking of the house

2012-02-27T19:59:00.001-05:00

A view of the artwork I'd mentioned earlier...

I do hope to write that "last" pantry post (last only for this series) but I'm still spending an enormous amount of time on the sofa. This cold/bug does not let up easily... but the sun will come out tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are pictures of a few little household projects I accomplished pre-cold symptoms.

I needed space in the linen closet where I keep some vintage items so I stacked everything together in a basket and it now sits on one of my vintage suitcases. I'm not sure it will stay like this for long but it is pretty to look at in the meantime.

The corner shelf has been in my stack of "to be repaired" since before we moved here. It didn't need much done to it, really. I've been waiting patiently... but then one day I decided I'd waited long enough and I had an idea how to hang it without my husband's fixes.

I purchased a package of sticky thingies at Wal Mart, the package that says each one holds 9 pounds. I put three of them on the back and stuck the cabinet onto the wall.

Sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do, especially when said project has been taking up space for years and years (and years). I love how nice it looks.

Sometimes it just amazes me how little prayers can be answered quickly. I was recently thinking how this corner table needed "something" and I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Soon thereafter, I noticed the cranberry glass shown above at Goodwill as my eyes are always scanning for "all things red". I thought it perfect for the buffet until I arrived home and realized it looked even nicer... and it was just what I needed... on the corner table.

I figure as long as interior design is God inspired, I can't go wrong.

Someone asked about this artwork now hanging in my family room. It hung in the kitchen until recently.

It's not a Tasha Tudor print, it's actually three prints by at least two different artists (the mat covers up the third signature) and it was sold at Christian bookstores with the title "Ask, Seek, Knock"... way back in the 1990s.

It was another one of those last minute ideas which caused the change in artwork... but I think it looks nice in the family room.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-02-26T18:19:00.000-05:00

This past week I have spent a great deal of time on the sofa, pondering life. All of it. Including eternity. It's a good thing I don't have time often to ponder eternity for my finite mind soon developed a headache which only two Migraine Strength Excedrin could conquer.

I thought about Abraham as I'd been pondering his journey last week. When God called him out of Ur towards "a city", he had no idea he would not locate that city in his lifetime. He kept going on his journey... never perfectly and sometimes sinfully... but he didn't give up.

Was God playing some heavenly game with Abraham? God knew the city He was leading him toward would not be found on this planet. Was God just leading Abraham along with amusement because He was bored?

Of course not!

The city was his destination but as we learn about Abraham... we come to realize the journey with God... toward the city... was what molded and shaped him into the man of faith he became.

We are amazed at his amount of faith when he offers Isaac back to God (knowing God would raise him from the dead if necessary, or so the Word tells us). This is a far different man from the person we met on his way out of Ur.

What was the difference? He had walked with God through all the hills and dales and deserts and oasis and rabbit trails and Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah and lying and cheating and doing things his way and then believing.

I am absolutely certain there were times Abraham had a little chat with God which went something like... "You called me out of the comfort of Ur for THIS?". I know because I've had that same conversation with Him... only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

In some ways, He has caused my boundaries to be in pleasant places. He has not asked of me that I suffer completely. For instance, I love my small-ish house at the edge of a forest which He provided... a miraculous mortgage offer... and a house I loved that we could afford.

But other things in my life, the little and not-so-little foxes which nip at my ankles... some will be with me a lifetime. The challenges and the difficult relationships and the fears to be conquered.

The grief over those gone and the missing and of those here but far away. The desires of the heart not received... yet. My life not what I expected at all when I was younger.

But through the years I've learned Abraham's secret, how he went from Liar to Legend. How God could promise him a family as big as the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach? Abraham learned God's secret.

What we see is not all there is.

The City truly does exist. Some answers are on the other side. Someday we will walk in that City whose asphalt is made of gold. Illness will all be gone and with it poverty and loneliness and exhaustion and war and weeds and things that go bump in the night.

The journey is just getting started on this side. What did C. S. Lewis call this life at the end of The Last Battle? The Cover and the Title Page of the story? When we begin to see life from an eternal perspective, the journey begins to make a little more sense.

What we become... who we are when we are presented to our Father... that all comes from the journey. He is our destination.

Picture: The Word of the Lord Endures

Coughing and sniffling and sneezing

2012-02-25T12:41:00.002-05:00

The aroma of Basil Scented Mrs. Meyers.... lovely.

I've started a Sunday Afternoon Tea post. If my mind clears enough from all the sniffing and sneezing, it will appear tomorrow.

Thankfully, this is only a mild cold so I've been able to keep up with the essential housework like doing the dishes. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing that can't keep awhile.

Friday evening was quite pleasant with a D. E. Stevenson book (Shoulder the Sky), British comedies on "the telly", Candy Cane Lane tea in a little pot with the blue cozy, and a kitty curled up at the end of the sofa who refused to nudge whatsoever.

Victoria in a snit and hiding after being naughty... she has a new thing for getting in the trash.

I threatened her with the D.O.G. word, you know... "Man's best friend" and all that. She didn't look at all concerned. Her only confusion came when it was far past midnight and the mistress of the house was still reading. Miss Victoria does not understand how one can sleep away the day and not be sleepy at bedtime.

Feeling a little better

2012-02-24T09:34:00.004-05:00

I will write another pantry post but in the meantime my world consists of...

Fluffed up pillows on the sofa
Favorite magazines and reading glasses
Fiction
Nonfiction
Vicks Vapo Rub
A British flick here and there
A Maine Coon kitty

Both the guys are feeling much better today... there is hope.

Taking it easy

2012-02-23T14:39:00.000-05:00

Some of you have already responded to the redecorating I did on the blog this morning. I was waiting to take Christopher to campus and well, I had some time to use and since I didn't feel like doing any puttering around the house... I managed some pixel rearranging.

I should change the blog look at the last minute more often, I love the way it looks and I found that Colonial Williamsburg looking background in the Blogger background offerings (but it wasn't called that, of course).

Christopher had a make-up Latin exam this morning and that makes the last time he'll have to stay at the house for early morning tests until mid-terms. Since he is on cold medicine, it was especially important to be here where he knew we would wake him up on time. :)

Since I had to be on campus, I stopped by the library to check out the last in the Karen Kingsbury series hubby has been reading. He was very glad it was available as he is still quite ill and not able to do much but read.

I also made a stop at Kroger to pick up fresh ginger to make ginger tea. I'm pulling out all my natural healing recipes this winter.

I can't complain, as one having an impaired immune system... I've been relatively healthy this winter. Just the usual sinus stuff for the most part until this cold hit. My friend, Linda, has been quite seriously ill this winter. It has been awhile since we've been able to meet for coffee or tea at her house (she doesn't know country roads well enough to drive here without her hubby).

My mother-in-law had been a surgical nurse before marrying in her early 30's. She would often tell us the "old timers" (that being older than HER generation) always used the phrase "warm winters fill the grave yards". I can see how that was possible before the days of modern medicine.

I want to write one more pantry post tomorrow... at least one more for now. Not one more forever! By the way, I almost forgot to tell you what president was picked the most by viewers of the newscast where I heard the question "What President would you want most to share a beer with?".

I hate beer (my German lineage father is turning over in his grave, I am sure) so I made the question... What President would you want most to have coffee with in front of a fireplace? I didn't catch the very last numbers from the newscast but they already had pretty much a tie towards the end of the day... George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Back soon... God willing and the creek don't rise.

Pantry post links

2012-02-22T15:44:00.003-05:00

I should have known with two sickies here in the family, I would catch their cold... achoo, cough, cough!

So instead of struggling to make my brain work thinking of writing something new, I give you some pantry post archives.

A few of these go back to 2008 and 2009 but I think the information is still good.

Some links to past pantry posts:

The Winter Pantry... here

The Hospitality Pantry 1... here.

The Hospitality Pantry 2... here.

Basic Pantry Items (baking)... here.

Basic Pantry Items (non-baking)... here.

A great stocking up article from the 1990s... here.

Added Note: The Comments on these posts have valuable advice, too. :)

Picture: Attractive Housewife in Modern Kitchen (that really is the name...)

What president?

2012-02-21T19:51:00.002-05:00

Well, I had planned to do more writing this week but as Cheryl (Copper's Wife) says... "Hold your plans loosely".

Both the guys have been sick and we had Christopher and Miss M. over for awhile last night. Christopher received another award (something like "Outstanding Student Entrepreneur" for the work he has been doing designing Apps for smart phones and the iPad) so Miss M. came to town to attend the reception with him.

I went into town this afternoon to purchase a rotisserie chicken (lemon pepper) to make chicken orzo soup for dinner. My sister-friend BeBe taught me years ago that rotisserie chickens made delicious last minute chicken soup!

Christopher decided to sleep here tonight for homemade soup and a cozy sofa... and a TV! Just what the doctor ordered I'd say to help get over this cold.   He can do some of his homework while watching TV.

I'm a stern believer in homemade chicken soup and losing oneself in a book, DVD (especially something British), or a mindless TV program to help the body heal.

So... I'll write some more about Pantry Ponderings soon... maybe tomorrow?   I am enjoying your positive feedback, they are more like having tea and conversation together than past Pantry Posts but it is so much easier for me to chat about deepening the pantry that way.

Which brings me to the subject of ummm... tea and conversation. One of our local news channels had a question on President's Day yesterday, asking viewers what president would they most enjoy having a beer with.

Well, I would reword it and ask what past president would you most enjoy chatting with in front of a fireplace with a hot drink. I'll tell you next time who received the most votes on the news channel.

As for me... that would be really hard. For a recent president, I absolutely adored Ronald Reagan. I remember saying many times when he was president that I felt a wise grandfather was in charge of the country!

On the other hand, I'd love sitting down with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams... are perhaps all three Founding Fathers? I mean if we are going to have one back, couldn't we have all three?

Of course, there's also John Quincy Adams... he's fascinating!

I guess if I could choose only one of them, it would be Thomas Jefferson. Which would probably surprise my family but Jefferson was such a Renaissance man!   I would enjoy hearing about all of his interests. He was not only a gardener but one of our "Founding Foodies". :)

So, which American president would you most love to chat with?

For my British friends... sorry about bringing up that little altercation of the late 1700s. ;)

Picture: Prayer at Valley Forge (a print of this lovely painting is in my living room) We fondly call it "George".

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-02-19T04:00:00.000-05:00

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the summons to go out to a place which he would eventually possess...

For Abraham’s eyes were looking forward to that city
with solid foundations
of which God himself is both
architect and builder.

Hebrews 11:10 Phillips translation

I was recently curled up on my living room sofa reading when... for some reason... I found myself admiring the pretty wreath which was a "picked out by me" Christmas gift from my husband.

The room looked lovely as the light of the setting sun was reflected through the window. For a moment, I was overwhelmed by it all and the phrase The Beautiful Ache came to my mind. It must have been planted there at some time long ago in my reading.

I've had those same feelings before... a few years ago, we were on our way home from New England in October. As we traveled through the forests of Pennsylvania and Western Ohio, the sun was shining in such a way the color of the leaves seemed to glow.

I felt that Beautiful Ache as I thought my finite body could not handle such amazing Beauty. I was breathless and certain I would perish from an overflow of praise to God for His creation! How could one say there was no Creator when viewing such Beauty?

In both instances, I longed for the Day when all will be made new just as the Word says "even the rocks and the trees call out" and "all nature groans" as we await Perfection.

The older I get, the more my mind ponders all things Heavenly and Eternal and Beautiful and Perfect. I sense more than ever that Due North destination and it encourages me on the journey of life, which can be difficult at times.

When I was a fairly new Christian, I remember a famous preacher putting down those who sang the songs of Heaven. He taught that we should have enough faith so this life is good instead of longing for that which is to come. Somehow, even as one who had not walked with the Lord very long, I sensed this could not be correct.

The famous "Faith Chapter" of Hebrews 11 tells us some in the Faith Hall of Fame (as the chapter is often called) received their promises here and others went to Eternity before receiving their promise. Just as Abraham searched for that city "whose architect and builder is God".

Somehow we know in our heart that we live in the Shadowlands. We sense there is more, we long for more, we are a dissatisfied people who cannot become full or get enough of anything outside of Him. We are aware of our fragility and our finiteness.

We have sensed this is just the down payment... a little glimpse of that for which our soul longs. I understand those songs of the church about Heaven, so often sung in little churches throughout the world by those in the midst of despair.

Perhaps it is only in a country of abundance that a preacher could call singing the songs of Heaven a lack of faith. For only when one is warm and dry and comfortable and well fed does one cozy up to this world and never want to leave it... that is if one knows the Savior of the world.

One of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes comes from his book Mere Christianity... "If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world".

I would say when our finite bodies and minds are overwhelmed at the best this world has to offer... yes, indeed... we were created for another world and we gladly sang the songs of Heaven where that which is The Beautiful Ache becomes as normal as walking on streets of gold.

Artwork: He Shall Hear My Voice... this exact picture hangs in my dining room. :)

Beautiful day!

2012-02-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

Why is it we don't notice a frame is crooked until we see it in a picture?

It's remarkable how lovely the weather has been here, much more like late March than February. Somehow I'm pretty sure there will be equality somewhere... hopefully not with one hundred degree temps on summer days. A meteorologist on a local TV channel is fond of saying "Mother Nature balances everything out eventually".

Next week I will continue Pantry Ponderings and respond to some comments. For instance, a commenter this morning mentioned that the "just add water" pancake mixes do not have a long shelf life.

That's very true and that's why I only keep two or three small boxes on the shelf and rotate them regularly. I have a lot of information about really deepening the pantry on my links that are always available on the sidebar but the real secret of a deep pantry is rotation. I'll talk about that more later, too.

I don't use Bisquick or anything similar after reading they can contain unseen mold as they age and that people with severe mold allergies need to be careful (both my guys have severe mold allergies). I thought it was an "old wives tale" until I researched it at the time and there were instances of people with such mold allergies getting sick.

Of course, this was only when products far past their "use by" date on the box were eaten. I only use Bisquick (and similar products by other manufacturers) for a couple recipes that I don't make often and making my own at home is very easy. I have a book called Make-A-Mix that has excellent do-it-yourself mix recipes but I've also seen such recipes in other cookbooks.

Anything with baking powder as an ingredient has a short shelf life. There are oils which store better than others, too. Do feel free during the Pantry Ponderings posts to comment with your knowledge. It was on one of the past pantry posts I found out Crisco CAN go rancid... but again more about that later.

So many commented about the Brambley Hedge pictures! I love all the Brambley Hedge books but many of them are going out of print (as soon as I found out Stephanie was expecting my first grandchild, I started ordering Brambley Hedge books... ten years ago).

Along with The Wind in the Willows and the Peter Rabbit series, they are my favorite children's books.

The book shown in the pictures is The Complete Brambley Hedge which is out of print and prohibitively expensive at one time. I place such books on my Amazon Wish List and keep an eye on them to see when the price lowers. When there were a few available for $20.00, I ordered one with credit for my bookshelves.

This past week, I've been perusing the book just to enjoy the pictures but the stories are so charming. There appears to be a pattern in my best loved children's books... talking rodents?

Pantry Ponderings - Brand name pantry goodies

2012-02-17T12:08:00.002-05:00

No one keeps a more beautiful pantry than the folks at Brambley Hedge

Today is Show and Tell as I want to share some items I keep in my pantry that are premade and shelf stable. Usually when we think of deepening the pantry, our thinking is towards buying in bulk or at least ingredients we put together for meals.

I do realize great savings can be made in making our own mixes and such but I've come to appreciate some of these premade items over the years. Especially since there are now only two of us at home.

While I use Uncle Ben's converted brown rice most of the time (stores better than regular brown rice, which I also use), I do like having the quick version in my pantry. A friend gave me the box of instant brown rice and I've been keeping it for just the day I will need it. Other similar items like couscous make for a quick side dish that is pantry friendly.

I use the Krusteaz Honey Wheat mix all the time for pancakes and the Casbah Hummus mix was given to me to try. Mixes like these where you just add water are also great to keep on hand for emergencies. (I've seen the regular buttermilk Krusteaz mix sold in large containers at Wal Mart.)

I make my own hummus most of the time from canned beans, tahini, etc. but I do love the idea of pantry friendly shelf stable mixes. As a side note... I just saw recently where making your own hummus at home instead of buying the container at the grocery store can save you as much as 90% of the cost.

Having shelf stable milk products on hand have saved me more than once in the middle of baking! I would remind you, if you are keeping products such as the Borden milk shown for baking, make certain you purchase at least 2% milk. Many baking recipes are much better when made with 2% or whole milk!

The Coconut Dream will be used in smoothies and the Tazo Chai is actually Christopher's that he didn't use. I will never turn down Tazo Chai... yum.

Most of my cake recipes are made from scratch but I always try to keep a few different mixes on hand. I keep pie fillings not for pies... but to mix with the cake mix for delicious cakes. There are all kinds of recipes online for mixing cake mixes with pie filling, pumpkin, canned fruit, etc.

Of course, they can be used for... cakes and pies. ;)

I know these are just a few items from my pantry (which is not all that deep right now!) but I'm hoping they spark your imagination for pre-made shelf stable products for your pantry.

Here's another look at my favorite pantry pictures. I love the Brambley Hedge books!

This page is technically a kitchen instead of a pantry but it still makes my heart sing.

Note: My friend, Mrs. Rabe, shows how to make the homemade laundry detergent on her blog... here. The "recipe" was requested in the Comments section a couple days ago.

Pantry Ponderings - Keeping a quick list

2012-02-16T19:48:00.000-05:00

I was hoping to write an indepth post today but I ended up being away from home this morning and then (finally) tackling two decluttering projects all afternoon.

Victoria helped me as I worked on the two center drawers on the hutch, hubby thought she did a very good job of telling me where to put everything. I would have snapped a picture of her sitting in the bottom drawer but she was between me and the camera. :)

There were many great comments to yesterday's post and I have a feeling we will continue to learn from more comments. I only have time to respond to one this evening and that is perhaps the most important... should people spend money stocking up.

I'd never tell anyone what to do if they felt God told them differently but I can assure you any money spent on deepening your pantry and stocking up will reap great rewards as long as you do it properly (as in making certain things are stored correctly, purchase only what the family will eat and use, etc.).

I've mentioned before that I felt strongly we should deepen the pantry a lot more than usual before Y2k. I didn't know if anything would go wrong but I definitely believed we were to "stock up" so we deepened our pantry further and even purchased all the books we needed the following year for homeschooling.

A very good friend of mine felt God only wanted her to stock up as usual (she always keeps a good pantry) but she and her husband felt they were to buy a generator. As it turned out, we went through a year of unemployment and had the food and other necessities we needed and her family moved within a year to a place where they regularly needed a generator!

For a very small amount of money (compared to what is spent on cars, furniture, houses, vacations, etc.) one can deepen their pantry and have extras of essentials that will give back huge rewards if needed. I'll talk more about that later...

One thing everyone can do right now that is so easy and costs nothing... keep a tablet or paper on which you can write an item whenever it crosses your mind that is something you need to have in your pantry. This was something I felt very strongly that God wanted me to do even if I don't have money to buy much "extra" right now.

I have long had a basic list of essential grocery items that I needed (or wanted) in my pantry but when I started keeping this list... when I ran out of something or it crossed my mind... I came to realize there were many items not on my essential grocery list that I wouldn't want to be without.

As an example, just this week we have begun to have a problem with ants in the house (normally a late spring challenge each year) and I don't have ant poison in the house! So, ant poison went on that list I keep on the frig... where I write down the items that I need to 1) purchase and 2) put on the main list.

It doesn't cost anything but a few seconds of time but it may be a lifesaver someday. Of course, it is very important to have a well thought out list of essential grocery items which serves as a base to your pantry.

To read the comments on yesterday's post... go here.

Picture: Cookbooks and Apples: allposters.com

Pantry Ponderings

2012-02-15T10:51:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I started a series called Recession Ponderings (the link to them is on the sidebar). I think it is a good idea to start a conversation and call it Pantry Ponderings and I'm sure your comments will be just as valuable as anything I can say. :)

It has been in the back of my mind for awhile but a conversation this past week with my good friend who lives in New Mexico brought it from "perhaps I should" to "yes I will" status.

We first met on the emergency preparedness site where I was an administrator in the 1990s (many of my very best online friendships started there with some becoming "sister friends"). So you must understand that we both have leaned toward the TEOTWAWKI mode (The End of the World as We Know It) for decades. Blame it on growing up in the shadow of "The Bomb". ;)

Anyway, we started talking about the increase in the cost of gas and how that affects our food prices (not to mention how the crazy weather in some parts of the country caused increases in cost). Then I brought up what is going on in the Persian Gulf right now and she wondered if the nation as a whole realizes what would happen if (and some experts are saying "when" not "if") there is even a minor confrontation.

Then the cost of gas will sky rocket and everything affected by oil... which is just about everything these days... will first become more expensive and then will probably result in shortages as it did in the 1970s... and worse if it turns into a full scale Middle East war even if the United States and Europe are not directly involved.

How can one just chat away for an hour over doom and gloom predictions? Well, we've been talking about such things as deepening the pantry and preparing for emergencies for eons now... since the world was in the cooling stage. Okay, not quite so long but long enough.

We aren't afraid for two reasons, the first and most important being a deep and abiding trust in the Lord. We are both firm believers that we are living in the exact time and place in which He planned. We also have been through a lot of stuff through the years and we've seen Him provide miraculously.

The second reason is also what we have learned, that developing a pantry lifestyle and preparing the best we can with limited funds available... helps us to face whatever God allows in our future.

Neither of us can have the very deep pantry we did years ago but we have the next best thing (perhaps even better in some ways)... we have experience. Both of us can go into the kitchen on any given day and whip up dinner from what is available. It may not be steak and a locally grown salad but we can add herbs and spices to make it tasty.

We both have learned how to do so many things ourselves instead of paying others to do them as circumstances forced us to stay with the program through the difficult learning curve days. Our lessons were different in some ways as she lives on a homestead in the desert and God once placed us just a few miles from Metro Detroit (where we lived on 9/11!).

I was pondering this idea of experience being as important as say... stocking up... this morning after stopping by the grocery store. I passed by the refrigerated aisle that contained premade sandwiches and such when I saw a bag of eighteen (18!) hard boiled eggs which had their shells removed.

I was curious about how much they were asking for the eggs and was quite shocked to see a price of $4.99... for 1 1/2 dozen eggs!

Now, I do understand that many of the people who would shop in this store are most likely two career couples who need fast instead of frugal. I've been there myself so I feel their pain of time restraints. But I also know how very difficult it was to change from buying mode to doing mode when the money became an issue.

Soooo... I plan to do a few pantry posts for awhile even if it means going back and reviewing some past posts.

By the way, so many readers asked why I don't participate in some of the fun tea time events on other blogs (many I read and enjoy) but it is for this very reason. I used to take part in such links for tea time and books and other "close to my heart" subjects but Coffee Tea Books and Me jumps all over the place... it is about my entire life!

My numbers would jump by a lot and then plunge within a week as I went from tea time to deepening the pantry and then to books and taking a few days for decorating and then showing off pictures of grandchildren along with chatting about my cat and my family... etcetera.

So now I just write about my life and stay in wonderment that anyone reads at all (it has to be the pictures of Miss Victoria!).

Oh... this question always comes up when I do a pantry post... no, I am not a Mormon. They have great preparedness information, though!

Picture: Housewife Checking Points for new Rationing System

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T11:47:00.002-05:00

We were awakened to a Valentine's Day snowfall... very pretty. While there are some serious housework chores awaiting, I did give Miss Victoria a good brushing (her favorite treat any day of the year).

I can't think of anything better to do once the housework is finished (well, it is never really finished) today than peruse some favorite books about Beautiful living.

Isn't this a charming teacup? I have had it so long, I don't remember where I bought it... but I'm thinking it was a garage sale.

These are two pictures on my kitchen bulletin board. The one on the left was taken soon after we were married.

The one on the right (obviously) is one of our wedding pictures.

My Valentine's gift to Hubby? I've promised to help him install a set of shelves in the very, very cold garage. It's one of those projects which takes an extra set of hands. Once complete, it should help to do to really get the garage organized.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-02-12T04:00:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the start committing to each other

By His Word and from our hearts

We will be a family in a house that will be a home

And with faith we'll build it strong.

Now to be a family, we've got to love each other

At any cost unselfishly

And our home must be a place that fully abounds with grace

A reflection of His face.

We'll build a household of faith

That together we can make

And when the strong winds blow it won't fall down

As one in Him we'll grow and the whole world will know

That we are a household of faith.*

Recently I was foraging through a large box that holds old pictures for a montage I was putting together in the hallway, I came across a picture of my mother. In it she was sitting at a kitchen table sipping coffee and deep in thought. It was just as I recalled her so often and I missed her all over again.

As I was remembering her, I thought about how much she is loved in spite of her imperfections. Actually, it was the same part of her personality that I loved which also encouraged some of her less than desirable decisions. They brought me great unhappiness at the time as she sought security in a disastrous marriage after my father died.

But now... looking back through the years... I know the difficult times in my youth are exactly what drew me to the Heavenly Father and I hold nothing against my earthly mother (who was and always will be dear to my heart). The older I get, the more I understand her flawed reasoning.

All of this started me reflecting upon my own parenting years. While Christopher and I enjoyed our belated Christmas lunch this week and chatted about all sorts of things like his classes and the foreign policy of Ron Paul... the path to our close relationship was rather rocky at times.

I recalled a prayer I threw up to God over and over when Christopher was a little boy. No, not the accusation toward Him that He was absolutely insane to give me "this boy" in my 30's (aren't you glad He is a patient God?). I mean the one when I asked Him to keep the boy out of prison and me, too... as there were days I wanted to strangle the kid.

Anyone who has raised an ADHD child knows exactly the emotions of which I speak. To a lesser extent, they were the same emotions raised within as Stephanie (about age eleven) decided to verbally dispute everything I said. Thankfully that stage was short lived and her teen years were a delight (as I should mention were my son's).

One of the images from my past... burned into memory... was a car ride with my mother as we drove from the small town where we lived into "Town". I was in my early teens and had become quite lippy about something when my mother... somewhere close to the narrow bridge which used to cross the river... pulled the car over and told me if I didn't shut up, I could get out and walk.

Now, you must understand. My mother didn't use the term "shut up" loosely and she was extremely over protective so even the thought of walking into town alone was appalling. I don't recall what I said or did but whatever it was, I obviously was not the perfect daughter.

Which brings me the realization that perfection is not something God expects from us when He gives us children (whether birthed or through adoption). He knows in our humanity we will have good days and bad days.

Just as we are patting ourselves on the back for our amazing words of wisdom in dealing with one child, we find ourselves blurting out the most hurtful of statements to another child in a moment of exasperation.

I used to wonder about the difference between my childhood (fraught with death, despair at times, and uncertainty) and my husband's (who had the security of home and a stable income).   One would think it was such a childhood as mine which would bring a lifetime of emotional confusion instead of his.

But one day as I was thinking of my parents, I realized the answer.   With all the faults and all the trauma and all the uncertainties of my childhood... I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was loved and that they "had my back". My husband and his siblings always felt they were conditionally loved and somehow never measured up to expectations.

Love truly does... as the Word says... cover a multitude of sins.

I learned from my mother that there are times we can make really, really bad mistakes when parenting.   We will wonder at the end of certain days how our children can ever grow up to love us, much less love the Lord and serve Him... as we live lives so far from what we desire to show our children.

But as we do the best we can and always direct our children's attention to the One who IS PERFECT, it all comes together. We find He is teaching us as we raise the next generation. We can rest assured that as we pray for His wisdom and truly seek to be the best parents we can be, it will all turn out well in the end.

Now, as the days of hands on raising of children are behind me... I see how He took all the good and the bad and the beautiful and the ugly and the imperfections... and when offered up to Him... created a beautiful family. Never perfect, of course... but good.

I should say here, though... I have friends who were good parents with children who have "gone prodigal". I'm always reminded that Adam and Eve lived in perfection and still chose the prodigal path. Sometimes all we can do is pray and trust God as those we love go down a challenging path... and remember to love them.

Now, let me tell you about my adorable grandchildren...

* Household of Faith, lyrics by Brent Lamb & John Rosasco, recorded by Steve Green

Stalking Victoria

2012-02-11T10:04:00.000-05:00

I took some magazines out of the vintage suitcase, looking for a particular article. I guess Victoria thought it was to make room for her since this is where I keep the old Victoria magazines. ;)

The "aren't I pretty" look.

The "I'm staying here whatever you say" look.

Her "pretend the camera is not there" look.

The "I am not amused" look.

The "maybe I shouldn't have sat on that pillow" look.

Hubby calls her "Big Paw" but I think her paws are beautiful.

The Super Bowl on Downton Abbey

2012-02-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, I'm smitten with Downton Abbey! When I saw this, I just had to share it... so funny.

Fine dining with my kids

2012-02-08T18:56:00.001-05:00

I didn't get anything done today except for making a memory. The older I get, the more important I realize laying aside everything for memories is indeed the most important thing one can do.

Christopher called yesterday to tell me one of his classes had been canceled and asked if Wednesday would be good for him to take me out to lunch. He'd given me a pretty candle for Christmas (I love candles) but my other gift was "lunch out" to a really nice restaurant Downtown.

I think you know how much I love eating at really nice restaurants and how seldom I get to these past years. Although I had things to do today, everything was set aside for a mother-son lunch.

I picked him up on campus and later dropped him off just before his next class.. bravely making my way through the bumper car route they call campus streets. It was the only way we could work our special lunch into his class load (which is brutal this semester). We made our way Downtown and found a parking place in between two one way streets, behind the restaurant.

I'd never been to this place before, a very high end gourmet type establishment. But we went to the part of it which was a little more casual (I had dressed up but not THAT much). It is so much fun getting waited on by real waiters and while this section was casual, it was still beautiful and the prices very reasonable (which is why we agreed to "lunch out").

Christopher ordered his favorite three sushis and I ordered a shrimp stir fry... knowing we'd each share a little with the other. We both love sushi and his father never acquired a taste. Even when we'd bring home California sushi and assure him there was no raw fish in it. But then again he also doesn't share our love of Indian food, either. He is the poster child for old fashioned Midwestern cuisine.

As I've mentioned so many times, I love it when I eat at a very nice restaurant and take home an idea for my own kitchen. That being from the shrimp stir fry where everything was chopped quite fine instead of in the usual larger "chunks". They even served it with a tea spoon!

The sushi was excellent, Christopher and I tried to figure out which we liked best but each was so unique (spicy California sushi, cream cheese California sushi, and Boston sushi) that it was hard to choose. I must admit sushi will not be something I try to make at home although I think Victoria would enjoy the Boston sushi.

It was quite amusing that while I was talking to Christopher, I checked my cell phone and I had four messages from Stephanie... all telling me about the new recipes she was trying for lunch. :)

It was a few years ago, the last time Stephanie visited here, that she took me to a very nice French Bistro "Downtown" for a girls night out. I'd wanted to try it for ages. While I had a lot of fun with Christopher, there is something about going out to such a place with another cook that is an experience on its' own as we tried to figure out how the various dishes were made and what secret ingredients were being tasted.

Of course.... it was a recent (September) girls night out in Colonial Williamsburg when she gifted me with a gourmet dinner-cooking class. We both agree that it was the nicest of evenings.

Not to mention the special Tea Time when "we girls" went to the tea room in a nearby town and I enjoyed champagne strawberry soup for the first time. What fun it was seeing Faith and Elisabeth as they tasted each new tea sandwich and yummy dessert. It won't be long when little Miss Anna will be old enough and there will be a Mother, a Grammie, and three little girls making Tea Time memories.

This evening I sit typing away on the laptop with dishes undone and a house rather cluttered. But that is just fine. Tomorrow I can clean and declutter and cook dinner and think about the garden and write e-mails and snail mail and all that needs to be accomplished.

Our family has gone through some dark times and desert experiences but when I look around now, I thank God for bringing us through it all so that our "boundary lines are in pleasant places". I am so thankful my favorite people on earth are also called Family.

Picture: Girlfriends Lunching; allposters.com (some posters are no longer available)

Spending some time reading

2012-02-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

I know... there are e-mails and letters waiting for a reply and cookies to be made and a load of laundry to throw in the wash and all kinds of other places for my time and attention (not to mention a high maintenance Maine Coon).

But we've been under a cloud of fog (literally) for a couple of days now and all I want to do is cozy up and let my mind wander or just sleep. I can assure you this weather is making me drowsy because I fell asleep watching Dante's Peak yesterday! Not only did I sleep through loud special affects but I woke up at the time I'd planned to serve dinner. Fortunately, I had made chili ahead of time and only had to warm it up.

I was still wide awake late last night when Christopher texted me from Miss M.'s house, asking if it was foggy at our house (wondering if he could make it home safely as it is a long drive). Then receiving a call not too long afterward to pray for his safety as it was not big trucks on the dark narrow highway causing him problems... there had been no less than three deer running out on the highway (this time of year?). He did make it back to his apartment safely. But I digress...

Perhaps it is the Wuthering Heights weather outside or the dark shading inside (much like an old black and white movie) but I decided to spend a few days reading. I don't know why I feel decadent reading in the middle of the day. I don't feel that way when I take a break and watch a TV show... but reading? I suppose it is a hangover from all those years in which the only time I had to read was late at night.

I picked up The Gentleman's Choice (George MacDonald) but A Severe Mercy was sitting next to it, as if to remind me I'd set it aside and it definitely needed my attention. While a beautifully written book, "Mercy" is not an easy read.

But I decided indeed it did need to be finished in its' re-reading and I am so glad I did. For in my first reading so long ago, I remembered mostly the sad-obsessive at times- love story and the fact the book is all about the death of a loved one. But this time... this time I was captivated by the middle of the book which is about their years in England and their coming to know Christ at Oxford. I also came to see another side of C. S. Lewis I hadn't before, from one who knew him well.

If you have struggled with A Severe Mercy, go to Chapter IV (Encounter With Light) and read the chapters about their Oxford years. I think I especially enjoyed it because they read books I love and in some ways it reminds me of my teenage Jesus People years when we would sit for hours upon hours talking about the things of the Lord (which were so new to us).

I loved this paragraph where he writes about being drawn to Jesus but not ready to admit He is the Son of God, yet...

"I might not have admitted it, but I was coming to love the Jesus that emerged from the New Testament writings. I had impulses to fall on my knees and reach out to him. I suspected that all the yearnings for I knew not what that I had ever felt... when autumn leaves were burning in the twilight, when wild geese flew crying overhead, when I looked up at bare branches against the stars, when spring arrived on an April morning... were in truth yearnings for him. For God. I yearned towards him. "

I must admit to my sweet friend who has been encouraging me that I must "read MacDonald" that I am also enthralled with The Gentlewoman's Choice (the title of the book in which Michael Phillips has modernized the English from the original Scottish Weighed and Wanting). I can see why even C. S. Lewis was so highly influenced by his writing.

I once tried to read a nonfiction book by George MacDonald that had not been "translated" so to speak and I must admit giving up as the old Scottish English was not easy to read. I'm so thankful to Michael R. Phillips for translating all these books.

There is a stack of books vying for my attention on the coffee table in the living room. I leave them there that I want to read soon. Then there are those stacked on bookshelves which are next in line... until I pull another off the shelf to look up a phrase or a paragraph and find myself reading it an hour later.

Sigh... there is that whole finite thing again... wanting to do so much but finding myself living within the margins of 24/7 days.

Picture: A Good Book; allposters.com (some posters are no longer available)

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-02-05T10:33:00.000-05:00

Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

My recent ponderings were brought about by a fifty-cent country rag-style angel. The one shown above. I almost didn't buy it as I wondered what people would think as such items are no longer in vogue, even among those of us who love "country style" decorating.

But then I started thinking about such things and and wondered why we have this "self talk" in the first place. Who cares if someone who visits doesn't like my angel... it is after all my kitchen. Some people have kitchen witches, I have a kitchen angel! I smile each time I see it.

I find myself not listening to the "self talk" that much, anymore. However, it was a big deal when I was younger. It's the same talk that says I can't combine English Country with American Primitive in my living room or that I shouldn't leave primitive Christmas items out all year even though I love them, not to mention they look good.

I've learned to be very careful through the years about who influences my "self talk". Most thinking doesn't hurt anything as it has to do with decorating or fashion or cooking... and is more about style than anything else. I once stopped using garlic powder in recipes because a famous chef said it is terrible and it took years to realize he was wrong!

But "self talk" influenced by others can be horrible when it becomes a prison and causes us to be manipulated by those whose personalities are more powerful than our own. Especially when the said opinions or about the "gray areas" of Scripture of how we should dress, our family life, how we educate our children, what media we watch or listen to, what we read, etc.

We all must have discernment, of course, and stay away from that which defiles. It is important to study the Bible and have good teachers as well as mentors. This is essential to our growth in Christ. But there is a difference between mentoring and controlling.

I've been around such people whose strong opinions made their way into my "self talk" and without realizing I was in bondage to what another person believed. A good teacher and mentor will tell you to "study to show yourself approved" and come to your own conclusion.

Just recently a Bible teacher whom I usually respect did an entire series putting down a famous Christian astronomer because he believes in an "old" universe. I've seen some of the materials this astronomer has made (including an amazing account of how there has to be a Designer-Creator!) but because of one point of theology... this Bible teacher used a lot of precious air time just to put down another Christian.

It becomes very dangerous when a person doubts the salvation of another because they disagree with their theology or opinions. It is one thing to choose to dress modestly myself but another to think the woman who wears the low cut gown cannot possibly be a real Christian... or to say one cannot be saved because they "read that book" or "watched that movie" because we all are at different places in our walk with God!

What does this have to do with "self talk"? Because we can take on what another person says as our own reality and become in bondage without realizing it. Think of how many times you have heard of a young person who thinks of themselves as ugly or stupid because of a passing statement.

My own husband and his siblings continue to have emotional problems due to words spoken by their parents... untrue opinions which became their own "self talk". After awhile, they could not separate fact from fiction.

That's why the older I have grown, the more careful I am about who affects my "self talk". I wish I could remember whose book* it was that talked about Philippians 4:8 and our mental health. They said they have learned to filter their thoughts through that verse, starting with "Whatsoever is true".

There is a reason we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5...

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing

that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,

and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

KJV

*The book was Loving God With All Your Mind by Elizabeth George.

February morning light...

2012-02-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

February light is usually an oxymoron where I live but this year it has been beautiful.

One good thing about sunny mornings in winter when you live at the edge of a forest... the sunshine makes its' way into the house. :)

Because you asked...

2012-02-02T12:40:00.000-05:00

Well, bread is rising and laundry is drying and dishes are soaking... so it is a good time to post some more pictures. Today I want to answer some of your comments and questions.

The Calendar...

Here are more pictures from other months. I love how Stephanie put it all together, the pictures were all taken when we were at Colonial Williamsburg except for December... which you may recognize as the tea room we girls visited. This is the nicest of gifts!

Today is Elisabeth's actual birthday!

David my Hobbit

Matthew the adorable

Anna who is just like her mom at that age!

Faith aka Tigger

Tea time!

Other Questions

I find Mrs. Meyers products at the Wal Mart in town. This was the first time I saw their Seasonal scent offered there (Pine for Christmas). I also can purchase 7th Generation there and I often use their Lavender scented dish soap. Since I do a lot of dishes by hand, this is one place I budget the money for pure products!

Yes, there is a George MacDonald book on my current reading list (on the sidebar). A sweet friend sent me The Gentlewoman's Choice long ago! I pulled it off the shelf to make certain it was placed in my current reading stack. I'll start reading it in a few days.

I do still love Downton Abby. There are a couple scenes in the first one or two episodes of the first season that one must overlook. So far the only scenes perhaps not suitable to watch around children in the second season are war scenes (which, from what I have read about WWI, are actually quite tame).

Stephanie reminded me that part of the continuance of the first season into the second is that they all are paying for their bad decisions... very true! Another thing... I thought the daughters quite unlikeable in the first season and I love how they are changing for the better (so far), especially as the war affects their lives.

I do still enjoy my Keurig machine very much, it is hard to believe I've had it over a year now (it was a Christmas gift). However, we do not use it as our primary coffee pot even though it makes delicious coffee. We still use regular ground coffee in the drip coffee maker for our morning coffee (I make enough that we each have two cups).

Keurig K-cups are rather expensive when not purchased on sale. I look for sales and then use the Keurig when we want one cup of coffee in the afternoon as well as for unique items like seasonal coffees and the Cider cups. Yum... I also received K-cups as birthday and Christmas gifts... another yum.

Haven't read Gaudy Night but it is on my Amazon Wish List for future credit. Will look up the Julie Klassen books! I also love the Inspector Lewis shows on Masterpiece Mystery, which take place at Oxford. Although it would make one think Oxford is the murder capitol of the world. ;)

I have always had sinus "issues". It comes with living in my part of the Midwest. That's when a tropical island with low humidity... and temperatures which hover around 72 each day... and a beach... and yummy non-alcoholic drinks with little umbrellas... and gentle sunshine... all begin to sound really good.

For a long time I had a cartoon on my kitchen bulletin board of a woman at the beach stretched out in a lounge chair with an umbrella over her... and a bookshelf beside her on the sand. Hubby told me, "That is SO you". ;)

Recent thrift finds

2012-02-01T10:46:00.003-05:00

The pretty spoons were just a couple of dollars for six of them.

I love it when Beauty meets my budget! These spoons added interest to the "still life", the other three spoons reside in the twin crystal goblet which sits to the right of the silk flowers... I like symmetry.

A 99 cents Japanese teacup

Pretty teacups are not always easy to find cheap but the one above was at Goodwill last week. I carried yellow roses at my wedding so I have a soft spot in my heart for the flowers.

Another 99 cents beauty...

This German teacup was sitting next to the one shown above. Actually there were a lot of teacups that day but these were the only ones that came home with me as each offered a unique aspect to my collection.

I have other teacups with red roses but not one with the lovely creamy background (which you cannot see here due to the flash). This is a gorgeous thrifty find.

I found three of these Friendly Village teacups at my favorite antique mall where I love to take a few dollars and think about thrifty decorating. The antique mall does have expensive items but many of the stalls also sell budget friendly accessories.

They were quite inexpensive because they have those spider web cracks vintage china can get... which doesn't matter to me since I wash all dishes by hand.

Snowman 49 cents, crocheted potholder $1.00

The yellow potholder also came from the antique mall where one can find very pretty vintage accessories for only one or two dollars (the red crocheted potholder was a gift).

I do enjoy showing thrifty finds because to me it proves when you look for inexpensive ways to bring beauty into your home, your eye will be drawn to them.

I also get inspiration from other blogs when I see an item used in a way I hadn't thought before and I add it to my mental shopping radar.

January Domesticity

2012-01-31T16:29:00.000-05:00

A far too familiar scene

Before January slips away into the history books, I thought I'd share some domestic scenes from the house...

Pine scented bubbles thanks to Mrs. Meyer's

Hot Apple Cider K-cups on sale... a very good thing.

Waiting for tea time (Splenda in the sugar bowl)

A custom made calendar from my daughter

Thrifted snowman who wanted to come home with me

Oxford in my dreams

2012-01-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

Those who know me well know how much I would have loved studying at Oxford, or visiting Oxford for a season, or just once to have sat in a corner of the Eagle and Child pub absorbing the atmosphere.

Two of my very favorite young writers know exactly what it feels like.

Sarah Clarkson is studying at Oxford right now. One of her blog posts is... here.

She also writes about her new experiences at Oxford over at The Rabbit Room... here.

Last fall, Lanier made a video of herself chatting at The Eagle and Child for The Rabbit Room, along with beautiful prose... here.

I'm not jealous, no not me... why would anyone think I'm jealous? Do you think this shade of green looks good? The shade is called envy green. ;)

Actually, I am so happy for both of these exceptionally talented women to follow their own dreams.

Alas... for those of us who must experience Oxford through reading...

I highly recommend the memoir Surprised By Oxford by Carolyn Weber (another very talented writer!). I have come to know Carolyn just a little and she is just as charming and nice in person (okay, through e-mails) as I thought she would be from her writing.

Then there is the fiction series by Melanie Jeschke called The Oxford Chronicles. I have read through these twice! The titles are Inklings, Expectations, and Evasions. Long time readers know I've recommended these books a number of times.

Added Note: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken also has Oxford as a background part of the time.

As for me... I am still chipping away at gotta do's. A friend came over Saturday and helped hubby fix our washing machine. I went to the laundromat last week so I don't have a lot of clothes to wash but Christopher called to say he is bringing over his load (I am glad I can help him in this way). :)

The very last stack of Save the Date cards were addressed and stamped and placed in the rural mailbox this morning... to make their way to various towns soon. I don't have a lot to do for the wedding itself, there will be invitations to address and send within a couple of months.

However, Stephanie and I are catering the reception so I must start practicing my culinary and decorating skills soon. As you can tell from her cupcakes and cake pops... she has come a long way and will be difficult to catch up with (and I was the one in the family who wanted to be a pastry chef!).

As I've said before, you will be able to tell the mother and sister of the groom as they are the two ladies covered with flour and sugar!

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-01-29T04:00:00.000-05:00

I was going to repeat a past Sunday Afternoon Tea but decided to write about my past two weeks instead. Writing helps clear out the mind.

There has been a perfect storm of out-of-the-house appointments and errands, pre-wedding busy-ness (looking up addresses and sending out Save the Date cards), writing deadlines (for a wonderful new project), and a sinus infection... and a broken washing machine.

Most of my days are do-able. I present a mental or physical list to myself of those things which must be done... those which should be done... those I wish I could do... and a few fond dreams here and there.

Most days at least the must be done items are mostly done. Some days there are some shoulds and wishes accomplished. Perhaps even a dream once in a blue moon.

But this past two weeks... oh, my! I have felt the burden of undone lists weighing upon my shoulders and waking me up in the middle of the night. When the undone includes those things you want to do and love to do and always try to make time for... life becomes burdensome.

I think such scenarios bother me to the extent they do because they remind me of my finiteness. Mankind and Womankind were originally not created to know what it is like to live in finiteness. Little did they know what was meant by "if you eat this you will certainly die".

What did we inherit from our original father and mother? Finiteness... and all that comes with it.

Thankfully I can hum the words of one of my favorite songs... I Can See Clearly Now. Although I am not a superstitious person, I think I will stop and knock on wood or something.

It looks like the storm of extreme busy-ness has gone out to the ocean leaving behind a whirlwind of papers and laundry and clutter and ideas and unanswered mail and sinuses still on Benedryl.

But the winds of undone lists are no longer blowing through my head and the rain of guilt pounding the windows of my soul is almost stilled.

Although I think it is always there... as a little drizzle reminding me that I live in 24/7 time.

Today I will rest in spite of the inner nudging of the To Do list. It is, after all, Sunday. God... who did not need to rest on the 7th day... was the loving Father who showed us the wisdom of working six days and resting the one. I have to think His To Do list is a lot bigger than mine.

Picture: Afternoon Light by Susan Rios

Cake pops and birthday parties

2012-01-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

I have an entire day before me when there is nothing scheduled, nothing at all... except a quick trip to Menard's to return the plumbing items which were not needed. I guess that is something. But I like going to Menard's. ;)

Yes, my sinuses have been giving me problems. I have been SO nauseous with this crazy weather, not to mention my head pounding at times. Taking Benedryl all day helps a lot but can make one drowsy. The non-drowsy formula doesn't work as well for me. Christopher took two Benedryl on Tuesday evening and slept for sixteen hours, missing his Latin class!

It's not uncommon in the Midwest to have up and down temps but I don't remember the last time it was such a roller coaster ride for weeks and weeks... and weeks.

I have some writing which must be done, e-mails to answer, snail mails still waiting, soup to get started, and cup cakes (or cuppycakes as Cookie Monster calls them) to bake and practice icing with the pastry bag.

All of which need long periods of home time. It's looking like that is going to happen now... God willing and the creek don't rise! That's how I can accomplish more with a chronic illness. When I'm away from home a lot, I'm often too exhausted to even think by the time I get back and I'm afraid a blog post would look something like... io#rhi opa*etel.

Birthdays were always a big thing at our home but Stephanie surpassed my efforts long ago. Some readers know she has a degree in Interior Design from the University. I love how she uses her God given talents to make her home a special place to live (and visit!).

In her post, she shares about Elisabeth's party but also what she has learned about making cake pops... here. I wish I had been there!

I really am here!

2012-01-25T15:09:00.002-05:00

Just popping in to tell you I'm alive!

Gosh, life has been way too busy. I spent the weekend working on wedding plans (addressing and stamping Save the Date cards), yesterday morning I was at the retinal specialist's office for hours, and we had plumbers here today.

Combine that with what this up and down weather is doing to my head and I have not had time to write.

The picture above is of the cupcakes and cakepops Stephanie made for Miss E.'s birthday party. I'll put a link up to her blog when she writes about it. She's hoping to write very soon.

She uses that vintage-antique ironing board as a buffet table! I think it's adorable...

Picture: Stephanie's house... link to follow soon!

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-01-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

"You would watch him reading the phone book!" That is what my family has said about my affection for Chef Jacques Pepin. I'm afraid it is true as I was watching him cook fish and I don't even like fish very much (with the exception of breaded and fried catfish!).

However, this past week I was watching his new PBS series called Essential Pepin and had a Eureka moment which led to today's ponderings. I was remembering the discovery long ago that the food I enjoyed in fancy restaurants was no different than what was sold at my neighborhood grocery store... mixed with techniques which could be learned.

What followed was the addition of cookbooks and cooking lessons and many (many) delightful Saturday afternoons perusing my favorite gourmet store in Saugatuck, Michigan. This was all B.C. (before Christopher) when there were but three of us... a Mom, a Dad, and a delightful little girl.

When Stephanie and I experienced the amazingly wonderful cooking class-gourmet dinner at Colonial Williamsburg, the chef had begun his cooking career at one of the favorite restaurants in Michigan which inspired my love of cooking (what a small world!).

So, what does all of this have to do with my week's ponderings? Well, when I was stretched out on the living room sofa with a fluffy kitty and a cup of coffee (for it was the early morning hours)... I was thinking how life is a lot like that. We are all given basic gifts and it is what we add to them, how we use them that creates something lovely... or not.

Jacques was making the most delicious looking dinner with a monk fish... a fish who in the water has a face only a mother could love. I mean, this is one ugly fish. But when prepared properly, it is delicious (I have cooked it long ago with a recipe called "poor man's lobster").

Sometimes my circumstances remind me of that fish. Sometimes they are not very pretty. But it is what I do with those circumstances that creates a life that is lovely or one that looks a lot like that fish... just ugly.

It is my choice to take what I have with Thanks. To accept unexpected gifts with love as if from Him. When I can't do what I want... I thank Him for what I can do. When the money doesn't stretch to cover all desires... I thank Him that I have what I need.

I am His creation and the work of His hands. Jesus is that Master Chef... only He can use the ingredients set before Him to create a person worthy of presenting to the Father. It is when I stomp my feet and whimper and wail and snivel and have a fit that I tie even the eternal God's hands and he cannot create within me something of Beauty.

He wants to create within me: Love... Joy... Peace... Patience... Kindness... Goodness... Faithfulness... Gentleness... and Self Control (Galations 5:22-23).

While I cannot always choose my circumstances, I can choose how I react to those circumstances... and I can make a mess or a masterpiece. I think I'll take my lessons from Jacques and turn the ugly fish into a gourmet delight.

Come Saturday morning...

2012-01-21T10:59:00.001-05:00

Do you remember that song? "Come Saturday morning, I'm going away with my friend..."?

It is one of those when you get it in your mind, it stays there all day. Um... sorry about that.

Anyway, I wanted to show you what Saturday morning was like in my world today. We had a mixture of snow and sleet.

The first picture I snapped with only my hand and the camera out the front door. Brrrr... The above picture was taken when I went out to see if my newspaper had made it out to the country.

My neighbor's farm looked lovely in the snow!

Not a lot of traffic, is there?

Miss Victoria was able to watch her favorite TV show this morning.

It is called Wild America.

She especially loves the show when it is about birds,

in this case duckies.

She needed a closer look.

After such a frustrating hunt, she is now stretched out on the back of the sofa getting a long deserved snooze.

A probably partial list of favorite books in 2011

2012-01-19T11:06:00.000-05:00

A corner of my living room

Since I never found the notebook where I wrote down everything I was reading, I had to depend on going through last year's blog posts to get an idea of favorites. I know I missed something!

I am not including any books I re-read. It was interesting skimming through the posts of summer and autumn as I read less and what I did read was mostly re-reading.

That included the time period from the month of the lightening strike and subsequent gas leak until we were able to get some resemblance of "normal" a few months later. I think my brain was fried, along with the house!

Favorite books are listed from the beginning of the year through to December. You will notice that most of the fiction favorites I read last year are not listed.

I needed old friends to re-read instead and everything on this list are those I read for the first time. I also did not include cookbooks or gardening books.

Fiction

The Twelfth Imam (Winter) and The Tehran Initiative (Autumn) by Joel Rosenberg
This is Joel's newest series of end times adventure novels. Basically... imagine The Twelfth Imam appears to have returned, Iran gets the nuclear bomb, and America is under attack internally.

I don't know why I've always had a thing for "the end of the world as we know it" disaster movies and books but I do.

Vittoria Cottage and Music In the Hills by D. E. Stevenson
Imagine a story set in a small English Village and continued (for one or two of the characters in the previous book) in Scottish farmland. Charming story... believable characters... took me away from it all for awhile.

Henrietta's House by Elizabeth Goudge
Henrietta's dream is to have a house of her own where everyone she loves most can be together. When her friends and family get together for a birthday picnic for Hugh Anthony, most of them end up lost in a new part of the woods where adventures and magic (Narnia magic so to speak) happen.

Non-Fiction

Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathon & Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds
Excellent biography which is mostly about the marriage and family life of the Edwards family but also gives the reader insight into pre-Revolutionary War New England.

I came away wanting to know even more about Jonathon Edwards and his teaching. I also realized why it is said there would have been no Jonathon without Sarah (which meant in her role as wife and mother, she helped to start the famous revival called the "first Great Awakening" in America).

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Ann (of the Holy Experience blog) writes the story of the tragedy in her life which led to her being a self described "mess" and then the simple action God had her take to bring healing and joy to her life. She shares how we can do the very same simple steps to bring joy into our lives. Ann's prose reads like poetry.

Walking On Water: Reflections on Faith & Art by Madeleine L'Engle
In this book, Madeleine shares very personal insights and experiences regarding what it is like to be a Christian and an "artist" (in her case, a writer). A book which reminds us we are created in the image of a creative God and we were meant for "art".

The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons by Amanda and Stephen Soule
A lovely little book with pictures and a lot of ideas to show how we can enjoy each season as a family. The book offers many ideas for teaching our children about living closer to nature, crafting, cooking, etc. I skipped the pages about teaching children to meditate, otherwise this is a book one can enjoy reading off and on all year.

Where Women Cook, Celebrate! by the editors of Where Women Cook magazine
This is kind of a cookbook because it has recipes and kind of a book about cooks and kind of a book that tells us how different people hold parties and celebrations. But mostly it is a book filled with fun, letting us peek into the lives and kitchens of all kind of women. I read this book now when I need to brighten my day.

Surprised By Oxford by Carolyn Weber
This is a wonderful book! I loved it so much I had to write Carolyn to tell her. It is the story of a young woman (that being Carolyn, or "Caro" as she is known to friends) who gets a scholarship to study for a graduate degree at Oxford.

It is the story of her life before Oxford, her journey to Christ, the people she met along the way, and her insights and experiences at Oxford. The book is a real autobiography that reads like a novel. I know so many like minded people who would love this book.

Now... I must brew some tea and enjoy watching the snow fall outside my window. In front of me are household chores to do, cooking, dishes soaking, wedding preparations, and a couple snail mail letters to write. I may take a nap instead. ;)

Tea time with Friendly Village

2012-01-18T10:12:00.002-05:00

It has been a long time since I gave the subject of tea time the attention it deserves. It is almost false advertising to keep it part of this blog's title. :)

However... I had to take pictures of a recent solitaire tea time. The small plate really was there for a purpose, to hold a slice of homemade chocolate chip pumpkin bread. But it was so pretty, I took a picture without the bread!

So many people who also love Friendly Village said they use it through the winter, I started doing the same thing. I usually just used it in the autumn and for Thanksgiving. It would also be pretty for Christmas.

Can you see why it reminds me of my neighbor's barn?

I'm really enjoying Season 2 of Downton Abbey. There were one or two scenes I could have done without in the first season but I love the way they brought everything together even though this season takes place two years later.

Each time I see the actual house, I can't help but think it looks like a smaller version of the castle shown on the brown transferware pattern of Old British Castles (which I also adore).

Sigh... I think I need therapy.

A quick followup to MLK, Jr. day...

2012-01-17T16:31:00.001-05:00

Friends don't have to look like us. :)

Feeling literally under the weather today! We were awakened a few times last night with heavy storms going through but even then I was surprised to see the tornado warning icons on the TV screen this morning.

Temperature is dropping all day with snow to move in soon. It is not nice to do such a thing to my head. Yuk... Thankfully, I was able to bake two loaves of chocolate chip pumpkin bread as promised hubby and I'm turning leftover meatloaf into shepherd's pie for dinner (cheating and using instant mashed potatoes but no one notices in this dish).

Just dropping in to add a little to yesterday's post. My husband once asked me why I admire Martin Luther King, Jr. so much. I know he was not a perfect man or minister but my family has a Southern tradition so I grew up knowing racism while it kinda' passed hubby by as he grew up just outside of Chicago. He certainly saw it as a soldier in Viet Nam.

I remember when I saw the first African American person as a child, washing windows at J. C. Penney's. We had just one or two African American students in our large high school (large after three counties were incorporated into one school). It wasn't until I was married and lived near the University that I began to meet people from all races.

But I grew up with... talk. Talk I didn't like. Talk that disturbed my soul. I know there was a huge difference in this country regarding race before and after MLK. I may not be very fond of our current President but I'm thrilled a person of color can hold the office in the same lifetime as one who remembers growing up with... talk. Stupid talk... and pictures of colored only bathrooms and water fountains and sadly... churches.

Racism is far from over, I don't think it ever will be on this side of Eternity for it even fills the Word of God. Mankind doesn't trust men who don't look like him... same for womankind. But it is a lot better than it used to be.

Because we live near a large University, with one of the highest ratios of foreign students in the country... we have a little bit of Heaven on Earth. How? Well, the Bible tells us there will be represented every tribe and nation so we may as well learn to get along now.

For an excellent book about living with racism and overcoming it, I highly recommend Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary, Family and Me. I enjoyed this book very much.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

2012-01-16T09:42:00.001-05:00

I remember... first John Kennedy. I think everyone my age can remember where they were that day (I was in elementary school). It was the only time I remember seeing my father cry. Then it was Martin. Not too long afterwords... Bobby Kennedy.

The world was falling apart.

(Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States.)

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-01-15T14:55:00.000-05:00

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame,

and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

This past Christmas season, I met a friend for coffee at Starbucks. She is a young nurse from my church and I was her Senior project (my medical condition is rare enough to make an interesting project).

She's a lovely young woman and we both agreed it had been too long since we'd seen each other. We chatted about what was going on in each of our lives. I was thinking of her again recently because of her comment that I always appear so calm.

I had recently watched a Joni Erickson Tada video (a gift from a lovely friend) where she talked about suffering bringing about faith and trust and... calm. When I told that to my young friend, she thought for a moment and said it was also true of her husband who is a cancer survivor. He rarely lets anything bother him.

I don't know, perhaps sometimes the calm is a "deer in the headlights" reaction to life and those of us who have suffered are more than a little shell shocked? But I don't think that it is it... I think we have had a lot of the bad stuff of life thrown at us and lived through it to see God miraculously at work to bring us out of the deep pit.

Not always with perfect restoration nor a lack of scars. Chemo therapy left her husband unable to have children so part of our Starbucks' chat was about their decision to begin adoption proceedings. (She married him knowing the affects of chemo.)

As for me... my world shrinks a bit more each year as the affects of chronic illness brings with it a world of lack (energy, finances, etc.). I wake up tired. There is so much I want to do but some days even the necessary lags behind. I take advantage of good days to get ahead on gotta do's and wanna do's.

None of us get through this journey without scars to show we've walked the path in a fallen world. As I am constantly reminding my husband, just became it seems as if someone never has a problem in the world does not mean they don't. (Sometimes he has a tendency to think no one has had it worse than him... a tendency of those with melancholic personalities like him and Eeyore.)

When we set our eyes upon others on the journey, we will see those who are better off and those of whom we could (if allowed) look down upon and speculate as to the cause of their unanswered prayers.

Neither is the way we are to live... we are to set our eyes on "the Author and Finisher of our faith". He knows just what to allow in each life.

That is how we stay calm in the storm... when the waves are crashing and the wind is blowing and we can hardly catch a breath because of the winds of adversity... He is calm. He's already seen it all and done it all and overcome it all.

Nothing we are going through has surprised Him. We keep our eyes on Him and we can walk on the raging waves toward the goal without going under.

There is a lot of speculation going on among Christian ministers and the secular press as to what 2012 will bring about. Most of them tend toward the doom and gloom side of the fence but there is a difference.

Those who are keeping their eyes of the Lord may have times of uncertainty and perhaps moments of panic but when we place our eyes back on Him and not the storm... we find that "peace that passes understanding".

I believe the Bible tells us God places us where He wants us... when He wants us... and with the people He wants us to travel through this life. He hasn't made a mistake even if I would love to live in Colonial Williamsburg.

Whatever this year may hold, or the next, or the next... we can rest assured He has it in His hands and we can remain calm. I know there will be tense moments (like when the roads are icy and a loved one is late getting home) but mostly I will be keeping my eyes on Him and seeing His peace to keep on the journey.

Picture: Girlfriends Lunching

This and That

2012-01-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

It would be nice to discuss books and such in overstuffed chairs by a fireplace, sipping seasonal tea. Instead I can only respond via blogdom... sigh.

So pretend we're sharing a cup of tea and a scone while chatting and I'll talk about some comments.

Regarding A Severe Mercy, when I first read it I thought the couple too totally immersed in each other, also. It was so sad knowing how much they loved each other and that she would die fairly young. Having lost my father suddenly as a child, I am very sensitive to writings about death and all.

However, I view it differently as I read it now. I think Vanauken is sharing what a special gift their relationship was from God. It was also interesting how Lewis would have a similar experience... loving one so much and losing them after too few years (from a human standpoint).

I must admit now concentrating my thoughts more on how they came to Christ and their time at Oxford with Lewis and the others. I must read Sheldon Vanauken's lesser known (to me) works... someday.

Regarding Laine's Letters... her main website still exists. If you go... here. The directions about what to click to get her Letters archives, the This Week in My Home archives, and her Recipe archives are at the top of the homepage. I believe what no longer exists is the archives of her mailing group.

I have three file folders of Laine's Letters print offs, mostly printed out as they originally came in over e-mails. I would print them off and then save them to enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea, or something nice and cold in hotter weather.

However, I also took days (one summer I was not busy with homeschooling) and perused all of her letters and "In My Home" e-mails and printed out favorites I didn't have already.

You can still sign up to receive her letters on the website but she only updates every few months or so. They did eventually adopt their little Chinese daughter although it took a few years of disappointments.

Spending time in the archives (beginning in the late 1990s) is time well spent for anyone who loves reading about making a home, good cooking, serving others, etc.

The first Stevenson books I read were the Miss Buncle books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. A lot of people really like her Mrs. Tim books. My very favorite, though, was Vittoria Cottage and the sequel Music In the Hills. I thought Vittoria Cottage a very charming book.

There are many Goudge and Stevenson books yet to read! One of the wonders of reading is the ability to escape to a kinder and gentler time (albeit a world war is rumbling in many English books).

I am so glad my Italian Friar friend (say that three times) Freddie is writing again... here. He is constantly in my prayers regardless but I do enjoy reading about his work for the Lord.

The wonders of Blogdom is bringing us together in this world. :)

Someday there will be no time or space between those of us who love Him... in our various different ways.

I started collecting tea cups long ago, most likely inspired by Emilie Barne's collection in her books and then receiving my first English teacup from a friend at a church we attended long ago.

My brown transferware dish collection began as my tastes changed a bit and I found myself attracted to earth tone colors more. My mother loved to wear and decorate with the color brown, perhaps it makes me think of home?

Vee was right, when you begin to collect certain items... your eye begins seeing them more often. I've been fortunate to live in areas where there were numerous garage sales, thrift stores, and antique malls (which are often easier on the wallet than antique stores can be).

I never intended to actually collect books... they just come home with me as stray animals would if I lived farther out in the country.

For those of you thinking of blogging... stop thinking and start doing. My daughter encouraged me to start blogging and now I'm in my sixth year (and cannot believe it has been that long!).

Believe me, Blogger is a whole lot easier than it was when I first began... when it would often happen that one would write a long post and have it go "poof" (although I did have that happen recently with one of the Decorating posts just before publishing it... gasp).

A little more book talk

2012-01-13T09:54:00.001-05:00

As mentioned yesterday, I have begun re-reading The Dean's Watch by Elizabeth Goudge. It is tied with A City of Bells as my favorite... at least until I re-read Pilgrim's Inn (which was my first Goudge and one always remembers their first love).

I have other Goudge books on the shelf which have not been read and I look at as one would enjoy brightly wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree. I wonder what they hold within.

Someone (I'm sorry I forgot whom) mentioned in comments about reading one of her children's books and how it seems so many wonderful books written for children that adults love are at least forty years old.

I do think Lewis said it best when he said (my paraphrase) that it is a great book one enjoys as a child and at age fifty. One would call Henrietta's House a children's book but not I. I am planning on ordering Goudge's I Saw Three Ships with credit (Stephanie read it to the kids and loved it) and I was given a copy of The Little White Horse, which sits on my To Read Soon stack.

I must admit that many "kid's" books are among my all time favorites. For instance, The Wind in the Willows is magical (Narnia magic) at any age and so is... the Narnia books. I first read A Wrinkle In Time as an adult and it added an entire new dimension (pun intended) of book love to my life. I love the Time books!

But I also thoroughly enjoy the re-reading of my favorite books. Which is why I am re-reading two right now (one I completely forgot about yesterday, how could that happen?). There is something about re-reading favorites that is all warm and cozy, especially when one needs something comforting and familiar.

I say comforting with a book such as The Dean's Watch for with the larger books, when one re-reads we find something new all over again. Then there are those times... especially in the midst of a hot summer when I need to read something quickly... that I love to re-read the lighter books.

It is at times like that when I will slip one of the paperback cozy mysteries I enjoy (especially books like Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries) into a picnic bag along with something cold to drink and a snack.

Then there are those books I have read since my younger years and they seem to change with the years. Of course, it is not the words on the books which have changed but the reader.

For instance, the other book I am re-reading is Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy, perhaps one of the most beautiful books ever written (in my very humble opinion). I read it the first time not too long after the publication date and when I was still a young wife. I thought it a wonderful book but dreadfully sad.

Now, as I read it in my grandmother years... I see mostly the beauty of the book and not as much the sadness. It really is filled with Narnia magic as it includes the author's relationship with C. S. Lewis.

I love to read other people's book lists where they write down their essential books for people to read... especially those coming from people whose Christian walk I respect. It is not surprising A Severe Mercy continues to pop up on those lists.

I think the one book I have re-read the most since it first came out is Catherine Marshall's amazing book Christy. While the short lived TV series was quite good, if you have not read the book then you are missing a great novel (based on the real life experiences of Catherine's mother).

When I first the novel, I was a teenager and about the same age as the young Christy. In my imagination, I could see leaving all behind and going boldly into the mountains to teach! Through the years I related more with others in the book and now just the thought of walking the mountains leaves me breathless. ;)

I think of Christy when driving through the Eastern mountain ranges. When I first read the book, my only experience with forests were the kind I live near as well as those my family drove through to reach Mom's relatives in Northern Kentucky. They are thick with trees but not as described in Christy.

Then hubby and I spent part of our honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains where Christy went to live (although staying in the city of Asheville, North Carolina) and have driven through them since and they are breathtakingly beautiful.

But I really thought about the mountains Christy would have known when driving back from Virginia this September and viewing miles upon miles upon miles of forested mountain ranges... no wonder there were mountain people who had never seen towns!

That's one of the wonders of literature, I feel as if I have lived in those mountains! In my mind I have walked the cobblestone streets of English villages, felt the sub-zero cold of a Russian winter, melted in the Amazon heat, been cold and hungry in a Chinese prison just for being a Christian, and road canoes down the Wabash with French traders... sigh.

Have you ever given thought to the wonder of imagination and books? I believe they are God's gifts to those of us who must live out our lives in finite bodies. :)

Recent reading

2012-01-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

The copy I read has a different cover

Most of my reading these past few weeks were books I've already mentioned... those I re-read at Christmas. Although I do have to admit, during the Holidays I tended to watch more than I read just because I enjoy the plethora of family friendly movies available.

However, there were a couple new (to me) books I read during this time. I think I mentioned Henrietta's House by Elizabeth Goudge, which my dear fellow book-loving friend Kristi sent me (she was instrumental in my coming to love D. E. Stevenson books and encouraging my admiration of Goudge).

It is "kind of" a sequel to my beloved A City of Bells. The story of Henrietta, her friends and family, and eventually her house in the woods is one of those fantasy adventures that leaves one thinking that it could be real. At least to those of us who talk to our cats and look for fairies behind flower bushes. :)

It is a lovely story... less than a novel but more than a novella... that leaves you feeling good about the world and people and dreams. You may have to obtain it through inter-library loan but do try!

While Henrietta's House was a quick read, the other book I have had on my living room table has taken me longer to peruse... only because I want to hold onto what I'm reading on each page. It is called Real Love for Real Life: The Art and Work of Caring by Andi Ashworth. What can I say about a book which quotes Edith Schaeffer and Elizabeth Goudge in the first couple of chapters?

Andi Ashworth is the wife of musician Charlie Peacock. In this book, she gives the testimony of how she and her husband came to follow Christ from what I would call a "hippy" lifestyle. The book is excellent just in the telling of that journey in the first chapter.

However, the reason I love this so much is the actual thesis of the book... how all aspects of caring for people is important in the work of the Gospel.   The author reminds us that the ministry of caring is not only essential to the Church but to family and friends... even though in today's society it is not as respected as it once was.

Caring ranges from taking care of our family to showing love by offering hospitality to friends and strangers to helping the poorest among us. She reminds us that by serving others, we serve God.

Once of the reasons I also love this book is it reminds me of my own journey after hearing over and over the teaching of the feminists of my youth and then coming to realize that my enjoyment of taking care of people is worthwhile and God given.

Here is a quote from a section called A God of Beauty:

"Caring often means bringing beautiful things into people's lives-- cutting flowers for them, cleaning their house, taking them to see the ocean. Our desire for beauty is a reflection of a God who loves the beautiful.

God has set us down in a crazy, amazing world full of breathtaking sights and sounds and scents and textures, most of which seem to exist only for his pleasure and ours. When beauty is offered as a gift of love, what is seen or heard or tasted goes past the surface and into the heart.

But with such a high value placed on speed and getting things done in the quickest way possible, the creation of beauty is not "practical" to our culture today..."

You can see why I would enjoy reading this book!   The author was mentored through books (and tapes) by Edith Schaeffer and other L'Abri people... just as I was.

I've also been perusing some inspiring magazines, such as the latest issue of Where Women Cook. I haven't seen an issue since the first once came out as the only store that carries it is Barnes & Noble in the next town over. It was a gift to myself with Christmas money. I truly enjoy reading it!

I am going to re-read The Dean's Watch next and then some books to enrich the spirit.

Thank you again for entering Amazon.com through my widget (and that of other blog friends). It really added up!

Pretty...

2012-01-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

Cross purchased on clearance. Hope... a favorite word.

A rare sunny day in January was perfect for some natural light closeups...

Moved from the top of the china cabinet... would you believe it is plastic???

One of my favorite teacups, I love the butter yellow accents.

Found at different times while thrifting, both titles I love to "wear".

Perhaps my favorite Goodwill teacup.

Another thrifting find from a few years ago, such pretty etchings.

Just looking at this teacup makes me smile.

Morning light... no, the apples are not real!

Miss Victoria goes to the doctor

2012-01-10T10:07:00.002-05:00

Oh, my! Look at those eyes. :)

Victoria got her wish to go out into the cold cruel world again yesterday as she and I visited Dr. Lisa. We both adore Dr. Lisa, who has to be the world's nicest veterinarian.

Trust Her Highness to have a rare condition where the pads of her rather over sized (they are called snowshoe feet on Maine Coons, hehehe) paws swell and become very painful.

She was given another prescription and this time Dr. Lisa spent at least twenty minutes teaching me all about kitty paws and what to look for each month so we can start meds before Victoria is in so much pain she develops a limp.

Victoria actually loves her kitty carrier. I left it in the house the rest of the day just so she could sleep in it before the carrier was returned to the garden shed.

Before her appointment, Christopher and I had breakfast together at the McDonald's near the Engineering Building on campus. I was going to be on campus, anyway. It has been a tradition in our family... begun one year when Stephanie was in elementary school... to have breakfast together on the first day of school (and in some years like this, at each semester beginning).

I don't ever remember it including Dad, he was usually working (or even traveling) for most of those years. So having him with us breaks tradition. Don't worry, Hubby gets plenty of spoiling, including Dad-Son going to University basketball games together once in awhile when Hubby's friend offers expensive tickets he is not using.

Saturday morning I awoke to a text asking if I wanted to meet for breakfast (his treat) at our favorite "neighborhood" restaurant (that being our former neighborhood). It was the place we always went on the first day of school when we lived "in town" (for years the breakfast included his sister in late high school and college).

When it was just the two of us, his choice was often McDonald's so this semester he has both locations covered for nostalgia... and our last "first day of school" breakfast out. Next semester he will be married.

I love how certain traditions last for over a decade. Hmmm... so many of those seem to include FOOD.

I'm working on a "Favorite Books of 2011" post which is taking longer than usual this year. I lost the notebook where I wrote down the books I read. I have a feeling it slipped behind a shelf but I've looked for it now for months to no avail... sigh.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-01-08T04:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas was lovely this year because it was, well... lovely. I once again realized that life does not have to be perfect to be good enough. While family were missing, the house looked beautiful and smelled yummy and the music of the Season was in the air. Friends came along side with blessings that (almost) filled the vacuum of those not here (and Christopher was home on other days).

Earlier this week I found myself putting on my red flannel housecoat and walking down the dark hallway to head for the dining area and light the tree as I had for over a month. However, it was no longer there! The sparkle had been packed the evening before... the last of the Christmas decorations to be put away until the weekend after Thanksgiving arrives this year. I miss the sparkle.

I've been pondering again how God has placed within us the need for Beauty. For me the need is to be surrounded by that which I find pretty and those things which bring me comfort... especially those things I've had for a long time.

Life is hard but there is something about walking into a cheerful kitchen or curling up on a sofa in a book lined room that brings my blood pressure under control more than any pill.

When I was making a few changes here and there (for if one keeps things in the same place for years... those same items seem to become invisible to the eye), I was thinking of the term "granny chic". I have decided those of us who have lived long enough to be grandmothers (whether we are in real life or not) have also managed to accumulate a lot of stuff.

Even when we have gone through the rooms and downsized once, twice, three times, and more... we still usually have stuff. After removing layers of stuff from my life, I find that which is left behind is truly what I love and what makes my heart sing.

The rooms come together in such a way that they give me a hug and lift me up like an old friend... even if the address is fairly new. There is artwork and pieces of furniture which have been with me for a very long time, offering a sense of continuity in an uncertain world. Many of those items kept me rather sane during those times when life was uncertain, particularly the year in which we moved three times.

There are other houses besides mine that give me the feeling of home and comfort. I love Stephanie's New England house and the way she decorates with vintage items in light and peaceful colors (with a few deep red items here and there). I love her library which was transformed out of the former owner's formal dining room and the rows upon rows of books... old and new.

I love her living room and the gas fireplace and the pictures of children and the artwork brought back from England and the bookshelves filled with her favorite books and cookbooks. I love the delicious meals and tea times and conversation around the large table. Her home is so warm and cozy. Yes, she does have an Interior Design degree but I think it is more about the way she cares for all of us.

I love my sister Bonnie's tiny apartment... the combination of primitive country and Victorian that only Bonnie can accomplish... those items she loves most now together in the small space. Like Stephanie's larger house, Bonnie's tiny apartment reminds me of the woman who makes her home her canvas for the art she creates just by living there.

I am also realizing more how our homes not only calm us but are the background for us to care for others. I was thinking about that this last week when Christopher and Miss M. stopped by when she was in town. I served them homemade vegetable soup and Christopher asked if this was my "famous" soup. Which I found amusing because in my mind it is "Mamaw's famous soup" (my mother).

I can no longer do a lot outside the home (which is why being gone so much these past few weeks was exhausting) but within the domain of my kitchen... I could offer good soup, homemade bread, and even a pumpkin pie I had baked the day before to surprise my husband (I told him he had to share like a good boy).

Mankind was created in a garden and has never lost the need for surrounding ourselves with that which we find Beautiful. For me I find beauty in yummy (even if simple) food, and good books, and lovely china set for a table or tea time or just sitting on a table to be admired, and flowers, and warm throws, and pretty quilts, and beautiful art (even if simply a framed calendar page), and the aroma of coffee first thing in the morning... and tea time in the afternoon.

Of course the most important source of peace is a Person and His Word. But sometimes when my days are dark and bleak, I make my way to the kitchen to create something that taste good... or I pick up a favorite novel to re-read... or put the kettle on for tea served (even to myself) in a favorite English cup. Sometimes I watch a movie with beautiful scenery or peruse a favorite magazine... but it all the same.

When times are difficult... I need more Beauty.

Someday... or so the Word tells us... there awaits for us Beauty which we cannot begin to imagine here on this fallen planet.

In the meantime, we take what is now available and create the good... if not the perfect.

Redecorating Two

2012-01-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

I changed the items on the hutch in the Living Room, for the first time displaying representatives of my brown transferware collection there. They actually work quite nicely with the rest of the room.

Close up they are...

Royal Mail and Friendly Village cups, British Castles dinner plate

Friendly Village cups, salad plates and teapot, Vintage Game dinner plate

The Brook dinner plate*

Transferring my brown transferware dishes to the hutch made room to once again have teacups displayed on the buffet.

Natural morning light

Using the flash

I've also started returning teacups and teapots to the china cabinet. I should say once again that all the items on the buffet were purchased while thrifting and often for a dollar or so... the July birthday teacup (front and center) was a gift from my wonderful daughter on a visit to Old Sturbridge Village.

Most of my dish collection were either gifts, found at thrift stores and garage sales, or reasonably priced at places like antique malls. The hunt for such pretties is part of the fun! I view them as art just as much as anything I hang on the wall. :)

Isn't this a pretty cross tassel? It was actually a Christmas ornament purchased on clearance for a couple of dollars at Tuesday Morning after the Holidays. I took one look at it and thought it would be lovely hanging from the china cabinet.

The china in the bottom shelf has been bequeathed to Miss M. when she becomes Mrs. Christopher in May. It is the Royal Albert Lavender Rose pattern. She loves everything purple and lavender so it was not surprising she'd love those dishes when she saw them... so I gave them to her.

It isn't like I don't have enough dishes and the complete set was purchased six or seven years ago... once again... while thrifting. :)

* In the years I've been collecting brown transferware while thrifting, I have only come across two dinner plates of "The Brook" by Franciscan. It is a lovely pattern, it could inspire all sorts of fairy tales. But then again, so could all the other patterns.... sigh.

Note:

The artist of the two winter scenes and the above picture (which was last year's Christmas gift) is John Rossini. My request for Christmas has been the same for years... a gift certificate to spend at my favorite primitive-country shop Downtown.

Hubby works the last week of the semester at the bookstore on campus and purchases my gift certificate (or as in this year... gives me cash) from some of his earnings. The Rossini prints are very reasonable!

Redecorating One

2012-01-05T13:56:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd share a few pictures today and tomorrow. Next week I'm hoping to write more about coffee, tea, books, and deepening the pantry.

However, this week my mind is still on redecorating the hutch, buffet, walls, etc.

Try as I may, I could not take a picture without the glare!

I do love winter scenes!

Yes, hubby has good taste but I was with him when we bought the print. I had seen it and loved it immediately. He also agreed it was beautiful. It kind of reminds me of Colonial Williamsburg but Vee, he also thought it looked like Sturbridge!

It is by the same artist as the winter scene (with the pretty red door) which was a Christmas gift two years ago... but I wanted his opinion before making the purchase.

The souvenir print I brought back from Colonial Williamsburg is also a winter scene.

The wreath was his other gift to me (again, I picked it out). When one is on a budget like ours, one is not timid about asking for a shopping trip instead of being surprised with a gift under the tree.

I've wanted a wreath like this for years and it inspired even more "tweaking" of my Living Room. Note the autumnal oil painting, purchased from Goodwill eons ago. I am an equal opportunity lover of seasonal artwork. :)

Sorry about the flash again, imagine deep taupe walls instead of glaring white.

Tomorrow I will show the changes I made to the hutch, buffet, and china cabinet.

The year of restoration

2012-01-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

This year's Christmas gift from hubby!

Little glimpses here and there these past few months... some nothing more than minute memories of the past or half a line of a song once sung... brought me around to this year's word... Restoration.

Nothing huge or traumatic but then again, I think it is the collection of small thoughts that bring more changes to my life. The big stuff overwhelms and does not end in ponderings so much as my usual habit of flinging myself at the feet of Jesus, pouring my heart out and pleading for HELP.

I am at an age when I don't make resolutions, more than likely I pick up last year's goals and give them a good shaking... much as my husband shakes the throw rugs out on the porch to get rid of collected dirt.

Some items on my list were performed as I hoped, a few never saw the light of day, and most are somewhere in the stage between Begin and Sigh and Set Aside... where so many good intentions sleep.

I know what must be done with them, time to reflect and think through what should be continued as well as what can be set aside as being a good intention but not worth my time at the moment. I need to ponder.

While I know restoration will involve picking up again some old practices I once enjoyed (needlework for instance), true restoration will be much like pouring boiling water fresh from the kettle over dried fruit and letting it come back to life. That which appeared to be all tired and dried out becomes... fresh.

Living with certain trials for any extended period of time... whether chronic illness, difficult finances, unanswered longings and desires, people challenges, work situations... stomping one's feet with long lived frustration kinds of trials... all have the ability to drain the very life from us and before we know it, we are shriveled up on the inside like a grape becoming a raisin.

But this year... this is the time of Restoration. I'm not quite certain how it will be attained but I do know Who will pour the water... the same Person who once turned it into wine. :)

This and that

2012-01-03T13:48:00.001-05:00

I used my wedding china for Christmas this year.

Another loaf of bread is slowly rising. The wind chill was 5 when I got up this morning, a brief journey into true winter! Brrrr... With the high cost of food, having good bread available to fill the tummy is, as Martha would say... "A good thing".

To answer a couple bread questions, my bread machine is a Regal made in the 1990s and still working quite nicely. I didn't use it much at first but then I saw an episode of one of Julia Child's shows (back when it was a first run on PBS) where she had various bakers as guests.

That episode had a guest who even changed Julia's mind about bread machines (she also had one and didn't use it) when she showed what could be done by letting the machine do all the work using the dough cycle and then taking it out... shaping it... and baking it in the oven. I only had to try it once to change my mind, too. I have baked bread in the machine a few times since then but about 99% of the time, I use the dough cycle.

As for other bread recipes, I have used others which called for bread being made by hand or in the Kitchen Aid mixer but now that there are just two of us, it makes more sense to make one fresh loaf at a time. I even converted Stephanie's favorite pizza dough recipe to the bread machine.

I thank those of you who made my Christmas much more delightful than I anticipated. It was so good hearing from you... good friends.

I never expected December to be so busy! Christopher stayed here more than at his apartment last month in the midst of projects, finals, and then over Christmas. It seemed I had more errands than expected, too. We thoroughly enjoyed the decorations and left the tree up until yesterday.

I enjoyed reading favorite Christmas books and watching good movies and PBS music specials. My favorite DVD this year was An Avonlea Christmas, which I had on a few times when puttering around the house. I love the houses and costumes and it has a good storyline, even if I thought it an odd choice the first time I saw it last year. It grew on me this year.

The past few weeks, I've been certain to keep Sunday night open to watch Downton Abbey when it has been replaying. I missed most of it last time and with so many people whose opinions I trust saying it was very good, I had to watch it.

It indeed drew me in and I loved it (except for the one "alternative lifestyle kissing scene) in the first episode but Stephanie had warned me about it and told me it forms a background about one of the characters. Everything after that was only implied about him. I can't wait until this weekend when Season 2 begins in the United States!

It took a few days to pack everything away so I used the time when Christmas items were packed but I hadn't returned the usual decorations to their homes to change things around. The hutch hadn't been changed very much since we moved in! I will be showing pictures, of course.

Today is the very first day in a long time that I haven't had a full "to do" list. There are still some areas of the house which need a little work but it is looking like I will get to write e-mails and letters soon. I don't know about you but it seems as if someone wound 2011 too tight and it went into double time! January and February are usually slow months at our house and I'm looking forward to them.

Manuela is blogging again, at least once she finishes getting the bugs out of her HTML. I am so glad to "see" her again. She sent me two salad plates in a favorite brown transferware pattern (among a few other vintage goodies). That partially sparked the transformation of my hutch shelves... but that is another story for later. Manuela's lovely Internet home is... here.

Sherry at Semicolon is always a must read for me but she's been focusing on book lists recently... which I LOVE. She is... here. If you miss me a couple days, I'll be over there clicking on links. Her last Saturday Review of Books is all about blogger's list of favorites from last year and previous posts contained a number of "Best of" lists throughout the Net.

Should you forget, both sites have buttons on my sidebar... under the Amazon widget and along with Lanier's Books and Holy Experience. Good company... :)

Just so you can keep up with Miss Victoria. She loved the stack of Rubbermaid Christmas containers so much, we kept them in the family room a few extra days. Our only "company" was to be Miss M. and she wouldn't mind... Victoria has her twisted around her little paw shall we say. Miss M. even brought her a Christmas gift. I must say that the feeling is mutual.

I leave you with pictures of Her Highness and her temporary Queendom.

My favorite bread machine bread recipe

2012-01-02T19:34:00.000-05:00

Before I forget... I was asked to share my favorite bread machine bread recipe. It has been on my recipe blog for years but I added this picture today. I thought I'd post it here so the requester will see it right away. :)

This has been my "go to" bread recipe since I received my bread machine as a Christmas present (a very long time ago). I tweak the ingredients for whom I'm making the bread and what I'm going to use it for. If it is for my husband (who slices the bread and freezes it, getting out only enough for breakfast each day), I make it 100% freshly ground whole wheat.

My son and I like it best half-whole wheat and half-King Arthur bread flour. For cinnamon rolls, I like to make it with three cups bread flour and one cup whole wheat flour. (I rarely make it with all white flour.)

If I'm using it to make a sweeter, richer, dough (for cinnamon rolls or to make dinner rolls), I use milk instead of water and use butter instead of oil. When I do this, I warm the milk up and then add the butter and honey to the warm milk to mix well.

As with any bread machine recipe, all ingredients should at least be room temperature (if not warmed a bit in the Winter).

This makes one loaf of bread or six to ten smallish cinnamon rolls.

Whole Wheat Honey Bread (also cinnamon rolls)*

1 Cup and 2 T. water (just slightly above the 1 C. line)
4 Cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

3 T. honey (or brown sugar)
2 T. shortening (I use mild olive oil or butter)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place water, salt, honey and shortening in machine pan. Add flour and then sprinkle the yeast on top.

Put on dough cycle, will take approx. 1 ½ hours until finished. Take out of bread machine, mold into a loaf, put in greased loaf pan. Let rise until slightly over the top of the loaf pan, slash a few times on top.

Bake 30-35 min. at 350 degrees.

*Your bread machine may require a different order of ingredients but this seems to be the order used with most machines. If using butter, make certain it is room temperature.

If making cinnamon rolls:

Roll out into a rectangle, butter the dough (except about an inch at the bottom so it seals well), sprinkle with cinnamon, sprinkle with brown sugar, pat the sugar into the dough, roll up, cut into about one inch slices.

Place slices in two 9" cake pans (or whatever you have, I've also put them all in a 9 x 13 dish) and let rise about 30 min..longer in cold weather.

Place into preheated 350 degree oven and bake about twelve minutes or until golden on top. Let cool a bit and frost with frosting:

Frosting for cinnamon rolls: 1/4th cup (one-half of a stick) butter-room temp mixed with 3 cups confectioners sugar. Add just enough milk until you get the consistency you like (I like mine thinner then I'd use to frost a cake but not so thin it becomes a glaze).

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2012-01-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

"... Being confident of this,

that he who began a good work in you

will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

There are times and seasons of the year which I hold fast, particularly those from October through December and with the addition of one day in January... that being the First.

There is something about the newness of the calendar which reminds me of awaking early and watching the sun rise from my kitchen window (often with the aroma of coffee brewing). Within it is a promise of good things and new beginnings.

January 1st brings with it a clean slate, with both the good times and the "not so good" of the previous year behind me. A new year to Trust and to have Faith and to "cleave to" (a good old fashioned term) the One who has promised never to "leave me nor forsake me".

The past twelve months have brought quite a lot of brokenness to the world in general as well as to this household. Figuratively (the lightening strike) and in actuality (my husband's broken collar bone). Christmas started out feeling broken this year but ended with joy and delight, a certain sign of restoring peace and joy... all brought about by the affection of people.

As I thought of the news of the world and the nation this past year, it was filled with broken people and places... to such an extinct that I had to refrain from watching the news from time to time. I heard a doctor speaking on a television program recently, saying that we were not made to be inundated with the bad news of the world on a 24/7 basis so stress abounds everywhere.

I'm certain this will continue in this next year. There are two events which will receive a great deal of coverage... the election for the office of U. S. President and the Mayan prophecy concerning destruction in December of 2012. Neither of which will bring peaceful images or words from TV stations.

I've been pondering my word for 2012 for a few weeks now. For years I kept the same word... hope. I needed hope more than anything except faith. Then my word was... create. I still need hope and I plan to create but my ponderings took me just ever so slightly in a different direction.

I kept thinking of the word renew and then ... restore... and finally restoration. That's was it! I want this to be the year of...

Restoration!

In the midst of the broken-ness of the world, only the Lord can offer true restoration... only He, for instance, can restore a soul to new life. He can take what was broken from past years and make them whole again... whether relationships, finances, people, things, ministry, hopes, dreams, or even your walk with Him. He came to restore...

In many ways my new word is a continuation of the last two as hope became create and create becomes restoration. Of course, I'll be pondering more of what this means to me over the weeks. :)

Note: I'm back from my computer break but I may take a little while to merge back into reading and writing online (and I am still way behind in answering e-mails!).

Image: Season of Peace; allposters.com

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-12-25T08:01:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

I wasn't sure I was going to write a Sunday Afternoon Tea post as Christmas Day resides on Sunday this year. However, I have been pondering and well... you know how that goes.

Although there were a few times this Advent season that I was really depressed (and aren't we all from time to time?), I actually had a lovely Christmas time. I am so glad I decorated and read my favorite Christmas books and listened to the music of the Season and watched some Christmas movies (serious and absolutely dorky) and made that decision to embrace everything I love about Christmas.

Even if what I love most (the people) are not with me. Well, except hubby, of course. But there were friends, including many of you, who ministered to me and offered your friendship... and helped me find that joy.

The most important part of Christmas after all, is the fact Jesus is always with me. How can I know Christianity is real? Because I know the Person... the Christ... the Messiah. I don't doubt Him any more than I would doubt the existence of a friend I've only met through exchanging letters or e-mails. Peace is a Person.

I was recently involved in some kind of busy work (I think it was washing dishes in the hot, sudsy water with Mrs. Meyers Iowa Pine scent) when the thought suddenly came to me that Jesus has been with me during past Christmas seasons in two different ways... one as anchor and the other as plumb line.

During the seasons of Advent when the storms of circumstances were such that I thought I couldn't stand, when the winds of adversity almost blew me over... it was Jesus the Anchor who held me sturdy and provided strength. While my thoughts were on the Baby... the one who had been that Child was my Strength.

Then there were the various Christmas seasons when all was so good I was practically giddy with excitement. The lights seemed brighter and the music more lovely and people were all nice... even in line at the stores.

It was during those seasons of Advent when Jesus was my plumb line... keeping me steady and looking toward Due North, reminding me the season was about Him and not a jolly elf or baking Christmas cookies or the sparkle of a Christmas tree.

Most of my Advent seasons have found me in the middle of the bell shaped curve (sorry, I am surrounded by statisticians). They were my Goldilocks seasons when my circumstances were neither too hot nor too cold but "just right". Christmas was just... good.

How amazing that 2,000 years after His birth, death, and resurrection... He remains the central focus of our history... His story. Jesus divided history and our calendar... Before Christ or Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord).

That's why Christmas is my favorite time of year... when it seems Heaven is closer to Earth.

May you all have a delightful Christmas and I'll see you next Sunday... "God willing and the creek don't rise".

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T08:28:00.002-05:00

I think my Christmas preparations are complete. I know there is not a lot to do when Christmas dinner will be just the two of us but I am fixing a traditional meal (with lots of leftovers) while on a budget so I've gone to a few different stores for specials. (We decided to keep the day with just the two of us and watch a favorite movie after the Christmas dinner.)

I texted both of my kids at the last grocery store that I was in sticker shock, it truly does seem the prices have doubled (Stephanie feels the same... that her Christmas dinner and baking seems like it costs twice what it did last year). I am so glad that I know God provides every need and throws in some desires met here and there.

I had to smile at the remarks about my sofa in yesterday's post. That sofa was purchased when we moved into this house specifically for this living room. It was the second time we shopped for a living room sofa that we ended up getting something entirely different than we originally had planned. The first time was in the 1990s for a previous living room.

We knew we wanted a sleeper sofa and we did get that. We knew it had to be high quality, I am married to someone with a Master's Degree in furniture engineering. But the color and style was completely different than planned.

In the showroom, we found ourselves leaving the sofa that was much what we had planned for the room and coming back to this one. It looked much like one would fine in a refined "old time" men's study (the color is even called tobacco!).

Since I had to use the flash, the entire room looks more white than it really is (the color of the walls is taupe). We decided to purchase that particular sofa and it ended up being perfect. It is my favorite place in the house to curl up with a book or watch a DVD.

Yesterday I received a package from Amazon via UPS that made me laugh. For it was an exercise DVD and I knew who had to send it, only my daughter would send me such a gift. Anyone else would be certain I'd take offense. It's one of those walking DVDs (with "Christian" music) and I'm looking forward to trying it.

She and I had been talking about ways I could exercise as the county roads are too narrow for safely walking. I've been gaining weight just a pound or two at a time but it's beginning to add up (and I really am resembling the Pillsbury Dough Boy around the middle)... and it will help my blood sugar levels.

Speaking of Amazon... thank you all very much who ordered through the Amazon widget. That, too, has added up (although I'm happy about that accumulation) and I look forward to receiving the credit in February. Credit received each month was earned two months previously in case there are any returns.

I will be back on Sunday and then I'm taking five or six days off from not only blogging but I must take a partial internet break. I am way behind on returning e-mails and I must sort through the stack of papers and other "stuff" which has accumulated to find the Recommendations List (about twenty-five pages of print outs). That is a priority come the new year.

I'll also be spending time in prayer and pondering the Word from Him and the word for next year. I think I know what it will be already. Okay, I thought of it and then I lost the thought. Most of you over forty know exactly what I mean. ;)

Thank you all for your friendship, the unexpected part of blogging. I remember reading on Susan Branch's blog (yes Grace, I do LOVE Susan!) what it felt like when she received her first letter from a reader. She didn't realize when she "wrote" her first cookbook that it would bring with it those kinds of friendships.

While this blog is on a much, much smaller level... I am blessed by YOU.

Merry Christmas!

Kitties and tea kettles

2011-12-22T12:53:00.001-05:00

Maine Coon kitties love cold weather, they were born to it. However, it does seem to make them (and me) lethargic.

She normally sits up and looks out the window. She's often looking out when one of us is gone from the house. But these days she is laying down and looking out.

She tells me it is easier that way to keep track of her domain. I say she has a bad case of winter lethargic...

I stopped by Goodwill while I was running errands yesterday and found a few goodies. Including... something wonderful. Just when I was losing faith in the ability to find anything outstanding at Goodwill (good stuff but not outstanding), I came across this...

A Le Cruset' tea kettle very much like the one I uh... burnt up a long time ago. The reason why every tea kettle since then has had a whistle. It looks like it has only been used a few times. I love it!

My husband doesn't have the memory he used to but when he saw the tea kettle, he said it looks just like the one I melted. I guess destroying such an expensive tea kettle sticks in his brain. This one cost me just a few dollars.

Someday I hope to replace my ancient Le Cruset' dutch oven (one can only wish they'd find one of THOSE while thrifting).

Living in a special season

2011-12-20T08:06:00.000-05:00

The snowmen on the left have found themselves all over the house each Christmas. They were hand painted by my dear friend, BB.

Christmas has been quiet this year and I must admit, I almost let myself get way too depressed. However, friends and family (and many of YOU) helped cheer me up.

Very soon the season of Advent will be behind us and I have been embracing the Beauty all around. Yes, it was well worth the time and effort and energy to do a little "spiritual warfare through decorating". :)

I will miss waking up each morning and turning on the lights of the tree.

Everything gets a little touch of red at this time of year. Okay... all other eleven months, too, but at Christmas I have an excuse for the excessive use of the color red.

Christmas gives one an excuse to live in a fairy tale for a few weeks. No matter what is going on in our world at the moment, we... who hold the Christ of Christmas in our hearts... know we all eventually live Happily Ever After.

Some more Christmas pictures

2011-12-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

The vintage bottle tree was moved to the kitchen window ledge.

Last week I did some decorating "switching around" and a little Christmas crafting with items I already had on hand.

Some items I have in the kitchen all year provided a Christmas-y touch, like the vintage cookie cutters. Others had a little Holiday tweaking.

The vintage molds were first given a layer of rock salt (like used in ice cream machines... you can use Kosher salt) then a layer of Christmas sprinkles. I set one of the peppermint tea lights in each. I received a package as a Christmas gift from a sweet friend a couple years ago. I only used them at Christmas so I had some left. Even though they are small, they smell wonderful!!!

Don't they sparkle when lit? Everything came from items I already had so they cost nothing but a few minutes of time. I saw something similar done with dry green split peas and then two or three fresh raspberries, too. That would be cute!

I saw something similar to this on a blog and wondered why I hadn't thought of doing the same at Christmas. It's really a Holiday variation on a candle I've seen on emergency preparedness sights (easy to keep the items on hand and make in a power loss).

One simply takes a jelly size canning jar, put a layer of rock salt or Kosher salt on the bottom, set a tea light inside it, and then place a canning lid ring on it. I happened to have one with poinsettias left over from a gift received years ago so this makes it even more Christmas-y.

The one I saw online had a ribbon around it and I think a tiny bell added to the ribbon. Since the ring I used had a Holiday theme, I left it as is. You would be surprised how much light it gives off and regular tea lights are cheap.

I've shown you the milk bottle that I keep salt in all year to look like milk. The peppermint sticks were bought on clearance last year. I love the simplicity and the natural kitchen theme the milk bottle brings to the party.

The two tiny Bonne Maman jelly jars have been sitting empty in my yellow pantry (they are so cute, I knew I'd find a purpose for them) so I filled them with Christmas sprinkles and such and just set them on the old Cuisinart.

I decided not to make Christmas yo-yos right now, instead I'm going to start working on them with fabrics I'll use all year. The best time for me to make Christmas sewing projects is in July and August when it is so hot outside. I did this when I made items to sell at craft fairs in Iowa, I just put Christmas music on to get in the Holiday mood. :)

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-12-18T04:00:00.000-05:00

Silent night, Holy Night

All is calm, all is bright...

Two different Christmas seasons, twelve years apart... my Mary years. Two seasons of Advent holding a newborn close and thinking of the teenage virgin who said "yes" to God. How could one who holds Christ in their heart not think of Mary as they looked into the face of one so new?

My first such season, I found myself holding my daughter and watching her after she had gone back to sleep. Rocking her by the lights of the Christmas tree, touching newborn fingers and toes and running my fingers over tiny ears... and thanking God that this time we came home with a baby to hold after the heartbreak of a premature birth the previous year.

Twelve years later I was once again astonished by the little one I held, the surprise baby... the boy that made our family complete. I'd been told I probably could not have any more children but here he was. I'd always sensed there was someone missing from the table and that Christmas I once again counted tiny toes and fingers and smiled at wisps of red hair.

It is good that I know I will never understand God, my finite mind cannot comprehend the Infinite Creator choosing to grow inside the body of a young woman. One who belonged in a palace instead came in a manger surrounded by His own creation.

The angels could have announced His coming to Kings and Queens but instead it was chosen they would appear before the lowliest and most humble of the time... the shepherds at work guarding the sheep. From the very beginning He showed us He came for the least, the little, the last, and the lost.

What could Mary have thought when she held her infant son? Born in a time of trouble when all around them was the uncertainty of Roman occupation. The Bread which would be broken for us now born in the town named "House of Bread"... Bethlehem.

Both of those Christmas seasons I would read my Bible with the Christmas lights reflected in a corner of the room, thinking of the first Christmas and Mary. Wondering if she had any idea what was ahead. Pondering the changes in her life after saying "Yes" to God.

I'm certain there would always be whispers and unbelievers and a reputation ruined in the eyes of friends and relatives. I once read the statement that the only human on earth who knew it was a virgin birth was Mary. With certainty Elizabeth must have believed and been a friend to Mary. Joseph believed but not at first.

I pondered on the very young mother and what it was like as she raised her Son. Did she play tag with Him and sing Him songs and tell Him stories of times past? Did Joseph show Him how to use a chisel and a hammer? Did Joseph read from the Torah... the words to the Word?

There are many people I've met in the Bible with whom I would love to sit and talk over delicious tea (for I'm certain the tea of Heaven will be delightful). Mary is near the top of that list. I wonder if she would share how it was to be chosen the mother of the Lamb of God... or will she continue to ponder those things in her heart?

Snow, reading, and TV specials

2011-12-17T09:42:00.000-05:00

It looks like Christmas here with snow falling on the trees and the red barn across the road. Snow is a rare sight this year, it has been a rather muddy Season. Christopher reminded me that last year we had heavy snow and ice the week of finals.

I'd planned to run a couple errands today but instead I'm staying home where it is warm and cozy. There is nothing which needed to be done today that can't wait until Monday. After the busy-ness of last week, a day of reading and watching a little TV sounds lovely.

There are some very good Christmas specials on various channels, including The Pioneer Woman's Christmas special on The Food Network (I just love Ree!) and the NRB Channel is showing the Christmas episodes of The Joy of Music. I'm not a big fan of organ music, however, I have enjoyed that show through the years. My favorites being the two Christmas episodes and the one they taped at L'Abri in Switzerland a few years ago.

But there are also books still to read! Last night I perused through one of my favorite "books about books", Honey for a Woman's Heart by Gladys Hunt. Since it first came out, this book has introduce me to some authors who would have otherwise been off my radar... like Barbara Pym ( a few have asked me if I have read her books, yes... very good!).

Anyway, when I read through it again last night, I kept thinking of that saying, "So many books... so little time". Sigh... But before I can read or watch or anything else, there are dishes soaking in the kitchen sink, and a load of laundry waiting for the washer, not to mention humans and a kitty needing to eat. Such necessary gotta do's continue even this time of year.

Sparkle

2011-12-16T14:47:00.002-05:00

I have been listening to In the Bleak Midwinter and enjoying the sparkle from the tree. I think Heaven is going to sparkle.

Even more bookshelves...

2011-12-15T10:12:00.001-05:00

We have had a couple days of cold December rains, the kind of wet that just cuts through you even when you are inside with bread baking and tripping over a kitty determined to sleep in the middle of the floor. Today the rain is to end and the temperatures plummet.

Christopher will be staying here tonight so I've promised both the guys homemade chicken soup. I am so glad I defrosted a whole chicken a few days ago. It now resides in a hot oven, sitting on a bed of frozen onions, celery, and carrots (a good thing to have frozen as I am out of fresh celery and carrots).

After an hour in the oven, it will all be transferred to the stock pot on its' way to become a healthy meal after the sun sets. I can hardly wait... In the meantime, I am going to attempt to get caught up with e-mails today in between laundry and other necessary items on the gotta do list.

As promised, here are a few more peeks into my bookshelves... this time the living room (sorry for the flash!). My two large bookshelves there used to reside on corresponding sides of a fireplace in a former home. Now they are rather overpowering in the small living room but that is okay... decorating with books is always welcome here.

The blue books are my collection of Anne Morrow Lindbergh diaries, which I plan to re-read this winter.

Carolee, you are in between Colson and Friedman!

My books are not exactly in perfect order but for the most part... there is a pattern. Sometimes they are mixed up just due to the size of book a shelf can hold. I hope this incomplete glimpse into the living room shelves is fun for you! I love seeing people's bookshelves.

Notes:
All pictures can be enlarged by clicking.

While my books have been collected since I was a teenager, many of them were purchased at library sales for a dollar or less. A few were found third party through Amazon for very inexpensive prices (like the Anne Morrow Lindbergh diaries).

Some older books were gifts from friends who knew I'd take very good care of them. I love old books.

More Bookshelves

2011-12-14T11:19:00.001-05:00

I finished reading Henrietta's House yesterday evening with the above ball of fur stretched out on my legs. What a delightful little fantasy-fairy tale book with the beloved people from A City of Bells. I hope you can find it at your library! Today I return to my annual re-reading of Karon's Shepherd's Abiding. (By the way, the rope you see on the floor is Victoria's "toy".)

I noticed some of the books yesterday did not show up very well so I took close ups of those shelves this morning. Unfortunately, if I wait for good light it may be July so all pictures must be taken with a flash.

Some of my favorite books...


Now, how did the lovely Sarah's book end up with my Alexandra? I will always keep that book, it has the loveliest note written inside... just for me... by my precious young friend! The Frugal Luxuries books are autographed by my friend (the author) Tracey... a friend met first in books and then through blogging. :)

Favorite tea and gardening books all jumbled together.

I don't have any of Sally's books here as I gave them all away to people I thought would love them. But she would be here, too.

Below are some of my favorite cookbooks to take out and read on a snowy afternoon.

I can't tell you how many times I've perused Where Women Cook Celebrate. :)


Written by Mother and then Daughter... wonderful books for those of us who enjoy Amish recipes.

I've had these two books for years and still enjoy reading through them.

More recipe books, just a few among many collected over the years...

Tomorrow... more pictures of bookshelves.

Note: I've found both cooking and decorating books at great prices third party on Amazon and at Tuesday Morning.

Books and brownies

2011-12-13T17:41:00.000-05:00

I love these old vintage pictures, found long ago at a garage sale.

Christopher had two finals today. He has been studying very hard for his Latin exam. He's dyslexic so learning a foreign language is hard and he's the first student registered with the University as dyslexic who is taking Latin (he has a Classics minor) so he can't get around all the written exams... but he has a wonderfully understanding professor. Each semester of Latin at the university is equivalent to two years in high school.

However, he thinks he did quite well with it and while it would be nice to get an A, he knows he will at least get a B in the class so it wouldn't bring down his GPA very much. This is the guy who received an A+ in Engineering Physics (the same class which his father had to take twice in college) but learning a foreign language is hard. He probably studied for that final about fifteen hours or more.

He studied for his Ancient Civilization final for about an hour and he knows he got an A in it. He says all that watching of the History Channel while homeschooling helped. :)

While I spent part of the day on campus, I did manage to read some of the lovely little paperback Goudge novel called Henrietta's House which my equally lovely friend sent to me. She has shared precious Goudge and Stevenson books and was the first to introduce me to D. E. Stevenson (whom Lanier calls "Goudge light"). I especially enjoyed Vittoria Cottage and Music in the Hills but also Miss Buncle's Book and Miss Buncle Married and... well, I could go on.

I've decided I'm going to take some pictures of my bookshelves and show them once in awhile. These two are bookshelves in Christopher's former room where I moved some of my very favorite books. If you are as nosy as I am about photos of bookshelves... yes, the picture does enlarge when you click it. ;)

I will take more bookshelf pictures soon.

Now... to the brownies. I had promised the guys I'd make "something sweet" today but there wasn't time for anything complicated. I threw together this Beverly Nye brownie recipe and made a simple chocolate buttercream frosting to put on it (just a thin layer as this is her rich brownie recipe).

I will "park" this on my recipe blog soon. I already have another Beverly Nye brownie recipe there. It is her less expensive version of brownies called Cocoa Bars. If you have a Beverly Nye cookbook, you will know this is the way she often wrote her recipes. I used to watch her on The Bob Braun Show that came out of Cincinnati when I was a teenager and I loved her recipes even then!

Beverly Nye's Rich Chocolate Brownies

Melt 2 sticks butter and add 7 T. cocoa (I often use only 4).

Then add 2 Cups sugar and beat well (I often use 1 1/2).

Add:
4 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups flour
Dash salt

Mix well. Stir in nuts if desired.

Spread in greased 9 x 12" pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min.

(I have let the butter-cocoa mixture cool and then just added everything else to the saucepan!)

For the thin layer of frosting I used today...

1/2 stick butter at room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa

Blend together in mixer until smooth. Add milk about a tablespoon at a time until you get the fluffy consistency you want. Be patient or you will add too much and then you have to add more sugar and then more cocoa and well, it can get to be a mess.

A little more Christmas...

2011-12-12T17:47:00.000-05:00

Stephanie has often bought me snowmen and snowladies through the years. :)

It's been a little hectic around here to do much pondering (you may have noticed Sunday Afternoon Tea was later than usual!). Christopher has been staying here part of the time so he can make certain he does not sleep through his alarm. Last week he had to make multiple presentations.

Now he's in the midst of finals so he's staying every night and I'm driving him in and picking him up so he doesn't have to be concerned about finding limited parking spaces. One of the jobs Miss M. will be taking over come May. :)

I don't have the baking or crafting done that I wanted but I did find time to take some pictures.

I have quite a few tree toppers (a couple shown in a previous picture on the lamp table in my living room) but I always seem to use this theologically incorrect angel I made when Christopher was a baby. She makes me happy.

I have all kinds of ornaments but I learned a lesson from a design show long ago (I think it was Lynette Jennings on a Christmas special) that if you use one color of bulb throughout the tree, you can get away with a variety of other ornaments. So... I have used vintage plain red bulbs near the center and throughout the tree for years.

The pictures above show a few of the ornaments. Below the tree...

These two dolls and (out of the picture) a cute bear and a snowman that sings which my sister, Bonnie, gave me... yes, really. The tree is in the dining room, which can be seen as soon as you come in the front door, only because it is the one place in the house in which I don't have to move a lot of furniture for it to stand... it has worked out for years so I'll stick with it there.

Oh, someone had asked about the wallpaper in the dining room area. Here is a closeup, it is a brocade type wall paper with vertical stripes and then a wallpaper border horizontally placed below the "chair rail" woodwork. The very talented young couple we bought the house from had done a lot to change it from a typical 1960s ranch house to something special.

I think it was brilliant on their part to just have wallpaper on the bottom part and then paint above the chair rail a kind of taupe color (the same color continues into the living room). The only change I made was to take down the purple drapes and put up my much beloved lace curtains (you may have noticed I have a thing for lace curtains, blame it on living among the Dutch for nine years!). :)

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-12-11T11:39:00.000-05:00

"If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."

C. S. Lewis

Every two or three weeks, I travel from my home to my friend's house for coffee or tea and talk. In between our homes one must go over the river and through the woods (literally) and then traverse the traffic through the larger of the two towns before reaching her quiet neighborhood.

This past week, I had to make another stop first so I found myself driving a different route than usual. As I was in the midst of heavy Downtown traffic, I had to recalculate my internal (mental map) GPS to quickly decide which street would give me the straightest journey.

For some reason... perhaps the Christmas music coming from the radio speakers... I thought of the expression Due North and that star which appeared in Bethlehem announcing His birth, as it directed Wise Men from the East... and my need for such direction in my life.

I'd written my daughter about the heavy fog which surrounded me this year and how it seemed to keep me down all Holiday Season. I felt I had to keep my eye on "He Who is Due North" just to remember what Christmas is all about. My true journey is not simply driving on one way streets through town but each moment He gives me breath here on this Silent Planet (as C. S. describes Earth since it rejected the Savior).

As I kept a mental image of the Bethlehem star in my mind, why couldn't I shake the darkness which enveloped my world? The house looked very pretty, I enjoyed the Christmas books and movies and music, and I'd read through the Book of Hebrews (which... of all New Testament Books... explains the coming Advent to the Jews).

I expect a large part of the gloominess was missing people who are not with us due to death or distance. Christmas brings lovely memories which can also bring heart pain as the Advent of the Eternal reminds us of empty spaces caused by the continuance of time.

I longed for True North and that peace that transcends human understanding in which I often wear as a shawl against the cold winds of reality. I felt as one in a windstorm searching the skies for that Light leading us to safety and all I could say at times was... help.

His answer came in a variety of ways. I received a couple gifts this week which He reminded me came as He put my name on the heart of blog friends (whom I have never met in person but appreciate so very much). While receiving a gift was lovely, it was knowing they cared that meant so much.... and they appeared as a beacon light in the storm... that brought warmth to a weary soul.

The second part of His answer was the arrival of Randy Alcorn's most recent newsletter*. If you have read any of Randy's books, you know he talks a lot about Heaven. I realized as I perused one of the pages of quotes I'd forgotten that which I'm always saying... it isn't Heaven, yet.

People who do not understand will often put down those of us who look toward the Heavenly City as being too "heavenly minded". We're not, really... if anything we realize more than anyone that we live in a fallen world that cannot be expected to offer us the Peace and Joy found only in Jesus and the hope of His coming.

It is "in Christ" that we have the assurance of Heaven and unlike a religion (for Christianity is not really a religion but a relationship with a Person)... He has done all the work to get us there and we just have to accept... to believe... to have faith that the work is done and accept it as our own.

I literally felt the sunshine break through my spirit (Sonshine?) as I was once again reminded that nothing in this world can bring true and lasting Joy... no books (gasp)... no movies... not even music... no furry member of the family... and most of all no human person. I cannot expect Christmas itself to bring what I know is not possible any other time of the year.

I think it's just that during the Christmas season, we get a little minuscule peek of Heaven bending down to Earth. Perhaps it is that very Light shining down in the lights that places within me a longing for the Perfection to come and an even stronger realization that I live in a fallen world which has been redeemed... first by the Christmas infant... then the Lamb of Easter.

For always in the songs of Christmas is the shadow of a Cross... and a Resurrection... and the people replied Hallelujah!

* Randy Alcorn's newsletter is available online... here. The quotes about Heaven are near the end of the issue.

Picture: Lesson Top

Christmas decorating - Kitchen

2011-12-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

The top of the frig

This room is continually changing and probably will be as December continues. If I get some yo-yo's made in time, they will go in the kitchen, too. I may work on them today. I'd planned to go into town but the country roads are a little slick with snow this morning... a good day for domestic creativity.

Yes, I did decorate a lot this year but I needed more Christmas than usual. By getting down every container, I found items I thought I'd lost last year. Hubby had stored that big container on a different shelf. I have collected Christmas items since I was a teenager and now I'm a grandmother... so even though I have downsized the items a lot, there are plenty left (mostly my very favorites now). I've promised the future Mrs. Christopher she can go through them next Christmas. :)

To answer questions from yesterday, the candle lamp in the last picture came from Goodwill (so many Christmas decorations were found while thrifting and at garage sales through the years). I made my large lamp smaller by removing the top part of it, easily done just by unscrewing that part of the lamp in this case.

Lots of little cuties here, including the Cabbage Patch doll that was a Happy Meal Christmas toy when Stephanie was little.

This scene makes me smile just looking at it.

The "milk" in the milk bottles is really salt. :)

The top of the bread box. I stitched the embroidery when I was first married.

The vintage looking whisk and spatula are tree ornaments bought on clearance at Cracker Barrel a couple years ago. They stay out all year.

Finally... this isn't exactly Christmas-y but I thought I'd share the change I made on the kitchen wall. I used to have a favorite large piece of artwork there but I moved it to the "room formerly known as Christopher's".

I was concerned about replacing it without changing a lot of other items but our favorite print of the lighthouse in Holland, Michigan (where we lived for nearly nine years) and the trivet that was a gift from my daughter fit in the space perfectly.

This print of "Big Red" brings back lovely memories.

Hubby and I love having the print where we can see it often. I promise to take a picture when I get the yo-yo's made and hung!

All of my pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Christmas decorating - Family Room

2011-12-08T11:25:00.001-05:00

I had planned to post this earlier but my wireless suddenly stopped working. We thought the problem was with the phone company so we let it go over a day before calling again. We ended up having to move the router to a different plug in.

The lamp still works plugged into the other one but not the router??? Strange... but it is in the area which took the direct hit from the lightening (as I tried to explain to the nice customer representative). At least we are back online now.

Oh, the cute snowman couple with the quilt around them shown in the last post was a gift from my daughter when we still lived in our larger house (the one we ended up having to sell) so it is about eleven years old. I love it so much, it stays out all year!

Below are pictures from my family room, which used to be the room in our house that I least liked. Through the years I've tweaked it off and on so it is now warm and cozy.

Except for the tiny tree on the converter box, this is what it looks like all year. I keep the rustic tree in the crock out all the time.

These shelves used to stay on my porch but they now reside inside permanently.

The throw on the chair usually sits on the vintage suitcases but the Christmas fabric I'm using for yo-yo's temporarily sits on it (under the snowgirl).

This lamp used to be huge but I made it smaller when Stephanie handed down her lovely small lampshade to me.


My parents were married on Christmas Eve and this is their wedding picture.

Christmas decorating - dining area and living room

2011-12-06T11:25:00.001-05:00

The pictures are not always the best as I must use a flash part of the time (living in a forested area does that to the light availability). But since perfect is rarely possible...

And... now for a bit of decorating reality... I give you my coffeetable.

Lost in Oxford

2011-12-05T14:01:00.001-05:00

Not really but the bookish way through Surprised by Oxford, a memoir by Carolyn Weber. I couldn't put it down yesterday (thankfully a Sunday when lounging on the sofa is the keeping of a Sabbath and not considered lazy).

The last two chapters were before me last night but as hard as I tried, the sleepiness was overtaking my eyelids, making it impossible to finish the book until this morning.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the book very much... what is not to love about a well written story of one who wins a scholarship to graduate school at Oxford and comes to know Christ in that first year. It is a love story on multiple levels and a wonderful destination in which to find myself on a rainy Sunday.

I would have enjoyed attending university at Oxford. The way one learns there with reading a book and then discussing it is much the same way we homeschooled. I don't enjoy arguments whatsoever but I do love talking ideas with others, even if they do not agree with me as long as it is not one big argument.

I have mentioned before that one of my very good longtime friends is both Jewish and Liberal. We don't discuss politics or religion but there are many subjects we agree on including environmental concerns (one doesn't have to agree on what is causing global warming but one cannot dismiss the fact that the weather is crazy), the need for local and natural farms, the concern about the manipulation of our seed supply, and the joys of raising boys (except I also have a girl).

The book reminded me of my early days as a Christian, coming from a very "unchurched" home and finding myself in the midst of being wooed by He Who Created Me... in the days of the Jesus Movement. There were lots of wonderful discussions and coffee and music and more coffee. No wonder so many of that generation should own stock at Starbucks (not that I can go often but when I do... yum).

Anyway, I digress... another thing I love about this book is that it talks about Christians who love art and poetry and literature and gardens... and Lewis, of course. How could one become a Christian at Oxford and not have the conversation eventually come around to Lewis (or Tolkien, etc.). Sigh...

There is something about this time of year that brings out my inner Narnia. I can almost expect Aslan to walk through the door but it is just Victoria and her Maine Coon hairdo. Admittedly, if Aslan were to walk into my house I'd faint after I called animal control... but one can be fearless when it comes to fairy tale fantasies.

Since I finished the book which interrupted Christmas reading (but in such a good way), I will begin re-reading No Holly For Miss Quinn later this evening. I also took my copy of The Wind in the Willow off the shelf this past weekend, which has the loveliest of Christmas scenes in it. It is not only my favorite children's books, it is one of my all time favorite books... period.

It is dark outside even in early afternoon, I'd forgotten just how dark a winter day can be. However, the Christmas tree is lit (I moved the laptop to the dining table after putting up the tree) and the kitchen is bright and shiny (Hallelujah... light in the kitchen!). I've had Christmas music playing on Pandora. Yes... about as close to Narnia as one can get in the American Midwest. :)

Ohhhh... thank you for the compliments on the Christmas header (which is the top of my buffet decorated for Christmas this year). I always return to my default header as I do love it but one has to be more festive for the Holidays.

Picture: A Time For Reading, Judy Gibson; allposters.com

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-12-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2009

If anyone should have beauty in their home,

it is people who call themselves Christian.

Edith Schaeffer (paraphrased)

I've been enjoying the quiet of the Season here at my home... reading with the Christmas tree lit in the corner, listening to the local Bach Singers on CD presenting music originally from Kings College in England, and watching Christmas movies... amidst the usual daily routine of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and dishes.

This past week I've been thinking a lot about an unusual way of looking at Christmas festivities... as a form of spiritual warfare. Oh, I know because I have read books about spiritual warfare and even taken a couple of classes. They always talk about intercessory prayer and putting on the "whole armor of God" as found in the Book of Ephesians... not polishing silver.

But I learned long ago in the midst of deep and heartbreaking trials that I needed to do the opposite of what the enemy of my soul expected of me. Instead of sitting in the middle of my bed, pulling the sheet over my head, and eating a pint of Hagan-Daz chocolate chip (ummm... which I have done before), I was to fight back against my circumstances the best way I knew how.

Sometimes I write and there are days I've baked something lovely... but at Christmas I decorate. I learned when I am feeling the most down and out then I need to decorate even more than other years. As with this year being the first time (as planned at least) my husband and I will be alone at Christmas so I pulled out every box of Christmas items I own and created magic... Narnia magic.

It is quite beautiful (you will see more pictures when I buy new batteries for my camera) and it truly does raise my spirits and brings me closer to He who is Christmas. The source of all evil in this world cannot possibly comprehend why one would make her house look even more festive in a year which has been (to say the least) challenging. But He knows and I'm certain sees it as a sacrifice of praise.

That has been a lesson learned in the midst of adversity when all I had to give Him was my attitude and how I was reacting to a trial. As the Word says, "The joy of the Lord is my strength" and I truly found strength when I surrounded myself and my family with the glitz and glitter and lights and beauty of the Season.

Now, I understand that we are all different and I have friends who prefer very simple decorations mainly made of objects from nature and that makes them happy. As for me and my house at Christmas... bring on the Narnia magic. I want my home to be filled with candle light and sparkle and Christmas music and the aroma of ginger and cinnamon and peppermint and a ham roasting in the oven (not all at once or every day, of course).

That is the sacrifice I lay at His altar... the decision to do the opposite of what I may feel like at that time. Instead of looking back and remembering mother crying in her eggnog, my children have (I hope) very fond memories of the entire Advent season that was filled with not only glitz and glitter but also Faith and Hope and Grace.

When Stephanie was young and we lived in Holland (Michigan), we adored going downtown and experiencing the Christmas lights and the way the stores decorated their windows. One of the most beautiful memories I have is when my husband and I were Christmas shopping in Holland when large, fluffy snowflakes began to fall and the sound of Christmas carols was coming from a street corner.

It was night time and one could see the snowflakes in the glow of the lamplight as shoppers walked on cobblestone streets. I remember stopping to soak it all in and thinking this must be just a tiny feeling of what Heaven would be like.

Christmas is the time of year when Heaven touches the Earth and the music heard even on secular radio stations praises the Savior. Even if we must celebrate by faith with a Charlie Brown style tiny tree (a branch stuck in a pot of sand?) and reading Christmas stories in a book borrowed from the library... He takes our smallest of efforts as praise and thanks.

Recent (pre-Christmas) reading

2011-12-03T09:04:00.001-05:00

I forgot one of my favorite Christmas books in the last book post (how could I?). Some of you will remember Marcia Adams wonderful PBS shows Cooking from Quilt Country. I have her two Quilt Country books (one signed when I met her in person) but my favorite cookbook of hers is Christmas in the Heartland.

It is a beautiful Christmas book in which she visits various homes in the "Heartland" and writes about the Christmas customs of the regions... for instance the Morarvian influence, the Victorian influence, an Indiana farm family, etc. Absolutely lovely pictures and recipes... that's how I remembered the book. I needed it for the stained glass cookie recipe in it. This book is available really cheap on Amazon and I highly (highly) recommend it.

I've kind of interrupted Christmas reading by including Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber. I'm reading it along with the Miss Read Christmas book. A friend of mine gave me a $10.00 online gift "card" to Amazon for a Thanksgiving gift and I had a couple dollars left from credit... just enough to buy this book third party. So far I'm loving it but I'll give you the whole story next month.

That reminds me... yes, your credit I receive for entering Amazon is showing up (asked in comments). I can't tell WHO is ordering anything but the reports show me what is ordered and the amount of credit received. The last two months credit was used to purchase Christmas gifts for my grandchildren. Without it I would have had to give them an IOU under their tree. I humbly thank you... you all have blessed me (and I'm sure the other blog friends for whom anyone enters Amazon through their widgets).

Now... for November:

Grace Livingston Hill: Her Story and Her Writings by Jean Karr - I had no idea there was a biography of GLH until I saw this slim volume at a library sale a few years ago. Why am I just now reading it? Because I had put it on my bookshelves and only recently came across it again.

As with all good biographies, it also shares with us the history of the times in which the subject lived. I came to understand how GLH was influenced by her family and her surroundings to make her a great writer and a strong Christian. In some ways her biography reminds me a lot of the book Searching for Mrs. Oswald Chambers as both women gave us books we love as a result of tragedy in their own lives.

Both of these books are very good but the GLH biography was written in 1948 and I'm not sure there was ever a recent edition. It would be worth finding it through the library if you are a fan of her books. I looked on Amazon for it and they do have a few inexpensive copies (and some over $300!). The author shown on their page is Grace Livingston Hill herself, which is not correct. This book was written a year after her death.

The Magic Never Ends: The Life and work of C. S. Lewis by John Ryan Duncan - This was a Goodwill find that I really liked. It is a companion book to a film but I've never seen the film version and this was definitely good read on its' own.

The story of his life is told by five or six people who knew him well. It's not an indepth biography but a macro account with pictures. It would be a good biographical introduction to people who found him through the recent movies.

People My Teachers: Around the World In Eighty Years by John Stott - Reading more by and about John Stott was on my "things I want to do" mental list this year. This is the kind of book one peruses and comes back to again and again. It's a unique way of telling us about people who have influenced his life by taking us around the world and sharing by region instead of time.

Some are understandable, like the Apostle Paul and there were a few I had to read to understand why they were included... like Darwin. It contains people from long ago (obviously since I mentioned St. Paul) until the time this book was written. It is full of gorgeous pictures, maps, etc... one of Stott's hobbies was photography.

The Tehran Initiative by Joel Rosenberg - This is the second "end time" thriller in Joel's new series (the first being The Twelfth Imam). Iran has the bomb and the Imam is out to destroy the U.S. and Israel. I was up past midnight finishing this book one evening. The next day my husband asked me why I was up so late and I told him that a nuclear missile was heading for Jerusalem and I had to know what happened. :)

Picture: Kim Sung Book Shop: allposters.com

I lost baby Jesus

2011-12-02T14:35:00.001-05:00

This conversation really happened with my son when he came home for dinner a few nights ago...

Me:   I have all the Christmas decorating done but I've lost Jesus

He:   You lost Jesus?

Me:   Yes, I lost Baby Jesus

He:    Uh... you lost Baby Jesus?

Me:   Yes, I have everyone in the creche except for Baby Jesus. Somehow I have misplaced him. Kind of like real life, you know. Everyone is there but Jesus.

He:    Giving his mother a look like she has finally lost it...

My creche is only an inexpensive Goodwill jobbie but it is rather unnerving to lose the baby Jesus. I told him I hope it wasn't prophetic or anything. He just rolled his eyes and went back to studying for his Ancient History exam.

It's Stephanie's Birthday!

2011-12-02T08:48:00.001-05:00

Stephanie cooking in the cottage where they stayed in England.

Happy Birthday, it is lovely having a daughter who is also a best friend. :)

Christmas reading and viewing

2011-11-30T20:44:00.001-05:00

I have been enjoying dusting off some of my favorite books and movies to assist in the Christmas mood around here. Although tonight I took time off of Christmas as my son stopped by for dinner and brought his copy of The Social Network (good movie but not G-rated, if you get my drift). Both my kids remarked how interesting it is that this guy changed the world when Facebook was invented.

Anyway... I digress from the actual reason for writing... Christmas. I've watched a few shows on TV including last night's classic Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer. It's corny but I still love the whole "misfit as hero" plot and listening to Burl Ives as narrator. For us baby boomers, it brings back lots of nostalgic memories.

Yesterday I watched my An Avonlea Christmas DVD after the dinner dishes were finished. I love this movie but Stephanie didn't care for it as much when she watched it. One of the subplots is that Felix is MIA in WWI and it follows Janet as she becomes angry and bitter over the war. But she doesn't stay that way and there are happy endings all around. The TV series was one of my favorites, especially as the years went by and the children grew a little older.

Tomorrow I plan to watch Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (the original from the 1970s) which I love. Yes, I own the DVD and I have no little children around... and your point is??? I miss the 70s, a great decade. ;)

I've also watched Muppet Christmas Carol recently on TV. I taught Dicken's A Christmas Carol our last year in a homeschool co-op and had the teenagers watch the movie. They loved it. No one does a better Mrs. Cratchett than Miss Piggy.

Christmas Reading

I pulled a few books off the shelf, dusted them off, and now have them stacked to enjoy from Thanksgiving through New Years (and perhaps beyond). They are...

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus edited by Nancy Guthrie - This is an advent devotional that I used last year and gladly pulled out again. I can't remember who recommended it but it's wonderful. Nancy Guthrie explains that she wrote the kind of advent book she wanted to read with chapters by Puritans, Augustine, Francis Schaeffer, John Piper, all the way through to the final chapter by Joni Erickson Tada. Love this one, highly recommend it.

Winter Song Christmas Readings by Madeleine L'Engle & Luci Shaw - This book is similar to a devotional in that it contains poetry and prose by two favorite authors and takes one through the end of autumn through Advent. If you like L'Engle and Shaw, you'll love this book. I'm not really using it as an advent devotional so much as enjoying the writings for the Season.

No Holly for Miss Quinn by Miss Read - Just the loveliest Christmas story about a young English woman who never married who is called upon to help her brother and his family out at Christmas. Miss Read has two or three other Christmas books which I have read in the past but don't own (but I should look for at the library). I have re-read this one at Christmas the past few years. I've read some other Miss Read books and hope to read more in the future.

Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon - I think this is my favorite Mitford book. I've also re-read it each Christmas since it was published. Even though it is part of the series, it can also be enjoyed as a stand alone novel. Father Tim purchases an old and battered nativity set (LARGE set) and works to restore it as a gift to his wife. There are the usual subplots of Mitford characters which add warmth and depth.

A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg - It takes just a few minutes to read this little story about a man who visits his elderly great aunt and rediscovers the Christmas of his childhood. A lovely little classic!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - What can I say, one of the best books ever written. When I taught the book to my class, I had it read aloud as it should be. I loved how even the teenage guys became enthralled with the characters. One of them told me it sparked his interest to read other Dickens' novels.

Did you know in the Christmas song "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", when they talked about "scary ghost stories" they were talking about this book? For years I wondered what ghost stories had to do with Christmas and when I found that out, it answered a lot of questions. :)

The Dean's Watch by Elizabeth Goudge - I'm hoping to get to this book in December, otherwise it is on my January list to re-read. While not technically a Christmas book, it takes place around Christmas and I felt like I was in an English village in December. It's a story of Redemption, which is what Christmas is all about.

By the way, A City of Bells also have lovely Christmas scenes in it. I just read it again last month and I still smile as I think of it again.

I used to re-read a few Edith Schaeffer books in December... especially The Tapestry and her two books of letters (With Love, Edith and Dear Family). While I no longer read them around Christmas, I do re-read these autobiographical books and a few other nonfiction books each year as I have time. She was the most influential author in my life as a young wife and mother and has remained so through the years.

I also have a stack of Victoria Christmas books and a few other Christmas decorating books to peruse (most purchased at library sales). I also love to read the Christmas issues of favorite magazines.

I only own a couple specifically Christmas cookbooks but both are favorites...

My newest such book is Holiday Fare: Favorite Williamsburg Recipes by John Gonzales (the chef Stephanie and I took the cooking class from in Williamsburg). I wrote about it recently but it does have many, many good recipes in it which I would serve all year. The pictures of Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas makes me want to visit again.

The book I've had for years now and LOVE is called Christmas Thyme at Oak Hill Farm by Marge Clark (a long ago gift from my sister-friend, BeBe). It is a fabulous book, especially for those of us who love herbs and all things tea time. It contains lots of wonderful recipes and beautiful pictures, a book I highly recommend. It is one of my all time favorite recipe books.

Marge unexpectedly left us a few years ago in a car accident but I always felt I knew her through this book and her cookbook The Best of Thymes, which I go back to all the time for recipes using favorite herbs. Both are written with her chatty prose in addition to recipes.

Hmmm... no wonder that stack of books looks like it is going to fall over soon.

Comments Q & A and links

2011-11-29T09:54:00.001-05:00

The above picture... my buffet this year. I think it has a Victoria feel about it. :)

I was admiring some of the decorating last night and thinking how it has changed over the years and then the thought came to me as to WHY... there are no small children or teenage boys around to break things. All but the little elf container on the lower right side of the picture (a vintage family heirloom of hubby's) came from thrifting, garage sales, or on clearance shelves.

Do you like the teacup? It is the only Christmas teacup I own and I saw a tiny Christmas tree displayed this way in a magazine. It took about two seconds to decide I would do the same thing this year.

I've skimmed through a few comments and I'll try to answer those I can.

First ... a couple of links. You know how I fell in love with Colonial Williamsburg? A sweet blogger sent me a link to her Colonial Williamsburg pictures... here. She is fortunate to live near enough to visit often. By the way, her blog is great!

Also, I've decided I'm going to make these Christmas yo-yo's which Karen Andreola shared... here. I have a lot of small pieces of Christmas fabric... perfect! I also love Karen's blog but then again... she is one of my favorite authors so it's not surprising.

Yes... I did get that flu shot on Monday. I thought it helped me a lot last year but we'll see how it goes this year. My sister, Bonnie, avoids them like the proverbial plague after getting very sick from her shot a few years ago.

This picture is Family Circle by Lee Stroncek. It was our Christmas card one year and I saved one to frame. I've since tried to locate a print but all I could find (at the time) was the puzzle version.

I make tea with my fresh herbs (in this case, lemon balm) by unceremoniously slipping a large handful of leaves that I've torn apart into the tea pot and pouring water from the kettle (which has just sung to let me know it was ready) over them. This teapot makes about three or four cups. I let the fresh leaves brew about four or five minutes.

To prepare my fresh herbs for either drying or to use immediately in tea, I fill the sink with cold water and put a big splash of vinegar in it. I then put all my stalks of herbs in it and let soak about five minutes. It will also soak an hour without hurting them if one forgets but it takes longer to dry... ask me how I know. ;)

(If I can't do this immediately after cutting them in the herb garden, I rinse them off really good and lay them on the dish drainer until they can have their vinegar-water bath.)

I then look over each one to make sure any rotten leaves are detached, as well as any dead bugs which may have clung to the leaves (the vinegar in the water is suppose to help clean the herbs, or so I have read). I then shake off excess water and lay them out on a big, dry towel. It gets rolled up to absorb all the excess water until I can get back to them (sometimes a few hours).

I then take a towel to the kitchen to dry everywhere the water went when I shook the stems.

If they are to get dried, I bundle them together and tie with a rubber band at the top. I hang them from a hanger on my shower that is never used. Right now I have the last of the apple mint still hanging and I cut off some for tea (but it is far better to put them in containers as they shed all over your floor).

This biscotti jar used to be filled with cookies all the time. I figured it deserved cookie cutters in its' retirement. This is a large jar but I've seen pictures of a smaller version filled with pretty cupcake liners of various prints. This jar has a collection of new and vintage cutters.

Yes, that is an old (very long) drawer that holds the oils and other kitchen items. I love the way it looks and it is very practical. Sometimes I think my decorating style is "Early Fleamarket".

Last... but certainly not least... a little more brown transferware chatting. In researching the china, I've seen a lot of discussions about the way the new patterns are different than the vintage dishes. So many seem to regret they have to "settle" for the newer transferware.

Yes, for the most part they are not as delicate (that gorgeous "feel" of vintage bone china) but I do have to say there are good points in their favor.

Although I have to wash all my dishes by hand regardless... the new dishes can be put in the dishwasher. I certainly would not do so with the vintage items. My teapot and tray are new, as are one set of bowls and two mugs from Churchill. I think they look just fine and are much more practical if you have a young family.

I read an interesting article about brown transferware in an old Victoria magazine recently. It said the brown color was the least favored of any of the transferware before the earth tone colors became more popular in America. That was from a 1990's issue and they seem to have become even more popular now.

I plan to... Lord willing and the creek don't rise (or get frozen)... be back soon with a couple book posts.

Don't forget to check out the two blog links I wrote about near the top of this (LONG) post.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-11-27T04:00:00.000-05:00

I have been re-posting this the Sunday after Thanksgiving (or just before) for years. :)

I remember coming to the end of a Christmas season about ten or twelve years ago and wondering at my frustration.

There were no severe money trials that season, nothing that should have kept me from enjoying Christmas but... I couldn't put my finger on it... there was this sense of a lack of satisfaction... an unsettled feeling.

Soon after that, I was reading an article (magazine... book?) about this very thing. In it, the author said she learned to write out what it was she wanted from the Christmas season, what was most important to her. When I started doing that, I realized why the previous season had been lacking in joy.

It had been a rushed Christmas, the "doing" of many activities I felt I should do and not "being" the person I wanted to be that Season. My frustrations stemmed from a lack of getting away, alone beside my Christmas tree, enjoying that which comes from prayer and study and reading of books. I also had not said "no" to some outside activities that did not bring peace and joy.

Since that time, I have enjoyed making a list each season. My list has changed since that time due to health and finances but only in the "big" things. My list back then included attending a Christmas concert that I loved each year. However, it became too expensive even when we did have a regular income. It wasn't that much of a priority that I'd spend more for tickets to a concert then I would on a week's worth of groceries.

Another item on my list that has gone by the wayside is hosting a big Christmas party. I loved decorating the house and having a lot of people over but that season is now behind me.

I remember one very magic (Narnia magic) party in our former house when we invited over Stephanie's college group. There was a tree in the family room and one in the living room, a fire was burning in the fire place, food placed in various areas, conversations were going on in many rooms of the house.

Later that night, as the young people were leaving, one student came up to tell me that night will be one of his "perfect Christmas memories" when he leaves college. It is one of my perfect memories, too. :)

I have found by making a list of those things I love about Christmas, I can make certain what means the most to me (and for my family) becomes a priority for time and money. Here are a few for this year, written out on paper before transferring to my scrapbook journal. Of course, I can't do them all but any of them on the "wish list" would make my season bright.

Decorating the house with my snowman collection
Carefully placing all my ornaments on the tree
Morning quiet times in the dark, with the tree lit
A breakfast out at Cracker Barrel during Christmas
Lunch with the guys at our favorite cafeteria
Holiday Baking
Candy Cane Lane tea
Listening to the music of the season
Watching favorite Christmas movies
Reading favorite Christmas books
Seeing what yummies The Food Channel comes up with this year
One or two Pumpkin Spice Latte's to enjoy
A morning at Panera sipping coffee and writing a real letter
Visit my sister, Bonnie, to see how she decorated her place (she has that wow factor)
Send Christmas cards to our elderly aunties
Visit my favorite "downtown" primitive country store... breath in the scents, no purchase necessary (although this is where I buy small candles for the season when possible).

Most of my list this year involves more solitude than in the past. It has been that kind of year. None require much money.

This is only a way of thinking through what brings joy... and peace... and faith... and what lifts my thoughts to the One Who Made Me.

Little satisfactions in the most wondrous and magical time of the year.

I encourage you to brew a little pot of tea and fill your favorite tea cup, bring along a notebook and pen, light the Christmas tree if you have one, and think about those things that bring joy to your heart at Christmas. Are you making time for them? Did you budget for them through the year? What makes your heart sing with gladness?

You don't need to do them all, just choose a few that will cause you to look back at this Christmas and smile... and remember, Christmas is not about the price of gifts or how many are given, it is about the Giver of all gifts.

Feeling a little better

2011-11-26T09:08:00.001-05:00

I was able to pull together a small Thanksgiving dinner Friday evening with a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and just canned green beans and corn. I had made a pumpkin pie already before getting sick.

Christopher spent the afternoon here resting and working on a project (being a computer science student, he can do some of it on his laptop and finish the rest at the lab). That meant he was also able to enjoy a second (albeit much smaller) Thanksgiving dinner with us before returning to campus. He said he was still full from the feast he had with M.'s family the day before but he ended up with three helpings (my husband says it's my gravy they can't get enough of...).

The turkey was an answer to prayer. Finances have been really tight this year and we had prayed for a turkey. Hubby went to a food pantry at a local church last Sunday afternoon and brought home a TURKEY. Much rejoicing and appreciation... especially as one knows all they have comes from Him.

I was telling the retinal specialist (as I thanked him for taking patients from the clinic for only $5.00) that we never expected to end up in our financial position when hubby was working on a Master's Degree and worked as an engineer but "life happened". At one time we were very financially secure and then hubby's illness started getting to the point he could no longer hold a job. We went through all our savings and the equity in our former house.

Sometimes I do get frustrated but then I look around and know I really can't complain, He has made my boundaries in pleasant places. Of course, my theology is Reformed enough that I believe all that comes our way first goes through His hands. I often ask Him what I'm to learn from this... what I can share with others experiencing difficult times.

That has only come from years of walking with He who is Peace and seeing what He has done over the years. Instead of being all cranky and such... there are times I wake up wondering what He is going to do that day.

I have watched Him... when I was in the midst of such troubles that I had to remind myself to breath it hurt so much... perform miracles which could only come from an eternal and infinite and loving God... three in One... Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Life with Him is far from boring. :)

Yes, I do have to be very careful as having a chronic illness means an impaired immune system. I had just been to my three month doctor's checkup on Monday and received a flu shot for influenza. This milder flu has been going around and both hubby and Christopher had it earlier. It seems to run its' course in a few days. I'm quite tired but better.

Today the weather is unusually warm for November so I'm going to make an attempt to further clear the garden for winter. The forecast is for much colder weather and snow coming in soon. Hubby's collar bone is healing enough to do some outside work today, too. I'll let the turkey stock simmer on the stove and plan leftovers for dinner. :)

Oh... I will try to write a Q & A post next week for all the questions in Comments.

Picture: Word of the Lord; allposters.com

Flu...

2011-11-25T10:56:00.001-05:00

The flu has been going around our community and found its' way to me on Wednesday!

I had returned home from an appointment with the retinal specialist (he is monitoring the damage caused by diabetes to my eyes) and wasn't feeling great but not sick. Then within a couple of hours I suddenly felt like the proverbial truck had hit and the room was spinning around!

Thanksgiving was spent on the sofa with canned chicken noodle soup and crackers and way too much TV (don't get me started on the way Black Friday is taking over the Thanksgiving holiday~).

I'm feeling just a little better today so we'll have a very simple turkey dinner in late afternoon. Hopefully all will be better soon.

Back to the sofa. :)

Happy Birthday Christopher

2011-11-22T18:29:00.001-05:00

This is a picture from a few years ago when Christopher was still fencing. I spent many an evening sitting and reading and waiting while he fenced.

He asked me recently what haircut he's ever had I liked best. I told him it was the one he had the last year of fencing, when it was long and tied back. I also reminded him I came of age in the early 1970s when men's hairstyles tended to look like Jesus. Some preferences just stick with you.

Oh... my son is the one on the left.

When you think you have nothing to give

2011-11-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I reposted what I wrote two or three years ago about how to help those in need. This post is the other half of that original post... for those who feel they have nothing they can give others.

In our materialistic society, we most often think we have to make a purchase to give or the gift is will not be appreciated. Actually, I have found that not to be true in most cases. Yes, there are those around who may not appreciate fresh baked cookies but let's be honest... do you want those people as friends? So they are family and you are stuck with them... pray for their materialism and offer them a cookie, anyway. They may learn someday.

Here are some ways I've learned to be a giver, even with a very limited income...

When I do have "extra" cash, I stock the pantry (shelves, frig, deep freeze) with simple items which... when mixed together... create magic (Narnia magic). Isn't it absolutely remarkable the number of recipes which can be made from: eggs, butter, milk or cream, various sugars, flour, flavor extracts, nuts, dried fruit, yeast, etc.?

Throughout the year I'm always looking for inexpensive containers, suitable for giving gifts of baked goods. For instance, last year I hit a clearance sale at Wal Mart and purchased a couple dozen pretty red trays for a dime each. I gave many of them to Stephanie as a gift since she often takes baked goods to people.

When I can get a good deal on fresh fruits, I like to "can" jellies and jams. People love these.

A blog friend sent me honey and homemade soap from her farm... LOVED it!

Other gifts I give with little or no money:

Books from the book sales or purchased with Amazon credit.
Items purchased at garage sales and while thrifting that I know people would love.
A pretty mug or teacup from my own collection with a box of favorite tea or hot chocolate.
A basket filled with a favorite snack (like puppy chow... yum) made "from scratch".

I used to make teddy bears, angels, small quilts, and other sewn items.
My first gift to my husband (before he was my husband) was a crocheted scarf... which he still has. :)
I've given a gift of recipe cards written with favorite family recipes.
My daughter received a "cookbook" from our good friend for a wedding gift that she had written with their favorite recipes... all printed from her computer.

Stuff to do as gifts

Offer to babysit the kiddies.
Sit with an elderly or ill person so their caregiver can get relief.
Read to someone who can't read for themselves... young or old.
Offer to scrub a floor or paint a room.
Trim bushes and trees for someone who can no longer get around easily.

Put up a Christmas tree for a friend who is not handy about such things.
Share extra decorations (that you no longer need or want) with a friend who has none.
Hang the Christmas lights for the elderly neighbor who can no longer hang them.

Write letters to people who would love to hear from you.
Send a pretty card to an elderly relative or friend.
Give forgiveness to someone who needs to hear those words.

Listen to a teenager, really listen.
Ask an elderly relative to share family history and write it down.
Collect family recipes and type them into the computer... give copies to loved ones.

Encourage your children to draw pictures for Grandma and Grandpa... and send them.

If you have a green thumb, take starts from your flowers (in season) and start them in your home, give to a neighbor or family member when they are ready.

Yes, it takes creative thinking but you can give... even if it a prayer.

Picture: End of the Harvest: allposters.com

Sunday Afternoon Tea

2011-11-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

While I love the glitz and glitter of the Christmas Season, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the tradition, the food, and the very images it brings to mind (not to mention the scents from the kitchen). Except for Independence Day, Thanksgiving is the most American of holidays (okay, Canada has its' own Thanksgiving, too).

I loved the time we were homeschooling the early years and we would take a break from our usual studies to spend time with the Pilgrims and the Puritans and the other early settlements of our country. What better time to talk about the quest for religious freedom and the Christian foundation of America... not done perfectly, of course... by men and women with sinful natures... but at least with an intent to honor God.

This will be our first Thanksgiving alone as our son will be out of town celebrating the day with his fiance and her family. We have come a long way from the time we were newlyweds at my in-laws, through the years of traveling with one child to the in-laws each year, having another child join us much later, and then family Thanksgiving celebrations at our home after my mother-in-law passed on.

How quickly the years pass, which is why I have such a passion about traditions and the importance of passing down a legacy to the next generation. We don't realize as time is passing... hour by hour and day by day... that the opportunity to share what is important must be accomplished in our everyday life... that "precept upon precept" way of passing down what we know and love to those for whom we will pass the baton of family life.

Especially for those of us who hold to our faith as the center of all we do. Those who know there is Someone to give our thanks. If we allow the society in which we live and the media that is constantly bombarding us with its' images to become the teacher of our next generation... how will they learn what is important to our family... to our faith... to our heritage?

This may be the Season which inspires one to write the family stories and share the recipes and call the elders still among us to tell us accounts of times past. I love tying on an apron and putting together a recipe which I can remember my mother making... and to know a thousand miles away there is a little girl helping her mother (and paternal grandmother) make the traditional recipes.

If we wait for the perfect time then we will look back and realize the children are grown and the elders not with us to share the recipes and the stories and the laughter. There are no perfect people and (outside of a Norman Rockwell painting) no perfect families. But there is quite a lot one can do given the limitations of imperfection to create memories for family and friends.

I've been reading through the prayers in Valley of Vision these past few days which have such a Thanksgiving feel about them (as they were written by Puritans). At one time, sitting in a crowded McDonald's on campus and reading prayers from the long distant past... looking around and wondering how many of the young people were still taught the wonderful stories of bravery and faith in a time we need heroes.

Is my Thanksgiving perfect? Far from it! But lessons learned from the past reminds me there are many things to be thankful for even in the midst of an imperfect life. It isn't Heaven, yet... but our attitudes of thankfulness in the midst of the imperfect bring a little bit of Heaven into our life when we need it most.