garden dish

The other day, I posted a pic of the bucket we use to bring in fresh-picked produce from our garden and orchards...but at the time of that photo, the bucket was empty. Admiring the beautiful colors of the swiss chard we picked on Monday night prompted me to take a picture of the bucket full.
I picked, washed and chopped the swiss chard and a few leaves of spinach, with a couple leeks and carrots also from the garden, then sauteed it all in olive oil. It took only minutes to prepare this side dish, earth to table. It was served with rotisserie chicken and cheese tortellini.

home

I have been adding a few touches here and there lately to our home decor just as I have come across things I loved when out shopping or at sales. I would classify the style I like to use in decorating our home as classic early-American, vintage-inspired, country farmhouse. {See more home photos with farm/ranch-inspired details at my 'country living' post at Suburban Cowgirls.}

a sunny morning on the farm

I came downstairs the other morning to this view out the back door. Actually, Crater moved his head by the time I grabbed the camera, but he was staring at the house...waiting for his morning feed. I just love looking out and seeing cattle in the field. We have had cattle on the place for just a year now!

home

I want to share a series that focuses on some of the beautiful things about HOME. We had a remodel project done on our house a year and a half ago, so I am eager to post some of the photos of the kitchen I LOVE, and our master bath, etc. But, I also just like to share some of the littler things; the things that comfort, things I love, things that organize or beautify spaces, things that make our home OUR home and are, therefore, special to me. Yes, they are just 'things' and as such, not what I treasure most. What I treasure most about our home is the people who fill it and the moments I share with my family that imprints warm memories in every corner.

Projects, projects, projects...

My mother is a major DIYer, homemaker-crafter-seamstress-reupholsterer-carpenter extraordinaire, who has done many amazing projects with and for me and my two brothers/sisters-in-law to make our houses more stylish and functional. I have been happily surprised over the years to find that, with our design input and now her own studying of home & design magazines, she has not only focused on the latter as she would have when she was a young mom with limited resources, but has really grown an eye for style keeping with our taste and the times. She is still practical, frugal and efficient while I am more, well...not, but we balance each other out. I have learned a lot of reusing, refinishing, repurposing, recycling ideas from her and on my own as I have branched out and tried things on my own over the years. We all enjoy garage sale-ing or sifting through thrift stores, antique and consignment shops and flea markets together on our family camping trips while the guys are out fishing. We have good memories of these shopping experiences and our finds. This is just an intro into my mom and her projects, with much more to show of her creative abilities.

The Entryway Bench

One of the best examples of what she does can be seen at my sister-in-law's blog, where she shows an amazing laundry-mudroom makeover my mom did in their house. Mindi linked to my blog in that post, and here is the bench she referred to. Mom made this bench for me, for my birthday last year, out of an old headboard she bought secondhand. We shopped for fabric together and then she made the cushion with piping and monogrammed pillow for the bench for my birthday this year. We love this bench...I think, for its functionality most. I hadn't realized how useful it is to have a sitting area in the front door entryway. Now that the kids gather there in the morning to watch for the school bus, we use this entryway daily where we hadn't before. They have a place to lay down backpacks while packing them, a place to sit while tying shoes, and a place to 'hang' while waiting.

One Thousand Gifts

One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp, is a New York Times bestseller by Zondervan. This book is a celebration of grace and a recognition of the power of gratitude. It dares us to live fully right where we are.

This book could be the companion book for my blog: a celebration of gifts in our lives sounds like the description I've written for A Beautiful Life. Every life, every season, every day, every moment is a gift; precious & brief. {"appreciate and live the blessing of life in full by...attention to detail...taking time to notice beauty in all its forms..."}

When I get my hands on a copy of this book, I will be sharing more from it. I can't wait to start my list of 1000 things I am thankful for! What a great exercise to help us to be in the moment more and really focus on the good in our lives; the good that comes from God. Timely, in this season of Lent, as we prepare our hearts for the Easter holiday.

Check out the website {link above} to add to the 1000 gifts list started by readers. Last time I looked, it was up to 400-something. Also, check out the beautiful photography and reviews of the book there, as well.

Scrap & Share--"First Show"

I am finishing all those pages I quit on because I got stuck on a design element or words to journal. Here's a page I finally finished journaling. This layout was really fun, but time-consuming because I distressed everything. I love the colors of this page, the chocolate daisy-patterned paper, how the denim paper looks like fabric when I distressed the edges, and the scratching on the photos themselves which looks really cool.

My first "Scrap n' Share"--Just a Walk in the Park

This layout was done earlier this year (May), but I added a few more touches to the pages today. I think the photos are from March--I need to look that up on the saved photo and date stamp the page (there is also still a small space to do some simple journaling if I want later)--we stopped at Willamette Park on the way home from swimming lessons in Oregon City. These pics turned out cute--you'd never know they had wet hair and flip flops on.

I am hoping to do a layout a week for scrap n' share to help me to stick with my scrapbooking and complete an album.

Planet Earth

Jac, our resident 'Planet Earth' photographer, captured this breathtaking scene of Mt. Hood on his recent flight to Brazil. Unfortunately, it was dark (both ways) flying over the Amazon Rainforest.

"I lift my eyes up to the mountains--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1,2

Happy Earth Day, 2007!

Did you know that if the earth's land were divided up equally among all of its inhabitants, we would each own 4 acres? What are you doing to preserve your part of the planet; to leave behind a place that is healthy and of some value to the next generation?

Never really thought I'd be saying that...as a conservative Christian, I guess I just usually, and probably without really thinking, distance myself from secular, humanistic agendas, and I am turned off by those who seem to 'worship' nature instead of Creator. Besides, our treasure is supposed to be in heaven, right? However, going along with our last series of teaching at church, I have been putting more thought into secular and global issues because it is exactly that closed-mindedness, of Christians like myself, which turns off so many who need to know our Savior.

Have you seen the "ground-breaking 11-part series, Planet Earth, that was 5 years in the making, 2,000 days of filming, 204 locations..."? We have been watching it on Discovery for the past few weeks. It really is amazing and has affected me...I have been seeing the world around me differently because of these amazing photographers. They captured such dramatic, mostly never-before-seen (or filmed) nature events. I couldn't believe how many things from nature I had never seen or even heard of before!...Jim heard that this project had no limitations of the budget, but only the assignment to succeed in making the best documentary on the Planet!

On another documentary I saw this weedend, "Green, the new Red, White, and Blue", there were other interesting facts--mostly ones that made you really stop and evaluate how you can save energy and reduce waste. Now, this has always been something I felt was important. I have always done the an environmental unit in the classrooms I've taught, which included a fun recycling project. The object of this project was simply to make something useful out of what we would normally throw away. The kids loved this project and it got them thinking creatively about new uses for things.

The idea to take away here is that this world exceeds anything man could ever fully understand, and every awesome aspect of nature speaks to the amazing God who made it all. The Bible even speaks of how all of nature praises Him (Psalm 148). And, yes, this God put man here to "fill the earth and subdue" it (Genesis 1:28), but He also wants us to take care of it out of respect for Him who made it.

"You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet." Psalm 8:6

'Curlers 101'

Since there was a question about this week's "Wordless Wednesday" (see previous post) photos, I decided to do another post about 'curlers'...with words..

I got started doing curlers because my mother is a 'beautician', or hair stylist, as we call it these days. I remembered going to bed with sponge curlers in my hair, and I do the same with my daughters...I'll have to ask Mom just how many generations this ritual has been passed down...

Me, age 2

Well, I used to do this a lot with Jessica, but not so much with Cate. Her hair is so stick- straight, that it takes more to get hers to curl. She looks SO different with curls--or even waves!

I just put the curlers in after a bath. Baby thin hair is easy to roll up, and dries quickly. The key (and the tricky part) is to leave them in until they are completely dry--so overnight.

I try to do it just before bed, let her run around a bit while I am watching, so that I can distract her if she tries to pull them out. She soon forgets about them. Then, when they are about dry, I put her to bed where she may leave them in if she goes to sleep quickly. Worst case, she pulls out the ones in the front before falling asleep, but that hair is usually, at the least, wavey. I only trouble myself with this for special events, or when I'm feeling especially vain about perfecting my child's already precious looks: Easter Sunday, weddings, portraits...

The next morning, you want to take out the curlers and 'finger'-comb through the hair and shape/style with your hands. Brushing turns it into an 'afro'. If it is way too curly, loosen curls a bit with damp hands (I never have that problem with Cate!). Lightly spray to hold in place.

Beautiful Things

So, what if I make the purpose of this blog my own spin off Martha Stewart's quip, "Good Things" and Oprah's "Favorite Things", and include random lists of my favorite things as I discover them?--products, organization, project ideas, inspiration, recipes, menu plans, crafts, tips, tricks, shortcuts, lists to live by, seasonal helps, etc. These kinds of discoveries excite me, and I think most women, when they aren't snickering at those of us who love 'all-things-homemaking' because it's coventional, would find that many of these items excite them, as well.
Additionally, this blog may contain journaling of events from my life, and lessons I am learning. At this point, I am not sure if I will ever share this blog with those I know, (because of the 'snickerers'), but, we'll see how it goes. I was thinking that it would be a good way for those who care to know me, to keep up with and know me (and our family) better. And it would be great to impart wisdom or inspire others, as an extra perk.
With that said, this blog is not to impress, or boast, or try to be who I am not, but it is, contrarily, about me being me: my love of lists, organizing, details, writing, and much more all coming together in one place--yes, blogging is just up my alley; at least, whereas emails can be 'forcing it' on people, this is slightly less 'in your face'. Love it, or leave it...